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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lavengro, by George Borrow, Edited by
+Theodore Watts
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lavengro
+       the Scholar - the Gypsy - the Priest
+
+
+Author: George Borrow
+
+Editor: Theodore Watts
+
+Release Date: January 13, 2010  [eBook #20198]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAVENGRO***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1893 Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co. edition by David
+Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+                                LAVENGRO:
+                   THE SCHOLAR--THE GYPSY--THE PRIEST.
+
+
+                                    BY
+                              GEORGE BORROW,
+                                AUTHOR OF
+                        "THE BIBLE IN SPAIN," ETC.
+
+                          _WITH AN INTRODUCTION_
+                                    BY
+                             THEODORE WATTS.
+
+                       WARD, LOCK, BOWDEN, AND CO.
+              LONDON: WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
+                       NEW YORK: EAST 12TH STREET.
+           MELBOURNE: ST. JAMES'S STREET.  SYDNEY: YORK STREET.
+
+                                  1893.
+
+[Picture: Borrow's home at Oulton (now pulled down), showing the summer
+house where much of his work was written.  (From a Photograph kindly lent
+by Mr. Welchman, of Lowestoft, and taken by Mr. F. G. Mayhew, of the same
+place.)]
+
+
+
+
+NOTES UPON GEORGE BORROW.
+
+
+I.  BORROW AS A SPLENDID LITERARY AMATEUR.
+
+
+There are some writers who cannot be adequately criticised--who cannot,
+indeed, be adequately written about at all--save by those to whom they
+are personally known.  I allude to those writers of genius who, having
+only partially mastered the art of importing their own individual
+characteristics into literary forms, end their life-work as they began
+it, remaining to the last amateurs in literary art.  Of this class of
+writers George Borrow is generally taken to be the very type.  Was he
+really so?
+
+There are passages in "Lavengro" which are unsurpassed in the prose
+literature of England--unsurpassed, I mean, for mere perfection of
+style--for blending of strength and graphic power with limpidity and
+music of flow.  Is "Lavengro" the work of a literary amateur who,
+yielding at will to every kind of authorial self-indulgence, fails to
+find artistic expression for the life moving within him--fails to project
+an individuality that his friends knew to have been unique?  Of other
+writers of genius, admirable criticism may be made by those who have
+never known them in the flesh.  Is this because each of those others,
+having passed from the stage of the literary amateur to that of the
+literary artist, is able to pour the stream of his personality into the
+literary mould and give to the world a true image of himself?  It has
+been my chance of life to be brought into personal relations with many
+men of genius, but I feel that there are others who could write about
+them more adequately than I.  Does Borrow stand alone?  The admirers of
+his writings seem generally to think he does, for ever since I wrote my
+brief and hasty obituary notice of him in 1881, I have been urged to
+enlarge my reminiscences of him--urged not only by philologers and
+gypsologists, but by many others in England, America, and Germany.  But I
+on my part have been for years urging upon the friend who introduced me
+to him, and who knew him years ago,--knew him when he was the
+comparatively young literary lion of East Anglia,--Dr. Gordon Hake, to do
+what others are urging me to do.  Not only has the author of "Parables
+and Tales" more knowledge of the subject than any one else, but having a
+greater reputation than I, he can speak with more authority, and having a
+more brilliant pen than I, he can give a more vital picture than I can
+hope to give of our common friend.  If he is, as he seems to be, fully
+determined not to depict Borrow in prose, let me urge him to continue in
+verse that admirable description of him contained in one of the
+well-known sonnets addressed to myself in "The New Day":--
+
+    "And he, the walking lord of gipsy lore!
+       How often 'mid the deer that grazed the Park,
+    Or in the fields and heath and windy moor,
+       Made musical with many a soaring lark,
+    Have we not held brisk commune with him there,
+       While Lavengro, then towering by your side,
+    With rose complexion and bright silvery hair,
+       Would stop amid his swift and lounging stride
+    To tell the legends of the fading race--
+       As at the summons of his piercing glance,
+    Its story peopling his brown eyes and face,
+       While you called up that pendant of romance
+    To Petulengro with his boxing glory,
+       Your Amazonian Sinfi's noble story!"
+
+
+
+II.  IS THERE A KEY TO "LAVENGRO"?
+
+
+Dr. Hake, however, and those others among Borrow's friends who are apt to
+smile at the way in which critics of the highest intelligence will stand
+baffled and bewildered before the eccentricities of "Lavengro" and "The
+Romany Rye"--some critics treating the work as autobiography spoilt, and
+some as spoilt fiction--forget that while it is easy to open a locked
+door with a key, to open a locked door without a key is a very different
+undertaking.  On the subject of autobiographies and the autobiographic
+method, I had several interesting talks with Borrow.  I remember an
+especial one that took place on Wimbledon Common, on a certain autumn
+morning when I was pointing out to him the spot called Gypsy Ring.  He
+was in a very communicative mood that day, and more amenable to criticism
+than he generally was.  I had been speaking of certain bold coincidences
+in "Lavengro" and "The Romany Rye"--especially that of Lavengro's meeting
+by accident in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Plain the son of the very
+apple-woman of London Bridge with whom he had made friends, and also of
+such apparently manufactured situations as that of Lavengro's coming upon
+the man whom Wordsworth's poetry had sent into a deep slumber in a
+meadow.
+
+"What is an autobiography?" he asked.  "Is it a mere record of the
+incidents of a man's life? or is it a picture of the man himself--his
+character, his soul?"
+
+Now this I think a very suggestive question of Borrow's with regard to
+himself and his own work.  That he sat down to write his own life in
+"Lavengro" I know.  He had no idea then of departing from the strict line
+of fact.  Indeed, his letters to his friend Mr. John Murray would alone
+be sufficient to establish this in spite of his calling "Lavengro" a
+dream.  In the first volume he did almost confine himself to matters of
+fact.  But as he went on he clearly found that the ordinary tapestry into
+which Destiny had woven the incidents of his life were not tinged with
+sufficient depth of colour to satisfy his sense of wonder; for, let it be
+remembered, that of love as a strong passion he had almost none.  Surely
+no one but Lavengro could have lived in a dingle with a girl like Belle
+Berners, and passed the time in trying to teach her Armenian.  Without
+strong passion no very deeply coloured life-tapestry can, in these
+unadventurous days, be woven.  The manufactured incidents of which there
+are so many in "Lavengro" and "The Romany Rye," are introduced to give
+colour to a web of life that strong Passion had left untinged.  But why?
+In order to flash upon the personality of Lavengro, and upon Lavengro's
+attitude towards the universe unseen as well as seen, a light more
+searching, as Borrow considered, than any picture of actual experience
+could have done.  In other words, to build up the truth of the character
+of Lavengro, Borrow does not shrink from manipulating certain incidents
+and inventing others.  And when he wishes to dive very boldly into the
+"abysmal deeps of personality," he speaks and moves partly behind the
+mask of some fictitious character, such as the man who touched for the
+evil chance, and such as the hypochondriac who taught himself Chinese to
+ward off despair, but could not tell the time of day by looking at the
+clock.  This is not the place for me to enter more fully into this
+matter, but I am looking forward to a fitting occasion of showing whether
+or not "Lavengro" and "The Romany Rye" form a spiritual autobiography;
+and if they do, whether that autobiography does or does not surpass every
+other for absolute truth of spiritual representation.  Meantime, let it
+be remembered by those who object to Borrow's method that, as I have just
+hinted, at the basis of his character was a deep sense of wonder.  Let it
+be remembered that he was led to study the first of the many languages he
+taught himself--Irish--because there was, as he said, "something
+mysterious and uncommon in its use."  Let it be remembered that it was
+this instinct of wonder, not the impulse of the mere _poseur_, that
+impelled him to make certain exaggerated statements about the characters
+themselves who are introduced into his books.
+
+
+
+III.  ISOPEL BERNERS.
+
+
+For instance, the tall girl, Isopel Berners--the most vigorous sketch he
+has given us--is perfect as she is adorable.  Among heroines she stands
+quite alone; there is none other that is in the least like her.  Yet she
+is in many of her qualities typical of a class.  Among the very bravest
+of all human beings in the British Islands are, or were, the nomadic
+girls of the high road and the dingle.  Their bravery is not only an
+inherited quality: it is in every way fostered by their mode of life.  No
+tenderness from the men with whom they travel, either as wives or as
+mistresses, do they get--none of the chivalry which girls in most other
+grades of life experience--and none do they expect.  In all disputes
+between themselves and the men, their associates, they know that the
+final argument is the knock-down blow.  With the Romany girl, too, this
+is the case, to be sure; but then, while the Romany girl, as a rule,
+owing to tribal customs, receives the blow in patience, the English girl
+is apt to return it, and with vigour.  This condition of things gives the
+English road-girl a frank independence of bearing which distinguishes her
+from girls of all other classes.  There is something of the charm of the
+savage about her, even to her odd passion for tattoo.  No doubt Isopel is
+an idealisation of the class; but the class, with all its drawbacks, has
+a certain winsomeness for men of Borrow's temperament.
+
+But, unfortunately, his love of the wonderful, his instinct for
+exaggeration, asserts itself even here.  I need give only one instance of
+what I mean.  He makes Isopel Berners speak of herself as being taller
+than Lavengro.  Now, as Borrow gives Lavengro his own character and
+physique in every detail, even to the silvery hair and even to the
+somewhat peculiar method of sparring, and as he himself stood six feet
+two inches, Isopel must have been better adapted to shine as a giantess
+in a show than as a fighting woman capable of cowing the "Flaming Tinman"
+himself.
+
+It is a very exceptional woman that can really stand up against a trained
+boxer, and it is, I believe, or used to be, an axiom among the nomads
+that no fighting woman ought to stand more than about five feet ten
+inches at the outside.  A handsome young woman never looks so superb as
+when boxing; but it is under peculiar disadvantages that she spars with a
+man, inasmuch as she has, even when properly padded (as assuredly every
+woman ought to be) to guard her chest with even more care than she guards
+her face.  The truth is, as Borrow must have known, that women, in order
+to stand a chance against men, must rely upon some special and surprising
+method of attack--such, for instance, as that of the sudden "left-hand
+body blow" of the magnificent gypsy girl of whose exploits I told him
+that day at "Gypsy Ring"--who, when travelling in England, was attached
+to Boswell's boxing-booth, and was always accompanied by a favourite
+bantam cock, ornamented with a gold ring in each wattle, and trained to
+clap his wings and crow whenever he saw his mistress putting on the
+gloves--the most beautiful girl, gypsy or other, that ever went into East
+Anglia.  This "left-hand body blow" of hers she delivered so
+unexpectedly, and with such an engine-like velocity, that but few boxers
+could "stop it."
+
+But, with regard to Isopel Berners, neither Lavengro, nor the man she
+thrashed when he stole one of her flaxen hairs to conjure with, gives the
+reader the faintest idea of Isopel's method of attack or defence, and we
+have to take her prowess on trust.
+
+In a word, Borrow was content to give us the Wonderful, without taking
+that trouble to find for it a logical basis which a literary master would
+have taken.  And instances might easily be multiplied of this
+exaggeration of Borrow's, which is apt to lend a sense of unreality to
+some of the most picturesque pages of "Lavengro."
+
+
+
+IV.  BORROW'S USE OF PATOIS.
+
+
+Nor does Borrow take much trouble to give organic life to a dramatic
+picture by the aid of _patois_ in dialogue.  In every conversation
+between Borrow's gypsies, and between them and Lavengro, the illusion is
+constantly being disturbed by the vocabulary of the speakers.  It is hard
+for the reader to believe that characters such as Jasper Petulengro, his
+wife, and sister Ursula, between whom so much of the dialogue is
+distributed, should make use of the complex sentences and book-words
+which Borrow, on occasion, puts into their mouths.
+
+I remember once remarking to him upon the value of _patois_ within
+certain limits--not only in imaginative but in biographic art.
+
+His answer came in substance to this, that if the matter of the dialogue
+be true to nature, the entire verisimilitude of the form is a secondary
+consideration.
+
+"Walter Scott," said he, "has run to death the method of _patois_
+dialogue."
+
+He urged, moreover, that the gypsies really are extremely fond of
+uncommon and fine words.  And this, no doubt, is true, especially in
+regard to the women.  There is nothing in which the native superiority of
+the illiterate Romany woman over the illiterate English woman of the road
+is more clearly seen than in the love of long "book-words" (often
+mispronounced) displayed by the former.  Strong, however, as is the
+Romany chi's passion for fine words, her sentences are rarely complex
+like some of the sentences Borrow puts into her mouth.
+
+With regard, however, to the charge of idealising gypsy life--a charge
+which has often been brought against Borrow--it must be remembered that
+the gypsies to whom he introduces us are the better kind of gryengroes
+(horse-dealers), by far the most prosperous of all gypsies.  Borrow's
+"gryengroes" are not in any way more prosperous than those he knew.
+
+These nomads have an instinctive knowledge of horseflesh--will tell the
+amount of "blood" in any horse by a lightning glance at his quarters--and
+will sometimes make large sums before the fair is over.
+
+Yet, on the whole, I will not deny that Borrow was as successful in
+giving us vital portraits of English and Irish characters as of Romany
+characters, perhaps more so.
+
+That hypochondriacal strain in Borrow's nature, which Dr. Hake alludes
+to, perhaps prevented him from sympathising fully with the joyous Romany
+temper.  But over and above this, and charming as the Petulengro family
+are, they do not live as do the characters of Mr. Groome in his
+delightful book "In Gypsy Tents"--a writer whose treatises on the gypsies
+in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," and in "Chambers' Encyclopedia," are
+as full of the fruits of actual personal contact with the gypsies as of
+the learning to be derived from books.
+
+
+
+V.  THE SAVING GRACE OF PUGILISM.
+
+
+Borrow's "Flaming Tinman" is, of course, a brilliant success, but then
+he, though named Bosville, is not a pure gypsy.  He is what is called on
+the roads, I believe, a "half and half"; and in nothing is more clearly
+seen that "prepotency of transmission," which I have elsewhere attributed
+to the Anglo-Saxon in the racial struggle, than in hybrids of this kind.
+A thorough-bred Romany chal can be brutal enough, but the "Flaming
+Tinman's" peculiar shade of brutality is Anglo-Saxon, not Romany.  The
+Tinman's ironical muttering while unharnessing his horse, "Afraid.  H'm!
+Afraid; that was the word, I think," is worthy of Dickens at his very
+best--worthy of Dickens when he created Rogue Riderhood--but it is hardly
+Romany, I think.
+
+The battle in the dingle is superb.
+
+Borrow is always at his strongest when describing a pugilistic encounter:
+for in the saving grace of pugilism as an English accomplishment, he
+believed as devoutly almost as he believed in East Anglia and the Bible.
+It was this more than anything else that aroused the ire of the critics
+of "Lavengro" when it first appeared.  One critical journal characterised
+the book as the work of a "barbarian."
+
+This was in 1851, when Clio seemed set upon substituting Harlequin's wand
+for Britannia's trident, seemed set upon crowning her with the cap and
+bells of Folly in her maudlin mood,--the marvellous and memorable year
+when England--while every forge in Europe was glowing with expectance,
+ready to beat every ploughshare into a sword--uttered her famous
+prophecy, that from the day of the opening of the Prince Consort's glass
+show in Hyde Park, bullets, bayonets, and fists were to be institutions
+of a benighted past.
+
+Very different was the prophecy of this "eccentric barbarian," Borrow,
+especially as regards the abolition of the British fist.  His prophecy
+was that the decay of pugilism would be followed by a flourishing time in
+England for the revolver and the assassin's knife,--a prophecy which I
+can now recommend to those two converts to the virtues of Pugilism, Mr.
+Justice Grantham and the present Editor of the _Daily News_, the former
+of whom in passing sentence of death (at the Central Criminal Court, on
+Wednesday, January 11th, 1893) upon a labourer named Hosler, for stabbing
+one Dennis Finnessey to death in a quarrel about a pot of beer, borrowed
+in the most impudent manner from the "eccentric barbarian," when he said,
+"If men would only use their fists instead of knives when tempted to
+violence, so many people would not be hanged"; while the latter remarked
+that "the same thing has been said from the bench before, _and cannot be
+said too often_."  When the "eccentric barbarian" argued that pugnacity
+is one of the primary instincts of man--when he argued that no
+civilisation can ever eradicate this instinct without emasculating
+itself--when he argued that to clench one's fist and "strike out" is the
+irresistible impulse of every one who has been assaulted, and that to
+make it illegal to "strike out," to make it illegal to learn the art to
+"strike out" with the best effect, is not to quell the instinct, but
+simply to force it to express itself in other and more dangerous and
+dastardly ways--when he argued thus more than forty years ago, he saw
+more clearly than did his critics into the future--a future which held
+within its womb not only the American civil war and the gigantic
+Continental struggles whose bloody reek still "smells to heaven," but
+also the present carnival of dynamite, the revolver, and the assassin's
+knife.
+
+
+
+VI.  BORROW'S GYPSIES.
+
+
+To those who knew Borrow, the striking thing about "Lavengro" and "The
+Romany Rye" is not that there is so much about the gypsies, but that
+there is comparatively so little, and that he only introduces one family
+group.  Judged from these two books the reader would conclude that he
+knew nothing whatever of the Lees, the Stanleys, and the most noticeable
+of all, the Lovells, and yet those who knew him are aware that he was
+thrown into contact with most of these.  But here, as in everything else,
+Borrow's eccentric methods can never be foreseen.  The most interesting
+of all the gypsies are the Welsh gypsies.  The Welsh variety of the
+Romany tongue is quite peculiar, and the Romanies of the Principality are
+superior to all others in these islands in intelligence and in their
+passion for gorgio respectability.  Borrow in "Lavengro" takes the reader
+to the Welsh border itself, and then turns back, leaving the Welsh Romany
+undescribed.  And in the only part of "Wild Wales" where gypsy life is
+afterwards glanced at, the gypsies introduced are not Welsh, but English.
+
+The two great successes amongst Borrow's Romany characters are
+undoubtedly Mrs. Petulengro's mother (old Mrs. Herne) and her grandchild
+Leonora, but these are the two wicked characters of the group.  It is
+impossible to imagine anything better told than the attempt of these two
+to poison Lavengro: it is drama of the rarest kind.  The terrible
+ironical dialogue over the prostrate and semi-conscious Lavengro, between
+the child-murderess and the hag-murderess who have poisoned him, is like
+nothing else in literature.  This scene alone should make "Lavengro"
+immortal.  In no other race than the Romany would a child of the elf-like
+intelligence and unconscious wickedness of Leonora be possible; but also
+it must be said that in no other race than the Romany would be possible a
+child like her who is made the subject of my sonnet, "A Gypsy Child's
+Christmas," printed in the "Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society"--a sonnet
+which renders in verse a real incident recorded by my friend before
+alluded to:--
+
+    Dear Sinfi rose and danced along "The Dells,"
+       Drawn by the Christmas chimes, and soon she sate
+       Where, 'neath the snow around the churchyard gate,
+    The ploughmen slept in bramble-banded cells:
+    The gorgios passed, half fearing gipsy spells,
+       While Sinfi, gazing, seemed to meditate;
+       She laughed for joy, then wept disconsolate:
+    "De poor dead gorgios cannot hear de bells."
+
+    Within the church the clouds of gorgio-breath
+       Arose, a steam of lazy praise and prayer,
+       To Him who weaves the loving Christmas-stair
+    O'er sorrow and sin and wintry deeps of Death;
+       But where stood He?  Beside our Sinfi there,
+    Remembering childish tears in Nazareth.
+
+Perhaps Borrow's pictures of the gypsies, by omitting to depict the
+Romany woman on her loftier, her tragic side, fail to demonstrate what he
+well knew to be the Romany's great racial mark of distinction all over
+Europe, the enormous superiority of the gypsy women over the gypsy men,
+not in intelligence merely, but in all the higher human qualities.  While
+it is next to impossible to imagine a gypsy hero, gypsy heroines--women
+capable of the noblest things--are far from uncommon.
+
+The "Amazonian Sinfi," alluded to in Dr. Hake's sonnet, was a heroine of
+this noble strain, and yet perhaps she was but a type of a certain kind
+of Romany chi.
+
+It was she of the bantam cock and "the left-hand body blow" alluded to
+above.
+
+This same gypsy girl also illustrated another side of the variously
+endowed character of the Romany women, ignored, or almost ignored by
+Borrow--their passion for music.  The daughter of an extremely well-to-do
+"gryengro," or dealer in horses, this gypsy girl had travelled over
+nearly all England, and was familiar with London, where, in the studio of
+a certain romantic artist, she was in great request as a face-model.  But
+having been brought into close contact with a travelling band of
+Hungarian gypsy musicians who visited England some years ago, she
+developed a passion for music that showed her to be a musical genius.
+The gypsy musicians of Hungary, who are darker than the tented gypsies,
+are the most intelligent and most widely-travelled of even Hungarian
+gypsies--indeed, of all the Romany race, and with them Sinfi soon
+developed into the "Fiddling Sinfi," who was famous in Wales and also in
+East Anglia, and the East Midlands.  After a while she widened her
+reputation in a curious way as the only performer on the old Welsh
+stringed instrument called the "crwth," or cruth.  I told Borrow her
+story at Gypsy Ring.  Having become, through the good nature of an
+eminent Welsh antiquary, the possessor of a crwth, and having discovered
+the unique capabilities of that rarely-seen instrument, she soon taught
+herself to play upon it with extraordinary effect, fascinating her Welsh
+patrons by the ravishing strains she could draw from it.  This obsolete
+instrument is six-stringed, with two of the strings reaching beyond the
+key-board, and a bridge placed, not at right angles to the sides of the
+instrument, but in an oblique direction.  Though in some respects
+inferior to the violin, it is in other respects superior to it.  Sinfi's
+performances on this remarkable instrument showed her to be a musical
+genius of a high order.
+
+
+
+VII.  MY FIRST MEETING WITH BORROW.
+
+
+But I am not leaving myself much room for personal reminiscences of
+Borrow after all--though these are what I sat down to write.
+
+Dr. Hake, in his memoirs of "Eighty Years," records thus the first
+meeting between Borrow and myself at Roehampton, at the doctor's own
+delightful house, whose windows at the back looked over Richmond Park,
+and in front over the wildest part of Wimbledon Common.
+
+    "Later on, George Borrow turned up while Watts was there, and we went
+    through a pleasant trio, in which Borrow, as was his wont, took the
+    first fiddle.  The reader must not here take metaphor for music.
+    Borrow made himself very agreeable to Watts, recited a fairy tale in
+    the best style to him, and liked him."
+
+There is, however, no doubt that Borrow would have run away from me had I
+been associated in his mind with the literary calling.  But at that time
+I had written nothing at all save poems, and a prose story or two of a
+romantic kind, and even these, though some of the poems have since
+appeared, were then known only through private circulation.
+
+About me there was nothing of the literary flavour: no need to flee away
+from me as he fled from the writing fraternity.  He had not long before
+this refused to allow Dr. Hake to introduce the late W. R. S. Ralston to
+him, simply because the Russian scholar moved in the literary world.
+
+With regard to newspaper critiques of books his axiom was that "whatever
+is praised by the press is of necessity bad," and he refused to read
+anything that was so praised.
+
+After the "fairy tale" mentioned by Dr. Hake was over, we went, at
+Borrow's suggestion, for a ramble through Richmond Park, calling on the
+way at the "Bald-Faced Stag" in Kingston Vale, in order that Borrow
+should introduce me to Jerry Abershaw's sword, which was one of the
+special glories of that once famous hostelry.  A divine summer day it was
+I remember--a day whose heat would have been oppressive had it not been
+tempered every now and then by a playful silvery shower falling from an
+occasional wandering cloud, whose slate-coloured body thinned at the
+edges to a fringe of lace brighter than any silver.
+
+These showers, however, seemed, as Borrow remarked, merely to give a rich
+colour to the sunshine, and to make the wild flowers in the meadows on
+the left breathe more freely.  In a word, it was one of those uncertain
+summer days whose peculiarly English charm was Borrow's special delight.
+He liked rain, but he liked it falling on the green umbrella (enormous,
+shaggy, like a gypsy-tent after a summer storm) he generally carried.  As
+we entered the Robin Hood Gate we were confronted by a sudden weird
+yellow radiance, magical and mysterious, which showed clearly enough that
+in the sky behind us there was gleaming over the fields and over
+Wimbledon Common a rainbow of exceptional brilliance, while the raindrops
+sparkling on the ferns seemed answering every hue in the magic arch far
+away.  Borrow told us some interesting stories of Romany superstitions in
+connection with the rainbow--how, by making a "trus'hul" (cross) of two
+sticks, the Romany chi who "pens the dukkerin can wipe the rainbow out of
+the sky," etc.  Whereupon Hake, quite as original a man as Borrow, and a
+humourist of a still rarer temper, launched out into a strain of wit and
+whim, which it is not my business here to record, upon the subject of the
+"Spirit of the Rainbow" which a certain child went out to find.
+
+Borrow loved Richmond Park, and he seemed to know every tree.  I found
+also that he was extremely learned in deer, and seemed familiar with
+every dappled coat which, washed and burnished by the showers, seemed to
+shine in the sun like metal.  Of course, I observed him closely, and I
+began to wonder whether I had encountered, in the silvery-haired giant
+striding by my side, with a vast umbrella under his arm, a true "Child of
+the Open Air."
+
+"Did a true Child of the Open Air ever carry a gigantic green umbrella
+that would have satisfied Sarah Gamp herself?" I murmured to Hake, while
+Borrow lingered under a tree and, looking round the Park, said, in a
+dreamy way, "Old England!  Old England!"
+
+
+
+VIII.  A CHILD OF THE OPEN AIR UNDER A GREEN UMBRELLA.
+
+
+Perhaps, however, I had better define what Hake and I meant by this
+phrase, and to do this I cannot do better than quote the definition of
+Nature-worship, by H. A. the "Swimming Rye," which we had both been just
+discussing, and which I quoted not long after this memorable walk in a
+literary journal:--
+
+    "With all the recent cultivation of the picturesque by means of
+    water-colour landscape, descriptive novels, 'Cook's excursions,'
+    etc., the real passion for Nature is as rare as ever it was,--perhaps
+    rarer.  It is quite an affair of individual temperament: it cannot be
+    learned; it cannot be lost.  That no writer has ever tried to explain
+    it shows how little it is known.  Often it has but little to do with
+    poetry, little with science.  The poet, indeed, rarely has it at its
+    very highest; the man of science as rarely.  I wish I could define
+    it:--in human souls--in one, perhaps, as much as in another--there is
+    always that instinct for contact which is a great factor of progress;
+    there is always an irresistible yearning to escape from isolation, to
+    get as close as may be to some other conscious thing.  In most
+    individuals this yearning is simply for contact with other human
+    souls; in some few it is not.  There are some in every country of
+    whom it is the blessing, not the bane, that, owing to some
+    exceptional power, or to some exceptional infirmity, they can get
+    closer to '_Natura Benigna_' herself, closer to her whom we now call
+    'Inanimate Nature,' than to the human mother who bore them--far
+    closer than to father, brother, sister, wife, or friend.  Darwin
+    among English _savants_, and Emily Bronte among English poets, and
+    Sinfi Lovell among English gypsies, showed a good deal of the
+    characteristics of the 'Children of the Open Air.'  But in the case
+    of the first of these, besides the strength of his family ties the
+    pedantic inquisitiveness, the methodising pedantry of the man of
+    science; in the second, the sensitivity to human contact; and in the
+    third, subjection to the love passion--disturbed, and indeed
+    partially stifled, the native instinct with which they were
+    undoubtedly endowed.
+
+    "Between the true 'Children of the Open Air' and their fellows there
+    are barriers of idiosyncrasy, barriers of convention, or other
+    barriers quite indefinable, which they find most difficult to
+    overpass, and, even when they succeed in overpassing them, the
+    attempt is not found to be worth the making.  For, what the
+    Nature-worshipper finds in intercourse with his fellow-men is, not
+    the unegoistic frankness of Nature, his first love, inviting him to
+    touch her close, soul to soul--but another _ego_ enisled like his
+    own--sensitive, shrinking, like his own--a soul which, love him as it
+    may, is, nevertheless, and for all its love, the central _ego_ of the
+    universe to itself, the very Alcyone round whom all other
+    Nature-worshippers revolve like the rest of the human constellations.
+    But between these and Nature there is no such barrier, and upon
+    Nature they lavish their love--'a most equal love,' that varies no
+    more with her change of mood than does the love of a man for a
+    beautiful woman, whether she smiles, or weeps, or frowns.  To them a
+    Highland glen is most beautiful; so is a green meadow; so is a
+    mountain gorge or a barren peak; so is a South American savannah.  A
+    balmy summer is beautiful, but not more beautiful than a winter's
+    sleet beating about the face, and stinging every nerve into delicious
+    life.
+
+    "To the 'Child of the Open Air' life has but few ills; poverty cannot
+    touch him.  Let the Stock Exchange rob him of his Turkish bonds, and
+    he will go and tend sheep in Sacramento Valley, perfectly content to
+    see a dozen faces in a year; so far from being lonely, he has got the
+    sky, the wind, the brown grass, and the sheep.  And as life goes on,
+    love of Nature grows both as a cultus and a passion, and in time
+    Nature seems 'to know him and love him' in her turn."
+
+It was the umbrella, green, manifold and bulging, under Borrow's arm,
+that made me ask Dr. Hake, as Borrow walked along beneath the trees, "Is
+he a genuine Child of the Open Air"?  And then, calling to mind
+"Lavengro" and "The Romany Rye," I said, "He went into the Dingle, and
+lived alone--went there not as an experiment in self-education, as
+Thoreau went and lived by Walden Pond.  He could enjoy living alone, for
+the 'horrors' to which he was occasionally subject did not spring from
+solitary living.  He was never disturbed by passion as was the
+nature-worshipper who once played such selfish tricks with Sinfi Lovell,
+and as Emily Bronte would certainly have been had she been placed in such
+circumstances as Charlotte Bronte placed Shirley."
+
+"But the most damning thing of all," said Hake, "is that umbrella,
+gigantic and green: a painful thought that has often occurred to me."
+
+"Passion has certainly never disturbed his nature-worship," said I.  "So
+devoid of passion is he that to depict a tragic situation is quite beyond
+his powers.  Picturesque he always is, powerful never.  No one reading an
+account of the privations of Lavengro during the 'Joseph Sell' period
+finds himself able to realise from Borrow's description the misery of a
+young man tenderly reared, and with all the pride of an East Anglian
+gentleman, living on bread and water in a garret, with starvation staring
+him in the face.  It is not passion," I said to Hake, "that prevents
+Borrow from enjoying the peace of the nature-worshipper.  It is Ambition!
+His books show that he could never cleanse his stuffed bosom of the
+perilous stuff of ambition.  To become renowned, judging from many a
+peroration in 'Lavengro,' was as great an incentive to Borrow to learn
+languages as to Alexander Smith's poet-hero it was an incentive to write
+poetry."
+
+"Ambition and the green gamp," said Hake.  "But, look, the rainbow is
+fading from the sky without the intervention of gypsy sorceries, and see
+how the ferns are changing colour with the change in the light."
+
+But I soon found that if Borrow was not a perfect Child of the Open Air,
+he was something better: a man of that deep sympathy with human kind,
+which the "Child of the Open Air" must needs lack.
+
+
+
+IX.  THE GYPSIES OF NORMAN CROSS.
+
+
+Knowing Borrow's extraordinary shyness and his great dislike of meeting
+strangers, Dr. Hake, while Borrow was trying to get as close to the deer
+as they would allow, expressed to me his surprise at the terms of cordial
+friendship that sprang up between us during that walk.  But I was not
+surprised: there were several reasons why Borrow should at once take to
+me--reasons that had nothing whatever to do with any inherent
+attractiveness of my own.
+
+By recalling what occurred I can throw a more brilliant light upon
+Borrow's character than by any kind of analytical disquisition.
+
+Two herons rose from the Ponds and flew away to where they probably had
+their nests.  By the expression on Borrow's face as he stood and gazed at
+them, I knew that, like myself, he had a passion for herons.
+
+"Were there many herons around Whittlesea Mere before it was drained?" I
+said.
+
+"I should think so," said he, dreamily, "and every kind of water bird."
+
+Then, suddenly turning round upon me with a start, he said, "But how do
+you know that I knew Whittlesea Mere?"
+
+"You say in 'Lavengro' that you played among the reeds of Whittlesea Mere
+when you were a child."
+
+"I don't mention Whittlesea Mere in 'Lavengro,'" he said.
+
+"No," said I, "but you speak of a lake near the old State prison at
+Norman Cross, and that was Whittlesea Mere."
+
+"Then you know Whittlesea Mere?" said Borrow, much interested.
+
+"I know the place that _was_ Whittlesea Mere before it was drained," I
+said, "and I know the vipers around Norman Cross, and I think I know the
+lane where you first met Jasper Petulengro.  He was a generation before
+my time.  Indeed, I never was thrown much across the Petulengroes in the
+Eastern Counties, but I knew some of the Hernes and the Lees and the
+Lovells."
+
+I then told him what I knew about Romanies and vipers, and also gave him
+Marcianus's story about the Moors being invulnerable to the viper's bite,
+and about their putting the true breed of a suspected child to the test
+by setting it to grasp a viper--as he, Borrow, when a child, grasped one
+of the vipers of Norman Cross.
+
+"The gypsies," said Borrow, "always believed me to be a Romany.  But
+surely you are not a Romany Rye?"
+
+"No," I said, "but I am a student of folk-lore; and besides, as it has
+been my fortune to see every kind of life in England, high and low, I
+could not entirely neglect the Romanies, could I?"
+
+"I should think not," said Borrow, indignantly.  "But I hope you don't
+know the literary class among the rest."
+
+"Hake is my only link to _that_ dark world," I said; "and even you don't
+object to Hake.  I am purer than he, purer than you, from the taint of
+printers' ink."
+
+He laughed.  "Who are you?"
+
+"The very question I have been asking myself ever since I was a child in
+short frocks," I said, "and have never yet found an answer.  But Hake
+agrees with me that no well-bred soul should embarrass itself with any
+such troublesome query."  This gave a chance to Hake, who in such local
+reminiscences as these had been able to take no part.  The humorous
+mystery of Man's personality had often been a subject of joke between him
+and me in many a ramble in the Park and elsewhere.  At once he threw
+himself into a strain of whimsical philosophy which partly amused and
+partly vexed Borrow, who stood waiting to return to the subject of the
+gypsies and East Anglia.
+
+"You are an Englishman?" said Borrow.
+
+"Not only an Englishman, but an East Englishman," I said, using a phrase
+of his own in "Lavengro"--"if not a thorough East Anglian an East
+Midlander; who, you will admit, is nearly as good."
+
+"Nearly," said Borrow.
+
+And when I went on to tell him that I once used to drive a genuine
+"Shales mare," a descendant of that same famous Norfolk trotter who could
+trot fabulous miles an hour, to whom he with the Norfolk farmers raised
+his hat in reverence at the Norwich horse fair, and when I promised to
+show him a portrait of this same East Anglian mare with myself behind her
+in a dogcart--an East Anglian dogcart--when I praised the stinging
+saltness of the sea water off Yarmouth, Lowestoft, and Cromer, the
+quality which makes it the best, the most buoyant, the most delightful of
+all sea water to swim in--when I told him that the only English river in
+which you could see reflected the rainbow he loved was "the glassy Ouse"
+of East Anglia, and the only place in England where you could see it
+reflected in the wet sand was the Norfolk coast, and when I told him a
+good many things showing that I was in very truth not only an Englishman,
+but an East Englishman, my conquest of the "Walking Lord of Gypsy Lore"
+was complete, and from that moment we became friends.
+
+Hake meanwhile stood listening to the rooks in the distance.  He turned
+and asked Borrow whether he had never noticed a similarity between the
+kind of muffled rattling roar made by the sea-waves upon a distant pebbly
+beach and the sound of a large rookery in the distance.
+
+"It is on _sand_ alone," said Borrow, "that the sea strikes its true
+music--Norfolk sand: a rattle is not music."
+
+"The best of the sea's lutes," I said, "is made by the sands of Cromer."
+
+I have read over to my beloved old friend Dr. Hake, the above meagre
+account of that my first delightful ramble with Borrow.  He whose memory
+lets nothing escape, has reminded me of a score of interesting things
+said and done on that memorable occasion.  But in putting into print any
+record of one's intercourse with a famous man, there is always an
+unpleasant sense of lapsing into egotism.  And besides, the reader has
+very likely had enough now of talk between Borrow and me.
+
+
+
+X.  THE FUTURE OF BORROW'S WORKS.
+
+
+He whom London once tried hard, but in vain, to lionise, lived during
+some of the last years of his life in Hereford Square, unknown to any
+save about a dozen friends.  At the head of them stood Mr. John Murray,
+whose virtues, both as publisher and as English gentleman, he was never
+tired of extolling.
+
+Afterwards he went down to East Anglia--that East Anglia he loved so
+well--went there, as he told me, to die.
+
+But it was not till one day in 1881 that Borrow achieved, in the Cottage
+by the Oulton Broads which his genius once made famous, and where so much
+of his best work had been written, the soul's great conquest over its
+fleshly trammels, the conquest we call death, but which he believed to be
+life.  His body was laid by the side of that of his wife at Brompton.
+
+When I wrote his obituary notice in the _Athenaeum_ no little wonder was
+expressed in various quarters that the "Walking Lord of Gypsy Lore" had
+been walking so lately the earth.
+
+And yet his "Bible in Spain" had still a regular sale.  His "Lavengro"
+and "Romany Rye" were still allowed by all competent critics to be among
+the most delightful books in the language.  Indeed, at his death, Borrow
+was what he now is, and what he will continue to be long after Time has
+played havoc with nine-tenths of the writers whose names are week by
+week, and day by day, "paragraphed" in the papers as "literary
+celebrities"--an English classic.
+
+Apart from Borrow's undoubted genius as a writer the subject-matter of
+his writings has an interest that will not wane but will go on growing.
+The more the features of our "Beautiful England," to use his own phrase,
+are changed by the multitudinous effects of the railway system, the more
+attraction will readers find in books which depict her before her beauty
+was marred--books which depict her in those antediluvian days when there
+was such a thing as space in the island--when in England there was a
+sense of distance, that sense without which there can be no romance--when
+the stage-coach was in its glory--when the only magician who could convey
+man and his belongings at any rate of speed beyond man's own walking rate
+was the horse--the beloved horse whose praises Borrow loved to sing, and
+whose ideal was reached in the mighty "Shales"--when the great high roads
+were alive, not merely with the bustle of business, but with real
+adventure for the traveller--days and scenes which Borrow better than any
+one else could paint.  A time will come, I say, when not only books full
+of descriptive genius, like "Lavengro," but even such comparatively tame
+descriptions of England as the "Gleanings in England and Wales" of the
+now forgotten East Midlander, Samuel Jackson Pratt, will be read with a
+new interest.  But why was Borrow so entirely forgotten at the moment of
+his death?  Simply because, like many another man of genius and many a
+scholar, he refused to figure in the literary arena--went on his way
+quietly influencing the world, but mixing only with his private friends.
+
+                                                           THEODORE WATTS.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+In the following pages I have endeavoured to describe a dream, partly of
+study, partly of adventure, in which will be found copious notices of
+books, and many descriptions of life and manners, some in a very unusual
+form.
+
+The scenes of action lie in the British Islands;--pray be not displeased,
+gentle reader, if perchance thou hast imagined that I was about to
+conduct thee to distant lands, and didst promise thyself much instruction
+and entertainment from what I might tell thee of them.  I do assure thee
+that thou hast no reason to be displeased, inasmuch as there are no
+countries in the world less known by the British than these selfsame
+British Islands, or where more strange things are every day occurring,
+whether in road or street, house or dingle.
+
+The time embraces nearly the first quarter of the present century: this
+information again may, perhaps, be anything but agreeable to thee; it is
+a long time to revert to, but fret not thyself, many matters which at
+present much occupy the public mind originated in some degree towards the
+latter end of that period, and some of them will be treated of.
+
+The principal actors in this dream, or drama, are, as you will have
+gathered from the title-page, a Scholar, a Gypsy, and a Priest.  Should
+you imagine that these three form one, permit me to assure you that you
+are very much mistaken.  Should there be something of the Gypsy manifest
+in the Scholar, there is certainly nothing of the Priest.  With respect
+to the Gypsy--decidedly the most entertaining character of the
+three--there is certainly nothing of the Scholar or the Priest in him;
+and as for the Priest, though there may be something in him both of
+scholarship and gypsyism, neither the Scholar nor the Gypsy would feel at
+all flattered by being confounded with him.
+
+Many characters which may be called subordinate will be found, and it is
+probable that some of these characters will afford much more interest to
+the reader than those styled the principal.  The favourites with the
+writer are a brave old soldier and his helpmate, an ancient gentlewoman
+who sold apples, and a strange kind of wandering man and his wife.
+
+Amongst the many things attempted in this book is the encouragement of
+charity, and free and genial manners, and the exposure of humbug, of
+which there are various kinds, but of which the most perfidious, the most
+debasing, and the most cruel, is the humbug of the Priest.
+
+Yet let no one think that irreligion is advocated in this book.  With
+respect to religious tenets, I wish to observe that I am a member of the
+Church of England, into whose communion I was baptized, and to which my
+forefathers belonged.  Its being the religion in which I was baptized,
+and of my forefathers, would be a strong inducement to me to cling to it;
+for I do not happen to be one of those choice spirits "who turn from
+their banner when the battle bears strongly against it, and go over to
+the enemy," and who receive at first a hug and a "viva," and in the
+sequel contempt and spittle in the face; but my chief reason for
+belonging to it is, because, of all Churches calling themselves Christian
+ones, I believe there is none so good, so well founded upon Scripture, or
+whose ministers are, upon the whole, so exemplary in their lives and
+conversation, so well read in the book from which they preach, or so
+versed in general learning, so useful in their immediate neighbourhoods,
+or so unwilling to persecute people of other denominations for matters of
+doctrine.
+
+In the communion of this Church, and with the religious consolation of
+its ministers, I wish and hope to live and die, and in its and their
+defence will at all times be ready, if required, to speak, though humbly,
+and to fight, though feebly, against enemies, whether carnal or
+spiritual.
+
+And is there no priestcraft in the Church of England?  There is
+certainly, or rather there was, a modicum of priestcraft in the Church of
+England, but I have generally found that those who are most vehement
+against the Church of England are chiefly dissatisfied with her, because
+there is only a modicum of that article in her--were she stuffed to the
+very cupola with it, like a certain other Church, they would have much
+less to say against the Church of England.
+
+By the other Church, I mean Rome.  Its system was once prevalent in
+England, and, during the period that it prevailed there, was more
+prolific of debasement and crime than all other causes united.  The
+people and the government at last becoming enlightened by means of the
+Scripture, spurned it from the island with disgust and horror, the land
+instantly after its disappearance becoming a fair field, in which arts,
+sciences, and all the amiable virtues flourished, instead of being a
+pestilent marsh where swine-like ignorance wallowed, and artful
+hypocrites, like so many Wills-o'-the-wisp, played antic gambols about,
+around, and above debased humanity.
+
+But Popery still wished to play her old part, to regain her lost
+dominion, to reconvert the smiling land into the pestilential morass,
+where she could play again her old antics.  From the period of the
+Reformation in England up to the present time, she has kept her
+emissaries here, individuals contemptible in intellect, it is true, but
+cat-like and gliding, who, at her bidding, have endeavoured, as much as
+in their power has lain, to damp and stifle every genial, honest, loyal,
+and independent thought, and to reduce minds to such a state of dotage as
+would enable their old Popish mother to do what she pleased with them.
+
+And in every country, however enlightened, there are always minds
+inclined to grovelling superstition--minds fond of eating dust, and
+swallowing clay--minds never at rest, save when prostrate before some
+fellow in a surplice; and these Popish emissaries found always some weak
+enough to bow down before them, astounded by their dreadful denunciations
+of eternal woe and damnation to any who should refuse to believe their
+Romania; but they played a poor game--the law protected the servants of
+Scripture, and the priest with his beads seldom ventured to approach any
+but the remnant of those of the eikonolatry--representatives of
+worm-eaten houses, their debased dependants, and a few poor crazy
+creatures amongst the middle classes--he played a poor game, and the
+labour was about to prove almost entirely in vain, when the English
+legislature, in compassion or contempt, or, yet more probably, influenced
+by that spirit of toleration and kindness which is so mixed up with
+Protestantism, removed almost entirely the disabilities under which
+Popery laboured, and enabled it to raise its head, and to speak out
+almost without fear.
+
+And it did raise its head, and, though it spoke with some little fear at
+first, soon discarded every relic of it; went about the land uttering its
+damnation cry, gathering around it--and for doing so many thanks to
+it--the favourers of priestcraft who lurked within the walls of the
+Church of England; frightening with the loudness of its voice the weak,
+the timid, and the ailing; perpetrating, whenever it had an opportunity,
+that species of crime to which it has ever been most partial--_Deathbed
+robbery_; for as it is cruel, so is it dastardly.  Yes, it went on
+enlisting, plundering, and uttering its terrible threats till--till it
+became, as it always does when left to itself, a fool, a very fool.  Its
+plunderings might have been overlooked, and so might its insolence, had
+it been common insolence, but it--, and then the roar of indignation
+which arose from outraged England against the viper, the frozen viper
+which it had permitted to warm itself upon its bosom.
+
+But thanks, Popery, you have done all that the friends of enlightenment
+and religious liberty could wish; but if ever there were a set of foolish
+ones to be found under Heaven, surely it is the priestly rabble who came
+over from Rome to direct the grand movement--so long in its getting up.
+
+But now again the damnation cry is withdrawn, there is a subdued meekness
+in your demeanour, you are now once more harmless as a lamb.  Well, we
+shall see how the trick--"the old trick"--will serve you.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Birth--My Father--Tamerlane--Ben Brain--French Protestants--East
+Anglia--Sorrow and Troubles--True Peace--A Beautiful Child--Foreign
+Grave--Mirrors--Alpine Country Emblems--Slow of Speech--The Jew--Strange
+Gestures.
+
+On an evening of July, in the year 18--, at East D---, a beautiful little
+town in a certain district of East Anglia, I first saw the light.
+
+My father was a Cornish man, the youngest, as I have heard him say, of
+seven brothers.  He sprang from a family of gentlemen, or, as some people
+would call them, gentillatres, for they were not very wealthy; they had a
+coat of arms, however, and lived on their own property at a place called
+Tredinnock, which being interpreted means _the house on the hill_, which
+house and the neighbouring acres had been from time immemorial in their
+possession.  I mention these particulars that the reader may see at once
+that I am not altogether of low and plebeian origin; the present age is
+highly aristocratic, and I am convinced that the public will read my
+pages with more zest from being told that I am a gentillatre by birth
+with Cornish blood {1} in my veins, of a family who lived on their own
+property at a place bearing a Celtic name signifying the house on the
+hill, or more strictly the house on the _hillock_.
+
+My father was what is generally termed a posthumous child--in other
+words, the gentillatre who begot him never had the satisfaction of
+invoking the blessing of the Father of All upon his head, having departed
+this life some months before the birth of his youngest son.  The boy,
+therefore, never knew a father's care; he was, however, well tended by
+his mother, whose favourite he was; so much so, indeed, that his
+brethren, the youngest of whom was considerably older than himself, were
+rather jealous of him.  I never heard, however, that they treated him
+with any marked unkindness; and it will be as well to observe here that I
+am by no means well acquainted with his early history, of which, indeed,
+as I am not writing his life, it is not necessary to say much.  Shortly
+after his mother's death, which occurred when he was eighteen, he adopted
+the profession of arms, which he followed during the remainder of his
+life, and in which, had circumstances permitted, he would probably have
+shone amongst the best.  By nature he was cool and collected, slow to
+anger, though perfectly fearless, patient of control, of great strength;
+and, to crown all, a proper man with his hands.
+
+With far inferior qualifications many a man has become a field-marshal or
+general; similar ones made Tamerlane, who was not a gentillatre, but the
+son of a blacksmith, emperor of one-third of the world; but the race is
+not always for the swift, nor the battle for the strong, indeed I ought
+rather to say very seldom; certain it is, that my father, with all his
+high military qualifications, never became emperor, field-marshal, or
+even general; indeed, he had never an opportunity of distinguishing
+himself save in one battle, and that took place neither in Flanders,
+Egypt, nor on the banks of the Indus or Oxus, but in Hyde Park.
+
+Smile not, gentle reader, many a battle has been fought in Hyde Park, in
+which as much skill, science, and bravery have been displayed as ever
+achieved a victory in Flanders or by the Indus.  In such a combat as that
+to which I allude I opine that even Wellington or Napoleon would have
+been heartily glad to cry for quarter ere the lapse of five minutes, and
+even the Blacksmith Tartar would, perhaps, have shrunk from the opponent
+with whom, after having had a dispute with him, my father engaged in
+single combat for one hour, at the end of which time the champions shook
+hands and retired, each having experienced quite enough of the other's
+prowess.  The name of my father's antagonist was Brain.
+
+What! still a smile? did you never hear that name before?  I cannot help
+it!  Honour to Brain, who four months after the event which I have now
+narrated was champion of England, having conquered the heroic Johnson.
+Honour to Brain, who, at the end of other four months, worn out by the
+dreadful blows which he had received in his manly combats, expired in the
+arms of my father, who read the Bible to him in his latter moments--Big
+Ben Brain.
+
+You no longer smile, even _you_ have heard of Big Ben.
+
+I have already hinted that my father never rose to any very exalted rank
+in his profession, notwithstanding his prowess and other qualifications.
+After serving for many years in the line, he at last entered as captain
+in the militia regiment of the Earl of ---, at that period just raised,
+and to which he was sent by the Duke of York to instruct the young levies
+in military manoeuvres and discipline; and in this mission I believe he
+perfectly succeeded, competent judges having assured me that the regiment
+in question soon came by his means to be considered as one of the most
+brilliant in the service, and inferior to no regiment of the line in
+appearance or discipline.
+
+As the head-quarters of this corps were at D---, the duties of my father
+not unfrequently carried him to that place, and it was on one of these
+occasions that he became acquainted with a young person of the
+neighbourhood, for whom he formed an attachment, which was returned; and
+this young person was my mother.
+
+She was descended from a family of French Protestants, natives of Caen,
+who were obliged to leave their native country when old Louis, at the
+instigation of the Pope, thought fit to revoke the Edict of Nantes: their
+name was Petrement, and I have reason for believing that they were people
+of some consideration; that they were noble hearts and good Christians
+they gave sufficient proof in scorning to bow the knee to the tyranny of
+Rome.  So they left beautiful Normandy for their faith's sake, and with a
+few louis d'ors in their purse, a Bible in the vulgar tongue, and a
+couple of old swords, which, if report be true, had done service in the
+Huguenot wars, they crossed the sea to the isle of civil peace and
+religious liberty, and established themselves in East Anglia.
+
+And many other Huguenot families bent their steps thither, and devoted
+themselves to agriculture or the mechanical arts; and in the venerable
+old city, the capital of the province, in the northern shadow of the
+Castle of De Burgh, the exiles built for themselves a church where they
+praised God in the French tongue, and to which, at particular seasons of
+the year, they were in the habit of flocking from country and from town
+to sing--
+
+"Thou hast provided for us a goodly earth; Thou waterest her furrows,
+Thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof, Thou makest it soft
+with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it."
+
+I have been told that in her younger days my mother was strikingly
+handsome; this I can easily believe: I never knew her in her youth, for
+though she was very young when she married my father (who was her senior
+by many years), she had attained the middle age before I was born, no
+children having been vouchsafed to my parents in the early stages of
+their union.  Yet even at the present day, now that years threescore and
+ten have passed over her head, attended with sorrow and troubles
+manifold, poorly chequered with scanty joys, can I look on that
+countenance and doubt that at one time beauty decked it as with a
+glorious garment?  Hail to thee, my parent! as thou sittest there, in thy
+widow's weeds, in the dusky parlour in the house overgrown with the
+lustrous ivy of the sister isle, the solitary house at the end of the
+retired court shaded by lofty poplars.  Hail to thee, dame of the oval
+face, olive complexion, and Grecian forehead; by thy table seated with
+the mighty volume of the good Bishop Hopkins spread out before thee;
+there is peace in thy countenance, my mother; it is not worldly peace,
+however, not the deceitful peace which lulls to bewitching slumbers, and
+from which, let us pray, humbly pray, that every sinner may be roused in
+time to implore mercy not in vain!  Thine is the peace of the righteous,
+my mother, of those to whom no sin can be imputed, the score of whose
+misdeeds has been long since washed away by the blood of atonement, which
+imputeth righteousness to those who trust in it.  It was not always thus,
+my mother; a time was, when the cares, pomps, and vanities of this world
+agitated thee too much; but that time is gone by, another and a better
+has succeeded; there is peace now on thy countenance, the true peace;
+peace around thee, too, in thy solitary dwelling, sounds of peace, the
+cheerful hum of the kettle and the purring of the immense Angola, which
+stares up at thee from its settle with its almost human eyes.
+
+No more earthly cares and affections now, my mother!  Yes, one.  Why dost
+thou suddenly raise thy dark and still brilliant eye from the volume with
+a somewhat startled glance?  What noise is that in the distant street?
+Merely the noise of a hoof; a sound common enough; it draws nearer,
+nearer, and now it stops before thy gate.  Singular!  And now there is a
+pause, a long pause.  Ha! thou hearest something--a footstep; a swift but
+heavy footstep! thou risest, thou tremblest, there is a hand on the pin
+of the outer door, there is some one in the vestibule, and now the door
+of thy apartment opens, there is a reflection on the mirror behind thee,
+a travelling hat, a gray head and sunburnt face.  My dearest Son!  My
+darling Mother!
+
+Yes, mother, thou didst recognize in the distant street the hoof-tramp of
+the wanderer's horse.
+
+I was not the only child of my parents; I had a brother some three years
+older than myself.  He was a beautiful child; one of those occasionally
+seen in England, and in England alone; a rosy, angelic face, blue eyes,
+and light chestnut hair; it was not exactly an Anglo-Saxon countenance,
+in which, by the by, there is generally a cast of loutishness and
+stupidity; it partook, to a certain extent, of the Celtic character,
+particularly in the fire and vivacity which illumined it; his face was
+the mirror of his mind; perhaps no disposition more amiable was ever
+found amongst the children of Adam, united, however, with no
+inconsiderable portion of high and dauntless spirit.  So great was his
+beauty in infancy that people, especially those of the poorer classes,
+would follow the nurse who carried him about in order to look at and
+bless his lovely face.  At the age of three months an attempt was made to
+snatch him from his mother's arms in the streets of London, at the moment
+she was about to enter a coach; indeed, his appearance seemed to operate
+so powerfully upon every person who beheld him that my parents were under
+continual apprehension of losing him; his beauty, however, was perhaps
+surpassed by the quickness of his parts.  He mastered his letters in a
+few hours, and in a day or two could decipher the names of people on the
+doors of houses and over the shop-windows.
+
+As he grew up his personal appearance became less prepossessing, his
+quickness and cleverness, however, rather increased; and I may say of
+him, that with respect to everything which he took in hand he did it
+better and more speedily than any other person.  Perhaps it will be asked
+here, what became of him?  Alas! alas! his was an early and a foreign
+grave.  As I have said before, the race is not always for the swift, nor
+the battle for the strong.
+
+And now, doubtless, after the above portrait of my brother, painted in
+the very best style of Rubens, the reader will conceive himself justified
+in expecting a full-length one of myself, as a child, for as to my
+present appearance, I suppose he will be tolerably content with that
+flitting glimpse in the mirror.  But he must excuse me; I have no
+intention of drawing a portrait of myself in childhood; indeed it would
+be difficult, for at that time I never looked into mirrors.  No attempts,
+however, were ever made to steal me in my infancy, and I never heard that
+my parents entertained the slightest apprehension of losing me by the
+hands of kidnappers, though I remember perfectly well that people were in
+the habit of standing still to look at me, ay, more than at my brother;
+from which premises the reader may form any conclusion with respect to my
+appearance which seemeth good unto him and reasonable.  Should he, being
+a good-natured person, and always inclined to adopt the charitable side
+in any doubtful point, be willing to suppose that I, too, was eminently
+endowed by nature with personal graces, I tell him frankly that I have no
+objection whatever to his entertaining that idea; moreover, that I
+heartily thank him, and shall at all times be disposed, under similar
+circumstances, to exercise the same species of charity towards himself.
+
+With respect to my mind and its qualities I shall be more explicit; for
+were I to maintain much reserve on this point, many things which appear
+in these memoirs would be highly mysterious to the reader, indeed
+incomprehensible.  Perhaps no two individuals were ever more unlike in
+mind and disposition than my brother and myself: as light is opposed to
+darkness, so was that happy, brilliant, cheerful child to the sad and
+melancholy being who sprang from the same stock as himself, and was
+nurtured by the same milk.
+
+Once, when travelling in an Alpine country, I arrived at a considerable
+elevation; I saw in the distance, far below, a beautiful stream hastening
+to the ocean, its rapid waters here sparkling in the sunshine, and there
+tumbling merrily in cascades.  On its banks were vineyards and cheerful
+villages; close to where I stood, in a granite basin, with steep and
+precipitous sides, slumbered a deep, dark lagoon, shaded by black pines,
+cypresses, and yews.  It was a wild, savage spot, strange and singular;
+ravens hovered above the pines, filling the air with their uncouth notes,
+pies chattered, and I heard the cry of an eagle from a neighbouring peak;
+there lay the lake, the dark, solitary, and almost inaccessible lake;
+gloomy shadows were upon it, which, strangely modified as gusts of wind
+agitated the surface, occasionally assumed the shape of monsters.  So I
+stood on the Alpine elevation, and looked now on the gay distant river,
+and now at the dark granite-encircled lake close beside me in the lone
+solitude, and I thought of my brother and myself.  I am no moralizer; but
+the gay and rapid river and the dark and silent lake were, of a verity,
+no bad emblems of us two.
+
+So far from being quick and clever like my brother, and able to rival the
+literary feat which I have recorded of him, many years elapsed before I
+was able to understand the nature of letters, or to connect them.  A
+lover of nooks and retired corners, I was as a child in the habit of
+fleeing from society, and of sitting for hours together with my head on
+my breast.  What I was thinking about it would be difficult to say at
+this distance of time; I remember perfectly well, however, being ever
+conscious of a peculiar heaviness within me, and at times of a strange
+sensation of fear, which occasionally amounted to horror, and for which I
+could assign no real cause whatever.
+
+By nature slow of speech, I took no pleasure in conversation, nor in
+hearing the voices of my fellow-creatures.  When people addressed me I
+not unfrequently, especially if they were strangers, turned away my head
+from them, and if they persisted in their notice burst into tears, which
+singularity of behaviour by no means tended to dispose people in my
+favour.  I was as much disliked as my brother was deservedly beloved and
+admired.  My parents, it is true, were always kind to me; and my brother,
+who was good nature itself, was continually lavishing upon me every mark
+of affection.
+
+There was, however, one individual who, in the days of my childhood, was
+disposed to form a favourable opinion of me.  One day a Jew--I have quite
+forgotten the circumstance, but I was long subsequently informed of
+it--one day a travelling Jew knocked at the door of a farmhouse in which
+we had taken apartments; I was near at hand, sitting in the bright
+sunshine, drawing strange lines on the dust with my fingers, an ape and
+dog were my companions; the Jew looked at me and asked me some questions,
+to which, though I was quite able to speak, I returned no answer.  On the
+door being opened, the Jew, after a few words, probably relating to
+pedlary, demanded who the child was, sitting in the sun; the maid replied
+that I was her mistress's youngest son, a child weak _here_, pointing to
+her forehead.  The Jew looked at me again, and then said, "'Pon my
+conscience, my dear, I believe that you must be troubled there yourself
+to tell me any such thing.  It is not my habit to speak to children,
+inasmuch as I hate them, because they often follow me and fling stones
+after me; but I no sooner looked at that child than I was forced to speak
+to it--his not answering me shows his sense, for it has never been the
+custom of the wise to fling away their words in indifferent talk and
+conversation; the child is a sweet child, and has all the look of one of
+our people's children.  Fool, indeed! did I not see his eyes sparkle just
+now when the monkey seized the dog by the ear? they shone like my own
+diamonds--does your good lady want any, real and fine?  Were it not for
+what you tell me, I should say it was a prophet's child.  Fool, indeed!
+he can write already, or I'll forfeit the box which I carry on my back,
+and for which I should be loth to take two hundred pounds!"  He then
+leaned forward to inspect the lines which I had traced.  All of a sudden
+he started back, and grew white as a sheet; then, taking off his hat, he
+made some strange gestures to me, cringing, chattering, and showing his
+teeth, and shortly departed, muttering something about "holy letters,"
+and talking to himself in a strange tongue.  The words of the Jew were in
+due course of time reported to my mother, who treasured them in her
+heart, and from that moment began to entertain brighter hopes of her
+youngest-born than she had ever before ventured to foster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Barracks and Lodgings--A Camp--The Viper--A Delicate Child--Blackberry
+Time--Meum and Tuum--Hythe--The Golgotha--Daneman's Skull--Superhuman
+Stature--Stirring Times--The Sea-Board.
+
+I have been a wanderer the greater part of my life; indeed I remember
+only two periods, and these by no means lengthy, when I was, strictly
+speaking, stationary.  I was a soldier's son, and as the means of my
+father were by no means sufficient to support two establishments, his
+family invariably attended him wherever he went, so that from my infancy
+I was accustomed to travelling and wandering, and looked upon a monthly
+change of scene and residence as a matter of course.  Sometimes we lived
+in barracks, sometimes in lodgings, but generally in the former, always
+eschewing the latter from motives of economy, save when the barracks were
+inconvenient and uncomfortable; and they must have been highly so indeed
+to have discouraged us from entering them; for though we were gentry
+(pray bear that in mind, gentle reader), gentry by birth, and
+incontestably so by my father's bearing the commission of good old George
+the Third, we were _not fine gentry_, but people who could put up with as
+much as any genteel Scotch family who find it convenient to live on a
+third floor in London, or on a sixth at Edinburgh or Glasgow.  It was not
+a little that could discourage us: we once lived within the canvas walls
+of a camp, at a place called Pett, in Sussex; and I believe it was at
+this place that occurred the first circumstance, or adventure, call it
+which you will, that I can remember in connection with myself: it was a
+strange one, and I will relate it.
+
+It happened that my brother and myself were playing one evening in a
+sandy lane, in the neighbourhood of this Pett camp; our mother was at a
+slight distance.  All of a sudden a bright yellow, and, to my infantine
+eye, beautiful and glorious object made its appearance at the top of the
+bank from between the thick quickset, and, gliding down, began to move
+across the lane to the other side, like a line of golden light.  Uttering
+a cry of pleasure, I sprang forward, and seized it nearly by the middle.
+A strange sensation of numbing coldness seemed to pervade my whole arm,
+which surprised me the more as the object to the eye appeared so warm and
+sunlike.  I did not drop it, however, but, holding it up, looked at it
+intently, as its head dangled about a foot from my hand.  It made no
+resistance; I felt not even the slightest struggle; but now my brother
+began to scream and shriek like one possessed.  "O mother, mother!" said
+he, "the viper! my brother has a viper in his hand!"  He then, like one
+frantic, made an effort to snatch the creature away from me.  The viper
+now hissed amain, and raised its head, in which were eyes like hot coals,
+menacing, not myself, but my brother.  I dropped my captive, for I saw my
+mother running towards me; and the reptile, after standing for a moment
+nearly erect and still hissing furiously, made off, and disappeared.  The
+whole scene is now before me, as vividly as if it occurred yesterday--the
+gorgeous viper, my poor dear frantic brother, my agitated parent, and a
+frightened hen clucking under the bushes: and yet I was not three years
+old.
+
+It is my firm belief that certain individuals possess an inherent power,
+or fascination, over certain creatures, otherwise I should be unable to
+account for many feats which I have witnessed, and, indeed, borne a share
+in, connected with the taming of brutes and reptiles.  I have known a
+savage and vicious mare, whose stall it was dangerous to approach, even
+when bearing provender, welcome, nevertheless, with every appearance of
+pleasure, an uncouth, wiry-headed man, with a frightfully seamed face,
+and an iron hook supplying the place of his right arm, one whom the
+animal had never seen before, playfully bite his hair and cover his face
+with gentle and endearing kisses; and I have already stated how a viper
+would permit, without resentment, one child to take it up in his hand,
+whilst it showed its dislike to the approach of another by the fiercest
+hissings.  Philosophy can explain many strange things, but there are some
+which are a far pitch above her, and this is one.
+
+I should scarcely relate another circumstance which occurred about this
+time but for a singular effect which it produced upon my constitution.
+Up to this period I had been rather a delicate child; whereas almost
+immediately after the occurrence to which I allude I became both hale and
+vigorous, to the great astonishment of my parents, who naturally enough
+expected that it would produce quite a contrary effect.
+
+It happened that my brother and myself were disporting ourselves in
+certain fields near the good town of Canterbury.  A female servant had
+attended us, in order to take care that we came to no mischief: she,
+however, it seems, had matters of her own to attend to, and, allowing us
+to go where we listed, remained in one corner of a field, in earnest
+conversation with a red-coated dragoon.  Now it chanced to be blackberry
+time, and the two children wandered under the hedges, peering anxiously
+among them in quest of that trash so grateful to urchins of their degree.
+We did not find much of it however, and were soon separated in the
+pursuit.  All at once I stood still, and could scarcely believe my eyes.
+I had come to a spot where, almost covering the hedge, hung clusters of
+what seemed fruit, deliciously-tempting fruit--something resembling
+grapes of various colours, green, red, and purple.  Dear me, thought I,
+how fortunate! yet have I a right to gather it? is it mine? for the
+observance of the law of _meum_ and _tuum_ had early been impressed upon
+my mind, and I entertained, even at that tender age, the utmost horror
+for theft; so I stood staring at the variegated clusters, in doubt as to
+what I should do.  I know not how I argued the matter in my mind; the
+temptation, however, was at last too strong for me, so I stretched forth
+my hand and ate.  I remember, perfectly well, that the taste of this
+strange fruit was by no means so pleasant as the appearance; but the idea
+of eating fruit was sufficient for a child, and, after all, the flavour
+was much superior to that of sour apples, so I ate voraciously.  How long
+I continued eating I scarcely know.  One thing is certain, that I never
+left the field as I entered it, being carried home in the arms of the
+dragoon in strong convulsions, in which I continued for several hours.
+About midnight I awoke, as if from a troubled sleep, and beheld my
+parents bending over my couch, whilst the regimental surgeon, with a
+candle in his hand, stood nigh, the light feebly reflected on the
+whitewashed walls of the barrack-room.
+
+Another circumstance connected with my infancy, and I have done.  I need
+offer no apology for relating it, as it subsequently exercised
+considerable influence over my pursuits.  We were, if I remember right,
+in the vicinity of a place called Hythe, in Kent.  One sweet evening, in
+the latter part of summer, our mother took her two little boys by the
+hand, for a wander about the fields.  In the course of our stroll we came
+to the village church; an old gray-headed sexton stood in the porch, who,
+perceiving that we were strangers, invited us to enter.  We were
+presently in the interior, wandering about the aisles, looking on the
+walls, and inspecting the monuments of the notable dead.  I can scarcely
+state what we saw; how should I?  I was a child not yet four years old,
+and yet I think I remember the evening sun streaming in through a stained
+window upon the dingy mahogany pulpit, and flinging a rich lustre upon
+the faded tints of an ancient banner.  And now once more we were outside
+the building, where, against the wall, stood a low-eaved pent-house, into
+which we looked.  It was half filled with substances of some kind, which
+at first looked like large gray stones.  The greater part were lying in
+layers; some, however, were seen in confused and mouldering heaps, and
+two or three, which had perhaps rolled down from the rest, lay separately
+on the floor.  "Skulls, madam," said the sexton; "skulls of the old
+Danes!  Long ago they came pirating into these parts: and then there
+chanced a mighty shipwreck, for God was angry with them, and He sunk
+them; and their skulls, as they came ashore, were placed here as a
+memorial.  There were many more when I was young, but now they are fast
+disappearing.  Some of them must have belonged to strange fellows, madam.
+Only see that one; why, the two young gentry can scarcely lift it!"  And,
+indeed, my brother and myself had entered the Golgotha, and commenced
+handling these grim relics of mortality.  One enormous skull, lying in a
+corner, had fixed our attention, and we had drawn it forth.  Spirit of
+eld, what a skull was yon!
+
+I still seem to see it, the huge grim thing; many of the others were
+large, strikingly so, and appeared fully to justify the old man's
+conclusion that their owners must have been strange fellows; but compared
+with this mighty mass of bone they looked small and diminutive, like
+those of pigmies; it must have belonged to a giant, one of those
+red-haired warriors of whose strength and stature such wondrous tales are
+told in the ancient chronicles of the north, and whose grave-hills, when
+ransacked, occasionally reveal secrets which fill the minds of puny
+moderns with astonishment and awe.  Reader, have you ever pored days and
+nights over the pages of Snorro? probably not, for he wrote in a language
+which few of the present day understand, and few would be tempted to read
+him tamed down by Latin dragomans.  A brave old book is that of Snorro,
+containing the histories and adventures of old northern kings and
+champions, who seemed to have been quite different men, if we may judge
+from the feats which they performed, from those of these days.  One of
+the best of his histories is that which describes the life of Harald
+Haardraade, who, after manifold adventures by land and sea, now a pirate,
+now a mercenary of the Greek emperor, became King of Norway, and
+eventually perished at the battle of Stanford Bridge, whilst engaged in a
+gallant onslaught upon England.  Now, I have often thought that the old
+Kemp, whose mouldering skull in the Golgotha at Hythe my brother and
+myself could scarcely lift, must have resembled in one respect at least
+this Harald, whom Snorro describes as a great and wise ruler and a
+determined leader, dangerous in battle, of fair presence, and measuring
+in height just _five ells_, {10} neither more nor less.
+
+I never forgot the Daneman's skull; like the apparition of the viper in
+the sandy lane, it dwelt in the mind of the boy, affording copious food
+for the exercise of imagination.  From that moment with the name of Dane
+were associated strange ideas of strength, daring, and superhuman
+stature; and an undefinable curiosity for all that is connected with the
+Danish race began to pervade me; and if, long after, when I became a
+student, I devoted myself with peculiar zest to Danish lore and the
+acquirement of the old Norse tongue and its dialects, I can only explain
+the matter by the early impression received at Hythe from the tale of the
+old sexton, beneath the pent-house, and the sight of the Danish skull.
+
+And thus we went on straying from place to place, at Hythe to-day, and
+perhaps within a week looking out from our hostel-window upon the streets
+of old Winchester, our motions ever in accordance with the "route" of the
+regiment, so habituated to change of scene that it had become almost
+necessary to our existence.  Pleasant were these days of my early
+boyhood; and a melancholy pleasure steals over me as I recall them.
+Those were stirring times of which I am speaking, and there was much
+passing around me calculated to captivate the imagination.  The dreadful
+struggle which so long convulsed Europe, and in which England bore so
+prominent a part, was then at its hottest; we were at war, and
+determination and enthusiasm shone in every face; man, woman, and child
+were eager to fight the Frank, the hereditary, but, thank God, never
+dreaded enemy of the Anglo-Saxon race.  "Love your country and beat the
+French, and then never mind what happens," was the cry of entire England.
+Oh, those were days of power, gallant days, bustling days, worth the
+bravest days of chivalry, at least; tall battalions of native warriors
+were marching through the land; there was the glitter of the bayonet and
+the gleam of the sabre; the shrill squeak of the fife and loud rattling
+of the drum were heard in the streets of country towns, and the loyal
+shouts of the inhabitants greeted the soldiery on their arrival or
+cheered them at their departure.  And now let us leave the upland, and
+descend to the sea-board; there is a sight for you upon the billows!  A
+dozen men-of-war are gliding majestically out of port, their long
+buntings streaming from the top-gallant masts, calling on the skulking
+Frenchman to come forth from his bights and bays; and what looms upon us
+yonder from the fog-bank in the east? a gallant frigate towing behind her
+the long low hull of a crippled privateer, which but three short days ago
+had left Dieppe to skim the sea, and whose crew of ferocious hearts are
+now cursing their imprudence in an English hold.  Stirring times those,
+which I love to recall, for they were days of gallantry and enthusiasm,
+and were moreover the days of my boyhood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Pretty D-----The Venerable Church--The Stricken Heart--Dormant
+Energies--The Small Packet--Nerves--The Books--A Picture--Mountain-like
+Billows--The Foot-print--Spirit of De Foe--Reasoning Powers--Terrors of
+God--Heads of the Dragons--High Church Clerk--A Journey--The Drowned
+Country.
+
+And when I was between six and seven years of age we were once more at
+D---, the place of my birth, whither my father had been despatched on the
+recruiting service.  I have already said that it was a beautiful little
+town--at least it was at the time of which I am speaking; what it is at
+present I know not, for thirty years and more have elapsed since I last
+trod its streets.  It will scarcely have improved, for how could it be
+better than it then was?  I love to think on thee, pretty, quiet D---,
+thou pattern of an English country town, with thy clean but narrow
+streets branching out from thy modest market-place, with thine
+old-fashioned houses, with here and there a roof of venerable thatch,
+with thy one half-aristocratic mansion, where resided thy Lady
+Bountiful--she, the generous and kind, who loved to visit the sick,
+leaning on her gold-headed cane, whilst the sleek old footman walked at a
+respectful distance behind.  Pretty quiet D---, with thy venerable
+church, in which moulder the mortal remains of England's sweetest and
+most pious bard.
