68 ‘Foachim the Mimic.

firft clearly felt this, he thought of the Genie and
his two forefingers, I believe ;—but his fchool life,
and his funny ways, and the conftant diverfion of
his mind, quite prevented his thinking of all the
ferious things the Genie had fpoken. Nay, even
his Mother’s words had nearly faded from his
mind, and he had forgotten the young King, and
his own wifhes to be like him. It was a pity it
was fo; but fo it was! Poor Joachim! he was
a very good fellow, and kind alfo in reality ; but
firft the pleafure of making his companions laugh,
and then the pleafure of being a fort of little great
man among them, were faft mifleading him.
For inftance, though at firft he amufed them by
imitating dogs, and cats, and pigs, he next tried
his powers at imitating any thing queer and
odd in the boys themfelves, and, for a time, this
was moft entertaining. When he mimicked ithe
awkward walk of one boy, and the bad draw]
of another, and the loutifh carriage of a third, the
{chool refounded with fhouts of laughter, chia
feemed to our Hero a great triumph,—fomething
like the cheers which had greeted the good young
King as he left the fifhing-town. But certainly
the caufe was a very different one! By degrees,
however, it muft be admitted, that Joachim’s po-
pularity began a little to decreafe ; for, though a
boy has no objection to fee his neighbour laughed
at, he does not like quite fo well to be laughed at
himfelf, and there are very few who can bear it
with good humour. And now Joachim had given