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PAUL CLIFFORD.

CHAPTER VI.


Bad events peep out o' the tail of good purposes.
Bartholomew Fair.


It was not long before there was a visible improvement in the pages of the Asinæum: the slashing part of that incomparable journal was suddenly conceived and carried on with a vigour and spirit which astonished the hallowed few who contributed to its circulation. It was not difficult to see that a new soldier had been enlisted in the service; there was something so fresh and hearty about the abuse, that it could never have proceeded from the worn-out acerbity of an old slasher. To be sure, a little ignorance of ordinary