+
+Yes, pretty D---, I could always love thee, were it but for the sake of
+him who sleeps beneath the marble slab in yonder quiet chancel.  It was
+within thee that the long-oppressed bosom heaved its last sigh, and the
+crushed and gentle spirit escaped from a world in which it had known
+nought but sorrow.  Sorrow! do I say?  How faint a word to express the
+misery of that bruised reed; misery so dark that a blind worm like myself
+is occasionally tempted to exclaim, Better had the world never been
+created than that one so kind, so harmless, and so mild, should have
+undergone such intolerable woe!  But it is over now, for, as there is an
+end of joy, so has affliction its termination.  Doubtless the All-wise
+did not afflict him without a cause: who knows but within that unhappy
+frame lurked vicious seeds which the sunbeams of joy and prosperity might
+have called into life and vigour?  Perhaps the withering blasts of misery
+nipped that which otherwise might have terminated in fruit noxious and
+lamentable.  But peace to the unhappy one, he is gone to his rest; the
+deathlike face is no longer occasionally seen timidly and mournfully
+looking for a moment through the window-pane upon thy market-place, quiet
+and pretty D---; the hind in thy neighbourhood no longer at evening-fall
+views, and starts as he views, the dark lathy figure moving beneath the
+hazels and alders of shadowy lanes, or by the side of murmuring trout
+streams; and no longer at early dawn does the sexton of the old church
+reverently doff his hat as, supported by some kind friend, the
+death-stricken creature totters along the church path to that mouldering
+edifice with the low roof, inclosing a spring of sanatory waters, built
+and devoted to some saint--if the legend over the door be true, by the
+daughter of an East Anglian king.
+
+But to return to my own history.  I had now attained the age of six:
+shall I state what intellectual progress I had been making up to this
+period?  Alas! upon this point I have little to say calculated to afford
+either pleasure or edification.  I had increased rapidly in size and in
+strength: the growth of the mind, however, had by no means corresponded
+with that of the body.  It is true, I had acquired my letters, and was by
+this time able to read imperfectly; but this was all: and even this poor
+triumph over absolute ignorance would never have been effected but for
+the unremitting attention of my parents, who, sometimes by threats,
+sometimes by entreaties, endeavoured to rouse the dormant energies of my
+nature, and to bend my wishes to the acquisition of the rudiments of
+knowledge; but in influencing the wish lay the difficulty.  Let but the
+will of a human being be turned to any particular object, and it is ten
+to one that sooner or later he achieves it.  At this time I may safely
+say that I harboured neither wishes nor hopes; I had as yet seen no
+object calculated to call them forth, and yet I took pleasure in many
+things which perhaps unfortunately were all within my sphere of
+enjoyment.  I loved to look upon the heavens, and to bask in the rays of
+the sun, or to sit beneath hedgerows and listen to the chirping of the
+birds, indulging the while in musing and meditation as far as my very
+limited circle of ideas would permit; but, unlike my brother, who was at
+this time at school, and whose rapid progress in every branch of
+instruction astonished and delighted his preceptors, I took no pleasure
+in books, whose use, indeed, I could scarcely comprehend, and bade fair
+to be as arrant a dunce as ever brought the blush of shame into the
+cheeks of anxious and affectionate parents.
+
+But the time was now at hand when the ice which had hitherto bound the
+mind of the child with its benumbing power was to be thawed, and a world
+of sensations and ideas awakened to which it had hitherto been an entire
+stranger.  One day a young lady, an intimate acquaintance of our family,
+and godmother to my brother, drove up to the house in which we dwelt; she
+staid some time conversing with my mother, and on rising to depart she
+put down on the table a small packet, exclaiming, "I have brought a
+little present for each of the boys: the one is a History of England,
+which I intend for my godson when he returns from school, the other is--"
+and here she said something which escaped my ear, as I sat at some
+distance, moping in a corner:--"I intend it for the youngest yonder,"
+pointing to myself; she then departed, and, my mother going out shortly
+after, I was left alone.
+
+I remember for some time sitting motionless in my corner, with my eyes
+bent upon the ground; at last I lifted my head and looked upon the packet
+as it lay on the table.  All at once a strange sensation came over me,
+such as I had never experienced before--a singular blending of curiosity,
+awe, and pleasure, the remembrance of which, even at this distance of
+time, produces a remarkable effect upon my nervous system.  What strange
+things are the nerves--I mean those more secret and mysterious ones in
+which I have some notion that the mind or soul, call it which you will,
+has its habitation; how they occasionally tingle and vibrate before any
+coming event closely connected with the future weal or woe of the human
+being.  Such a feeling was now within me, certainly independent of what
+the eye had seen or the ear had heard.  A book of some description had
+been brought for me, a present by no means calculated to interest me;
+what cared I for books?  I had already many into which I never looked but
+from compulsion; friends, moreover, had presented me with similar things
+before, which I had entirely disregarded, and what was there in this
+particular book, whose very title I did not know, calculated to attract
+me more than the rest? yet something within told me that my fate was
+connected with the book which had been last brought; so, after looking on
+the packet from my corner for a considerable time, I got up and went to
+the table.
+
+The packet was lying where it had been left--I took it up; had the
+envelope, which consisted of whitish brown paper, been secured by a
+string or a seal I should not have opened it, as I should have considered
+such an act almost in the light of a crime; the books, however, had been
+merely folded up, and I therefore considered that there could be no
+possible harm in inspecting them, more especially as I had received no
+injunction to the contrary.  Perhaps there was something unsound in this
+reasoning, something sophistical; but a child is sometimes as ready as a
+grown-up person in finding excuses for doing that which he is inclined to
+do.  But whether the action was right or wrong, and I am afraid it was
+not altogether right, I undid the packet: it contained three books; two
+from their similarity seemed to be separate parts of one and the same
+work; they were handsomely bound, and to them I first turned my
+attention.  I opened them successively, and endeavoured to make out their
+meaning; their contents, however, as far as I was able to understand
+them, were by no means interesting; whoever pleases may read these books
+for me, and keep them too, into the bargain, said I to myself.
+
+I now took up the third book: it did not resemble the others, being
+longer and considerably thicker; the binding was of dingy calf-skin.  I
+opened it, and as I did so another strange thrill of pleasure shot
+through my frame.  The first object on which my eyes rested was a
+picture; it was exceedingly well executed, at least the scene which it
+represented made a vivid impression upon me, which would hardly have been
+the case had the artist not been faithful to nature.  A wild scene it
+was--a heavy sea and rocky shore, with mountains in the background, above
+which the moon was peering.  Not far from the shore, upon the water, was
+a boat with two figures in it, one of which stood at the bow, pointing
+with what I knew to be a gun at a dreadful shape in the water; fire was
+flashing from the muzzle of the gun, and the monster appeared to be
+transfixed.  I almost thought I heard its cry.  I remained motionless,
+gazing upon the picture, scarcely daring to draw my breath, lest the new
+and wondrous world should vanish of which I had now obtained a glimpse.
+"Who are those people, and what could have brought them into that strange
+situation?" I asked of myself; and now the seed of curiosity, which had
+so long lain dormant, began to expand, and I vowed to myself to become
+speedily acquainted with the whole history of the people in the boat.
+After looking on the picture till every mark and line in it were familiar
+to me, I turned over various leaves till I came to another engraving; a
+new source of wonder--a low sandy beach on which the furious sea was
+breaking in mountain-like billows; cloud and rack deformed the firmament,
+which wore a dull and leaden-like hue; gulls and other aquatic fowls were
+toppling upon the blast, or skimming over the tops of the maddening
+waves--"Mercy upon him! he must be drowned!" I exclaimed, as my eyes fell
+upon a poor wretch who appeared to be striving to reach the shore; he was
+upon his legs, but was evidently half smothered with the brine; high
+above his head curled a horrible billow, as if to engulf him for ever.
+"He must be drowned! he must be drowned!" I almost shrieked, and dropped
+the book.  I soon snatched it up again, and now my eye lighted on a third
+picture; again a shore, but what a sweet and lovely one, and how I wished
+to be treading it; there were beautiful shells lying on the smooth white
+sand, some were empty like those I had occasionally seen on marble
+mantelpieces, but out of others peered the heads and bodies of wondrous
+crayfish; a wood of thick green trees skirted the beach and partly shaded
+it from the rays of the sun, which shone hot above, while blue waves
+slightly crested with foam were gently curling against it; there was a
+human figure upon the beach, wild and uncouth, clad in the skins of
+animals, with a huge cap on his head, a hatchet at his girdle, and in his
+hand a gun; his feet and legs were bare; he stood in an attitude of
+horror and surprise; his body was bent far back, and his eyes, which
+seemed starting out of his head, were fixed upon a mark on the sand--a
+large distinct mark--a human footprint!
+
+Reader, is it necessary to name the book which now stood open in my hand,
+and whose very prints, feeble expounders of its wondrous lines, had
+produced within me emotions strange and novel?  Scarcely, for it was a
+book which has exerted over the minds of Englishmen an influence
+certainly greater than any other of modern times, which has been in most
+people's hands, and with the contents of which even those who cannot read
+are to a certain extent acquainted; a book from which the most luxuriant
+and fertile of our modern prose writers have drunk inspiration; a book,
+moreover, to which, from the hardy deeds which it narrates and the spirit
+of strange and romantic enterprise which it tends to awaken, England owes
+many of her astonishing discoveries both by sea and land, and no
+inconsiderable part of her naval glory.
+
+Hail to thee, spirit of De Foe!  What does not my own poor self owe to
+thee?  England has better bards than either Greece or Rome, yet I could
+spare them easier far than De Foe, "unabashed De Foe," as the hunchbacked
+rhymer styled him.
+
+The true chord had now been touched; a raging curiosity with respect to
+the contents of the volume, whose engravings had fascinated my eye,
+burned within me, and I never rested until I had fully satisfied it;
+weeks succeeded weeks, months followed months, and the wondrous volume
+was my only study and principal source of amusement.  For hours together
+I would sit poring over a page till I had become acquainted with the
+import of every line.  My progress, slow enough at first, became by
+degrees more rapid, till at last, under "a shoulder of mutton sail," I
+found myself cantering before a steady breeze over an ocean of
+enchantment, so well pleased with my voyage that I cared not how long it
+might be ere it reached its termination.
+
+And it was in this manner that I first took to the paths of knowledge.
+
+About this time I began to be somewhat impressed with religious feelings.
+My parents were, to a certain extent, religious people; but, though they
+had done their best to afford me instruction on religious points, I had
+either paid no attention to what they endeavoured to communicate, or had
+listened with an ear far too obtuse to derive any benefit.  But my mind
+had now become awakened from the drowsy torpor in which it had lain so
+long, and the reasoning powers which I possessed were no longer inactive.
+Hitherto I had entertained no conception whatever of the nature and
+properties of God, and with the most perfect indifference had heard the
+divine name proceeding from the mouths of people--frequently, alas! on
+occasions when it ought not to be employed; but I now never heard it
+without a tremor, for I now knew that God was an awful and inscrutable
+being, the maker of all things; that we were His children, and that we,
+by our sins, had justly offended Him; that we were in very great peril
+from His anger, not so much in this life as in another and far stranger
+state of being yet to come; that we had a Saviour withal to whom it was
+necessary to look for help: upon this point, however, I was yet very much
+in the dark, as, indeed, were most of those with whom I was connected.
+The power and terrors of God were uppermost in my thoughts; they
+fascinated though they astounded me.  Twice every Sunday I was regularly
+taken to the church, where, from a corner of the large spacious pew,
+lined with black leather, I would fix my eyes on the dignified
+high-church rector, and the dignified high-church clerk, and watch the
+movement of their lips, from which, as they read their respective
+portions of the venerable liturgy, would roll many a portentous word
+descriptive of the wondrous works of the Most High.
+
+_Rector_.  "Thou didst divide the sea, through Thy power: Thou brakest
+the heads of the dragons in the waters."
+
+_Philoh_.  "Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest him
+to be meat for the people in the wilderness."
+
+_Rector_.  "Thou broughtest out fountains and waters out of the hard
+rocks: Thou driedst up mighty waters."
+
+_Philoh_.  "The day is Thine, and the night is Thine: Thou hast prepared
+the light and the sun."
+
+Peace to your memories, dignified rector, and yet more dignified clerk!
+By this time ye are probably gone to your long homes, and your voices are
+no longer heard sounding down the aisles of the venerable church; nay,
+doubtless, this has already long since been the fate of him of the
+sonorous "Amen!"--the one of the two who, with all due respect to the
+rector, principally engrossed my boyish admiration--he, at least, is
+scarcely now among the living!  Living! why, I have heard say that he
+blew a fife--for he was a musical as well as a Christian professor--a
+bold fife, to cheer the Guards and the brave Marines as they marched with
+measured step, obeying an insane command, up Bunker's height, whilst the
+rifles of the sturdy Yankees were sending the leaden hail sharp and thick
+amidst the red-coated ranks; for Philoh had not always been a man of
+peace, nor an exhorter to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but had
+even arrived at the dignity of a halberd in his country's service before
+his six-foot form required rest, and the gray-haired veteran retired,
+after a long peregrination, to his native town, to enjoy ease and
+respectability on a pension of "eighteenpence a day;" and well did his
+fellow-townsmen act when, to increase that ease and respectability, and
+with a thoughtful regard for the dignity of the good church service, they
+made him clerk and precentor--the man of the tall form and of the audible
+voice, which sounded loud and clear as his own Bunker fife.  Well, peace
+to thee, thou fine old chap, despiser of dissenters, and hater of
+papists, as became a dignified and high-church clerk; if thou art in thy
+grave the better for thee; thou wert fitted to adorn a bygone time, when
+loyalty was in vogue, and smiling content lay like a sunbeam upon the
+land, but thou wouldst be sadly out of place in these days of cold
+philosophical latitudinarian doctrine, universal tolerism, and
+half-concealed rebellion--rare times, no doubt, for papists and
+dissenters, but which would assuredly have broken the heart of the loyal
+soldier of George the Third, and the dignified high-church clerk of
+pretty D---.
+
+We passed many months at this place: nothing, however, occurred requiring
+any particular notice, relating to myself, beyond what I have already
+stated, and I am not writing the history of others.  At length my father
+was recalled to his regiment, which at that time was stationed at a place
+called Norman Cross, in Lincolnshire, or rather Huntingdonshire, at some
+distance from the old town of Peterborough.  For this place he departed,
+leaving my mother and myself to follow in a few days.  Our journey was a
+singular one.  On the second day we reached a marshy and fenny country,
+which, owing to immense quantities of rain which had lately fallen, was
+completely submerged.  At a large town we got on board a kind of
+passage-boat, crowded with people; it had neither sails nor oars, and
+those were not the days of steam-vessels; it was in a treck-schuyt, and
+was drawn by horses.
+
+Young as I was, there was much connected with this journey which highly
+surprised me, and which brought to my remembrance particular scenes
+described in the book which I now generally carried in my bosom.  The
+country was, as I have already said, submerged--entirely drowned--no land
+was visible; the trees were growing bolt upright in the flood, whilst
+farmhouses and cottages were standing insulated; the horses which drew us
+were up to the knees in water, and, on coming to blind pools and "greedy
+depths," were not unfrequently swimming, in which case the boys or
+urchins who mounted them sometimes stood, sometimes knelt, upon the
+saddle and pillions.  No accident, however, either to the quadrupeds or
+bipeds, who appeared respectively to be quite _au fait_ in their
+business, and extricated themselves with the greatest ease from places in
+which Pharaoh and all his hosts would have gone to the bottom.  Nightfall
+brought us to Peterborough, and from thence we were not slow in reaching
+the place of our destination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Norman Cross--Wide Expanse--Vive l'Empereur--Unpruned Woods--Man with the
+Bag--Froth and Conceit--I beg your Pardon--Growing Timid--About Three
+o'Clock--Taking One's Ease--Cheek on the Ground--King of the
+Vipers--French King--Frenchmen and Water.
+
+And a strange place it was, this Norman Cross, and, at the time of which
+I am speaking, a sad cross to many a Norman, being what was then styled a
+French prison, that is, a receptacle for captives made in the French war.
+It consisted, if I remember right, of some five or six casernes, very
+long, and immensely high; each standing isolated from the rest, upon a
+spot of ground which might average ten acres, and which was fenced round
+with lofty palisades, the whole being compassed about by a towering wall,
+beneath which, at intervals, on both sides, sentinels were stationed,
+whilst outside, upon the field, stood commodious wooden barracks, capable
+of containing two regiments of infantry, intended to serve as guards upon
+the captives.  Such was the station or prison at Norman Cross, where some
+six thousand French and other foreigners, followers of the grand
+Corsican, were now immured.
+
+What a strange appearance had those mighty casernes, with their blank
+blind walls, without windows or grating, and their slanting roofs, out of
+which, through orifices where the tiles had been removed, would be
+protruded dozens of grim heads, feasting their prison-sick eyes on the
+wide expanse of country unfolded from that airy height.  Ah! there was
+much misery in those casernes; and from those roofs, doubtless, many a
+wistful look was turned in the direction of lovely France.  Much had the
+poor inmates to endure, and much to complain of, to the disgrace of
+England be it said--of England, in general so kind and bountiful.
+Rations of carrion meat, and bread from which I have seen the very hounds
+occasionally turn away, were unworthy entertainment even for the most
+ruffian enemy, when helpless and a captive; and such, alas! was the fare
+in those casernes.  And then, those visits, or rather ruthless inroads,
+called in the slang of the place "straw-plait hunts," when in pursuit of
+a contraband article, which the prisoners, in order to procure themselves
+a few of the necessaries and comforts of existence, were in the habit of
+making, red-coated battalions were marched into the prisons, who, with
+the bayonet's point, carried havoc and ruin into every poor convenience
+which ingenious wretchedness had been endeavouring to raise around it;
+and then the triumphant exit with the miserable booty; and, worst of all,
+the accursed bonfire, on the barrack parade, of the plait contraband,
+beneath the view of the glaring eyeballs from those lofty roofs, amidst
+the hurrahs of the troops, frequently drowned in the curses poured down
+from above like a tempest-shower, or in the terrific war-whoop of "_Vive
+l'Empereur_!"
+
+It was midsummer when we arrived at this place, and the weather, which
+had for a long time been wet and gloomy, now became bright and glorious;
+I was subjected to but little control, and passed my time pleasantly
+enough, principally in wandering about the neighbouring country.  It was
+flat and somewhat fenny, a district more of pasture than agriculture, and
+not very thickly inhabited.  I soon became well acquainted with it.  At
+the distance of two miles from the station was a large lake, styled in
+the dialect of the country "a mere," about whose borders tall reeds were
+growing in abundance, this was a frequent haunt of mine; but my favourite
+place of resort was a wild sequestered spot at a somewhat greater
+distance.  Here, surrounded with woods and thick groves, was the seat of
+some ancient family, deserted by the proprietor, and only inhabited by a
+rustic servant or two.  A place more solitary and wild could scarcely be
+imagined; the garden and walks were overgrown with weeds and briars, and
+the unpruned woods were so tangled as to be almost impervious.  About
+this domain I would wander till overtaken by fatigue, and then I would
+sit down with my back against some beech, elm, or stately alder tree,
+and, taking out my book, would pass hours in a state of unmixed
+enjoyment, my eyes now fixed on the wondrous pages, now glancing at the
+sylvan scene around; and sometimes I would drop the book and listen to
+the voice of the rooks and wild pigeons, and not unfrequently to the
+croaking of multitudes of frogs from the neighbouring swamps and fens.
+
+In going to and from this place I frequently passed a tall elderly
+individual, dressed in rather a quaint fashion, with a skin cap on his
+head and stout gaiters on his legs; on his shoulders hung a moderate
+sized leathern sack; he seemed fond of loitering near sunny banks, and of
+groping amidst furze and low scrubby bramble bushes, of which there were
+plenty in the neighbourhood of Norman Cross.  Once I saw him standing in
+the middle of a dusty road, looking intently at a large mark which seemed
+to have been drawn across it, as if by a walking-stick.  "He must have
+been a large one," the old man muttered half to himself, "or he would not
+have left such a trail, I wonder if he is near; he seems to have moved
+this way."  He then went behind some bushes which grew on the right side
+of the road, and appeared to be in quest of something, moving behind the
+bushes with his head downwards, and occasionally striking their roots
+with his foot: at length he exclaimed, "Here he is!" and forthwith I saw
+him dart amongst the bushes.  There was a kind of scuffling noise, the
+rustling of branches, and the crackling of dry sticks.  "I have him!"
+said the man at last; "I have got him!" and presently he made his
+appearance about twenty yards down the road, holding a large viper in his
+hand.  "What do you think of that, my boy?" said he, as I went up to him;
+"what do you think of catching such a thing as that with the naked hand?"
+"What do I think?" said I.  "Why, that I could do as much myself."  "You
+do," said the man, "do you?  Lord! how the young people in these days are
+given to conceit; it did not use to be so in my time: when I was a child,
+childer knew how to behave themselves; but the childer of these days are
+full of conceit, full of froth, like the mouth of this viper;" and with
+his forefinger and thumb he squeezed a considerable quantity of foam from
+the jaws of the viper down upon the road.  "The childer of these days are
+a generation of--God forgive me, what was I about to say!" said the old
+man; and opening his bag he thrust the reptile into it, which appeared
+far from empty.  I passed on.  As I was returning, towards the evening, I
+overtook the old man, who was wending in the same direction.  "Good
+evening to you, sir," said I, taking off a cap which I wore on my head.
+"Good evening," said the old man; and then, looking at me, "How's this?"
+said he, "you ar'n't, sure, the child I met in the morning?"  "Yes," said
+I, "I am; what makes you doubt it?"  "Why, you were then all froth and
+conceit," said the old man, "and now you take off your cap to me."  "I
+beg your pardon," said I, "if I was frothy and conceited, it ill becomes
+a child like me to be so."  "That's true, dear," said the old man; "well;
+as you have begged my pardon, I truly forgive you."  "Thank you," said I;
+"have you caught any more of those things?"  "Only four or five," said
+the old man; "they are getting scarce, though this used to be a great
+neighbourhood for them."  "And what do you do with them?" said I; "do you
+carry them home and play with them!"  "I sometimes play with one or two
+that I tame," said the old man; "but I hunt them mostly for the fat which
+they contain, out of which I make unguents which are good for various
+sore troubles, especially for the rheumatism."  "And do you get your
+living by hunting these creatures?" I demanded.  "Not altogether," said
+the old man; "besides being a viper-hunter, I am what they call a
+herbalist, one who knows the virtue of particular herbs; I gather them at
+the proper season, to make medicines with for the sick."  "And do you
+live in the neighbourhood?" I demanded.  "You seem very fond of asking
+questions, child.  No, I do not live in this neighbourhood in particular,
+I travel about; I have not been in this neighbourhood till lately for
+some years."
+
+From this time the old man and myself formed an acquaintance; I often
+accompanied him in his wanderings about the neighbourhood, and on two or
+three occasions assisted him in catching the reptiles which he hunted.
+He generally carried a viper with him which he had made quite tame, and
+from which he had extracted the poisonous fangs; it would dance and
+perform various kinds of tricks.  He was fond of telling me anecdotes
+connected with his adventures with the reptile species.  "But," said he
+one day, sighing, "I must shortly give up this business, I am no longer
+the man I was, I am become timid, and when a person is timid in
+viper-hunting he had better leave off, as it is quite clear his virtue is
+leaving him.  I got a fright some years ago, which I am quite sure I
+shall never get the better of; my hand has been shaky more or less ever
+since."  "What frightened you?" said I.  "I had better not tell you,"
+said the old man, "or you may be frightened too, lose your virtue, and be
+no longer good for the business."  "I don't care," said I; "I don't
+intend to follow the business: I dare say I shall be an officer, like my
+father."  "Well," said the old man, "I once saw the king of the vipers,
+and since then--"  "The king of the vipers!" said I, interrupting him;
+"have the vipers a king?"  "As sure as we have," said the old man, "as
+sure as we have King George to rule over us, have these reptiles a king
+to rule over them."  "And where did you see him?" said I.  "I will tell
+you," said the old man, "though I don't like talking about the matter.
+It may be about seven years ago that I happened to be far down yonder to
+the west, on the other side of England, nearly two hundred miles from
+here, following my business.  It was a very sultry day, I remember, and I
+had been out several hours catching creatures.  It might be about three
+o'clock in the afternoon, when I found myself on some heathy land near
+the sea, on the ridge of a hill, the side of which, nearly as far down as
+the sea, was heath; but on the top there was arable ground, which had
+been planted, and from which the harvest had been gathered--oats or
+barley, I know not which--but I remember that the ground was covered with
+stubble.  Well, about three o'clock, as I told you before, what with the
+heat of the day and from having walked about for hours in a lazy way, I
+felt very tired; so I determined to have a sleep, and I laid myself down,
+my head just on the ridge of the hill, towards the field, and my body
+over the side down amongst the heath; my bag, which was nearly filled
+with creatures, lay at a little distance from my face; the creatures were
+struggling in it, I remember, and I thought to myself, how much more
+comfortably off I was than they; I was taking my ease on the nice open
+hill, cooled with the breezes, whilst they were in the nasty close bag,
+coiling about one another, and breaking their very hearts all to no
+purpose: and I felt quite comfortable and happy in the thought, and
+little by little closed my eyes, and fell into the sweetest snooze that
+ever I was in in all my life; and there I lay over the hill's side, with
+my head half in the field, I don't know how long, all dead asleep.  At
+last it seemed to me that I heard a noise in my sleep, something like a
+thing moving, very faint, however, far away; then it died, and then it
+came again upon my ear as I slept, and now it appeared almost as if I
+heard crackle, crackle; then it died again, or I became yet more dead
+asleep than before, I know not which, but I certainly lay some time
+without hearing it.  All of a sudden I became awake, and there was I, on
+the ridge of the hill, with my cheek on the ground towards the stubble,
+with a noise in my ear like that of something moving towards me, among
+the stubble of the field; well, I lay a moment or two listening to the
+noise, and then I became frightened, for I did not like the noise at all,
+it sounded so odd; so I rolled myself on my belly, and looked towards the
+stubble.  Mercy upon us! there was a huge snake, or rather a dreadful
+viper, for it was all yellow and gold, moving towards me, bearing its
+head about a foot and a half above the ground, the dry stubble crackling
+beneath its outrageous belly.  It might be about five yards off when I
+first saw it, making straight towards me, child, as if it would devour
+me.  I lay quite still, for I was stupified with horror, whilst the
+creature came still nearer; and now it was nearly upon me, when it
+suddenly drew back a little, and then--what do you think?--it lifted its
+head and chest high in the air, and high over my face as I looked up,
+flickering at me with its tongue as if it would fly at my face.  Child,
+what I felt at that moment I can scarcely say, but it was a sufficient
+punishment for all the sins I ever committed; and there we two were, I
+looking up at the viper, and the viper looking down upon me, flickering
+at me with its tongue.  It was only the kindness of God that saved me:
+all at once there was a loud noise, the report of a gun, for a fowler was
+shooting at a covey of birds, a little way off in the stubble.  Whereupon
+the viper sunk its head and immediately made off over the ridge of the
+hill, down in the direction of the sea.  As it passed by me, however--and
+it passed close by me--it hesitated a moment, as if it was doubtful
+whether it should not seize me; it did not, however, but made off down
+the hill.  It has often struck me that he was angry with me, and came
+upon me unawares for presuming to meddle with his people, as I have
+always been in the habit of doing."
+
+"But," said I, "how do you know that it was the king of the vipers?"
+
+"How do I know?" said the old man, "who else should it be?  There was as
+much difference between it and other reptiles as between King George and
+other people."
+
+"Is King George, then, different from other people?" I demanded.
+
+"Of course," said the old man; "I have never seen him myself, but I have
+heard people say that he is a ten times greater man than other folks;
+indeed, it stands to reason that he must be different from the rest, else
+people would not be so eager to see him.  Do you think, child, that
+people would be fools enough to run a matter of twenty or thirty miles to
+see the king, provided King George--"
+
+"Haven't the French a king?" I demanded.
+
+"Yes," said the old man, "or something much the same, and a queer one he
+is; not quite so big as King George, they say, but quite as terrible a
+fellow.  What of him?"
+
+"Suppose he should come to Norman Cross!"
+
+"What should he do at Norman Cross, child?"
+
+"Why, you were talking about the vipers in your bag breaking their
+hearts, and so on, and their king coming to help them.  Now, suppose the
+French king should hear of his people being in trouble at Norman Cross,
+and--"
+
+"He can't come, child," said the old man, rubbing his hands, "the water
+lies between.  The French don't like the water; neither vipers nor
+Frenchmen take kindly to the water, child."
+
+When the old man left the country, which he did a few days after the
+conversation which I have just related, he left me the reptile which he
+had tamed and rendered quite harmless by removing the fangs.  I was in
+the habit of feeding it with milk, and frequently carried it abroad with
+me in my walks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The Tent--Man and Woman--Dark and Swarthy--Manner of Speaking--Bad
+Money--Transfixed--Faltering Tone--Little Basket--High Opinion--Plenty of
+Good--Keeping Guard--Tilted Cart--Rubricals--Jasper--The Right Sort--The
+Horseman of the Lane--John Newton--The Alarm--Gentle Brothers.
+
+One day it happened that, being on my rambles, I entered a green lane
+which I had never seen before; at first it was rather narrow, but as I
+advanced it became considerably wider; in the middle was a driftway with
+deep ruts, but right and left was a space carpeted with a sward of
+trefoil and clover; there was no lack of trees, chiefly ancient oaks,
+which, flinging out their arms from either side, nearly formed a canopy,
+and afforded a pleasing shelter from the rays of the sun, which was
+burning fiercely above.  Suddenly a group of objects attracted my
+attention.  Beneath one of the largest of the trees upon the grass, was a
+kind of low tent or booth, from the top of which a thin smoke was
+curling; beside it stood a couple of light carts, whilst two or three
+lean horses or ponies were cropping the herbage which was growing nigh.
+Wondering to whom this odd tent could belong, I advanced till I was close
+before it, when I found that it consisted of two tilts, like those of
+waggons, placed upon the ground and fronting each other, connected behind
+by a sail or large piece of canvas which was but partially drawn across
+the top; upon the ground, in the intervening space, was a fire, over
+which, supported by a kind of iron crowbar, hung a caldron; my advance
+had been so noiseless as not to alarm the inmates, who consisted of a man
+and woman, who sat apart, one on each side of the fire; they were both
+busily employed--the man was carding plaited straw, whilst the woman
+seemed to be rubbing something with a white powder, some of which lay on
+a plate beside her; suddenly the man looked up, and, perceiving me,
+uttered a strange kind of cry, and the next moment both the woman and
+himself were on their feet and rushing out upon me.
+
+I retreated a few steps, yet without turning to flee.  I was not,
+however, without apprehension, which, indeed, the appearance of these two
+people was well calculated to inspire; the woman was a stout figure,
+seemingly between thirty and forty; she wore no cap, and her long hair
+fell on either side of her head like horse-tails half way down her waist;
+her skin was dark and swarthy, like that of a toad, and the expression of
+her countenance was particularly evil; her arms were bare, and her bosom
+was but half concealed by a slight boddice, below which she wore a coarse
+petticoat, her only other article of dress.  The man was somewhat
+younger, but of a figure equally wild; his frame was long and lathy, but
+his arms were remarkably short, his neck was rather bent, he squinted
+slightly, and his mouth was much awry; his complexion was dark, but,
+unlike that of the woman, it was more ruddy than livid; there was a deep
+scar on his cheek, something like the impression of a halfpenny.  The
+dress was quite in keeping with the figure: in his hat, which was
+slightly peaked, was stuck a peacock's feather; over a waistcoat of hide,
+untanned and with the hair upon it, he wore a rough jerkin of russet hue;
+smallclothes of leather, which had probably once belonged to a soldier,
+but with which pipeclay did not seem to have come in contact for many a
+year, protected his lower man as far as the knee; his legs were cased in
+long stockings of blue worsted, and on his shoes he wore immense
+old-fashioned buckles.
+
+Such were the two beings who now came rushing upon me; the man was rather
+in advance, brandishing a ladle in his hand.
+
+"So I have caught you at last," said he; "I'll teach ye, you young
+highwayman, to come skulking about my properties!"
+
+Young as I was, I remarked that his manner of speaking was different from
+that of any people with whom I had been in the habit of associating.  It
+was quite as strange as his appearance, and yet it nothing resembled the
+foreign English which I had been in the habit of hearing through the
+palisades of the prison; he could scarcely be a foreigner.
+
+"Your properties!" said I; "I am in the King's Lane.  Why did you put
+them there, if you did not wish them to be seen?"
+
+"On the spy," said the woman, "hey?  I'll drown him in the sludge in the
+toad-pond over the hedge."
+
+"So we will," said the man, "drown him anon in the mud!"
+
+"Drown me, will you?" said I; "I should like to see you!  What's all this
+about?  Was it because I saw you with your hands full of straw plait, and
+my mother there--"
+
+"Yes," said the woman; "what was I about?"
+
+_Myself_.  How should I know?  Making bad money, perhaps!
+
+And it will be as well here to observe, that at this time there was much
+bad money in circulation in the neighbourhood, generally supposed to be
+fabricated by the prisoners, so that this false coin and straw plait
+formed the standard subjects of conversation at Norman Cross.
+
+"I'll strangle thee," said the beldame, dashing at me.  "Bad money, is
+it?"
+
+"Leave him to me, wifelkin," said the man, interposing; "you shall now
+see how I'll baste him down the lane."
+
+_Myself_.  I tell you what, my chap, you had better put down that thing
+of yours; my father lies concealed within my tepid breast, and if to me
+you offer any harm or wrong, I'll call him forth to help me with his
+forked tongue.
+
+_Man_.  What do you mean, ye Bengui's bantling?  I never heard such
+discourse in all my life: playman's speech or Frenchman's talk--which, I
+wonder?  Your father! tell the mumping villain that if he comes near my
+fire I'll serve him out as I will you.  Take that--Tiny Jesus! what have
+we got here!  Oh, delicate Jesus! what is the matter with the child?
+
+I had made a motion which the viper understood; and now, partly
+disengaging itself from my bosom, where it had lain perdu, it raised its
+head to a level with my face, and stared upon my enemy with its
+glittering eyes.
+
+The man stood like one transfixed, and the ladle with which he had aimed
+a blow at me, now hung in the air like the hand which held it: his mouth
+was extended, and his cheeks became of a pale yellow, save alone that
+place which bore the mark which I have already described, and this shone
+now portentously, like fire.  He stood in this manner for some time; at
+last the ladle fell from his hand, and its falling appeared to rouse him
+from his stupor.
+
+"I say, wifelkin," said he in a faltering tone, "did you ever see the
+like of this here?"
+
+But the woman had retreated to the tent, from the entrance of which her
+loathly face was now thrust, with an expression partly of terror and
+partly of curiosity.  After gazing some time longer at the viper and
+myself, the man stooped down and took up the ladle; then, as if somewhat
+more assured, he moved to the tent, where he entered into conversation
+with the beldame in a low voice.  Of their discourse, though I could hear
+the greater part of it, I understood not a single word; and I wondered
+what it could be, for I knew by the sound that it was not French.  At
+last the man, in a somewhat louder tone, appeared to put a question to
+the woman, who nodded her head affirmatively, and in a moment or two
+produced a small stool, which she delivered to him.  He placed it on the
+ground, close by the door of the tent, first rubbing it with his sleeve,
+as if for the purpose of polishing its surface.
+
+_Man_.  Now, my precious little gentleman, do sit down here by the poor
+people's tent; we wish to be civil in our slight way.  Don't be angry,
+and say no; but look kindly upon us, and satisfied, my precious little
+God Almighty.
+
+_Woman_.  Yes, my georgeous angel, sit down by the poor bodies' fire, and
+eat a sweatmeat.  We want to ask you a question or two; only first put
+that serpent away.
+
+_Myself_.  I can sit down, and bid the serpent go to sleep, that's easy
+enough; but as for eating a sweetmeat, how can I do that?  I have not got
+one, and where am I to get it?
+
+_Woman_.  Never fear, my tiny tawny, we can give you one, such as you
+never ate, I dare say, however far you may have come from.
+
+The serpent sunk into his usual resting-place, and I sat down on the
+stool.  The woman opened a box, and took out a strange little basket or
+hamper, not much larger than a man's fist, and formed of a delicate kind
+of matting.  It was sewed at the top; but ripping it open with a knife,
+she held it to me, and I saw, to my surprise, that it contained candied
+fruits of a dark green hue, tempting enough to one of my age.  "There, my
+tiny," said she; "taste, and tell me how you like them."
+
+"Very much," said I; "where did you get them?"
+
+The beldame leered upon me for a moment, then, nodding her head thrice,
+with a knowing look, said, "Who knows better than yourself, my tawny?"
+
+Now, I knew nothing about the matter; but I saw that these strange people
+had conceived a very high opinion of the abilities of their visitor,
+which I was nothing loath to encourage.  I therefore answered boldly,
+"Ah! who indeed!"
+
+"Certainly," said the man; "who should know better than yourself, or so
+well?  And now, my tiny one, let me ask you one thing--you didn't come to
+do us any harm?"
+
+"No," said I, "I had no dislike to you; though, if you were to meddle
+with me--"
+
+_Man_.  Of course, my gorgeous, of course you would; and quite right too.
+Meddle with you!--what right have we?  I should say, it would not be
+quite safe.  I see how it is; you are one of them there;--and he bent his
+head towards his left shoulder.
+
+_Myself_.  Yes, I am one of them--for I thought he was alluding to the
+soldiers,--you had best mind what you are about, I can tell you.
+
+_Man_.  Don't doubt we will for our own sake; Lord bless you, wifelkin,
+only think that we should see one of them there when we least thought
+about it.  Well, I have heard of such things, though I have never thought
+to see one; however, seeing is believing.  Well! now you are come, and
+are not going to do us any mischief, I hope you will stay; you can do us
+plenty of good if you will.
+
+_Myself_.  What good can I do you?
+
+_Man_.  What good? plenty!  Would you not bring us luck?  I have heard
+say, that one of them there always does, if it will but settle down.
+Stay with us, you shall have a tilted cart all to yourself if you like.
+We'll make you our little God Almighty, and say our prayers to you every
+morning!
+
+_Myself_.  That would be nice; and if you were to give me plenty of these
+things, I should have no objection.  But what would my father say?  I
+think he would hardly let me.
+
+_Man_.  Why not? he would be with you; and kindly would we treat him.
+Indeed, without your father you would be nothing at all.
+
+_Myself_.  That's true; but I do not think he could be spared from his
+regiment.  I have heard him say that they could do nothing without him.
+
+_Man_.  His regiment!  What are you talking about?--what does the child
+mean?
+
+_Myself_.  What do I mean!--why, that my father is an officer-man at the
+barracks yonder, keeping guard over the French prisoners.
+
+_Man_.  Oh! then that sap is not your father?
+
+_Myself_.  What, the snake?  Why, no!  Did you think he was?
+
+_Man_.  To be sure we did.  Didn't you tell me so?
+
+_Myself_.  Why, yes; but who would have thought you would have believed
+it?  It is a tame one.  I hunt vipers, and tame them.
+
+_Man_.  O-h!
+
+"O-h!" grunted the woman, "that's it, is it?"
+
+The man and woman, who during this conversation had resumed their former
+positions within the tent, looked at each other with a queer look of
+surprise, as if somewhat disconcerted at what they now heard.  They then
+entered into discourse with each other in the same strange tongue which
+had already puzzled me.  At length the man looked me in the face, and
+said, somewhat hesitatingly, "So you are not one of them there, after
+all?"
+
+_Myself_.  One of them there?  I don't know what you mean.
+
+_Man_.  Why, we have been thinking you were a goblin--a devilkin!
+However, I see how it is; you are a sapengro, a chap who catches snakes,
+and plays tricks with them!  Well, it comes very nearly to the same
+thing; and if you please to list with us, and bear us pleasant company,
+we shall be glad of you.  I'd take my oath upon it that we might make a
+mort of money by you and that sap, and the tricks it could do; and, as
+you seem fly to everything, I shouldn't wonder if you would make a prime
+hand at telling fortunes.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," said I.
+
+_Man_.  Of course.  And you might still be our God Almighty, or at any
+rate our clergyman, so you should live in a tilted cart by yourself, and
+say prayers to us night and morning--to wifelkin here, and all our
+family; there's plenty of us when we are all together; as I said before,
+you seem fly, I shouldn't wonder if you could read?
+
+"Oh, yes!" said I, "I can read;" and, eager to display my
+accomplishments, I took my book out of my pocket, and, opening it at
+random, proceeded to read how a certain man, whilst wandering about a
+certain solitary island, entered a cave, the mouth of which was overgrown
+with brushwood, and how he was nearly frightened to death in that cave by
+something which he saw.
+
+"That will do," said the man; "that's the kind of prayers for me and my
+family, ar'n't they, wifelkin?  I never heard more delicate prayers in
+all my life!  Why, they beat the rubricals hollow!--and here comes my son
+Jasper.  I say, Jasper, here's a young sap-engro that can read, and is
+more fly than yourself.  Shake hands with him; I wish ye to be two
+brothers."
+
+With a swift but stealthy pace Jasper came towards us from the farther
+part of the lane; on reaching the tent he stood still, and looked fixedly
+upon me as I sat upon the stool; I looked fixedly upon him.  A queer look
+had Jasper; he was a lad of some twelve or thirteen years, with long
+arms, unlike the singular being who called himself his father; his
+complexion was ruddy, but his face was seamed, though it did not bear the
+peculiar scar which disfigured the countenance of the other; nor, though
+roguish enough, a certain evil expression which that of the other bore,
+and which the face of the woman possessed in a yet more remarkable
+degree.  For the rest, he wore drab breeches, with certain strings at the
+knee, a rather gay waistcoat, and tolerably white shirt; under his arm he
+bore a mighty whip of whalebone with a brass knob, and upon his head was
+a hat without either top or brim.
+
+"There, Jasper! shake hands with the sap-engro."
+
+"Can he box, father?" said Jasper, surveying me rather contemptuously.
+"I should think not, he looks so puny and small."
+
+"Hold your peace, fool!" said the man; "he can do more than that--I tell
+you he's fly: he carries a sap about, which would sting a ninny like you
+to dead."
+
+"What, a sap-engro!" said the boy, with a singular whine, and stooping
+down, he leered curiously in my face, kindly, however and then patted me
+on the head.  "A sap-engro," he ejaculated; "lor!"
+
+"Yes, and one of the right sort," said the man; "I am glad we have met
+with him, he is going to list with us, and be our clergyman and God
+Almighty, a'n't you, my tawny?"
+
+"I don't know," said I; "I must see what my father will say."
+
+"Your father; bah!"--but here he stopped, for a sound was heard like the
+rapid galloping of a horse, not loud and distinct as on a road, but dull
+and heavy as if upon a grass sward; nearer and nearer it came, and the
+man, starting up, rushed out of the tent, and looked around anxiously.  I
+arose from the stool upon which I had been seated, and just at that
+moment, amidst a crashing of boughs and sticks, a man on horseback
+bounded over the hedge into the lane at a few yards' distance from where
+we were: from the impetus of the leap the horse was nearly down on his
+knees; the rider, however, by dint of vigorous handling of the reins,
+prevented him from falling, and then rode up to the tent.  "'Tis Nat,"
+said the man; "what brings him here?"  The new comer was a stout burly
+fellow, about the middle age; he had a savage determined look, and his
+face was nearly covered over with carbuncles; he wore a broad slouching
+hat, and was dressed in a grey coat cut in a fashion which I afterwards
+learnt to be the genuine Newmarket cut, the skirts being exceedingly
+short; his waistcoat was of red plush, and he wore broad corduroy
+breeches and white top-boots.  The steed which carried him was of iron
+grey, spirited and powerful, but covered with sweat and foam.  The fellow
+glanced fiercely and suspiciously around, and said something to the man
+of the tent in a harsh and rapid voice.  A short and hurried conversation
+ensued in the strange tongue.  I could not take my eyes off this new
+comer.  Oh, that half jockey half bruiser countenance, I never forgot it!
+More than fifteen years afterwards I found myself amidst a crowd before
+Newgate; a gallows was erected, and beneath it stood a criminal, a
+notorious malefactor.  I recognised him at once; the horseman of the lane
+is now beneath the fatal tree, but nothing altered; still the same man;
+jerking his head to the right and left with the same fierce and under
+glance, just as if the affairs of this world had the same kind of
+interest to the last; grey coat of Newmarket cut, plush waistcoat,
+corduroys, and boots, nothing altered; but the head, alas! is bare, and
+so is the neck.  Oh, crime and virtue, virtue and crime!--it was old John
+Newton, I think, who, when he saw a man going to be hanged, said, "There
+goes John Newton, but for the grace of God!"
+
+But the lane, the lane, all was now in confusion in the lane; the man and
+woman were employed in striking the tents and in making hurried
+preparations for departure; the boy Jasper was putting the harness upon
+the ponies and attaching them to the carts; and, to increase the
+singularity of the scene, two or three wild-looking women and girls, in
+red cloaks and immense black beaver bonnets, came from I know not what
+direction, and, after exchanging a few words with the others, commenced
+with fierce and agitated gestures to assist them in their occupation.
+The rider meanwhile sat upon his horse, but evidently in a state of great
+impatience; he muttered curses between his teeth, spurred the animal
+furiously, and then reined it in, causing it to rear itself up nearly
+perpendicular.  At last he said, "Curse ye, for Romans, how slow ye are!
+well, it is no business of mine, stay here all day if you like; I have
+given ye warning, I am off to the big north road.  However, before I go,
+you had better give me all you have of that."
+
+"Truly spoken, Nat, my pal," said the man; "give it him, mother.  There
+it is; now be off as soon as you please, and rid us of evil company."
+
+The woman had handed him two bags formed of stocking, half full of
+something heavy, which looked through them for all the world like money
+of some kind.  The fellow, on receiving them, thrust them without
+ceremony into the pockets of his coat, and then, without a word of
+farewell salutation, departed at a tremendous rate, the hoofs of his
+horse thundering for a long time on the hard soil of the neighbouring
+road, till the sound finally died away in the distance.  The strange
+people were not slow in completing their preparations, and then, flogging
+their animals terrifically, hurried away seemingly in the same direction.
+
+The boy Jasper was last of the band.  As he was following the rest, he
+stopped suddenly, and looked on the ground appearing to muse; then,
+turning round, he came up to me where I was standing, leered in my face,
+and then, thrusting out his hand, he said, "Good-bye, Sap, I dare say we
+shall meet again, remember we are brothers; two gentle brothers."
+
+Then whining forth, "What a sap-engro, lor!" he gave me a parting leer,
+and hastened away.
+
+I remained standing in the lane gazing after the retreating company.  "A
+strange set of people," said I at last; "I wonder who they can be."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Three Years--Lilly's Grammar--Proficiency--Ignorant of Figures--The
+School Bell--Order of Succession--Persecution--What are we to
+do?--Northward--A Goodly Scene--Haunted Ground--Feats of
+Chivalry--Rivers--Over the Brig.
+
+Years passed on, even three years; during this period I had increased
+considerably in stature and in strength, and, let us hope, improved in
+mind; for I had entered on the study of the Latin language.  The very
+first person to whose care I was intrusted for the acquisition of Latin
+was an old friend of my father's, a clergyman who kept a seminary at a
+town the very next we visited after our departure from "the Cross."
+Under his instruction, however, I continued only a few weeks, as we
+speedily left the place.  "Captain," said this divine, when my father
+came to take leave of him on the eve of our departure, "I have a
+friendship for you, and therefore wish to give you a piece of advice
+concerning this son of yours.  You are now removing him from my care; you
+do wrong, but we will let that pass.  Listen to me: there is but one good
+school book in the world--the one I use in my seminary--Lilly's Latin
+Grammar, in which your son has already made some progress.  If you are
+anxious for the success of your son in life, for the correctness of his
+conduct and the soundness of his principles, keep him to Lilly's Grammar.
+If you can by any means, either fair or foul, induce him to get by heart
+Lilly's Latin Grammar, you may set your heart at rest with respect to
+him; I, myself, will be his warrant.  I never yet knew a boy that was
+induced, either by fair means or foul, to learn Lilly's Latin Grammar by
+heart, who did not turn out a man, provided he lived long enough."
+
+My father, who did not understand the classical languages, received with
+respect the advice of his old friend, and from that moment conceived the
+highest opinion of Lilly's Latin Grammar.  During three years I studied
+Lilly's Latin Grammar under the tuition of various schoolmasters, for I
+travelled with the regiment, and in every town in which we were stationed
+I was invariably (God bless my father!) sent to the classical academy of
+the place.  It chanced, by good fortune, that in the generality of these
+schools the grammar of Lilly was in use; when, however, that was not the
+case, it made no difference in my educational course, my father always
+stipulating with the masters that I should be daily examined in Lilly.
+At the end of the three years I had the whole by heart; you had only to
+repeat the first two or three words of any sentence in any part of the
+book, and forthwith I would open cry, commencing without blundering and
+hesitation, and continue till you were glad to beg me to leave off, with
+many expressions of admiration at my proficiency in the Latin language.
+Sometimes, however, to convince you how well I merited these encomiums, I
+would follow you to the bottom of the stair, and even into the street,
+repeating in a kind of sing-song measure the sonorous lines of the golden
+schoolmaster.  If I am here asked whether I understood anything of what I
+had got by heart, I reply--"Never mind, I understand it all now, and
+believe that no one ever yet got Lilly's Latin Grammar by heart when
+young, who repented of the feat at a mature age."
+
+And, when my father saw that I had accomplished my task, he opened his
+mouth, and said, "Truly, this is more than I expected.  I did not think
+that there had been so much in you, either of application or capacity;
+you have now learnt all that is necessary, if my friend Dr. B---'s
+opinion was sterling, as I have no doubt it was.  You are still a child,
+however, and must yet go to school, in order that you may be kept out of
+evil company.  Perhaps you may still contrive, now you have exhausted the
+barn, to pick up a grain or two in the barnyard.  You are still ignorant
+of figures, I believe, not that I would mention figures in the same day
+with Lilly's Grammar."
+
+These words were uttered in a place called ---, in the north, or in the
+road to the north, to which, for some time past, our corps had been
+slowly advancing.  I was sent to the school of the place, which chanced
+to be a day school.  It was a somewhat extraordinary one, and a somewhat
+extraordinary event occurred to me within its walls.
+
+It occupied part of the farther end of a small plain, or square, at the
+outskirts of the town, close to some extensive bleaching fields.  It was
+a long low building of one room, with no upper story; on the top was a
+kind of wooden box, or sconce, which I at first mistook for a
+pigeon-house, but which in reality contained a bell, to which was
+attached a rope, which, passing through the ceiling, hung dangling in the
+middle of the school-room.  I am the more particular in mentioning this
+appurtenance, as I had soon occasion to scrape acquaintance with it in a
+manner not very agreeable to my feelings.  The master was very proud of
+his bell, if I might judge from the fact of his eyes being frequently
+turned to that part of the ceiling from which the rope depended.  Twice
+every day, namely, after the morning and evening tasks had been gone
+through, were the boys rung out of school by the monotonous jingle of
+this bell.  This ringing out was rather a lengthy affair, for, as the
+master was a man of order and method, the boys were only permitted to go
+out of the room one by one; and as they were rather numerous, amounting,
+at least, to one hundred, and were taught to move at a pace of suitable
+decorum, at least a quarter of an hour elapsed from the commencement of
+the march before the last boy could make his exit.  The office of
+bell-ringer was performed by every boy successively; and it so happened
+that, the very first day of my attendance at the school, the turn to ring
+the bell had, by order of succession, arrived at the place which had been
+allotted to me; for the master, as I have already observed, was a man of
+method and order, and every boy had a particular seat, to which he became
+a fixture as long as he continued at the school.
+
+So, upon this day, when the tasks were done and completed, and the boys
+sat with their hats and caps in their hands, anxiously expecting the
+moment of dismissal, it was suddenly notified to me, by the urchins who
+sat nearest to me, that I must get up and ring the bell.  Now, as this
+was the first time that I had been at the school, I was totally
+unacquainted with the process, which I had never seen, and, indeed, had
+never heard of till that moment.  I therefore sat still, not imagining it
+possible that any such duty could be required of me.  But now, with not a
+little confusion, I perceived that the eyes of all the boys in the school
+were fixed upon me.  Presently there were nods and winks in the direction
+of the bell-rope; and, as these produced no effect, uncouth visages were
+made, like those of monkeys when enraged; teeth were gnashed, tongues
+thrust out, and even fists were bent at me.  The master, who stood at the
+end of the room, with a huge ferule under his arm, bent full upon me a
+look of stern appeal; and the ushers, of whom there were four, glared
+upon me, each from his own particular corner, as I vainly turned, in one
+direction and another, in search of one reassuring look.
+
+But now, probably in obedience to a sign from the master, the boys in my
+immediate neighbourhood began to maltreat me.  Some pinched me with their
+fingers, some buffeted me, whilst others pricked me with pins, or the
+points of compasses.  These arguments were not without effect.  I sprang
+from my seat, and endeavoured to escape along a double line of benches,
+thronged with boys of all ages, from the urchin of six or seven, to the
+nondescript of sixteen or seventeen.  It was like running the gauntlet;
+every one, great or small, pinching, kicking, or otherwise maltreating me
+as I passed by.
+
+Goaded on in this manner, I at length reached the middle of the room,
+where dangled the bell-rope, the cause of all my sufferings.  I should
+have passed it--for my confusion was so great, that I was quite at a loss
+to comprehend what all this could mean, and almost believed myself under
+the influence of an ugly dream--but now the boys, who were seated in
+advance in the row, arose with one accord, and barred my farther
+progress; and one, doubtless more sensible than the rest, seizing the
+rope, thrust it into my hand.  I now began to perceive that the dismissal
+of the school, and my own release from torment, depended upon this self
+same rope.  I therefore, in a fit of desperation, pulled it once or
+twice, and then left off, naturally supposing that I had done quite
+enough.  The boys who sat next the door, no sooner heard the bell, than
+rising from their seats, they moved out at the door.  The bell, however,
+had no sooner ceased to jingle, than they stopped short, and, turning
+round, stared at the master, as much as to say, "What are we to do now?"
+This was too much for the patience of the man of method, which my
+previous stupidity had already nearly exhausted.  Dashing forward into
+the middle of the room, he struck me violently on the shoulders with his
+ferule, and snatching the rope out of my hand, exclaimed, with a
+stentorian voice, and genuine Yorkshire accent.  "Prodigy of ignorance!
+dost not even know how to ring a bell?  Must I myself instruct thee?"  He
+then commenced pulling at the bell with such violence, that long before
+half the school was dismissed the rope broke, and the rest of the boys
+had to depart without their accustomed music.
+
+But I must not linger here, though I could say much about the school and
+the pedagogue highly amusing and diverting, which, however, I suppress,
+in order to make way for matters of yet greater interest.  On we went,
+northward, northward! and, as we advanced, I saw that the country was
+becoming widely different from those parts of merry England in which we
+had previously travelled.  It was wilder, and less cultivated, and more
+broken with hills and hillocks.  The people, too, of those regions
+appeared to partake of something of the character of their country.  They
+were coarsely dressed; tall and sturdy of frame; their voices were deep
+and guttural; and the half of the dialect which they spoke was
+unintelligible to my ears.
+
+I often wondered where we could be going, for I was at this time about as
+ignorant of geography as I was of most other things.  However, I held my
+peace, asked no questions, and patiently awaited the issue.
+
+Northward, northward, still!  And it came to pass that, one morning, I
+found myself extended on the bank of a river.  It was a beautiful morning
+of early spring; small white clouds were floating in the heaven,
+occasionally veiling the countenance of the sun, whose light, as they
+retired, would again burst forth, coursing like a racehorse over the
+scene--and a goodly scene it was!  Before me, across the water, on an
+eminence, stood a white old city, surrounded with lofty walls, above
+which rose the tops of tall houses, with here and there a church or
+steeple.  To my right hand was a long and massive bridge, with many
+arches and of antique architecture, which traversed the river.  The river
+was a noble one; the broadest that I had hitherto seen.  Its waters, of a
+greenish tinge, poured with impetuosity beneath the narrow arches to meet
+the sea, close at hand, as the boom of the billows breaking distinctly
+upon a beach declared.  There were songs upon the river from the
+fisher-barks; and occasionally a chorus, plaintive and wild, such as I
+had never heard before, the words of which I did not understand, but
+which at the present time, down the long avenue of years, seem in
+memory's ear to sound like "Horam, coram, dago."  Several robust fellows
+were near me, some knee-deep in water, employed in hauling the seine upon
+the strand.  Huge fish were struggling amidst the meshes--princely
+salmon--their brilliant mail of blue and silver flashing in the morning
+beam; so goodly and gay a scene, in truth, had never greeted my boyish
+eye.
+
+And, as I gazed upon the prospect, my bosom began to heave, and my tears
+to trickle.  Was it the beauty of the scene which gave rise to these
+emotions?  Possibly; for though a poor ignorant child--a half-wild
+creature--I was not insensible to the loveliness of nature, and took
+pleasure in the happiness and handiworks of my fellow-creatures.  Yet,
+perhaps, in something more deep and mysterious the feelings which then
+pervaded me might originate.  Who can lie down on Elvir Hill without
+experiencing something of the sorcery of the place?  Flee from Elvir
+Hill, young swain, or the maids of Elle will have power over you, and you
+will go elf-wild!--so say the Danes.  I had unconsciously laid myself
+down on haunted ground; and I am willing to imagine that what I then
+experienced was rather connected with the world of spirits and dreams
+than with what I actually saw and heard around me.  Surely the elves and
+genii of the place were conversing, by some inscrutable means, with the
+principle of intelligence lurking within the poor uncultivated clod!
+Perhaps to that ethereal principle the wonders of the past, as connected
+with that stream, the glories of the present, and even the history of the
+future, were at that moment being revealed!  Of how many feats of
+chivalry had those old walls been witness, when hostile kings contended
+for their possession?--how many an army from the south and from the north
+had trod that old bridge?--what red and noble blood had crimsoned those
+rushing waters?--what strains had been sung, ay, were yet being sung on
+its banks?--some soft as Doric reed; some fierce and sharp as those of
+Norwegian Skaldaglam; some as replete with wild and wizard force as
+Finland's runes, singing of Kalevale's moors, and the deeds of
+Woinomoinen!  Honour to thee, thou island stream!  Onward may thou ever
+roll, fresh and green, rejoicing in thy bright past, thy glorious
+present, and in vivid hope of a triumphant future!  Flow on, beautiful
+one!--which of the world's streams canst thou envy, with thy beauty and
+renown?  Stately is the Danube, rolling in its might through lands
+romantic with the wild exploits of Turk, Polak, and Magyar!  Lovely is
+the Rhine! on its shelvy banks grows the racy grape; and strange old
+keeps of robber-knights of yore are reflected in its waters, from
+picturesque crags and airy headlands!--yet neither the stately Danube,
+nor the beauteous Rhine, with all their fame, though abundant, needst
+thou envy, thou pure island stream!--and far less yon turbid river of
+old, not modern renown, gurgling beneath the walls of what was once proud
+Rome, towering Rome, Jupiter's town, but now vile Rome, crumbling Rome,
+Batuscha's town, far less needst thou envy the turbid Tiber of bygone
+fame, creeping sadly to the sea, surcharged with the abominations of
+modern Rome--how unlike to thee, thou pure island stream!
+
+And as I lay on the bank and wept, there drew nigh to me a man in the
+habiliments of a fisher.  He was bare-legged, of a weather-beaten
+countenance, and of stature approaching to the gigantic.  "What is the
+callant greeting for?" said he, as he stopped and surveyed me.  "Has ony
+body wrought ye ony harm?"
+
+"Not that I know of," I replied, rather guessing at than understanding
+his question; "I was crying because I could not help it!  I say, old one,
+what is the name of this river?"
+
+"Hout!  I now see what you was greeting at--at your ain ignorance, nae
+doubt--'tis very great!  Weel, I will na fash you with reproaches, but
+even enlighten ye, since you seem a decent man's bairn, and you speir a
+civil question.  Yon river is called the Tweed; and yonder, over the
+brig, is Scotland.  Did ye never hear of the Tweed, my bonny man?"
+
+"No," said I, as I rose from the grass, and proceeded to cross the bridge
+to the town at which we had arrived the preceding night; "I never heard
+of it; but now I have seen it, I shall not soon forget it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The Castle--A Father's Inquiries--Scotch Language--A Determination--Bui
+Hin Digri--Good Scotchman--Difference of Races--Ne'er a
+Haggis--Pugnacious People--Wha are Ye, Mon--The Nor Loch--Gestures
+Wild--The Bicker--New Town Champion--Wild-Looking Figure--Headlong.
+
+It was not long before we found ourselves at Edinburgh, or rather in the
+Castle, into which the regiment marched with drums beating, colours
+flying, and a long train of baggage-waggons behind.  The Castle was, as I
+suppose it is now, a garrison for soldiers.  Two other regiments were
+already there; the one an Irish, if I remember right, the other a small
+Highland corps.
+
+It is hardly necessary to say much about this Castle, which everybody has
+seen; on which account, doubtless, nobody has ever yet thought fit to
+describe it--at least that I am aware.  Be this as it may, I have no
+intention of describing it, and shall content myself with observing, that
+we took up our abode in that immense building, or caserne, of modern
+erection, which occupies the entire eastern side of the bold rock on
+which the Castle stands.  A gallant caserne it was--the best and roomiest
+that I had hitherto seen--rather cold and windy, it is true, especially
+in the winter, but commanding a noble prospect of a range of distant
+hills, which I was told were "the hieland hills," and of a broad arm of
+the sea, which I heard somebody say was the Firth of Forth.
+
+My brother, who, for some years past, had been receiving his education in
+a certain celebrated school in England, was now with us; and it came to
+pass, that one day my father, as he sat at table, looked steadfastly on
+my brother and myself, and then addressed my mother:--"During my journey
+down hither I have lost no opportunity of making inquiries about these
+people, the Scotch, amongst whom we now are, and since I have been here I
+have observed them attentively.  From what I have heard and seen, I
+should say that upon the whole they are a very decent set of people; they
+seem acute and intelligent, and I am told that their system of education
+is so excellent, that every person is learned--more or less acquainted
+with Greek and Latin.  There is one thing, however, connected with them,
+which is a great drawback--the horrid jargon which they speak.  However
+learned they may be in Greek and Latin, their English is execrable; and
+yet I'm told it is not so bad as it was.  I was in company the other day
+with an Englishman who has resided here many years.  We were talking
+about the country and the people.  'I should like both very well,' said
+I, 'were it not for the language.  I wish sincerely our Parliament, which
+is passing so many foolish acts every year, would pass one to force these
+Scotch to speak English.'  'I wish so, too,' said he.  'The language is a
+disgrace to the British Government; but, if you had heard it twenty years
+ago, captain!--if you had heard it as it was spoken when I first came to
+Edinburgh!'"
+
+"Only custom," said my mother.  "I dare say the language is now what it
+was then."
+
+"I don't know," said my father; "though I dare say you are right; it
+could never have been worse than it is at present.  But now to the point.
+Were it not for the language, which, if the boys were to pick it up,
+might ruin their prospects in life,--were it not for that, I should very
+much like to send them to a school there is in this place, which
+everybody talks about--the High School, I think they call it.  'Tis said
+to be the best school in the whole island; but the idea of one's children
+speaking Scotch--broad Scotch!  I must think the matter over."
+
+And he did think the matter over; and the result of his deliberation was
+a determination to send us to the school.  Let me call thee up before my
+mind's eye, High School, to which, every morning, the two English
+brothers took their way from the proud old Castle through the lofty
+streets of the Old Town.  High School!--called so, I scarcely know why;
+neither lofty in thyself nor by position, being situated in a flat
+bottom; oblong structure of tawny stone, with many windows fenced with
+iron netting--with thy long hall below, and thy five chambers above, for
+the reception of the five classes, into which the eight hundred urchins,
+who styled thee instructress, were divided.  Thy learned rector and his
+four subordinate dominies; thy strange old porter of the tall form and
+grizzled hair, hight Boee, and doubtless of Norse ancestry, as his name
+declares; perhaps of the blood of Bui hin Digri, the hero of northern
+song--the Jomsborg Viking who clove Thorsteinn Midlaagr asunder in the
+dread sea battle of Horunga Vog, and who, when the fight was lost and his
+own two hands smitten off, seized two chests of gold with his bloody
+stumps, and, springing with them into the sea, cried to the scanty relics
+of his crew, "Overboard now, all Bui's lads!"  Yes, I remember all about
+thee, and how at eight of every morn we were all gathered together with
+one accord in the long hall, from which, after the litanies had been read
+(for so I will call them, being an Episcopalian), the five classes from
+the five sets of benches trotted off in long files, one boy after the
+other, up the five spiral staircases of stone, each class to its
+destination; and well do I remember how we of the third sat hushed and
+still, watched by the eye of the dux, until the door opened, and in
+walked that model of a good Scotchman, the shrewd, intelligent, but
+warm-hearted and kind dominie, the respectable Carson.
+
+And in this school I began to construe the Latin language, which I had
+never done before, notwithstanding my long and diligent study of Lilly,
+which illustrious grammar was not used at Edinburgh, nor indeed known.
+Greek was only taught in the fifth or highest class, in which my brother
+was; as for myself, I never got beyond the third during the two years
+that I remained at this seminary.  I certainly acquired here a
+considerable insight in the Latin tongue; and, to the scandal of my
+father and horror of my mother, a thorough proficiency in the Scotch,
+which, in less than two months, usurped the place of the English, and so
+obstinately maintained its ground, that I still can occasionally detect
+its lingering remains.  I did not spend my time unpleasantly at this
+school, though, first of all, I had to pass through an ordeal.
+
+"Scotland is a better country than England," said an ugly, blear-eyed
+lad, about a head and shoulders taller than myself, the leader of a gang
+of varlets who surrounded me in the play-ground, on the first day, as
+soon as the morning lesson was over.  "Scotland is a far better country
+than England, in every respect."
+
+"Is it?" said I.  "Then you ought to be very thankful for not having been
+born in England."
+
+"That's just what I am, ye loon; and every morning when I say my prayers,
+I thank God for not being an Englishman.  The Scotch are a much better
+and braver people than the English."
+
+"It may be so," said I, "for what I know--indeed, till I came here, I
+never heard a word either about the Scotch or their country."
+
+"Are ye making fun of us, ye English puppy?" said the blear-eyed lad;
+"take that!" and I was presently beaten black and blue.  And thus did I
+first become aware of the difference of races and their antipathy to each
+other.
+
+"Bow to the storm, and it shall pass over you."  I held my peace, and
+silently submitted to the superiority of the Scotch--_in numbers_.  This
+was enough; from an object of persecution I soon became one of patronage,
+especially amongst the champions of the class.  "The English," said the
+blear-eyed lad, "though a wee bit behind the Scotch in strength and
+fortitude, are nae to be sneezed at, being far ahead of the Irish, to say
+nothing of the French, a pack of cowardly scoundrels.  And with regard to
+the English country, it is na Scotland, it is true, but it has its gude
+properties; and, though there is ne'er a haggis in a' the land, there's
+an unco deal o' gowd and siller.  I respect England, for I have an auntie
+married there."
+
+The Scotch are certainly a most pugnacious people; their whole history
+proves it.  Witness their incessant wars with the English in the olden
+time, and their internal feuds, highland with lowland, clan with clan,
+family with family, Saxon with Gael.  In my time, the schoolboys, for
+want, perhaps, of English urchins to contend with, were continually
+fighting with each other; every noon there was at least one pugilistic
+encounter, and sometimes three.  In one month I witnessed more of these
+encounters than I had ever previously seen under similar circumstances in
+England.  After all, there was not much harm done.  Harm! what harm could
+result from short chopping blows, a hug, and a tumble?  I was witness to
+many a sounding whack, some blood shed, "a blue ee" now and then, but
+nothing more.  In England, on the contrary, where the lads were
+comparatively mild, gentle, and pacific, I had been present at more than
+one death caused by blows in boyish combats, in which the oldest of the
+victors had scarcely reached thirteen years; but these blows were in the
+jugular, given with the full force of the arm shot out horizontally from
+the shoulder.
+
+But, the Scotch--though by no means proficients in boxing (and how should
+they box, seeing that they have never had a teacher?)--are, I repeat, a
+most pugnacious people; at least they were in my time.  Anything served
+them, that is, the urchins, as a pretence for a fray, or, Dorically
+speaking, a _bicker_; every street and close was at feud with its
+neighbour; the lads of the school were at feud with the young men of the
+college, whom they pelted in winter with snow, and in summer with stones;
+and then the feud between the Old and New Town!
+
+One day I was standing on the ramparts of the castle on the southwestern
+side which overhangs the green brae, where it slopes down into what was
+in those days the green swamp or morass, called by the natives of Auld
+Reekie the Nor Loch; it was a dark gloomy day, and a thin veil of mist
+was beginning to settle down upon the brae and the morass.  I could
+perceive, however, that there was a skirmish taking place in the latter
+spot.  I had an indistinct view of two parties--apparently of
+urchins--and I heard whoops and shrill cries: eager to know the cause of
+this disturbance, I left the castle, and descending the brae reached the
+borders of the morass, where was a runnel of water and the remains of an
+old wall, on the other side of which a narrow path led across the swamp:
+upon this path at a little distance before me there was "a bicker."  I
+pushed forward, but had scarcely crossed the ruined wall and runnel, when
+the party nearest to me gave way, and in great confusion came running in
+my direction.  As they drew nigh, one of them shouted to me, "Wha are ye,
+mon? are ye o' the Auld Toon?"  I made no answer.  "Ha! ye are of the New
+Toon; De'il tak ye, we'll murder ye;" and the next moment a huge stone
+sung past my head.  "Let me be, ye fule bodies," said I, "I'm no of
+either of ye, I live yonder aboon in the castle."  "Ah! ye live in the
+castle; then ye're an auld tooner; come gie us your help, man, and dinna
+stand there staring like a dunnot, we want help sair eneugh.  Here are
+stanes."
+
+For my own part I wished for nothing better, and, rushing forward, I
+placed myself at the head of my new associates, and commenced flinging
+stones fast and desperately.  The other party now gave way in their turn,
+closely followed by ourselves; I was in the van, and about to stretch out
+my hand to seize the hindermost boy of the enemy, when, not being
+acquainted with the miry and difficult paths of the Nor Loch, and in my
+eagerness taking no heed of my footing, I plunged into a quagmire, into
+which I sank as far as my shoulders.  Our adversaries no sooner perceived
+this disaster, than, setting up a shout, they wheeled round and attacked
+us most vehemently.  Had my comrades now deserted me, my life had not
+been worth a straw's purchase, I should either have been smothered in the
+quag, or, what is more probable, had my brains beaten out with stones;
+but they behaved like true Scots, and fought stoutly around their
+comrade, until I was extricated, whereupon both parties retired, the
+night being near at hand.
+
+"Ye are na a bad hand at flinging stanes," said the lad who first
+addressed me, as we now returned up the brae; "your aim is right
+dangerous, mon, I saw how ye skelpit them, ye maun help us agin thae New
+Toon blackguards at our next bicker."
+
+So to the next bicker I went, and to many more, which speedily followed
+as the summer advanced; the party to which I had given my help on the
+first occasion consisted merely of outlyers, posted about half way up the
+hill, for the purpose of overlooking the movements of the enemy.
+
+Did the latter draw nigh in any considerable force, messengers were
+forthwith despatched to the "auld toon," especially to the filthy alleys
+and closes of the High Street, which forthwith would disgorge swarms of
+bare-headed and bare-footed "callants," who, with gestures wild and
+"eldrich screech and hollo," might frequently be seen pouring down the
+sides of the hill.  I have seen upwards of a thousand engaged on either
+side in these frays, which I have no doubt were full as desperate as the
+fights described in the Iliad, and which were certainly much more bloody
+than the combats of modern Greece in the war of independence: the
+callants not only employed their hands in hurling stones, but not
+unfrequently slings; at the use of which they were very expert, and which
+occasionally dislodged teeth, shattered jaws, or knocked out an eye.  Our
+opponents certainly laboured under considerable disadvantage, being
+compelled not only to wade across a deceitful bog, but likewise to
+clamber up part of a steep hill before they could attack us;
+nevertheless, their determination was such, and such their impetuosity,
+that we had sometimes difficulty enough to maintain our own.  I shall
+never forget one bicker, the last indeed which occurred at that time, as
+the authorities of the town, alarmed by the desperation of its character,
+stationed forthwith a body of police on the hill side, to prevent, in
+future, any such breaches of the peace.
+
+It was a beautiful Sunday evening, the rays of the descending _sun_ were
+reflected redly from the grey walls of the castle, and from the black
+rocks on which it was founded.  The bicker had long since commenced,
+stones from sling and hand were flying; but the callants of the New Town
+were now carrying everything before them.
+
+A full-grown baker's apprentice was at their head; he was foaming with
+rage, and had taken the field, as I was told, in order to avenge his
+brother, whose eye had been knocked out in one of the late bickers.  He
+was no slinger, or flinger, but brandished in his right hand the spoke of
+a cart-wheel, like my countryman Tom Hickathrift of old in his encounter
+with the giant of the Lincolnshire fen.  Protected by a piece of
+wicker-work attached to his left arm, he rushed on to the fray,
+disregarding the stones which were showered against him, and was ably
+seconded by his followers.  Our own party was chased half way up the
+hill, where I was struck to the ground by the baker, after having been
+foiled in an attempt which I had made to fling a handful of earth into
+his eyes.  All now appeared lost, the Auld Toon was in full retreat.  I
+myself lay at the baker's feet, who had just raised his spoke, probably
+to give me the _coup de grace_,--it was an awful moment.  Just then I
+heard a shout and a rushing sound; a wild-looking figure is descending
+the hill with terrible bounds; it is a lad of some fifteen years; he is
+bare-headed, and his red uncombed hair stands on end like hedgehogs'
+bristles; his frame is lithy, like that of an antelope, but he has
+prodigious breadth of chest; he wears a military undress, that of the
+regiment, even of a drummer, for it is wild Davy, whom a month before I
+had seen enlisted on Leith Links to serve King George with drum and
+drumstick as long as his services might be required, and who, ere a week
+had elapsed, had smitten with his fist Drum-Major Elzigood, who, incensed
+at his inaptitude, had threatened him with his cane; he has been in
+confinement for weeks, this is the first day of his liberation, and he is
+now descending the hill with horrid bounds and shoutings; he is now about
+five yards distant, and the baker, who apprehends that something
+dangerous is at hand, prepares himself for the encounter; but what avails
+the strength of a baker, even full grown?--what avails the defence of a
+wicker shield? what avails the wheel-spoke, should there be an
+opportunity of using it, against the impetus of an avalanche or a cannon
+ball?--for to either of these might that wild figure be compared, which,
+at the distance of five yards, sprang at once with head, hands, feet and
+body, all together, upon the champion of the New Town, tumbling him to
+the earth amain.  And now it was the turn of the Old Town to triumph.
