And as fishermen for sport, throw two lumps of bait, united by a cord, to albatrosses floating on the sea; which are greedily attempted to be swallowed, one lump by this fowl, the other by that; but forever are kept reciprocally going up and down in them, by means of the cord; even so, my lord, do I sometimes fancy, that our theorists divert them-selves with the greediness of Mardians to believe." "Ha, ha," cried Media, "methinks this must be Azzageddi who speaks." "No, my lord; not long since, Azzageddi received a furlough to go home and warm himself for a while.

But this leaves me not alone." "How ?" "My lord,--for the present putting Azzageddi entirely aside,--though I have now been upon terms of close companionship with myself for nigh five hundred moons, I have not yet been able to decide who or what I am.

To you, perhaps, I seem Babbalanja; but to myself, I seem not myself.

All I am sure of, is a sort of prickly sensation all over me, which they call life; and, occasionally, a headache or a queer conceit admonishes me, that there is something astir in my attic.

But how know I, that these sensations are identical with myself?
For aught I know, I may be somebody else.