+Our late discomfited host, returning on its steps, overwhelmed the fallen
+champion with blows of every kind, and then, led on by his vanquisher who
+had assumed his arms, namely, the wheelspoke and wicker shield, fairly
+cleared the brae of their adversaries, whom they drove down headlong into
+the morass.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Expert Climbers--The Crags--Something Red--The Horrible Edge--David
+Haggart--Fine Materials--The Greatest Victory--Extraordinary Robber--The
+Ruling Passion.
+
+Meanwhile I had become a daring cragsman, a character to which an English
+lad has seldom opportunities of aspiring; for in England there are
+neither crags nor mountains.  Of these, however, as is well known, there
+is no lack in Scotland, and the habits of individuals are invariably in
+harmony with the country in which they dwell.  The Scotch are expert
+climbers, and I was now a Scot in most things, particularly in language.
+The castle on which I dwelt stood upon a rock, a bold and craggy one,
+which, at first sight, would seem to bid defiance to any feet save those
+of goats and chamois; but patience and perseverance generally enable
+mankind to overcome things which, at first sight, appear impossible.
+Indeed, what is there above man's exertions?  Unwearied determination
+will enable him to run with the horse, to swim with the fish, and
+assuredly to compete with the chamois and the goat in agility and
+sureness of foot.  To scale the rock was merely child's play for the
+Edinbro' callants.  It was my own favourite diversion.  I soon found that
+the rock contained all manner of strange crypts, crannies, and recesses,
+where owls nestled, and the weasel brought forth her young; here and
+there were small natural platforms overgrown with long grass and various
+kinds of plants, where the climber, if so disposed, could stretch
+himself, and either give his eyes to sleep or his mind to thought; for
+capital places were these same platforms, either for repose or
+meditation.  The boldest features of the rock are descried on the
+southern side, where, after shelving down gently from the wall for some
+distance, it terminates abruptly in a precipice, black and horrible, of
+some three hundred feet at least, as if the axe of nature had been here
+employed cutting sheer down, and leaving behind neither excrescence nor
+spur--a dizzy precipice it is, assimilating much to those so frequent in
+the flinty hills of Northern Africa, and exhibiting some distant
+resemblance to that of Gibraltar, towering in its horridness above the
+neutral ground.
+
+It was now holiday time, and having nothing particular wherewith to
+occupy myself, I not unfrequently passed the greater part of the day upon
+the rocks.  Once, after scaling the western crags, and creeping round a
+sharp angle of the wall, overhung by a kind of watch tower, I found
+myself on the southern side.  Still keeping close to the wall, I was
+proceeding onward, for I was bent upon a long excursion which should
+embrace half the circuit of the castle, when suddenly my eye was
+attracted by the appearance of something red, far below me; I stopped
+short, and, looking fixedly upon it, perceived that it was a human being
+in a kind of red jacket, seated on the extreme verge of the precipice,
+which I have already made a faint attempt to describe.  Wondering who it
+could be, I shouted; but it took not the slightest notice, remaining as
+immovable as the rock on which it sat.  "I should never have thought of
+going near that edge," said I to myself; "however, as you have done it,
+why should not I?  And I should like to know who you are."  So I
+commenced the descent of the rock, but with great care, for I had as yet
+never been in a situation so dangerous; a slight moisture exuded from the
+palms of my hands, my nerves were tingling, and my brain was somewhat
+dizzy--and now I had arrived within a few yards of the figure, and had
+recognised it: it was the wild drummer who had turned the tide of battle
+in the bicker on the Castle Brae.  A small stone which I dislodged now
+rolled down the rock, and tumbled into the abyss close beside him.  He
+turned his head, and after looking at me for a moment somewhat vacantly,
+he resumed his former attitude.  I drew yet nearer to the horrible edge;
+not close, however, for fear was on me.
+
+"What are you thinking of, David?" said I, as I sat behind him and
+trembled, for I repeat that I was afraid.
+
+_David Haggart_.  I was thinking of Willie Wallace.
+
+_Myself_.  You had better be thinking of yourself, man.  A strange place
+this to come to and think of William Wallace.
+
+_David Haggart_.  Why so?  Is not his tower just beneath our feet?
+
+_Myself_.  You mean the auld ruin by the side of Nor Loch--the ugly stane
+bulk, from the foot of which flows the spring into the dyke, where the
+watercresses grow?
+
+_David Haggart_.  Just sae, Geordie.
+
+_Myself_.  And why were ye thinking of him?  The English hanged him long
+since, as I have heard say.
+
+_David Haggart_.  I was thinking that I should wish to be like him.
+
+_Myself_.  Do ye mean that ye would wish to be hanged?
+
+_David Haggart_.  I wad na flinch from that, Geordie, if I might be a
+great man first.
+
+_Myself_.  And wha kens, Davie, how great you may be, even without
+hanging?  Are ye not in the high road of preferment?  Are ye not a bauld
+drummer already?  Wha kens how high ye may rise? perhaps to be general,
+or drum-major.
+
+_David Haggart_.  I hae na wish to be drum-major; it were na great things
+to be like the doited carle, Elsethan-gude, as they call him; and, troth,
+he has nae his name for naething.  But I should have nae objection to be
+a general, and to fight the French and Americans, and win myself a name
+and a fame like Willie Wallace, and do brave deeds, such as I have been
+reading about in his story book.
+
+_Myself_.  Ye are a fule, Davie; the story book is full of lies.
+Wallace, indeed! the wuddie rebel!  I have heard my father say that the
+Duke of Cumberland was worth twenty of Willie Wallace.
+
+_David Haggart_.  Ye had better sae naething agin Willie Wallace,
+Geordie, for, if ye do, de'il hae me, if I dinna tumble ye doon the
+craig.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+Fine materials in that lad for a hero, you will say.  Yes, indeed, for a
+hero, or for what he afterwards became.  In other times, and under other
+circumstances, he might have made what is generally termed a great man, a
+patriot, or a conqueror.  As it was, the very qualities which might then
+have pushed him on to fortune and renown were the cause of his ruin.  The
+war over, he fell into evil courses; for his wild heart and ambitious
+spirit could not brook the sober and quiet pursuits of honest industry.
+
+"Can an Arabian steed submit to be a vile drudge?" cries the fatalist.
+Nonsense!  A man is not an irrational creature, but a reasoning being,
+and has something within him beyond mere brutal instinct.  The greatest
+victory which a man can achieve is over himself, by which is meant those
+unruly passions which are not convenient to the time and place.  David
+did not do this; he gave the reins to his wild heart, instead of curbing
+it, and became a robber, and, alas! alas! he shed blood--under peculiar
+circumstances, it is true, and without _malice prepense_--and for that
+blood he eventually died, and justly; for it was that of the warden of a
+prison from which he was escaping, and whom he slew with one blow of his
+stalwart arm.
+
+Tamerlane and Haggart!  Haggart and Tamerlane!  Both these men were
+robbers, and of low birth, yet one perished on an ignoble scaffold, and
+the other died emperor of the world.  Is this justice?  The ends of the
+two men were widely dissimilar--yet what is the intrinsic difference
+between them?  Very great indeed; the one acted according to his lights
+and his country, not so the other.  Tamerlane was a heathen, and acted
+according to his lights; he was a robber where all around were robbers,
+but he became the avenger of God--God's scourge on unjust kings, on the
+cruel Bajazet, who had plucked out his own brothers' eyes; he became to a
+certain extent the purifier of the East, its regenerator; his equal never
+was before, nor has it since been seen.  Here the wild heart was
+profitably employed the wild strength, the teeming brain.  Onward, Lame
+one!  Onward, Tamurlank!  Haggart. . . .
+
+But peace to thee, poor David! why should a mortal worm be sitting in
+judgment over thee?  The Mighty and Just One has already judged thee, and
+perhaps above thou hast received pardon for thy crimes, which could not
+be pardoned here below; and now that thy feverish existence has closed,
+and thy once active form become inanimate dust, thy very memory all but
+forgotten, I will say a few words about thee, a few words soon also to be
+forgotten.  Thou wast the most extraordinary robber that ever lived
+within the belt of Britain; Scotland rang with thy exploits, and England,
+too, north of the Humber; strange deeds also didst thou achieve when,
+fleeing from justice, thou didst find thyself in the Sister Isle; busy
+wast thou there in town and on curragh, at fair and race-course, and also
+in the solitary place.  Ireland thought thee her child, for who spoke her
+brogue better than thyself?--she felt proud of thee, and said, "Sure,
+O'Hanlon is come again."  What might not have been thy fate in the far
+west in America, whither thou hadst turned thine eye, saying, "I will go
+there, and become an honest man!"  But thou wast not to go there,
+David--the blood which thou hadst shed in Scotland was to be required of
+thee; the avenger was at hand, the avenger of blood.  Seized, manacled,
+brought back to thy native land, condemned to die, thou wast left in thy
+narrow cell, and told to make the most of thy time, for it was short; and
+there, in thy narrow cell, and thy time so short, thou didst put the
+crowning stone to thy strange deeds, by that strange history of thyself,
+penned by thine own hand in the robber tongue.  Thou mightest have been
+better employed, David!--but the ruling passion was strong with thee,
+even in the jaws of death.  Thou mightest have been better employed!--but
+peace be with thee, I repeat, and the Almighty's grace and pardon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Napoleon--The Storm--The Cove--Up the Country--The Trembling
+Hand--Irish--Tough Battle--Tipperary Hills--Elegant Lodgings--A
+Speech--Fair Specimen--Orangemen.
+
+Onward, onward! and after we had sojourned in Scotland nearly two years,
+the long continental war had been brought to an end, Napoleon was humbled
+for a time, and the Bourbons restored to a land which could well have
+dispensed with them; we returned to England, where the corps was
+disbanded, and my parents with their family retired to private life.  I
+shall pass over in silence the events of a year, which offer little of
+interest as far as connected with me and mine.  Suddenly, however, the
+sound of war was heard again, Napoleon had broken forth from Elba, and
+everything was in confusion.  Vast military preparations were again made,
+our own corps was levied anew, and my brother became an officer in it;
+but the danger was soon over, Napoleon was once more quelled, and chained
+for ever, like Prometheus, to his rock.  As the corps, however, though so
+recently levied, had already become a very fine one, thanks to my
+father's energetic drilling, the Government very properly determined to
+turn it to some account, and, as disturbances were apprehended in Ireland
+about this period, it occurred to them that they could do no better than
+despatch it to that country.
+
+In the autumn of the year 1815 we set sail from a port in Essex; we were
+some eight hundred strong, and were embarked in two ships, very large,
+but old and crazy; a storm overtook us when off Beachy Head, in which we
+had nearly foundered.  I was awakened early in the morning by the howling
+of the wind, and the uproar on deck.  I kept myself close, however, as is
+still my constant practice on similar occasions, and waited the result
+with that apathy and indifference which violent sea-sickness is sure to
+produce.  We shipped several seas, and once the vessel missing
+stays--which, to do it justice, it generally did at every third or fourth
+tack--we escaped almost by a miracle from being dashed upon the foreland.
+On the eighth day of our voyage we were in sight of Ireland.  The weather
+was now calm and serene, the sun shone brightly on the sea and on certain
+green hills in the distance, on which I descried what at first sight I
+believed to be two ladies gathering flowers, which, however, on our
+nearer approach, proved to be two tall white towers, doubtless built for
+some purpose or other, though I did not learn for what.
+
+We entered a kind of bay, or cove, by a narrow inlet; it was a beautiful
+and romantic place this cove, very spacious, and being nearly
+land-locked, was sheltered from every wind.  A small island, every inch
+of which was covered with fortifications, appeared to swim upon the
+waters, whose dark blue denoted their immense depth; tall green hills,
+which ascended gradually from the shore, formed the background to the
+west; they were carpeted to the top with turf of the most vivid green,
+and studded here and there with woods, seemingly of oak; there was a
+strange old castle half way up the ascent, a village on a crag--but the
+mists of the morning were half veiling the scene when I surveyed it, and
+the mists of time are now hanging densely between it and my no longer
+youthful eye; I may not describe it;--nor will I try.
+
+Leaving the ship in the cove, we passed up a wide river in boats till we
+came to a city, where we disembarked.  It was a large city, as large as
+Edinburgh to my eyes; there were plenty of fine houses, but little
+neatness; the streets were full of impurities; handsome equipages rolled
+along, but the greater part of the population were in rags; beggars
+abounded; there was no lack of merriment, however; boisterous shouts of
+laughter were heard on every side.  It appeared a city of contradictions.
+After a few days' rest we marched from this place in two divisions.  My
+father commanded the second, I walked by his side.
+
+Our route lay up the country; the country at first offered no very
+remarkable feature; it was pretty, but tame.  On the second day, however,
+its appearance had altered, it had become more wild; a range of distant
+mountains bound the horizon.  We passed through several villages, as I
+suppose I may term them, of low huts, the walls formed of rough stones
+without mortar, the roof of flags laid over wattles and wicker-work; they
+seemed to be inhabited solely by women and children; the latter were
+naked, the former, in general, blear-eyed beldames, who sat beside the
+doors on low stools, spinning.  We saw, however, both men and women
+working at a distance in the fields.
+
+I was thirsty; and going up to an ancient crone, employed in the manner
+which I have described, I asked her for water; she looked me in the face,
+appeared to consider a moment, then tottering into her hut, presently
+reappeared with a small pipkin of milk, which she offered to me with a
+trembling hand.  I drank the milk; it was sour, but I found it highly
+refreshing.  I then took out a penny and offered it to her, whereupon she
+shook her head, smiled, and, patting my face with her skinny hand,
+murmured some words in a tongue which I had never heard before.
+
+I walked on by my father's side, holding the stirrup-leather of his
+horse; presently several low uncouth cars passed by, drawn by starved
+cattle: the drivers were tall fellows, with dark features and athletic
+frames--they wore long loose blue cloaks with sleeves, which last,
+however, dangled unoccupied: these cloaks appeared in tolerably good
+condition, not so their under garments.  On their heads were broad
+slouching hats: the generality of them were bare-footed.  As they passed,
+the soldiers jested with them in the patois of East Anglia, whereupon the
+fellows laughed, and appeared to jest with the soldiers; but what they
+said who knows, it being in a rough guttural language, strange and wild.
+The soldiers stared at each other, and were silent.
+
+"A strange language that!" said a young officer to my father, "I don't
+understand a word of it; what can it be?"
+
+"Irish," said my father, with a loud voice, "and a bad language it is; I
+have known it of old, that is, I have often heard it spoken when I was a
+guardsman in London.  There's one part of London where all the Irish
+live--at least all the worst of them--and there they hatch their
+villanies to speak this tongue; it is that which keeps them together and
+makes them dangerous: I was once sent there to seize a couple of
+deserters--Irish--who had taken refuge amongst their companions; we found
+them in what was in my time called a ken, that is, a house where only
+thieves and desperadoes are to be found.  Knowing on what kind of
+business I was bound, I had taken with me a sergeant's party; it was well
+I did so.  We found the deserters in a large room, with at least thirty
+ruffians, horrid-looking fellows, seated about a long table, drinking,
+swearing, and talking Irish.  Ah! we had a tough battle, I remember; the
+two fellows did nothing, but sat still, thinking it best to be quiet; but
+the rest, with an ubbubboo, like the blowing up of a powder-magazine,
+sprang up, brandishing their sticks; for these fellows always carry
+sticks with them even to bed, and not unfrequently spring up in their
+sleep, striking left and right."
+
+"Did you take the deserters?" said the officer.
+
+"Yes," said my father; "for we formed at the end of the room, and charged
+with fixed bayonets, which compelled the others to yield notwithstanding
+their numbers; but the worst was when we got out into the street; the
+whole district had become alarmed and hundreds came pouring down upon
+us--men, women, and children.  Women, did I say!--they looked fiends,
+half-naked, with their hair hanging down over their bosoms; they tore up
+the very pavement to hurl at us sticks rang about our ears, stones, and
+Irish--I liked the Irish worst of all, it sounded so horrid, especially
+as I did not understand it.  It's a bad language."
+
+"A queer tongue," said I, "I wonder if I could learn it?"
+
+"Learn it!" said my father; "what should you learn it for?--however, I am
+not afraid of that.  It is not like Scotch, no person can learn it, save
+those who are born to it, and even in Ireland the respectable people do
+not speak it, only the wilder sort, like those we have passed."
+
+Within a day or two we had reached a tall range of mountains running
+north and south, which I was told were those of Tipperary; along the
+skirts of these we proceeded till we came to a town, the principal one of
+these regions.  It was on the bank of a beautiful river, which separated
+it from the mountains.  It was rather an ancient place, and might contain
+some ten thousand inhabitants--I found that it was our destination; there
+were extensive barracks at the farther end, in which the corps took up
+its quarters; with respect to ourselves, we took lodgings in a house
+which stood in the principal street.
+
+"You never saw more elegant lodgings than these, captain," said the
+master of the house, a tall, handsome, and athletic man, who came up
+whilst our little family were seated at dinner late in the afternoon of
+the day of our arrival; "they beat anything in this town of Clonmel.  I
+do not let them for the sake of interest, and to none but gentlemen in
+the army, in order that myself and my wife, who is from Londonderry, may
+have the advantage of pleasant company, a genteel company; ay, and
+Protestant company, captain.  It did my heart good when I saw your honour
+ride in at the head of all those fine fellows, real Protestants, I'll
+engage, not a Papist among them, they are too good-looking and
+honest-looking for that.  So I no sooner saw your honour at the head of
+your army, with that handsome young gentleman holding by your stirrup,
+than I said to my wife, Mistress Hyne, who is from Londonderry, 'God
+bless me,' said I, 'what a truly Protestant countenance, what a noble
+bearing, and what a sweet young gentleman.  By the silver hairs of his
+honour--and sure enough I never saw hairs more regally silver than those
+of your honour--by his honour's gray silver hairs, and by my own soul,
+which is not worthy to be mentioned in the same day with one of them--it
+would be no more than decent and civil to run out and welcome such a
+father and son coming in at the head of such a Protestant military.'  And
+then my wife, who is from Londonderry, Mistress Hyne, looking me in the
+face like a fairy as she is, 'You may say that,' says she.  'It would be
+but decent and civil, honey.'  And your honour knows how I ran out of my
+own door and welcomed your honour riding in company with your son, who
+was walking; how I welcomed ye both at the head of your royal regiment,
+and how I shook your honour by the hand, saying, I am glad to see your
+honour, and your honour's son, and your honour's royal military
+Protestant regiment.  And now I have you in the house, and right proud I
+am to have ye one and all; one, two, three, four, true Protestants every
+one, no Papists here; and I have made bold to bring up a bottle of claret
+which is now waiting behind the door; and, when your honour and your
+family have dined, I will make bold too to bring up Mistress Hyne, from
+Londonderry, to introduce to your honour's lady, and then we'll drink to
+the health of King George, God bless him; to the 'glorious and
+immortal'--to Boyne water--to your honour's speedy promotion to be Lord
+Lieutenant, and to the speedy downfall of the Pope and Saint Anthony of
+Padua."
+
+Such was the speech of the Irish Protestant addressed to my father in the
+long lofty dining-room with three windows, looking upon the high street
+of the good town of Clonmel, as he sat at meat with his family, after
+saying grace like a true-hearted respectable soldier as he was.
+
+"A bigot and an Orangeman!"  Oh, yes!  It is easier to apply epithets of
+opprobrium to people than to make yourself acquainted with their history
+and position.  He was a specimen, and a fair specimen, of a most
+remarkable body of men, who during two centuries have fought a good fight
+in Ireland in the cause of civilization and religious truth; they were
+sent as colonists, few in number, into a barbarous and unhappy country,
+where ever since, though surrounded with difficulties of every kind, they
+have maintained their ground; theirs has been no easy life, nor have
+their lines fallen upon very pleasant places; amidst darkness they have
+held up a lamp, and it would be well for Ireland were all her children
+like these her adopted ones.  "But they are fierce and sanguinary," it is
+said.  Ay, ay! they have not unfrequently opposed the keen sword to the
+savage pike.  "But they are bigoted and narrow-minded."  Ay, ay! they do
+not like idolatry, and will not bow the knee before a stone!  "But their
+language is frequently indecorous."  Go to, my dainty one, did ye ever
+listen to the voice of Papist cursing?
+
+The Irish Protestants have faults, numerous ones; but the greater number
+of these may be traced to the peculiar circumstances of their position:
+but they have virtues, numerous ones; and their virtues are their own,
+their industry, their energy, and their undaunted resolution are their
+own.  They have been vilified and traduced--but what would Ireland be
+without them?  I repeat, that it would be well for her were all her sons
+no worse than these much calumniated children of her adoption.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Protestant Young Gentlemen--The Greek Letters--Open
+Chimney--Murtagh--Paris and Salamanca--Nothing to do--To Whit, to
+Whoo!--The Pack of Cards--Before Christmas.
+
+We continued at this place for some months, during which time the
+soldiers performed their duties, whatever they were; and I, having no
+duties to perform, was sent to school.  I had been to English schools,
+and to the celebrated one of Edinburgh; but my education, at the present
+day, would not be what it is--perfect, had I never had the honour of
+being _alumnus_ in an Irish seminary.
+
+"Captain," said our kind host, "you would, no doubt, wish that the young
+gentleman should enjoy every advantage which the town may afford towards
+helping him on in the path of genteel learning.  It's a great pity that
+he should waste his time in idleness--doing nothing else than what he
+says he has been doing for the last fortnight--fishing in the river for
+trouts which he never catches; and wandering up the glen in the mountain,
+in search of the hips that grow there.  Now, we have a school here, where
+he can learn the most elegant Latin, and get an insight into the Greek
+letters, which is desirable; and where, moreover, he will have an
+opportunity of making acquaintance with all the Protestant young
+gentlemen of the place, the handsome well-dressed young persons whom your
+honour sees in the church on the Sundays, when your honour goes there in
+the morning, with the rest of the Protestant military; for it is no
+Papist school, though there may be a Papist or two there--a few poor
+farmers' sons from the country, with whom there is no necessity for your
+honour's child to form any acquaintance at all, at all!"
+
+And to the school I went, where I read the Latin tongue and the Greek
+letters, with a nice old clergyman, who sat behind a black oaken desk,
+with a huge Elzevir Flaccus before him, in a long gloomy kind of hall,
+with a broken stone floor, the roof festooned with cobwebs, the walls
+considerably dilapidated, and covered over with strange figures and
+hieroglyphics, evidently produced by the application of burnt stick; and
+there I made acquaintance with the Protestant young gentlemen of the
+place, who, with whatever _eclat_ they might appear at church on a
+Sunday, did assuredly not exhibit to much advantage in the school-room on
+the week days, either with respect to clothes or looks.  And there I was
+in the habit of sitting on a large stone, before the roaring fire in the
+huge open chimney, and entertaining certain of the Protestant young
+gentlemen of my own age, seated on similar stones, with extraordinary
+accounts of my own adventures, and those of the corps, with an occasional
+anecdote extracted from the story-books of Hickathrift and Wight Wallace,
+pretending to be conning the lesson all the while.
+
+And there I made acquaintance, notwithstanding the hint of the land lord,
+with the Papist "gasoons," as they were called, the farmers' sons from
+the country; and of these gasoons, of which there were three two might be
+reckoned as nothing at all; in the third, however, I soon discovered that
+there was something extraordinary.
+
+He was about sixteen years old, and above six feet high, dressed in a
+gray suit; the coat, from its size, appeared to have been made for him
+some ten years before.  He was remarkably narrow-chested and
+round-shouldered, owing, perhaps, as much to the tightness of his garment
+as to the hand of nature.  His face was long, and his complexion swarthy,
+relieved, however, by certain freckles, with which the skin was
+plentifully studded.  He had strange wandering eyes, gray, and somewhat
+unequal in size; they seldom rested on the book, but were generally
+wandering about the room, from one object to another.  Sometimes he would
+fix them intently on the wall; and then suddenly starting, as if from a
+reverie, he would commence making certain mysterious movements with his
+thumbs and fore-fingers, as if he were shuffling something from him.
+
+One morning, as he sat by himself on a bench, engaged in this manner, I
+went up to him, and said, "Good day, Murtagh; you do not seem to have
+much to do?"
+
+"Faith, you may say that, Shorsha dear!--it is seldom much to do that I
+have."
+
+"And what are you doing with your hands?"
+
+"Faith, then, if I must tell you, I was e'en dealing with the cards."
+
+"Do you play much at cards?"
+
+"Sorra a game, Shorsha, have I played with the cards since my uncle
+Phelim, the thief, stole away the ould pack, when he went to settle in
+the county Waterford!"
+
+"But you have other things to do?"
+
+"Sorra anything else has Murtagh to do that he cares about; and that
+makes me dread so going home at nights."
+
+"I should like to know all about you; where do you live, joy?"
+
+"Faith, then, ye shall know all about me, and where I live.  It is at a
+place called the Wilderness that I live, and they call it so, because it
+is a fearful wild place, without any house near it but my father's own;
+and that's where I live when at home."
+
+"And your father is a farmer, I suppose?"
+
+"You may say that; and it is a farmer I should have been, like my brother
+Denis, had not my uncle Phelim, the thief! tould my father to send me to
+school, to learn Greek letters, that I might be made a saggart of, and
+sent to Paris and Salamanca."
+
+"And you would rather be a farmer than a priest?"
+
+"You may say that!--for, were I a farmer, like the rest, I should have
+something to do, like the rest--something that I cared for--and I should
+come home tired at night, and fall asleep, as the rest do, before the
+fire; but when I comes home at night I am not tired, for I have been
+doing nothing all day that I care for; and then I sits down and stares
+about me, and at the fire, till I become frighted; and then I shouts to
+my brother Denis, or to the gasoons, 'Get up, I say, and let's be doing
+something; tell us a tale of Finn-ma-Coul, and how he lay down in the
+Shannon's bed, and let the river flow down his jaws!'  Arrah, Shorsha, I
+wish you would come and stay with us, and tell us some o' your sweet
+stories of your ownself and the snake ye carried about wid ye.  Faith,
+Shorsha dear! that snake bates anything about Finn-ma-Coul or Brian
+Boroo, the thieves two, bad luck to them!"
+
+"And do they get up and tell you stories?"
+
+"Sometimes they does, but oftenmost they curses me, and bids me be quiet!
+But I can't be quiet, either before the fire or abed; so I runs out of
+the house, and stares at the rocks, at the trees, and sometimes at the
+clouds, as they run a race across the bright moon; and, the more I
+stares, the more frighted I grows, till I screeches and holloas.  And
+last night I went into the barn, and hid my face in the straw; and there,
+as I lay and shivered in the straw, I heard a voice above my head singing
+out 'To whit, to whoo!' and then up I starts, and runs into the house,
+and falls over my brother Denis, as he lies at the fire.  'What's that
+for?' says he.  'Get up, you thief!' says I, 'and be helping me.  I have
+been out in the barn, and an owl has crow'd at me!'"
+
+"And what has this to do with playing cards?"
+
+"Little enough, Shorsha dear!--If there were card-playing, I should not
+be frighted."
+
+"And why do you not play at cards?"
+
+"Did I not tell you that the thief, my uncle Phelim, stole away the pack?
+If we had the pack, my brother Denis and the gasoons would be ready
+enough to get up from their sleep before the fire, and play cards with me
+for ha'pence, or eggs, or nothing at all; but the pack is gone--bad luck
+to the thief who took it!"
+
+"And why don't you buy another?"
+
+"Is it of buying you are speaking?  And where am I to get the money?"
+
+"Ah! that's another thing!"
+
+"Faith it is, honey!--And now the Christmas holidays is coming, when I
+shall be at home by day as well as night, and then what am I to do?
+Since I have been a saggarting, I have been good for nothing at
+all--neither for work nor Greek--only to play cards!  Faith, it's going
+mad I will be!"
+
+"I say, Murtagh!"
+
+"Yes, Shorsha dear!"
+
+"I have a pack of cards."
+
+"You don't say so, Shorsha ma vourneen?--you don't say that you have
+cards fifty-two?"
+
+"I do, though; and they are quite new--never been once used."
+
+"And you'll be lending them to me, I'll warrant?"
+
+"Don't think it!--But I'll sell them to you, joy, if you like."
+
+"Hanam mon Dioul! am I not after telling you that I have no money at
+all?"
+
+"But you have as good as money, to me, at least; and I'll take it in
+exchange."
+
+"What's that, Shorsha dear?"
+
+"Irish!"
+
+"Irish?"
+
+"Yes, you speak Irish; I heard you talking it the other day to the
+cripple.  You shall teach me Irish."
+
+"And is it a language-master you'd be making of me?"
+
+"To be sure!--what better can you do?--it would help you to pass your
+time at school.  You can't learn Greek, so you must teach Irish!"
+
+Before Christmas, Murtagh was playing at cards with his brother Denis,
+and I could speak a considerable quantity of broken Irish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Templemore--Devil's Mountain--No Companion--Force of Circumstance--Way of
+the World--Ruined Castle--Grim and Desolate--The Donjon--Old Woman--My
+Own House.
+
+When Christmas was over, and the new year commenced, we broke up our
+quarters, and marched away to Templemore.  This was a large military
+station, situated in a wild and thinly inhabited country.  Extensive bogs
+were in the neighbourhood, connected with the huge bog of Allan, the
+Palus Maeotis of Ireland.  Here and there was seen a ruined castle
+looming through the mists of winter; whilst, at the distance of seven
+miles, rose a singular mountain, exhibiting in its brow a chasm, or
+vacuum, just, for all the world, as if a piece had been bitten out; a
+feat which, according to the tradition of the country, had actually been
+performed by his Satanic majesty, who, after flying for some leagues with
+the morsel in his mouth, becoming weary, dropped it in the vicinity of
+Cashel, where it may now be seen in the shape of a bold bluff hill,
+crowned with the ruins of a stately edifice, probably built by some
+ancient Irish king.
+
+We had been here only a few days, when my brother, who, as I have before
+observed, had become one of his Majesty's officers, was sent on a
+detachment to a village at about ten miles' distance.  He was not
+sixteen, and, though three years older than myself, scarcely my equal in
+stature, for I had become tall and large-limbed for my age; but there was
+a spirit in him that would not have disgraced a general; and, nothing
+daunted at the considerable responsibility which he was about to incur,
+he marched sturdily out of the barrack-yard at the head of his party,
+consisting of twenty light-infantry men, and a tall grenadier sergeant,
+selected expressly by my father, for the soldier-like qualities which he
+possessed, to accompany his son on this his first expedition.  So out of
+the barrack-yard, with something of an air, marched my dear brother, his
+single drum and fife playing the inspiring old melody,
+
+    "Marlbrouk is gone to the wars,
+    He'll never return no more!"
+
+I soon missed my brother, for I was now alone, with no being, at all
+assimilating in age, with whom I could exchange a word.  Of late years,
+from being almost constantly at school, I had cast aside, in a great
+degree, my unsocial habits and natural reserve, but in the desolate
+region in which we now were there was no school: and I felt doubly the
+loss of my brother, whom, moreover, I tenderly loved for his own sake.
+Books I had none, at least such "as I cared about;" and with respect to
+the old volume, the wonders of which had first beguiled me into common
+reading, I had so frequently pored over its pages, that I had almost got
+its contents by heart.  I was therefore in danger of falling into the
+same predicament as Murtagh, becoming "frighted" from having nothing to
+do!  Nay, I had not even his resources; I cared not for cards, even if I
+possessed them, and could find people disposed to play with them.
+However, I made the most of circumstances, and roamed about the desolate
+fields and bogs in the neighbourhood, sometimes entering the cabins of
+the peasantry, with a "God's blessing upon you, good people!" where I
+would take my seat on the "stranger's stone" at the corner of the hearth,
+and, looking them full in the face, would listen to the carles and
+carlines talking Irish.
+
+Ah, that Irish!  How frequently do circumstances, at first sight the most
+trivial and unimportant, exercise a mighty and permanent influence on our
+habits and pursuits!--how frequently is a stream turned aside from its
+natural course by some little rock or knoll, causing it to make an abrupt
+turn!  On a wild road in Ireland I had heard Irish spoken for the first
+time; and I was seized with a desire to learn Irish, the acquisition of
+which, in my case, became the stepping-stone to other languages.  I had
+previously learnt Latin, or rather Lilly; but neither Latin nor Lilly
+made me a philologist.  I had frequently heard French and other
+languages, but had felt little desire to become acquainted with them; and
+what, it may be asked, was there connected with the Irish calculated to
+recommend it to my attention?
+
+First of all, and principally, I believe, the strangeness and singularity
+of its tones; then there was something mysterious and uncommon associated
+with its use.  It was not a school language, to acquire which was
+considered an imperative duty; no, no; nor was it a drawing-room
+language, drawled out occasionally, in shreds and patches, by the ladies
+of generals and other great dignitaries, to the ineffable dismay of poor
+officers' wives.  Nothing of the kind; but a speech spoken in
+out-of-the-way desolate places, and in cut-throat kens, where thirty
+ruffians, at the sight of the king's minions, would spring up with
+brandished sticks and an "ubbubboo, like the blowing up of a
+powder-magazine."  Such were the points connected with the Irish, which
+first awakened in my mind the desire of acquiring it; and by acquiring it
+I became, as I have already said, enamoured of languages.  Having learnt
+one by chance, I speedily, as the reader will perceive, learnt others,
+some of which were widely different from Irish.
+
+Ah, that Irish!  I am much indebted to it in more ways than one.  But I
+am afraid I have followed the way of the world, which is very much wont
+to neglect original friends and benefactors.  I frequently find myself,
+at present, turning up my nose at Irish, when I hear it in the street;
+yet I have still a kind of regard for it, the fine old language:
+
+    "A labhair Padruic n'insefail nan riogh."
+
+One of the most peculiar features of this part of Ireland is the ruined
+castles, which are so thick and numerous that the face of the country
+appears studded with them, it being difficult to choose any situation
+from which one, at least, may not be descried.  They are of various ages
+and styles of architecture, some of great antiquity, like the stately
+remains which crown the Crag of Cashel; others built by the early English
+conquerors; others, and probably the greater part, erections of the times
+of Elizabeth and Cromwell.  The whole speaking monuments of the troubled
+and insecure state of the country, from the most remote periods to a
+comparatively modern time.
+
+From the windows of the room where I slept I had a view of one of these
+old places--an indistinct one, it is true, the distance being too great
+to permit me to distinguish more than the general outline.  I had an
+anxious desire to explore it.  It stood to the south-east; in which
+direction, however, a black bog intervened, which had more than once
+baffled all my attempts to cross it.  One morning, however, when the sun
+shone brightly upon the old building, it appeared so near, that I felt
+ashamed at not being able to accomplish a feat seemingly so easy; I
+determined, therefore, upon another trial.  I reached the bog, and was
+about to venture upon its black surface, and to pick my way amongst its
+innumerable holes, yawning horribly, and half filled with water black as
+soot, when it suddenly occurred to me that there was a road to the south,
+by following which I might find a more convenient route to the object of
+my wishes.  The event justified my expectations, for, after following the
+road for some three miles, seemingly in the direction of the Devil's
+Mountain, I suddenly beheld the castle on my left.
+
+I diverged from the road, and, crossing two or three fields, came to a
+small grassy plain, in the midst of which stood the castle.  About a
+gun-shot to the south was a small village, which had, probably, in
+ancient days, sprung up beneath its protection.  A kind of awe came over
+me as I approached the old building.  The sun no longer shone upon it,
+and it looked so grim, so desolate and solitary; and here was I, in that
+wild country, alone with that grim building before me.  The village was
+within sight, it is true; but it might be a village of the dead for what
+I knew; no sound issued from it, no smoke was rising from its roofs,
+neither man nor beast was visible, no life, no motion--it looked as
+desolate as the castle itself.  Yet I was bent on the adventure, and
+moved on towards the castle across the green plain, occasionally casting
+a startled glance around me; and now I was close to it.
+
+It was surrounded by a quadrangular wall, about ten feet in height, with
+a square tower at each corner.  At first I could discover no entrance;
+walking round, however, to the northern side, I found a wide and lofty
+gateway with a tower above it, similar to those at the angles of the
+wall; on this side the ground sloped gently down towards the bog, which
+was here skirted by an abundant growth of copsewood, and a few evergreen
+oaks.  I passed through the gateway, and found myself within a square
+enclosure of about two acres.  On one side rose a round and lofty keep,
+or donjon, with a conical roof, part of which had fallen down, strewing
+the square with its ruins.  Close to the keep, on the other side, stood
+the remains of an oblong house, built something in the modern style, with
+various window-holes; nothing remained but the bare walls and a few
+projecting stumps of beams, which seemed to have been half burnt.  The
+interior of the walls was blackened, as if by fire; fire also appeared at
+one time to have raged out of the window-holes, for the outside about
+them was black, portentously so.  "I wonder what has been going on here!"
+I exclaimed.
+
+There were echoes along the walls as I walked about the court.  I entered
+the keep by a low and frowning doorway: the lower floor consisted of a
+large dungeon-like room, with a vaulted roof; on the left hand was a
+winding staircase in the thickness of the wall; it looked anything but
+inviting; yet I stole softly up, my heart beating.  On the top of the
+first flight of stairs was an arched doorway, to the left was a dark
+passage, to the right, stairs leading still higher.  I stepped under the
+arch and found myself in an apartment somewhat similar to the one below,
+but higher.  There was an object at the farther end.
+
+An old woman, at least eighty, was seated on a stone, cowering over a few
+sticks burning feebly on what had once been a right noble and cheerful
+hearth; her side-glance was towards the doorway as I entered, for she had
+heard my footsteps.  I stood suddenly still, and her haggard glance
+rested on my face.
+
+"Is this your house, mother?" I at length demanded, in the language which
+I thought she would best understand.
+
+"Yes, my house, my own house; the house of the broken-hearted."
+
+"Any other person's house?" I demanded.
+
+"My own house, the beggar's house--the accursed house of Cromwell!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+A Visit--Figure of a Man--The Dog of Peace--The Raw Wound--The
+Guard-room--Boy Soldier--Person in Authority--Never Solitary--Clergyman
+and Family--Still-Hunting--Fairy Man--Near Sunset--Bagg--Left-Handed
+Hitter--Irish and Supernatural--At Swanton Morley.
+
+One morning I set out, designing to pay a visit to my brother, at the
+place where he was detached; the distance was rather considerable, yet I
+hoped to be back by evening fall, for I was now a shrewd walker, thanks
+to constant practice.  I set out early, and, directing my course towards
+the north, I had in less than two hours accomplished considerably more
+than half of the journey.  The weather had been propitious; a slight
+frost had rendered the ground firm to the tread, and the skies were
+clear; but now a change came over the scene, the skies darkened and a
+heavy snow-storm came on; the road then lay straight through a bog, and
+was bounded by a deep trench on both sides; I was making the best of my
+way, keeping as nearly as I could in the middle of the road, lest,
+blinded by the snow which was frequently borne into my eyes by the wind,
+I might fall into the dyke, when all at once I heard a shout to windward,
+and turning my eyes I saw the figure of a man, and what appeared to be an
+animal of some kind, coming across the bog with great speed, in the
+direction of myself; the nature of the ground seemed to offer but little
+impediment to these beings, both clearing the holes and abysses which lay
+in their way with surprising agility; the animal was, however, some
+slight way in advance, and, bounding over the dyke, appeared on the road
+just before me.  It was a dog, of what species I cannot tell, never
+having seen the like before or since; the head was large and round; the
+ears so tiny as scarcely to be discernible; the eyes of a fiery red: in
+size it was rather small than large; and the coat, which was remarkably
+smooth, as white as the falling flakes.  It placed itself directly in my
+path, and showing its teeth, and bristling its coat, appeared determined
+to prevent my progress.  I had an ashen stick in my hand, with which I
+threatened it; this, however, only served to increase its fury; it rushed
+upon me, and I had the utmost difficulty to preserve myself from its
+fangs.
+
+"What are you doing with the dog, the fairy dog?" said a man, who at this
+time likewise cleared the dyke at a bound.
+
+He was a very tall man, rather well dressed as it should seem; his
+garments, however, were like my own, so covered with snow that I could
+scarcely discern their quality.
+
+"What are ye doing with the dog of peace?"
+
+"I wish he would show himself one," said I; "I said nothing to him, but
+he placed himself in my road, and would not let me pass."
+
+"Of course he would not be letting you till he knew where ye were going."
+
+"He's not much of a fairy," said I, "or he would know that without
+asking; tell him that I am going to see my brother."
+
+"And who is your brother, little Sas?"
+
+"What my father is, a royal soldier."
+
+"Oh, ye are going then to the detachment at ---; by my shoul, I have a
+good mind to be spoiling your journey."
+
+"You are doing that already," said I, "keeping me here talking about dogs
+and fairies; you had better go home and get some salve to cure that place
+over your eye; it's catching cold you'll be, in so much snow."
+
+On one side of the man's forehead there was a raw and staring wound, as
+if from a recent and terrible blow.
+
+"Faith, then I'll be going, but it's taking you wid me I will be."
+
+"And where will you take me?"
+
+"Why, then, to Ryan's Castle, little Sas."
+
+"You do not speak the language very correctly," said I; "it is not Sas
+you should call me--'tis Sassanach," and forthwith I accompanied the word
+with a speech full of flowers of Irish rhetoric.
+
+The man looked upon me for a moment, fixedly, then, bending his head
+towards his breast, he appeared to be undergoing a kind of convulsion,
+which was accompanied by a sound something resembling laughter; presently
+he looked at me, and there was a broad grin on his features.
+
+"By my shoul, it's a thing of peace I'm thinking ye."
+
+But now with a whisking sound came running down the road a hare; it was
+nearly upon us before it perceived us; suddenly stopping short, however,
+it sprang into the bog on the right-hand side; after it amain bounded the
+dog of peace, followed by the man, but not until he had nodded to me a
+farewell salutation.  In a few moments I lost sight of him amidst the
+snow-flakes.
+
+The weather was again clear and fine before I reached the place of
+detachment.  It was a little wooden barrack, surrounded by a wall of the
+same material; a sentinel stood at the gate, I passed by him, and,
+entering the building, found myself in a rude kind of guard-room; several
+soldiers were lying asleep on a wooden couch at one end, others lounged
+on benches by the side of a turf fire.  The tall sergeant stood before
+the fire, holding a cooking utensil in his left hand; on seeing me, he
+made the military salutation.
+
+"Is my brother here?" said I, rather timidly, dreading to hear that he
+was out, perhaps for the day.
+
+"The ensign is in his room, sir," said Bagg, "I am now preparing his
+meal, which will presently be ready; you will find the ensign above
+stairs," and he pointed to a broken ladder which led to some place above.
+
+And there I found him--the boy soldier--in a kind of upper loft, so low
+that I could touch with my hands the sooty rafters; the floor was of
+rough boards, through the joints of which you could see the gleam of the
+soldiers' fire, and occasionally discern their figures as they moved
+about; in one corner was a camp bedstead, by the side of which hung the
+child's sword, gorget, and sash; a deal table stood in the proximity of
+the rusty grate, where smoked and smouldered a pile of black turf from
+the bog,--a deal table without a piece of baize to cover it, yet fraught
+with things not devoid of interest: a Bible, given by a mother; the
+Odyssey, the Greek Odyssey; a flute, with broad silver keys; crayons,
+moreover, and water colours; and a sketch of a wild prospect near, which,
+though but half finished, afforded ample proof of the excellence and
+skill of the boyish hand now occupied upon it.
+
+Ah! he was a sweet being, that boy soldier, a plant of early promise,
+bidding fair to become in after time all that is great, good, and
+admirable.  I have read of a remarkable Welshman, of whom it was said,
+when the grave closed over him, that he could frame a harp, and play it;
+build a ship, and sail it; compose an ode, and set it to music.  A brave
+fellow that son of Wales--but I had once a brother who could do more and
+better than this, but the grave has closed over him, as over the gallant
+Welshman of yore; there are now but two that remember him--the one who
+bore him, and the being who was nurtured at the same breast.  He was
+taken, and I was left!--Truly the ways of Providence are inscrutable.
+
+"You seem to be very comfortable, John," said I, looking around the room
+and at the various objects which I have described above: "you have a good
+roof over your head, and have all your things about you."
+
+"Yes, I am very comfortable, George, in many respects; I am, moreover,
+independent, and feel myself a man for the first time in my
+life--independent, did I say?--that's not the word, I am something much
+higher than that; here am I, not sixteen yet, a person in authority, like
+the centurion in the book there, with twenty Englishmen under me, worth a
+whole legion of his men, and that fine fellow Bagg to wait upon me, and
+take my orders.  Oh! these last six weeks have passed like hours of
+heaven."
+
+"But your time must frequently hang heavy on your hands; this is a
+strange wild place, and you must be very solitary?"
+
+"I am never solitary; I have, as you see, all my things about me, and
+there is plenty of company below stairs.  Not that I mix with the
+soldiers; if I did, good-bye to my authority; but when I am alone I can
+hear all their discourse through the planks, and I often laugh to myself
+at the funny things they say."
+
+"And have you any acquaintance here?"
+
+"The very best; much better than the Colonel and the rest, at their grand
+Templemore; I had never so many in my whole life before.  One has just
+left me, a gentleman who lives at a distance across the bog; he comes to
+talk with me about Greek, and the Odyssey, for he is a very learned man,
+and understands the old Irish, and various other strange languages.  He
+has had a dispute with Bagg.  On hearing his name, he called him to him,
+and, after looking at him for some time with great curiosity, said that
+he was sure he was a Dane.  Bagg, however, took the compliment in
+dudgeon, and said that he was no more a Dane than himself, but a
+true-born Englishman, and a sergeant of six years' standing."
+
+"And what other acquaintance have you?"
+
+"All kinds; the whole neighbourhood can't make enough of me.  Amongst
+others there's the clergyman of the parish and his family; such a
+venerable old man, such fine sons and daughters!  I am treated by them
+like a son and brother--I might be always with them if I pleased; there's
+one drawback, however, in going to see them; there's a horrible creature
+in the house, a kind of tutor, whom they keep more from charity than
+anything else; he is a Papist and, they say, a priest; you should see him
+scowl sometimes at my red coat, for he hates the king, and not
+unfrequently, when the king's health is drunk, curses him between his
+teeth.  I once got up to strike him; but the youngest of the sisters, who
+is the handsomest, caught my arm and pointed to her forehead."
+
+"And what does your duty consist of?  Have you nothing else to do than
+pay visits and receive them?"
+
+"We do what is required of us, we guard this edifice, perform our
+evolutions, and help the excise; I am frequently called up in the dead of
+night to go to some wild place or other in quest of an illicit still;
+this last part of our duty is poor mean work, I don't like it, nor more
+does Bagg; though without it, we should not see much active service, for
+the neighbourhood is quiet; save the poor creatures with their stills,
+not a soul is stirring.  'Tis true there's Jerry Grant."
+
+"And who is Jerry Grant?"
+
+"Did you never hear of him? that's strange, the whole country is talking
+about him; he is a kind of outlaw rebel, or robber, all three, I daresay;
+there's a hundred pounds offered for his head."
+
+"And where does he live?"
+
+"His proper home, they say, is in the Queen's County, where he has a
+band, but he is a strange fellow, fond of wandering about by himself
+amidst the bogs and mountains, and living in the old castles;
+occasionally he quarters himself in the peasants' houses, who let him do
+just what he pleases; he is free of his money, and often does them good
+turns, and can be good-humoured enough, so they don't dislike him.  Then
+he is what they call a fairy man, a person in league with fairies and
+spirits, and able to work much harm by supernatural means on which
+account they hold him in great awe; he is, moreover, a mighty strong and
+tall fellow.  Bagg has seen him."
+
+"Has he?"
+
+"Yes! and felt him; he too is a strange one.  A few days ago he was told
+that Grant had been seen hovering about an old castle some two miles off
+in the bog; so one afternoon what does he do but, without saying a word
+to me--for which, by the bye, I ought to put him under arrest, though
+what I should do without Bagg I have no idea whatever--what does he do
+but walk off to the castle, intending, as I suppose, to pay a visit to
+Jerry.  He had some difficulty in getting there on account of the
+turf-holes in the bog, which he was not accustomed to; however, thither
+at last he got and went in.  It was a strange lonesome place, he says,
+and he did not much like the look of it; however, in he went, and
+searched about from the bottom to the top and down again, but could find
+no one; he shouted and hallooed, but nobody answered, save the rooks and
+choughs, which started up in great numbers.  'I have lost my trouble,'
+said Bagg, and left the castle.  It was now late in the afternoon, near
+sunset, when about half way over the bog he met a man--"
+
+"And that man was--"
+
+"Jerry Grant! there's no doubt of it.  Bagg says it was the most sudden
+thing in the world.  He was moving along, making the best of his way,
+thinking of nothing at all save a public-house at Swanton Morley, which
+he intends to take when he gets home and the regiment is
+disbanded--though I hope that will not be for some time yet: he had just
+leaped a turf-hole, and was moving on, when, at the distance of about six
+yards before him, he saw a fellow coming straight towards him.  Bagg says
+that he stopped short, as suddenly as if he had heard the word halt, when
+marching at double quick time.  It was quite a surprise, he says, and he
+can't imagine how the fellow was so close upon him before he was aware.
+He was an immense tall fellow--Bagg thinks at least two inches taller
+than himself--very well dressed in a blue coat and buff breeches for all
+the world like a squire when going out hunting.  Bagg, however, saw at
+once that he had a roguish air, and he was on his guard in a moment.
+'Good evening to ye, sodger,' says the fellow, stepping close up to Bagg,
+and staring him in the face.  'Good evening to you, sir!  I hope you are
+well,' says Bagg.  'You are looking after some one?' says the fellow.
+'Just so, sir,' says Bagg, and forthwith seized him by the collar; the
+man laughed, Bagg says it was such a strange awkward laugh.  'Do you know
+whom you have got hold of, sodger?' says he.  'I believe I do, sir,' said
+Bagg, 'and in that belief will hold you fast in the name of King George,
+and the quarter sessions;' the next moment he was sprawling with his
+heels in the air.  Bagg says there was nothing remarkable in that; he was
+only flung by a kind of wrestling trick, which he could easily have
+baffled, had he been aware of it.  'You will not do that again, sir,'
+said he, as he got up and put himself on his guard.  The fellow laughed
+again more strangely and awkwardly than before; then, bending his body
+and moving his head from one side to the other as a cat does before she
+springs, and crying out, 'Here's for ye, sodger!' he made a dart at Bagg,
+rushing in with his head foremost.  'That will do, sir,' says Bagg, and,
+drawing himself back, he put in a left-handed blow with all the force of
+his body and arm, just over the fellow's right eye--Bagg is a left-handed
+hitter, you must know--and it was a blow of that kind which won him his
+famous battle at Edinburgh with the big Highland sergeant.  Bagg says
+that he was quite satisfied with the blow, more especially when he saw
+the fellow reel, fling out his arms, and fall to the ground.  'And now,
+sir,' said he, 'I'll make bold to hand you over to the quarter sessions,
+and, if there is a hundred pounds for taking you, who has more right to
+it than myself?'  So he went forward, but ere he could lay hold of his
+man the other was again on his legs, and was prepared to renew the
+combat.  They grappled each other--Bagg says he had not much fear of the
+result, as he now felt himself the best man, the other seeming half
+stunned with the blow--but just then there came on a blast, a horrible
+roaring wind bearing night upon its wings, snow, and sleet, and hail.
+Bagg says he had the fellow by the throat quite fast, as he thought, but
+suddenly he became bewildered, and knew not where he was; and the man
+seemed to melt away from his grasp, and the wind howled more and more,
+and the night poured down darker and darker; the snow and the sleet
+thicker and more blinding.  'Lord, have mercy upon us!' said Bagg."
+
+_Myself_.  A strange adventure that; it is well that Bagg got home alive.
+
+_John_.  He says that the fight was a fair fight, and that the fling he
+got was a fair fling, the result of a common enough wrestling trick.  But
+with respect to the storm, which rose up just in time to save the fellow,
+he is of opinion that it was not fair, but something Irish and
+supernatural.
+
+_Myself_.  I dare say he's right.  I have read of witchcraft in the
+Bible.
+
+_John_.  He wishes much to have one more encounter with the fellow; he
+says that on fair ground, and in fine weather, he has no doubt that he
+could master him, and hand him over to the quarter sessions.  He says
+that a hundred pounds would be no bad thing to be disbanded upon; for he
+wishes to take an inn at Swanton Morley, keep a cock-pit, and live
+respectably.
+
+_Myself_.  He is quite right; and now kiss me, my darling brother, for I
+must go back through the bog to Templemore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+Groom and Cob--Strength and Symmetry--Where's the Saddle--The First
+Ride--No more Fatigue--Love for Horses--Pursuit of Words--Philologist and
+Pegasus--The Smith--What more, Agrah?--Sassanach Ten Pence.
+
+And it came to pass that, as I was standing by the door of the barrack
+stable, one of the grooms came out to me, saying, "I say, young
+gentleman, I wish you would give the cob a breathing this fine morning."
+
+"Why do you wish me to mount him?" said I; "you know; he is dangerous.  I
+saw him fling you off his back only a few days ago."
+
+"Why, that's the very thing, master.  I'd rather see anybody on his back
+than myself; he does not like me; but, to them he does, he can be as
+gentle as a lamb."
+
+"But suppose," said I, "that he should not like me?"
+
+"We shall soon see that, master," said the groom; "and if so be he shows
+temper, I will be the first to tell you to get down.  But there's no fear
+of that; you have never angered or insulted him, and to such as you, I
+say again, he'll be as gentle as a lamb."
+
+"And how came you to insult him," said I, "knowing his temper as you do?"
+
+"Merely through forgetfulness, master: I was riding him about a month
+ago, and having a stick in my hand, I struck him, thinking I was on
+another horse, or rather thinking of nothing at all.  He has never
+forgiven me, though before that time he was the only friend I had in the
+world; I should like to see you on him, master."
+
+"I should soon be off him: I can't ride."
+
+"Then you are all right, master; there's no fear.  Trust him for not
+hurting a young gentleman, an officer's son, who can't ride.  If you were
+a blackguard dragoon, indeed, with long spurs, 'twere another thing; as
+it is, he'll treat you as if he were the elder brother that loves you.
+Ride! he'll soon teach you to ride, if you leave the matter with him.
+He's the best riding master in all Ireland, and the gentlest."
+
+The cob was led forth; what a tremendous creature!  I had frequently seen
+him before, and wondered at him; he was barely fifteen hands, but he had
+the girth of a metropolitan dray-horse; his head was small in comparison
+with his immense neck, which curved down nobly to his wide back: his
+chest was broad and fine, and his shoulders models of symmetry and
+strength; he stood well and powerfully upon his legs, which were somewhat
+short.  In a word, he was a gallant specimen of the genuine Irish cob, a
+species at one time not uncommon, but at the present day nearly extinct.
+
+"There!" said the groom, as he looked at him, half-admiringly, half
+sorrowfully, "with sixteen stone on his back, he'll trot fourteen miles
+in one hour, with your nine stone, some two and a half more, ay, and
+clear a six-foot wall at the end of it."
+
+"I'm half afraid," said I; "I had rather you would ride him."
+
+"I'd rather so, too, if he would let me; but he remembers the blow.  Now,
+don't be afraid, young master, he's longing to go out himself.  He's been
+trampling with his feet these three days, and I know what that means;
+he'll let anybody ride him but myself, and thank them; but to me he says,
+'No! you struck me.'"
+
+"But," said I, "where's the saddle?"
+
+"Never mind the saddle; if you are ever to be a frank rider, you must
+begin without a saddle; besides, if he felt a saddle, he would think you
+don't trust him, and leave you to yourself.  Now, before you mount, make
+his acquaintance--see there, how he kisses you and licks your face, and
+see how he lifts his foot, that's to shake hands.  You may trust him--now
+you are on his back at last; mind how you hold the bridle--gently,
+gently!  It's not four pair of hands like yours can hold him if he wishes
+to be off.  Mind what I tell you--leave it all to him."
+
+Off went the cob at a slow and gentle trot, too fast, however, for so
+inexperienced a rider.  I soon felt myself sliding off, the animal
+perceived it too, and instantly stood stone still till I had righted
+myself; and now the groom came up: "When you feel yourself going," said
+he, "don't lay hold of the mane, that's no use; mane never yet saved man
+from falling, no more than straw from drowning; it's his sides you must
+cling to with your calves and feet, till you learn to balance yourself.
+That's it, now abroad with you; I'll bet my comrade a pot of beer that
+you'll be a regular rough rider by the time you come back."
+
+And so it proved; I followed the directions of the groom, and the cob
+gave me every assistance.  How easy is riding, after the first timidity
+is got over, to supple and youthful limbs; and there is no second fear.
+The creature soon found that the nerves of his rider were in proper tone.
+Turning his head half round he made a kind of whining noise, flung out a
+little foam, and set off.
+
+In less than two hours I had made the circuit of the Devil's Mountain,
+and was returning along the road, bathed with perspiration, but screaming
+with delight; the cob laughing in his equine way, scattering foam and
+pebbles to the left and right, and trotting at the rate of sixteen miles
+an hour.
+
+Oh, that ride! that first ride!--most truly it was an epoch in my
+existence; and I still look back to it with feelings of longing and
+regret.  People may talk of first love--it is a very agreeable event, I
+dare say--but give me the flush, and triumph, and glorious sweat of a
+first ride, like mine on the mighty cob!  My whole frame was shaken, it
+is true; and during one long week I could hardly move foot or hand; but
+what of that?  By that one trial I had become free, as I may say, of the
+whole equine species.  No more fatigue, no more stiffness of joints,
+after that first ride round the Devil's Hill on the cob.
+
+Oh, that cob; that Irish cob!--may the sod lie lightly over the bones of
+the strongest, speediest, and most gallant of its kind!  Oh! the days
+when, issuing from the barrack-gate of Templemore, we commenced our
+hurry-skurry just as inclination led--now across the fields--direct over
+stone walls and running brooks--mere pastime for the cob!--sometimes
+along the road to Thurles and Holy Cross, even to distant Cahir!--what
+was distance to the cob?
+
+It was thus that the passion for the equine race was first awakened
+within me--a passion which, up to the present time, has been rather on
+the increase than diminishing.  It is no blind passion; the horse being a
+noble and generous creature, intended by the All-Wise to be the helper
+and friend of man, to whom he stands next in the order of creation.  On
+many occasions of my life I have been much indebted to the horse, and
+have found in him a friend and coadjutor, when human help and sympathy
+were not to be obtained.  It is therefore natural enough that I should
+love the horse; but the love which I entertain for him has always been
+blended with respect; for I soon perceived that, though disposed to be
+the friend and helper of man, he is by no means inclined to be his slave;
+in which respect he differs from the dog, who will crouch when beaten;
+whereas the horse spurns, for he is aware of his own worth, and that he
+carries death within the horn of his heel.  If, therefore, I found it
+easy to love the horse, I found it equally natural to respect him.
+
+I much question whether philology, or the passion for languages, requires
+so little of an apology as the love for horses.  It has been said, I
+believe, that the more languages a man speaks, the more a man is he;
+which is very true, provided he acquires languages as a medium for
+becoming acquainted with the thoughts and feelings of the various
+sections into which the human race is divided; but, in that case, he
+should rather be termed a philosopher than a philologist--between which
+two the difference is wide indeed!  An individual may speak and read a
+dozen languages, and yet be an exceedingly poor creature, scarcely half a
+man; and the pursuit of tongues for their own sake, and the mere
+satisfaction of acquiring them, surely argues an intellect of a very low
+order; a mind disposed to be satisfied with mean and grovelling things;
+taking more pleasure in the trumpery casket than in the precious treasure
+which it contains, in the pursuit of words, than in the acquisition of
+ideas.
+
+I cannot help thinking that it was fortunate for myself, who am, to a
+certain extent, a philologist, that with me the pursuit of languages has
+been always modified by the love of horses; for scarcely had I turned my
+mind to the former, when I also mounted the wild cob, and hurried forth
+in the direction of the Devil's Hill, scattering dust and flint-stones on
+every side; that ride, amongst other things, taught me that a lad with
+thews and sinews was intended by nature for something better than mere
+word-culling; and if I have accomplished anything in after life worthy of
+mentioning, I believe it may partly be attributed to the ideas which that
+ride, by setting my blood in a glow, infused into my brain.  I might,
+otherwise, have become a mere philologist; one of those beings who toil
+night and day in culling useless words for some _opus magnum_ which
+Murray will never publish, and nobody ever read; beings without
+enthusiasm, who, having never mounted a generous steed, cannot detect a
+good point in Pegasus himself; like a certain philologist, who, though
+acquainted with the exact value of every word in the Greek and Latin
+languages, could observe no particular beauty in one of the most glorious
+of Homer's rhapsodies.  What knew he of Pegasus? he had never mounted a
+generous steed; the merest jockey, had the strain been interpreted to
+him, would have called it a brave song!--I return to the brave cob.
+
+On a certain day I had been out on an excursion.  In a cross-road, at
+some distance from the Satanic hill, the animal which I rode cast a shoe.
+By good luck a small village was at hand, at the entrance of which was a
+large shed, from which proceeded a most furious noise of hammering.
+Leading the cob by the bridle, I entered boldly.  "Shoe this horse, and
+do it quickly, a gough," said I to a wild grimy figure of a man, whom I
+found alone, fashioning a piece of iron.
+
+"Arrigod yuit?" said the fellow, desisting from his work, and staring at
+me.
+
+"O yes, I have money," said I, "and of the best;" and I pulled out an
+English shilling.
+
+"Tabhair chugam?" said the smith, stretching out his grimy hand.
+
+"No, I sha'n't," said I; "some people are glad to get their money when
+their work is done."
+
+The fellow hammered a little longer, and then proceeded to shoe the cob,
+after having first surveyed it with attention.  He performed his job
+rather roughly, and more than once appeared to give the animal
+unnecessary pain, frequently making use of loud and boisterous words.  By
+the time the work was done, the creature was in a state of high
+excitement, and plunged and tore.  The smith stood at a short distance,
+seeming to enjoy the irritation of the animal, and showing, in a
+remarkable manner, a huge fang, which projected from the under jaw of a
+very wry mouth.
+
+"You deserve better handling," said I, as I went up to the cob and
+fondled it; whereupon it whinnied, and attempted to touch my face with
+its nose.
+
+"Are ye not afraid of that beast?" said the smith, showing his fang.
+"Arrah, it's vicious that he looks!"
+
+"It's at you, then!--I don't fear him;" and thereupon I passed under the
+horse, between his hind legs.
+
+"And is that all you can do, agrah?" said the smith.
+
+"No," said I, "I can ride him."
+
+"Ye can ride him, and what else, agrah?"
+
+"I can leap him over a six-foot wall," said I.
+
+"Over a wall, and what more, agrah?"
+
+"Nothing more," said I; "what more would you have?"
+
+"Can you do this, agrah?" said the smith; and he uttered a word which I
+had never heard before, in a sharp pungent tone.  The effect upon myself
+was somewhat extraordinary, a strange thrill ran through me; but with
+regard to the cob it was terrible; the animal forthwith became like one
+mad, and reared and kicked with the utmost desperation.
+
+"Can you do that, agrah?" said the smith.
+
+"What is it?" said I, retreating, "I never saw the horse so before."
+
+"Go between his legs, agrah," said the smith, "his hinder legs;" and he
+again showed his fang.
+
+"I dare not," said I, "he would kill me."
+
+"He would kill ye! and how do ye know that, agrah?"
+
+"I feel he would," said I, "something tells me so."
+
+"And it tells ye truth, agrah; but it's a fine beast, and it's a pity to
+see him in such a state: Is agam an't leigeas"--and here he uttered
+another word in a voice singularly modified, but sweet and almost
+plaintive; the effect of it was as instantaneous as that of the other,
+but how different!--the animal lost all its fury, and became at once calm
+and gentle.  The smith went up to it, coaxed and patted it, making use of
+various sounds of equal endearment, then turning to me, and holding out
+once more the grimy hand, he said, "And now ye will be giving me the
+Sassanach ten pence, agrah?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+A Fine Old City--Norman Master-Work--Lollards' Hole--Good Blood--The
+Spaniard's Sword--Old Retired Officer--Writing to a Duke--God help the
+Child--Nothing like Jacob--Irish Brigades--Old Sergeant Meredith--I Have
+Been Young--Idleness--Only Course Open--The Bookstall--A Portrait--A
+Banished Priest.
+
+From the wild scenes which I have attempted to describe in the latter
+pages I must now transport the reader to others of a widely different
+character.  He must suppose himself no longer in Ireland, but in the
+eastern corner of merry England.  Bogs, ruins, and mountains have
+disappeared amidst the vapours of the west: I have nothing more to say of
+them; the region in which we are now is not famous for objects of that
+kind: perhaps it flatters itself that it can produce fairer and better
+things, of some of which let me speak; there is a fine old city before
+us, and first of that let me speak.
+
+A fine old city, truly, is that, view it from whatever side you will; but
+it shows best from the east, where the ground, bold and elevated,
+overlooks the fair and fertile valley in which it stands.  Gazing from
+those heights, the eye beholds a scene which cannot fail to awaken, even
+in the least sensitive bosom, feelings of pleasure and admiration.  At
+the foot of the heights flows a narrow and deep river, with an antique
+bridge communicating with a long and narrow suburb, flanked on either
+side by rich meadows of the brightest green, beyond which spreads the
+city; the fine old city, perhaps the most curious specimen at present
+extant of the genuine old English town.  Yes, there it spreads from north
+to south, with its venerable houses, its numerous gardens, its thrice
+twelve churches, its mighty mound, which, if tradition speaks true, was
+raised by human hands to serve as the grave heap of an old heathen king,
+who sits deep within it, with his sword in his hand, and his gold and
+silver treasures about him.  There is a grey old castle upon the top of
+that mighty mound; and yonder, rising three hundred feet above the soil,
+from among those noble forest trees, behold that old Norman master-work,
+that cloud-encircled cathedral spire, around which a garrulous army of
+rooks and choughs continually wheel their flight.  Now, who can wonder
+that the children of that fine old city are proud of her, and offer up
+prayers for her prosperity?  I, myself, who was not born within her
+walls, offer up prayers for her prosperity, that want may never visit her
+cottages, vice her palaces, and that the abomination of idolatry may
+never pollute her temples.  Ha, idolatry! the reign of idolatry has been
+over there for many a long year, never more, let us hope, to return;
+brave hearts in that old town have borne witness against it, and sealed
+their testimony with their hearts' blood--most precious to the Lord is
+the blood of His saints! we are not far from hallowed ground.  Observe ye
+not yon chalky precipice, to the right of the Norman bridge?  On this
+side of the stream, upon its brow, is a piece of ruined wall, the last
+relic of what was of old a stately pile, whilst at its foot is a place
+called the Lollards' Hole; and with good reason, for many a saint of God
+has breathed his last beneath that white precipice, bearing witness
+against popish idolatry, midst flame and pitch; many a grisly procession
+has advanced along that suburb, across the old bridge, towards the
+Lollards' Hole: furious priests in front, a calm pale martyr in the
+midst, a pitying multitude behind.  It has had its martyrs, the venerable
+old town!
+
+Ah! there is good blood in that old city, and in the whole circumjacent
+region of which it is the capital.  The Angles possessed the land at an
+early period, which, however, they were eventually compelled to share
+with hordes of Danes and Northmen, who flocked thither across the sea to
+found hearthsteads on its fertile soil.  The present race, a mixture of
+Angles and Danes, still preserve much which speaks strongly of their
+northern ancestry; amongst them ye will find the light-brown hair of the
+north, the strong and burly forms of the north, many a wild superstition,
+ay, and many a wild name connected with the ancient history of the north
+and its sublime mythology; the warm heart, and the strong heart of the
+old Danes and Saxons still beat in those regions, and there ye will find,
+if anywhere, old northern hospitality and kindness of manner, united with
+energy, perseverance, and dauntless intrepidity; better soldiers or
+mariners never bled in their country's battles than those nurtured in
+those regions, and within those old walls.  It was yonder, to the west,
+that the great naval hero of Britain first saw the light; he who
+annihilated the sea pride of Spain, and dragged the humbled banner of
+France in triumph at his stern.  He was born yonder, towards the west,
+and of him there is a glorious relic in that old town; in its dark flint
+guildhouse, the roof of which you can just descry rising above that maze
+of buildings, in the upper hall of justice, is a species of glass shrine,
+in which the relic is to be seen; a sword of curious workmanship, the
+blade is of keen Toledan steel, the heft of ivory and mother-of-pearl.
+'Tis the sword of Cordova, won in bloodiest fray off Saint Vincent's
+promontory, and presented by Nelson to the old capital of the much-loved
+land of his birth.  Yes, the proud Spaniard's sword is to be seen in
+yonder guildhouse, in the glass case affixed to the wall: many other
+relics has the good old town, but none prouder than the Spaniard's sword.
+
+Such was the place to which, when the war was over, my father retired: it
+was here that the old tired soldier set himself down with his little
+family.  He had passed the greater part of his life in meritorious
+exertion, in the service of his country, and his chief wish now was to
+spend the remainder of his days in quiet and respectability; his means,
+it is true, were not very ample; fortunate it was that his desires
+corresponded with them: with a small fortune of his own, and with his
+half-pay as a royal soldier, he had no fears for himself or for his
+faithful partner and helpmate; but then his children! how was he to
+provide for them? how launch them upon the wide ocean of the world?  This
+was, perhaps, the only thought which gave him uneasiness, and I believe
+that many an old retired officer at that time, and under similar
+circumstances, experienced similar anxiety; had the war continued, their
+children would have been, of course, provided for in the army, but peace
+now reigned, and the military career was closed to all save the scions of
+the aristocracy, or those who were in some degree connected with that
+privileged order, an advantage which few of these old officers could
+boast of; they had slight influence with the great, who gave themselves
+very little trouble either about them or their families.
+
+"I have been writing to the Duke," said my father one day to my excellent
+mother, after we had been at home somewhat better than a year, "I have
+been writing to the Duke of York about a commission for that eldest boy
+of ours.  He, however, affords me no hopes; he says that his list is
+crammed with names, and that the greater number of the candidates have
+better claims than my son."
+
+"I do not see how that can be," said my mother.
+
+"Nor do I," replied my father.  "I see the sons of bankers and merchants
+gazetted every month, and I do not see what claims they have to urge,
+unless they be golden ones.  However, I have not served my king fifty
+years to turn grumbler at this time of life.  I suppose that the people
+at the head of affairs know what is most proper and convenient; perhaps
+when the lad sees how difficult, nay, how impossible it is that he should
+enter the army, he will turn his mind to some other profession; I wish he
+may!"
+
+"I think he has already," said my mother; "you see how fond he is of the
+arts, of drawing and painting, and, as far as I can judge, what he has
+already done is very respectable; his mind seems quite turned that way,
+and I heard him say the other day that he would sooner be a Michael
+Angelo than a general officer.  But you are always talking of him; what
+do you think of doing with the other child?"
+
+"What, indeed!" said my father; "that is a consideration which gives me
+no little uneasiness.  I am afraid it will be much more difficult to
+settle him in life than his brother.  What is he fitted for, even were it
+in my power to provide for him?  God help the child!  I bear him no
+ill-will, on the contrary, all love and affection; but I cannot shut my
+eyes; there is something so strange about him!  How he behaved in
+Ireland!  I sent him to school to learn Greek, and he picked up Irish!"
+
+"And Greek as well," said my mother.  "I heard him say the other day that
+he could read St. John in the original tongue."
+
+"You will find excuses for him, I know," said my father.  "You tell me I
+am always thinking of my first-born; I might retort by saying you are
+always thinking of the other; but it is the way of women always to side
+with the second-born.  There's what's her name in the Bible, by whose
+wiles the old blind man was induced to give to his second son the
+blessing which was the birthright of the other.  I wish I had been in his
+place!  I should not have been so easily deceived! no disguise would ever
+have caused me to mistake an impostor for my first-born.  Though I must
+say for this boy that he is nothing like Jacob; he is neither smooth nor
+sleek, and, though my second-born, he is already taller and larger than
+his brother."
+
+"Just so," said my mother, "his brother would make a far better Jacob
+than he."
+
+"I will hear nothing against my first-born," said my father, "even in the
+way of insinuation: he is my joy and pride; the very image of myself in
+my youthful days, long before I fought Big Ben; though perhaps not quite
+so tall or strong built.  As for the other, God bless the child!  I love
+him, I'm sure; but I must be blind not to see the difference between him
+and his brother.  Why, he has neither my hair nor my eyes; and then his
+countenance! why, 'tis absolutely swarthy, God forgive me!  I had almost
+said like that of a gypsy, but I have nothing to say against that; the
+boy is not to be blamed for the colour of his face, nor for his hair and
+eyes; but, then, his ways and manners!--I confess I do not like them, and
+that they give me no little uneasiness--I know that he kept very strange
+company when he was in Ireland; people of evil report, of whom terrible
+things were said--horse-witches and the like.  I questioned him once or
+twice upon the matter, and even threatened him, but it was of no use; he
+put on a look as if he did not understand me, a regular Irish look, just
+such a one as those rascals assume when they wish to appear all innocence
+and simplicity, and they full of malice and deceit all the time.  I don't
+like them; they are no friends to old England, or its old king, God bless
+him!  They are not good subjects, and never were; always in league with
+foreign enemies.  When I was in the Coldstream, long before the
+Revolution, I used to hear enough about the Irish brigades kept by the
+French kings, to be a thorn in the side of the English whenever
+opportunity served.  Old Sergeant Meredith once told me, that in the time
+of the Pretender there were always, in London alone, a dozen of fellows
+connected with these brigades, with the view of seducing the king's
+soldiers from their allegiance, and persuading them to desert to France
+to join the honest Irish, as they were called.  One of these traitors
+once accosted him and proposed the matter to him, offering handfuls of
+gold if he could induce any of his comrades to go over.  Meredith
+appeared to consent, but secretly gave information to his colonel; the
+fellow was seized, and certain traitorous papers found upon him; he was
+hanged before Newgate, and died exulting in his treason.  His name was
+Michael Nowlan.  That ever son of mine should have been intimate with the
+Papist Irish, and have learnt their language!"
+
+"But he thinks of other things now," said my mother.
+
+"Other languages, you mean," said my father.  "It is strange that he has
+conceived such a zest for the study of languages; no sooner did he come
+home than he persuaded me to send him to that old priest to learn French
+and Italian, and, if I remember right, you abetted him; but, as I said
+before, it is in the nature of women invariably to take the part of the
+second-born.  Well, there is no harm in learning French and Italian,
+perhaps much good in his case, as they may drive the other tongue out of
+his head.  Irish! why, he might go to the university but for that; but
+how would he look when, on being examined with respect to his
+attainments, it was discovered that he understood Irish?  How did you
+learn it? they would ask him; how did you become acquainted with the
+language of Papists and rebels?  The boy would be sent away in disgrace."
+
+"Be under no apprehension, I have no doubt that he has long since
+forgotten it."
+
+"I am glad to hear it," said my father; "for, between ourselves, I love
+the poor child; ay, quite as well as my first-born.  I trust they will do
+well, and that God will be their shield and guide; I have no doubt He
+will, for I have read something in the Bible to that effect.  What is
+that text about the young ravens being fed?"
+
+"I know a better than that," said my mother; "one of David's own words,
+'I have been young and now am grown old, yet never have I seen the
+righteous man forsaken, or his seed begging their bread.'"
+
+I have heard talk of the pleasures of idleness, yet it is my own firm
+belief that no one ever yet took pleasure in it.  Mere idleness is the
+most disagreeable state of existence, and both mind and body are
+continually making efforts to escape from it.  It has been said that
+idleness is the parent of mischief, which is very true; but mischief
+itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness.
+There are many tasks and occupations which a man is unwilling to perform,
+but let no one think that he is therefore in love with idleness; he turns
+to something which is more agreeable to his inclination, and doubtless
+more suited to his nature; but he is not in love with idleness.  A boy
+may play the truant from school because he dislikes books and study; but,
+depend upon it, he intends doing something the while--to go fishing, or
+perhaps to take a walk; and who knows but that from such excursions both
+his mind and body may derive more benefit than from books and school?
+Many people go to sleep to escape from idleness; the Spaniards do; and,
+according to the French account, John Bull, the 'squire, hangs himself in
+the month of November; but the French, who are a very sensible people,
+attribute the action, "_a une grande envie de se desennuyer_;" he wishes
+to be doing something, say they, and having nothing better to do, he has
+recourse to the cord.
+
+It was for want of something better to do that, shortly after my return
+home, I applied myself to the study of languages.  By the acquisition of
+Irish, with the first elements of which I had become acquainted under the
+tuition of Murtagh, I had contracted a certain zest and inclination for
+the pursuit.  Yet it is probable, that had I been launched about this
+time into some agreeable career, that of arms, for example, for which,
+being the son of a soldier, I had, as was natural, a sort of penchant, I
+might have thought nothing more of the acquisition of tongues of any
+kind; but, having nothing to do, I followed the only course suited to my
+genius which appeared open to me.
+
+So it came to pass that one day, whilst wandering listlessly about the
+streets of the old town, I came to a small book-stall, and stopping,
+commenced turning over the books; I took up at least a dozen, and almost
+instantly flung them down.  What were they to me?  At last, coming to a
+thick volume, I opened it, and after inspecting its contents for a few
+minutes, I paid for it what was demanded, and forthwith carried it home.
+
+It was a tessara-glot grammar; a strange old book, printed somewhere in
+Holland, which pretended to be an easy guide to the acquirement of the
+French, Italian, Low Dutch, and English tongues, by means of which any
+one conversant in any one of these languages could make himself master of
+the other three.  I turned my attention to the French and Italian.  The
+old book was not of much value; I derived some benefit from it, however,
+and, conning it intensely, at the end of a few weeks obtained some
+insight into the structure of these two languages.  At length I had
+learnt all that the book was capable of informing me, yet was still far
+from the goal to which it had promised to conduct me.  "I wish I had a
+master!" I exclaimed; and the master was at hand.  In an old court of the
+old town lived a certain elderly personage, perhaps sixty, or
+thereabouts; he was rather tall, and something of a robust make, with a
+countenance in which bluffness was singularly blended with vivacity and
+grimace; and with a complexion which would have been ruddy, but for a
+yellow hue which rather predominated.  His dress consisted of a
+snuff-coloured coat and drab pantaloons, the former evidently seldom
+subjected to the annoyance of a brush, and the latter exhibiting here and
+there spots of something which, if not grease, bore a strong resemblance
+to it; add to these articles an immense frill, seldom of the purest
+white, but invariably of the finest French cambric, and you have some
+idea of his dress.  He had rather a remarkable stoop, but his step was
+rapid and vigorous, and as he hurried along the streets, he would glance
+to the right and left with a pair of big eyes like plums, and on
+recognizing any one would exalt a pair of grizzled eyebrows, and slightly
+kiss a tawny and ungloved hand.  At certain hours of the day he might be
+seen entering the doors of female boarding-schools, generally with a book
+in his hand, and perhaps another just peering from the orifice of a
+capacious back pocket; and at a certain season of the year he might be
+seen, dressed in white, before the altar of a certain small popish
+chapel, chanting from the breviary in very intelligible Latin, or perhaps
+reading from the desk in utterly unintelligible English.  Such was my
+preceptor in the French and Italian tongues.  "Exul sacerdos; vone
+banished priest.  I came into England twenty-five years ago, 'my dear.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+Monsieur Dante--Condemned Musket--Sporting--Sweet Rivulet--The Earl's
+Home--The Pool--The Sonorous Voice--What dost Thou Read?--Man of
+Peace--Zohar and Mishna--Money Changers.
+
+So I studied French and Italian under the tuition of the banished priest,
+to whose house I went regularly every evening to receive instruction.  I
+made considerable progress in the acquisition of the two languages.  I
+found the French by far the most difficult, chiefly on account of the
+accent, which my master himself possessed in no great purity, being a
+Norman by birth.  The Italian was my favourite.
+
+"_Vous serez un jour un grand philologue_, _mon cher_," said the old man,
+on our arriving at the conclusion of Dante's Hell.
+
+"I hope I shall be something better," said I, "before I die, or I shall
+have lived to little purpose."
+
+"That's true, my dear! philologist--one small poor dog.  What would you
+wish to be?"
+
+"Many things sooner than that; for example, I would rather be like him
+who wrote this book."
+
+"_Quoi_, _Monsieur Dante_?  He was a vagabond, my dear, forced to fly
+from his country.  No, my dear, if you would be like one poet, be like
+Monsieur Boileau; he is the poet."
+
+"I don't think so."
+
+"How, not think so?  He wrote very respectable verses; lived and died
+much respected by everybody.  T'other, one bad dog, forced to fly from
+his country--died with not enough to pay his undertaker."
+
+"Were you not forced to flee from your country?"
+
+"That very true; but there is much difference between me and this Dante.
+He fled from country because he had one bad tongue which he shook at his
+betters.  I fly because benefice gone, and head going; not on account of
+the badness of my tongue."
+
+"Well," said I, "you can return now; the Bourbons are restored."
+
+"I find myself very well here; not bad country.  _Il est vrai que la
+France sera toujours la France_; but all are dead there who knew me.  I
+find myself very well here.  Preach in popish chapel, teach schismatic,
+that is Protestant, child tongues and literature.  I find myself very
+well; and why?  Because I know how to govern my tongue; never call people
+hard names.  _Ma foi_, _il y a beaucoup de difference entre moi et ce
+sacre de Dante_."
+
+Under this old man, who was well versed in the southern languages,
+besides studying French and Italian, I acquired some knowledge of
+Spanish.  But I did not devote my time entirely to philology; I had other
+pursuits.  I had not forgotten the roving life I had led in former days,
+nor its delights; neither was I formed by Nature to be a pallid indoor
+student.  No, no!  I was fond of other and, I say it boldly, better
+things than study.  I had an attachment to the angle, ay, and to the gun
+likewise.  In our house was a condemned musket, bearing somewhere on its
+lock, in rather antique characters, "Tower, 1746;" with this weapon I had
+already, in Ireland, performed some execution among the rooks and
+choughs, and it was now again destined to be a source of solace and
+amusement to me, in the winter season, especially on occasions of severe
+frost when birds abounded.  Sallying forth with it at these times, far
+into the country, I seldom returned at night without a string of
+bullfinches, blackbirds, and linnets hanging in triumph round my neck.
+When I reflect on the immense quantity of powder and shot which I crammed
+down the muzzle of my uncouth fowling-piece, I am less surprised at the
+number of birds which I slaughtered, than that I never blew my hands,
+face, and old honey-combed gun, at one and the same time, to pieces.
+
+But the winter, alas! (I speak as a fowler) seldom lasts in England more
+than three or four months; so, during the rest of the year, when not
+occupied with my philological studies, I had to seek for other
+diversions.  I have already given a hint that I was also addicted to the
+angle.  Of course there is no comparison between the two pursuits, the
+rod and line seeming but very poor trumpery to one who has had the honour
+of carrying a noble firelock.  There is a time, however, for all things;
+and we return to any favourite amusement with the greater zest, from
+being compelled to relinquish it for a season.  So, if I shot birds in
+winter with my firelock, I caught fish in summer, or attempted so to do,
+with my angle.  I was not quite so successful, it is true, with the
+latter as with the former; possibly because it afforded me less pleasure.
+It was, indeed, too much of a listless pastime to inspire me with any
+great interest.  I not unfrequently fell into a doze whilst sitting on
+the bank, and more than once let my rod drop from my hands into the
+water.
+
+At some distance from the city, behind a range of hilly ground which
+rises towards the south-west, is a small river, the waters of which,
+after many meanderings, eventually enter the principal river of the
+district, and assist to swell the tide which it rolls down to the ocean.
+It is a sweet rivulet, and pleasant it is to trace its course from its
+spring-head, high up in the remote regions of Eastern Anglia, till it
+arrives in the valley behind yon rising ground; and pleasant is that
+valley, truly a goodly spot, but most lovely where yonder bridge crosses
+the little stream.  Beneath its arch the waters rush garrulously into a
+blue pool, and are there stilled for a time, for the pool is deep, and
+they appear to have sunk to sleep.  Farther on, however, you hear their
+voice again, where they ripple gaily over yon gravelly shallow.  On the
+left, the hill slopes gently down to the margin of the stream.  On the
+right is a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the richest decks the
+side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant elms, the nearest of
+which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a broad shadow upon the
+face of the pool; through yon vista you catch a glimpse of the ancient
+brick of an old English hall.  It has a stately look, that old building,
+indistinctly seen, as it is, among those umbrageous trees; you might
+almost suppose it an earl's home; and such it was, or rather upon its
+site stood an earl's home, in days of old, for there some old Kemp, some
+Sigurd, or Thorkild, roaming in quest of a hearthstead, settled down in
+the gray old time, when Thor and Freya were yet gods, and Odin was a
+portentous name.  Yon old hall is still called the Earl's Home, though
+the hearth of Sigurd is now no more, and the bones of the old Kemp, and
+of Sigrith his dame, have been mouldering for a thousand years in some
+neighbouring knoll; perhaps yonder, where those tall Norwegian pines
+shoot up so boldly into the air.  It is said that the old Earl's galley
+was once moored where is now that blue pool, for the waters of that
+valley were not always sweet; yon valley was once an arm of the sea, a
+salt lagoon, to which the war-barks of "Sigurd, in search of a home,"
+found their way.
+
+I was in the habit of spending many an hour on the banks of that rivulet
+with my rod in my hand, and, when tired with angling, would stretch
+myself on the grass, and gaze upon the waters as they glided past, and
+not unfrequently, divesting myself of my dress, I would plunge into the
+deep pool which I have already mentioned, for I had long since learned to
+swim.  And it came to pass, that on one hot summer's day, after bathing
+in the pool, I passed along the meadow till I came to a shallow part,
+and, wading over to the opposite side, I adjusted my dress, and commenced
+fishing in another pool, beside which was a small clump of hazels.
+
+And there I sat upon the bank, at the bottom of the hill which slopes
+down from "the Earl's home;" my float was on the waters, and my back was
+towards the old hall.  I drew up many fish, small and great, which I took
+from off the hook mechanically, and flung upon the bank, for I was almost
+unconscious of what I was about, for my mind was not with my fish.  I was
+thinking of my earlier years--of the Scottish crags and the heaths of
+Ireland--and sometimes my mind would dwell on my studies--on the sonorous
+stanzas of Dante, rising and falling like the waves of the sea--or would
+strive to remember a couplet or two of poor Monsieur Boileau.
+
+"Canst thou answer to thy conscience for pulling all those fish out of
+the water, and leaving them to gasp in the sun?" said a voice, clear and
+sonorous as a bell.
+
+I started, and looked round.  Close behind me stood the tall figure of a
+man, dressed in raiment of quaint and singular fashion, but of goodly
+materials.  He was in the prime and vigour of manhood; his features
+handsome and noble, but full of calmness and benevolence; at least I
+thought so, though they were somewhat shaded by a hat of finest beaver,
+with broad drooping eaves.
+
+"Surely that is a very cruel diversion in which thou indulgest, my young
+friend?" he continued.
+
+"I am sorry for it, if it be, sir," said I, rising; "but I do not think
+it cruel to fish."
+
+"What are thy reasons for not thinking so?"
+
+"Fishing is mentioned frequently in Scripture.  Simon Peter was a
+fisherman."
+
+"True; and Andrew and his brother.  But thou forgettest: they did not
+follow fishing as a diversion, as I fear thou doest.--Thou readest the
+Scriptures?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"Sometimes?--not daily?--that is to be regretted.  What profession dost
+thou make?--I mean to what religious denomination dost thou belong, my
+young friend?"
+
+"Church."
+
+"It is a very good profession--there is much of Scripture contained in
+its liturgy.  Dost thou read aught beside the Scriptures?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"What dost thou read besides?"
+
+"Greek, and Dante."
+
+"Indeed; then thou hast the advantage over myself; I can only read the
+former.  Well, I am rejoiced to find that thou hast other pursuits beside
+thy fishing.  Dost thou know Hebrew?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Thou shouldest study it.  Why dost thou not undertake the study?"
+
+"I have no books."
+
+"I will lend thee books, if thou wish to undertake the study.  I live
+yonder at the hall, as perhaps thou knowest.  I have a library there, in
+which are many curious books, both in Greek and Hebrew, which I will show
+to thee, whenever thou mayest find it convenient to come and see me.
+Farewell!  I am glad to find that thou hast pursuits more satisfactory
+than thy cruel fishing."
+
+And the man of peace departed, and left me on the bank of the stream.
+Whether from the effect of his words, or from want of inclination to the
+sport, I know not, but from that day I became less and less a
+practitioner of that "cruel fishing."  I rarely flung line and angle into
+the water, but I not unfrequently wandered by the banks of the pleasant
+rivulet.  It seems singular to me, on reflection, that I never availed
+myself of his kind invitation.  I say singular, for the extraordinary,
+under whatever form, had long had no slight interest for me: and I had
+discernment enough to perceive that yon was no common man.  Yet I went
+not near him, certainly not from bashfulness, or timidity, feelings to
+which I had long been an entire stranger.  Am I to regret this? perhaps,
+for I might have learned both wisdom and righteousness from those calm,
+quiet lips, and my after-course might have been widely different.  As it
+was, I fell in with other guess companions, from whom I received widely
+different impressions than those I might have derived from him.  When
+many years had rolled on, long after I had attained manhood, and had seen
+and suffered much, and when our first interview had long since been
+effaced from the mind of the man of peace, I visited him in his venerable
+hall, and partook of the hospitality of his hearth.  And there I saw his
+gentle partner and his fair children, and on the morrow he showed me the
+books of which he had spoken years before, by the side of the stream.  In
+the low, quiet chamber, whose one window, shaded by a gigantic elm, looks
+down the slope towards the pleasant stream, he took from the shelf his
+learned books, Zohar and Mishna, Toldoth Jesu and Abarbenel.
+
+"I am fond of these studies," said he, "which, perhaps, is not to be
+wondered at, seeing that our people have been compared to the Jews.  In
+one respect I confess we are similar to them: we are fond of getting
+money.  I do not like this last author, this Abarbenel, the worse for
+having been a money-changer.  I am a banker myself, as thou knowest."
+
+And would there were many like him, amidst the money-changers of princes!
+The hall of many an earl lacks the bounty, the palace of many a prelate
+the piety and learning, which adorn the quiet Quaker's home!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+Fair of Horses--Looks of Respect--The Fast Trotter--Pair of Eyes--Strange
+Men--Jasper, Your Pal--Force of Blood--Young Lady with Diamonds--Not
+Quite so Beautiful.
+
+I was standing on the castle hill in the midst of a fair of horses.
+
+I have already had occasion to mention this castle.  It is the remains of
+what was once a Norman stronghold, and is perched upon a round mound or
+monticle, in the midst of the old city.  Steep is this mound and scarped,
+evidently by the hand of man; a deep gorge, over which is flung a bridge,
+separates it, on the south, from a broad swell of open ground called "the
+hill;" of old the scene of many a tournament and feat of Norman chivalry,
+but now much used as a show-place for cattle, where those who buy and
+sell beeves and other beasts resort at stated periods.
+
+So it came to pass that I stood upon this hill, observing a fair of
+horses.
+
+The reader is already aware that I had long since conceived a passion for
+the equine race, a passion in which circumstances had of late not
+permitted me to indulge.  I had no horses to ride, but I took pleasure in
+looking at them; and I had already attended more than one of these fairs:
+the present was lively enough, indeed horse fairs are seldom dull.  There
+was shouting and whooping, neighing and braying; there was galloping and
+trotting; fellows with highlows and white stockings, and with many a
+string dangling from the knees of their tight breeches, were running
+desperately, holding horses by the halter, and in some cases dragging
+them along; there were long-tailed steeds, and dock-tailed steeds of
+every degree and breed; there were droves of wild ponies, and long rows
+of sober cart horses; there were donkeys, and even mules: the last rare
+things to be seen in damp, misty England, for the mule pines in mud and
+rain, and thrives best with a hot sun above and a burning sand below.
+There were--oh, the gallant creatures!  I hear their neigh upon the wind;
+there were--goodliest sight of all--certain enormous quadrupeds only seen
+to perfection in our native isle, led about by dapper grooms, their manes
+ribanded and their tails curiously clubbed and balled.  Ha! ha!--how
+distinctly do they say, ha! ha!
+
+An old man draws nigh, he is mounted on a lean pony, and he leads by the
+bridle one of these animals; nothing very remarkable about that creature,
+unless in being smaller than the rest and gentle, which they are not; he
+is not of the sightliest look; he is almost dun, and over one eye a thick
+film has gathered.  But stay! there _is_ something remarkable about that
+horse, there is something in his action in which he differs from all the
+rest: as he advances, the clamour is hushed! all eyes are turned upon
+him--what looks of interest--of respect--and, what is this? people are
+taking off their hats--surely not to that steed!  Yes, verily! men,
+especially old men, are taking off their hats to that one-eyed steed, and
+I hear more than one deep-drawn ah!
+
+"What horse is that?" said I to a very old fellow, the counterpart of the
+old man on the pony, save that the last wore a faded suit of velveteen,
+and this one was dressed in a white frock.
+
+"The best in mother England," said the very old man, taking a knobbed
+stick from his mouth, and looking me in the face, at first carelessly,
+but presently with something like interest; "he is old like myself, but
+can still trot his twenty miles an hour.  You won't live long, my swain;
+tall and overgrown ones like thee never does; yet, if you should chance
+to reach my years, you may boast to thy great grand boys, thou hast seen
+Marshland Shales."
+
+Amain I did for the horse what I would neither do for earl or baron,
+doffed my hat; yes!  I doffed my hat to the wondrous horse, the fast
+trotter, the best in mother England; and I, too, drew a deep ah! and
+repeated the words of the old fellows around.  "Such a horse as this we
+shall never see again; a pity that he is so old."
+
+Now during all this time I had a kind of consciousness that I had been
+the object of some person's observation; that eyes were fastened upon me
+from somewhere in the crowd.  Sometimes I thought myself watched from
+before, sometimes from behind; and occasionally methought that, if I just
+turned my head to the right or left, I should meet a peering and
+inquiring glance; and indeed once or twice I did turn, expecting to see
+somebody whom I knew, yet always without success; though it appeared to
+me that I was but a moment too late, and that some one had just slipped
+away from the direction to which I turned, like the figure in a magic
+lanthorn.  Once I was quite sure that there were a pair of eyes glaring
+over my right shoulder; my attention, however, was so fully occupied with
+the objects which I have attempted to describe, that I thought very
+little of this coming and going, this flitting and dodging of I knew not
+whom or what.  It was, after all, a matter of sheer indifference to me
+who was looking at me.  I could only wish, whomsoever it might be, to be
+more profitably employed; so I continued enjoying what I saw; and now
+there was a change in the scene, the wondrous old horse departed with his
+aged guardian; other objects of interest are at hand; two or three men on
+horseback are hurrying through the crowd, they are widely different in
+their appearance from the other people of the fair; not so much in dress,
+for they are clad something after the fashion of rustic jockeys, but in
+their look--no light brown hair have they, no ruddy cheeks, no blue quiet
+glances belong to them; their features are dark, their locks long, black,
+and shining, and their eyes are wild; they are admirable horsemen, but
+they do not sit the saddle in the manner of common jockeys, they seem to
+float or hover upon it, like gulls upon the waves; two of them are mere
+striplings, but the third is a very tall man with a countenance
+heroically beautiful, but wild, wild, wild.  As they rush along, the
+crowd give way on all sides, and now a kind of ring or circus is formed,
+within which the strange men exhibit their horsemanship, rushing past
+each other, in and out, after the manner of a reel, the tall man
+occasionally balancing himself upon the saddle, and standing erect on one
+foot.  He had just regained his seat after the latter feat, and was about
+to push his horse to a gallop, when a figure started forward close from
+beside me, and laying his hand on his neck, and pulling him gently
+downward, appeared to whisper something into his ear; presently the tall
+man raised his head, and, scanning the crowd for a moment in the
+direction in which I was standing, fixed his eyes full upon me, and anon
+the countenance of the whisperer was turned, but only in part, and the
+side-glance of another pair of wild eyes was directed towards my face,
+but the entire visage of the big black man, half stooping as he was, was
+turned full upon mine.
+
+But now, with a nod to the figure who had stopped him, and with another
+inquiring glance at myself, the big man once more put his steed into
+motion, and, after riding round the ring a few more times, darted through
+a lane in the crowd, and followed by his two companions disappeared,
+whereupon the figure who had whispered to him, and had subsequently
+remained in the middle of the space, came towards me, and, cracking a
+whip which he held in his hand so loudly that the report was nearly equal
+to that of a pocket pistol, he cried in a strange tone:
+
+"What! the sap-engro?  Lor! the sap-engro upon the hill!"
+
+"I remember that word," said I, "and I almost think I remember you.  You
+can't be--"
+
+"Jasper, your pal!  Truth, and no lie, brother."
+
+"It is strange that you should have known me," said I.  "I am certain,
+but for the word you used, I should never have recognized you."
+
+"Not so strange as you may think, brother; there is something in your
+face which would prevent people from forgetting you, even though they
+might wish it; and your face is not much altered since the time you wot
+of, though you are so much grown.  I thought it was you, but to make sure
+I dodged about, inspecting you.  I believe you felt me, though I never
+touched you; a sign, brother, that we are akin, that we are dui
+palor--two relations.  Your blood beat when mine was near, as mine always
+does at the coming of a brother; and we became brothers in that lane."
+
+"And where are you staying?" said I; "in this town?"
+
+"Not in the town; the like of us don't find it exactly wholesome to stay
+in towns, we keep abroad.  But I have little to do here--come with me,
+and I'll show you where we stay."
+
+We descended the hill in the direction of the north, and passing along
+the suburb reached the old Norman bridge, which we crossed; the chalk
+precipice, with the ruin on its top, was now before us; but turning to
+the left we walked swiftly along, and presently came to some rising
+ground, which ascending, we found ourselves upon a wild moor or heath.
+
+"You are one of them," said I, "whom people call--"
+
+"Just so," said Jasper; "but never mind what people call us."
+
+"And that tall handsome man on the hill, whom you whispered?  I suppose
+he's one of ye.  What is his name?"
+
+"Tawno Chikno," said Jasper, "which means the small one; we call him such
+because he is the biggest man of all our nation.  You say he is handsome,
+that is not the word, brother; he's the beauty of the world.  Women run
+wild at the sight of Tawno.  An earl's daughter, near London--a fine
+young lady with diamonds round her neck--fell in love with Tawno.  I have
+seen that lass on a heath, as this may be, kneel down to Tawno, clasp his
+feet, begging to be his wife--or anything else--if she might go with him.
+But Tawno would have nothing to do with her: 'I have a wife of my own,'
+said he, 'a lawful rommany wife, whom I love better than the whole world,
+jealous though she sometimes be.'"
+
+"And is she very beautiful?" said I.
+
+"Why, you know, brother, beauty is frequently a matter of taste; however,
+as you ask my opinion, I should say not quite so beautiful as himself."
+
+We had now arrived at a small valley between two hills, or downs, the
+sides of which were covered with furze; in the midst of this valley were
+various carts and low tents forming a rude kind of encampment; several
+dark children were playing about, who took no manner of notice of us.  As
+we passed one of the tents, however, a canvas screen was lifted up, and a
+woman supported on a crutch hobbled out.  She was about the middle age,
+and, besides being lame, was bitterly ugly; she was very slovenly
+dressed, and on her swarthy features ill nature was most visibly stamped.
+She did not deign me a look, but, addressing Jasper in a tongue which I
+did not understand, appeared to put some eager questions to him.
+
+"He's coming," said Jasper, and passed on.  "Poor fellow," said he to me,
+"he has scarcely been gone an hour, and she's jealous already.  Well," he
+continued, "what do you think of her? you have seen her now, and can
+judge for yourself--that 'ere woman is Tawno Chikno's wife!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The Tents--Pleasant Discourse--I am Pharaoh--Shifting for One's
+Self--Horse Shoes--This is Wonderful--Bless Your Wisdom--A Pretty
+Manoeuvre--Ill Day to the Romans--My Name is Herne--Singular People--An
+Original Speech--Word Master--Speaking Romanly.
+
+We went to the farthest of the tents, which stood at a slight distance
+from the rest, and which exactly resembled the one which I have described
+on a former occasion; we went in and sat down one on each side of a small
+fire, which was smouldering on the ground, there was no one else in the
+tent but a tall tawny woman of middle age, who was busily knitting.
+"Brother," said Jasper, "I wish to hold some pleasant discourse with
+you."
+
+"As much as you please," said I, "provided you can find anything pleasant
+to talk about."
+
+"Never fear," said Jasper; "and first of all we will talk of yourself.
+Where have you been all this long time?"
+
+"Here and there," said I, "and far and near, going about with the
+soldiers; but there is no soldiering now, so we have sat down, father and
+family, in the town there."
+
+"And do you still hunt snakes?" said Jasper.
+
+"No," said I, "I have given up that long ago; I do better now: read books
+and learn languages."
+
+"Well, I am sorry you have given up your snake-hunting; many's the
+strange talk I have had with our people about your snake and yourself,
+and how you frightened my father and mother in the lane."
+
+"And where are your father and mother?"
+
+"Where I shall never see them, brother; at least, I hope so."
+
+"Not dead?"
+
+"No, not dead; they are bitchadey pawdel."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Sent across--banished."
+
+"Ah!  I understand; I am sorry for them.  And so you are here alone?"
+
+"Not quite alone, brother."
+
+"No, not alone; but with the rest--Tawno Chikno takes care of you."
+
+"Takes care of me, brother!"
+
+"Yes, stands to you in the place of a father--keeps you out of harm's
+way."
+
+"What do you take me for, brother?"
+
+"For about three years older than myself."
+
+"Perhaps; but you are of the Gorgios, and I am a Rommany Chal.  Tawno
+Chikno take care of Jasper Petulengro!"
+
+"Is that your name?"
+
+"Don't you like it?"
+
+"Very much, I never heard a sweeter; it is something like what you call
+me."
+
+"The horse-shoe master and the snake-fellow, I am the first."
+
+"Who gave you that name?"
+
+"Ask Pharaoh."
+
+"I would, if he were here, but I do not see him."
+
+"I am Pharaoh."
+
+"Then you are a king."
+
+"Chachipen Pal."
+
+"I do not understand you."
+
+"Where are your languages?  You want two things, brother: mother sense,
+and gentle Rommany."
+
+"What makes you think that I want sense?"
+
+"That, being so old, you can't yet guide yourself!"
+
+"I can read Dante, Jasper."
+
+"Anan, brother."
+
+"I can charm snakes, Jasper."
+
+"I know you can, brother."
+
+"Yes, and horses too; bring me the most vicious in the land, if I whisper
+he'll be tame."
+
+"Then the more shame for you--a snake-fellow--a horse-witch--and a
+lil-reader--yet you can't shift for yourself.  I laugh at you, brother!"
+
+"Then you can shift for yourself?"
+
+"For myself and for others, brother."
+
+"And what does Chikno?"
+
+"Sells me horses, when I bid him.  Those horses on the chong were mine."
+
+"And has he none of his own?"
+
+"Sometimes he has; but he is not so well off as myself.  When my father
+and mother were bitchadey pawdel, which, to tell you the truth, they
+were, for chiving wafodo dloovu, they left me all they had, which was not
+a little, and I became the head of our family, which was not a small one.
+I was not older than you when that happened; yet our people said they had
+never a better krallis to contrive and plan for them, and to keep them in
+order.  And this is so well known, that many Rommany Chals, not of our
+family, come and join themselves to us, living with us for a time, in
+order to better themselves, more especially those of the poorer sort, who
+have little of their own.  Tawno is one of these."
+
+"Is that fine fellow poor?"
+
+"One of the poorest, brother.  Handsome as he is, he has not a horse of
+his own to ride on.  Perhaps we may put it down to his wife, who cannot
+move about, being a cripple, as you saw."
+
+"And you are what is called a Gypsy King?"
+
+"Ay, ay; a Rommany Kral."
+
+"Are there other kings?"
+
+"Those who call themselves so; but the true Pharaoh is Petulengro."
+
+"Did Pharaoh make horse-shoes?"
+
+"The first who ever did, brother."
+
+"Pharaoh lived in Egypt."
+
+"So did we once, brother."
+
+"And you left it?"
+
+"My fathers did, brother."
+
+"And why did they come here?"
+
+"They had their reasons, brother."
+
+"And you are not English?"
+
+"We are not gorgios."
+
+"And you have a language of your own?"
+
+"Avali."
+
+"This is wonderful."
+
+"Ha, ha!" cried the woman, who had hitherto sat knitting, at the farther
+end of the tent, without saying a word, though not inattentive to our
+conversation, as I could perceive, by certain glances, which she
+occasionally cast upon us both.  "Ha, ha!" she screamed, fixing upon me
+two eyes, which shone like burning coals, and which were filled with an
+expression both of scorn and malignity; "It is wonderful, is it, that we
+should have a language of our own?  What, you grudge the poor people the
+speech they talk among themselves?  That's just like you gorgios, you
+would have everybody stupid, single-tongued idiots, like yourselves.  We
+are taken before the Poknees of the gav, myself and sister, to give an
+account of ourselves.  So I says to my sister's little boy, speaking
+Rommany, I says to the little boy who is with us, run to my son Jasper,
+and the rest, and tell them to be off, there are hawks abroad.  So the
+Poknees questions us, and lets us go, not being able to make anything of
+us; but, as we are going, he calls us back.  'Good woman,' says the
+Poknees, 'what was that I heard you say just now to the little boy?'  'I
+was telling him, your worship, to go and see the time of day, and, to
+save trouble, I said it in our own language.'  'Where did you get that
+language?' says the Poknees, ''Tis our own language, sir,' I tells him,
+'we did not steal it.'  'Shall I tell you what it is, my good woman?'
+says the Poknees.  'I would thank you, sir,' says I, 'for 'tis often we
+are asked about it.'  'Well, then,' says the Poknees, 'it is no language
+at all, merely a made-up gibberish.'  'Oh, bless your wisdom,' says I,
+with a curtsey, 'you can tell us what our language is, without
+understanding it!'  Another time we met a parson.  'Good woman,' he says,
+'what's that you are talking?  Is it broken language?'  'Of course, your
+reverence,' says I, 'we are broken people; give a shilling, your
+reverence, to the poor broken woman.'  Oh, these gorgios! they grudge us
+our very language!"
+
+"She called you her son, Jasper?"
+
+"I am her son, brother."
+
+"I thought you said your parents were--"
+
+"Bitchadey pawdel; you thought right, brother.  This is my wife's
+mother."
+
+"Then you are married, Jasper?"
+
+"Ay, truly; I am husband and father.  You will see wife and chabo anon."
+
+"Where are they now?"
+
+"In the gav, penning dukkerin."
+
+"We were talking of language, Jasper?"
+
+"True, brother."
+
+"Yours must be a rum one?"
+
+"'Tis called Rommany."
+
+"I would gladly know it."
+
+"You need it sorely."
+
+"Would you teach it me?"
+
+"None sooner."
+
+"Suppose we begin now?"
+
+"Suppose we do, brother."
+
+"Not whilst I am here," said the woman, flinging her knitting down, and
+starting upon her feet; "not whilst I am here shall this gorgio learn
+Rommany.  A pretty manoeuvre, truly; and what would be the end of it?  I
+goes to the farming ker with my sister, to tell a fortune, and earn a few
+sixpences for the chabes.  I sees a jolly pig in the yard, and I says to
+my sister, speaking Rommany, 'Do so and so,' says I; which the farming
+man hearing, asks what we are talking about.  'Nothing at all, master,'
+says I; 'something about the weather;' when who should start up from
+behind a pale, where he has been listening, but this ugly gorgio, crying
+out, 'They are after poisoning your pigs, neighbour!' so that we are glad
+to run, I and my sister, with perhaps the farm-engro shouting after us.
+Says my sister to me, when we have got fairly off, 'How came that ugly
+one to know what you said to me?' Whereupon I answers, 'It all comes of
+my son Jasper, who brings the gorgio to our fire, and must needs be
+teaching him.'  'Who was fool there?' says my sister.  'Who, indeed, but
+my son Jasper,' I answers.  And here should I be a greater fool to sit
+still and suffer it; which I will not do.  I do not like the look of him;
+he looks over-gorgeous.  An ill day to the Romans when he masters
+Rommany; and when I says that, I pens a true dukkerin."
+
+"What do you call God, Jasper?"
+
+"You had better be jawing," said the woman, raising her voice to a
+terrible scream; "you had better be moving off, my gorgio; hang you for a
+keen one, sitting there by the fire, and stealing my language before my
+face.  Do you know whom you have to deal with?  Do you know that I am
+dangerous?  My name is Herne, and I comes of the hairy ones!"
+
+And a hairy one she looked!  She wore her hair clubbed upon her head,
+fastened with many strings and ligatures; but now, tearing these off, her
+locks, originally jet black, but now partially grizzled with age, fell
+down on every side of her, covering her face and back as far down as her
+knees.  No she-bear from Lapland ever looked more fierce and hairy than
+did that woman, as, standing in the open part of the tent, with her head
+bent down, and her shoulders drawn up, seemingly about to precipitate
+herself upon me, she repeated, again and again,--
+
+"My name is Herne, and I comes of the hairy ones!--"
+
+"I call God Duvel, brother."
+
+"It sounds very like Devil."
+
+"It doth, brother, it doth."
+
+"And what do you call divine, I mean godly?"
+
+"Oh!  I call that duvelskoe."
+
+"I am thinking of something, Jasper."
+
+"What are you thinking of, brother?"
+
+"Would it not be a rum thing if divine and devilish were originally one
+and the same word?"
+
+"It would, brother, it would--"
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+From this time I had frequent interviews with Jasper, sometimes in his
+tent, sometimes on the heath, about which we would roam for hours,
+discoursing on various matters.  Sometimes mounted on one of his horses,
+of which he had several, I would accompany him to various fairs and
+markets in the neighbourhood, to which he went on his own affairs, or
+those of his tribe.  I soon found that I had become acquainted with a
+most singular people, whose habits and pursuits awakened within me the
+highest interest.  Of all connected with them, however, their language
+was doubtless that which exercised the greatest influence over my
+imagination.  I had at first some suspicion that it would prove a mere
+made-up gibberish.  But I was soon undeceived.  Broken, corrupted, and
+half in ruins as it was, it was not long before I found that it was an
+original speech, far more so, indeed, than one or two others of high name
+and celebrity, which, up to that time, I had been in the habit of
+regarding with respect and veneration.  Indeed, many obscure points
+connected with the vocabulary of these languages, and to which neither
+classic nor modern lore afforded any clue, I thought I could now clear up
+by means of this strange broken tongue, spoken by people who dwelt among
+thickets and furze bushes, in tents as tawny as their faces, and whom the
+generality of mankind designated, and with much semblance of justice, as
+thieves and vagabonds.  But where did this speech come from, and who were
+they who spoke it?  These were questions which I could not solve, and
+which Jasper himself, when pressed, confessed his inability to answer.
+"But, whoever we be, brother," said he, "we are an old people, and not
+what folks in general imagine, broken gorgios; and, if we are not
+Egyptians, we are at any rate Rommany Chals!"
+
+"Rommany Chals!  I should not wonder after all," said I, "that these
+people had something to do with the founding of Rome.  Rome, it is said,
+was built by vagabonds, who knows but that some tribe of the kind settled
+down thereabouts, and called the town which they built after their name;
+but whence did they come originally? ah! there is the difficulty."
+
+But abandoning these questions, which at that time were far too profound
+for me, I went on studying the language, and at the same time the
+characters and manners of these strange people.  My rapid progress in the
+former astonished, while it delighted, Jasper.  "We'll no longer call you
+Sap-engro, brother," said he; "but rather Lav-engro, which in the
+language of the gorgios meaneth Word Master."  "Nay, brother," said Tawno
+Chikno, with whom I had become very intimate, "you had better call him
+Cooro-mengro, I have put on _the gloves_ with him, and find him a pure
+fist master; I like him for that, for I am a Cooro-mengro myself, and was
+born at Brummagem."
+
+"I likes him for his modesty," said Mrs. Chikno; "I never hears any ill
+words come from his mouth, but, on the contrary, much sweet language.
+His talk is golden, and he has taught my eldest to say his prayers in
+Rommany, which my rover had never the grace to do."  "He is the pal of my
+rom," said Mrs. Petulengro, who was a very handsome woman, "and therefore
+I likes him, and not less for his being a rye; folks calls me
+high-minded, and perhaps I have reason to be so; before I married Pharaoh
+I had an offer from a lord--I likes the young rye, and, if he chooses to
+follow us, he shall have my sister.  What say you, mother? should not the
+young rye have my sister Ursula?"
+
+"I am going to my people," said Mrs. Herne, placing a bundle upon a
+donkey, which was her own peculiar property; "I am going to Yorkshire,
+for I can stand this no longer.  You say you like him: in that we
+differs: I hates the gorgio, and would like, speaking Romanly, to mix a
+little poison with his waters.  And now go to Lundra, my children, I goes
+to Yorkshire.  Take my blessing with ye, and a little bit of a gillie to
+cheer your hearts with when ye are weary.  In all kinds of weather have
+we lived together; but now we are parted.  I goes broken-hearted--I can't
+keep you company; ye are no longer Rommany.  To gain a bad brother, ye
+have lost a good mother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+What Profession--Not Fitted for a Churchman--Erratic Course--The Bitter
+Draught--Principle of Woe--Thou Wouldst be Joyous--What Ails You?--Poor
+Child of Clay.
+
+So the gypsies departed: Mrs. Herne to Yorkshire, and the rest to London:
+as for myself, I continued in the house of my parents, passing my time in
+much the same manner as I have already described, principally in
+philological pursuits: but I was now sixteen, and it was highly necessary
+that I should adopt some profession, unless I intended to fritter away my
+existence, and to be a useless burden to those who had given me birth:
+but what profession was I to choose? there being none in the wide world
+perhaps for which I was suited; nor was there any one for which I felt
+any decided inclination, though perhaps there existed within me a lurking
+penchant for the profession of arms, which was natural enough, as, from
+my earliest infancy, I had been accustomed to military sights and sounds;
+but this profession was then closed, as I have already hinted, and, as I
+believe, it has since continued, to those who, like myself, had no better
+claims to urge than the services of a father.
+
+My father, who, for certain reasons of his own, had no very high opinion
+of the advantages resulting from this career, would have gladly seen me
+enter the Church.  His desire was, however, considerably abated by one or
+two passages of my life, which occurred to his recollection.  He
+particularly dwelt on the unheard-of manner in which I had picked up the
+Irish language, and drew from thence the conclusion that I was not fitted
+by nature to cut a respectable figure at an English university.  "He will
+fly off in a tangent," said he, "and, when called upon to exhibit his
+skill in Greek, will be found proficient in Irish; I have observed the
+poor lad attentively, and really do not know what to make of him; but I
+am afraid he will never make a churchman!"  And I have no doubt that my
+excellent father was right, both in his premises and the conclusion at
+which he arrived.  I had undoubtedly, at one period of my life, forsaken
+Greek for Irish, and the instructions of a learned Protestant divine for
+those of a Papist gassoon, the card-fancying Murtagh; and of late, though
+I kept it a strict secret, I had abandoned in a great measure the study
+of the beautiful Italian, and the recitation of the sonorous terzets of
+the Divine Comedy, in which at one time I took the greatest delight, in
+order to become acquainted with the broken speech, and yet more broken
+songs, of certain houseless wanderers whom I had met at a horse fair.
+Such an erratic course was certainly by no means in consonance with the
+sober and unvarying routine of college study.  And my father, who was a
+man of excellent common sense, displayed it, in not pressing me to adopt
+a profession which required qualities of mind which he saw I did not
+possess.
+
+Other professions were talked of, amongst which the law; but now an event
+occurred which had nearly stopped my career, and merged all minor points
+of solicitude in anxiety of my life.  My strength and appetite suddenly
+deserted me, and I began to pine and droop.  Some said that I had
+overgrown myself, and that these were the symptoms of a rapid decline; I
+grew worse and worse, and was soon stretched upon my bed, from which it
+seemed scarcely probable that I should ever more rise, the physicians
+themselves giving but slight hopes of my recovery: as for myself, I made
+up my mind to die, and felt quite resigned.  I was sadly ignorant at that
+time, and, when I thought of death, it appeared to me little else than a
+pleasant sleep, and I wished for sleep, of which I got but little.  It
+was well that I did not die that time, for I repeat that I was sadly
+ignorant of many important things.  I did not die, for somebody coming,
+gave me a strange, bitter draught; a decoction, I believe, of a bitter
+root which grows on commons and desolate places: and the person who gave
+it me was an ancient female, a kind of doctress, who had been my nurse in
+my infancy, and who, hearing of my state, had come to see me; so I drank
+the draught, and became a little better, and I continued taking draughts
+made from the bitter root till I manifested symptoms of convalescence.
+
+But how much more quickly does strength desert the human frame than
+return to it!  I had become convalescent, it is true, but my state of
+feebleness was truly pitiable.  I believe it is in that state that the
+most remarkable feature of human physiology frequently exhibits itself.
+Oh, how dare I mention the dark feeling of mysterious dread which comes
+over the mind, and which the lamp of reason, though burning bright the
+while, is unable to dispel!  Art thou, as leeches say, the concomitant of
+disease--the result of shattered nerves?  Nay, rather the principle of
+woe itself, the fountain head of all sorrow coexistent with man, whose
+influence he feels when yet unborn, and whose workings he testifies with
+his earliest cries, when, "drowned in tears," he first beholds the light;
+for, as the sparks fly upward, so is man born to trouble, and woe doth he
+bring with him into the world, even thyself, dark one, terrible one,
+causeless, unbegotten, without a father.  Oh, how unfrequently dost thou
+break down the barriers which divide thee from the poor soul of man, and
+overcast its sunshine with thy gloomy shadow.  In the brightest days of
+prosperity--in the midst of health and wealth--how sentient is the poor
+human creature of thy neighbourhood! how instinctively aware that the
+floodgates of horror may be cast open, and the dark stream engulf him for
+ever and ever!  Then is it not lawful for man to exclaim, "Better that I
+had never been born!"  Fool, for thyself thou wast not born, but to
+fulfil the inscrutable decrees of thy Creator; and how dost thou know
+that this dark principle is not, after all, thy best friend; that it is
+not that which tempers the whole mass of thy corruption?  It may be, for
+what thou knowest, the mother of wisdom, and of great works: it is the
+dread of the horror of the night that makes the pilgrim hasten on his
+way.  When thou feelest it nigh, let thy safety word be "Onward;" if thou
+tarry, thou art overwhelmed.  Courage! build great works--'tis urging
+thee--it is ever nearest the favourites of God--the fool knows little of
+it.  Thou wouldst be joyous, wouldst thou? then be a fool.  What great
+work was ever the result of joy, the puny one?  Who have been the wise
+ones, the mighty ones, the conquering ones of this earth? the joyous?  I
+believe not.  The fool is happy, or comparatively so--certainly the least
+sorrowful, but he is still a fool; and whose notes are sweetest, those of
+the nightingale, or of the silly lark?
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+"What ails you, my child?" said a mother to her son, as he lay on a couch
+under the influence of the dreadful one; "what ails you? you seem
+afraid!"
+
+_Boy_.  And so I am; a dreadful fear is upon me.
+
+_Mother_.  But of what? there is no one can harm you; of what are you
+apprehensive?
+
+_Boy_.  Of nothing that I can express; I know not what I am afraid of,
+but afraid I am.
+
+_Mother_.  Perhaps you see sights and visions; I knew a lady once who was
+continually thinking that she saw an armed man threaten her, but it was
+only an imagination, a phantom of the brain.
+
+_Boy_.  No armed man threatens me; and 'tis not a thing that would cause
+me any fear.  Did an armed man threaten me, I would get up and fight him;
+weak as I am, I would wish for nothing better, for then, perhaps, I
+should lose this fear; mine is a dread of I know not what, and there the
+horror lies.
+
+_Mother_.  Your forehead is cool, and your speech collected.  Do you know
+where you are?
+
+_Boy_.  I know where I am, and I see things just as they are; you are
+beside me, and upon the table there is a book which was written by a
+Florentine; all this I see, and that there is no ground for being afraid.
+I am, moreover, quite cool, and feel no pain--but, but--
+
+And then there was a burst of "gemiti, sospiri ed alti guai."  Alas,
+alas, poor child of clay! as the sparks fly upward, so wast thou born to
+sorrow--Onward!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+Agreeable Delusions--Youth--A Profession--Ab Gwilym--Glorious English
+Law--There They Pass--My Dear Old Master--The Deal Desk--Language of the
+Tents--Where is Morfydd--Go to--Only Once.
+
+It has been said by this or that writer, I scarcely know by whom, that in
+proportion as we grow old, and our time becomes short, the swifter does
+it pass, until at last, as we approach the borders of the grave, it
+assumes all the speed and impetuosity of a river about to precipitate
+itself into an abyss; this is doubtless the case, provided we can carry
+to the grave those pleasant thoughts and delusions which alone render
+life agreeable, and to which even to the very last we would gladly cling;
+but what becomes of the swiftness of time, when the mind sees the vanity
+of human pursuits? which is sure to be the case when its fondest, dearest
+hopes have been blighted at the very moment when the harvest was deemed
+secure.  What becomes from that moment, I repeat, of the shortness of
+time?  I put not the question to those who have never known that trial,
+they are satisfied with themselves and all around them, with what they
+have done, and yet hope to do; some carry their delusions with them to
+the borders of the grave, ay, to the very moment when they fall into it;
+a beautiful golden cloud surrounds them to the last, and such talk of the
+shortness of time: through the medium of that cloud the world has ever
+been a pleasant world to them; their only regret is that they are so soon
+to quit it; but oh, ye dear deluded hearts, it is not every one who is so
+fortunate!
+
+To the generality of mankind there is no period like youth.  The
+generality are far from fortunate; but the period of youth, even to the
+least so, offers moments of considerable happiness, for they are not only
+disposed, but able to enjoy most things within their reach.  With what
+trifles at that period are we content; the things from which in
+after-life we should turn away in disdain please us then, for we are in
+the midst of a golden cloud, and everything seems decked with a golden
+hue.  Never during any portion of my life did time flow on more speedily
+than during the two or three years immediately succeeding the period to
+which we arrived in the preceding chapter: since then it has flagged
+often enough; sometimes it has seemed to stand entirely still; and the
+reader may easily judge how it fares at the present, from the
+circumstance of my taking pen in hand, and endeavouring to write down the
+passages of my life--a last resource with most people.  But at the period
+to which I allude I was just, as I may say, entering upon life; I had
+adopted a profession, and--to keep up my character, simultaneously with
+that profession--the study of a new language--I speedily became a
+proficient in the one, but ever remained a novice in the other: a novice
+in the law, but a perfect master in the Welsh tongue.
+
+Yes! very pleasant times were those, when within the womb of a lofty deal
+desk, behind which I sat for some eight hours every day, transcribing
+(when I imagined eyes were upon me) documents of every description in
+every possible hand, Blackstone kept company with Ab Gwilym--the polished
+English lawyer of the last century, who wrote long and prosy chapters on
+the rights of things--with a certain wild Welshman, who some four hundred
+years before that time indited immortal cowydds and odes to the wives of
+Cambrian chieftains--more particularly to one Morfydd, the wife of a
+certain hunchbacked dignitary called by the poet facetiously Bwa
+Bach--generally terminating with the modest request of a little private
+parlance beneath the green wood bough, with no other witness than the
+eos, or nightingale, a request which, if the poet himself may be
+believed, rather a doubtful point, was seldom, very seldom, denied.  And
+by what strange chance had Ab Gwilym and Blackstone, two personages so
+exceedingly different, been thus brought together?  From what the reader
+already knows of me, he may be quite prepared to find me reading the
+former; but what could have induced me to take up Blackstone, or rather
+the law?
+
+I have ever loved to be as explicit as possible; on which account,
+perhaps, I never attained to any proficiency in the law, the essence of
+which is said to be ambiguity; most questions may be answered in a few
+words, and this among the rest, though connected with the law.  My
+parents deemed it necessary that I should adopt some profession, they
+named the law; the law was as agreeable to me as any other profession
+within my reach, so I adopted the law, and the consequence was, that
+Blackstone, probably for the first time, found himself in company with Ab
+Gwilym.  By adopting the law I had not ceased to be Lav-engro.
+
+So I sat behind a desk many hours in a day, ostensibly engaged in
+transcribing documents of various kinds; the scene of my labours was a
+strange old house, occupying one side of a long and narrow court, into
+which, however, the greater number of the windows looked not, but into an
+extensive garden, filled with fruit trees, in the rear of a large,
+handsome house, belonging to a highly respectable gentleman, who,
+_moyennant une douceur considerable_, had consented to instruct my
+father's youngest son in the mysteries of glorious English law.  Ah!
+would that I could describe the good gentleman in the manner which he
+deserves; he has long since sunk to his place in a respectable vault, in
+the aisle of a very respectable church, whilst an exceedingly respectable
+marble slab against the neighbouring wall tells on a Sunday some eye
+wandering from its prayer-book that his dust lies below; to secure such
+respectabilities in death, he passed a most respectable life.  Let no one
+sneer, he accomplished much; his life was peaceful, so was his death.
+Are these trifles?  I wish I could describe him, for I loved the man, and
+with reason, for he was ever kind to me, to whom kindness has not always
+been shown; and he was, moreover, a choice specimen of a class which no
+longer exists--a gentleman lawyer of the old school.  I would fain
+describe him, but figures with which he has nought to do press forward
+and keep him from my mind's eye; there they pass, Spaniard and Moor,
+Gypsy, Turk, and livid Jew.  But who is that? what that thick pursy man
+in the loose, snuff-coloured great-coat, with the white stockings, drab
+breeches, and silver buckles on his shoes; that man with the bull neck,
+and singular head, immense in the lower part, especially about the jaws,
+but tapering upward like a pear; the man with the bushy brows, small grey
+eyes, replete with cat-like expression, whose grizzled hair is cut close,
+and whose ear-lobes are pierced with small golden rings?  Oh! that is not
+my dear old master, but a widely different personage.  _Bon jour_,
+_Monsieur Vidocq_! _expressions de ma part a Monsieur Le Baron Taylor_.
+But here comes at last my veritable old master!
+
+A more respectable-looking individual was never seen; he really looked
+what he was, a gentleman of the law--there was nothing of the pettifogger
+about him: somewhat under the middle size, and somewhat rotund in person,
+he was always dressed in a full suit of black, never worn long enough to
+become threadbare.  His face was rubicund, and not without keenness; but
+the most remarkable thing about him was the crown of his head, which was
+bald, and shone like polished ivory, nothing more white, smooth, and
+lustrous.  Some people have said that he wore false calves, probably
+because his black silk stockings never exhibited a wrinkle; they might
+just as well have said that he waddled, because his shoes creaked; for
+these last, which were always without a speck, and polished as his crown,
+though of a different hue, did creak, as he walked rather slowly.  I
+cannot say that I ever saw him walk fast.
+
+He had a handsome practice, and might have died a very rich man, much
+richer than he did, had he not been in the habit of giving rather
+expensive dinners to certain great people, who gave him nothing in
+return, except their company; I could never discover his reasons for
+doing so, as he always appeared to me a remarkably quiet man, by nature
+averse to noise and bustle; but in all dispositions there are anomalies:
+I have already said that he lived in a handsome house, and I may as well
+here add that he had a very handsome wife, who both dressed and talked
+exceedingly well.
+
+So I sat behind the deal desk, engaged in copying documents of various
+kinds; and in the apartment in which I sat, and in the adjoining ones,
+there were others, some of them likewise copied documents, while some
+were engaged in the yet more difficult task of drawing them up; and some
+of these, sons of nobody, were paid for the work they did, whilst others,
+like myself, sons of somebody, paid for being permitted to work, which,
+as our principal observed, was but reasonable, forasmuch as we not
+unfrequently utterly spoiled the greater part of the work intrusted to
+our hands.
+
+There was one part of the day when I generally found myself quite alone,
+I mean at the hour when the rest went home to their principal meal; I,
+being the youngest, was left to take care of the premises, to answer the
+bell, and so forth, till relieved, which was seldom before the expiration
+of an hour and a half, when I myself went home; this period, however, was
+anything but disagreeable to me, for it was then that I did what best
+pleased me, and, leaving off copying the documents, I sometimes indulged
+in a fit of musing, my chin resting on both my hands, and my elbows
+planted on the desk; or, opening the desk aforesaid, I would take out one
+of the books contained within it, and the book which I took out was
+almost invariably, not Blackstone, but Ab Gwilym.
+
+Ah, that Ab Gwilym!  I am much indebted to him, and it were ungrateful on
+my part not to devote a few lines to him and his songs in this my
+history.  Start not, reader, I am not going to trouble you with a
+poetical dissertation; no, no!  I know my duty too well to introduce
+anything of the kind; but I, who imagine I know several things, and
+amongst others the workings of your mind at this moment, have an idea
+that you are anxious to learn a little, a very little, more about Ab
+Gwilym than I have hitherto told you, the two or three words that I have
+dropped having awakened within you a languid kind of curiosity.  I have
+no hesitation in saying that he makes one of the some half-dozen really
+great poets whose verses, in whatever language they wrote, exist at the
+present day, and are more or less known.  It matters little how I first
+became acquainted with the writings of this man, and how the short thick
+volume, stuffed full with his immortal imaginings, first came into my
+hands.  I was studying Welsh, and I fell in with Ab Gwilym by no very
+strange chance.  But before I say more about Ab Gwilym, I must be
+permitted--I really must--to say a word or two about the language in
+which he wrote, that same "Sweet Welsh."  If I remember right, I found
+the language a difficult one; in mastering it, however, I derived
+unexpected assistance from what of Irish remained in my head, and I soon
+found that they were cognate dialects, springing from some old tongue
+which itself, perhaps, had sprung from one much older.  And here I cannot
+help observing cursorily that I every now and then, whilst studying this
+Welsh, generally supposed to be the original tongue of Britain,
+encountered words which, according to the lexicographers, were venerable
+words, highly expressive, showing the wonderful power and originality of
+the Welsh, in which, however, they were no longer used in common
+discourse, but were relics, precious relics, of the first speech of
+Britain, perhaps of the world; with which words, however, I was already
+well acquainted, and which I had picked up, not in learned books, classic
+books, and in tongues of old renown, but whilst listening to Mr.
+Petulengro and Tawno Chikno talking over their everyday affairs in the
+language of the tents; which circumstance did not fail to give rise to
+deep reflection in those moments when, planting my elbows on the deal
+desk, I rested my chin upon my hands.  But it is probable that I should
+have abandoned the pursuit of the Welsh language, after obtaining a very
+superficial acquaintance with it, had it not been for Ab Gwilym.
+
+A strange songster was that who, pretending to be captivated by every
+woman he saw, was, in reality, in love with nature alone--wild,
+beautiful, solitary nature--her mountains and cascades, her forests and
+streams, her birds, fishes, and wild animals.  Go to, Ab Gwilym, with thy
+pseudo-amatory odes, to Morfydd, or this or that other lady, fair or
+ugly; little didst thou care for any of them, Dame Nature was thy love,
+however thou mayest seek to disguise the truth.  Yes, yes, send thy
+love-message to Morfydd, the fair wanton.  By whom dost thou send it, I
+would know? by the salmon, forsooth, which haunts the rushing stream! the
+glorious salmon which bounds and gambols in the flashing water, and whose
+ways and circumstances thou so well describest--see, there he hurries
+upwards through the flashing water.  Halloo! what a glimpse of glory--but
+where is Morfydd the while?  What, another message to the wife of Bwa
+Bach?  Ay, truly; and by whom?--the wind! the swift wind, the rider of
+the world, whose course is not to be stayed; who gallops o'er the
+mountain, and, when he comes to broadest river, asks neither for boat nor
+ferry; who has described the wind so well--his speed and power?  But
+where is Morfydd?  And now thou art awaiting Morfydd, the wanton, the
+wife of the Bwa Bach; thou art awaiting her beneath the tall trees,
+amidst the underwood; but she comes not; no Morfydd is there.  Quite
+right, Ab Gwilym; what wantest thou with Morfydd?  But another form is
+nigh at hand, that of red Reynard, who, seated upon his chine at the
+mouth of his cave, looks very composedly at thee; thou startest, bendest
+thy bow, thy cross-bow, intending to hit Reynard with the bolt just above
+the jaw; but the bow breaks, Reynard barks and disappears into his cave,
+which by thine own account reaches hell--and then thou ravest at the
+misfortune of thy bow, and the non-appearance of Morfydd, and abusest
+Reynard.  Go to, thou carest neither for thy bow nor for Morfydd, thou
+merely seekest an opportunity to speak of Reynard; and who has described
+him like thee? the brute with the sharp shrill cry, the black reverse of
+melody, whose face sometimes wears a smile like the devil's in the
+Evangile.  But now thou art actually with Morfydd; yes, she has stolen
+from the dwelling of the Bwa Bach and has met thee beneath those
+rocks--she is actually with thee, Ab Gwilym; but she is not long with
+thee, for a storm comes on, and thunder shatters the rocks--Morfydd
+flees!  Quite right, Ab Gwilym; thou hadst no need of her, a better theme
+for song is the voice of the Lord--the rock shatterer--than the frail
+wife of the Bwa Bach.  Go to, Ab Gwilym, thou wast a wiser and a better
+man than thou wouldst fain have had people believe.
+
+But enough of thee and thy songs!  Those times passed rapidly; with Ab
+Gwilym in my hand, I was in the midst of enchanted ground, in which I
+experienced sensations akin to those I had felt of yore whilst spelling
+my way through the wonderful book--the delight of my childhood.  I say
+akin, for perhaps only once in our lives do we experience unmixed wonder
+and delight; and these I had already known.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Silver Gray--Good Word for Everybody--A Remarkable Youth--Clients--Grades
+in Society--The Archdeacon--Reading the Bible.
+
+"I am afraid that I have not acted very wisely in putting this boy of
+ours to the law," said my father to my mother, as they sat together one
+summer evening in their little garden, beneath the shade of some tall
+poplars.
+
+Yes, there sat my father in the garden chair which leaned against the
+wall of his quiet home, the haven in which he had sought rest, and,
+praise be to God, found it, after many a year of poorly requited toil;
+there he sat, with locks of silver gray which set off so nobly his fine
+bold but benevolent face, his faithful consort at his side, and his
+trusty dog at his feet--an eccentric animal of the genuine regimental
+breed, who, born amongst red-coats, had not yet become reconciled to
+those of any other hue, barking and tearing at them when they drew near
+the door, but testifying his fond reminiscence of the former by
+hospitable waggings of the tail whenever a uniform made its
+appearance--at present a very unfrequent occurrence.
+
+"I am afraid I have not done right in putting him to the law," said my
+father, resting his chin upon his gold-headed bamboo cane.
+
+"Why, what makes you think so?" said my mother.
+
+"I have been taking my usual evening walk up the road, with the animal
+here," said my father; "and, as I walked along, I overtook the boy's
+master, Mr. S---.  We shook hands, and, after walking a little way
+farther, we turned back together, talking about this and that; the state
+of the country, the weather, and the dog, which he greatly admired; for
+he is a good-natured man, and has a good word for everybody, though the
+dog all but bit him when he attempted to coax his head; after the dog, we
+began talking about the boy; it was myself who introduced that subject: I
+thought it was a good opportunity to learn how he was getting on, so I
+asked what he thought of my son; he hesitated at first, seeming scarcely
+to know what to say; at length he came out with 'Oh, a very extraordinary
+youth, a most remarkable youth indeed, captain!'  'Indeed,' said I, 'I am
+glad to hear it, but I hope you find him steady?'  'Steady, steady,' said
+he, 'why, yes, he's steady, I cannot say that he is not steady.'  'Come,
+come,' said I, beginning to be rather uneasy, 'I see plainly that you are
+not altogether satisfied with him; I was afraid you would not be, for,
+though he is my own son, I am anything but blind to his imperfections:
+but do tell me what particular fault you have to find with him; and I
+will do my best to make him alter his conduct.'  'No fault to find with
+him, captain, I assure you, no fault whatever; the youth is a remarkable
+youth, an extraordinary youth, only'--As I told you before, Mr. S--- is
+the best-natured man in the world, and it was only with the greatest
+difficulty that I could get him to say a single word to the disadvantage
+of the boy, for whom he seems to entertain a very great regard.  At last
+I forced the truth from him, and grieved I was to hear it; though I must
+confess that I was somewhat prepared for it.  It appears that the lad has
+a total want of discrimination."
+
+"I don't understand you," said my mother.
+
+"You can understand nothing that would seem for a moment to impugn the
+conduct of that child.  I am not, however, so blind; want of
+discrimination was the word, and it both sounds well, and is expressive.
+It appears that, since he has been placed where he is, he has been guilty
+of the grossest blunders; only the other day, Mr. S--- told me, as he was
+engaged in close conversation with one of his principal clients, the boy
+came to tell him that a person wanted particularly to speak with him;
+and, on going out, he found a lamentable figure with one eye, who came to
+ask for charity; whom, nevertheless, the lad had ushered into a private
+room, and installed in an arm chair, like a justice of the peace, instead
+of telling him to go about his business--now what did that show, but a
+total want of discrimination?"
+
+"I wish we may never have anything worse to reproach him with," said my
+mother.
+
+"I don't know what worse we could reproach him with," said my father: "I
+mean of course as far as his profession is concerned: discrimination is
+the very key-stone; if he treated all people alike, he would soon become
+a beggar himself; there are grades in society as well as in the army; and
+according to those grades we should fashion our behaviour, else there
+would instantly be an end of all order and discipline.  I am afraid that
+the child is too condescending to his inferiors, whilst to his superiors
+he is apt to be unbending enough; I don't believe that would do in the
+world; I am sure it would not in the army.  He told me another anecdote
+with respect to his behaviour, which shocked me more than the other had
+done.  It appears that his wife, who, by the by, is a very fine woman,
+and highly fashionable, gave him permission to ask the boy to tea one
+evening, for she is herself rather partial to the lad; there had been a
+great dinner party there that day, and there were a great many
+fashionable people, so the boy went and behaved very well and modestly
+for some time, and was rather noticed, till, unluckily, a very great
+gentleman, an archdeacon I think, put some questions to him, and, finding
+that he understood the languages, began talking to him about the
+classics.  What do you think? the boy had the impertinence to say that
+the classics were much overvalued, and amongst other things that some
+horrid fellow or other, some Welshman I think (thank God it was not an
+Irishman), was a better poet than Ovid; the company were of course
+horrified; the archdeacon, who is seventy years of age, and has seven
+thousand a year, took snuff and turned away.  Mrs. S--- turned up her
+eyes, Mr. S---, however, told me with his usual good-nature (I suppose to
+spare my feelings) that he rather enjoyed the thing, and thought it a
+capital joke."
+
+"I think so too," said my mother.
+
+"I do not," said my father; "that a boy of his years should entertain an
+opinion of his own--I mean one which militates against all established
+authority--is astounding; as well might a raw recruit pretend to offer an
+unfavourable opinion on the manual and platoon exercise; the idea is
+preposterous; the lad is too independent by half.  I never yet knew one
+of an independent spirit get on in the army; the secret of success in the
+army is the spirit of subordination."
+
+"Which is a poor spirit after all," said my mother; "but the child is not
+in the army."
+
+"And it is well for him that he is not," said my father; "but you do not
+talk wisely, the world is a field of battle, and he who leaves the ranks,
+what can he expect but to be cut down?  I call his present behaviour
+leaving the ranks, and going vapouring about without orders; his only
+chance lies in falling in again as quick as possible; does he think he
+can carry the day by himself? an opinion of his own at these years--I
+confess I am exceedingly uneasy about the lad."
+
+"You make me uneasy too," said my mother; "but I really think you are too
+hard upon the child; after all, though not, perhaps, all you could wish
+him; he is always ready to read the Bible.  Let us go in; he is in the
+room above us; at least he was two hours ago, I left him there bending
+over his books; I wonder what he has been doing all this time, it is now
+getting late; let us go in, and he shall read to us."
+
+"I am getting old," said my father; "and I love to hear the Bible read to
+me, for my own sight is something dim; yet I do not wish the child to
+read to me this night, I cannot so soon forget what I have heard; but I
+hear my eldest son's voice, he is now entering the gate; he shall read
+the Bible to us this night.  What say you?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+The Eldest Son--Saying of Wild Finland--The Critical Time--Vaunting
+Polls--One Thing Wanted--A Father's Blessing--Miracle of Art--The Pope's
+House--Young Enthusiast--Pictures of England--Persist and Wrestle--The
+Little Dark Man.
+
+The eldest son!  The regard and affection which my father entertained for
+his first-born were natural enough, and appeared to none more so than
+myself, who cherished the same feelings towards him.  What he was as a
+boy the reader already knows, for the reader has seen him as a boy; fain
+would I describe him at the time of which I am now speaking, when he had
+attained the verge of manhood, but the pen fails me, and I attempt not
+the task; and yet it ought to be an easy one, for how frequently does his
+form visit my mind's eye in slumber and in wakefulness, in the light of
+day, and in the night watches; but last night I saw him in his beauty and
+his strength; he was about to speak, and my ear was on the stretch, when
+at once I awoke, and there was I alone, and the night storm was howling
+amidst the branches of the pines which surround my lonely dwelling:
+"Listen to the moaning of the pine, at whose root thy hut is
+fastened,"--a saying that, of wild Finland, in which there is wisdom; I
+listened, and thought of life and death. . . . Of all human beings that I
+had ever known, that elder brother was the most frank and generous, ay,
+and the quickest and readiest, and the best adapted to do a great thing
+needful at the critical time, when the delay of a moment would be fatal.
+I have known him dash from a steep bank into a stream in his full dress,
+and pull out a man who was drowning; yet there were twenty others bathing
+in the water, who might have saved him by putting out a hand, without
+inconvenience to themselves, which, however, they did not do, but stared
+with stupid surprise at the drowning one's struggles.  Yes, whilst some
+shouted from the bank to those in the water to save the drowning one, and
+those in the water did nothing, my brother neither shouted nor stood
+still, but dashed from the bank and did the one thing needful, which,
+under such circumstances, not one man in a million would have done.  Now,
+who can wonder that a brave old man should love a son like this, and
+prefer him to any other?
+
+"My boy, my own boy, you are the very image of myself, the day I took off
+my coat in the park to fight Big Ben," said my father, on meeting his son
+wet and dripping, immediately after his bold feat.  And who cannot excuse
+the honest pride of the old man--the stout old man?
+
+Ay, old man, that son was worthy of thee, and thou wast worthy of such a
+son; a noble specimen wast thou of those strong single-minded Englishmen
+who, without making a parade either of religion or loyalty, feared God
+and honoured their king, and were not particularly friendly to the
+French, whose vaunting polls they occasionally broke, as at Minden and
+Malplaquet, to the confusion vast of the eternal foes of the English
+land.  I, who was so little like thee that thou understoodest me not, and
+in whom with justice thou didst feel so little pride, had yet perception
+enough to see all thy worth, and to feel it an honour to be able to call
+myself thy son; and if at some no distant time, when the foreign enemy
+ventures to insult our shore, I be permitted to break some vaunting poll,
+it will be a triumph to me to think that, if thou hadst lived, thou
+wouldst have hailed the deed, and mightest yet discover some distant
+resemblance to thyself, the day when thou didst all but vanquish the
+mighty Brain.
+
+I have already spoken of my brother's taste for painting, and the
+progress he had made in that beautiful art.  It is probable that, if
+circumstances had not eventually diverted his mind from the pursuit, he
+would have attained excellence, and left behind him some enduring
+monument of his powers, for he had an imagination to conceive, and that
+yet rarer endowment, a hand capable of giving life, body, and reality to
+the conceptions of his mind; perhaps he wanted one thing, the want of
+which is but too often fatal to the sons of genius, and without which
+genius is little more than a splendid toy in the hands of the
+possessor--perseverance, dogged perseverance, in his proper calling;
+otherwise, though the grave had closed over him, he might still be living
+in the admiration of his fellow-creatures.  O ye gifted ones, follow your
+calling, for, however various your talents may be, ye can have but one
+calling capable of leading ye to eminence and renown; follow resolutely
+the one straight path before you, it is that of your good angel, let
+neither obstacles nor temptations induce ye to leave it; bound along if
+you can; if not, on hands and knees follow it, perish in it, if needful;
+but ye need not fear that; no one ever yet died in the true path of his
+calling before he had attained the pinnacle.  Turn into other paths, and
+for a momentary advantage or gratification ye have sold your inheritance,
+your immortality.  Ye will never be heard of after death.
+
+"My father has given me a hundred and fifty pounds," said my brother to
+me one morning, "and something which is better--his blessing.  I am going
+to leave you."
+
+"And where are you going?"
+
+"Where? to the great city; to London, to be sure."
+
+"I should like to go with you."
+
+"Pooh," said my brother, "what should you do there?  But don't be
+discouraged, I dare say a time will come when you too will go to London."
+
+And, sure enough, so it did, and all but too soon.
+
+"And what do you purpose doing there?" I demanded.
+
+"Oh, I go to improve myself in art, to place myself under some master of
+high name, at least I hope to do so eventually.  I have, however, a plan
+in my head, which I should wish first to execute; indeed, I do not think
+I can rest till I have done so; every one talks so much about Italy, and
+the wondrous artists which it has produced, and the wondrous pictures
+which are to be found there; now I wish to see Italy, or rather Rome, the
+great city, for I am told that in a certain room there is contained the
+grand miracle of art."
+
+"And what do you call it?"
+
+"The Transfiguration, painted by one Rafael, and it is said to be the
+greatest work of the greatest painter which the world has ever known.  I
+suppose it is because everybody says so, that I have such a strange
+desire to see it.  I have already made myself well acquainted with its
+locality, and think that I could almost find my way to it blindfold.
+When I have crossed the Tiber, which, as you are aware, runs through
+Rome, I must presently turn to the right, up a rather shabby street,
+which communicates with a large square, the farther end of which is
+entirely occupied by the front of an immense church, with a dome, which
+ascends almost to the clouds, and this church they call St. Peter's."
+
+"Ay, ay," said I, "I have read about that in Keysler's Travels."
+
+"Before the church, in the square, are two fountains, one on either side,
+casting up water in showers; between them, in the midst, is an obelisk,
+brought from Egypt, and covered with mysterious writing; on your right
+rises an edifice, not beautiful nor grand, but huge and bulky, where
+lives a strange kind of priest whom men call the Pope, a very horrible
+old individual, who would fain keep Christ in leading-strings, calls the
+Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven, and himself God's Lieutenant-General
+upon earth."
+
+"Ay, ay," said I, "I have read of him in Fox's Book of Martyrs."
+
+"Well, I do not go straight forward up the flight of steps conducting
+into the church, but I turn to the right, and, passing under the piazza,
+find myself in a court of the huge bulky house; and then ascend various
+staircases, and pass along various corridors and galleries, all of which
+I could describe to you, though I have never seen them; at last a door is
+unlocked, and we enter a room rather high, but not particularly large,
+communicating with another room, into which, however, I do not go, though
+there are noble things in that second room--immortal things, by immortal
+artists; amongst others, a grand piece of Corregio; I do not enter it,
+for the grand picture of the world is not there: but I stand still
+immediately on entering the first room, and I look straight before me,
+neither to the right nor left, though there are noble things both on the
+right and left, for immediately before me at the farther end, hanging
+against the wall, is a picture which arrests me, and I can see nothing
+else, for that picture at the farther end hanging against the wall is the
+picture of the world . . ."
+
+Yes, go thy way, young enthusiast, and, whether to London town or to old
+Rome, may success attend thee; yet strange fears assail me and misgivings
+on thy account.  Thou canst not rest, thou say'st, till thou hast seen
+the picture in the chamber at old Rome hanging over against the wall; ay,
+and thus thou dost exemplify thy weakness--thy strength too, it may
+be--for the one idea, fantastic yet lovely, which now possesses thee,
+could only have originated in a genial and fervent brain.  Well, go, if
+thou must go; yet it perhaps were better for thee to bide in thy native
+land, and there, with fear and trembling, with groanings, with straining
+eyeballs, toil, drudge, slave, till thou hast made excellence thine own;
+thou wilt scarcely acquire it by staring at the picture over against the
+door in the high chamber of old Rome.  Seekest thou inspiration? thou
+needest it not, thou hast it already; and it was never yet found by
+crossing the sea.  What hast thou to do with old Rome, and thou an
+Englishman?  "Did thy blood never glow at the mention of thy native
+land?" as an artist merely?  Yes, I trow, and with reason, for thy native
+land need not grudge old Rome her "pictures of the world;" she has
+pictures of her own, "pictures of England;" and is it a new thing to toss
+up caps and shout--England against the world?  Yes, against the world in
+all, in all; in science and in arms, in minstrel strain, and not less in
+the art "which enables the hand to deceive the intoxicated soul by means
+of pictures." {95}  Seek'st models? to Gainsborough and Hogarth turn, not
+names of the world, may be, but English names--and England against the
+world?  A living master? why, there he comes! thou hast had him long, he
+has long guided thy young hand towards the excellence which is yet far
+from thee, but which thou canst attain if thou shouldst persist and
+wrestle, even as he has done, midst gloom and despondency--ay, and even
+contempt; he who now comes up the creaking stair to thy little studio in
+the second floor to inspect thy last effort before thou departest, the
+little stout man whose face is very dark, and whose eye is vivacious;
+that man has attained excellence, destined some day to be acknowledged,
+though not till he is cold, and his mortal part returned to its kindred
+clay.  He has painted, not pictures of the world, but English pictures,
+such as Gainsborough himself might have done; beautiful rural pieces,
+with trees which might well tempt the little birds to perch upon them:
+thou needest not run to Rome, brother, where lives the old Mariolater,
+after pictures of the world, whilst at home there are pictures of
+England; nor needest thou even go to London, the big city, in search of a
+master, for thou hast one at home in the old East Anglian town who can
+instruct thee whilst thou needest instruction: better stay at home,
+brother, at least for a season, and toil and strive 'midst groanings and
+despondency till thou hast attained excellence even as he has done--the
+little dark man with the brown coat and the top-boots, whose name will
+one day be considered the chief ornament of the old town, and whose works
+will at no distant period rank amongst the proudest pictures of
+England--and England against the world!--thy master, my brother, thy, at
+present, all too little considered master--Crome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+Desire for Novelty--Lives of the Lawless--Countenances--Old Yeoman and
+Dame--We Live near the Sea--Uncouth-looking Volume--The Other
+Condition--Draoitheac--A Dilemma--The Antinomian--Lodowick
+Muggleton--Almost Blind--Anders Vedel.
+
+But to proceed with my own story; I now ceased all at once to take much
+pleasure in the pursuits which formerly interested me, I yawned over Ab
+Gwilym; even as I now in my mind's eye perceive the reader yawning over
+the present pages.  What was the cause of this?  Constitutional
+lassitude, or a desire for novelty?  Both it is probable had some
+influence in the matter, but I rather think that the latter feeling was
+predominant.  The parting words of my brother had sunk into my mind.  He
+had talked of travelling in strange regions and seeing strange and
+wonderful objects, and my imagination fell to work and drew pictures of
+adventures wild and fantastic, and I thought what a fine thing it must be
+to travel, and I wished that my father would give me his blessing, and
+the same sum that he had given my brother, and bid me go forth into the
+world; always forgetting that I had neither talents nor energies at this
+period which would enable me to make any successful figure on its stage.
+
+And then I again sought up the book which had so captivated me in my
+infancy, and I read it through; and I sought up others of a similar
+character, and in seeking for them I met books also of adventure, but by
+no means of a harmless description, lives of wicked and lawless men,
+Murray and Latroon--books of singular power, but of coarse and prurient
+imagination--books at one time highly in vogue; now deservedly forgotten,
+and most difficult to be found.
+
+And when I had gone through these books, what was my state of mind?  I
+had derived entertainment from their perusal, but they left me more
+listless and unsettled than before, and I really knew not what to do to
+pass my time.  My philological studies had become distasteful, and I had
+never taken any pleasure in the duties of my profession.  I sat behind my
+desk in a state of torpor, my mind almost as blank as the paper before
+me, on which I rarely traced a line.  It was always a relief to hear the
+bell ring, as it afforded me an opportunity of doing something which I
+was yet capable of doing, to rise and open the door and stare in the
+countenances of the visitors.  All of a sudden I fell to studying
+countenances, and soon flattered myself that I had made considerable
+progress in the science.
+
+"There is no faith in countenances," said some Roman of old; "trust
+anything but a person's countenance."  "Not trust a man's countenance?"
+say some moderns, "why, it is the only thing in many people that we can
+trust; on which account they keep it most assiduously out of the way.
+Trust not a man's words if you please, or you may come to very erroneous
+conclusions; but at all times place implicit confidence in a man's
+countenance, in which there is no deceit; and of necessity there can be
+none.  If people would but look each other more in the face, we should
+have less cause to complain of the deception of the world; nothing so
+easy as physiognomy nor so useful."  Somewhat in this latter strain I
+thought, at the time of which I am speaking.  I am now older, and, let us
+hope, less presumptuous.  It is true that in the course of my life I have
+scarcely ever had occasion to repent placing confidence in individuals
+whose countenances have prepossessed me in their favour; though to how
+many I may have been unjust, from whose countenances I may have drawn
+unfavourable conclusions, is another matter.
+
+But it had been decreed by that Fate which governs our every action, that
+I was soon to return to my old pursuits.  It was written that I should
+not yet cease to be Lav-engro, though I had become, in my own opinion, a
+kind of Lavater.  It is singular enough that my renewed ardour for
+philology seems to have been brought about indirectly by my
+physiognomical researches, in which had I not indulged, the event which I
+am about to relate, as far as connected with myself, might never have
+occurred.  Amongst the various countenances which I admitted during the
+period of my answering the bell, there were two which particularly
+pleased me, and which belonged to an elderly yeoman and his wife, whom
+some little business had brought to our law sanctuary.  I believe they
+experienced from me some kindness and attention, which won the old
+people's hearts.  So, one day, when their little business had been
+brought to a conclusion, and they chanced to be alone with me, who was
+seated as usual behind the deal desk in the outer room, the old man with
+some confusion began to tell me how grateful himself and dame felt for
+the many attentions I had shown them, and how desirous they were to make
+me some remuneration.  "Of course," said the old man, "we must be
+cautious what we offer to so fine a young gentleman as yourself; we have,
+however, something we think will just suit the occasion, a strange kind
+of thing which people say is a book, though no one that my dame or myself
+have shown it to can make anything out of it; so as we are told that you
+are a fine young gentleman, who can read all the tongues of the earth and
+stars, as the Bible says, we thought, I and my dame, that it would be
+just the thing you would like; and my dame has it now at the bottom of
+her basket."
+
+"A book," said I, "how did you come by it?"
+
+"We live near the sea," said the old man; "so near that sometimes our
+thatch is wet with the spray; and it may now be a year ago that there was
+a fearful storm, and a ship was driven ashore during the night, and ere
+the morn was a complete wreck.  When we got up at daylight, there were
+the poor shivering crew at our door; they were foreigners, red-haired
+men, whose speech we did not understand; but we took them in, and warmed
+them, and they remained with us three days; and when they went away they
+left behind them this thing, here it is, part of the contents of a box
+which was washed ashore."
+
+"And did you learn who they were?"
+
+"Why, yes; they made us understand that they were Danes."
+
+Danes! thought I, Danes! and instantaneously, huge and grizzly, appeared
+to rise up before my vision the skull of the old pirate Dane, even as I
+had seen it of yore in the pent-house of the ancient church to which,
+with my mother and my brother, I had wandered on the memorable summer
+eve.
+
+And now the old man handed me the book; a strange and uncouth-looking
+volume enough.  It was not very large, but instead of the usual covering
+was bound in wood, and was compressed with strong iron clasps.  It was a
+printed book, but the pages were not of paper, but vellum, and the
+characters were black, and resembled those generally termed Gothic.
+
+"It is certainly a curious book," said I; "and I should like to have it,
+but I can't think of taking it as a gift, I must give you an equivalent,
+I never take presents from anybody."
+
+The old man whispered with his dame and chuckled, and then turned his
+face to me, and said, with another chuckle, "Well, we have agreed about
+the price; but, may be, you will not consent."
+
+"I don't know," said I; "what do you demand?"
+
+"Why, that you shake me by the hand, and hold out your cheek to my old
+dame, she has taken an affection to you."
+
+"I shall be very glad to shake you by the hand," said I, "but as for the
+other condition it requires consideration."
+
+"No consideration at all," said the old man, with something like a sigh;
+"she thinks you like her son, our only child, that was lost twenty years
+ago in the waves of the North Sea."
+
+"Oh, that alters the case altogether," said I, "and of course I can have
+no objection."
+
+And now, at once, I shook off my listlessness, to enable me to do which
+nothing could have happened more opportune than the above event.  The
+Danes, the Danes!  And I was at last to become acquainted, and in so
+singular a manner, with the speech of a people which had as far back as I
+could remember exercised the strongest influence over my imagination, as
+how should they not!--in infancy there was the summer-eve adventure, to
+which I often looked back, and always with a kind of strange interest,
+with respect to those to whom such gigantic and wondrous bones could
+belong as I had seen on that occasion; and, more than this, I had been in
+Ireland, and there, under peculiar circumstances, this same interest was
+increased tenfold.  I had mingled much whilst there, with the genuine
+Irish--a wild, but kind-hearted race, whose conversation was deeply
+imbued with traditionary lore, connected with the early history of their
+own romantic land, and from them I heard enough of the Danes, but nothing
+commonplace, for they never mentioned them but in terms which tallied
+well with my own preconceived ideas.  For at an early period the Danes
+had invaded Ireland, and had subdued it, and, though eventually driven
+out, had left behind them an enduring remembrance in the minds of the
+people, who loved to speak of their strength and their stature, in
+evidence of which they would point to the ancient raths or mounds, where
+the old Danes were buried, and where bones of extraordinary size were
+occasionally exhumed.  And as the Danes surpassed other people in
+strength, so, according to my narrators, they also excelled all others in
+wisdom, or rather in Draoitheac, or Magic, for they were powerful
+sorcerers, they said, compared with whom the fairy men of the present day
+knew nothing at all, at all; and, amongst other wonderful things, they
+knew how to make strong beer from the heather that grows upon the bogs.
+Little wonder if the interest, the mysterious interest, which I had early
+felt about the Danes, was increased tenfold by my sojourn in Ireland.
+
+And now I had in my possession a Danish book, which, from its appearance,
+might be supposed to have belonged to the very old Danes indeed; but how
+was I to turn it to any account?  I had the book, it is true, but I did
+not understand the language, and how was I to overcome that difficulty?
+hardly by poring over the book; yet I did pore over the book, daily and
+nightly, till my eyes were dim, and it appeared to me every now and then
+I encountered words which I understood--English words, though strangely
+disguised; and I said to myself, courage!  English and Danish are cognate
+dialects, a time will come when I shall understand this Danish; and then
+I pored over the book again, but with all my poring I could not
+understand it; and then I became angry, and I bit my lips till the blood
+came; and I occasionally tore a handful from my hair, and flung it upon
+the floor, but that did not mend the matter, for still I did not
+understand the book, which, however, I began to see was written in
+rhyme--a circumstance rather difficult to discover at first, the
+arrangement of the lines not differing from that which is employed in
+prose; and its being written in rhyme made me only the more eager to
+understand it.
+
+But I toiled in vain, for I had neither grammar nor dictionary of the
+language; and when I sought for them could procure neither; and I was
+much dispirited, till suddenly a bright thought came into my head, and I
+said, although I cannot obtain a dictionary or grammar, I can perhaps
+obtain a Bible in this language, and if I can procure a Bible, I can
+learn the language, for the Bible in every tongue contains the same
+thing, and I have only to compare the words of the Danish Bible with
+those of the English, and, if I persevere, I shall in time acquire the
+language of the Danes; and I was pleased with the thought, which I
+considered to be a bright one, and I no longer bit my lips, or tore my
+hair, but took my hat, and, going forth, I flung my hat into the air.
+
+And when my hat came down, I put it on my head and commenced running,
+directing my course to the house of the Antinomian preacher, who sold
+books, and whom I knew to have Bibles in various tongues amongst the
+number, and I arrived out of breath, and I found the Antinomian in his
+little library, dusting his books; and the Antinomian clergyman was a
+tall man of about seventy, who wore a hat with a broad brim and a shallow
+crown, and whose manner of speaking was exceedingly nasal; and when I saw
+him, I cried, out of breath, "Have you a Danish Bible?" and he replied,
+"What do you want it for, friend?" and I answered, "to learn Danish by;"
+"and may be to learn thy duty," replied the Antinomian preacher.  "Truly,
+I have it not; but, as you are a customer of mine, I will endeavour to
+procure you one, and I will write to that laudable society which men call
+the Bible Society, an unworthy member of which I am, and I hope by next
+week to procure what you desire."
+
+And when I heard these words of the old man, I was very glad, and my
+heart yearned towards him, and I would fain enter into conversation with
+him; and I said, "Why are you an Antinomian?  For my part, I would rather
+be a dog than belong to such a religion."  "Nay, friend," said the
+Antinomian, "thou forejudgest us; know that those who call us Antinomians
+call us so despitefully, we do not acknowledge the designation."  "Then
+you do not set all law at nought?" said I.  "Far be it from us," said the
+old man, "we only hope that, being sanctified by the Spirit from above,
+we have no need of the law to keep us in order.  Did you ever hear tell
+of Lodowick Muggleton?"  "Not I."  "That is strange; know then that he
+was the founder of our poor society, and after him we are frequently,
+though opprobriously, termed Muggletonians, for we are Christians.  Here
+is his book, which, perhaps, you can do no better than purchase, you are
+fond of rare books, and this is both curious and rare; I will sell it
+cheap.  Thank you, and now be gone, I will do all I can to procure the
+Bible."
+
+And in this manner I procured the Danish Bible, and I commenced my task;
+first of all, however, I locked up in a closet the volume which had
+excited my curiosity, saying, "Out of this closet thou comest not till I
+deem myself competent to read thee," and then I sat down in right
+earnest, comparing every line in the one version with the corresponding
+one in the other; and I passed entire nights in this manner, till I was
+almost blind, and the task was tedious enough at first, but I quailed
+not, and soon began to make progress: and at first I had a misgiving that
+the old book might not prove a Danish book, but was soon reassured by
+reading many words in the Bible which I remembered to have seen in the
+book; and then I went on right merrily, and I found that the language
+which I was studying was by no means a difficult one, and in less than a
+month I deemed myself able to read the book.
+
+Anon, I took the book from the closet, and proceeded to make myself
+master of its contents; I had some difficulty, for the language of the
+book, though in the main the same as the language of the Bible, differed
+from it in some points, being apparently a more ancient dialect; by
+degrees, however, I overcame this difficulty, and I understood the
+contents of the book, and well did they correspond with all those ideas
+in which I had indulged connected with the Danes.  For the book was a
+book of ballads, about the deeds of knights and champions, and men of
+huge stature; ballads which from time immemorial had been sung in the
+North, and which some two centuries before the time of which I am
+speaking had been collected by one Anders Vedel, who lived with a certain
+Tycho Brahe, and assisted him in making observations upon the heavenly
+bodies, at a place called Uranias Castle, on the little island of Hveen,
+in the Cattegat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+The Two Individuals--The Long Pipe--The Germans--Werther--The Female
+Quaker--Suicide--Gibbon--Jesus of Bethlehem--Fill Your
+Glass--Shakespeare--English at Minden--Melancholy Swayne Vonved--The
+Fifth Dinner--Strange Doctrines--Are You Happy?--Improve Yourself in
+German.
+
+It might be some six months after the events last recorded, that two
+individuals were seated together in a certain room, in a certain street
+of the old town which I have so frequently had occasion to mention in the
+preceding pages; one of them was an elderly, and the other a very young
+man, and they sat on either side of the fire-place, beside a table, on
+which were fruit and wine; the room was a small one, and in its furniture
+exhibited nothing remarkable.  Over the mantel-piece, however, hung a
+small picture with naked figures in the foreground, and with much foliage
+behind.  It might not have struck every beholder, for it looked old and
+smoke-dried; but a connoisseur, on inspecting it closely, would have
+pronounced it to be a Judgment of Paris, and a masterpiece of the Flemish
+school.
+
+The forehead of the elder individual was high, and perhaps appeared more
+so than it really was, from the hair being carefully brushed back, as if
+for the purpose of displaying to the best advantage that part of the
+cranium; his eyes were large and full, and of a light brown, and might
+have been called heavy and dull, had they not been occasionally lighted
+up by a sudden gleam--not so brilliant however as that which at every
+inhalation shone from the bowl of the long clay pipe which he was
+smoking, but which, from a certain sucking sound which, about this time,
+began to be heard from the bottom, appeared to be giving notice that it
+would soon require replenishment from a certain canister, which, together
+with a lighted taper, stood upon the table beside him.
+
+"You do not smoke?" said he, at length, laying down his pipe, and
+directing his glance to his companion.
+
+Now there was at least one thing singular connected with this last, the
+colour of his hair, which, notwithstanding his extreme youth, appeared to
+be rapidly becoming grey.  He had very long limbs, and was apparently
+tall of stature, in which he differed from his elderly companion, who
+must have been somewhat below the usual height.
+
+"No, I can't smoke," said the youth in reply to the observation of the
+other.  "I have often tried, but could never succeed to my satisfaction."
+
+"Is it possible to become a good German without smoking?" said the
+senior, half speaking to himself.
+
+"I daresay not," said the youth; "but I shan't break my heart on that
+account."
+
+"As for breaking your heart, of course you would never think of such a
+thing; he is a fool who breaks his heart on any account; but it is good
+to be a German, the Germans are the most philosophic people in the world,
+and the greatest smokers: now I trace their philosophy to their smoking."
+
+"I have heard say their philosophy is all smoke--is that your opinion?"
+
+"Why, no; but smoking has a sedative effect upon the nerves, and enables
+a man to bear the sorrows of this life (of which every one has his share)
+not only decently, but dignifiedly.  Suicide is not a national habit in
+Germany, as it is in England."
+
+"But that poor creature, Werther, who committed suicide, was a German."
+
+"Werther is a fictitious character, and by no means a felicitous one; I
+am no admirer either of Werther or his author.  But I should say that, if
+there ever was a Werther in Germany, he did not smoke.  Werther, as you
+very justly observe, was a poor creature."
+
+"And a very sinful one; I have heard my parents say that suicide is a
+great crime."
+
+"Broadly, and without qualification, to say that suicide is a crime, is
+speaking somewhat unphilosophically.  No doubt suicide, under many
+circumstances, is a crime, a very heinous one.  When the father of a
+family, for example, to escape from certain difficulties, commits
+suicide, he commits a crime; there are those around him who look to him
+for support, by the law of nature, and he has no right to withdraw
+himself from those who have a claim upon his exertions; he is a person
+who decamps with other people's goods as well as his own.  Indeed, there
+can be no crime which is not founded upon the depriving others of
+something which belongs to them.  A man is hanged for setting fire to his
+house in a crowded city, for he burns at the same time or damages those
+of other people; but if a man who has a house on a heath sets fire to it,
+he is not hanged, for he has not damaged or endangered any other
+individual's property, and the principle of revenge, upon which all
+punishment is founded, has not been aroused.  Similar to such a case is
+that of the man who, without any family ties, commits suicide; for
+example, were I to do the thing this evening, who would have a right to
+call me to account?  I am alone in the world, have no family to support,
+and, so far from damaging any one, should even benefit my heir by my
+accelerated death.  However, I am no advocate for suicide under any
+circumstances; there is something undignified in it, unheroic,
+un-Germanic.  But if you must commit suicide--and there is no knowing to
+what people may be brought--always contrive to do it as decorously as
+possible; the decencies, whether of life or of death, should never be
+lost sight of.  I remember a female Quaker who committed suicide by
+cutting her throat, but she did it decorously and decently: kneeling down
+over a pail, so that not one drop fell upon the floor; thus exhibiting in
+her last act that nice sense of sweetness for which Quakers are
+distinguished.  I have always had a respect for that woman's memory."
+
+And here, filling his pipe from the canister, and lighting it at the
+taper, he recommenced smoking calmly and sedately.
+
+"But is not suicide forbidden in the Bible?" the youth demanded.
+
+"Why, no; but what though it were!--the Bible is a respectable book, but
+I should hardly call it one whose philosophy is of the soundest.  I have
+said that it is a respectable book; I mean respectable from its
+antiquity, and from containing, as Herder says, 'the earliest records of
+the human race,' though those records are far from being dispassionately
+written, on which account they are of less value than they otherwise
+might have been.  There is too much passion in the Bible, too much
+violence; now, to come to all truth, especially historic truth, requires
+cool dispassionate investigation, for which the Jews do not appear to
+have ever been famous.  We are ourselves not famous for it, for we are a
+passionate people; the Germans are not--they are not a passionate
+people--a people celebrated for their oaths: we are.  The Germans have
+many excellent historic writers, we--'tis true we have Gibbon.  You have
+been reading Gibbon--what do you think of him?"
+
+"I think him a very wonderful writer."
+
+"He is a wonderful writer--one _sui generis_--uniting the perspicuity of
+the English--for we are perspicuous--with the cool dispassionate
+reasoning of the Germans.  Gibbon sought after the truth, found it, and
+made it clear."
+
+"Then you think Gibbon a truthful writer?"
+
+"Why, yes; who shall convict Gibbon of falsehood?  Many people have
+endeavoured to convict Gibbon of falsehood; they have followed him in his
+researches, and have never found him once tripping.  Oh, he's a wonderful
+writer! his power of condensation is admirable; the lore of the whole
+world is to be found in his pages.  Sometimes in a single note he has
+given us the result of the study of years; or, to speak metaphorically,
+'he has ransacked a thousand Gulistans, and has condensed all his
+fragrant booty into a single drop of otto.'"
+
+"But was not Gibbon an enemy to the Christian faith?"
+
+"Why, no; he was rather an enemy to priestcraft, so am I; and when I say
+the philosophy of the Bible is in many respects unsound, I always wish to
+make an exception in favour of that part of it which contains the life
+and sayings of Jesus of Bethlehem, to which I must always concede my
+unqualified admiration--of Jesus, mind you; for with his followers and
+their dogmas I have nothing to do.  Of all historic characters, Jesus is
+the most beautiful and the most heroic.  I have always been a friend to
+hero-worship, it is the only rational one, and has always been in use
+amongst civilized people--the worship of spirits is synonymous with
+barbarism--it is mere fetish; the savages of West Africa are all spirit
+worshippers.  But there is something philosophic in the worship of the
+heroes of the human race, and the true hero is the benefactor.  Brahma,
+Jupiter, Bacchus, were all benefactors, and, therefore, entitled to the
+worship of their respective peoples.  The Celts worshipped Hesus, who
+taught them to plough, a highly useful art.  We, who have attained a much
+higher state of civilization than the Celts ever did, worship Jesus, the
+first who endeavoured to teach men to behave decently and decorously
+under all circumstances; who was the foe of vengeance, in which there is
+something highly indecorous; who had first the courage to lift his voice
+against that violent dogma, 'an eye for an eye;' who shouted conquer, but
+conquer with kindness; who said put up the sword, a violent unphilosophic
+weapon; and who finally died calmly and decorously in defence of his
+philosophy.  He must be a savage who denies worship to the hero of
+Golgotha."
+
+"But he was something more than a hero; he was the son of God, wasn't
+he?"
+
+The elderly individual made no immediate answer; but, after a few more
+whiffs from his pipe, exclaimed, "Come, fill your glass!  How do you
+advance with your translation of Tell?"
+
+"It is nearly finished; but I do not think I shall proceed with it; I
+begin to think the original somewhat dull."
+
+"There you are wrong; it is the masterpiece of Schiller, the first of
+German poets."
+
+"It may be so," said the youth.  "But, pray excuse me, I do not think
+very highly of German poetry.  I have lately been reading Shakespeare,
+and, when I turn from him to the Germans--even the best of them--they
+appear mere pigmies.  You will pardon the liberty I perhaps take in
+saying so."
+
+"I like that every one should have an opinion of his own," said the
+elderly individual; "and, what is more, declare it.  Nothing displeases
+me more than to see people assenting to everything that they hear said; I
+at once come to the conclusion that they are either hypocrites, or there
+is nothing in them.  But, with respect to Shakespeare, whom I have not
+read for thirty years, is he not rather given to bombast, 'crackling
+bombast,' as I think I have said in one of my essays?"
+
+"I daresay he is," said the youth; "but I can't help thinking him the
+greatest of all poets, not even excepting Homer.  I would sooner have
+written that series of plays, founded on the fortunes of the House of
+Lancaster, than the Iliad itself.  The events described are as lofty as
+those sung by Homer in his great work, and the characters brought upon
+the stage still more interesting.  I think Hotspur as much of a hero as
+Hector, and young Henry more of a man than Achilles; and then there is
+the fat knight, the quintessence of fun, wit, and rascality.  Falstaff is
+a creation beyond the genius even of Homer."
+
+"You almost tempt me to read Shakespeare again--but the Germans?"
+
+"I don't admire the Germans," said the youth, somewhat excited.  "I don't
+admire them in any point of view.  I have heard my father say that,
+though good sharpshooters, they can't much be depended upon as soldiers;
+and that old Sergeant Meredith told him that Minden would never have been
+won but for the two English regiments, who charged the French with fixed
+bayonets, and sent them to the right-about in double-quick time.  With
+respect to poetry, setting Shakespeare and the English altogether aside,
+I think there is another Gothic nation, at least, entitled to dispute
+with them the palm.  Indeed, to my mind, there is more genuine poetry
+contained in the old Danish book which I came so strangely by, than has
+been produced in Germany from the period of the Niebelungen lay to the
+present."
+
+"Ah, the Koempe Viser?" said the elderly individual, breathing forth an
+immense volume of smoke, which he had been collecting during the
+declamation of his young companion.  "There are singular things in that
+book, I must confess; and I thank you for showing it to me, or rather
+your attempt at translation.  I was struck with that ballad of Orm
+Ungarswayne, who goes by night to the grave-hill of his father to seek
+for counsel.  And then, again, that strange melancholy Swayne Vonved, who
+roams about the world propounding people riddles; slaying those who
+cannot answer, and rewarding those who can with golden bracelets.  Were
+it not for the violence, I should say that ballad has a philosophic
+tendency.  I thank you for making me acquainted with the book, and I
+thank the Jew Mousha for making me acquainted with you."
+
+"That Mousha was a strange customer," said the youth, collecting himself.
+
+"He _was_ a strange customer," said the elder individual, breathing forth
+a gentle cloud.  "I love to exercise hospitality to wandering strangers,
+especially foreigners; and when he came to this place, pretending to
+teach German and Hebrew, I asked him to dinner.  After the first dinner,
+he asked me to lend him five pounds; I _did_ lend him five pounds.  After
+the fifth dinner, he asked me to lend him fifty pounds; I did _not_ lend
+him the fifty pounds."
+
+"He was as ignorant of German as of Hebrew," said the youth; "on which
+account he was soon glad, I suppose, to transfer his pupil to some one
+else."
+
+"He told me," said the elder individual, "that he intended to leave a
+town where he did not find sufficient encouragement; and, at the same
+time, expressed regret at being obliged to abandon a certain
+extraordinary pupil, for whom he had a particular regard.  Now I, who
+have taught many people German from the love which I bear to it, and the
+desire which I feel that it should be generally diffused, instantly said,
+that I should be happy to take his pupil off his hands, and afford him
+what instruction I could in German, for, as to Hebrew, I have never taken
+much interest in it.  Such was the origin of our acquaintance.  You have
+been an apt scholar.  Of late, however, I have seen little of you--what
+is the reason?"
+
+The youth made no answer.
+
+"You think, probably, that you have learned all I can teach you?  Well,
+perhaps you are right."
+
+"Not so, not so," said the young man eagerly; "before I knew you I knew
+nothing, and am still very ignorant; but of late my father's health has
+been very much broken, and he requires attention; his spirits also have
+become low, which, to tell you the truth, he attributes to my misconduct.
+He says that I have imbibed all kinds of strange notions and doctrines,
+which will, in all probability, prove my ruin, both here and hereafter;
+which--which--"
+
+"Ah, I understand," said the elder, with another calm whiff.  "I have
+always had a kind of respect for your father, for there is something
+remarkable in his appearance, something heroic, and I would fain have
+cultivated his acquaintance; the feeling, however, has not been
+reciprocated.  I met him, the other day, up the road, with his cane and
+dog, and saluted him; he did not return my salutation."
+
+"He has certain opinions of his own," said the youth, "which are widely
+different from those which he has heard that you profess."
+
+"I respect a man for entertaining an opinion of his own," said the
+elderly individual.  "I hold certain opinions; but I should not respect
+an individual the more for adopting them.  All I wish for is tolerance,
+which I myself endeavour to practise.  I have always loved the truth, and
+sought it; if I have not found it, the greater my misfortune."
+
+"Are you happy?" said the young man.
+
+"Why, no.  And, between ourselves, it is that which induces me to doubt
+sometimes the truth of my opinions.  My life, upon the whole, I consider
+a failure; on which account, I would not counsel you, or any one, to
+follow my example too closely.  It is getting late, and you had better be
+going, especially as your father, you say, is anxious about you.  But, as
+we may never meet again, I think there are three things which I may
+safely venture to press upon you.  The first is, that the decencies and
+gentlenesses should never be lost sight of, as the practice of the
+decencies and gentlenesses is at all times compatible with independence
+of thought and action.  The second thing which I would wish to impress
+upon you is, that there is always some eye upon us; and that it is
+impossible to keep anything we do from the world, as it will assuredly be
+divulged by somebody as soon as it is his interest to do so.  The third
+thing which I would wish to press upon you--"
+
+"Yes," said the youth, eagerly bending forward.
+
+"Is"--and here the elderly individual laid down his pipe upon the
+table--"that it will be as well to go on improving yourself in German!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+The Alehouse Keeper--Compassion for the Rich--Old English Gentleman--How
+is this?--Madeira--The Greek Parr--Twenty Languages--Whiter's
+Health--About the Fight--A Sporting Gentleman--The Flattened Nose--Lend
+us that Pightle--The Surly Nod.
+
+"Holloa, master! can you tell us where the fight is likely to be?"
+
+Such were the words shouted out to me by a short thick fellow, in brown
+top-boots, and bare-headed, who stood, with his hands in his pockets, at
+the door of a country alehouse as I was passing by.
+
+Now, as I knew nothing about the fight, and as the appearance of the man
+did not tempt me greatly to enter into conversation with him, I merely
+answered in the negative, and continued my way.
+
+It was a fine, lovely morning in May, the sun shine bright above, and the
+birds were carolling in the hedgerows.  I was wont to be cheerful at such
+seasons, for, from my earliest recollection, sunshine and the song of
+birds have been dear to me; yet, about that period, I was not cheerful,
+my mind was not at rest; I was debating within myself, and the debate was
+dreary and unsatisfactory enough.  I sighed, and, turning my eyes upward,
+I ejaculated, "What is truth?"  But suddenly, by a violent effort,
+breaking away from my meditations, I hastened forward; one mile, two
+miles, three miles were speedily left behind; and now I came to a grove
+of birch and other trees, and opening a gate I passed up a kind of
+avenue, and soon arriving before a large brick house, of rather antique
+appearance, knocked at the door.  In this house there lived a gentleman
+with whom I had business.  He was said to be a genuine old English
+gentleman, and a man of considerable property; at this time, however, he
+wanted a thousand pounds, as gentlemen of considerable property every now
+and then do.  I had brought him a thousand pounds in my pocket, for it is
+astonishing how many eager helpers the rich find, and with what
+compassion people look upon their distresses.  He was said to have good
+wine in his cellar.
+
+"Is your master at home?" said I, to a servant who appeared at the door.
+
+"His worship is at home, young man," said the servant, as he looked at my
+shoes, which bore evidence that I had come walking.  "I beg your pardon,
+sir," he added, as he looked me in the face.
+
+"Ay, ay, servants," thought I, as I followed the man into the house,
+"always look people in the face when you open the door, and do so before
+you look at their shoes, or you may mistake the heir of a Prime Minister
+for a shopkeeper's son."
+
+I found his worship a jolly red-faced gentleman, of about fifty-five; he
+was dressed in a green coat, white corduroy breeches, and drab gaiters,
+and sat on an old-fashioned leather sofa, with two small, thorough-bred
+English terriers, one on each side of him.  He had all the appearance of
+a genuine old English gentleman who kept good wine in his cellar.
+
+"Sir," said I, "I have brought you a thousand pounds"; and I said this
+after the servant had retired, and the two terriers had ceased their
+barking, which is natural to all such dogs at the sight of a stranger.
+
+And when the magistrate had received the money, and signed and returned a
+certain paper which I handed to him, he rubbed his hands, and looking
+very benignantly at me, exclaimed,--
+
+"And now, young gentleman, that our business is over, perhaps you can
+tell me where the fight is to take place?"
+
+"I am sorry, sir," said I, "that I can't inform you; but everybody seems
+to be anxious about it"; and then I told him what had occurred to me on
+the road with the alehouse keeper.
+
+"I know him," said his worship; "he's a tenant of mine, and a good
+fellow, somewhat too much in my debt, though.  But how is this, young
+gentleman, you look as if you had been walking; you did not come on
+foot?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I came on foot."
+
+"On foot! why, it is sixteen miles."
+
+"I sha'n't be tired when I have walked back."
+
+"You can't ride, I suppose?"
+
+"Better than I can walk."
+
+"Then why do you walk?"
+
+"I have frequently to make journeys connected with my profession;
+sometimes I walk, sometimes I ride, just as the whim takes me."
+
+"Will you take a glass of wine?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That's right; what shall it be?"
+
+"Madeira!"
+
+The magistrate gave a violent slap on his knee; "I like your taste," said
+he; "I am fond of a glass of Madeira myself, and can give you such a one
+as you will not drink every day.  Sit down, young gentleman, you shall
+have a glass of Madeira, and the best I have."
+
+Thereupon he got up, and, followed by his two terriers, walked slowly out
+of the room.
+
+I looked round the room, and, seeing nothing which promised me much
+amusement, I sat down, and fell again into my former train of thought.
+
+"What is truth?" said I.
+
+"Here it is," said the magistrate, returning at the end of a quarter of
+an hour, followed by the servant, with a tray; "here's the true thing, or
+I am no judge, far less a justice.  It has been thirty years in my cellar
+last Christmas.  There," said he to the servant, "put it down, and leave
+my young friend and me to ourselves.  Now, what do you think of it?"
+
+"It is very good," said I.
+
+"Did you ever taste better Madeira?"
+
+"I never before tasted Madeira."
+
+"Then you ask for a wine without knowing what it is?"
+
+"I ask for it, sir, that I may know what it is."
+
+"Well, there is logic in that, as Parr would say; you have heard of
+Parr?"
+
+"Old Parr?"
+
+"Yes, old Parr, but not that Parr; you mean the English, I the Greek
+Parr, as people call him."
+
+"I don't know him."
+
+"Perhaps not--rather too young for that; but were you of my age, you
+might have cause to know him, coming from where you do.  He kept school
+there, I was his first scholar; he flogged Greek into me till I loved
+him--and he loved me; he came to see me last year, and sat in that chair;
+I honour Parr--he knows much, and is a sound man."
+
+"Does he know the truth?"
+
+"Know the truth! he knows what's good, from an oyster to an ostrich--he's
+not only sound but round."
+
+"Suppose we drink his health?"
+
+"Thank you, boy: here's Parr's health, and Whiter's."
+
+"Who is Whiter?"
+
+"Don't you know Whiter?  I thought everybody knew Reverend Whiter the
+philologist, though I suppose you scarcely know what that means.  A man
+fond of tongues and languages, quite out of your way--he understands some
+twenty; what do you say to that?"
+
+"Is he a sound man?"
+
+"Why, as to that, I scarcely know what to say: he has got queer notions
+in his head--wrote a book to prove that all words came originally from
+the earth--who knows?  Words have roots, and roots, live in the earth;
+but, upon the whole, I should not call him altogether a sound man, though
+he can talk Greek nearly as fast as Parr."
+
+"Is he a round man?"
+
+"Ay, boy, rounder than Parr; I'll sing you a song, if you like, which
+will let you into his character:--
+
+    "'Give me the haunch of a buck to eat, and to drink Madeira old,
+    And a gentle wife to rest with, and in my arms to fold,
+    An Arabic book to study, a Norfolk cob to ride,
+    And a house to live in shaded with trees, and near to a river side;
+    With such good things around me, and blessed with good health withal,
+    Though I should live for a hundred years, for death I would not
+    call.'
+
+Here's to Whiter's health--so you know nothing about the fight?"
+
+"No, sir; the truth is, that of late I have been very much occupied with
+various matters, otherwise I should, perhaps, have been able to afford
+you some information--boxing is a noble art."
+
+"Can you box?"
+
+"A little."
+
+"I tell you what, my boy; I honour you, and, provided your education had
+been a little less limited, I should have been glad to see you here in
+company with Parr and Whiter; both can box.  Boxing is, as you say, a
+noble art--a truly English art; may I never see the day when Englishmen
+shall feel ashamed of it, or blacklegs and blackguards bring it into
+disgrace!  I am a magistrate, and, of course, cannot patronise the thing
+very openly, yet I sometimes see a prize-fight: I saw the Game Chicken
+beat Gulley."
+
+"Did you ever see Big Ben?"
+
+"No, why do you ask?"  But here we heard a noise, like that of a gig
+driving up to the door, which was immediately succeeded by a violent
+knocking and ringing, and after a little time, the servant who had
+admitted me made his appearance in the room.
+
+"Sir," said he, with a certain eagerness of manner, "here are two
+gentlemen waiting to speak to you."
+
+"Gentlemen waiting to speak to me! who are they?"
+
+"I don't know, sir," said the servant; "but they look like sporting
+gentlemen, and--and"--here he hesitated; "from a word or two they
+dropped, I almost think that they come about the fight."
+
+"About the fight," said the magistrate.  "No! that can hardly be;
+however, you had better show them in."
+
+Heavy steps were now heard ascending the stairs, and the servant ushered
+two men into the apartment.  Again there was a barking, but louder than
+that which had been directed against myself, for here were two intruders;
+both of them were remarkable looking men, but to the foremost of them the
+most particular notice may well be accorded: he was a man somewhat under
+thirty, and nearly six feet in height.  He was dressed in a blue coat,
+white corduroy breeches, fastened below the knee with small golden
+buttons; on his legs he wore white lamb's-wool stockings, and on his feet
+shoes reaching to the ankles; round his neck was a handkerchief of the
+blue and bird's eye pattern; he wore neither whiskers nor moustaches, and
+appeared not to delight in hair, that of his head, which was of a light
+brown, being closely cropped; the forehead was rather high, but somewhat
+narrow; the face neither broad nor sharp, perhaps rather sharp than
+broad; the nose was almost delicate; the eyes were grey, with an
+expression in which there was sternness blended with something
+approaching to feline; his complexion was exceedingly pale, relieved,
+however, by certain pock-marks, which here and there studded his
+countenance; his form was athletic, but lean; his arms long.  In the
+whole appearance of the man there was a blending of the bluff and the
+sharp.  You might have supposed him a bruiser; his dress was that of one
+in all its minutiae; something was wanting, however, in his manner--the
+quietness of the professional man; he rather looked like one performing
+the part--well--very well--but still performing a part.  His
+companion!--there, indeed, was the bruiser--no mistake about him: a tall
+massive man, with a broad countenance and a flattened nose; dressed like
+a bruiser, but not like a bruiser going into the ring; he wore white
+topped boots, and a loose brown jockey coat.  As the first advanced
+towards the table, behind which the magistrate sat, he doffed a white
+castor from his head, and made rather a genteel bow; looking at me, who
+sat somewhat on one side, he gave a kind of nod of recognition.
+
+"May I request to know who you are, gentlemen?" said the magistrate.
+
+"Sir," said the man in a deep, but not unpleasant voice, "allow me to
+introduce to you my friend, Mr. ---, the celebrated pugilist;" and he
+motioned with his hand towards the massive man with the flattened nose.
+
+"And your own name, sir?" said the magistrate.
+
+"My name is no matter," said the man; "were I to mention it to you, it
+would awaken within you no feeling of interest.  It is neither Kean nor
+Belcher, and I have as yet done nothing to distinguish myself like either
+of those individuals, or even like my friend here.  However, a time may
+come--we are not yet buried; and whensoever my hour arrives, I hope I
+shall prove myself equal to my destiny, however high--
+
+    'Like a bird that's bred amongst the Helicons.'"
+
+And here a smile half theatrical passed over his features.
+
+"In what can I oblige you, sir?" said the magistrate.
+
+"Well, sir; the soul of wit is brevity; we want a place for an
+approaching combat between my friend here and a brave from town.  Passing
+by your broad acres this fine morning we saw a pightle, which we deemed
+would suit.  Lend us that pightle, and receive our thanks; 'twould be a
+favour, though not much to grant: we neither ask for Stonehenge nor for
+Tempe."
+
+My friend looked somewhat perplexed; after a moment, however, he said,
+with a firm but gentlemanly air, "Sir, I am sorry that I cannot comply
+with your request."
+
+"Not comply!" said the man, his brow becoming dark as midnight; and with
+a hoarse and savage tone, "Not comply! why not?"
+
+"It is impossible, sir; utterly impossible!"
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I am not compelled to give my reason to you, sir, nor to any man."
+
+"Let me beg of you to alter your decision," said the man, in a tone of
+profound respect.
+
+"Utterly impossible, sir; I am a magistrate."
+
+"Magistrate! then fare ye well, for a green-coated buffer and a
+Harmanbeck."
+
+"Sir!" said the magistrate, springing up with a face fiery with wrath.
+
+But, with a surly nod to me, the man left the apartment; and in a moment
+more the heavy footsteps of himself and his companion were heard
+descending the staircase.
+
+"Who is that man?" said my friend, turning towards me.
+
+"A sporting gentleman, well known in the place from which I come."
+
+"He appeared to know you."
+
+"I have occasionally put on the gloves with him."
+
+"What is his name?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+Doubts--Wise King of Jerusalem--Let Me See--A Thousand Years--Nothing
+New--The Crowd--The Hymn--Faith--Charles Wesley--There He
+Stood--Farewell, Brother--Death--Sun, Moon, and Stars--Wind on the Heath.
+
+There was one question which I was continually asking myself at this
+period, and which has more than once met the eyes of the reader who has
+followed me through the last chapter.  "What is truth?" I had involved
+myself imperceptibly in a dreary labyrinth of doubt, and, whichever way I
+turned, no reasonable prospect of extricating myself appeared.  The means
+by which I had brought myself into this situation may be very briefly
+told; I had inquired into many matters, in order that I might become
+wise, and I had read and pondered over the words of the wise, so called,
+till I had made myself master of the sum of human wisdom; namely, that
+everything is enigmatical and that man is an enigma to himself; thence
+the cry of "What is truth?" I had ceased to believe in the truth of that
+in which I had hitherto trusted, and yet could find nothing in which I
+could put any fixed or deliberate belief.  I was, indeed, in a labyrinth!
+In what did I not doubt?  With respect to crime and virtue I was in
+doubt; I doubted that the one was blameable and the other praiseworthy.
+Are not all things subjected to the law of necessity?  Assuredly; time
+and chance govern all things: yet how can this be? alas!
+
+Then there was myself; for what was I born?  Are not all things born to
+be forgotten?  That's incomprehensible: yet is it not so?  Those
+butterflies fall and are forgotten.  In what is man better than a
+butterfly?  All then is born to be forgotten.  Ah! that was a pang
+indeed; 'tis at such a moment that a man wishes to die.  The wise king of
+Jerusalem, who sat in his shady arbours beside his sunny fishpools,
+saying so many fine things, wished to die, when he saw that not only all
+was vanity, but that he himself was vanity.  Will a time come when all
+will be forgotten that now is beneath the sun?  If so, of what profit is
+life?
+
+In truth, it was a sore vexation of spirit to me when I saw, as the wise
+man saw of old, that whatever I could hope to perform must necessarily be
+of very temporary duration; and if so, why do it?  I said to myself,
+whatever name I can acquire, will it endure for eternity? scarcely so.  A
+thousand years?  Let me see!  What have I done already?  I have learnt
+Welsh, and have translated the songs of Ab Gwilym, some ten thousand
+lines, into English rhyme; I have also learnt Danish, and have rendered
+the old book of ballads cast by the tempest upon the beach into
+corresponding English metre.  Good! have I done enough already to secure
+myself a reputation of a thousand years?  No, no! certainly not; I have
+not the slightest ground for hoping that my translations from the Welsh
+and Danish will be read at the end of a thousand years.  Well, but I am
+only eighteen, and I have not stated all that I have done; I have learnt
+many other tongues, and have acquired some knowledge even of Hebrew and
+Arabic.  Should I go on in this way till I am forty, I must then be very
+learned; and perhaps, among other things, may have translated the Talmud,
+and some of the great works of the Arabians.  Pooh! all this is mere
+learning and translation, and such will never secure immortality.
+Translation is at best an echo, and it must be a wonderful echo to be
+heard after the lapse of a thousand years.  No! all I have already done,
+and all I may yet do in the same way, I may reckon as nothing--mere
+pastime; something else must be done.  I must either write some grand
+original work, or conquer an empire; the one just as easy as the other.
+But am I competent to do either?  Yes, I think I am, under favourable
+circumstances.  Yes, I think I may promise myself a reputation of a
+thousand years, if I do but give myself the necessary trouble.  Well! but
+what's a thousand years after all, or twice a thousand years?  Woe is me!
+I may just as well sit still.
+
+"Would I had never been born!" I said to myself; and a thought would
+occasionally intrude.  But was I ever born?  Is not all that I see a
+lie--a deceitful phantom?  Is there a world, and earth, and sky?
+Berkeley's doctrine--Spinosa's doctrine!  Dear reader, I had at that time
+never read either Berkeley or Spinosa.  I have still never read them; who
+are they, men of yesterday?  "All is a lie--all a deceitful phantom," are
+old cries; they come naturally from the mouths of those who, casting
+aside that choicest shield against madness, simplicity, would fain be
+wise as God, and can only know that they are naked.  This doubting in the
+"universal all" is most coeval with the human race: wisdom, so called,
+was early sought after.  All is a lie--a deceitful phantom--was said when
+the world was yet young; its surface, save a scanty portion, yet
+untrodden by human foot, and when the great tortoise yet crawled about.
+All is a lie, was the doctrine of Buddh; and Buddh lived thirty centuries
+before the wise king of Jerusalem, who sat in his arbours, beside his
+sunny fishpools, saying many fine things, and, amongst others, "There is
+nothing new under the sun!"
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+One day, whilst I bent my way to the heath of which I have spoken on a
+former occasion, at the foot of the hills which formed it I came to a
+place where a wagon was standing, but without horses, the shafts resting
+on the ground; there was a crowd about it, which extended halfway up the
+side of the neighbouring hill.  The wagon was occupied by some
+half-a-dozen men; some sitting, others standing--they were dressed in
+sober-coloured habiliments of black or brown, cut in a plain and rather
+uncouth fashion, and partially white with dust; their hair was short, and
+seemed to have been smoothed down by the application of the hand; all
+were bare-headed--sitting or standing, all were bare-headed.  One of
+them, a tall man, was speaking as I arrived; ere, however, I could
+distinguish what he was saying, he left off, and then there was a cry for
+a hymn "to the glory of God"--that was the word.  It was a strange
+sounding hymn, as well it might be, for everybody joined in it: there
+were voices of all kinds, of men, of women, and of children--of those who
+could sing, and of those who could not--a thousand voices all joined, and
+all joined heartily; no voice of all the multitude was silent save mine.
+The crowd consisted entirely of the lower classes, labourers and
+mechanics, and their wives and children--dusty people, unwashed people,
+people of no account whatever, and yet they did not look a mob.  And when
+that hymn was over--and here let me observe that, strange as it sounded,
+I have recalled that hymn to mind, and it has seemed to tingle in my ears
+on occasions when all that pomp and art could do to enhance religious
+solemnity was being done--in the Sistine Chapel, what time the papal band
+was in full play, and the choicest choristers of Italy poured forth their
+melodious tones in presence of Batuschca and his cardinals--on the ice of
+the Neva, what time the long train of stately priests, with their noble
+beards and their flowing robes of crimson and gold, with their ebony and
+ivory staves, stalked along, chanting their Sclavonian litanies in
+advance of the mighty Emperor of the North and his Priberjensky guard of
+giants, towards the orifice through which the river, running below in its
+swiftness, is to receive the baptismal lymph:--when the hymn was over,
+another man in the wagon proceeded to address the people; he was a much
+younger man than the last speaker; somewhat square built and about the
+middle height; his face was rather broad, but expressive of much
+intelligence, and with a peculiar calm and serious look; the accent in
+which he spoke indicated that he was not of these parts, but from some
+distant district.  The subject of his address was faith, and how it could
+remove mountains.  It was a plain address, without any attempt at
+ornament, and delivered in a tone which was neither loud nor vehement.
+The speaker was evidently not a practised one--once or twice he hesitated
+as if for words to express his meaning, but still he held on, talking of
+faith, and how it could remove mountains: "It is the only thing we want,
+brethren, in this world; if we have that, we are indeed rich, as it will
+enable us to do our duty under all circumstances, and to bear our lot,
+however hard it may be--and the lot of all mankind is hard--the lot of
+the poor is hard, brethren--and who knows more of the poor than I?--a
+poor man myself, and the son of a poor man: but are the rich better off?
+not so, brethren, for God is just.  The rich have their trials too: I am
+not rich myself, but I have seen the rich with careworn countenances; I
+have also seen them in mad-houses; from which you may learn, brethren,
+that the lot of all mankind is hard; that is, till we lay hold of faith,
+which makes us comfortable under all circumstances; whether we ride in
+gilded chariots or walk bare-footed in quest of bread; whether we be
+ignorant, whether we be wise--for riches and poverty, ignorance and
+wisdom, brethren, each brings with it its peculiar temptations.  Well,
+under all these troubles, the thing which I would recommend you to seek
+is one and the same--faith; faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who made us,
+and allotted to each his station.  Each has something to do, brethren.
+Do it, therefore, but always in faith; without faith we shall find
+ourselves sometimes at fault; but with faith never--for faith can remove
+the difficulty.  It will teach us to love life, brethren, when life is
+becoming bitter, and to prize the blessings around us; for as every man
+has his cares, brethren, so has each man his blessings.  It will likewise
+teach us not to love life over much, seeing that we must one day part
+with it.  It will teach us to face death with resignation, and will
+preserve us from sinking amidst the swelling of the river Jordan."
+
+And when he had concluded his address, he said, "Let us sing a hymn, one
+composed by Master Charles Wesley--he was my countryman, brethren.
+
+    'Jesus, I cast my soul on thee,
+    Mighty and merciful to save;
+    Thou shalt to death go down with me,
+    And lay me gently in the grave.
+
+    This body then shall rest in hope,
+    This body which the worms destroy;
+    For thou shalt surely raise me up,
+    To glorious life and endless joy.'"
+
+Farewell, preacher with the plain coat, and the calm serious look!  I saw
+thee once again, and that was lately--only the other day.  It was near a
+fishing hamlet, by the seaside, that I saw the preacher again.  He stood
+on the top of a steep monticle, used by pilots as a look-out for vessels
+approaching that coast, a dangerous one, abounding in rocks and
+quicksands.  There he stood on the monticle, preaching to weather-worn
+fishermen and mariners gathered below upon the sand.  "Who is he?" said I
+to an old fisherman who stood beside me with a book of hymns in his hand;
+but the old man put his hand to his lips, and that was the only answer I
+received.  Not a sound was heard but the voice of the preacher and the
+roaring of the waves; but the voice was heard loud above the roaring of
+the sea, for the preacher now spoke with power, and his voice was not
+that of one who hesitates.  There he stood--no longer a young man, for
+his black locks were become gray, even like my own; but there was the
+intelligent face, and the calm serious look which had struck me of yore.
+There stood the preacher, one of those men--and, thank God, their number
+is not few--who, animated by the spirit of Christ, amidst much poverty,
+and, alas! much contempt, persist in carrying the light of the Gospel
+amidst the dark parishes of what, but for their instrumentality, would
+scarcely be Christian England.  I should have waited till he had
+concluded, in order that I might speak to him and endeavour to bring back
+the ancient scene to his recollection, but suddenly a man came hurrying
+towards the monticle, mounted on a speedy horse, and holding by the
+bridle one yet more speedy, and he whispered to me, "Why loiterest thou
+here?--knowest thou not all that is to be done before midnight?" and he
+flung me the bridle; and I mounted on the horse of great speed, and I
+followed the other, who had already galloped off.  And as I departed, I
+waved my hand to him on the monticle, and I shouted, "Farewell, brother!
+the seed came up at last, after a long period!" and then I gave the
+speedy horse his way, and leaning over the shoulder of the galloping
+horse, I said, "Would that my life had been like his--even like that
+man's."
+
+I now wandered along the heath, until I came to a place where, beside a
+thick furze, sat a man, his eyes fixed intently on the red ball of the
+setting sun.
+
+"That's not you, Jasper?"
+
+"Indeed, brother!"
+
+"I've not seen you for years."
+
+"How should you, brother?"
+
+"What brings you here?"
+
+"The fight, brother."
+
+"Where are the tents?"
+
+"On the old spot, brother."
+
+"Any news since we parted?"
+
+"Two deaths, brother."
+
+"Who are dead, Jasper?"
+
+"Father and mother, brother."
+
+"Where did they die?"
+
+"Where they were sent, brother."
+
+"And Mrs. Herne?"
+
+"She's alive, brother."
+
+"Where is she now?"
+
+"In Yorkshire, brother."
+
+"What is your opinion of death, Mr. Petulengro?" said I, as I sat down
+beside him.
+
+"My opinion of death, brother, is much the same as that in the old song
+of Pharaoh, which I have heard my grandam sing--
+
+    Canna marel o manus chivios ande puv,
+    Ta rovel pa leste o chavo ta romi.
+
+When a man dies, he is cast into the earth, and his wife and child sorrow
+over him.  If he has neither wife nor child, then his father and mother,
+I suppose; and if he is quite alone in the world, why, then, he is cast
+into the earth, and there is an end of the matter."
+
+"And do you think that is the end of man?"
+
+"There's an end of him, brother, more's the pity."
+
+"Why do you say so?"
+
+"Life is sweet, brother."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Think so!--There's night and day, brother, both sweet things; sun, moon,
+and stars, brother, all sweet things; there's likewise a wind on the
+heath.  Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?"
+
+"I would wish to die--"
+
+"You talk like a gorgio--which is the same as talking like a fool--were
+you a Rommany Chal you would talk wiser.  Wish to die, indeed!--A Rommany
+Chal would wish to live for ever!"
+
+"In sickness, Jasper?"
+
+"There's the sun and stars, brother."
+
+"In blindness, Jasper?"
+
+"There's the wind on the heath, brother; if I could only feel that, I
+would gladly live for ever.  Dosta, we'll now go to the tents and put on
+the gloves; and I'll try to make you feel what a sweet thing it is to be
+alive, brother!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+The Flower of the Grass--Days of Pugilism--The Rendezvous--Jews--Bruisers
+of England--Winter Spring--Well-earned Bays--The Fight--Huge Black
+Cloud--Frame of Adamant--The Storm--Dukkeripens--The Barouche--The Rain
+Gushes.
+
+How for everything there is a time and a season, and then how does the
+glory of a thing pass from it, even like the flower of the grass.  This
+is a truism, but it is one of those which are continually forcing
+themselves upon the mind.  Many years have not passed over my head, yet,
+during those which I can call to remembrance, how many things have I seen
+flourish, pass away, and become forgotten, except by myself, who, in
+spite of all my endeavours, never can forget anything.  I have known the
+time when a pugilistic encounter between two noted champions was almost
+considered in the light of a national affair; when tens of thousands of
+individuals, high and low, meditated and brooded upon it, the first thing
+in the morning and the last at night, until the great event was decided.
+But the time is past, and many people will say, thank God that it is; all
+I have to say is, that the French still live on the other side of the
+water, and are still casting their eyes hitherward--and that in the days
+of pugilism it was no vain boast to say, that one Englishman was a match
+for two of t'other race; at present it would be a vain boast to say so,
+for these are not the days of pugilism.
+
+But those to which the course of my narrative has carried me were the
+days of pugilism; it was then at its height, and consequently near its
+decline, for corruption had crept into the ring; and how many things,
+states and sects among the rest, owe their decline to this cause!  But
+what a bold and vigorous aspect pugilism wore at that time! and the great
+battle was just then coming off: the day had been decided upon, and the
+spot--a convenient distance from the old town; and to the old town were
+now flocking the bruisers of England, men of tremendous renown.  Let no
+one sneer at the bruisers of England--what were the gladiators of Rome,
+or the bull-fighters of Spain, in its palmiest days, compared to
+England's bruisers?  Pity that ever corruption should have crept in
+amongst them--but of that I wish not to talk; let us still hope that a
+spark of the old religion, of which they were the priests, still lingers
+in the breasts of Englishmen.  There they come, the bruisers, from far
+London, or from wherever else they might chance to be at the time, to the
+great rendezvous in the old city; some came one way, some another; some
+of tip-top reputation came with peers in their chariots, for glory and
+fame are such fair things, that even peers are proud to have those
+invested therewith by their sides; others came in their own gigs, driving
+their own bits of blood, and I heard one say: "I have driven through at a
+heat the whole hundred and eleven miles, and only stopped to bait twice."
+Oh, the blood-horses of old England! but they too have had their day--for
+everything beneath the sun there is a season and a time.  But the greater
+number come just as they can contrive; on the tops of coaches, for
+example; and amongst these there are fellows with dark sallow faces, and
+sharp shining eyes; and it is these that have planted rottenness in the
+core of pugilism, for they are Jews, and, true to their kind, have only
+base lucre in view.
+
+It was fierce old Cobbett, I think, who first said that the Jews first
+introduced bad faith amongst pugilists.  He did not always speak the
+truth, but at any rate he spoke it when he made that observation.
+Strange people the Jews--endowed with every gift but one, and that the
+highest, genius divine,--genius which can alone make of men demigods, and
+elevate them above earth and what is earthy and grovelling; without which
+a clever nation--and who more clever than the Jews?--may have Rambams in
+plenty, but never a Fielding nor a Shakespeare.  A Rothschild and a
+Mendoza, yes--but never a Kean nor a Belcher.
+
+So the bruisers of England are come to be present at the grand fight
+speedily coming off; there they are met in the precincts of the old town,
+near the field of the chapel, planted with tender saplings at the
+restoration of sporting Charles, which are now become venerable elms, as
+high as many a steeple; there they are met at a fitting rendezvous, where
+a retired coachman, with one leg, keeps an hotel and a bowling-green.  I
+think I now see them upon the bowling-green, the men of renown, amidst
+hundreds of people with no renown at all, who gaze upon them with timid
+wonder.  Fame, after all, is a glorious thing, though it lasts only for a
+day.  There's Cribb, the champion of England, and perhaps the best man in
+England; there he is, with his huge massive figure, and face wonderfully
+like that of a lion.  There is Belcher, the younger, not the mighty one,
+who is gone to his place, but the Teucer Belcher, the most scientific
+pugilist that ever entered a ring, only wanting strength to be, I won't
+say what.  He appears to walk before me now, as he did that evening, with
+his white hat, white great coat, thin genteel figure, springy step, and
+keen, determined eye.  Crosses him, what a contrast! grim, savage
+Shelton, who has a civil word for nobody, and a hard blow for
+anybody--hard! one blow, given with the proper play of his athletic arm,
+will unsense a giant.  Yonder individual, who strolls about with his
+hands behind him, supporting his brown coat lappets, under-sized, and who
+looks anything but what he is, is the king of the light weights, so
+called--Randall! the terrible Randall, who has Irish blood in his veins;
+not the better for that, nor the worse; and not far from him is his last
+antagonist, Ned Turner, who, though beaten by him, still thinks himself
+as good a man, in which he is, perhaps, right, for it was a near thing;
+and "a better shentleman," in which he is quite right, for he is a
+Welshman.  But how shall I name them all? they were there by dozens, and
+all tremendous in their way.  There was Bulldog Hudson, and fearless
+Scroggins, who beat the conqueror of Sam the Jew.  There was Black
+Richmond--no, he was not there, but I knew him well; he was the most
+dangerous of blacks, even with a broken thigh.  There was Purcell, who
+could never conquer till all seemed over with him.  There was--what!
+shall I name thee last? ay, why not?  I believe that thou art the last of
+all that strong family still above the sod, where mayst thou long
+continue--true piece of English stuff, Tom of Bedford--sharp as Winter,
+kind as Spring.
+
+Hail to thee, Tom of Bedford, or by whatever name it may please thee to
+be called, Spring or Winter.  Hail to thee, six-foot Englishman of the
+brown eye, worthy to have carried a six-foot bow at Flodden, where
+England's yeomen triumphed over Scotland's king, his clans and chivalry.
+Hail to thee, last of England's bruisers, after all the many victories
+which thou hast achieved--true English victories, unbought by yellow
+gold; need I recount them? nay, nay! they are already well known to
+fame--sufficient to say that Bristol's Bull and Ireland's Champion were
+vanquished by thee, and one mightier still, gold itself, thou didst
+overcome; for gold itself strove in vain to deaden the power of thy arm;
+and thus thou didst proceed till men left off challenging thee, the
+unvanquishable, the incorruptible.  'Tis a treat to see thee, Tom of
+Bedford, in thy "public" in Holborn way, whither thou hast retired with
+thy well-earned bays.  'Tis Friday night, and nine by Holborn clock.
+There sits the yeoman at the end of his long room, surrounded by his
+friends: glasses are filled, and a song is the cry, and a song is sung
+well suited to the place; it finds an echo in every heart--fists are
+clenched, arms are waved, and the portraits of the mighty fighting men of
+yore, Broughton, and Slack, and Ben, which adorn the walls, appear to
+smile grim approbation, whilst many a manly voice joins in the bold
+chorus:
+
+    "Here's a health to old honest John Bull,
+    When he's gone we shan't find such another,
+    And with hearts and with glasses brim full,
+    We will drink to old England, his mother."
+
+But the fight! with respect to the fight, what shall I say?  Little can
+be said about it--it was soon over; some said that the brave from town,
+who was reputed the best man of the two, and whose form was a perfect
+model of athletic beauty, allowed himself, for lucre vile, to be
+vanquished by the massive champion with the flattened nose.  One thing is
+certain, that the former was suddenly seen to sink to the earth before a
+blow of by no means extraordinary power.  Time, time! was called; but
+there he lay upon the ground apparently senseless, and from thence he did
+not lift his head till several seconds after the umpires had declared his
+adversary victor.
+
+There were shouts; indeed, there's never a lack of shouts to celebrate a
+victory, however acquired; but there was also much grinding of teeth,
+especially amongst the fighting men from town.  "Tom has sold us," said
+they, "sold us to the yokels; who would have thought it?"  Then there was
+fresh grinding of teeth, and scowling brows were turned to the heaven;
+but what is this? is it possible, does the heaven scowl too? why, only a
+quarter of an hour ago--but what may not happen in a quarter of an hour?
+For many weeks the weather had been of the most glorious description, the
+eventful day, too, had dawned gloriously, and so it had continued till
+some two hours after noon; the fight was then over; and about that time I
+looked up--what a glorious sky of deep blue, and what a big fierce sun
+swimming high above in the midst of that blue; not a cloud--there had not
+been one for weeks--not a cloud to be seen, only in the far west, just on
+the horizon, something like the extremity of a black wing; that was only
+a quarter of an hour ago, and now the whole northern side of the heaven
+is occupied by a huge black cloud, and the sun is only occasionally seen
+amidst masses of driving vapour; what a change! but another fight is at
+hand, and the pugilists are clearing the outer ring;--how their huge
+whips come crashing upon the heads of the yokels; blood flows, more blood
+than in the fight: those blows are given with right good-will, those are
+not sham blows, whether of whip or fist; it is with fist that grim
+Shelton strikes down the big yokel; he is always dangerous, grim Shelton,
+but now particularly so, for he has lost ten pounds betted on the brave
+who sold himself to the yokels; but the outer ring is cleared: and now
+the second fight commences; it is between two champions of less renown
+than the others, but is perhaps not the worse on that account.  A tall
+thin boy is fighting in the ring with a man somewhat under the middle
+size, with a frame of adamant; that's a gallant boy! he's a yokel, but he
+comes from Brummagem, he does credit to his extraction; but his adversary
+has a frame of adamant: in what a strange light they fight, but who can
+wonder, on looking at that frightful cloud usurping now one-half of
+heaven, and at the sun struggling with sulphurous vapour; the face of the
+boy, which is turned towards me, looks horrible in that light, but he is
+a brave boy, he strikes his foe on the forehead, and the report of the
+blow is like the sound of a hammer against a rock; but there is a rush
+and a roar over head, a wild commotion, the tempest is beginning to break
+loose; there's wind and dust, a crash, rain and hail; is it possible to
+fight amidst such a commotion? yes! the fight goes on; again the boy
+strikes the man full on the brow, but it is of no use striking that man,
+his frame is of adamant.  "Boy, thy strength is beginning to give way,
+thou art becoming confused"; the man now goes to work, amidst rain and
+hail.  "Boy, thou wilt not hold out ten minutes longer against rain,
+hail, and the blows of such an antagonist."
+
+And now the storm was at its height; the black thunder-cloud had broken
+into many, which assumed the wildest shapes and the strangest colours,
+some of them unspeakably glorious; the rain poured in a deluge, and more
+than one water-spout was seen at no great distance: an immense rabble is
+hurrying in one direction; a multitude of men of all ranks, peers and
+yokels, prize-fighters and Jews, and the last came to plunder, and are
+now plundering amidst that wild confusion of hail and rain, men and
+horses, carts and carriages.  But all hurry in one direction, through mud
+and mire; there's a town only three miles distant, which is soon reached,
+and soon filled, it will not contain one-third of that mighty rabble; but
+there's another town farther on--the good old city is farther on, only
+twelve miles; what's that! who'll stay here? onward to the old town.
+
+Hurry skurry, a mixed multitude of men and horses, carts and carriages,
+all in the direction of the old town; and, in the midst of all that mad
+throng, at a moment when the rain gushes were coming down with particular
+fury, and the artillery of the sky was pealing as I had never heard it
+peal before, I felt some one seize me by the arm--I turned round and
+beheld Mr. Petulengro.
+
+"I can't hear you, Mr. Petulengro," said I; for the thunder drowned the
+words which he appeared to be uttering.
+
+"Dearginni," I heard Mr. Petulengro say, "it thundereth.  I was asking,
+brother, whether you believe in dukkeripens?"
+
+"I do not, Mr. Petulengro; but this is strange weather to be asking me
+whether I believe in fortunes."
+
+"Grondinni," said Mr. Petulengro, "it haileth.  I believe in dukkeripens,
+brother."
+
+"And who has more right," said I, "seeing that you live by them?  But
+this tempest is truly horrible."
+
+"Dearginni, grondinni ta villaminni!  It thundereth, it haileth, and also
+flameth," said Mr. Petulengro.  "Look up there, brother!"
+
+I looked up.  Connected with this tempest there was one feature to which
+I have already alluded--the wonderful colours of the clouds.  Some were
+of vivid green; others of the brightest orange; others as black as pitch.
+The gipsy's finger was pointed to a particular part of the sky.
+
+"What do you see there, brother?"
+
+"A strange kind of cloud."
+
+"What does it look like, brother?"
+
+"Something like a stream of blood."
+
+"That cloud foreshoweth a bloody dukkeripen."
+
+"A bloody fortune!" said I.  "And whom may it betide?"
+
+"Who knows!" said the gypsy.
+
+Down the way, dashing and splashing, and scattering man, horse, and cart
+to the left and right, came an open barouche, drawn by four smoking
+steeds, with postillions in scarlet jackets, and leather skull-caps.  Two
+forms were conspicuous in it; that of the successful bruiser, and of his
+friend and backer, the sporting gentleman of my acquaintance.
+
+"His!" said the gypsy, pointing to the latter, whose stern features wore
+a smile of triumph, as, probably recognising me in the crowd, he nodded
+in the direction of where I stood, as the barouche hurried by.
+
+There went the barouche, dashing through the rain gushes, and in it one
+whose boast it was that he was equal to "either fortune."  Many have
+heard of that man--many may be desirous of knowing yet more of him.  I
+have nothing to do with that man's after life--he fulfilled his
+dukkeripen.  "A bad, violent man!"  Softly, friend; when thou wouldst
+speak harshly of the dead, remember that thou hast not yet fulfilled thy
+own dukkeripen!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+My Father--Premature Decay--The Easy Chair--A Few Questions--So You Told
+Me--A Difficult Language--They Call it Haik--Misused
+Opportunities--Saul--Want of Candour--Don't Weep--Heaven Forgive
+Me--Dated from Paris--I Wish He were Here--A Father's
+Reminiscences--Farewell to Vanities.
+
+My father, as I have already informed the reader, had been endowed by
+nature with great corporeal strength; indeed, I have been assured that,
+at the period of his prime, his figure had denoted the possession of
+almost Herculean powers.  The strongest forms, however, do not always
+endure the longest, the very excess of the noble and generous juices
+which they contain being the cause of their premature decay.  But, be
+that as it may, the health of my father, some few years after his
+retirement from the service to the quiet of domestic life, underwent a
+considerable change; his constitution appeared to be breaking up; and he
+was subject to severe attacks from various disorders, with which, till
+then, he had been utterly unacquainted.  He was, however, wont to rally,
+more or less, after his illnesses, and might still occasionally be seen
+taking his walk, with his cane in his hand, and accompanied by his dog,
+who sympathized entirely with him, pining as he pined, improving as he
+improved, and never leaving the house save in his company; and in this
+manner matters went on for a considerable time, no very great
+apprehension with respect to my father's state being raised either in my
+mother's breast or my own.  But, about six months after the period at
+which I have arrived in my last chapter, it came to pass that my father
+experienced a severer attack than on any previous occasion.
+
+He had the best medical advice; but it was easy to see, from the looks of
+his doctors, that they entertained but slight hopes of his recovery.  His
+sufferings were great, yet he invariably bore them with unshaken
+fortitude.  There was one thing remarkable connected with his illness;
+notwithstanding its severity, it never confined him to his bed.  He was
+wont to sit in his little parlour, in his easy chair, dressed in a faded
+regimental coat, his dog at his feet, who would occasionally lift his
+head from the hearth-rug on which he lay, and look his master wistfully
+in the face.  And thus my father spent the greater part of his time,
+sometimes in prayer, sometimes in meditation, and sometimes in reading
+the Scriptures.  I frequently sat with him, though, as I entertained a
+great awe for my father, I used to feel rather ill at ease, when, as
+sometimes happened, I found myself alone with him.
+
+"I wish to ask you a few questions," said he to me, one day, after my
+mother had left the room.
+
+"I will answer anything you may please to ask me, my dear father."
+
+"What have you been about lately?"
+
+"I have been occupied as usual, attending at the office at the appointed
+hours."
+
+"And what do you there?"
+
+"Whatever I am ordered."
+
+"And nothing else?"
+
+"Oh, yes! sometimes I read a book."
+
+"Connected with your profession?"
+
+"Not always; I have been lately reading Armenian . . ."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"The language of a people whose country is a region on the other side of
+Asia Minor."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"A region abounding with mountains."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Amongst which is Mount Ararat."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Upon which, as the Bible informs us, the ark rested."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"It is the language of the people of those regions."
+
+"So you told me."
+
+"And I have been reading the Bible in their language."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Or rather, I should say, in the ancient language of these people; from
+which I am told the modern Armenian differs considerably."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"As much as the Italian from the Latin."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"So I have been reading the Bible in ancient Armenian."
+
+"You told me so before."
+
+"I found it a highly difficult language."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Differing widely from the languages in general with which I am
+acquainted."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Exhibiting, however, some features in common with them."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And sometimes agreeing remarkably in words with a certain strange wild
+speech with which I became acquainted--"
+
+"Irish?"
+
+"No, father, not Irish--with which I became acquainted by the greatest
+chance in the world."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But of which I need say nothing further at present, and which I should
+not have mentioned but for that fact."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Which I consider remarkable."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The Armenian is copious."
+
+"Is it?"
+
+"With an alphabet of thirty-nine letters, but it is harsh and guttural."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Like the language of most mountainous people--the Armenians call it
+Haik."
+
+"Do they?"
+
+"And themselves, Haik, also; they are a remarkable people, and, though
+their original habitation is the Mountain of Ararat, they are to be
+found, like the Jews, all over the world."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Well, father, that's all I can tell you about Haiks, or Armenians."
+
+"And what does it all amount to?"
+
+"Very little, father; indeed, there is very little known about the
+Armenians; their early history, in particular, is involved in
+considerable mystery."
+
+"And, if you knew all that it was possible to know about them, to what
+would it amount? to what earthly purpose could you turn it? have you
+acquired any knowledge of your profession?"
+
+"Very little, father."
+
+"Very little!  Have you acquired all in your power?"
+
+"I can't say that I have, father."
+
+"And yet it was your duty to have done so.  But I see how it is, you have
+shamefully misused your opportunities; you are like one, who, sent into
+the field to labour, passes his time in flinging stones at the birds of
+heaven."
+
+"I would scorn to fling a stone at a bird, father."
+
+"You know what I mean, and all too well, and this attempt to evade
+deserved reproof by feigned simplicity is quite in character with your
+general behaviour.  I have ever observed about you a want of frankness,
+which has distressed me; you never speak of what you are about, your
+hopes, or your projects, but cover yourself with mystery.  I never knew
+till the present moment that you were acquainted with Armenian."
+
+"Because you never asked me, father; there's nothing to conceal in the
+matter--I will tell you in a moment how I came to learn Armenian.  A lady
+whom I met at one of Mrs. ---'s parties took a fancy to me, and has done
+me the honour to allow me to go and see her sometimes.  She is the widow
+of a rich clergyman, and on her husband's death came to this place to
+live, bringing her husband's library with her: I soon found my way to it,
+and examined every book.  Her husband must have been a learned man, for
+amongst much Greek and Hebrew I found several volumes in Armenian, or
+relating to the language."
+
+"And why did you not tell me of this before?"
+
+"Because you never questioned me; but I repeat there is nothing to
+conceal in the matter.  The lady took a fancy to me, and, being fond of
+the arts, drew my portrait; she said the expression of my countenance put
+her in mind of Alfieri's Saul."
+
+"And do you still visit her?"
+
+"No, she soon grew tired of me, and told people that she found me very
+stupid; she gave me the Armenian books, however."
+
+"Saul," said my father, musingly, "Saul, I am afraid she was only too
+right there; he disobeyed the commands of his master, and brought down on
+his head the vengeance of Heaven--he became a maniac, prophesied, and
+flung weapons about him."
+
+"He was, indeed, an awful character--I hope I shan't turn out like him."
+
+"God forbid!" said my father solemnly; "but in many respects you are
+headstrong and disobedient like him.  I placed you in a profession, and
+besought you to make yourself master of it, by giving it your undivided
+attention.  This, however, you did not do, you know nothing of it, but
+tell me that you are acquainted with Armenian; but what I dislike most is
+your want of candour--you are my son, but I know little of your real
+history, you may know fifty things for what I am aware; you may know how
+to shoe a horse, for what I am aware."
+
+"Not only to shoe a horse, father, but to make horse-shoes."
+
+"Perhaps so," said my father; "and it only serves to prove what I am just
+saying, that I know little about you."
+
+"But you easily may, my dear father; I will tell you anything that you
+may wish to know--shall I inform you how I learnt to make horse-shoes?"
+
+"No," said my father; "as you kept it a secret so long, it may as well
+continue so still.  Had you been a frank, open-hearted boy, like one I
+could name, you would have told me all about it of your own accord.  But
+I now wish to ask you a serious question--what do you propose to do?"
+
+"To do, father?"
+
+"Yes! the time for which you were articled to your profession will soon
+be expired, and I shall be no more."
+
+"Do not talk so, my dear father; I have no doubt that you will soon be
+better."
+
+"Do not flatter yourself; I feel that my days are numbered, I am soon
+going to my rest, and I have need of rest, for I am weary.  There, there,
+don't weep!  Tears will help me as little as they will you, you have not
+yet answered my question.  Tell me what you intend to do?"
+
+"I really do not know what I shall do."
+
+"The military pension which I enjoy will cease with my life.  The
+property which I shall leave behind me will be barely sufficient for the
+maintenance of your mother respectably.  I again ask you what you intend
+to do.  Do you think you can support yourself by your Armenian or your
+other acquirements?"
+
+"Alas!  I think little at all about it; but I suppose I must push into
+the world, and make a good fight, as becomes the son of him who fought
+Big Ben: if I can't succeed, and am driven to the worst, it is but
+dying--"
+
+"What do you mean by dying?"
+
+"Leaving the world; my loss would scarcely be felt.  I have never held
+life in much value, and every one has a right to dispose as he thinks
+best of that which is his own."
+
+"Ah! now I understand you; and well I know how and where you imbibed that
+horrible doctrine, and many similar ones which I have heard from your
+mouth; but I wish not to reproach you--I view in your conduct a
+punishment for my own sins, and I bow to the will of God.  Few and evil
+have been my days upon the earth; little have I done to which I can look
+back with satisfaction.  It is true I have served my king fifty years,
+and I have fought with--Heaven forgive me, what was I about to say!--but
+you mentioned the man's name, and our minds willingly recall our ancient
+follies.  Few and evil have been my days upon earth, I may say with Jacob
+of old, though I do not mean to say that my case is so hard as his; he
+had many undutiful children, whilst I have only--; but I will not
+reproach you.  I have also like him a son to whom I can look with hope,
+who may yet preserve my name when I am gone, so let me be thankful;
+perhaps, after all, I have not lived in vain.  Boy, when I am gone, look
+up to your brother, and may God bless you both.  There, don't weep; but
+take the Bible, and read me something about the old man and his
+children."
+
+My brother had now been absent for the space of three years.  At first
+his letters had been frequent, and from them it appeared that he was
+following his profession in London with industry; they then became rather
+rare, and my father did not always communicate their contents.  His last
+letter, however, had filled him and our whole little family with joy; it
+was dated from Paris, and the writer was evidently in high spirits.
+After describing in eloquent terms the beauties and gaieties of the
+French capital, he informed us how he had plenty of money, having copied
+a celebrated picture of one of the Italian masters for a Hungarian
+nobleman, for which he had received a large sum.  "He wishes me to go
+with him to Italy," added he; "but I am fond of independence, and, if
+ever I visit old Rome, I will have no patrons near me to distract my
+attention."  But six months had now elapsed from the date of this letter,
+and we had heard no farther intelligence of my brother.  My father's
+complaint increased; the gout, his principal enemy, occasionally mounted
+high up in his system, and we had considerable difficulty in keeping it
+from the stomach, where it generally proves fatal.  I now devoted almost
+the whole of my time to my father, on whom his faithful partner also
+lavished every attention and care.  I read the Bible to him, which was
+his chief delight; and also occasionally such other books as I thought
+might prove entertaining to him.  His spirits were generally rather
+depressed.  The absence of my brother appeared to prey upon his mind.  "I
+wish he were here," he would frequently exclaim; "I can't imagine what
+can have become of him; I trust, however, he will arrive in time."  He
+still sometimes rallied; and I took advantage of those moments of
+comparative ease, to question him upon the events of his early life.  My
+attentions to him had not passed unnoticed, and he was kind, fatherly,
+and unreserved.  I had never known my father so entertaining as at these
+moments, when his life was but too evidently drawing to a close.  I had
+no idea that he knew and had seen so much; my respect for him increased,
+and I looked upon him almost with admiration.  His anecdotes were in
+general highly curious; some of them related to people in the highest
+stations, and to men whose names were closely connected with some of the
+brightest glories of our native land.  He had frequently
+conversed--almost on terms of familiarity--with good old George.  He had
+known the conqueror of Tippoo Saib; and was the friend of Townshend, who,
+when Wolfe fell, led the British grenadiers against the shrinking
+regiments of Montcalm.  "Pity," he added, "that when old--old as I am
+now--he should have driven his own son mad by robbing him of his plighted
+bride; but so it was; he married his son's bride.  I saw him lead her to
+the altar; if ever there was an angelic countenance, it was that girl's;
+she was almost too fair to be one of the daughters of women.  Is there
+anything, boy, that you would wish to ask me? now is the time."
+
+"Yes, father; there is one about whom I would fain question you."
+
+"Who is it; shall I tell you about Elliot?"
+
+"No, father, not about Elliot; but pray don't be angry; I should like to
+know something about Big Ben."
+
+"You are a strange lad," said my father; "and, though of late I have
+begun to entertain a more favourable opinion than heretofore, there is
+still much about you that I do not understand.  Why do you bring up that
+name?  Don't you know that it is one of my temptations; you wish to know
+something about him.  Well, I will oblige you this once, and then
+farewell to such vanities--something about him.  I will tell you--his
+skin when he flung off his clothes--and he had a particular knack in
+doing so--his skin, when he bared his mighty chest and back for combat,
+and when he fought he stood, so--if I remember right--his skin, I say,
+was brown and dusky as that of a toad.  Oh me!  I wish my elder son was
+here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+My Brother's Arrival--The Interview--Night--A Dying Father--Christ.
+
+At last my brother arrived; he looked pale and unwell; I met him at the
+door.  "You have been long absent!" said I.
+
+"Yes," said he, "perhaps too long; but how is my father?"
+
+"Very poorly," said I, "he has had a fresh attack; but where have you
+been of late?"
+
+"Far and wide," said my brother; "but I can't tell you anything now, I
+must go to my father.  It was only by chance that I heard of his
+illness."
+
+"Stay a moment," said I.  "Is the world such a fine place as you supposed
+it to be before you went away?"
+
+"Not quite," said my brother, "not quite; indeed I wish--but ask me no
+questions now, I must hasten to my father."
+
+There was another question on my tongue, but I forbore; for the eyes of
+the young man were full of tears.  I pointed with my finger, and the
+young man hastened past me to the arms of his father.
+
+I forbore to ask my brother whether he had been to old Rome.
+
+What passed between my father and brother I do not know; the interview,
+no doubt, was tender enough, for they tenderly loved each other; but my
+brother's arrival did not produce the beneficial effect upon my father
+which I at first hoped it would; it did not even appear to have raised
+his spirits.  He was composed enough, however: "I ought to be grateful,"
+said he; "I wished to see my son, and God has granted me my wish; what
+more have I to do now than to bless my little family and go?"
+
+My father's end was evidently at hand.
+
+And did I shed no tears? did I breathe no sighs? did I never wring my
+hands at this period? the reader will perhaps be asking.  Whatever I did
+and thought is best known to God and myself; but it will be as well to
+observe, that it is possible to feel deeply, and yet make no outward
+sign.
+
+And now for the closing scene.
+
+At the dead hour of night, it might be about two, I was awakened from
+sleep by a cry which sounded from the room immediately below that in
+which I slept.  I knew the cry, it was the cry of my mother; and I also
+knew its import, yet I made no effort to rise, for I was for the moment
+paralyzed.  Again the cry sounded, yet still I lay motionless--the
+stupidity of horror was upon me.  A third time, and it was then that, by
+a violent effort, bursting the spell which appeared to bind me, I sprang
+from the bed and rushed down stairs.  My mother was running wildly about
+the room; she had woke and found my father senseless in the bed by her
+side.  I essayed to raise him, and after a few efforts supported him in
+the bed in a sitting posture.  My brother now rushed in, and, snatching
+up a light that was burning, he held it to my father's face.  "The
+surgeon, the surgeon!" he cried; then dropping the light, he ran out of
+the room followed by my mother; I remained alone, supporting the
+senseless form of my father; the light had been extinguished by the fall,
+and an almost total darkness reigned in the room.  The form pressed
+heavily against my bosom--at last methought it moved.  Yes, I was right,
+there was a heaving of the breast, and then a gasping.  Were those words
+which I heard?  Yes, they were words, low and indistinct at first, and
+then audible.  The mind of the dying man was reverting to former scenes.
+I heard him mention names which I had often heard him mention before.  It
+was an awful moment; I felt stupified, but I still contrived to support
+my dying father.  There was a pause, again my father spoke: I heard him
+speak of Minden, and of Meredith, the old Minden sergeant, and then he
+uttered another name, which at one period of his life was much in his
+lips, the name of--but this is a solemn moment!  There was a deep gasp: I
+shook, and thought all was over; but I was mistaken--my father moved, and
+revived for a moment; he supported himself in bed without my assistance.
+I make no doubt that for a moment he was perfectly sensible, and it was
+then that, clasping his hands, he uttered another name clearly,
+distinctly--it was the name of Christ.  With that name upon his lips, the
+brave old soldier sank back upon my bosom, and, with his hands still
+clasped, yielded up his soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+The Greeting--Queer Figure--Cheer Up--The Cheerful Fire--It Will Do--The
+Sally Forth--Trepidation--Let Him Come In.
+
+"One-and-ninepence, sir, or the things which you have brought with you
+will be taken away from you!"
+
+Such were the first words which greeted my ears, one damp misty morning
+in March, as I dismounted from the top of a coach in the yard of a London
+inn.
+
+I turned round, for I felt that the words were addressed to myself.
+Plenty of people were in the yard--porters, passengers, coachmen,
+ostlers, and others, who appeared to be intent on anything but myself,
+with the exception of one individual, whose business appeared to lie with
+me, and who now confronted me at the distance of about two yards.
+
+I looked hard at the man--and a queer kind of individual he was to look
+at--a rakish figure, about thirty, and of the middle size, dressed in a
+coat smartly cut, but threadbare, very tight pantaloons of blue stuff,
+tied at the ankles, dirty white stockings, and thin shoes, like those of
+a dancing-master; his features were not ugly, but rather haggard, and he
+appeared to owe his complexion less to nature than carmine; in fact, in
+every respect, a very queer figure.
+
+"One-and-ninepence, sir, or your things will be taken away from you!" he
+said, in a kind of lisping tone, coming yet nearer to me.
+
+I still remained staring fixedly at him, but never a word answered.  Our
+eyes met; whereupon he suddenly lost the easy impudent air which he
+before wore.  He glanced, for a moment, at my fist, which I had by this
+time clenched, and his features became yet more haggard; he faltered; a
+fresh "one-and-ninepence," which he was about to utter, died on his lips;
+he shrank back, disappeared behind a coach, and I saw no more of him.
+
+"One-and-ninepence, or my things will be taken away from me!" said I to
+myself, musingly, as I followed the porter to whom I had delivered my
+scanty baggage; "am I to expect many of these greetings in the big world?
+Well, never mind!  I think I know the counter-sign!"  And I clenched my
+fist yet harder than before.
+
+So I followed the porter, through the streets of London, to a lodging
+which had been prepared for me by an acquaintance.  The morning, as I
+have before said, was gloomy, and the streets through which I passed were
+dank and filthy; the people, also, looked dank and filthy; and so,
+probably, did I, for the night had been rainy, and I had come upwards of
+a hundred miles on the top of a coach; my heart had sunk within me, by
+the time we reached a dark narrow street, in which was the lodging.
+
+"Cheer up, young man," said the porter, "we shall have a fine afternoon!"
+
+And presently I found myself in the lodging which had been prepared for
+me.  It consisted of a small room, up two pair of stairs, in which I was
+to sit, and another still smaller above it, in which I was to sleep.  I
+remember that I sat down, and looked disconsolate about me--everything
+seemed so cold and dingy.  Yet how little is required to make a
+situation--however cheerless at first sight--cheerful and comfortable.
+The people of the house, who looked kindly upon me, lighted a fire in the
+dingy grate; and, then, what a change!--the dingy room seemed dingy no
+more!  Oh, the luxury of a cheerful fire after a chill night's journey!
+I drew near to the blazing grate, rubbed my hands, and felt glad.
+
+And, when I had warmed myself, I turned to the table, on which, by this
+time, the people of the house had placed my breakfast; and I ate and I
+drank; and, as I ate and drank, I mused within myself, and my eyes were
+frequently directed to a small green box, which constituted part of my
+luggage, and which, with the rest of my things, stood in one corner of
+the room, till at last, leaving my breakfast unfinished, I rose, and,
+going to the box, unlocked it, and took out two or three bundles of
+papers tied with red tape, and, placing them on the table, I resumed my
+seat and my breakfast, my eyes intently fixed upon the bundles of papers
+all the time.
+
+And when I had drained the last cup of tea out of a dingy teapot, and ate
+the last slice of the dingy loaf, I untied one of the bundles, and
+proceeded to look over the papers, which were closely written over in a
+singular hand, and I read for some time, till at last I said to myself,
+"It will do."  And then I looked at the other bundle for some time,
+without untying it; and at last I said, "It will do also."  And then I
+turned to the fire, and, putting my feet against the sides of the grate,
+I leaned back on my chair, and, with my eyes upon the fire, fell into
+deep thought.
+
+And there I continued in thought before the fire, until my eyes closed,
+and I fell asleep; which was not to be wondered at, after the fatigue and
+cold which I had lately undergone on the coach-top; and, in my sleep, I
+imagined myself still there, amidst darkness and rain, hurrying now over
+wild heaths, and now along roads overhung with thick and umbrageous
+trees, and sometimes methought I heard the horn of the guard, and
+sometimes the voice of the coachman, now chiding, now encouraging his
+horses, as they toiled through the deep and miry ways.  At length a
+tremendous crack of a whip saluted the tympanum of my ear, and I started
+up broad awake, nearly oversetting the chair on which I reclined--and,
+lo!  I was in the dingy room before the fire, which was by this time half
+extinguished.  In my dream I had confounded the noise of the street with
+those of my night-journey; the crack which had aroused me I soon found
+proceeded from the whip of a carter, who, with many oaths, was flogging
+his team below the window.
+
+Looking at a clock which stood upon the mantel-piece, I perceived that it
+was past eleven; whereupon I said to myself, "I am wasting my time
+foolishly and unprofitably, forgetting that I am now in the big world,
+without anything to depend upon save my own exertions;" and then I
+adjusted my dress, and, locking up the bundle of papers which I had not
+read, I tied up the other, and, taking it under my arm, I went down
+stairs; and, after asking a question or two of the people of the house, I
+sallied forth into the street with a determined look, though at heart I
+felt somewhat timorous at the idea of venturing out alone into the mazes
+of the mighty city, of which I had heard much, but of which, of my own
+knowledge, I knew nothing.
+
+I had, however, no great cause for anxiety in the present instance; I
+easily found my way to the place which I was in quest of--one of the many
+new squares on the northern side of the metropolis, and which was
+scarcely ten minutes' walk from the street in which I had taken up my
+abode.  Arriving before the door of a tolerably large house which bore a
+certain number, I stood still for a moment in a kind of trepidation,
+looking anxiously at the door; I then slowly passed on till I came to the
+end of the square, where I stood still, and pondered for awhile.
+Suddenly, however, like one who has formed a resolution, I clenched my
+right hand, flinging my hat somewhat on one side, and, turning back with
+haste to the door before which I had stopped, I sprang up the steps, and
+gave a loud rap, ringing at the same time the bell of the area.  After
+the lapse of a minute the door was opened by a maid-servant of no very
+cleanly or prepossessing appearance, of whom I demanded, in a tone of
+some hauteur, whether the master of the house was at home.  Glancing for
+a moment at the white paper bundle beneath my arm, the handmaid made no
+reply in words, but, with a kind of toss of her head, flung the door
+open, standing on one side as if to let me enter.  I did enter; and the
+handmaid, having opened another door on the right hand, went in, and said
+something which I could not hear: after a considerable pause, however, I
+heard the voice of a man say, "Let him come in;" whereupon the handmaid,
+coming out, motioned me to enter, and, on my obeying, instantly closed
+the door behind me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+The Sinister Glance--Excellent Correspondent--Quite Original--My
+System--A Losing Trade--Merit--Starting a Review--What Have You
+Got?--Stop!--Dairyman's Daughter--Oxford Principles--More
+Conversation--How is This?
+
+There were two individuals in the room in which I now found myself; it
+was a small study, surrounded with bookcases, the window looking out upon
+the square.  Of these individuals he who appeared to be the principal
+stood with his back to the fireplace.  He was a tall stout man, about
+sixty, dressed in a loose morning gown.  The expression of his
+countenance would have been bluff but for a certain sinister glance, and
+his complexion might have been called rubicund but for a considerable
+tinge of bilious yellow.  He eyed me askance as I entered.  The other, a
+pale, shrivelled-looking person, sat at a table apparently engaged with
+an account-book; he took no manner of notice of me, never once lifting
+his eyes from the page before him.
+
+"Well, sir, what is your pleasure?" said the big man, in a rough tone, as
+I stood there, looking at him wistfully--as well I might--for upon that
+man, at the time of which I am speaking, my principal, I may say my only
+hopes, rested.
+
+"Sir," said I, "my name is so-and-so, and I am the bearer of a letter to
+you from Mr. so-and-so, an old friend and correspondent of yours."
+
+The countenance of the big man instantly lost the suspicious and lowering
+expression which it had hitherto exhibited; he strode forward and,
+seizing me by the hand, gave me a violent squeeze.
+
+"My dear sir," said he, "I am rejoiced to see you in London.  I have been
+long anxious for the pleasure--we are old friends, though we have never
+before met.  Taggart," said he to the man who sat at the desk, "this is
+our excellent correspondent, the friend and pupil of our other excellent
+correspondent."
+
+The pale, shrivelled-looking man slowly and deliberately raised his head
+from the account-book, and surveyed me for a moment or two; not the
+slightest emotion was observable in his countenance.  It appeared to me,
+however, that I could detect a droll twinkle in his eye; his curiosity,
+if he had any, was soon gratified; he made me a kind of bow, pulled out a
+snuff-box, took a pinch of snuff, and again bent his head over the page.
+
+"And now, my dear sir," said the big man, "pray sit down, and tell me the
+cause of your visit.  I hope you intend to remain here a day or two."
+
+"More than that," said I, "I am come to take up my abode in London."
+
+"Glad to hear it; and what have you been about of late? got anything
+which will suit me?  Sir, I admire your style of writing, and your manner
+of thinking; and I am much obliged to my good friend and correspondent
+for sending me some of your productions.  I inserted them all, and wished
+there had been more of them--quite original, sir, quite: took with the
+public, especially the essay about the non-existence of anything.  I
+don't exactly agree with you, though; I have my own peculiar ideas about
+matter--as you know, of course, from the book I have published.
+Nevertheless, a very pretty piece of speculative philosophy--no such
+thing as matter--impossible that there should be--_ex nihilo_--what is
+the Greek?  I have forgot--very pretty indeed; very original."
+
+"I am afraid, sir, it was very wrong to write such trash, and yet more to
+allow it to be published."
+
+"Trash! not at all; a very pretty piece of speculative philosophy; of
+course you were wrong in saying there is no world.  The world must exist,
+to have the shape of a pear; and that the world is shaped like a pear,
+and not like an apple, as the fools of Oxford say, I have satisfactorily
+proved in my book.  Now, if there were no world, what would become of my
+system?  But what do you propose to do in London?"
+
+"Here is the letter, sir," said I, "of our good friend, which I have not
+yet given to you; I believe it will explain to you the circumstances
+under which I come."
+
+He took the letter, and perused it with attention.  "Hem!" said he, with
+a somewhat altered manner, "my friend tells me that you are come up to
+London with the view of turning your literary talents to account, and
+desires me to assist you in my capacity of publisher in bringing forth
+two or three works which you have prepared.  My good friend is perhaps
+not aware that for some time past I have given up publishing--was obliged
+to do so--had many severe losses--do nothing at present in that line,
+save sending out the Magazine once a month; and, between ourselves, am
+thinking of disposing of that--wish to retire--high time at my age--so
+you see--"
+
+"I am very sorry, sir, to hear that you cannot assist me" (and I remember
+that I felt very nervous); "I had hoped--"
+
+"A losing trade, I assure you, sir; literature is a drug.  Taggart, what
+o'clock is it?"
+
+"Well, sir!" said I, rising, "as you cannot assist me, I will now take my
+leave; I thank you sincerely for your kind reception, and will trouble
+you no longer."
+
+"Oh, don't go.  I wish to have some further conversation with you; and
+perhaps I may hit upon some plan to benefit you.  I honour merit, and
+always make a point to encourage it when I can; but,--Taggart, go to the
+bank, and tell them to dishonour the bill twelve months after date for
+thirty pounds which becomes due to-morrow.  I am dissatisfied with that
+fellow who wrote the fairy tales, and intend to give him all the trouble
+in my power.  Make haste."
+
+Taggart did not appear to be in any particular haste.  First of all, he
+took a pinch of snuff, then, rising from his chair, slowly and
+deliberately drew his wig, for he wore a wig of a brown colour, rather
+more over his forehead than it had previously been, buttoned his coat,
+and, taking his hat, and an umbrella which stood in a corner, made me a
+low bow, and quitted the room.
+
+"Well, sir, where were we?  Oh, I remember, we were talking about merit.
+Sir, I always wish to encourage merit, especially when it comes so highly
+recommended as in the present instance.  Sir, my good friend and
+correspondent speaks of you in the highest terms.  Sir, I honour my good
+friend, and have the highest respect for his opinion in all matters
+connected with literature--rather eccentric though.  Sir, my good friend
+has done my periodical more good and more harm than all the rest of my
+correspondents.  Sir, I shall never forget the sensation caused by the
+appearance of his article about a certain personage whom he proved--and I
+think satisfactorily--to have been a legionary soldier--rather startling,
+was it not?  The S--- of the world a common soldier, in a marching
+regiment--original, but startling; sir, I honour my good friend."
+
+"So you have renounced publishing, sir," said I, "with the exception of
+the Magazine?"
+
+"Why, yes; except now and then, under the rose; the old coachman, you
+know, likes to hear the whip.  Indeed, at the present moment, I am
+thinking of starting a Review on an entirely new and original principle;
+and it just struck me that you might be of high utility in the
+undertaking--what do you think of the matter?"
+
+"I should be happy, sir, to render you any assistance, but I am afraid
+the employment you propose requires other qualifications than I possess;
+however, I can make the essay.  My chief intention in coming to London
+was to lay before the world what I had prepared; and I had hoped by your
+assistance--"
+
+"Ah!  I see, ambition!  Ambition is a very pretty thing; but, sir, we
+must walk before we run, according to the old saying--what is that you
+have got under your arm?"
+
+"One of the works to which I was alluding; the one, indeed, which I am
+most anxious to lay before the world, as I hope to derive from it both
+profit and reputation."
+
+"Indeed! what do you call it?"
+
+"Ancient songs of Denmark, heroic and romantic, translated by myself;
+with notes philological, critical, and historical."
+
+"Then, sir, I assure you that your time and labour have been entirely
+flung away; nobody would read your ballads, if you were to give them to
+the world to-morrow."
+
+"I am sure, sir, that you would say otherwise, if you would permit me to
+read one to you;" and, without waiting for the answer of the big man, nor
+indeed so much as looking at him, to see whether he was inclined or not
+to hear me, I undid my manuscript, and with a voice trembling with
+eagerness, I read to the following effect:--
+
+    Buckshank bold and Elfinstone,
+    And more than I can mention here,
+    They caused to be built so stout a ship,
+    And unto Iceland they would steer.
+
+    They launched the ship upon the main,
+    Which bellowed like a wrathful bear;
+    Down to the bottom the vessel sank,
+    A laidly Trold has dragged it there.
+
+    Down to the bottom sank young Roland,
+    And round about he groped awhile;
+    Until he found the path which led
+    Unto the bower of Ellenlyle.
+
+"Stop!" said the publisher; "very pretty indeed, and very original; beats
+Scott hollow, and Percy too: but, sir, the day for these things is gone
+by; nobody at present cares for Percy, nor for Scott, either, save as a
+novelist; sorry to discourage merit, sir, but what can I do!  What else
+have you got?"
+
+"The songs of Ab Gwilym, the Welsh bard, also translated by myself, with
+notes critical, philological, and historical."
+
+"Pass on--what else?"
+
+"Nothing else," said I, folding up my manuscript with a sigh, "unless it
+be a romance in the German style; on which, I confess, I set very little
+value."
+
+"Wild?"
+
+"Yes, sir, very wild."
+
+"Like the Miller of the Black Valley?"
+
+"Yes, sir, very much like the Miller of the Black Valley."
+
+"Well, that's better," said the publisher; "and yet, I don't know, I
+question whether any one at present cares for the miller himself.  No,
+sir, the time for those things is also gone by; German, at present, is a
+drug; and, between ourselves, nobody has contributed to make it so more
+than my good friend and correspondent;--but, sir, I see you are a young
+gentleman of infinite merit, and I always wish to encourage merit.  Don't
+you think you could write a series of evangelical tales?"
+
+"Evangelical tales, sir?"
+
+"Yes, sir, evangelical novels."
+
+"Something in the style of Herder?"
+
+"Herder is a drug, sir; nobody cares for Herder--thanks to my good
+friend.  Sir, I have in yon drawer a hundred pages about Herder, which I
+dare not insert in my periodical; it would sink it, sir.  No, sir,
+something in the style of the 'Dairyman's Daughter.'"
+
+"I never heard of the work till the present moment."
+
+"Then, sir, procure it by all means.  Sir, I could afford as much as ten
+pounds for a well-written tale in the style of the 'Dairyman's Daughter;'
+that is the kind of literature, sir, that sells at the present day!  It
+is not the Miller of the Black Valley--no, sir, nor Herder either, that
+will suit the present taste; the evangelical body is becoming very
+strong, sir; the canting scoundrels--"
+
+"But, sir, surely you would not pander to a scoundrelly taste?"
+
+"Then, sir, I must give up business altogether.  Sir, I have a great
+respect for the goddess Reason--an infinite respect, sir; indeed, in my
+time, I have made a great many sacrifices for her; but, sir, I cannot
+altogether ruin myself for the goddess Reason.  Sir, I am a friend to
+Liberty, as is well known; but I must also be a friend to my own family.
+It is with the view of providing for a son of mine that I am about to
+start the review of which I am speaking.  He has taken into his head to
+marry, sir, and I must do something for him, for he can do but little for
+himself.  Well, sir, I am a friend to Liberty, as I said before, and
+likewise a friend to Reason; but I tell you frankly that the Review which
+I intend to get up under the rose, and present him with when it is
+established, will be conducted on Oxford principles."
+
+"Orthodox principles, I suppose you mean, sir?"
+
+"I do, sir; I am no linguist, but I believe the words are synonymous."
+
+Much more conversation passed between us, and it was agreed that I should
+become a contributor to the Oxford Review.  I stipulated, however, that,
+as I knew little of politics, and cared less, no other articles should be
+required from me than such as were connected with belles-lettres and
+philology; to this the big man readily assented.  "Nothing will be
+required from you," said he, "but what you mention; and now and then,
+perhaps, a paper on metaphysics.  You understand German, and perhaps it
+would be desirable that you should review Kant; and in a review of Kant,
+sir, you could introduce to advantage your peculiar notions about _ex
+nihilo_."  He then reverted to the subject of the "Dairyman's Daughter,"
+which I promised to take into consideration.  As I was going away, he
+invited me to dine with him on the ensuing Sunday.
+
+"That's a strange man!" said I to myself, after I had left the house, "he
+is evidently very clever; but I cannot say that I like him much, with his
+Oxford Reviews and Dairyman's Daughters.  But what can I do?  I am almost
+without a friend in the world.  I wish I could find some one who would
+publish my ballads, or my songs of Ab Gwilym.  In spite of what the big
+man says, I am convinced that, once published, they would bring me much
+fame and profit.  But how is this?--what a beautiful sun!--the porter was
+right in saying that the day would clear up--I will now go to my dingy
+lodging, lock up my manuscripts, and then take a stroll about the big
+city."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+The Walk--London's Cheape--Street of the Lombards--Strange Bridge--Main
+Arch--The Roaring Gulf--The Boat--Cly-Faking--A Comfort--The Book--The
+Blessed Woman--No Trap.
+
+So I set out on my walk to see the wonders of the big city, and, as
+chance would have it, I directed my course to the east.  The day, as I
+have already said, had become very fine, so that I saw the great city to
+advantage, and the wonders thereof: and much I admired all I saw; and,
+amongst other things, the huge cathedral, standing so proudly on the most
+commanding ground in the big city; and I looked up to the mighty dome,
+surmounted by a golden cross, and I said within myself, "That dome must
+needs be the finest in the world;" and I gazed upon it till my eyes
+reeled, and my brain became dizzy, and I thought that the dome would fall
+and crush me; and I shrank within myself, and struck yet deeper into the
+heart of the big city.
+
+"O Cheapside!  Cheapside!" said I, as I advanced up that mighty
+thoroughfare, "truly thou art a wonderful place for hurry, noise, and
+riches!  Men talk of the bazaars of the East--I have never seen them--but
+I dare say that, compared with thee, they are poor places, silent places,
+abounding with empty boxes, O thou pride of London's east!--mighty mart
+of old renown!--for thou art not a place of yesterday:--long before the
+Roses red and white battled in fair England, thou didst exist--a place of
+throng and bustle--a place of gold and silver, perfumes and fine linen.
+Centuries ago thou couldst extort the praises even of the fiercest foes
+of England.  Fierce bards of Wales, sworn foes of England, sang thy
+praises centuries ago; and even the fiercest of them all, Red Julius
+himself, wild Glendower's bard, had a word of praise for London's
+"Cheape," for so the bards of Wales styled thee in their flowing odes.
+Then, if those who were not English, and hated England, and all connected
+therewith, had yet much to say in thy praise, when thou wast far inferior
+to what thou art now, why should true-born Englishmen, or those who call
+themselves so, turn up their noses at thee, and scoff thee at the present
+day, as I believe they do?  But, let others do as they will, I, at least,
+who am not only an Englishman, but an East Englishman, will not turn up
+my nose at thee, but will praise and extol thee, calling thee mart of the
+world--a place of wonder and astonishment!--and, were it right and
+fitting to wish that anything should endure for ever, I would say
+prosperity to Cheapside, throughout all ages--may it be the world's
+resort for merchandise, world without end."
+
+And when I had passed through the Cheape I entered another street, which
+led up a kind of ascent, and which proved to be the street of the
+Lombards, called so from the name of its founders; and I walked rapidly
+up the street of the Lombards, neither looking to the right nor left, for
+it had no interest for me, though I had a kind of consciousness that
+mighty things were being transacted behind its walls; but it wanted the
+throng, bustle, and outward magnificence of the Cheape, and it had never
+been spoken of by "ruddy bards!"  And, when I had got to the end of the
+street of the Lombards, I stood still for some time, deliberating within
+myself whether I should turn to the right or the left, or go straight
+forward, and at last I turned to the right, down a street of rapid
+descent, and presently found myself upon a bridge which traversed the
+river which runs by the big city.
+
+A strange kind of bridge it was; huge and massive, and seemingly of great
+antiquity.  It had an arched back, like that of a hog, a high balustrade,
+and at either side, at intervals, were stone bowers bulking over the
+river, but open on the other side, and furnished with a semicircular
+bench.  Though the bridge was wide--very wide--it was all too narrow for
+the concourse upon it.  Thousands of human beings were pouring over the
+bridge.  But what chiefly struck my attention was a double row of carts
+and waggons, the generality drawn by horses as large as elephants, each
+row striving hard in a different direction, and not unfrequently brought
+to a standstill.  Oh the cracking of whips, the shouts and oaths of the
+carters, and the grating of wheels upon the enormous stones that formed
+the pavement!  In fact, there was a wild hurly-burly upon the bridge,
+which nearly deafened me.  But, if upon the bridge there was a confusion,
+below it there was a confusion ten times confounded.  The tide, which was
+fast ebbing, obstructed by the immense piers of the old bridge, poured
+beneath the arches with a fall of several feet, forming in the river
+below as many whirlpools as there were arches.  Truly tremendous was the
+roar of the descending waters, and the bellow of the tremendous gulfs,
+which swallowed them for a time, and then cast them forth, foaming and
+frothing from their horrid wombs.  Slowly advancing along the bridge, I
+came to the highest point, and there I stood still, close beside one of
+the stone bowers, in which, beside a fruitstall, sat an old woman, with a
+pan of charcoal at her feet, and a book in her hand, in which she
+appeared to be reading intently.  There I stood, just above the principal
+arch, looking through the balustrade at the scene that presented
+itself--and such a scene!  Towards the left bank of the river, a forest
+of masts, thick and close, as far as the eye could reach; spacious
+wharfs, surmounted with gigantic edifices; and, far away, Caesar's
+Castle, with its White Tower.  To the right, another forest of masts, and
+a maze of buildings, from which, here and there, shot up to the sky
+chimneys taller than Cleopatra's Needle, vomiting forth huge wreaths of
+that black smoke which forms the canopy--occasionally a gorgeous one--of
+the more than Babel city.  Stretching before me, the troubled breast of
+the mighty river, and, immediately below, the main whirlpool of the
+Thames--the Maelstrom of the bulwarks of the middle arch--a grisly pool,
+which, with its superabundance of horror, fascinated me.  Who knows but I
+should have leapt into its depths?--I have heard of such things--but for
+a rather startling occurrence which broke the spell.  As I stood upon the
+bridge, gazing into the jaws of the pool, a small boat shot suddenly
+through the arch beneath my feet.  There were three persons in it; an
+oarsman in the middle, whilst a man and woman sat at the stern.  I shall
+never forget the thrill of horror which went through me at this sudden
+apparition.  What!--a boat--a small boat--passing beneath that arch into
+yonder roaring gulf!  Yes, yes, down through that awful water-way, with
+more than the swiftness of an arrow, shot the boat, or skiff, right into
+the jaws of the pool.  A monstrous breaker curls over the prow--there is
+no hope; the boat is swamped, and all drowned in that strangling vortex.
+No! the boat, which appeared to have the buoyancy of a feather, skipped
+over the threatening horror, and the next moment was out of danger, the
+boatman--a true boatman of Cockaigne, that--elevating one of his sculls
+in sign of triumph, the man hallooing, and the woman, a true Englishwoman
+that--of a certain class--waving her shawl.  Whether any one observed
+them save myself, or whether the feat was a common one, I know not; but
+nobody appeared to take any notice of them.  As for myself, I was so
+excited, that I strove to clamber up the balustrade of the bridge, in
+order to obtain a better view of the daring adventurers.  Before I could
+accomplish my design, however, I felt myself seized by the body, and,
+turning my head, perceived the old fruit-woman, who was clinging to me.
+
+"Nay, dear! don't--don't!" said she.  "Don't fling yourself over--perhaps
+you may have better luck next time!"
+
+"I was not going to fling myself over," said I, dropping from the
+balustrade; "how came you to think of such a thing?"
+
+"Why, seeing you clamber up so fiercely, I thought you might have had ill
+luck, and that you wished to make away with yourself."
+
+"Ill luck," said I, going into the stone bower and sitting down.  "What
+do you mean? ill luck in what?"
+
+"Why, no great harm, dear! cly-faking, perhaps."
+
+"Are you coming over me with dialects," said I, "speaking unto me in
+fashions I wot nothing of?"
+
+"Nay, dear! don't look so strange with those eyes of your'n, nor talk so
+strangely; I don't understand you."
+
+"Nor I you; what do you mean by cly-faking?"
+
+"Lor, dear! no harm; only taking a handkerchief now and then."
+
+"Do you take me for a thief?"
+
+"Nay, dear! don't make use of bad language; we never calls them thieves
+here, but prigs and fakers: to tell you the truth, dear, seeing you
+spring at that railing put me in mind of my own dear son, who is now at
+Bot'ny: when he had bad luck, he always used to talk of flinging himself
+over the bridge; and, sure enough, when the traps were after him, he did
+fling himself into the river, but that was off the bank; nevertheless,
+the traps pulled him out, and he is now suffering his sentence; so you
+see you may speak out, if you have done anything in the harmless line,
+for I am my son's own mother, I assure you."
+
+"So you think there's no harm in stealing?"
+
+"No harm in the world, dear!  Do you think my own child would have been
+transported for it, if there had been any harm in it? and what's more,
+would the blessed woman in the book here have written her life as she has
+done, and given it to the world, if there had been any harm in faking?
+She, too, was what they call a thief and a cut-purse; ay, and was
+transported for it, like my dear son; and do you think she would have
+told the world so, if there had been any harm in the thing?  Oh, it is a
+comfort to me that the blessed woman was transported, and came back--for
+come back she did, and rich too--for it is an assurance to me that my
+dear son, who was transported too, will come back like her."
+
+"What was her name?"
+
+"Her name, blessed Mary Flanders."
+
+"Will you let me look at the book?"
+
+"Yes, dear, that I will, if you promise me not to run away with it."
+
+I took the book from her hand; a short thick volume, at least a century
+old, bound with greasy black leather.  I turned the yellow and
+dog's-eared pages, reading here and there a sentence.  Yes, and no
+mistake!  _His_ pen, his style, his spirit might be observed in every
+line of the uncouth-looking old volume--the air, the style, the spirit of
+the writer of the book which first taught me to read.  I covered my face
+with my hand, and thought of my childhood--
+
+"This is a singular book," said I at last; "but it does not appear to
+have been written to prove that thieving is no harm, but rather to show
+the terrible consequences of crime: it contains a deep moral."
+
+"A deep what, dear?"
+
+"A--but no matter, I will give you a crown for this volume."
+
+"No, dear, I will not sell the volume for a crown."
+
+"I am poor," said I; "but I will give you two silver crowns for your
+volume."
+
+"No, dear, I will not sell my volume for two silver crowns; no, nor for
+the golden one in the king's tower down there; without my book I should
+mope and pine, and perhaps fling myself into the river; but I am glad you
+like it, which shows that I was right about you, after all; you are one
+of our party, and you have a flash about that eye of yours which puts me
+just in mind of my dear son.  No, dear, I won't sell you my book; but, if
+you like, you may have a peep into it whenever you come this way.  I
+shall be glad to see you; you are one of the right sort, for if you had
+been a common one, you would have run away with the thing; but you scorn
+such behaviour, and, as you are so flash of your money, though you say
+you are poor, you may give me a tanner to buy a little baccy with; I love
+baccy, dear, more by token that it comes from the plantations to which
+the blessed woman was sent."
+
+"What's a tanner?" said I.
+
+"Lor'! don't you know, dear?  Why, a tanner is sixpence; and, as you were
+talking just now about crowns, it will be as well to tell you that those
+of our trade never calls them crowns, but bulls; but I am talking
+nonsense, just as if you did not know all that already, as well as
+myself; you are only shamming--I'm no trap, dear, nor more was the
+blessed woman in the book.  Thank you, dear--thank you for the tanner; if
+I don't spend it, I'll keep it in remembrance of your sweet face.  What,
+you are going?--well, first let me whisper a word to you.  If you have
+any clies to sell at any time, I'll buy them of you; all safe with me; I
+never 'peach, and scorns a trap; so now, dear, God bless you! and give
+you good luck.  Thank you for your pleasant company, and thank you for
+the tanner."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+The Tanner--The Hotel--Drinking Claret--London Journal--New
+Field--Common-placeness--The Three Individuals--Botheration--Frank and
+Ardent.
+
+"Tanner!" said I musingly, as I left the bridge; "Tanner! what can the
+man who cures raw skins by means of a preparation of oak-bark and other
+materials have to do with the name which these fakers, as they call
+themselves, bestow on the smallest silver coin in these dominions?
+Tanner!  I can't trace the connection between the man of bark and the
+silver coin, unless journeymen tanners are in the habit of working for
+sixpence a day.  But I have it," I continued, flourishing my hat over my
+head, "tanner, in this instance, is not an English word."  Is it not
+surprising that the language of Mr. Petulengro and of Tawno Chikno, is
+continually coming to my assistance whenever I appear to be at a nonplus
+with respect to the derivation of crabbed words?  I have made out crabbed
+words in AEschylus by means of the speech of Chikno and Petulengro; and
+even in my Biblical researches I have derived no slight assistance from
+it.  It appears to be a kind of picklock, an open sesame, Tanner--Tawno!
+the one is but a modification of the other; they were originally
+identical, and have still much the same signification.  Tanner, in the
+language of the apple-woman, meaneth the smallest of English silver
+coins; and Tawno, in the language of the Petulengros, though bestowed
+upon the biggest of the Romans, according to strict interpretation,
+signifieth a little child.
+
+So I left the bridge, retracing my steps for a considerable way, as I
+thought I had seen enough in the direction in which I had hitherto been
+wandering; I should say that I scarcely walked less than thirty miles
+about the big city on the day of my first arrival.  Night came on, but
+still I was walking about, my eyes wide open, and admiring everything
+that presented itself to them.  Everything was new to me, for everything
+is different in London from what it is elsewhere--the people, their
+language, the horses, the _tout ensemble_--even the stones of London are
+different from others--at least, it appeared to me that I had never
+walked with the same ease and facility on the flagstones of a country
+town as on those of London; so I continued roving about till night came
+on, and then the splendour of some of the shops particularly struck me.
+"A regular Arabian Nights' entertainment!" said I, as I looked into one
+on Cornhill, gorgeous with precious merchandise, and lighted up with
+lustres, the rays of which were reflected from a hundred mirrors.
+
+But, notwithstanding the excellence of the London pavement, I began about
+nine o'clock to feel myself thoroughly tired; painfully and slowly did I
+drag my feet along.  I also felt very much in want of some refreshment,
+and I remembered that since breakfast I had taken nothing.  I was now in
+the Strand, and, glancing about, I perceived that I was close by an
+hotel, which bore over the door the somewhat remarkable name of Holy
+Lands.  Without a moment's hesitation I entered a well-lighted passage,
+and, turning to the left, I found myself in a well-lighted coffee-room,
+with a well-dressed and frizzled waiter before me.  "Bring me some
+claret," said I, for I was rather faint than hungry, and I felt ashamed
+to give a humbler order to so well-dressed an individual.  The waiter
+looked at me for a moment; then, making a low bow, he bustled off, and I
+sat myself down in the box nearest to the window.  Presently the waiter
+returned, bearing beneath his left arm a long bottle, and between the
+fingers of his right hand two large purple glasses; placing the latter on
+the table, he produced a cork-screw, drew the cork in a twinkling, set
+the bottle down before me with a bang, and then, standing still, appeared
+to watch my movements.  You think I don't know how to drink a glass of
+claret, thought I to myself.  I'll soon show you how we drink claret
+where I come from; and, filling one of the glasses to the brim, I
+flickered it for a moment between my eyes and the lustre, and then held
+it to my nose; having given that organ full time to test the bouquet of
+the wine, I applied the glass to my lips, taking a large mouthful of the
+wine, which I swallowed slowly and by degrees, that the palate might
+likewise have an opportunity of performing its functions.  A second
+mouthful I disposed of more summarily; then, placing the empty glass upon
+the table, I fixed my eyes upon the bottle, and said--nothing; whereupon
+the waiter, who had been observing the whole process with considerable
+attention, made me a bow yet more low than before, and turning on his
+heel, retired with a smart chuck of his head, as much as to say, It is
+all right; the young man is used to claret.
+
+And when the waiter had retired I took a second glass of the wine, which
+I found excellent; and, observing a newspaper lying near me, I took it up
+and began perusing it.  It has been observed somewhere that people who
+are in the habit of reading newspapers every day are not unfrequently
+struck with the excellence of style and general talent which they
+display.  Now, if that be the case, how must I have been surprised, who
+was reading a newspaper for the first time, and that one of the best of
+the London journals!  Yes, strange as it may seem, it was nevertheless
+true, that, up to the moment of which I am speaking, I had never read a
+newspaper of any description.  I of course had frequently seen journals,
+and even handled them; but, as for reading them, what were they to me?--I
+cared not for news.  But here I was now, with my claret before me,
+perusing, perhaps, the best of all the London journals--it was not the
+--- and I was astonished: an entirely new field of literature appeared to
+be opened to my view.  It was a discovery, but I confess rather an
+unpleasant one; for I said to myself, if literary talent is so very
+common in London, that the journals, things which, as their very name
+denotes, are ephemeral, are written in a style like the article I have
+been perusing, how can I hope to distinguish myself in this big town,
+when, for the life of me, I don't think I could write anything half so
+clever as what I have been reading.  And then I laid down the paper, and
+fell into deep musing; rousing myself from which, I took a glass of wine,
+and pouring out another, began musing again.  What I have been reading,
+thought I, is certainly very clever and very talented; but talent and
+cleverness I think I have heard some one say are very commonplace things,
+only fitted for everyday occasions.  I question whether the man who wrote
+the book I saw this day on the bridge was a clever man; but, after all,
+was he not something much better?  I don't think he could have written
+this article, but then he wrote the book which I saw on the bridge.
+Then, if he could not have written the article on which I now hold my
+forefinger--and I do not believe he could--why should I feel discouraged
+at the consciousness that I, too, could not write it?  I certainly could
+no more have written the article than he could; but then, like him,
+though I would not compare myself to the man who wrote the book I saw
+upon the bridge, I think I could--and here I emptied the glass of
+claret--write something better.
+
+Thereupon I resumed the newspaper; and, as I was before struck with the
+fluency of style and the general talent which it displayed, I was now
+equally so with its common-placeness and want of originality on every
+subject; and it was evident to me that, whatever advantage these
+newspaper-writers might have over me in some points, they had never
+studied the Welsh bards, translated Kaempe Viser, or been under the
+pupilage of Mr. Petulengro and Tawno Chikno.
+
+And as I sat conning the newspaper, three individuals entered the room,
+and seated themselves in the box at the farther end of which I was.  They
+were all three very well dressed; two of them elderly gentlemen, the
+third a young man about my own age, or perhaps a year or two older: they
+called for coffee; and, after two or three observations, the two eldest
+commenced a conversation in French, which, however, though they spoke it
+fluently enough, I perceived at once was not their native language; the
+young man, however, took no part in their conversation, and when they
+addressed a portion to him, which indeed was but rarely, merely replied
+by a monosyllable.  I have never been a listener, and I paid but little
+heed to their discourse, nor indeed to themselves; as I occasionally
+looked up, however, I could perceive that the features of the young man,
+who chanced to be seated exactly opposite to me, wore an air of
+constraint and vexation.  This circumstance caused me to observe him more
+particularly than I otherwise should have done: his features were
+handsome and prepossessing; he had dark brown hair, and a high-arched
+forehead.  After the lapse of half an hour, the two elder individuals,
+having finished their coffee, called for the waiter, and then rose as if
+to depart, the young man, however, still remaining seated in the box.
+The others, having reached the door, turned round, and finding that the
+youth did not follow them, one of them called to him with a tone of some
+authority; whereupon the young man rose, and, pronouncing half audibly
+the word "botheration," rose and followed them.  I now observed that he
+was remarkably tall.  All three left the house.  In about ten minutes,
+finding nothing more worth reading in the newspaper, I laid it down, and,
+though the claret was not yet exhausted, I was thinking of betaking
+myself to my lodgings, and was about to call the waiter, when I heard a
+step in the passage, and in another moment, the tall young man entered
+the room, advanced to the same box, and, sitting down nearly opposite to
+me, again pronounced to himself, but more audibly than before, the same
+word.
+
+"A troublesome world this, sir," said I, looking at him.
+
+"Yes," said the young man, looking fixedly at me; "but I am afraid we
+bring most of our troubles on our own heads--at least I can say so of
+myself," he added, laughing.  Then after a pause, "I beg pardon," he
+said, "but am I not addressing one of my own country?"
+
+"Of what country are you?" said I.
+
+"Ireland."
+
+"I am not of your country, sir; but I have an infinite veneration for
+your country, as Strap said to the French soldier.  Will you take a glass
+of wine?"
+
+"Ah, _de tout mon coeur_, as the parasite said to Gil Blas," cried the
+young man, laughing.  "Here's to our better acquaintance!"
+
+And better acquainted we soon became; and I found that, in making the
+acquaintance of the young man, I had indeed made a valuable acquisition;
+he was accomplished, highly connected, and bore the name of Francis
+Ardry.  Frank and ardent he was, and in a very little time had told me
+much that related to himself, and in return I communicated a general
+outline of my own history; he listened with profound attention, but
+laughed heartily when I told him some particulars of my visit in the
+morning to the publisher, whom he had frequently heard of.
+
+We left the house together.
+
+"We shall soon see each other again," said he, as we separated at the
+door of my lodging.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+Dine with the Publisher--Religions--No Animal Food--Unprofitable
+Discussions--Principles of Criticism--The Book Market--Newgate
+Lives--Goethe a Drug--German Acquirements--Moral Dignity.
+
+On the Sunday I was punctual to my appointment to dine with the
+publisher.  As I hurried along the square in which his house stood, my
+thoughts were fixed so intently on the great man, that I passed by him
+without seeing him.  He had observed me, however, and joined me just as I
+was about to knock at the door.  "Let us take a turn in the square," said
+he; "we shall not dine for half an hour."
+
+"Well," said he, as we were walking in the square, "what have you been
+doing since I last saw you?"
+
+"I have been looking about London," said I, "and I have bought the
+'Dairyman's Daughter'; here it is."
+
+"Pray put it up," said the publisher; "I don't want to look at such
+trash.  Well, do you think you could write anything like it?"
+
+"I do not," said I.
+
+"How is that?" said the publisher, looking at me.
+
+"Because," said I, "the man who wrote it seems to be perfectly well
+acquainted with his subject; and, moreover, to write from the heart."
+
+"By the subject you mean--"
+
+"Religion."
+
+"And a'n't you acquainted with religion?"
+
+"Very little."
+
+"I am sorry for that," said the publisher seriously, "for he who sets up
+for an author ought to be acquainted not only with religion, but
+religions, and indeed with all subjects, like my good friend in the
+country.  It is well that I have changed my mind about the 'Dairyman's
+Daughter,' or I really don't know whom I could apply to on the subject at
+the present moment, unless to himself; and after all I question whether
+his style is exactly suited for an evangelical novel."
+
+"Then you do not wish for an imitation of the 'Dairyman's Daughter?'"
+
+"I do not, sir; I have changed my mind, as I told you before; I wish to
+employ you in another line, but will communicate to you my intentions
+after dinner."
+
+At dinner, beside the publisher and myself, were present his wife and
+son, with his newly-married bride; the wife appeared a quiet respectable
+woman, and the young people looked very happy and good-natured; not so
+the publisher, who occasionally eyed both with contempt and dislike.
+Connected with this dinner there was one thing remarkable; the publisher
+took no animal food, but contented himself with feeding voraciously on
+rice and vegetables, prepared in various ways.
+
+"You eat no animal food, sir?" said I.
+
+"I do not, sir," said he; "I have forsworn it upwards of twenty years.
+In one respect, sir, I am a Brahmin.  I abhor taking away life--the
+brutes have as much right to live as ourselves."
+
+"But," said I, "if the brutes were not killed, there would be such a
+superabundance of them, that the land would be overrun with them."
+
+"I do not think so, sir; few are killed in India, and yet there is plenty
+of room."
+
+"But," said I, "Nature intended that they should be destroyed, and the
+brutes themselves prey upon one another, and it is well for themselves
+and the world that they do so.  What would be the state of things if
+every insect, bird, and worm were left to perish of old age?"
+
+"We will change the subject," said the publisher; "I have never been a
+friend of unprofitable discussions."
+
+I looked at the publisher with some surprise, I had not been accustomed
+to be spoken to so magisterially; his countenance was dressed in a
+portentous frown, and his eye looked more sinister than ever; at that
+moment he put me in mind of some of those despots of whom I had read in
+the history of Morocco, whose word was law.  He merely wants power,
+thought I to myself, to be a regular Muley Mehemet; and then I sighed,
+for I remembered how very much I was in the power of that man.
+
+The dinner over, the publisher nodded to his wife, who departed, followed
+by her daughter-in-law.  The son looked as if he would willingly have
+attended them; he, however, remained seated; and, a small decanter of
+wine being placed on the table, the publisher filled two glasses, one of
+which he handed to myself, and the other to his son; saying, "Suppose you
+two drink to the success of the Review.  I would join you," said he,
+addressing himself to me, "but I drink no wine; if I am a Brahmin with
+respect to meat, I am a Mahometan with respect to wine."
+
+So the son and I drank success to the Review, and then the young man
+asked me various questions; for example--How I liked London?--Whether I
+did not think it a very fine place?--Whether I was at the play the night
+before?--and whether I was in the park that afternoon?  He seemed
+preparing to ask me some more questions; but, receiving a furious look
+from his father, he became silent, filled himself a glass of wine, drank
+it off, looked at the table for about a minute, then got up, pushed back
+his chair, made me a bow, and left the room.
+
+"Is that young gentleman, sir," said I, "well versed in the principles of
+criticism?"
+
+"He is not, sir," said the publisher; "and, if I place him at the head of
+the Review ostensibly, I do it merely in the hope of procuring him a
+maintenance; of the principle of a thing he knows nothing, except that
+the principle of bread is wheat, and that the principle of that wine is
+grape.  Will you take another glass?"
+
+I looked at the decanter; but not feeling altogether so sure as the
+publisher's son with respect to the principle of what it contained, I
+declined taking any more.
+
+"No, sir," said the publisher, adjusting himself in his chair, "he knows
+nothing about criticism, and will have nothing more to do with the
+reviewals than carrying about the books to those who have to review them;
+the real conductor of the Review will be a widely different person, to
+whom I will, when convenient, introduce you.  And now we will talk of the
+matter which we touched upon before dinner: I told you then that I had
+changed my mind with respect to you; I have been considering the state of
+the market, sir, the book market, and I have come to the conclusion that,
+though you might be profitably employed upon evangelical novels, you
+could earn more money for me, sir, and consequently for yourself, by a
+compilation of Newgate lives and trials."
+
+"Newgate lives and trials!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the publisher, "Newgate lives and trials; and now, sir,
+I will briefly state to you the services which I expect you to perform,
+and the terms I am willing to grant.  I expect you, sir, to compile six
+volumes of Newgate lives and trials, each volume to contain by no manner
+of means less than one thousand pages; the remuneration which you will
+receive when the work is completed will be fifty pounds, which is
+likewise intended to cover any expenses you may incur in procuring books,
+papers, and manuscripts necessary for the compilation.  Such will be one
+of your employments, sir,--such the terms.  In the second place, you will
+be expected to make yourself useful in the Review--generally useful,
+sir--doing whatever is required of you; for it is not customary, at least
+with me, to permit writers, especially young writers, to choose their
+subjects.  In these two departments, sir, namely, compilation and
+reviewing, I had yesterday, after due consideration, determined upon
+employing you.  I had intended to employ you no further, sir--at least
+for the present; but, sir, this morning I received a letter from my
+valued friend in the country, in which he speaks in terms of strong
+admiration (I don't overstate) of your German acquirements.  Sir, he says
+that it would be a thousand pities if your knowledge of the German
+language should be lost to the world, or even permitted to sleep, and he
+entreats me to think of some plan by which it may be turned to account.
+Sir, I am at all times willing, if possible, to oblige my worthy friend,
+and likewise to encourage merit and talent; I have, therefore, determined
+to employ you in German."
+
+"Sir," said I, rubbing my hands, "you are very kind, and so is our mutual
+friend; I shall be happy to make myself useful in German; and if you
+think a good translation from Goethe--his 'Sorrows' for example, or more
+particularly his 'Faust'--"
+
+"Sir," said the publisher, "Goethe is a drug; his 'Sorrows,' are a drug,
+so is his 'Faustus,' more especially the last, since that fool ---
+rendered him into English.  No, sir, I do not want you to translate
+Goethe or anything belonging to him; nor do I want you to translate
+anything from the German; what I want you to do, is to translate into
+German.  I am willing to encourage merit, sir, and, as my good friend in
+his last letter has spoken very highly of your German acquirements, I
+have determined that you shall translate my book of philosophy into
+German."
+
+"Your book of philosophy into German, sir?"
+
+"Yes, sir; my book of philosophy into German.  I am not a drug, sir, in
+Germany, as Goethe is here, no more is my book.  I intend to print the
+translation at Leipzig, sir; and if it turns out a profitable
+speculation, as I make no doubt it will, provided the translation be well
+executed, I will make you some remuneration.  Sir, your remuneration will
+be determined by the success of your translation."
+
+"But, sir--"
+
+"Sir," said the publisher, interrupting me, "you have heard my
+intentions.  I consider that you ought to feel yourself highly gratified
+by my intentions towards you; it is not frequently that I deal with a
+writer, especially a young writer, as I have done with you.  And now,
+sir, permit me to inform you that I wish to be alone.  This is Sunday
+afternoon, sir; I never go to church, but I am in the habit of spending
+part of every Sunday afternoon alone--profitably, I hope, sir--in musing
+on the magnificence of nature, and the moral dignity of man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+The Two Volumes--A Young Author--Intended Editor--Quintilian--Loose
+Money.
+
+"What can't be cured must be endured," and "it is hard to kick against
+the pricks."
+
+At the period to which I have brought my history, I bethought me of the
+proverbs with which I have headed this chapter, and determined to act up
+to their spirit.  I determined not to fly in the face of the publisher,
+and to bear--what I could not cure--his arrogance and vanity.  At
+present, at the conclusion of nearly a quarter of a century, I am glad
+that I came to that determination, which I did my best to carry into
+effect.
+
+Two or three days after our last interview, the publisher made his
+appearance in my apartment; he bore two tattered volumes under his arm,
+which he placed on the table.  "I have brought you two volumes of lives,
+sir," said he, "which I yesterday found in my garret; you will find them
+of service for your compilation.  As I always wish to behave liberally
+and encourage talent, especially youthful talent, I shall make no charge
+for them, though I should be justified in so doing, as you are aware
+that, by our agreement, you are to provide any books and materials which
+may be necessary.  Have you been in quest of any?"
+
+"No," said I, "not yet."
+
+"Then, sir, I would advise you to lose no time in doing so; you must
+visit all the bookstalls, sir, especially those in the by-streets and
+blind alleys.  It is in such places that you will find the description of
+literature you are in want of.  You must be up and doing, sir; it will
+not do for an author, especially a young author, to be idle in this town.
+To-night you will receive my book of philosophy, and likewise books for
+the Review.  And, by-the-bye, sir, it will be as well for you to review
+my book of philosophy for the Review; the other reviews not having
+noticed it.  Sir, before translating it, I wish you to review my book of
+philosophy for the Review."
+
+"I shall be happy to do my best, sir."
+
+"Very good, sir; I should be unreasonable to expect anything beyond a
+person's best.  And now, sir, if you please, I will conduct you to the
+future editor of the Review.  As you are to co-operate, sir, I deem it
+right to make you acquainted."
+
+The intended editor was a little old man, who sat in a kind of wooden
+pavilion in a small garden behind a house in one of the purlieus of the
+city, composing tunes upon a piano.  The walls of the pavilion were
+covered with fiddles of various sizes and appearances, and a considerable
+portion of the floor occupied by a pile of books all of one size.  The
+publisher introduced him to me as a gentleman scarcely less eminent in
+literature than in music, and me to him as an aspirant critic--a young
+gentleman scarcely less eminent in philosophy than in philology.  The
+conversation consisted entirely of compliments till just before we
+separated, when the future editor inquired of me whether I had ever read
+Quintilian; and, on my replying in the negative, expressed his surprise
+that any gentleman should aspire to become a critic who had never read
+Quintilian, with the comfortable information, however, that he could
+supply me with a Quintilian at half-price, that is, a translation made by
+himself some years previously, of which he had, pointing to the heap on
+the floor, still a few copies remaining unsold.  For some reason or
+other, perhaps a poor one, I did not purchase the editor's translation of
+Quintilian.
+
+"Sir," said the publisher, as we were returning from our visit to the
+editor, "you did right in not purchasing a drug.  I am not prepared, sir,
+to say that Quintilian is a drug, never having seen him; but I am
+prepared to say that man's translation is a drug, judging from the heap
+of rubbish on the floor; besides, sir, you will want any loose money you
+may have to purchase the description of literature which is required for
+your compilation."
+
+The publisher presently paused before the entrance of a very
+forlorn-looking street.  "Sir," said he, after looking down it with
+attention, "I should not wonder if in that street you find works
+connected with the description of literature which is required for your
+compilation.  It is in streets of this description, sir, and blind
+alleys, where such works are to be found.  You had better search that
+street, sir, whilst I continue my way."
+
+I searched the street to which the publisher had pointed, and, in the
+course of the three succeeding days, many others of a similar kind.  I
+did not find the description of literature alluded to by the publisher to
+be a drug, but, on the contrary, both scarce and dear.  I had expended
+much more than my loose money long before I could procure materials even
+for the first volume of my compilation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+Francis Ardry--Certain Sharpers--Brave and Eloquent--Opposites--Flinging
+the Bones--Strange Places--Dog Fighting--Learning and Letters--Batch of
+Dogs--Redoubled Application.
+
+One evening I was visited by the tall young gentleman, Francis Ardry,
+whose acquaintance I had formed at the coffee-house.  As it is necessary
+that the reader should know something more about this young man, who will
+frequently appear in the course of these pages, I will state in a few
+words who and what he was.  He was born of an ancient Roman Catholic
+family in Ireland; his parents, whose only child he was, had long been
+dead.  His father, who had survived his mother several years, had been a
+spendthrift, and at his death had left the family property considerably
+embarrassed.  Happily, however, the son and the estate fell into the
+hands of careful guardians, near relations of the family, by whom the
+property was managed to the best advantage, and every means taken to
+educate the young man in a manner suitable to his expectations.  At the
+age of sixteen he was taken from a celebrated school in England at which
+he had been placed, and sent to a small French University, in order that
+he might form an intimate and accurate acquaintance with the grand
+language of the continent.  There he continued three years, at the end of
+which he went, under the care of a French abbe, to Germany and Italy.  It
+was in this latter country that he first began to cause his guardians
+serious uneasiness.  He was in the hey-day of youth when he visited
+Italy, and he entered wildly into the various delights of that
+fascinating region, and, what was worse, falling into the hands of
+certain sharpers, not Italian, but English, he was fleeced of
+considerable sums of money.  The abbe, who, it seems, was an excellent
+individual of the old French school, remonstrated with his pupil on his
+dissipation and extravagance; but, finding his remonstrances vain, very
+properly informed the guardians of the manner of life of his charge.
+They were not slow in commanding Francis Ardry home; and, as he was
+entirely in their power, he was forced to comply.  He had been about
+three months in London when I met him in the coffee-room, and the two
+elderly gentlemen in his company were his guardians.  At this time they
+were very solicitous that he should choose for himself a profession,
+offering to his choice either the army or law--he was calculated to shine
+in either of these professions--for, like many others of his countrymen,
+he was brave and eloquent; but he did not wish to shackle himself with a
+profession.  As, however, his minority did not terminate till he was
+three-and-twenty, of which age he wanted nearly two years, during which
+he would be entirely dependent on his guardians, he deemed it expedient
+to conceal, to a certain degree, his sentiments, temporising with the old
+gentlemen, with whom, notwithstanding his many irregularities, he was a
+great favourite, and at whose death he expected to come into a yet
+greater property than that which he inherited from his parents.
+
+Such is a brief account of Francis Ardry--of my friend Francis Ardry; for
+the acquaintance, commenced in the singular manner with which the reader
+is acquainted, speedily ripened into a friendship which endured through
+many long years of separation, and which still endures certainly on my
+part, and on his--if he lives; but it is many years since I have heard
+from Francis Ardry.
+
+And yet many people would have thought it impossible for our friendship
+to have lasted a week--for in many respects no two people could be more
+dissimilar.  He was an Irishman--I, an Englishman;--he, fiery,
+enthusiastic, and open-hearted;--I, neither fiery, enthusiastic, nor
+open-hearted;--he, fond of pleasure and dissipation;--I, of study and
+reflection.  Yet it is of such dissimilar elements that the most lasting
+friendships are formed: we do not like counterparts of ourselves.  "Two
+great talkers will not travel far together," is a Spanish saying; I will
+add, "Nor two silent people;" we naturally love our opposites.
+
+So Francis Ardry came to see me, and right glad I was to see him, for I
+had just flung my books and papers aside, and was wishing for a little
+social converse; and when we had conversed for some little time together,
+Francis Ardry proposed that we should go to the play to see Kean; so we
+went to the play, and saw--not Kean, who at that time was ashamed to show
+himself, but--a man who was not ashamed to show himself, and who people
+said was a much better man than Kean--as I have no doubt he was--though
+whether he was a better actor I cannot say, for I never saw Kean.
+
+Two or three evenings after, Francis Ardry came to see me again, and
+again we went out together, and Francis Ardry took me to--shall I
+say?--why not?--a gaming house, where I saw people playing, and where I
+saw Francis Ardry play and lose five guineas, and where I lost nothing,
+because I did not play, though I felt somewhat inclined; for a man with a
+white hat and a sparkling eye held up a box which contained something
+which rattled, and asked me to fling the bones.  "There is nothing like
+flinging the bones!" said he, and then I thought I should like to know
+what kind of thing flinging the bones was; I however, restrained myself.
+"There is nothing like flinging the bones!" shouted the man, as my friend
+and myself left the room.
+
+Long life and prosperity to Francis Ardry! but for him I should not have
+obtained knowledge which I did of the strange and eccentric places of
+London.  Some of the places to which he took me were very strange places
+indeed; but, however strange the places were, I observed that the
+inhabitants thought there were no places like their several places, and
+no occupations like their several occupations; and, among other strange
+places to which Francis Ardry conducted me, was a place not far from the
+abbey church of Westminster.
+
+Before we entered this place our ears were greeted by a confused hubbub
+of human voices, squealing of rats, barking of dogs, and the cries of
+various other animals.  Here we beheld a kind of cock-pit, around which a
+great many people, seeming of all ranks, but chiefly of the lower, were
+gathered, and in it we saw a dog destroy a great many rats in a very
+small period; and when the dog had destroyed the rats, we saw a fight
+between a dog and a bear, then a fight between two dogs, then--
+
+After the diversions of the day were over, my friend introduced me to the
+genius of the place, a small man of about five feet high, with a very
+sharp countenance, and dressed in a brown jockey coat, and top boots.
+"Joey," said he, "this is a friend of mine."  Joey nodded to me with a
+patronizing air.  "Glad to see you, sir!--want a dog?"
+
+"No," said I.
+
+"You have got one, then--want to match him?"
+
+"We have a dog at home," said I, "in the country; but I can't say I
+should like to match him.  Indeed, I do not like dog-fighting."
+
+"Not like dog-fighting!" said the man, staring.
+
+"The truth is, Joe, that he is just come to town."
+
+"So I should think; he looks rather green--not like dog-fighting!"
+
+"Nothing like it, is there, Joey?"
+
+"I should think not; what is like it?  A time will come, and that
+speedily, when folks will give up everything else, and follow
+dog-fighting."
+
+"Do you think so?" said I.
+
+"Think so?  Let me ask what there is that a man wouldn't give up for it?"
+
+"Why," said I, modestly, "there's religion."
+
+"Religion!  How you talk.  Why, there's myself, bred and born an
+Independent, and intended to be a preacher, didn't I give up religion for
+dog-fighting?  Religion, indeed!  If it were not for the rascally law, my
+pit would fill better on Sundays than any other time.  Who would go to
+church when they could come to my pit?  Religion! why, the parsons
+themselves come to my pit; and I have now a letter in my pocket from one
+of them, asking me to send him a dog."
+
+"Well, then, politics," said I.
+
+"Politics!  Why, the gemmen in the House would leave Pitt himself, if he
+were alive, to come to my pit.  There were three of the best of them here
+to-night, all great horators.--Get on with you, what comes next?"
+
+"Why, there's learning and letters."
+
+"Pretty things, truly, to keep people from dog-fighting.  Why, there's
+the young gentlemen from the Abbey School comes here in shoals, leaving
+books, and letters, and masters too.  To tell you the truth, I rather
+wish they would mind their letters, for a more precious set of young
+blackguards I never seed.  It was only the other day I was thinking of
+calling in a constable for my own protection, for I thought my pit would
+have been torn down by them."
+
+Scarcely knowing what to say, I made an observation at random.  "You show
+by your own conduct," said I, "that there are other things worth
+following besides dog-fighting.  You practise rat-catching and
+badger-baiting as well."
+
+The dog-fancier eyed me with supreme contempt.
+
+"Your friend here," said he, "might well call you a new one.  When I
+talks of dog-fighting, I of course means rat-catching and badger-baiting,
+ay, and bull-baiting too, just as when I speaks religiously, when I says
+one I means not one but three.  And talking of religion puts me in mind
+that I have something else to do besides chaffing here, having a batch of
+dogs to send off by this night's packet to the Pope of Rome."
+
+But at last I had seen enough of what London had to show, whether strange
+or commonplace, so at least I thought, and I ceased to accompany my
+friend in his rambles about town, and to partake of his adventures.  Our
+friendship, however, still continued unabated, though I saw, in
+consequence, less of him.  I reflected that time was passing on--that the
+little money I had brought to town was fast consuming, and that I had
+nothing to depend upon but my own exertions for a fresh supply; and I
+returned with redoubled application to my pursuits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+Occupations--Traduttore Traditore--Ode to the Mist--Apple and
+Pear--Reviewing--Current Literature--Oxford-like Manner--A Plain
+Story--Ill-regulated Mind--Unsnuffed Candle--Strange Dreams.
+
+I compiled the Chronicles of Newgate; I reviewed books for the Review
+established on an entirely new principle; and I occasionally tried my
+best to translate into German portions of the publisher's philosophy.  In
+this last task I experienced more than one difficulty.  I was a tolerable
+German scholar, it is true, and I had long been able to translate German
+into English with considerable facility; but to translate from a foreign
+language into your own, is a widely different thing from translating from
+your own into a foreign language; and, in my first attempt to render the
+publisher into German, I was conscious of making miserable failures, from
+pure ignorance of German grammar; however, by the assistance of grammars
+and dictionaries, and by extreme perseverance, I at length overcame all
+the difficulties connected with the German language.  But, alas! another
+difficulty remained, far greater than any connected with German--a
+difficulty connected with the language of the publisher--the language
+which the great man employed in his writings was very hard to understand;
+I say in his writings--for his colloquial English was plain enough.
+Though not professing to be a scholar, he was much addicted, when
+writing, to the use of Greek and Latin terms, not as other people used
+them, but in a manner of his own, which set the authority of dictionaries
+at defiance; the consequence was, that I was sometimes utterly at a loss
+to understand the meaning of the publisher.  Many a quarter of an hour
+did I pass at this period, staring at periods of the publisher, and
+wondering what he could mean, but in vain, till at last, with a shake of
+the head, I would snatch up the pen, and render the publisher literally
+into German.  Sometimes I was almost tempted to substitute something of
+my own for what the publisher had written, but my conscience interposed;
+the awful words, Traduttore traditore, commenced ringing in my ears, and
+I asked myself whether I should be acting honourably towards the
+publisher, who had committed to me the delicate task of translating him
+into German; should I be acting honourably towards him, in making him
+speak in German in a manner different from that in which he expressed
+himself in English?  No, I could not reconcile such conduct with any
+principle of honour; by substituting something of my own in lieu of these
+mysterious passages of the publisher, I might be giving a fatal blow to
+his whole system of philosophy.  Besides, when translating into English,
+had I treated foreign authors in this manner?  Had I treated the
+minstrels of the Kaempe Viser in this manner?--No.  Had I treated Ab
+Gwilym in this manner?  Even when translating his Ode to the Mist, in
+which he is misty enough, had I attempted to make Ab Gwilym less misty?
+No; on referring to my translation, I found that Ab Gwilym in my hands
+was quite as misty as in his own.  Then, seeing that I had not ventured
+to take liberties with people who had never put themselves into my hands
+for the purpose of being rendered, how could I venture to substitute my
+own thoughts and ideas for the publisher's, who had put himself into my
+hands for that purpose?  Forbid it every proper feeling!--so I told the
+Germans in the publisher's own way, the publisher's tale of an apple and
+a pear.
+
+I at first felt much inclined to be of the publisher's opinion with
+respect to the theory of the pear.  After all, why should the earth be
+shaped like an apple, and not like a pear?--it would certainly gain in
+appearance by being shaped like a pear.  A pear being a handsomer fruit
+than an apple, the publisher is probably right, thought I, and I will say
+that he is right on this point in the notice which I am about to write of
+his publication for the Review.  And yet I don't know--said I, after a
+long fit of musing--I don't know but what there is more to be said for
+the Oxford theory.  The world may be shaped like a pear, but I don't know
+that it is; but one thing I know, which is, that it does not taste like a
+pear; I have always liked pears, but I don't like the world.  The world
+to me tastes much more like an apple, and I have never liked apples.  I
+will uphold the Oxford theory--besides, I am writing in an Oxford Review,
+and am in duty bound to uphold the Oxford theory.  So in my notice I
+asserted that the world was round; I quoted Scripture, and endeavoured to
+prove that the world was typified by the apple in Scripture, both as to
+shape and properties.  "An apple is round," said I, "and the world is
+round--the apple is a sour, disagreeable fruit; and who has tasted much
+of the world without having his teeth set on edge?"  I, however, treated
+the publisher, upon the whole, in the most urbane and Oxford-like manner;
+complimenting him upon his style, acknowledging the general soundness of
+his views, and only differing with him in the affair of the apple and
+pear.
+
+I did not like reviewing at all--it was not to my taste; it was not in my
+way; I liked it far less than translating the publisher's philosophy for
+that was something in the line of one whom a competent judge had surnamed
+Lavengro.  I never could understand why reviews were instituted; works of
+merit do not require to be reviewed, they can speak for themselves, and
+require no praising; works of no merit at all will die of themselves,
+they require no killing.  The review to which I was attached was, as has
+been already intimated, established on an entirely new plan; it professed
+to review all new publications, which certainly no review had ever
+professed to do before, other reviews never pretending to review more
+than one-tenth of the current literature of the day.  When I say it
+professed to review all new publications, I should add, which should be
+sent to it; for, of course, the review would not acknowledge the
+existence of publications, the authors of which did not acknowledge the
+existence of the review.  I don't think, however, that the review had
+much cause to complain of being neglected; I have reason to believe that
+at least nine-tenths of the publications of the day were sent to the
+review, and in due time reviewed.  I had good opportunity of judging--I
+was connected with several departments of the review, though more
+particularly with the poetical and philosophic ones.  An English
+translation of Kant's philosophy made its appearance on my table the day
+before its publication.  In my notice of this work, I said that the
+English shortly hoped to give the Germans a _quid pro quo_.  I believe at
+that time authors were much in the habit of publishing at their own
+expense.  All the poetry which I reviewed appeared to be published at the
+expense of the authors.  If I am asked how I comported myself, under all
+circumstances, as a reviewer--I answer--I did not forget that I was
+connected with a review established on Oxford principles, the editor of
+which had translated Quintilian.  All the publications which fell under
+my notice I treated in a gentlemanly and Oxford-like manner, no
+personalities--no vituperation--no shabby insinuations; decorum, decorum
+was the order of the day.  Occasionally a word of admonition, but gently
+expressed, as an Oxford undergraduate might have expressed it, or master
+of arts.  How the authors whose publications were consigned to my
+colleagues were treated by them I know not; I suppose they were treated
+in an urbane and Oxford-like manner, but I cannot say; I did not read the
+reviewals of my colleagues, I did not read my own after they were
+printed.  I did not like reviewing.
+
+Of all my occupations at this period I am free to confess I liked that of
+compiling the "Newgate Lives and Trials" the best; that is, after I had
+surmounted a kind of prejudice which I originally entertained.  The
+trials were entertaining enough; but the lives--how full were they of
+wild and racy adventures, and in what racy, genuine language were they
+told.  What struck me most with respect to these lives was the art which
+the writers, whoever they were, possessed of telling a plain story.  It
+is no easy thing to tell a story plainly and distinctly by mouth; but to
+tell one on paper is difficult indeed, so many snares lie in the way.
+People are afraid to put down what is common on paper, they seek to
+embellish their narratives, as they think, by philosophic speculations
+and reflections; they are anxious to shine, and people who are anxious to
+shine, can never tell a plain story.  "So I went with them to a music
+booth, where they made me almost drunk with gin, and began to talk their
+flash language, which I did not understand," says, or is made to say,
+Henry Simms, executed at Tyburn some seventy years before the time of
+which I am speaking.  I have always looked upon this sentence as a
+masterpiece of the narrative style, it is so concise and yet so very
+clear.  As I gazed on passages like this, and there were many nearly as
+good in the Newgate lives, I often sighed that it was not my fortune to
+have to render these lives into German rather than the publisher's
+philosophy--his tale of an apple and pear.
+
+Mine was an ill-regulated mind at this period.  As I read over the lives
+of these robbers and pickpockets, strange doubts began to arise in my
+mind about virtue and crime.  Years before, when quite a boy, as in one
+of the early chapters I have hinted, I had been a necessitarian; I had
+even written an essay on crime (I have it now before me, penned in a
+round boyish hand), in which I attempted to prove that there is no such
+thing as crime or virtue, all our actions being the result of
+circumstances or necessity.  These doubts were now again reviving in my
+mind; I could not, for the life of me, imagine how, taking all
+circumstances into consideration, these highwaymen, these pickpockets,
+should have been anything else than highwaymen and pickpockets; any more
+than how, taking all circumstances into consideration, Bishop Latimer
+(the reader is aware that I had read "Fox's Book of Martyrs") should have
+been anything else than Bishop Latimer.  I had a very ill-regulated mind
+at that period.
+
+My own peculiar ideas with respect to everything being a lying dream
+began also to revive.  Sometimes at midnight, after having toiled for
+hours at my occupations, I would fling myself back on my chair, look
+about the poor apartment, dimly lighted by an unsnuffed candle, or upon
+the heaps of books and papers before me, and exclaim,--"Do I exist?  Do
+these things, which I think I see about me, exist, or do they not?  Is
+not every thing a dream--a deceitful dream?  Is not this apartment a
+dream--the furniture a dream?  The publisher a dream--his philosophy a
+dream?  Am I not myself a dream--dreaming about translating a dream?  I
+can't see why all should not be a dream; what's the use of the reality?"
+And then I would pinch myself, and snuff the burdened smoky light.  "I
+can't see, for the life of me, the use of all this; therefore why should
+I think that it exists?  If there was a chance, a probability of all this
+tending to anything, I might believe; but--" and then I would stare and
+think, and after some time shake my head and return again to my
+occupations for an hour or two; and then I would perhaps shake, and
+shiver, and yawn, and look wistfully in the direction of my sleeping
+apartment; and then, but not wistfully, at the papers and books before
+me; and sometimes I would return to my papers and books; but oftener I
+would arise, and, after another yawn and shiver, take my light, and
+proceed to my sleeping chamber.
+
+They say that light fare begets light dreams; my fare at that time was
+light enough; but I had anything but light dreams, for at that period I
+had all kind of strange and extravagant dreams, and amongst other things
+I dreamt that the whole world had taken to dog-fighting; and that I,
+myself, had taken to dog-fighting, and that in a vast circus I backed an
+English bulldog against the bloodhound of the Pope of Rome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+My Brother--Fits of Crying--Mayor Elect--The Committee--The Norman
+Arch--A Word of Greek--Church and State--At My Own Expense--If You
+Please.
+
+One morning I arose somewhat later than usual, having been occupied
+during the greater part of the night with my literary toil.  On
+descending from my chamber into the sitting room I found a person seated
+by the fire, whose glance was directed sideways to the table, on which
+were the usual preparations for my morning's meal.  Forthwith I gave a
+cry, and sprang forward to embrace the person; for the person by the
+fire, whose glance was directed to the table, was no one else than my
+brother.
+
+"And how are things going on at home?" said I to my brother, after we had
+kissed and embraced.  "How is my mother, and how is the dog?"
+
+"My mother, thank God, is tolerably well," said my brother, "but very
+much given to fits of crying.  As for the dog, he is not so well; but we
+will talk more of these matters anon," said my brother, again glancing at
+the breakfast things: "I am very hungry, as you may suppose, after having
+travelled all night."
+
+Thereupon I exerted myself to the best of my ability to perform the
+duties of hospitality, and I made my brother welcome--I may say more than
+welcome; and, when the rage of my brother's hunger was somewhat abated we
+recommenced talking about the matters of our little family, and my
+brother told me much about my mother; he spoke of her fits of crying, but
+said that of late the said fits of crying had much diminished, and she
+appeared to be taking comfort; and, if I am not much mistaken, my brother
+told me that my mother had of late the prayer book frequently in her
+hand, and yet oftener the Bible.
+
+We were silent for a time--at last I opened my mouth and mentioned the
+dog.
+
+"The dog," said my brother, "is, I am afraid, in a very poor way; ever
+since the death he has done nothing but pine and take on.  A few months
+ago, you remember, he was as plump and fine as any dog in the town; but
+at present he is little more than skin and bone.  Once we lost him for
+two days, and never expected to see him again, imagining that some
+mischance had befallen him; at length I found him--where do you think?
+Chancing to pass by the churchyard, I found him seated on the grave!"
+
+"Very strange," said I; "but let us talk of something else.  It was very
+kind of you to come and see me."
+
+"Oh, as for that matter, I did not come up to see you, though of course I
+am very glad to see you, having been rather anxious about you, like my
+mother, who has received only one letter from you since your departure.
+No, I did not come up on purpose to see you; but on quite a different
+account.  You must know that the corporation of our town have lately
+elected a new mayor, a person of many qualifications--big and portly,
+with a voice like Boanerges; a religious man, the possessor of an immense
+pew; loyal, so much so that I once heard him say that he would at any
+time go three miles to hear any one sing 'God save the King;' moreover, a
+giver of excellent dinners.  Such is our present mayor; who, owing to his
+loyalty, his religion, and a little, perhaps, to his dinners, is a mighty
+favourite; so much so that the town is anxious to have his portrait
+painted in a superior style, so that remote posterity may know what kind
+of man he was, the colour of his hair, his air and gait.  So a committee
+was formed some time ago, which is still sitting; that is, they dine with
+the mayor every day to talk over the subject.  A few days since, to my
+great surprise, they made their appearance in my poor studio, and desired
+to be favoured with a sight of some of my paintings; well, I showed them
+some, and, after looking at them with great attention, they went aside
+and whispered.  'He'll do,' I heard one say; 'Yes, he'll do,' said
+another; and then they came to me, and one of them, a little man with a
+hump on his back, who is a watchmaker, assumed the office of spokesman,
+and made a long speech--(the old town has been always celebrated for
+orators)--in which he told me how much they had been pleased with my
+productions--(the old town has been always celebrated for its artistic
+taste) and, what do you think? offered me the painting of the mayor's
+portrait, and a hundred pounds for my trouble.  Well, of course I was
+much surprised, and for a minute or two could scarcely speak; recovering
+myself, however, I made a speech, not so eloquent as that of the
+watchmaker, of course, being not so accustomed to speaking; but not so
+bad either, taking everything into consideration, telling them how
+flattered I felt by the honour which they had conferred in proposing to
+me such an undertaking; expressing, however, my fears that I was not
+competent to the task, and concluding by saying what a pity it was that
+Crome was dead.  'Crome,' said the little man, 'Crome; yes, he was a
+clever man, a very clever man in his way; he was good at painting
+landscapes and farm-houses, but he would not do in the present instance,
+were he alive.  He had no conception of the heroic, sir.  We want some
+person capable of representing our mayor striding under the Norman arch
+out of the cathedral.'  At the mention of the heroic, an idea came at
+once into my head.  'Oh,' said I, 'if you are in quest of the heroic, I
+am glad that you came to me; don't mistake me,' I continued, 'I do not
+mean to say that I could do justice to your subject, though I am fond of
+the heroic; but I can introduce you to a great master of the heroic,
+fully competent to do justice to your mayor.  Not to me, therefore, be
+the painting of the picture given, but to a friend of mine, the great
+master of the heroic, to the best, the strongest, [Greek text],' I added,
+for, being amongst orators, I thought a word of Greek would tell."
+
+"Well," said I, "and what did the orators say?"
+
+"They gazed dubiously at me and at one another," said my brother; "at
+last the watchmaker asked me who this Mr. Christo was; adding, that he
+had never heard of such a person; that, from my recommendation of him, he
+had no doubt that he was a very clever man; but that they should like to
+know something more about him before giving the commission to him.  That
+he had heard of Christie the great auctioneer, who was considered to be
+an excellent judge of pictures; but he supposed that I
+scarcely--Whereupon, interrupting the watchmaker, I told him that I
+alluded neither to Christo nor to Christie; but to the painter of Lazarus
+rising from the grave, a painter under whom I had myself studied during
+some months that I had spent in London, and to whom I was indebted for
+much connected with the heroic."
+
+"I have heard of him," said the watchmaker, "and his paintings too; but I
+am afraid that he is not exactly the gentleman by whom our mayor would
+wish to be painted.  I have heard say that he is not a very good friend
+to Church and State.  Come, young man," he added, "it appears to me that
+you are too modest; I like your style of painting, so do we all, and--why
+should I mince the matter?--the money is to be collected in the town, why
+should it go into a stranger's pocket, and be spent in London?"
+
+"Thereupon I made them a speech, in which I said that art had nothing to
+do with Church and State, at least with English Church and State, which
+had never encouraged it; and that, though Church and State were doubtless
+very fine things, a man might be a very good artist who cared not a straw
+for either.  I then made use of more Greek words, and told them how
+painting was one of the Nine Muses, and one of the most independent
+creatures alive, inspiring whom she pleased, and asking leave of nobody;
+that I should be quite unworthy of the favours of the Muse if, on the
+present occasion, I did not recommend them a man whom I considered to be
+a much greater master of the heroic than myself; and that, with regard to
+the money being spent in the city, I had no doubt that they would not
+weigh for a moment such a consideration against the chance of getting a
+true heroic picture for the city.  I never talked so well in my life, and
+said so many flattering things to the hunchback and his friends, that at
+last they said that I should have my own way; and that if I pleased to go
+up to London, and bring down the painter of Lazarus to paint the mayor, I
+might; so they then bade me farewell, and I have come up to London."
+
+"To put a hundred pounds into the hands of--"
+
+"A better man than myself," said my brother, "of course."
+
+"And have you come up at your own expense?"
+
+"Yes," said my brother, "I have come up at my own expense."
+
+I made no answer, but looked in my brother's face.  We then returned to
+the former subjects of conversation, talking of the dead, my mother, and
+the dog.
+
+After some time my brother said, "I will now go to the painter, and
+communicate to him the business which has brought me to town; and, if you
+please, I will take you with me and introduce you to him."  Having
+expressed my willingness, we descended into the street.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+Painter of the Heroic--I'll Go!--A Modest Peep--Who is this?--A Capital
+Pharaoh--Disproportionably Short--Imaginary Picture--English Figures.
+
+The painter of the heroic resided a great way off, at the western end of
+the town.  We had some difficulty in obtaining admission to him; a
+maid-servant, who opened the door, eyeing us somewhat suspiciously: it
+was not until my brother had said that he was a friend of the painter
+that we were permitted to pass the threshold.  At length we were shown
+into the studio, where we found the painter, with an easel and brush,
+standing before a huge piece of canvas, on which he had lately commenced
+painting a heroic picture.  The painter might be about thirty-five years
+old; he had a clever, intelligent countenance, with a sharp grey eye--his
+hair was dark brown, and cut a-la-Rafael, as I was subsequently told,
+that is, there was little before and much behind--he did not wear a
+neckcloth; but, in its stead, a black riband, so that his neck, which was
+rather fine, was somewhat exposed--he had a broad muscular breast, and I
+make no doubt that he would have been a very fine figure, but
+unfortunately his legs and thighs were somewhat short.  He recognised my
+brother, and appeared glad to see him.
+
+"What brings you to London?" said he.
+
+Whereupon my brother gave him a brief account of his commission.  At the
+mention of the hundred pounds, I observed the eyes of the painter
+glisten.  "Really," said he, when my brother had concluded, "it was very
+kind to think of me.  I am not very fond of painting portraits; but a
+mayor is a mayor, and there is something grand in that idea of the Norman
+arch.  I'll go; moreover, I am just at this moment confoundedly in need
+of money, and when you knocked at the door, I don't mind telling you, I
+thought it was some dun.  I don't know how it is, but in the capital they
+have no taste for the heroic, they will scarce look at a heroic picture;
+I am glad to hear that they have better taste in the provinces.  I'll go;
+when shall we set off?"
+
+Thereupon it was arranged between the painter and my brother that they
+should depart the next day but one; they then began to talk of art.
+"I'll stick to the heroic," said the painter; "I now and then dabble in
+the comic, but what I do gives me no pleasure, the comic is so low; there
+is nothing like the heroic.  I am engaged here on a heroic picture," said
+he, pointing to the canvas; "the subject is 'Pharaoh dismissing Moses
+from Egypt,' after the last plague--the death of the first-born,--it is
+not far advanced--that finished figure is Moses:" they both looked at the
+canvas, and I, standing behind, took a modest peep.  The picture, as the
+painter said, was not far advanced, the Pharaoh was merely in outline; my
+eye was, of course, attracted by the finished figure, or rather what the
+painter had called the finished figure; but, as I gazed upon it, it
+appeared to me that there was some thing defective--something
+unsatisfactory in the figure.  I concluded, however, that the painter,
+notwithstanding what he had said, had omitted to give it the finishing
+touch.  "I intend this to be my best picture," said the painter; "what I
+want now is a face for Pharaoh; I have long been meditating on a face for
+Pharaoh."  Here, chancing to cast his eye upon my countenance, of whom he
+had scarcely taken any manner of notice, he remained with his mouth open
+for some time.  "Who is this?" said he at last.  "Oh, this is my brother,
+I forgot to introduce him--"
+
+We presently afterwards departed; my brother talked much about the
+painter.  "He is a noble fellow," said my brother; "but, like many other
+noble fellows, has a great many enemies; he is hated by his brethren of
+the brush--all the land and waterscape painters hate him--but, above all,
+the race of portrait painters, who are ten times more numerous than the
+other two sorts, detest him for his heroic tendencies.  It will be a kind
+of triumph to the last, I fear, when they hear he has condescended to
+paint a portrait; however, that Norman arch will enable him to escape
+from their malice--that is a capital idea of the watchmaker, that Norman
+arch."
+
+I spent a happy day with my brother.  On the morrow he went again to the
+painter, with whom he dined; I did not go with him.  On his return he
+said, "The painter has been asking a great many questions about you, and
+expressed a wish that you would sit to him as Pharaoh; he thinks you
+would make a capital Pharaoh."  "I have no wish to appear on canvas,"
+said I; "moreover, he can find much better Pharaohs than myself; and, if
+he wants a real Pharaoh, there is a certain Mr. Petulengro."
+"Petulengro?" said my brother; "a strange kind of fellow came up to me
+some time ago in our town, and asked me about you; when I inquired his
+name, he told me Petulengro.  No, he will not do, he is too short;
+by-the-bye, do you not think that figure of Moses is somewhat short?"
+And then it appeared to me that I had thought the figure of Moses
+somewhat short, and I told my brother so.  "Ah!" said my brother.
+
+On the morrow my brother departed with the painter for the old town, and
+there the painter painted the mayor.  I did not see the picture for a
+great many years, when, chancing to be at the old town, I beheld it.
+
+The original mayor was a mighty, portly man, with a bull's head, black
+hair, body like that of a dray horse, and legs and thighs corresponding;
+a man six foot high at the least.  To his bull's head, black hair, and
+body the painter had done justice; there was one point, however, in which
+the portrait did not correspond with the original--the legs were
+disproportionably short, the painter having substituted his own legs for
+those of the mayor, which when I perceived I rejoiced that I had not
+consented to be painted as Pharaoh, for, if I had, the chances are that
+he would have served me in exactly a similar way as he had served Moses
+and the mayor.
+
+Short legs in a heroic picture will never do; and, upon the whole, I
+think the painter's attempt at the heroic in painting the mayor of the
+old town a decided failure.  If I am now asked whether the picture would
+have been a heroic one provided the painter had not substituted his own
+legs for those of the mayor--I must say, I am afraid not.  I have no idea
+of making heroic pictures out of English mayors, even with the assistance
+of Norman arches; yet I am sure that capital pictures might be made out
+of English mayors, not issuing from Norman arches, but rather from the
+door of the "Checquers" or the "Brewers Three."  The painter in question
+had great comic power, which he scarcely ever cultivated; he would fain
+be a Rafael, which he never could be, when he might have been something
+quite as good--another Hogarth; the only comic piece which he ever
+presented to the world being something little inferior to the best of
+that illustrious master.  I have often thought what a capital picture
+might have been made by my brother's friend, if, instead of making the
+mayor issue out of the Norman arch, he had painted him moving under the
+sign of the "Checquers," or the "Three Brewers," with mace--yes, with
+mace,--the mace appears in the picture issuing out of the Norman arch
+behind the mayor,--but likewise with Snap, and with whiffler, quart pot,
+and frying pan, Billy Blind, and Owlenglass, Mr. Petulengro and
+Pakomovna;--then, had he clapped his own legs upon the mayor, or any one
+else in the concourse, what matter?  But I repeat that I have no hope of
+making heroic pictures out of English mayors, or, indeed, out of English
+figures in general.  England may be a land of heroic hearts, but it is
+not, properly, a land of heroic figures, or heroic
+posture-making.--Italy--what was I going to say about Italy?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+No Authority Whatever--Interference--Wondrous Farrago--Brandt and
+Struensee--What a Life!--The Hearse--Mortal Relics--Great Poet--Fashion
+and Fame--What a Difference!--Oh, Beautiful!--Good for Nothing.
+
+And now once more to my pursuits, to my Lives and Trials.  However
+partial at first I might be to these lives and trials, it was not long
+before they became regular trials to me, owing to the whims and caprices
+of the publisher.  I had not been long connected with him before I
+discovered that he was wonderfully fond of interfering with other
+people's business--at least with the business of those who were under his
+control.  What a life did his unfortunate authors lead!  He had many in
+his employ toiling at all kinds of subjects--I call them authors because
+there is something respectable in the term author, though they had little
+authorship in, and no authority whatever over, the works on which they
+were engaged.  It is true the publisher interfered with some colour of
+reason, the plan of all and every of the works alluded to having
+originated with himself; and, be it observed, many of his plans were
+highly clever and promising, for, as I have already had occasion to say,
+the publisher in many points was a highly clever and sagacious person;
+but he ought to have been contented with planning the works originally,
+and have left to other people the task of executing them, instead of
+which he marred everything by his rage for interference.  If a book of
+fairy tales was being compiled, he was sure to introduce some of his
+philosophy, explaining the fairy tale by some theory of his own.  Was a
+book of anecdotes on hand, it was sure to be half filled with sayings and
+doings of himself during the time that he was common councilman of the
+City of London.  Now, however fond the public might be of fairy tales, it
+by no means relished them in conjunction with the publisher's philosophy;
+and however fond of anecdotes in general, or even of the publisher in
+particular--for indeed there were a great many anecdotes in circulation
+about him which the public both read and listened to very readily--it
+took no pleasure in such anecdotes as he was disposed to relate about
+himself.  In the compilation of my Lives and Trials, I was exposed to
+incredible mortification, and ceaseless trouble, from this same rage for
+interference.  It is true he could not introduce his philosophy into the
+work, nor was it possible for him to introduce anecdotes of himself,
+having never had the good or evil fortune to be tried at the bar; but he
+was continually introducing--what, under a less apathetic government than
+the one then being, would have infallibly subjected him, and perhaps
+myself, to a trial,--his politics; not his Oxford or pseudo politics, but
+the politics which he really entertained, and which were of the most
+republican and violent kind.  But this was not all; when about a moiety
+of the first volume had been printed, he materially altered the plan of
+the work; it was no longer to be a collection of mere Newgate lives and
+trials, but of lives and trials of criminals in general, foreign as well
+as domestic.  In a little time the work became a wondrous farrago, in
+which Konigsmark the robber figured by the side of Sam Lynn, and the
+Marchioness de Brinvilliers was placed in contact with a Chinese outlaw.
+What gave me the most trouble and annoyance was the publisher's
+remembering some life or trial, foreign or domestic, which he wished to
+be inserted, and which I was forthwith to go in quest of and purchase at
+my own expense: some of those lives and trials were by no means easy to
+find.  "Where is Brandt and Struensee?" cries the publisher; "I am sure I
+don't know," I replied; whereupon the publisher falls to squealing like
+one of Joey's rats.  "Find me up Brandt and Struensee by next morning,
+or--"  "Have you found Brandt and Struensee?" cried the publisher, on my
+appearing before him next morning.  "No," I reply, "I can hear nothing
+about them;" whereupon the publisher falls to bellowing like Joey's bull.
+By dint of incredible diligence, I at length discover the dingy volume
+containing the lives and trials of the celebrated two who had brooded
+treason dangerous to the state of Denmark.  I purchase the dingy volume,
+and bring it in triumph to the publisher, the perspiration running down
+my brow.  The publisher takes the dingy volume in his hand, he examines
+it attentively, then puts it down; his countenance is calm for a moment,
+almost benign.  Another moment and there is a gleam in the publisher's
+sinister eye; he snatches up the paper containing the names of the
+worthies which I have intended shall figure in the forthcoming
+volumes--he glances rapidly over it, and his countenance once more
+assumes a terrific expression.  "How is this?" he exclaims; "I can
+scarcely believe my eyes--the most important life and trial omitted to be
+found in the whole criminal record--what gross, what utter negligence!
+Where's the life of Farmer Patch? where's the trial of Yeoman Patch?"
+
+"What a life! what a dog's life!" I would frequently exclaim, after
+escaping from the presence of the publisher.
+
+One day, after a scene with the publisher similar to that which I have
+described above, I found myself about noon at the bottom of Oxford
+Street, where it forms a right angle with the road which leads or did
+lead to Tottenham Court.  Happening to cast my eyes around, it suddenly
+occurred to me that something uncommon was expected; people were standing
+in groups on the pavement--the upstair windows of the houses were
+thronged with faces, especially those of women, and many of the shops
+were partly, and not a few entirely closed.  What could be the reason of
+all this?  All at once I bethought me that this street of Oxford was no
+other than the far-famed Tyburn way.  Oh, oh, thought I, an execution;
+some handsome young robber is about to be executed at the farther end;
+just so, see how earnestly the women are peering; perhaps another Harry
+Symms--Gentleman Harry as they called him--is about to be carted along
+this street to Tyburn tree; but then I remembered that Tyburn tree had
+long since been cut down, and that criminals, whether young or old,
+good-looking or ugly, were executed before the big stone gaol, which I
+had looked at with a kind of shudder during my short rambles in the city.
+What could be the matter?  Just then I heard various voices cry "There it
+comes!" and all heads were turned up Oxford Street, down which a hearse
+was slowly coming: nearer and nearer it drew; presently it was just
+opposite the place where I was standing, when, turning to the left, it
+proceeded slowly along Tottenham Road; immediately behind the hearse were
+three or four mourning coaches, full of people, some of which, from the
+partial glimpse which I caught of them, appeared to be foreigners; behind
+these came a very long train of splendid carriages, all of which, without
+one exception, were empty.
+
+"Whose body is in that hearse?" said I to a dapper-looking individual,
+seemingly a shopkeeper, who stood beside me on the pavement, looking at
+the procession.
+
+"The mortal relics of Lord Byron," said the dapper-looking individual
+mouthing his words and smirking--"the illustrious poet, which have been
+just brought from Greece, and are being conveyed to the family vault in
+---shire."
+
+"An illustrious poet, was he?" said I.
+
+"Beyond all criticism," said the dapper man; "all we of the rising
+generation are under incalculable obligation to Byron; I myself, in
+particular, have reason to say so; in all my correspondence my style is
+formed on the Byronic model."
+
+I looked at the individual for a moment, who smiled and smirked to
+himself applause, and then I turned my eyes upon the hearse proceeding
+slowly up the almost endless street.  This man, this Byron, had for many
+years past been the demigod of England, and his verses the daily food of
+those who read, from the peer to the draper's assistant; all were
+admirers, or rather worshippers, of Byron, and all doated on his verses;
+and then I thought of those who, with genius as high as his, or higher,
+had lived and died neglected.  I thought of Milton abandoned to poverty
+and blindness; of witty and ingenious Butler consigned to the tender
+mercies of bailiffs; and starving Otway: they had lived, neglected and
+despised, and, when they died, a few poor mourners only had followed them
+to the grave; but this Byron had been made a half god of when living, and
+now that he was dead he was followed by worshipping crowds, and the very
+sun seemed to come out on purpose to grace his funeral.  And, indeed, the
+sun, which for many days past had hidden its face in clouds, shone out
+that morning with wonderful brilliancy, flaming upon the black hearse and
+its tall ostrich plumes, the mourning coaches, and the long train of
+aristocratic carriages which followed behind.
+
+"Great poet, sir," said the dapper-looking man, "great poet, but
+unhappy."
+
+Unhappy? yes, I had heard that he had been unhappy; that he had roamed
+about a fevered, distempered man, taking pleasure in nothing--that I had
+heard; but was it true? was he really unhappy? was not this unhappiness
+assumed, with the view of increasing the interest which the world took in
+him? and yet who could say?  He might be unhappy, and with reason.  Was
+he a real poet, after all? might he not doubt himself? might he not have
+a lurking consciousness that he was undeserving of the homage which he
+was receiving? that it could not last? that he was rather at the top of
+fashion than of fame?  He was a lordling, a glittering, gorgeous
+lordling: and he might have had a consciousness that he owed much of his
+celebrity to being so; he might have felt that he was rather at the top
+of fashion than of fame.  Fashion soon changes, thought I, eagerly to
+myself--a time will come, and that speedily, when he will be no longer in
+the fashion; when this idiotic admirer of his, who is still grinning at
+my side, shall have ceased to mould his style on Byron's; and this
+aristocracy, squirearchy, and what not, who now send their empty
+carriages to pay respect to the fashionable corpse, shall have
+transferred their empty worship to some other animate or inanimate thing.
+Well, perhaps after all it was better to have been mighty Milton in his
+poverty and blindness--witty and ingenious Butler consigned to the tender
+mercies of bailiffs, and starving Otway; they might enjoy more real
+pleasure than this lordling; they must have been aware that the world
+would one day do them justice--fame after death is better than the top of
+fashion in life.  They have left a fame behind them which shall never
+die, whilst this lordling--a time will come when he will be out of
+fashion and forgotten.  And yet I don't know; didn't he write Childe
+Harold and that ode?  Yes, he wrote Childe Harold and that ode.  Then a
+time will scarcely come when he will be forgotten.  Lords, squires, and
+cockneys may pass away, but a time will scarcely come when Childe Harold
+and that ode will be forgotten.  He was a poet, after all, and he must
+have known it; a real poet, equal to--to--what a destiny!  Rank, beauty,
+fashion, immortality,--he could not be unhappy; what a difference in the
+fate of men--I wish I could think he was unhappy--
+
+I turned away.
+
+"Great poet, sir," said the dapper man, turning away too, "but
+unhappy--fate of genius, sir; I, too, am frequently unhappy."
+
+Hurrying down a street to the right, I encountered Francis Ardry.
+
+"What means the multitude yonder?" he demanded.
+
+"They are looking after the hearse which is carrying the remains of Byron
+up Tottenham Road."
+
+"I have seen the man," said my friend, as he turned back the way he had
+come, "so I can dispense with seeing the hearse--I saw the living man at
+Venice--ah, a great poet."
+
+"Yes," said I, "a great poet, it must be so, everybody says so--what a
+destiny!  What a difference in the fate of men; but 'tis said he was
+unhappy; you have seen him, how did he look?"
+
+"Oh, beautiful!"
+
+"But did he look happy?"
+
+"Why, I can't say he looked very unhappy; I saw him with two--very fair
+ladies; but what is it to you whether the man was unhappy or not?  Come,
+where shall we go--to Joey's?  His hugest bear--"
+
+"O, I have had enough of bears, I have just been worried by one."
+
+"The publisher?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then come to Joey's, three dogs are to be launched at his bear: as they
+pin him, imagine him to be the publisher."
+
+"No," said I, "I am good for nothing; I think I shall stroll to London
+Bridge."
+
+"That's too far for me--farewell!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+London Bridge--Why not?--Every Heart has its Bitters--Wicked Boys--Give
+me my Book--Such a Fright--Honour Bright.
+
+So I went to London Bridge, and again took my station on the spot by the
+booth where I had stood on the former occasion.  The booth, however, was
+empty; neither the apple-woman nor her stall was to be seen.  I looked
+over the balustrade upon the river; the tide was now as before, rolling
+beneath the arch with frightful impetuosity.  As I gazed upon the eddies
+of the whirlpool, I thought within myself how soon human life would
+become extinct there; a plunge, a convulsive flounder, and all would be
+over.  When I last stood over that abyss I had felt a kind of impulse--a
+fascination; I had resisted it--I did not plunge into it.  At present I
+felt a kind of impulse to plunge; but the impulse was of a different
+kind; it proceeded from a loathing of life.  I looked wistfully at the
+eddies--what had I to live for?--what, indeed!  I thought of Brandt and
+Struensee, and Yeoman Patch--should I yield to the impulse--why not?  My
+eyes were fixed on the eddies.  All of a sudden I shuddered; I thought I
+saw heads in the pool; human bodies wallowing confusedly; eyes turned up
+to heaven with hopeless horror; was that water, or--Where was the impulse
+now?  I raised my eyes from the pool, I looked no more upon it--I looked
+forward, far down the stream in the far distance.  "Ha! what is that?  I
+thought I saw a kind of Fata Morgana, green meadows, waving groves, a
+rustic home; but in the far distance--I stared--I stared--a Fata
+Morgana--it was gone--"
+
+I left the balustrade and walked to the farther end of the bridge, where
+I stood for some time contemplating the crowd; I then passed over to the
+other side with the intention of returning home; just half way over the
+bridge, in a booth immediately opposite to the one in which I had
+formerly beheld her, sat my friend, the old apple-woman, huddled up
+behind her stall.
+
+"Well, mother," said I, "how are you?"  The old woman lifted her head
+with a startled look.
+
+"Don't you know me?" said I.
+
+"Yes, I think I do.  Ah, yes," said she, as her features beamed with
+recollection, "I know you, dear; you are the young lad that gave me the
+tanner.  Well, child, got anything to sell?"
+
+"Nothing at all," said I.
+
+"Bad luck?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "bad enough, and ill usage."
+
+"Ah, I suppose they caught ye; well, child, never mind, better luck next
+time; I am glad to see you."
+
+"Thank you," said I, sitting down on the stone bench; "I thought you had
+left the bridge--why have you changed your side?"
+
+The old woman shook.
+
+"What is the matter with you," said I, "are you ill?"
+
+"No, child, no; only--"
+
+"Only what?  Any bad news of your son?"
+
+"No, child, no; nothing about my son.  Only low, child--every heart has
+its bitters."
+
+"That's true," said I; "well, I don't want to know your sorrows; come,
+where's the book?"
+
+The apple-woman shook more violently than before, bent herself down, and
+drew her cloak more closely about her than before.  "Book, child, what
+book?"
+
+"Why, blessed Mary, to be sure."
+
+"Oh, that; I ha'n't got it, child--I have lost it, have left it at home."
+
+"Lost it," said I; "left it at home--what do you mean?  Come, let me have
+it."
+
+"I ha'n't got it, child."
+
+"I believe you have got it under your cloak."
+
+"Don't tell any one, dear; don't--don't," and the apple-woman burst into
+tears.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" said I, staring at her.
+
+"You want to take my book from me?"
+
+"Not I, I care nothing about it; keep it, if you like, only tell me
+what's the matter?"
+
+"Why, all about that book."
+
+"The book?"
+
+"Yes, they wanted to take it from me."
+
+"Who did?"
+
+"Why, some wicked boys.  I'll tell you all about it.  Eight or ten days
+ago, I sat behind my stall, reading my book; all of a sudden I felt it
+snatched from my hand; up I started, and see three rascals of boys
+grinning at me; one of them held the book in his hand.  'What book is
+this?' said he, grinning at it.  'What do you want with my book?' said I,
+clutching at it over my stall, 'give me my book.'  'What do you want a
+book for?' said he, holding it back; 'I have a good mind to fling it into
+the Thames.'  'Give me my book,' I shrieked; and, snatching at it, I fell
+over my stall, and all my fruit was scattered about.  Off ran the
+boys--off ran the rascal with my book.  Oh dear, I thought I should have
+died; up I got, however, and ran after them as well as I could; I thought
+of my fruit, but I thought more of my book.  I left my fruit and ran
+after my book.  'My book! my book!' I shrieked, 'murder! theft! robbery!'
+I was near being crushed under the wheels of a cart; but I didn't care--I
+followed the rascals.  'Stop them! stop them!'  I ran nearly as fast as
+they--they couldn't run very fast on account of the crowd.  At last some
+one stopped the rascal, whereupon he turned round, and flinging the book
+at me, it fell into the mud; well, I picked it up and kissed it, all
+muddy as it was.  'Has he robbed you?' said the man.  'Robbed me, indeed;
+why, he had got my book.'  'Oh, your book,' said the man, and laughed,
+and let the rascal go.  Ah, he might laugh, but--"
+
+"Well, go on."
+
+"My heart beats so.  Well, I went back to my booth and picked up my stall
+and my fruits, what I could find of them.  I couldn't keep my stall for
+two days I got such a fright, and when I got round I couldn't bide the
+booth where the thing had happened, so I came over to the other side.
+Oh, the rascals, if I could but see them hanged."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"Why, for stealing my book."
+
+"I thought you didn't dislike stealing,--that you were ready to buy
+things--there was your son, you know--"
+
+"Yes, to be sure."
+
+"He took things."
+
+"To be sure he did."
+
+"But you don't like a thing of yours to be taken."
+
+"No, that's quite a different thing; what's stealing handkerchiefs, and
+that kind of thing, to do with taking my book; there's a wide
+difference--don't you see?"
+
+"Yes, I see."
+
+"Do you, dear? well, bless your heart, I'm glad you do.  Would you like
+to look at the book?"
+
+"Well, I think I should."
+
+"Honour bright?" said the apple-woman, looking me in the eyes.
+
+"Honour bright," said I, looking the apple-woman in the eyes.
+
+"Well then, dear, here it is," said she, taking it from under her cloak;
+"read it as long as you like, only get a little farther into the
+booth--Don't sit so near the edge--you might--"
+
+I went deep into the booth, and the apple-woman, bringing her chair
+round, almost confronted me.  I commenced reading the book, and was soon
+engrossed by it; hours passed away, once or twice I lifted up my eyes,
+the apple-woman was still confronting me: at last my eyes began to ache,
+whereupon I returned the book to the apple-woman, and giving her another
+tanner, walked away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+Decease of the Review--Homer Himself--Bread and Cheese--Finger and
+Thumb--Impossible to Find--Something Grand--Universal Mixture--Some Other
+Publisher.
+
+Time passed away, and with it the review, which, contrary to the
+publisher's expectation, did not prove a successful speculation.  About
+four months after the period of its birth it expired, as all reviews must
+for which there is no demand.  Authors had ceased to send their
+publications to it, and, consequently, to purchase it; for I have already
+hinted that it was almost entirely supported by authors of a particular
+class, who expected to see their publications foredoomed to immortality
+in its pages.  The behaviour of these authors towards this unfortunate
+publication I can attribute to no other cause than to a report which was
+industriously circulated, namely, that the review was low, and that to be
+reviewed in it was an infallible sign that one was a low person, who
+could be reviewed nowhere else.  So authors took fright; and no wonder,
+for it will never do for an author to be considered low.  Homer himself
+has never yet entirely recovered from the injury he received by Lord
+Chesterfield's remark, that the speeches of his heroes were frequently
+exceedingly low.
+
+So the review ceased, and the reviewing corps no longer existed as such;
+they forthwith returned to their proper avocations--the editor to compose
+tunes on his piano, and to the task of disposing of the remaining copies
+of his Quintilian--the inferior members to working for the publisher,
+being to a man dependents of his; one, to composing fairy tales; another,
+to collecting miracles of Popish saints; and a third, Newgate lives and
+trials.  Owing to the bad success of the review, the publisher became
+more furious than ever.  My money was growing short, and I one day asked
+him to pay me for my labours in the deceased publication.
+
+"Sir," said the publisher, "what do you want the money for?"
+
+"Merely to live on," I replied; "it is very difficult to live in this
+town without money."
+
+"How much money did you bring with you to town?" demanded the publisher.
+
+"Some twenty or thirty pounds," I replied.
+
+"And you have spent it already?"
+
+"No," said I, "not entirely; but it is fast disappearing."
+
+"Sir," said the publisher, "I believe you to be extravagant; yes, sir,
+extravagant!"
+
+"On what grounds do you suppose me to be so?"
+
+"Sir," said the publisher; "you eat meat."
+
+"Yes," said I, "I eat meat sometimes: what should I eat?"
+
+"Bread, sir," said the publisher; "bread and cheese."
+
+"So I do, sir, when I am disposed to indulge; but I cannot often afford
+it--it is very expensive to dine on bread and cheese, especially when one
+is fond of cheese, as I am.  My last bread and cheese dinner cost me
+fourteen pence.  There is drink, sir; with bread and cheese one must
+drink porter, sir."
+
+"Then, sir, eat bread--bread alone.  As good men as yourself have eaten
+bread alone; they have been glad to get it, sir.  If with bread and
+cheese you must drink porter, sir, with bread alone you can, perhaps,
+drink water, sir."
+
+However, I got paid at last for my writings in the review, not, it is
+true, in the current coin of the realm, but in certain bills; there were
+two of them, one payable at twelve, and the other at eighteen months
+after date.  It was a long time before I could turn these bills to any
+account; at last I found a person who, at a discount of only thirty per
+cent., consented to cash them; not, however, without sundry grimaces,
+and, what was still more galling, holding, more than once, the
+unfortunate papers high in air between his forefinger and thumb.  So ill,
+indeed, did I like this last action, that I felt much inclined to snatch
+them away.  I restrained myself, however, for I remembered that it was
+very difficult to live without money, and that, if the present person did
+not discount the bills, I should probably find no one else that would.
+
+But if the treatment which I had experienced from the publisher, previous
+to making this demand upon him, was difficult to bear, that which I
+subsequently underwent was far more so; his great delight seemed to
+consist in causing me misery and mortification; if, on former occasions,
+he was continually sending me in quest of lives and trials difficult to
+find, he now was continually demanding lives and trials which it was
+impossible to find; the personages whom he mentioned never having lived,
+nor consequently been tried.  Moreover, some of my best lives and trials
+which I had corrected and edited with particular care, and on which I
+prided myself no little, he caused to be cancelled after they had passed
+through the press.  Amongst these was the life of "Gentleman Harry."
+"They are drugs, sir," said the publisher, "drugs; that life of Harry
+Simms has long been the greatest drug in the calendar--has it not,
+Taggart?"
+
+Taggart made no answer save by taking a pinch of snuff.  The reader has,
+I hope, not forgotten Taggart, whom I mentioned whilst giving an account
+of my first morning's visit to the publisher.  I beg Taggart's pardon for
+having been so long silent about him; but he was a very silent man--yet
+there was much in Taggart--and Taggart had always been civil and kind to
+me in his peculiar way.
+
+"Well, young gentleman," said Taggart to me one morning, when we chanced
+to be alone a few days after the affair of the cancelling, "how do you
+like authorship?"
+
+"I scarcely call authorship the drudgery I am engaged in," said I.
+
+"What do you call authorship?" said Taggart.
+
+"I scarcely know," said I; "that is, I can scarcely express what I think
+it."
+
+"Shall I help you out?" said Taggart, turning round his chair, and
+looking at me.
+
+"If you like," said I.
+
+"To write something grand," said Taggart, taking snuff; "to be stared
+at--lifted on people's shoulders--"
+
+"Well," said I, "that is something like it."
+
+Taggart took snuff.  "Well," said he, "why don't you write something
+grand?"
+
+"I have," said I.
+
+"What?" said Taggart.
+
+"Why," said I, "there are those ballads."
+
+Taggart took snuff.
+
+"And those wonderful versions from Ab Gwilym."
+
+Taggart took snuff again.
+
+"You seem to be very fond of snuff," said I; looking at him angrily.
+
+Taggart tapped his box.
+
+"Have you taken it long?"
+
+"Three-and-twenty years."
+
+"What snuff do you take?"
+
+"Universal mixture."
+
+"And you find it of use?"
+
+Taggart tapped his box.
+
+"In what respect?" said I.
+
+"In many--there is nothing like it to get a man through; but for snuff I
+should scarcely be where I am now."
+
+"Have you been long here?"
+
+"Three-and-twenty years."
+
+"Dear me," said I; "and snuff brought you through?  Give me a pinch--pah,
+I don't like it," and I sneezed.
+
+"Take another pinch," said Taggart.
+
+"No," said I, "I don't like snuff."
+
+"Then you will never do for authorship; at least for this kind."
+
+"So I begin to think--what shall I do?"
+
+Taggart took snuff.
+
+"You were talking of a great work--what shall it be?"
+
+Taggart took snuff.
+
+"Do you think I could write one?"
+
+Taggart uplifted his two forefingers as if to tap, he did not, however.
+
+"It would require time," said I, with half a sigh.
+
+Taggart tapped his box.
+
+"A great deal of time; I really think that my ballads--"
+
+Taggart took snuff.
+
+"If published, would do me credit.  I'll make an effort, and offer them
+to some other publisher."
+
+Taggart took a double quantity of snuff.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+Francis Ardry--That Won't do, Sir--Observe My Gestures--I Think You
+Improve--Better than Politics--Delightful Young Frenchwoman--A Burning
+Shame--Magnificent Impudence--Paunch--Voltaire--Lump of Sugar.
+
+Occasionally I called on Francis Ardry.  This young gentleman resided in
+handsome apartments in the neighbourhood of a fashionable square, kept a
+livery servant, and, upon the whole, lived in very good style.  Going to
+see him one day, between one and two, I was informed by the servant that
+his master was engaged for the moment, but that, if I pleased to wait a
+few minutes, I should find him at liberty.  Having told the man that I
+had no objection, he conducted me into a small apartment which served as
+antechamber to a drawing-room; the door of this last being half open, I
+could see Francis Ardry at the farther end, speechifying and
+gesticulating in a very impressive manner.  The servant, in some
+confusion, was hastening to close the door; but, ere he could effect his
+purpose, Francis Ardry, who had caught a glimpse of me, exclaimed, "Come
+in--come in by all means;" and then proceeded, as before, speechifying
+and gesticulating.  Filled with some surprise, I obeyed his summons.
+
+On entering the room I perceived another individual, to whom Francis
+Ardry appeared to be addressing himself; this other was a short spare man
+of about sixty; his hair was of badger grey, and his face was covered
+with wrinkles--without vouchsafing me a look, he kept his eye, which was
+black and lustrous, fixed full on Francis Ardry, as if paying the deepest
+attention to his discourse.  All of a sudden, however, he cried with a
+sharp, cracked voice, "That won't do, sir; that won't do--more
+vehemence--your argument is at present particularly weak; therefore, more
+vehemence--you must confuse them, stun them, stultify them, sir;" and, at
+each of these injunctions, he struck the back of his right hand sharply
+against the palm of the left.  "Good, sir--good!" he occasionally
+uttered, in the same sharp, cracked tone, as the voice of Francis Ardry
+became more and more vehement.  "Infinitely good!" he exclaimed, as
+Francis Ardry raised his voice to the highest pitch; "and now, sir,
+abate; let the tempest of vehemence decline--gradually, sir; not too
+fast.  Good, sir--very good!" as the voice of Francis Ardry declined
+gradually in vehemence.  "And now a little pathos, sir--try them with a
+little pathos.  That won't do, sir--that won't do,"--as Francis Ardry
+made an attempt to become pathetic,--"that will never pass for
+pathos--with tones and gesture of that description you will never redress
+the wrongs of your country.  Now, sir, observe my gestures, and pay
+attention to the tone of my voice, sir."
+
+Thereupon, making use of nearly the same terms which Francis Ardry had
+employed, the individual in black uttered several sentences in tones and
+with gestures which were intended to express a considerable degree of
+pathos, though it is possible that some people would have thought both
+the one and the other highly ludicrous.  After a pause, Francis Ardry
+recommenced imitating the tones and the gestures of his monitor in the
+most admirable manner.  Before he had proceeded far, however, he burst
+into a fit of laughter, in which I should, perhaps, have joined, provided
+it were ever my wont to laugh.  "Ha, ha!" said the other, good
+humouredly, "you are laughing at me.  Well, well, I merely wished to give
+you a hint; but you saw very well what I meant; upon the whole I think
+you improve.  But I must now go, having two other pupils to visit before
+four."
+
+Then taking from the table a kind of three-cornered hat, and a cane
+headed with amber, he shook Francis Ardry by the hand; and, after
+glancing at me for a moment, made me a half bow, attended with a strange
+grimace, and departed.
+
+"Who is that gentleman?" said I to Francis Ardry, as soon as we were
+alone.
+
+"Oh, that is ---," said Frank smiling, "the gentleman who gives me
+lessons in elocution."
+
+"And what need have you of elocution?"
+
+"Oh, I merely obey the commands of my guardians," said Francis, "who
+insist that I should, with the assistance of ---, qualify myself for
+Parliament; for which they do me the honour to suppose that I have some
+natural talent.  I dare not disobey them; for, at the present moment, I
+have particular reasons for wishing to keep on good terms with them."
+
+"But," said I, "you are a Roman Catholic; and I thought that persons of
+your religion were excluded from Parliament?"
+
+"Why, upon that very thing the whole matter hinges; people of our
+religion are determined to be no longer excluded from Parliament, but to
+have a share in the government of the nation.  Not that I care anything
+about the matter; I merely obey the will of my guardians; my thoughts are
+fixed on something better than politics."
+
+"I understand you," said I; "dog-fighting--well, I can easily conceive
+that to some minds dog-fighting--"
+
+"I was not thinking of dog-fighting," said Francis Ardry, interrupting
+me.
+
+"Not thinking of dog-fighting!" I ejaculated.
+
+"No," said Francis Ardry, "something higher and much more rational than
+dog-fighting at present occupies my thoughts."
+
+"Dear me," said I, "I thought I had heard you say, that there was nothing
+like it!"
+
+"Like what?" said Francis Ardry.
+
+"Dog-fighting, to be sure," said I.
+
+"Pooh," said Francis Ardry; "who but the gross and unrefined care
+anything for dog-fighting?  That which at present engages my waking and
+sleeping thoughts is love--divine love--there is nothing like _that_.
+Listen to me, I have a secret to confide to you."
+
+And then Francis Ardry proceeded to make me his confidant.  It appeared
+that he had had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of the most
+delightful young Frenchwoman imaginable, Annette La Noire by name, who
+had just arrived from her native country with the intention of obtaining
+the situation of governess in some English family; a position which, on
+account of her many accomplishments, she was eminently qualified to fill.
+Francis Ardry had, however, persuaded her to relinquish her intention for
+the present, on the ground that, until she had become acclimated in
+England, her health would probably suffer from the confinement
+inseparable from the occupation in which she was desirous of engaging; he
+had, moreover--for it appeared that she was the most frank and confiding
+creature in the world--succeeded in persuading her to permit him to hire
+for her a very handsome first floor in his own neighbourhood, and to
+accept a few inconsiderable presents in money and jewellery.  "I am
+looking out for a handsome gig and horse," said Francis Ardry, at the
+conclusion of his narration; "it were a burning shame that so divine a
+creature should have to go about a place like London on foot, or in a
+paltry hackney coach."
+
+"But," said I, "will not the pursuit of politics prevent your devoting
+much time to this fair lady?"
+
+"It will prevent me devoting all my time," said Francis Ardry, "as I
+gladly would; but what can I do?  My guardians wish me to qualify myself
+for a political orator, and I dare not offend them by a refusal.  If I
+offend my guardians, I should find it impossible--unless I have recourse
+to Jews and money-lenders--to support Annette; present her with articles
+of dress and jewellery, and purchase a horse and cabriolet worthy of
+conveying her angelic person through the streets of London."
+
+After a pause, in which Francis Ardry appeared lost in thought, his mind
+being probably occupied with the subject of Annette, I broke silence by
+observing, "So your fellow-religionists are really going to make a
+serious attempt to procure their emancipation?"
+
+"Yes," said Francis Ardry, starting from his reverie; "everything has
+been arranged; even a leader has been chosen, at least for us of Ireland,
+upon the whole the most suitable man in the world for the occasion--a
+barrister of considerable talent, mighty voice, and magnificent
+impudence.  With emancipation, liberty, and redress for the wrongs of
+Ireland in his mouth, he is to force his way into the British House of
+Commons, dragging myself and others behind him--he will succeed, and when
+he is in he will cut a figure; I have heard --- himself, who has heard
+him speak, say that he will cut a figure."
+
+"And is --- competent to judge?" I demanded.
+
+"Who but he?" said Francis Ardry; "no one questions his judgment
+concerning what relates to elocution.  His fame on that point is so well
+established, that the greatest orators do not disdain occasionally to
+consult him; C--- himself, as I have been told, when anxious to produce
+any particular effect in the House, is in the habit of calling in --- for
+consultation."
+
+"As to matter, or manner?" said I.
+
+"Chiefly the latter," said Francis Ardry, "though he is competent to give
+advice as to both, for he has been an orator in his day, and a leader of
+the people; though he confessed to me that he was not exactly qualified
+to play the latter part--'I want paunch,' said he."
+
+"It is not always indispensable," said I; "there is an orator in my town,
+a hunchback and watchmaker, without it, who not only leads the people,
+but the mayor too; perhaps he has a succedaneum in his hunch: but, tell
+me, is the leader of your movement in possession of that which ---
+wants?"
+
+"No more deficient in it than in brass," said Francis Ardry.
+
+"Well," said I, "whatever his qualifications may be, I wish him success
+in the cause which he has taken up--I love religious liberty."
+
+"We shall succeed," said Francis Ardry; "John Bull upon the whole is
+rather indifferent on the subject, and then we are sure to be backed by
+the radical party, who, to gratify their political prejudices, would join
+with Satan himself."
+
+"There is one thing," said I, "connected with this matter which surprises
+me--your own lukewarmness.  Yes, making every allowance for your natural
+predilection for dog-fighting, and your present enamoured state of mind,
+your apathy at the commencement of such a movement is to me
+unaccountable."
+
+"You would not have cause to complain of my indifference," said Frank,
+"provided I thought my country would be benefited by this movement; but I
+happen to know the origin of it.  The priests are the originators, 'and
+what country was ever benefited by a movement which owed its origin to
+them?' so says Voltaire, a page of whom I occasionally read.  By the
+present move they hope to increase their influence, and to further
+certain designs which they entertain both with regard to this country and
+Ireland.  I do not speak rashly or unadvisedly.  A strange fellow--a half
+Italian, half English priest,--who was recommended to me by my guardians,
+partly as a spiritual--partly as a temporal guide, has let me into a
+secret or two; he is fond of a glass of gin and water--and over a glass
+of gin and water cold, with a lump of sugar in it, he has been more
+communicative, perhaps, than was altogether prudent.  Were I my own
+master, I would kick him, politics, and religious movements, to a
+considerable distance.  And now, if you are going away, do so quickly; I
+have an appointment with Annette, and must make myself fit to appear
+before her."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+Progress--Glorious John--Utterly Unintelligible--What a Difference!
+
+By the month of October I had, in spite of all difficulties and
+obstacles, accomplished about two-thirds of the principal task which I
+had undertaken, the compiling of the Newgate lives; I had also made some
+progress in translating the publisher's philosophy into German.  But
+about this time I began to see very clearly that it was impossible that
+our connection should prove of long duration; yet, in the event of my
+leaving the big man, what other resource had I--another publisher?  But
+what had I to offer?  There were my ballads, my Ab Gwilym, but then I
+thought of Taggart and his snuff, his pinch of snuff.  However, I
+determined to see what could be done, so I took my ballads under my arm,
+and went to various publishers; some took snuff, others did not, but none
+took my ballads or Ab Gwilym, they would not even look at them.  One
+asked me if I had anything else--he was a snuff-taker--I said yes; and
+going home returned with my translation of the German novel, to which I
+have before alluded.  After keeping it for a fortnight, he returned it to
+me on my visiting him, and, taking a pinch of snuff, told me it would not
+do.  There were marks of snuff on the outside of the manuscript, which
+was a roll of paper bound with red tape, but there were no marks of snuff
+on the interior of the manuscript, from which I concluded that he had
+never opened it.
+
+I had often heard of one Glorious John, who lived at the western end of
+the town; on consulting Taggart, he told me that it was possible that
+Glorious John would publish my ballads and Ab Gwilym, that is, said he,
+taking a pinch of snuff, provided you can see him; so I went to the house
+where Glorious John resided, and a glorious house it was, but I could not
+see Glorious John--I called a dozen times, but I never could see Glorious
+John.  Twenty years after, by the greatest chance in the world, I saw
+Glorious John, and sure enough Glorious John published my books, but they
+were different books from the first; I never offered my ballads or Ab
+Gwilym to Glorious John.  Glorious John was no snuff-taker.  He asked me
+to dinner, and treated me with superb Rhenish wine.  Glorious John is now
+gone to his rest, but I--what was I going to say?--the world will never
+forget Glorious John.
+
+So I returned to my last resource for the time then being--to the
+publisher, persevering doggedly in my labour.  One day, on visiting the
+publisher, I found him stamping with fury upon certain fragments of
+paper.
+
+"Sir," said he, "you know nothing of German; I have shown your
+translation of the first chapter of my Philosophy to several Germans: it
+is utterly unintelligible to them."  "Did they see the Philosophy?" I
+replied.  "They did, sir, but they did not profess to understand
+English."  "No more do I," I replied, "if that Philosophy be English."
+
+The publisher was furious--I was silent.  For want of a pinch of snuff, I
+had recourse to something which is no bad substitute for a pinch of snuff
+to those who can't take it, silent contempt; at first it made the
+publisher more furious, as perhaps a pinch of snuff would; it, however,
+eventually calmed him, and he ordered me back to my occupations, in other
+words, the compilation.  To be brief, the compilation was completed, I
+got paid in the usual manner, and forthwith left him.
+
+He was a clever man, but what a difference in clever men!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+The Old Spot--A Long History--Thou Shalt Not Steal--No
+Harm--Education--Necessity--Foam on Your Lip--Apples and Pears--What Will
+You Read--Metaphor--The Fur Cap--I Don't Know Him.
+
+It was past mid-winter, and I sat on London Bridge, in company with the
+old apple-woman: she had just returned from the other side of the bridge,
+to her place in the booth where I had originally found her.  This she had
+done after repeated conversations with me; "she liked the old place
+best," she said, which she would never have left but for the terror which
+she experienced when the boys ran away with her book.  So I sat with her
+at the old spot, one afternoon past mid-winter, reading the book, of
+which I had by this time come to the last pages.  I had observed that the
+old woman for some time past had shown much less anxiety about the book
+than she had been in the habit of doing.  I was, however, not quite
+prepared for her offering to make me a present of it, which she did that
+afternoon; when, having finished it, I returned it to her, with many
+thanks for the pleasure and instruction I had derived from its perusal.
+"You may keep it, dear," said the old woman, with a sigh; "you may carry
+it to your lodging, and keep it for your own."
+
+Looking at the old woman with surprise, I exclaimed, "Is it possible that
+you are willing to part with the book which has been your source of
+comfort so long?"
+
+Whereupon the old woman entered into a long history, from which I
+gathered that the book had become distasteful to her; she hardly ever
+opened it of late, she said, or if she did, it was only to shut it again;
+also, that other things which she had been fond of, though of a widely
+different kind, were now distasteful to her.  Porter and beef-steaks were
+no longer grateful to her palate, her present diet chiefly consisting of
+tea, and bread and butter.
+
+"Ah," said I, "you have been ill, and when people are ill, they seldom
+like the things which give them pleasure when they are in health."  I
+learned, moreover, that she slept little at night, and had all kinds of
+strange thoughts; that as she lay awake many things connected with her
+youth, which she had quite forgotten, came into her mind.  There were
+certain words that came into her mind the night before the last, which
+were continually humming in her ears: I found that the words were, "Thou
+shalt not steal."
+
+On inquiring where she had first heard these words, I learned that she
+had read them at school, in a book called the primer; to this school she
+had been sent by her mother, who was a poor widow, who followed the trade
+of apple-selling in the very spot where her daughter followed it now.  It
+seems that the mother was a very good kind of woman, but quite ignorant
+of letters, the benefit of which she was willing to procure for her
+child; and at the school the daughter learned to read, and subsequently
+experienced the pleasure and benefit of letters, in being able to read
+the book which she found in an obscure closet of her mother's house, and
+which had been her principal companion and comfort for many years of her
+life.
+
+But, as I have said before, she was now dissatisfied with the book, and
+with most other things in which she had taken pleasure; she dwelt much on
+the words, "Thou shalt not steal;" she had never stolen things herself,
+but then she had bought things which other people had stolen, and which
+she knew had been stolen; and her dear son had been a thief, which he
+perhaps would not have been but for the example which she set him in
+buying things from characters, as she called them, who associated with
+her.
+
+On inquiring how she had become acquainted with these characters, I
+learned that times had gone hard with her; that she had married, but her
+husband had died after a long sickness, which had reduced them to great
+distress; that her fruit trade was not a profitable one, and that she had
+bought and sold things which had been stolen to support herself and her
+son.  That for a long time she supposed there was no harm in doing so, as
+her book was full of entertaining tales of stealing; but she now thought
+that the book was a bad book, and that learning to read was a bad thing;
+her mother had never been able to read, but had died in peace, though
+poor.
+
+So here was a woman who attributed the vices and follies of her life to
+being able to read; her mother, she said, who could not read, lived
+respectably, and died in peace; and what was the essential difference
+between the mother and daughter, save that the latter could read?  But
+for her literature she might in all probability have lived respectably
+and honestly, like her mother, and might eventually have died in peace,
+which at present she could scarcely hope to do.  Education had failed to
+produce any good in this poor woman; on the contrary, there could be
+little doubt that she had been injured by it.  Then was education a bad
+thing?  Rousseau was of opinion that it was; but Rousseau was a
+Frenchman, at least wrote in French, and I cared not the snap of my
+fingers for Rousseau.  But education has certainly been of benefit in
+some instances; well, what did that prove, but that partiality existed in
+the management of the affairs of the world--if education was a benefit to
+some, why was it not a benefit to others?  Could some avoid abusing it,
+any more than others could avoid turning it to a profitable account?  I
+did not see how they could; this poor simple woman found a book in her
+mother's closet; a book, which was a capital book for those who could
+turn it to the account for which it was intended; a book, from the
+perusal of which I felt myself wiser and better, but which was by no
+means suited to the intellect of this poor simple woman, who thought that
+it was written in praise of thieving; yet she found it, she read it,
+and--and I felt myself getting into a maze, what is right, thought I?
+what is wrong?  Do I exist?  Does the world exist? if it does, every
+action is bound up with necessity.
+
+"Necessity!" I exclaimed, and cracked my finger joints.
+
+"Ah, it is a bad thing," said the old woman.
+
+"What is a bad thing?" said I.
+
+"Why, to be poor, dear."
+
+"You talk like a fool," said I, "riches and poverty are only different
+forms of necessity."
+
+"You should not call me a fool, dear; you should not call your own mother
+a fool."
+
+"You are not my mother," said I.
+
+"Not your mother, dear?--no, no more I am; but your calling me fool put
+me in mind of my dear son, who often used to call me fool--and you just
+now looked as he sometimes did, with a blob of foam on your lip."
+
+"After all, I don't know that you are not my mother."
+
+"Don't you, dear?  I'm glad of it; I wish you would make it out."
+
+"How shall I make it out? who can speak from his own knowledge as to the
+circumstances of his birth?  Besides, before attempting to establish our
+relationship, it would be necessary to prove that such people exist."
+
+"What people, dear?"
+
+"You and I."
+
+"Lord, child, you are mad; that book has made you so."
+
+"Don't abuse it," said I; "the book is an excellent one, that is,
+provided it exists."
+
+"I wish it did not," said the old woman; "but it sha'n't long; I'll burn
+it, or fling it into the river--the voices at night tell me to do so."
+
+"Tell the voices," said I, "that they talk nonsense; the book, if it
+exists, is a good book, it contains a deep moral; have you read it all?"
+
+"All the funny parts, dear; all about taking things, and the manner it
+was done; as for the rest, I could not exactly make it out."
+
+"Then the book is not to blame; I repeat that the book is a good book,
+and contains deep morality, always supposing that there is such a thing
+as morality, which is the same thing as supposing that there is anything
+at all."
+
+"Anything at all!  Why, a'n't we here on this bridge, in my booth, with
+my stall and my--"
+
+"Apples and pears, baked hot, you would say--I don't know; all is a
+mystery, a deep question.  It is a question, and probably always will be,
+whether there is a world, and consequently apples and pears; and,
+provided there be a world, whether that world be like an apple or a
+pear."
+
+"Don't talk so, dear."
+
+"I won't; we will suppose that we all exist--world, ourselves, apples,
+and pears: so you wish to get rid of the book?"
+
+"Yes, dear, I wish you would take it."
+
+"I have read it, and have no farther use for it; I do not need books: in
+a little time, perhaps, I shall not have a place wherein to deposit
+myself, far less books."
+
+"Then I will fling it into the river."
+
+"Don't do that; here, give it me.  Now what shall I do with it? you were
+so fond of it."
+
+"I am so no longer."
+
+"But how will you pass your time; what will you read?"
+
+"I wish I had never learned to read, or, if I had, that I had only read
+the books I saw at school: the primer or the other."
+
+"What was the other?"
+
+"I think they called it the Bible: all about God, and Job, and Jesus."
+
+"Ah, I know it."
+
+"You have read it; it is a nice book--all true?"
+
+"True, true--I don't know what to say; but if the world be true, and not
+a lie, a fiction, I don't see why the Bible, as they call it, should not
+be true.  By-the-bye, what do you call Bible in your tongue, or, indeed,
+book of any kind? as Bible merely means a book."
+
+"What do I call the Bible in my language, dear?"
+
+"Yes, the language of those who bring you things."
+
+"The language of those who _did_, dear; they bring them now no longer.
+They call me a fool, as you did, dear, just now; they call kissing the
+Bible, which means taking a false oath, smacking calf-skin."
+
+"That's metaphor," said I, "English, but metaphorical; what an odd
+language!  So you would like to have a Bible,--shall I buy you one?"
+
+"I am poor, dear--no money since I left off the other trade."
+
+"Well, then, I'll buy you one."
+
+"No, dear, no; you are poor, and may soon want the money; but if you can
+take me one conveniently on the sly, you know--I think you may, for, as
+it is a good book, I suppose there can be no harm in taking it."
+
+"That will never do," said I, "more especially as I should be sure to be
+caught, not having made taking of things my trade; but I'll tell you what
+I'll do--try and exchange this book of yours for a Bible; who knows for
+what great things this same book of yours may serve?"
+
+"Well, dear," said the old woman, "do as you please; I should like to see
+the--what do you call it?--Bible, and to read it, as you seem to think it
+true."
+
+"Yes," said I, "seem; that is the way to express yourself in this maze of
+doubt--I seem to think--these apples and pears seem to be--and here seems
+to be a gentleman who wants to purchase either one or the other."
+
+A person had stopped before the apple-woman's stall, and was glancing now
+at the fruit, now at the old woman and myself; he wore a blue mantle, and
+had a kind of fur cap on his head; he was somewhat above the middle
+stature; his features were keen but rather hard; there was a slight
+obliquity in his vision.  Selecting a small apple, he gave the old woman
+a penny; then, after looking at me scrutinizingly for a moment, he moved
+from the booth in the direction of Southwark.
+
+"Do you know who that man is?" said I to the old woman.
+
+"No," said she, "except that he is one of my best customers: he
+frequently stops, takes an apple, and gives me a penny; his is the only
+piece of money I have taken this blessed day.  I don't know him, but he
+has once or twice sat down in the booth with two strange-looking
+men--Mulattos, or Lascars, I think they call them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+
+Bought and Exchanged--Quite Empty--A New Firm--Bibles--Countenance of a
+Lion--Clap of Thunder--A Truce with This--I Have Lost It--Clearly a
+Right--Goddess of the Mint.
+
+In pursuance of my promise to the old woman, I set about procuring her a
+Bible with all convenient speed, placing the book which she had intrusted
+to me for the purpose of exchange in my pocket.  I went to several shops
+and asked if Bibles were to be had: I found that there were plenty.
+When, however, I informed the people that I came to barter, they looked
+blank, and declined treating with me; saying that they did not do
+business in that way.  At last I went into a shop over the window of
+which I saw written, "Books bought and exchanged:" there was a smartish
+young fellow in the shop, with black hair and whiskers; "You exchange?"
+said I.  "Yes," said he, "sometimes, but we prefer selling; what book do
+you want?"  "A Bible," said I.  "Ah," said he, "there's a great demand
+for Bibles just now; all kinds of people are becoming very pious of
+late," he added, grinning at me; "I am afraid I can't do business with
+you, more especially as the master is not at home.  What book have you
+brought?"  Taking the book out of my pocket, I placed it on the counter:
+the young fellow opened the book, and inspecting the title-page, burst
+into a loud laugh.  "What do you laugh for?" said I, angrily, and half
+clenching my fist.  "Laugh!" said the young fellow; "laugh! who could
+help laughing?"  "I could," said I; "I see nothing to laugh at; I want to
+exchange this book for a Bible."  "You do?" said the young fellow; "well,
+I daresay there are plenty who would be willing to exchange, that is, if
+they dared.  I wish master were at home; but that would never do, either.
+Master's a family man, the Bibles are not mine, and master being a family
+man, is sharp, and knows all his stock; I'd buy it of you, but, to tell
+you the truth, I am quite empty here," said he, pointing to his pocket,
+"so I am afraid we can't deal."
+
+Whereupon, looking anxiously at the young man, "what am I to do?" said I;
+"I really want a Bible."
+
+"Can't you buy one?" said the young man; "have you no money?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "I have some, but I am merely the agent of another; I came
+to exchange, not to buy; what am I to do?"
+
+"I don't know," said the young man, thoughtfully, laying down the book on
+the counter; "I don't know what you can do; I think you will find some
+difficulty in this bartering job, the trade are rather precise."  All at
+once he laughed louder than before; suddenly stopping, however, he put on
+a very grave look.  "Take my advice," said he; "there is a firm
+established in this neighbourhood which scarcely sells any books but
+Bibles; they are very rich, and pride themselves on selling their books
+at the lowest possible price; apply to them, who knows but what they will
+exchange with you?"
+
+Thereupon I demanded with some eagerness of the young man the direction
+to the place where he thought it possible that I might effect the
+exchange--which direction the young fellow cheerfully gave me, and, as I
+turned away, had the civility to wish me success.
+
+I had no difficulty in finding the house to which the young fellow had
+directed me; it was a very large house, situated in a square; and upon
+the side of the house was written in large letters, "Bibles, and other
+religious books."
+
+At the door of the house were two or three tumbrils, in the act of being
+loaded with chests, very much resembling tea-chests; one of the chests
+falling down, burst, and out flew, not tea, but various books, in a neat,
+small size, and in neat leather covers; Bibles, said I,--Bibles,
+doubtless.  I was not quite right, nor quite wrong; picking up one of the
+books, I looked at it for a moment, and found it to be the New Testament.
+"Come, young lad," said a man who stood by, in the dress of a porter,
+"put that book down, it is none of yours; if you want a book, go in and
+deal for one."
+
+Deal, thought I, deal,--the man seems to know what I am coming
+about,--and going in, I presently found myself in a very large room.
+Behind a counter two men stood with their backs to a splendid fire,
+warming themselves, for the weather was cold.
+
+Of these men one was dressed in brown, and the other was dressed in
+black; both were tall men--he who was dressed in brown was thin, and had
+a particularly ill-natured countenance; the man dressed in black was
+bulky, his features were noble, but they were those of a lion.
+
+"What is your business, young man?" said the precise personage, as I
+stood staring at him and his companion.
+
+"I want a Bible," said I.
+
+"What price, what size?" said the precise-looking man.
+
+"As to size," said I, "I should like to have a large one--that is, if you
+can afford me one--I do not come to buy."
+
+"Oh, friend," said the precise-looking man, "if you come here expecting
+to have a Bible for nothing, you are mistaken--we--"
+
+"I would scorn to have a Bible for nothing," said I, "or anything else; I
+came not to beg, but to barter; there is no shame in that, especially in
+a country like this, where all folks barter."
+
+"Oh, we don't barter," said the precise man, "at least Bibles; you had
+better depart."
+
+"Stay, brother," said the man with the countenance of a lion, "let us ask
+a few questions; this may be a very important case; perhaps the young man
+has had convictions."
+
+"Not I," I exclaimed, "I am convinced of nothing, and with regard to the
+Bible--I don't believe--"
+
+"Hey!" said the man with the lion countenance, and there he stopped.  But
+with that "Hey" the walls of the house seemed to shake, the windows
+rattled, and the porter whom I had seen in front of the house came
+running up the steps, and looked into the apartment through the glass of
+the door.
+
+There was silence for about a minute--the same kind of silence which
+succeeds a clap of thunder.
+
+At last the man with the lion countenance, who had kept his eyes fixed
+upon me, said calmly, "Were you about to say that you don't believe in
+the Bible, young man?"
+
+"No more than in anything else," said I; "you were talking of
+convictions--I have no convictions.  It is not easy to believe in the
+Bible till one is convinced that there is a Bible."
+
+"He seems to be insane," said the prim-looking man, "we had better order
+the porter to turn him out."
+
+"I am by no means certain," said I, "that the porter could turn me out;
+always provided there is a porter, and this system of ours be not a lie,
+and a dream."
+
+"Come," said the lion-looking man, impatiently, "a truce with this
+nonsense.  If the porter cannot turn you out, perhaps some other person
+can; but to the point--you want a Bible?"
+
+"I do," said I, "but not for myself; I was sent by another person to
+offer something in exchange for one."
+
+"And who is that person?"
+
+"A poor old woman, who has had what you call convictions,--heard voices,
+or thought she heard them--I forgot to ask her whether they were loud
+ones."
+
+"What has she sent to offer in exchange?" said the man, without taking
+any notice of the concluding part of my speech.
+
+"A book," said I.
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+"Nay, brother," said the precise man, "this will never do; if we once
+adopt the system of barter, we shall have all the holders of useless
+rubbish in the town applying to us."
+
+"I wish to see what he has brought," said the other; "perhaps Baxter, or
+Jewell's Apology, either of which would make a valuable addition to our
+collection.  Well, young man, what's the matter with you?"
+
+I stood like one petrified; I had put my hand into my pocket--the book
+was gone.
+
+"What's the matter?" repeated the man with the lion countenance, in a
+voice very much resembling thunder.
+
+"I have it not--I have lost it!"
+
+"A pretty story, truly," said the precise-looking man, "lost it!"
+
+"You had better retire," said the other.
+
+"How shall I appear before the party who intrusted me with the book?  She
+will certainly think that I have purloined it, notwithstanding all that I
+can say; nor, indeed, can I blame her,--appearances are certainly against
+me."
+
+"They are so--you had better retire."
+
+I moved towards the door.  "Stay, young man, one word more; there is only
+one way of proceeding which would induce me to believe that you are
+sincere."
+
+"What is that?" said I, stopping and looking at him anxiously.
+
+"The purchase of a Bible."
+
+"Purchase!" said I, "purchase!  I came not to purchase, but to barter;
+such was my instruction, and how can I barter if I have lost the book?"
+
+The other made no answer, and turning away I made for the door; all of a
+sudden I started, and turning round, "Dear me," said I, "it has just come
+into my head, that if the book was lost by my negligence, as it must have
+been, I have clearly a right to make it good."
+
+No answer.
+
+"Yes," I repeated, "I have clearly a right to make it good; how glad I
+am! see the effect of a little reflection.  I will purchase a Bible
+instantly, that is, if I have not lost--" and with considerable agitation
+I felt in my pocket.
+
+The prim-looking man smiled: "I suppose," said he, "that he has lost his
+money as well as book."
+
+"No," said I, "I have not;" and pulling out my hand I displayed no less a
+sum than three half-crowns.
+
+"O, noble goddess of the Mint!" as Dame Charlotta Nordenflycht, the
+Swede, said a hundred and fifty years ago, "great is thy power; how
+energetically the possession of thee speaks in favour of man's
+character!"
+
+"Only half-a-crown for this Bible?" said I, putting down the money, "it
+is worth three;" and bowing to the man of noble features, I departed with
+my purchase.
+
+"Queer customer," said the prim-looking man, as I was about to close the
+door--"don't like him."
+
+"Why, as to that, I scarcely know what to say," said he of the
+countenance of a lion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+
+The Pickpocket--Strange Rencounter--Drag Him Along--A Great
+Service--Things of Importance--Philological Matters--Mother of
+Languages--Zhats!
+
+A few days after the occurrence of what is recorded in the last chapter,
+as I was wandering in the City, chance directed my footsteps to an alley
+leading from one narrow street to another in the neighbourhood of
+Cheapside.  Just before I reached the mouth of the alley, a man in a
+great coat, closely followed by another, passed it; and, at the moment in
+which they were passing, I observed the man behind snatch something from
+the pocket of the other; whereupon, darting into the street, I seized the
+hindermost man by the collar, crying at the same time to the other, "My
+good friend, this person has just picked your pocket."
+
+The individual whom I addressed, turning round with a start, glanced at
+me, and then at the person whom I held.  London is the place for strange
+rencounters.  It appeared to me that I recognised both individuals--the
+man whose pocket had been picked and the other; the latter now began to
+struggle violently; "I have picked no one's pocket," said he.  "Rascal,"
+said the other, "you have got my pocket-book in your bosom."  "No, I have
+not," said the other; and struggling more violently than before, the
+pocket-book dropped from his bosom upon the ground.
+
+The other was now about to lay hands upon the fellow, who was still
+struggling.  "You had better take up your book," said I; "I can hold
+him."  He followed my advice; and, taking up his pocket-book, surveyed my
+prisoner with a ferocious look, occasionally glaring at me.  Yes, I had
+seen him before--it was the stranger whom I had observed on London
+Bridge, by the stall of the old apple-woman, with the cap and cloak; but,
+instead of these, he now wore a hat and great coat.  "Well," said I, at
+last, "what am I to do with this gentleman of ours?" nodding to the
+prisoner, who had now left off struggling.  "Shall I let him go?"
+
+"Go!" said the other, "go!  The knave--the rascal; let him go, indeed!
+Not so, he shall go before the Lord Mayor.  Bring him along."
+
+"Oh, let me go," said the other: "let me go; this is the first offence, I
+assure ye--the first time I ever thought to do anything wrong."
+
+"Hold your tongue," said I, "or I shall be angry with you.  If I am not
+very much mistaken, you once attempted to cheat me."
+
+"I never saw you before in all my life," said the fellow, though his
+countenance seemed to belie his words.
+
+"That is not true," said I; "you are the man who attempted to cheat me of
+one-and-ninepence in the coach-yard, on the first morning of my arrival
+in London."
+
+"I don't doubt it," said the other; "a confirmed thief;" and here his
+tones became peculiarly sharp; "I would fain see him hanged--crucified.
+Drag him along."
+
+"I am no constable," said I; "you have got your pocket-book,--I would
+rather you would bid me let him go."
+
+"Bid you let him go!" said the other almost furiously, "I command--stay,
+what was I going to say?  I was forgetting myself," he observed more
+gently; "but he stole my pocket-book;--if you did but know what it
+contained."
+
+"Well," said I, "if it contains anything valuable, be the more thankful
+that you have recovered it; as for the man, I will help you to take him
+where you please; but I wish you would let him go."
+
+The stranger hesitated, and there was an extraordinary play of emotion in
+his features: he looked ferociously at the pickpocket, and, more than
+once, somewhat suspiciously at myself; at last his countenance cleared,
+and, with a good grace, he said, "Well, you have done me a great service,
+and you have my consent to let him go; but the rascal shall not escape
+with impunity," he exclaimed suddenly, as I let the man go, and starting
+forward, before the fellow could escape, he struck him a violent blow on
+the face.  The man staggered, and had nearly fallen; recovering himself,
+however, he said, "I tell you what, my fellow; if I ever meet you in this
+street in a dark night, and I have a knife about me, it shall be the
+worse for you; as for you, young man," said he to me; but, observing that
+the other was making towards him, he left whatever he was about to say
+unfinished, and, taking to his heels, was out of sight in a moment.
+
+The stranger and myself walked in the direction of Cheapside, the way in
+which he had been originally proceeding; he was silent for a few moments,
+at length he said, "You have really done me a great service, and I should
+be ungrateful not to acknowledge it.  I am a merchant; and a merchant's
+pocket-book, as you perhaps know, contains many things of importance;
+but, young man," he exclaimed, "I think I have seen you before; I thought
+so at first, but where I cannot exactly say: where was it?"  I mentioned
+London Bridge and the old apple-woman.  "Oh," said he, and smiled, and
+there was something peculiar in his smile, "I remember now.  Do you
+frequently sit on London Bridge?"  "Occasionally," said I; "that old
+woman is an old friend of mine."  "Friend?" said the stranger, "I am glad
+of it, for I shall know where to find you.  At present I am going to
+'Change; time, you know, is precious to a merchant."  We were by this
+time close to Cheapside.  "Farewell," said he, "I shall not forget this
+service.  I trust we shall soon meet again."  He then shook me by the
+hand and went his way.
+
+The next day, as I was seated beside the old woman in the booth, the
+stranger again made his appearance, and, after a word or two, sat down
+beside me; the old woman was sometimes reading the Bible, which she had
+already had two or three days in her possession, and sometimes
+discoursing with me.  Our discourse rolled chiefly on philological
+matters.
+
+"What do you call bread in your language?" said I.
+
+"You mean the language of those who bring me things to buy, or who did;
+for, as I told you before, I sha'n't buy any more, it's no language of
+mine, dear--they call bread pannam in their language."
+
+"Pannam!" said I, "pannam! evidently connected with, if not derived from,
+the Latin panis; even as the word tanner, which signifieth a sixpence, is
+connected with, if not derived from, the Latin tener, which is itself
+connected with, if not derived from, tawno or tawner, which, in the
+language of Mr. Petulengro, signifieth a sucking child.  Let me see, what
+is the term for bread in the language of Mr. Petulengro?  Morro, or
+manro, as I have sometimes heard it called; is there not some connection
+between these words and panis?  Yes, I think there is; and I should not
+wonder if morro, manro, and panis were connected, perhaps derived from
+the same root; but what is that root?  I don't know--I wish I did;
+though, perhaps, I should not be the happier.  Morro--manro!  I rather
+think morro is the oldest form; it is easier to say morro than manro.
+Morro!  Irish, aran; Welsh, bara; English, bread.  I can see a
+resemblance between all the words, and pannam too; and I rather think
+that the Petulengrian word is the elder.  How odd it would be if the
+language of Mr. Petulengro should eventually turn out to be the mother of
+all the languages in the world; yet it is certain that there are some
+languages in which the terms for bread have no connection with the word
+used by Mr. Petulengro, notwithstanding those languages, in many other
+points, exhibit a close affinity to the language of the horse-shoe
+master: for example, bread, in Hebrew, is Laham, which assuredly exhibits
+little similitude to the word used by the aforesaid Petulengro.  In
+Armenian it is--"
+
+"Zhats!" said the stranger, starting up.  "By the Patriarch and the Three
+Holy Churches, this is wonderful!  How came you to know aught of
+Armenian?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+
+New Acquaintance--Wired Cases--Bread and Wine--Armenian
+Colonies--Learning Without Money--What a Language--The Tide--Your
+Foible--Learning of the Haiks--Old Proverb--Pressing Invitation.
+
+Just as I was about to reply to the interrogation of my new-formed
+acquaintance, a man, with a dusky countenance, probably one of the
+Lascars, or Mulattos, of whom the old woman had spoken, came up and
+whispered to him, and with this man he presently departed, not however
+before he had told me the place of his abode, and requested me to visit
+him.
+
+After the lapse of a few days, I called at the house, which he had
+indicated.  It was situated in a dark and narrow street, in the heart of
+the city, at no great distance from the Bank.  I entered a counting-room,
+in which a solitary clerk, with a foreign look, was writing.  The
+stranger was not at home; returning the next day, however, I met him at
+the door as he was about to enter; he shook me warmly by the hand.  "I am
+glad to see you," said he, "follow me, I was just thinking of you."  He
+led me through the counting-room, to an apartment up a flight of stairs;
+before ascending, however, he looked into the book in which the
+foreign-visaged clerk was writing, and, seemingly not satisfied with the
+manner in which he was executing his task, he gave him two or three
+cuffs, telling him at the same time that he deserved crucifixion.
+
+The apartment above stairs, to which he led me, was large, with three
+windows which opened upon the street.  The walls were hung with wired
+cases, apparently containing books.  There was a table and two or three
+chairs; but the principal article of furniture was a long sofa, extending
+from the door by which we entered to the farther end of the apartment.
+Seating himself upon the sofa, my new acquaintance motioned to me to sit
+beside him, and then, looking me full in the face, repeated his former
+inquiry, "In the name of all that is wonderful, how came you to know
+aught of my language?"
+
+"There is nothing wonderful in that," said I; "we are at the commencement
+of a philological age, every one studies languages; that is, every one
+who is fit for nothing else; philology being the last resource of dulness
+and ennui, I have got a little in advance of the throng, by mastering the
+Armenian alphabet; but I foresee the time when every unmarriageable miss,
+and desperate blockhead, will likewise have acquired the letters of
+Mesroub, and will know the term for bread, in Armenian, and perhaps that
+for wine."
+
+"Kini," said my companion; and that and the other word put me in mind of
+the duties of hospitality.  "Will you eat bread and drink wine with me?"
+
+"Willingly," said I.  Whereupon my companion, unlocking a closet,
+produced, on a silver salver, a loaf of bread, with a silver-handled
+knife, and wine in a silver flask, with cups of the same metal.  "I hope
+you like my fare," said he, after we had both eaten and drunk.
+
+"I like your bread," said I, "for it is stale; I like not your wine, it
+is sweet, and I hate sweet wine."
+
+"It is wine of Cyprus," said my entertainer; and when I found that it was
+wine of Cyprus, I tasted it again, and the second taste pleased me much
+better than the first, notwithstanding that I still thought it somewhat
+sweet.  "So," said I, after a pause, looking at my companion, "you are an
+Armenian."
+
+"Yes," said he, "an Armenian born in London, but not less an Armenian on
+that account.  My father was a native of Ispahan, one of the celebrated
+Armenian colony which was established there shortly after the time of the
+dreadful hunger, which drove the children of Haik in swarms from their
+original country, and scattered them over most parts of the eastern and
+western world.  In Ispahan he passed the greater portion of his life,
+following mercantile pursuits with considerable success.  Certain
+enemies, however, having accused him to the despot of the place, of using
+seditious language, he was compelled to flee, leaving most of his
+property behind.  Travelling in the direction of the west, he came at
+last to London, where he established himself, and eventually died,
+leaving behind a large property and myself, his only child, the fruit of
+a marriage with an Armenian English woman, who did not survive my birth
+more than three months."
+
+The Armenian then proceeded to tell me that he had carried on the
+business of his father, which seemed to embrace most matters, from buying
+silks of Lascars to speculating in the funds, and that he had
+considerably increased the property which his father had left him.  He
+candidly confessed that he was wonderfully fond of gold, and said there
+was nothing like it for giving a person respectability and consideration
+in the world; to which assertion I made no answer, being not exactly
+prepared to contradict it.
+
+And, when he had related to me his history, he expressed a desire to know
+something more of myself, whereupon I gave him the outline of my history,
+concluding with saying, "I am now a poor author, or rather a philologist,
+upon the streets of London, possessed of many tongues, which I find of no
+use in the world."
+
+"Learning without money is anything but desirable," said the Armenian,
+"as it unfits a man for humble occupations.  It is true that it may
+occasionally beget him friends; I confess to you that your understanding
+something of my language weighs more with me than the service you
+rendered me in rescuing my pocket-book the other day from the claws of
+that scoundrel whom I yet hope to see hanged, if not crucified,
+notwithstanding there were in that pocket-book papers and documents of
+considerable value.  Yes, that circumstance makes my heart warm towards
+you, for I am proud of my language--as I indeed well may be--what a
+language, noble and energetic! quite original, differing from all others
+both in words and structure."
+
+"You are mistaken," said I; "many languages resemble the Armenian both in
+structure and words."
+
+"For example?" said the Armenian.
+
+"For example?" said I, "the English."
+
+"The English," said the Armenian; "show me one word in which the English
+resembles the Armenian."
+
+"You walk on London Bridge," said I.
+
+"Yes," said the Armenian.
+
+"I saw you look over the balustrade the other morning."
+
+"True," said the Armenian.
+
+"Well, what did you see rushing up through the arches with noise and
+foam?"
+
+"What was it?" said the Armenian.  "What was it?--you don't mean the
+_tide_?"
+
+"Do I not?" said I.
+
+"Well, what has the tide to do with the matter?"
+
+"Much," said I; "what is the tide?"
+
+"The ebb and flow of the sea," said the Armenian.
+
+"The sea itself; what is the Haik word for sea?"
+
+The Armenian gave a strong gasp; then, nodding his head thrice, "you are
+right," said he, "the English word tide is the Armenian for sea; and now
+I begin to perceive that there are many English words which are Armenian;
+there is --- and --- and there again in French there is --- and ---
+derived from the Armenian.  How strange, how singular--I thank you.  It
+is a proud thing to see that the language of my race has had so much
+influence over the languages of the world."
+
+I saw that all that related to his race was the weak point of the
+Armenian.  I did not flatter the Armenian with respect to his race or
+language.  "An inconsiderable people," said I, "shrewd and industrious,
+but still an inconsiderable people.  A language bold and expressive, and
+of some antiquity, derived, though perhaps not immediately, from some
+much older tongue.  I do not think that the Armenian has had any
+influence over the formation of the languages of the world.  I am not
+much indebted to the Armenian for the solution of any doubts; whereas to
+the language of Mr. Petulengro--"
+
+"I have heard you mention that name before," said the Armenian; "who is
+Mr. Petulengro?"
+
+And then I told the Armenian who Mr. Petulengro was.  The Armenian spoke
+contemptuously of Mr. Petulengro and his race.  "Don't speak
+contemptuously of Mr. Petulengro," said I, "nor of anything belonging to
+him.  He is a dark, mysterious personage; all connected with him is a
+mystery, especially his language; but I believe that his language is
+doomed to solve a great philological problem--Mr. Petulengro--"
+
+"You appear agitated," said the Armenian; "take another glass of wine;
+you possess a great deal of philological knowledge, but it appears to me
+that the language of this Petulengro is your foible: but let us change
+the subject; I feel much interested in you, and would fain be of service
+to you.  Can you cast accounts?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"Keep books?"
+
+"I have an idea that I could write books," said I; "but, as to keeping
+them--" and here again I shook my head.
+
+The Armenian was silent some time; all at once, glancing at one of the
+wire cases, with which, as I have already said, the walls of the room
+were hung, he asked me if I was well acquainted with the learning of the
+Haiks.  "The books in these cases," said he, "contain the masterpieces of
+Haik learning."
+
+"No," said I, "all I know of the learning of the Haiks is their
+translation of the Bible."
+
+"You have never read Z---?"
+
+"No," said I, "I have never read Z---."
+
+"I have a plan," said the Armenian; "I think I can employ you agreeably
+and profitably; I should like to see Z--- in an English dress; you shall
+translate Z---.  If you can read the Scriptures in Armenian, you can
+translate Z---.  He is our Esop, the most acute and clever of all our
+moral writers--his philosophy--"
+
+"I will have nothing to do with him," said I.
+
+"Wherefore?" said the Armenian.
+
+"There is an old proverb," said I, "'that a burnt child avoids the fire.'
+I have burnt my hands sufficiently with attempting to translate
+philosophy, to make me cautious of venturing upon it again;" and then I
+told the Armenian how I had been persuaded by the publisher to translate
+his philosophy into German, and what sorry thanks I had received; "and
+who knows," said I, "but the attempt to translate Armenian philosophy
+into English might be attended with yet more disagreeable consequences."
+
+The Armenian smiled.  "You would find me very different from the
+publisher."
+
+"In many points I have no doubt I should," I replied; "but at the present
+moment I feel like a bird which has escaped from a cage, and, though
+hungry, feels no disposition to return.  Of what nation is the dark man
+below stairs, whom I saw writing at the desk?"
+
+"He is a Moldave," said the Armenian; "the dog (and here his eyes
+sparkled) deserves to be crucified, he is continually making mistakes."
+
+The Armenian again renewed his proposition about Z---, which I again
+refused, as I felt but little inclination to place myself beneath the
+jurisdiction of a person who was in the habit of cuffing those whom he
+employed, when they made mistakes.  I presently took my departure; not,
+however, before I had received from the Armenian a pressing invitation to
+call upon him whenever I should feel disposed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+
+What to do--Strong Enough--Fame and Profit--Alliterative
+Euphony--Excellent Fellow--Listen to Me--A Plan--Bagnigge Wells.
+
+Anxious thoughts frequently disturbed me at this time with respect to
+what I was to do, and how support myself in the Great City.  My future
+prospects were gloomy enough, and I looked forward and feared; sometimes
+I felt half disposed to accept the offer of the Armenian, and to commence
+forthwith, under his superintendence, the translation of the Haik Esop;
+but the remembrance of the cuffs which I had seen him bestow upon the
+Moldavian, when glancing over his shoulder into the ledger or whatever it
+was on which he was employed, immediately drove the inclination from my
+mind.  I could not support the idea of the possibility of his staring
+over my shoulder upon my translation of the Haik Esop, and, dissatisfied
+with my attempts, treating me as he had treated the Moldavian clerk;
+placing myself in a position which exposed me to such treatment, would
+indeed be plunging into the fire after escaping from the frying pan.  The
+publisher, insolent and overbearing as he was, whatever he might have
+wished or thought, had never lifted his hand against me, or told me that
+I merited crucifixion.
+
+What was I to do? turn porter?  I was strong; but there was something
+besides strength required to ply the trade of a porter--a mind of a
+particularly phlegmatic temperament, which I did not possess.  What
+should I do?--enlist as a soldier?  I was tall enough; but something
+besides height is required to make a man play with credit the part of
+soldier, I mean a private one--a spirit, if spirit it can be called,
+which would not only enable a man to submit with patience to insolence
+and abuse, and even to cuffs and kicks, but occasionally to the lash.  I
+felt that I was not qualified to be a soldier, at least a private one;
+far better be a drudge to the most ferocious of publishers, editing
+Newgate lives and writing in eighteenpenny reviews--better to translate
+the Haik Esop, under the superintendence of ten Armenians, than be a
+private soldier in the English service; I did not decide rashly--I knew
+something of soldiering.  What should I do?  I thought that I would make
+a last and desperate attempt to dispose of the ballads and of Ab Gwilym.
+
+I had still an idea that, provided I could persuade any spirited
+publisher to give these translations to the world, I should acquire both
+considerable fame and profit; not, perhaps, a world-embracing fame, such
+as Byron's; but a fame not to be sneered at, which would last me a
+considerable time, and would keep my heart from breaking;--profit, not
+equal to that which Scott had made by his wondrous novels, but which
+would prevent me from starving, and enable me to achieve some other
+literary enterprise.  I read and re-read my ballads, and the more I read
+them the more I was convinced that the public, in the event of their
+being published, would freely purchase, and hail them with the merited
+applause.  Were not the deeds and adventures wonderful and
+heart-stirring, from which it is true I could claim no merit, being but
+the translator; but had I not rendered them into English, with all their
+original fire?  Yes, I was confident I had; and I had no doubt that the
+public would say so.  And then, with respect to Ab Gwilym, had I not done
+as much justice to him as to the Danish ballads; not only rendering
+faithfully his thoughts, imagery, and phraseology, but even preserving in
+my translation the alliterative euphony which constitutes one of the most
+remarkable features of Welsh prosody?  Yes, I had accomplished all this;
+and I doubted not that the public would receive my translations from Ab
+Gwilym with quite as much eagerness as my version of the Danish ballads.
+But I found the publishers as untractable as ever, and to this day the
+public has never had an opportunity of doing justice to the glowing fire
+of my ballad versification, and the alliterative euphony of my imitations
+of Ab Gwilym.
+
+I had not seen Francis Ardry since the day I had seen him taking lessons
+in elocution.  One afternoon, as I was seated at my table, my head
+resting on my hands, he entered my apartment; sitting down, he inquired
+of me why I had not been to see him.
+
+"I might ask the same question of you," I replied.  "Wherefore have you
+not been to see me?"  Whereupon Francis Ardry told me that he had been
+much engaged in his oratorical exercises, also in escorting the young
+Frenchwoman about to places of public amusement; he then again questioned
+me as to the reason of my not having been to see him.
+
+I returned an evasive answer.  The truth was, that for some time past my
+appearance, owing to the state of my finances, had been rather shabby;
+and I did not wish to expose a fashionable young man like Francis Ardry,
+who lived in a fashionable neighbourhood, to the imputation of having a
+shabby acquaintance.  I was aware that Francis Ardry was an excellent
+fellow; but, on that very account, I felt, under existing circumstances,
+a delicacy in visiting him.
+
+It is very possible that he had an inkling of how matters stood, as he
+presently began to talk of my affairs and prospects.  I told him of my
+late ill success with the booksellers, and inveighed against their
+blindness to their own interest in refusing to publish my translations.
+"The last that I addressed myself to," said I, "told me not to trouble
+him again, unless I could bring him a decent novel or a tale."
+
+"Well," said Frank, "and why did you not carry him a decent novel or a
+tale?"
+
+"Because I have neither," said I; "and to write them is, I believe, above
+my capacity.  At present I feel divested of all energy--heartless, and
+almost hopeless."
+
+"I see how it is," said Francis Ardry, "you have overworked yourself,
+and, worst of all, to no purpose.  Take my advice; cast all care aside,
+and only think of diverting yourself for a month at least."
+
+"Divert myself," said I; "and where am I to find the means?"
+
+"Be that care on my shoulders," said Francis Ardry.  "Listen to me--my
+uncles have been so delighted with the favourable accounts which they
+have lately received from T--- of my progress in oratory, that, in the
+warmth of their hearts, they made me a present yesterday of two hundred
+pounds.  This is more money than I want, at least for the present; do me
+the favour to take half of it as a loan--hear me," said he, observing
+that I was about to interrupt him, "I have a plan in my head--one of the
+prettiest in the world.  The sister of my charmer is just arrived from
+France; she cannot speak a word of English; and, as Annette and myself
+are much engaged in our own matters, we cannot pay her the attention
+which we should wish, and which she deserves, for she is a truly
+fascinating creature, although somewhat differing from my charmer, having
+blue eyes and flaxen hair; whilst Annette, on the contrary--But I hope
+you will shortly see Annette.  Now my plan is this--Take the money, dress
+yourself fashionably, and conduct Annette's sister to Bagnigge Wells."
+
+"And what should we do at Bagnigge Wells?"
+
+"Do!" said Francis Ardry.  "Dance!"
+
+"But," said I, "I scarcely know anything of dancing."
+
+"Then here's an excellent opportunity of improving yourself.  Like most
+Frenchwomen, she dances divinely; however, if you object to Bagnigge
+Wells and dancing, go to Brighton, and remain there a month or two, at
+the end of which time you can return with your mind refreshed and
+invigorated, and materials, perhaps, for a tale or novel."
+
+"I never heard a more foolish plan," said I, "or one less likely to
+terminate profitably or satisfactorily.  I thank you, however, for your
+offer, which is, I dare say, well meant.  If I am to escape from my cares
+and troubles, and find my mind refreshed and invigorated, I must adopt
+other means than conducting a French demoiselle to Brighton or Bagnigge
+Wells, defraying the expense by borrowing from a friend."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+
+Singular Personage--A Large Sum--Papa of Rome--We are
+Christians--Degenerate Armenians--Roots of Ararat--Regular Features.
+
+The Armenian!  I frequently saw this individual, availing myself of the
+permission which he had given me to call upon him.  A truly singular
+personage was he, with his love of amassing money, and his nationality so
+strong as to be akin to poetry.  Many an Armenian I have subsequently
+known fond of money-getting, and not destitute of national spirit; but
+never another who, in the midst of his schemes of lucre, was at all times
+willing to enter into a conversation on the structure of the Haik
+language, or whoever offered me money to render into English the fables
+of Z--- in the hope of astonishing the stock-jobbers of the Exchange with
+the wisdom of the Haik Esop.
+
+But he was fond of money, very fond.  Within a little time I had won his
+confidence to such a degree that he informed me that the grand wish of
+his heart was to be possessed of two hundred thousand pounds.
+
+"I think you might satisfy yourself with the half," said I.  "One hundred
+thousand pounds is a large sum."
+
+"You are mistaken," said the Armenian, "a hundred thousand pounds is
+nothing.  My father left me that or more at his death.  No; I shall never
+be satisfied with less than two."
+
+"And what will you do with your riches," said I, "when you have obtained
+them?  Will you sit down and muse upon them, or will you deposit them in
+a cellar, and go down once a day to stare at them?  I have heard say that
+the fulfilment of one's wishes is invariably the precursor of extreme
+misery, and forsooth I can scarcely conceive a more horrible state of
+existence than to be without a hope or wish."
+
+"It is bad enough, I dare say," said the Armenian; "it will, however, be
+time enough to think of disposing of the money when I have procured it.
+I still fall short by a vast sum of the two hundred thousand pounds."
+
+I had occasionally much conversation with him on the state and prospects
+of his nation, especially of that part of it which still continued in the
+original country of the Haiks--Ararat and its confines, which, it
+appeared, he had frequently visited.  He informed me that since the death
+of the last Haik monarch, which occurred in the eleventh century, Armenia
+had been governed both temporally and spiritually by certain personages
+called patriarchs; their temporal authority, however, was much
+circumscribed by the Persian and Turk, especially the former, of whom the
+Armenian spoke with much hatred, whilst their spiritual authority had at
+various times been considerably undermined by the emissaries of the Papa
+of Rome, as the Armenian called him.
+
+"The Papa of Rome sent his emissaries at an early period amongst us,"
+said the Armenian, "seducing the minds of weak-headed people, persuading
+them that the hillocks of Rome are higher than the ridges of Ararat; that
+the Roman Papa has more to say in heaven than the Armenian patriarch, and
+that puny Latin is a better language than nervous and sonorous Haik."
+
+"They are both dialects," said I, "of the language of Mr. Petulengro, one
+of whose race I believe to have been the original founder of Rome; but,
+with respect to religion, what are the chief points of your faith? you
+are Christians, I believe."
+
+"Yes," said the Armenian, "we are Christians in our way; we believe in
+God, the Holy Spirit, and Saviour, though we are not prepared to admit
+that the last personage is not only himself, but the other two.  We
+believe--" and then the Armenian told me of several things which the
+Haiks believed or disbelieved.  "But what we find most hard of all to
+believe," said he, "is that the man of the mole-hills is entitled to our
+allegiance, he not being a Haik, or understanding the Haik language."
+
+"But, by your own confession," said I, "he has introduced a schism in
+your nation, and has amongst you many that believe in him."
+
+"It is true," said the Armenian, "that even on the confines of Ararat
+there are a great number who consider that mountain to be lower than the
+hillocks of Rome; but the greater number of degenerate Armenians are to
+be found amongst those who have wandered to the west; most of the Haik
+churches of the west consider Rome to be higher than Ararat--most of the
+Armenians of this place hold that dogma; I, however, have always stood
+firm in the contrary opinion."
+
+"Ha! ha!"--here the Armenian laughed in his peculiar manner--"talking of
+this matter puts me in mind of an adventure which lately befell me, with
+one of the emissaries of the Papa of Rome, for the Papa of Rome has at
+present many emissaries in this country, in order to seduce the people
+from their own quiet religion to the savage heresy of Rome; this fellow
+came to me partly in the hope of converting me, but principally to extort
+money for the purpose of furthering the designs of Rome in this country.
+I humoured the fellow at first, keeping him in play for nearly a month,
+deceiving and laughing at him.  At last he discovered that he could make
+nothing of me, and departed with the scowl of Caiaphas, whilst I cried
+after him, 'The roots of Ararat are _deeper_ than those of Rome.'"
+
+The Armenian had occasionally reverted to the subject of the translation
+of the Haik Esop, which he had still a lurking desire that I should
+execute; but I had invariably declined the undertaking, without, however,
+stating my reasons.  On one occasion, when we had been conversing on the
+subject, the Armenian, who had been observing my countenance for some
+time with much attention, remarked, "Perhaps, after all, you are right,
+and you might employ your time to better advantage.  Literature is a fine
+thing, especially Haik literature, but neither that nor any other would
+be likely to serve as a foundation to a man's fortune; and to make a
+fortune should be the principal aim of every one's life; therefore listen
+to me.  Accept a seat at the desk opposite to my Moldavian clerk, and
+receive the rudiments of a merchant's education.  You shall be instructed
+in the Armenian way of doing business--I think you would make an
+excellent merchant."
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"Because you have something of the Armenian look."
+
+"I understand you," said I; "you mean to say that I squint?"
+
+"Not exactly," said the Armenian, "but there is certainly a kind of
+irregularity in your features.  One eye appears to me larger than the
+other--never mind, but rather rejoice; in that irregularity consists your
+strength.  All people with regular features are fools; it is very hard
+for them, you'll say, but there is no help: all we can do, who are not in
+such a predicament, is to pity those who are.  Well! will you accept my
+offer?  No! you are a singular individual; but I must not forget my own
+concerns.  I must now go forth, having an appointment by which I hope to
+make money."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+
+Wish Fulfilled--Extraordinary Figure--Bueno--Noah--The Two Faces--I don't
+Blame Him--Too Fond of Money--Were I an Armenian.
+
+The fulfilment of the Armenian's grand wish was nearer at hand than
+either he or I had anticipated.  Partly owing to the success of a bold
+speculation, in which he had some time previously engaged, and partly
+owing to the bequest of a large sum of money by one of his nation who
+died at this period in Paris, he found himself in the possession of a
+fortune somewhat exceeding two hundred thousand pounds; this fact he
+communicated to me one evening about an hour after the close of 'Change;
+the hour at which I generally called, and at which I mostly found him at
+home.
+
+"Well," said I, "and what do you intend to do next?"
+
+"I scarcely know," said the Armenian.  "I was thinking of that when you
+came in.  I don't see anything that I can do, save going on in my former
+course.  After all, I was perhaps too moderate in making the possession
+of two hundred thousand pounds the summit of my ambition; there are many
+individuals in this town who possess three times that sum, and are not
+yet satisfied.  No, I think I can do no better than pursue the old
+career; who knows but I may make the two hundred thousand three or
+four?--there is already a surplus, which is an encouragement; however, we
+will consider the matter over a goblet of wine; I have observed of late
+that you have become partial to my Cyprus."
+
+And it came to pass that, as we were seated over the Cyprus wine, we
+heard a knock at the door.  "Adelante!" cried the Armenian; whereupon the
+door opened, and in walked a somewhat extraordinary figure--a man in a
+long loose tunic of a stuff striped with black and yellow; breeches of
+plush velvet, silk stockings, and shoes with silver buckles.  On his head
+he wore a high-peaked hat; he was tall, had a hooked nose, and in age was
+about fifty.
+
+"Welcome, Rabbi Manasseh," said the Armenian.  "I know your knock--you
+are welcome; sit down."
+
+"I am welcome," said Manasseh, sitting down; "he--he--he! you know my
+knock--I bring you money--_bueno_!"
+
+There was something very peculiar in the sound of that _bueno_--I never
+forgot it.
+
+Thereupon a conversation ensued between Rabbi Manasseh and the Armenian,
+in a language which I knew to be Spanish, though a peculiar dialect.  It
+related to a mercantile transaction.  The Rabbi sighed heavily as he
+delivered to the other a considerable sum of money.
+
+"It is right," said the Armenian, handing a receipt.  "It is right; and I
+am quite satisfied."
+
+"You are satisfied--you have taken money.  _Bueno_, I have nothing to say
+against your being satisfied."
+
+"Come, Rabbi," said the Armenian, "do not despond; it may be your turn
+next to take money; in the meantime, can't you be persuaded to taste my
+Cyprus?"
+
+"He--he--he! senor, you know I do not love wine.  I love Noah when he is
+himself; but, as Janus, I love him not.  But you are merry; _bueno_, you
+have a right to be so."
+
+"Excuse me," said I; "but does Noah ever appear as Janus?"
+
+"He--he--he!" said the Rabbi, "he only appeared as Janus once--una vez
+quando estuvo borracho; which means--"
+
+"I understand," said I; "when he was--" and I drew the side of my right
+hand sharply across my left wrist.
+
+"Are you one of our people?" said the Rabbi.
+
+"No," said I, "I am one of the Goyim; but I am only half enlightened.
+Why should Noah be Janus, when he was in that state?"
+
+"He--he--he! you must know that in Lasan akhades wine is janin."
+
+"In Armenian, kini," said I; "in Welsh, gwin; Latin, vinum; but do you
+think that Janus and janin are one?"
+
+"Do I think?  Don't the commentators say so?  Does not Master Leo
+Abarbenel say so, in his 'Dialogues of Divine Love'?"
+
+"But," said I, "I always thought that Janus was a god of the ancient
+Romans, who stood in a temple open in time of war, and shut in time of
+peace; he was represented with two faces, which--which--"
+
+"He--he--he!" said the Rabbi, rising from his seat; "he had two faces,
+had he?  And what did those two faces typify?  You do not know; no, nor
+did the Romans who carved him with two faces know why they did so; for
+they were only half enlightened, like you and the rest of the Goyim.  Yet
+they were right in carving him with two faces looking from each
+other--they were right, though they knew not why; there was a tradition
+among them that the Janinoso had two faces, but they knew not that one
+was for the world which was gone, and the other for the world before
+him--for the drowned world, and for the present, as Master Leo Abarbenel
+says in his 'Dialogues of Divine Love.'  He--he--he!" continued the
+Rabbi, who had by this time advanced to the door, and, turning round,
+waved the two forefingers of his right hand in our faces; "the Goyims and
+Epicouraiyim are clever men, they know how to make money better than we
+of Israel.  My good friend there is a clever man, I bring him money, he
+never brought me any; _bueno_, I do not blame him, he knows much, very
+much; but one thing there is my friend does not know, nor any of the
+Epicureans, he does not know the sacred thing--he has never received the
+gift of interpretation which God alone gives to the seed--he has his
+gift, I have mine--he is satisfied, I don't blame him, _bueno_."
+
+And with this last word in his mouth, he departed.
+
+"Is that man a native of Spain?" I demanded.
+
+"Not a native of Spain," said the Armenian, "though he is one of those
+who call themselves Spanish Jews, and who are to be found scattered
+throughout Europe, speaking the Spanish language transmitted to them by
+their ancestors, who were expelled from Spain in the time of Ferdinand
+and Isabella."
+
+"The Jews are a singular people," said I.
+
+"A race of cowards and dastards," said the Armenian, "without a home or
+country; servants to servants; persecuted and despised by all."
+
+"And what are the Haiks?" I demanded.
+
+"Very different from the Jews," replied the Armenian; "the Haiks have a
+home--a country, and can occasionally use a good sword; though it is true
+they are not what they might be."
+
+"Then it is a shame that they do not become so," said I; "but they are
+too fond of money.  There is yourself, with two hundred thousand pounds
+in your pocket, craving for more, whilst you might be turning your wealth
+to the service of your country."
+
+"In what manner?" said the Armenian.
+
+"I have heard you say that the grand oppressor of your country is the
+Persian; why not attempt to free your country from his oppression--you
+have two hundred thousand pounds, and money is the sinew of war?"
+
+"Would you, then, have me attack the Persian?"
+
+"I scarcely know what to say; fighting is a rough trade, and I am by no
+means certain that you are calculated for the scratch.  It is not every
+one who has been brought up in the school of Mr. Petulengro and Tawno
+Chikno.  All I can say is, that if I were an Armenian, and had two
+hundred thousand pounds to back me, I would attack the Persian."
+
+"Hem!" said the Armenian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+
+The One Half-Crown--Merit in Patience--Cementer of Friendship--Dreadful
+Perplexity--The Usual Guttural--Armenian Letters--Much Indebted to
+You--Pure Helplessness--Dumb People.
+
+One morning on getting up I discovered that my whole worldly wealth was
+reduced to one half-crown--throughout that day I walked about in
+considerable distress of mind; it was now requisite that I should come to
+a speedy decision with respect to what I was to do; I had not many
+alternatives, and, before I had retired to rest on the night of the day
+in question, I had determined that I could do no better than accept the
+first proposal of the Armenian, and translate, under his superintendence,
+the Haik Esop into English.
+
+I reflected, for I made a virtue of necessity, that, after all, such an
+employment would be an honest and honourable one; honest, inasmuch as by
+engaging in it I should do harm to nobody; honourable, inasmuch as it was
+a literary task, which not every one was capable of executing.  It was
+not everyone of the booksellers' writers of London who was competent to
+translate the Haik Esop.  I determined to accept the offer of the
+Armenian.
+
+Once or twice the thought of what I might have to undergo in the
+translation from certain peculiarities of the Armenian's temper almost
+unsettled me; but a mechanical diving of my hand into my pocket, and the
+feeling of the solitary half-crown, confirmed me; after all, this was a
+life of trial and tribulation, and I had read somewhere or other that
+there was much merit in patience, so I determined to hold fast in my
+resolution of accepting the offer of the Armenian.
+
+But all of a sudden I remembered that the Armenian appeared to have
+altered his intentions towards me: he appeared no longer desirous that I
+should render the Haik Esop into English for the benefit of the
+stock-jobbers on Exchange, but rather that I should acquire the rudiments
+of doing business in the Armenian fashion, and accumulate a fortune,
+which would enable me to make a figure upon 'Change with the best of the
+stock-jobbers.  "Well," thought I, withdrawing my hand from my pocket,
+whither it had again mechanically dived, "after all, what would the
+world, what would this city be, without commerce?  I believe the world,
+and particularly this city, would cut a very poor figure without
+commerce; and there is something poetical in the idea of doing business
+after the Armenian fashion, dealing with dark-faced Lascars and Rabbins
+of the Sephardim.  Yes, should the Armenian insist upon it, I would
+accept a seat at the desk, opposite the Moldavian clerk.  I do not like
+the idea of cuffs similar to those the Armenian bestowed upon the
+Moldavian clerk; whatever merit there may be in patience, I do not think
+that my estimation of the merit of patience would be sufficient to induce
+me to remain quietly sitting under the infliction of cuffs.  I think I
+should, in the event of his cuffing me, knock the Armenian down.  Well, I
+think I have heard it said somewhere, that a knock-down blow is a great
+cementer of friendship; I think I have heard of two people being better
+friends than ever after the one had received from the other a knock-down
+blow."
+
+That night I dreamed I had acquired a colossal fortune, some four hundred
+thousand pounds, by the Armenian way of doing business, but suddenly woke
+in dreadful perplexity as to how I should dispose of it.
+
+About nine o'clock next morning I set off to the house of the Armenian; I
+had never called upon him so early before, and certainly never with a
+heart beating with so much eagerness; but the situation of my affairs had
+become very critical, and I thought that I ought to lose no time in
+informing the Armenian that I was at length perfectly willing either to
+translate the Haik Esop under his superintendence, or to accept a seat at
+the desk opposite to the Moldavian clerk, and acquire the secrets of
+Armenian commerce.  With a quick step I entered the counting-room, where,
+notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, I found the clerk, busied as
+usual at his desk.
+
+He had always appeared to me a singular being, this same Moldavian clerk.
+A person of fewer words could scarcely be conceived: provided his master
+were at home, he would, on my inquiring, nod his head; and, provided he
+were not, he would invariably reply with the monosyllable, "no,"
+delivered in a strange guttural tone.  On the present occasion, being
+full of eagerness and impatience, I was about to pass by him to the
+apartment above, without my usual inquiry, when he lifted his head from
+the ledger in which he was writing, and, laying down his pen, motioned to
+me with his forefinger, as if to arrest my progress; whereupon I stopped,
+and, with a palpitating heart, demanded whether the master of the house
+was at home?  The Moldavian clerk replied with his usual guttural, and,
+opening his desk, ensconced his head therein.
+
+"It does not much matter," said I, "I suppose I shall find him at home
+after 'Change; it does not much matter, I can return."
+
+I was turning away with the intention of leaving the room; at this
+moment, however, the head of the Moldavian clerk became visible, and I
+observed a letter in his hand, which he had inserted in the desk at the
+same time with his head; this he extended towards me, making at the same
+time a side-long motion with his head, as much as to say that it
+contained something which interested me.
+
+I took the letter, and the Moldavian clerk forthwith resumed his
+occupation.  The back of the letter bore my name, written in Armenian
+characters: with a trembling hand I broke the seal, and, unfolding the
+letter, I beheld several lines also written in the letters of Mesroub,
+the Cadmus of the Armenians.
+
+I stared at the lines, and at first could not make out a syllable of
+their meaning; at last, how ever, by continued staring, I discovered
+that, though the letters were Armenian, the words were English; in about
+ten minutes I had contrived to decipher the sense of the letter; it ran
+somewhat in this style:--
+
+    "MY DEAR FRIEND,--
+
+    "The words which you uttered in our last conversation have made a
+    profound impression upon me; I have thought them over day and night,
+    and have come to the conclusion that it is my bounden duty to attack
+    the Persians.  When these lines are delivered to you, I shall be on
+    the route to Ararat.  A mercantile speculation will be to the world
+    the ostensible motive of my journey, and it is singular enough that
+    one which offers considerable prospect of advantage has just
+    presented itself on the confines of Persia.  Think not, however, that
+    motives of lucre would have been sufficiently powerful to tempt me to
+    the East at the present moment.  I may speculate, it is true; but I
+    should scarcely have undertaken the journey but for your pungent
+    words inciting me to attack the Persians.  Doubt not that I will
+    attack them on the first opportunity.  I thank you heartily for
+    putting me in mind of my duty.  I have hitherto, to use your own
+    words, been too fond of money-getting, like all my countrymen.  I am
+    much indebted to you; farewell! and may every prosperity await you."
+
+For some time after I had deciphered the epistle, I stood as if rooted to
+the floor.  I felt stunned--my last hope was gone; presently a feeling
+arose in my mind--a feeling of self-reproach.  Whom had I to blame but
+myself for the departure of the Armenian?  Would he have ever thought of
+attacking the Persians had I not put the idea into his head? he had told
+me in his epistle that he was indebted to me for the idea.  But for that,
+he might at the present moment have been in London, increasing his
+fortune by his usual methods, and I might be commencing under his
+auspices the translation of the Haik Esop, with the promise, no doubt, of
+a considerable remuneration for my trouble; or I might be taking a seat
+opposite the Moldavian clerk, and imbibing the first rudiments of doing
+business after the Armenian fashion, with the comfortable hope of
+realizing, in a short time, a fortune of three or four hundred thousand
+pounds; but the Armenian was now gone, and farewell to the fine hopes I
+had founded upon him the day before.  What was I to do?  I looked wildly
+around, till my eyes rested on the Moldavian clerk, who was writing away
+in his ledger with particular vehemence.  Not knowing what to do or say,
+I thought I might as well ask the Moldavian clerk when the Armenian had
+departed, and when he thought that he would return.  It is true it
+mattered little to me when he departed, seeing that he was gone, and it
+was evident that he would not be back soon; but I knew not what to do,
+and in pure helplessness thought I might as well ask; so I went up to the
+Moldavian clerk, and asked him when the Armenian had departed, and
+whether he had been gone two days or three?  Whereupon the Moldavian
+clerk, looking up from his ledger, made certain signs, which I could by
+no means understand.  I stood astonished, but, presently recovering
+myself, inquired when he considered it probable that the master would
+return, and whether he thought it would be two months or--my tongue
+faltered--two years; whereupon the Moldavian clerk made more signs than
+before, and yet more unintelligible; as I persisted, however, he flung
+down his pen, and, putting his thumb into his mouth, moved it rapidly,
+causing the nail to sound against the lower jaw; whereupon I saw that he
+was dumb, and hurried away, for I had always entertained a horror of dumb
+people, having once heard my mother say, when I was a child, that dumb
+people were half demoniacs, or little better.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+
+Kind of Stupor--Peace of God--Divine Hand--Farewell, Child--The
+Fair--Massive Edifice--Battered Tars--Lost!  Lost!--Good Day, Gentlemen.
+
+Leaving the house of the Armenian, I strolled about for some time; almost
+mechanically my feet conducted me to London Bridge, to the booth in which
+stood the stall of the old apple-woman; the sound of her voice aroused
+me, as I sat in a kind of stupor on the stone bench beside her; she was
+inquiring what was the matter with me.
+
+At first, I believe, I answered her very incoherently, for I observed
+alarm beginning to depict itself upon her countenance.  Rousing myself,
+however, I in my turn put a few questions to her upon her present
+condition and prospects.  The old woman's countenance cleared up
+instantly; she informed me that she had never been more comfortable in
+her life; that her trade, her _honest_ trade--laying an emphasis on the
+word honest--had increased of late wonderfully; that her health was
+better, and, above all, that she felt no fear and horror "here," laying
+her hand on her breast.
+
+On my asking her whether she still heard voices in the night, she told me
+that she frequently did; but that the present were mild voices, sweet
+voices, encouraging voices, very different from the former ones; that a
+voice only the night previous, had cried out about "the peace of God," in
+particularly sweet accents; a sentence which she remembered to have read
+in her early youth in the primer, but which she had clean forgotten till
+the voice the night before had brought it to her recollection.
+
+After a pause, the old woman said to me, "I believe, dear, that it is the
+blessed book you brought me which has wrought this goodly change.  How
+glad I am now that I can read; but oh what a difference between the book
+you brought to me and the one you took away.  I believe the one you
+brought is written by the finger of God, and the other by--"
+
+"Don't abuse the book," said I, "it is an excellent book for those who
+can understand it; it was not exactly suited to you, and perhaps it had
+been better had you never read it--and yet, who knows?  Peradventure, if
+you had not read that book, you would not have been fitted for the
+perusal of the one which you say is written by the finger of God;" and,
+pressing my hand to my head, I fell into a deep fit of musing.  "What,
+after all," thought I, "if there should be more order and system in the
+working of the moral world than I have thought?  Does there not seem in
+the present instance to be something like the working of a Divine hand?
+I could not conceive why this woman, better educated than her mother,
+should have been, as she certainly was, a worse character than her
+mother.  Yet perhaps this woman may be better and happier than her mother
+ever was; perhaps she is so already--perhaps this world is not a wild,
+lying dream, as I have occasionally supposed it to be."
+
+But the thought of my own situation did not permit me to abandon myself
+much longer to these musings.  I started up.  "Where are you going,
+child?" said the woman anxiously.  "I scarcely know," said I; "anywhere."
+"Then stay here, child," said she; "I have much to say to you."  "No,"
+said I, "I shall be better moving about;" and I was moving away, when it
+suddenly occurred to me that I might never see this woman again; and
+turning round offered her my hand, and bade her good-bye.  "Farewell,
+child," said the old woman, "and God bless you!" I then moved along the
+bridge until I reached the Southwark side, and, still holding on my
+course, my mind again became quickly abstracted from all surrounding
+objects.
+
+At length I found myself in a street or road, with terraces on either
+side, and seemingly of interminable length, leading, as it would appear,
+to the south-east.  I was walking at a great rate--there were likewise a
+great number of people, also walking at a great rate; also carts and
+carriages driving at a great rate; and all, men, carts, and carriages,
+going in the selfsame direction, namely, to the south-east.  I stopped
+for a moment and deliberated whether or not I should proceed.  What
+business had I in that direction?  I could not say that I had any
+particular business in that direction, but what could I do were I to turn
+back? only walk about well-known streets; and, if I must walk, why not
+continue in the direction in which I was to see whither the road and its
+terraces led?  I was here in a _terra incognita_, and an unknown place
+had always some interest for me; moreover, I had a desire to know whither
+all this crowd was going, and for what purpose.  I thought they could not
+be going far, as crowds seldom go far, especially at such a rate; so I
+walked on more lustily than before, passing group after group of the
+crowd, and almost vieing in speed with some of the carriages, especially
+the hackney-coaches; and by dint of walking at this rate, the terraces
+and houses becoming somewhat less frequent as I advanced, I reached in
+about three quarters of an hour a kind of low dingy town, in the
+neighbourhood of the river; the streets were swarming with people, and I
+concluded, from the number of wild-beast shows, caravans, gingerbread
+stalls, and the like, that a fair was being held.  Now, as I had always
+been partial to fairs, I felt glad that I had fallen in with the crowd
+which had conducted me to the present one, and, casting away as much as I
+was able all gloomy thoughts, I did my best to enter into the diversions
+of the fair; staring at the wonderful representations of animals on
+canvas hung up before the shows of wild beasts, which, by-the-bye, are
+frequently found much more worthy of admiration than the real beasts
+themselves; listening to the jokes of the merry-andrews from the
+platforms in front of the temporary theatres, or admiring the splendid
+tinsel dresses of the performers who thronged the stages in the intervals
+of the entertainments; and in this manner, occasionally gazing and
+occasionally listening, I passed through the town till I came in front of
+a large edifice looking full upon the majestic bosom of the Thames.
+
+It was a massive stone edifice, built in an antique style, and black with
+age, with a broad esplanade between it and the river, on which, mixed
+with a few people from the fair, I observed moving about a great many
+individuals in quaint dresses of blue, with strange three-cornered hats
+on their heads; most of them were mutilated; this had a wooden leg--this
+wanted an arm; some had but one eye; and as I gazed upon the edifice, and
+the singular-looking individuals who moved before it, I guessed where I
+was.  "I am at ---" said I; "these individuals are battered tars of Old
+England, and this edifice, once the favourite abode of Glorious
+Elizabeth, is the refuge which a grateful country has allotted to them.
+Here they can rest their weary bodies; at their ease talk over the
+actions in which they have been injured; and, with the tear of enthusiasm
+flowing from their eyes, boast how they have trod the deck of fame with
+Rodney, or Nelson, or others whose names stand emblazoned in the naval
+annals of their country."
+
+Turning to the right, I entered a park or wood consisting of enormous
+trees, occupying the foot, sides, and top of a hill, which rose behind
+the town; there were multitudes of people among the trees, diverting
+themselves in various ways.  Coming to the top of the hill, I was
+presently stopped by a lofty wall, along which I walked, till, coming to
+a small gate, I passed through, and found myself on an extensive green
+plain, on one side bounded in part by the wall of the park, and on the
+others, in the distance, by extensive ranges of houses; to the south-east
+was a lofty eminence, partially clothed with wood.  The plain exhibited
+an animated scene, a kind of continuation of the fair below; there were
+multitudes of people upon it, many tents, and shows; there was also
+horse-racing, and much noise and shouting, the sun shining brightly
+overhead.  After gazing at the horse-racing for a little time, feeling
+myself somewhat tired, I went up to one of the tents, and laid myself
+down on the grass.  There was much noise in the tent.  "Who will stand
+me?" said a voice with a slight tendency to lisp.  "Will you, my lord?"
+"Yes," said another voice.  Then there was a sound as of a piece of money
+banging on a table.  "Lost! lost! lost!" cried several voices; and then
+the banging down of the money, and the "lost! lost! lost!" were
+frequently repeated; at last the second voice exclaimed, "I will try no
+more; you have cheated me."  "Never cheated any one in my life, my
+lord--all fair--all chance.  Them that finds, wins--them that can't
+finds, loses.  Any one else try?  Who'll try?  Will you, my lord?" and
+then it appeared that some other lord tried, for I heard more money flung
+down.  Then again the cry of "Lost! lost!"--then again the sound of
+money, and so on.  Once or twice, but not more, I heard "Won! won!" but
+the predominant cry was "Lost! lost!"  At last there was a considerable
+hubbub, and the words "Cheat!" "Rogue!" and "You filched away the pea!"
+were used freely by more voices than one, to which the voice with the
+tendency to lisp replied, "Never filched a pea in my life; would scorn
+it.  Always glad when folks wins; but, as those here don't appear to be
+civil, nor to wish to play any more, I shall take myself off with my
+table; so, good day, gentlemen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+
+Singular Table--No Money--Out of Employ--My Bonnet--We of the
+Thimble--Good Wages--Wisely Resolved--Strangest Way in the World--Fat
+Gentleman--Not Such Another--First Edition--Not Very Easy--Won't
+Close--Avella Gorgio--Alarmed Look.
+
+Presently a man emerged from the tent, bearing before him a rather
+singular table; it appeared to be of white deal, was exceedingly small at
+the top, and with very long legs.  At a few yards from the entrance he
+paused, and looked round, as if to decide on the direction which he
+should take; presently, his eye glancing on me as I lay upon the ground,
+he started, and appeared for a moment inclined to make off as quick as
+possible, table and all.  In a moment, however, he seemed to recover
+assurance, and, coming up to the place where I was, the long legs of the
+table projecting before him, he cried, "Glad to see you here, my lord."
+
+"Thank you," said I, "it's a fine day."
+
+"Very fine, my lord; will your lordship play?  Them that finds,
+wins--them that don't finds, loses."
+
+"Play at what?" said I.
+
+"Only at the thimble and pea, my lord."
+
+"I never heard of such a game."
+
+"Didn't you?  Well, I'll soon teach you," said he, placing the table
+down.  "All you have to do is to put a sovereign down on my table, and to
+find the pea, which I put under one of my thimbles.  If you can find
+it,--and it is easy enough to find it,--I give you a sovereign besides
+your own: for them that finds, wins."
+
+"And them that don't find, loses," said I; "no, I don't wish to play."
+
+"Why not, my lord?"
+
+"Why, in the first place, I have no money."
+
+"Oh, you have no money; that of course alters the case.  If you have no
+money, you can't play.  Well, I suppose I must be seeing after my
+customers," said he, glancing over the plain.
+
+"Good day," said I.
+
+"Good day," said the man slowly, but without moving, and as if in
+reflection.  After a moment or two, looking at me inquiringly, he added,
+"Out of employ?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "out of employ."
+
+The man measured me with his eye as I lay on the ground.  At length he
+said, "May I speak a word or two to you, my lord?"
+
+"As many as you please," said I.
+
+"Then just come a little out of hearing, a little farther on the grass,
+if you please, my lord."
+
+"Why do you call me my lord?" said I, as I arose and followed him.
+
+"We of the thimble always calls our customers lords," said the man; "but
+I won't call you such a foolish name any more; come along."
+
+The man walked along the plain till he came to the side of a dry pit,
+when, looking round to see that no one was nigh, he laid his table on the
+grass, and, sitting down with his legs over the side of the pit, he
+motioned me to do the same.  "So you are in want of employ," said he,
+after I had sat down beside him.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I am very much in want of employ."
+
+"I think I can find you some."
+
+"What kind?" said I.
+
+"Why," said the man, "I think you would do to be my bonnet."
+
+"Bonnet!" said I, "what is that?"
+
+"Don't you know?  However, no wonder, as you had never heard of the
+thimble-and-pea game, but I will tell you.  We of the game are very much
+exposed; folks when they have lost their money, as those who play with us
+mostly do, sometimes uses rough language, calls us cheats, and sometimes
+knocks our hats over our eyes; and what's more, with a kick under our
+table, causes the top deals to fly off; this is the third table I have
+used this day, the other two being broken by uncivil customers: so we of
+the game generally like to have gentlemen go about with us to take our
+part, and encourage us, though pretending to know nothing about us; for
+example, when the customer says, 'I'm cheated,' the bonnet must say, 'No,
+you a'n't, it is all right;' or, when my hat is knocked over my eyes, the
+bonnet must square and say, 'I never saw the man before in all my life,
+but I won't see him ill-used;' and so, when they kicks at the table, the
+bonnet must say, 'I won't see the table ill-used, such a nice table too;
+besides, I want to play myself;' and then I would say to the bonnet,
+'Thank you, my lord, them that finds, wins;' and then the bonnet plays,
+and I lets the bonnet win."
+
+"In a word," said I, "the bonnet means the man who covers you, even as
+the real bonnet covers the head."
+
+"Just so," said the man, "I see you are awake, and would soon make a
+first-rate bonnet."
+
+"Bonnet," said I, musingly; "bonnet; it is metaphorical."
+
+"Is it?" said the man.
+
+"Yes," said I, "like the cant words--"
+
+"Bonnet is cant," said the man; "we of the thimble, as well as all
+clyfakers and the like, understand cant, as, of course, must every
+bonnet; so, if you are employed by me, you had better learn it as soon as
+you can, that we may discourse together without being understood by every
+one.  Besides covering his principal, a bonnet must have his eyes about
+him, for the trade of the pea, though a strictly honest one, is not
+altogether lawful; so it is the duty of the bonnet, if he sees the
+constable coming, to say, the gorgio's welling."
+
+"That is not cant," said I, "that is the language of the Rommany Chals."
+
+"Do you know those people?" said the man.
+
+"Perfectly," said I, "and their language too."
+
+"I wish I did," said the man, "I would give ten pounds and more to know
+the language of the Rommany Chals.  There's some of it in the language of
+the pea and thimble; how it came there I don't know, but so it is.  I
+wish I knew it, but it is difficult.  You'll make a capital bonnet; shall
+we close?"
+
+"What would the wages be?" I demanded.
+
+"Why, to a first-rate bonnet, as I think you would prove, I could afford
+to give from forty to fifty shillings a week."
+
+"Is it possible?" said I.
+
+"Good wages, a'n't they?" said the man.
+
+"First rate," said I; "bonneting is more profitable than reviewing."
+
+"Anan?" said the man.
+
+"Or translating; I don't think the Armenian would have paid me at that
+rate for translating his Esop."
+
+"Who is he?" said the man.
+
+"Esop?"
+
+"No, I know what that is, Esop's cant for a hunchback; but t'other?"
+
+"You should know," said I.
+
+"Never saw the man in all my life."
+
+"Yes, you have," said I, "and felt him too; don't you remember the
+individual from whom you took the pocket-book?"
+
+"Oh, that was he; well, the less said about that matter the better; I
+have left off that trade, and taken to this, which is a much better.
+Between ourselves, I am not sorry that I did not carry off that
+pocket-book; if I had, it might have encouraged me in the trade, in
+which, had I remained, I might have been lagged, sent abroad, as I had
+been already imprisoned; so I determined to leave it off at all hazards,
+though I was hard up, not having a penny in the world."
+
+"And wisely resolved," said I, "it was a bad and dangerous trade; I
+wonder you should ever have embraced it."
+
+"It is all very well talking," said the man, "but there is a reason for
+everything; I am the son of a Jewess, by a military officer,"--and then
+the man told me his story.  I shall not repeat the man's story, it was a
+poor one, a vile one; at last he observed, "So that affair which you know
+of determined me to leave the filching trade, and take up with a more
+honest and safe one; so at last I thought of the pea and thimble, but I
+wanted funds, especially to pay for lessons at the hands of a master, for
+I knew little about it."
+
+"Well," said I, "how did you get over that difficulty?"
+
+"Why," said the man, "I thought I should never have got over it.  What
+funds could I raise?  I had nothing to sell; the few clothes I had I
+wanted, for we of the thimble must always appear decent, or nobody would
+come near us.  I was at my wits' ends; at last I got over my difficulty
+in the strangest way in the world."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"By an old thing which I had picked up some time before--a book."
+
+"A book?" said I.
+
+"Yes, which I had taken out of your lordship's pocket one day as you were
+walking the streets in a great hurry.  I thought it was a pocket-book at
+first, full of bank notes, perhaps," continued he, laughing.  "It was
+well for me, however, that it was not, for I should have soon spent the
+notes; as it was, I had flung the old thing down with an oath, as soon as
+I brought it home.  When I was so hard up, however, after the affair with
+that friend of yours, I took it up one day, and thought I might make
+something by it to support myself a day with.  Chance or something else
+led me into a grand shop; there was a man there who seemed to be the
+master, talking to a jolly, portly old gentleman, who seemed to be a
+country squire.  Well, I went up to the first, and offered it for sale;
+he took the book, opened it at the title-page, and then all of a sudden
+his eyes glistened, and he showed it to the fat, jolly gentleman, and his
+eyes glistened too, and I heard him say, 'How singular!' and then the two
+talked together in a speech I didn't understand--I rather thought it was
+French, at any rate it wasn't cant; and presently the first asked me what
+I would take for the book.  Now I am not altogether a fool nor am I
+blind, and I had narrowly marked all that passed, and it came into my
+head that now was the time for making a man of myself, at any rate I
+could lose nothing by a little confidence; so I looked the man boldly in
+the face, and said, 'I will have five guineas for that book, there a'n't
+such another in the whole world.'  'Nonsense,' said the first man, 'there
+are plenty of them, there have been nearly fifty editions to my
+knowledge; I will give you five shillings.'  'No,' said I, 'I'll not take
+it, for I don't like to be cheated, so give me my book again;' and I
+attempted to take it away from the fat gentleman's hand.  'Stop,' said
+the younger man, 'are you sure that you won't take less?'  'Not a
+farthing,' said I; which was not altogether true, but I said so.  'Well,'
+said the fat gentleman, 'I will give you what you ask;' and sure enough
+he presently gave me the money; so I made a bow, and was leaving the
+shop, when it came into my head that there was something odd in all this,
+and, as I had got the money in my pocket, I turned back, and, making
+another bow, said, 'May I be so bold as to ask why you gave me all this
+money for that 'ere dirty book?  When I came into the shop, I should have
+been glad to get a shilling for it; but I saw you wanted it, and asked
+five guineas.'  Then they looked at one another, and smiled, and shrugged
+up their shoulders.  Then the first man, looking at me, said, 'Friend,
+you have been a little too sharp for us; however, we can afford to
+forgive you, as my friend here has long been in quest of this particular
+book; there are plenty of editions, as I told you, and a common copy is
+not worth five shillings; but this is a first edition, and a copy of the
+first edition is worth its weight in gold.'"
+
+"So, after all, they outwitted you," I observed.
+
+"Clearly," said the man; "I might have got double the price, had I known
+the value; but I don't care, much good may it do them, it has done me
+plenty.  By means of it I have got into an honest respectable trade, in
+which there's little danger and plenty of profit, and got out of one
+which would have got me lagged sooner or later."
+
+"But," said I, "you ought to remember that the thing was not yours; you
+took it from me, who had been requested by a poor old apple-woman to
+exchange it for a Bible."
+
+"Well," said the man, "did she ever get her Bible?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "she got her Bible."
+
+"Then she has no cause to complain; and, as for you, chance or something
+else has sent you to me, that I may make you reasonable amends for any
+loss you may have had.  Here am I ready to make you my bonnet, with forty
+or fifty shillings a week, which you say yourself are capital wages."
+
+"I find no fault with the wages," said I, "but I don't like the employ."
+
+"Not like bonneting," said the man; "ah, I see, you would like to be
+principal; well, a time may come--those long white fingers of yours would
+just serve for the business."
+
+"Is it a difficult one?" I demanded.
+
+"Why, it is not very easy: two things are needful--natural talent, and
+constant practice; but I'll show you a point or two connected with the
+game;" and, placing his table between his knees as he sat over the side
+of the pit, he produced three thimbles, and a small brown pellet,
+something resembling a pea.  He moved the thimble and pellet about, now
+placing it to all appearance under one, and now under another; "Under
+which is it now?" he said at last.  "Under that," said I, pointing to the
+lowermost of the thimbles, which, as they stood, formed a kind of
+triangle.  "No," said he, "it is not, but lift it up;" and, when I lifted
+up the thimble, the pellet, in truth, was not under it.  "It was under
+none of them," said he, "it was pressed by my little finger against my
+palm;" and then he showed me how he did the trick, and asked me if the
+game was not a funny one; and, on my answering in the affirmative, he
+said, "I am glad you like it, come along and let us win some money."
+
+Thereupon, getting up, he placed the table before him, and was moving
+away; observing, however, that I did not stir, he asked me what I was
+staying for.  "Merely for my own pleasure," said I, "I like sitting here
+very well."  "Then you won't close?" said the man.  "By no means," I
+replied, "your proposal does not suit me."  "You may be principal in
+time," said the man.  "That makes no difference," said I; and, sitting
+with my legs over the pit, I forthwith began to decline an Armenian noun.
+"That a'n't cant," said the man, "no, nor gypsy, either.  Well, if you
+won't close, another will, I can't lose any more time," and forthwith he
+departed.
+
+And after I had declined four Armenian nouns, of different declensions, I
+rose from the side of the pit, and wandered about amongst the various
+groups of people scattered over the green.  Presently I came to where the
+man of the thimbles was standing, with the table before him, and many
+people about him.  "Them who finds, wins, and them who can't find,
+loses," he cried.  Various individuals tried to find the pellet, but all
+were unsuccessful, till at last considerable dissatisfaction was
+expressed, and the terms rogue and cheat were lavished upon him.  "Never
+cheated anybody in all my life," he cried; and, observing me at hand,
+"didn't I play fair, my lord?" he inquired.  But I made no answer.
+Presently some more played, and he permitted one or two to win, and the
+eagerness to play with him became greater.  After I had looked on for
+some time, I was moving away: just then I perceived a short, thick
+personage, with a staff in his hand, advancing in a great hurry;
+whereupon, with a sudden impulse, I exclaimed--
+
+    "Shoon thimble engro;
+       Avella gorgio."
+
+The man who was in the midst of his pea-and-thimble process, no sooner
+heard the last word of the distich, than he turned an alarmed look in the
+direction of where I stood; then, glancing around, and perceiving the
+constable, he slipped forthwith his pellet and thimbles into his pocket,
+and, lifting up his table, he cried to the people about him, "Make way!"
+and with a motion with his head to me, as if to follow him, he darted off
+with a swiftness which the short, pursy constable could by no means
+rival; and whither he went, or what became of him, I know not, inasmuch
+as I turned away in another direction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+
+Mr. Petulengro--Rommany Rye--Lil Writers--One's Own Horn--Lawfully-earnt
+Money--The Wooded Hill--A Great Favourite--The Shop Window--Much Wanted.
+
+And, as I wandered along the green, I drew near to a place where several
+men, with a cask beside them, sat carousing in the neighbourhood of a
+small tent.  "Here he comes," said one of them, as I advanced, and
+standing up he raised his voice and sang:--
+
+    "Here the Gypsy gemman see,
+    With his Roman jib and his rome and dree--
+    Rome and dree, rum and dry
+    Rally round the Rommany Rye."
+
+It was Mr. Petulengro, who was here diverting himself with several of his
+comrades; they all received me with considerable frankness.  "Sit down,
+brother," said Mr. Petulengro, "and take a cup of good ale."
+
+I sat down.  "Your health, gentlemen," said I, as I took the cup which
+Mr. Petulengro handed to me.
+
+"Aukko tu pios adrey Rommanis.  Here is your health in Rommany, brother,"
+said Mr. Petulengro; who, having refilled the cup, now emptied it at a
+draught.
+
+"Your health in Rommany, brother," said Tawno Chikno, to whom the cup
+came next.
+
+"The Rommany Rye," said a third.
+
+"The Gypsy gentleman," exclaimed a fourth, drinking.
+
+And then they all sang in chorus,--
+
+    "Here the Gypsy gemman see,
+    With his Roman jib and his rome and dree--
+    Rome and dree, rum and dry
+    Rally round the Rommany Rye."
+
+"And now, brother," said Mr. Petulengro, "seeing that you have drunk and
+been drunken, you will perhaps tell us where you have been, and what
+about?"
+
+"I have been in the Big City," said I, "writing lils."
+
+"How much money have you got in your pocket, brother?" said Mr.
+Petulengro.
+
+"Eighteen pence," said I; "all I have in the world."
+
+"I have been in the Big City, too," said Mr. Petulengro; "but I have not
+written lils--I have fought in the ring--I have fifty pounds in my
+pocket--I have much more in the world.  Brother, there is considerable
+difference between us."
+
+"I would rather be the lil-writer, after all," said the tall, handsome,
+black man; "indeed, I would wish for nothing better."
+
+"Why so?" said Mr. Petulengro.
+
+"Because they have so much to say for themselves," said the black man,
+"even when dead and gone.  When they are laid in the churchyard, it is
+their own fault if people a'n't talking of them.  Who will know, after I
+am dead, or bitchadey pawdel, that I was once the beauty of the world, or
+that you, Jasper, were--"
+
+"The best man in England of my inches.  That's true, Tawno--however,
+here's our brother will perhaps let the world know something about us."
+
+"Not he," said the other, with a sigh; "he'll have quite enough to do in
+writing his own lils, and telling the world how handsome and clever he
+was; and who can blame him?  Not I.  If I could write lils, every word
+should be about myself and my own tacho Rommanis--my own lawful wedded
+wife, which is the same thing.  I tell you what, brother, I once heard a
+wise man say in Brummagem, that 'there is nothing like blowing one's own
+horn,' which I conceive to be much the same thing as writing one's own
+lil."
+
+After a little more conversation, Mr. Petulengro arose, and motioned me
+to follow him.  "Only eighteen pence in the world, brother!" said he, as
+we walked together.
+
+"Nothing more, I assure you.  How came you to ask me how much money I
+had?"
+
+"Because there was something in your look, brother, something very much
+resembling that which a person showeth who does not carry much money in
+his pocket.  I was looking at my own face this morning in my wife's
+looking-glass--I did not look as you do, brother."
+
+"I believe your sole motive for inquiring," said I, "was to have an
+opportunity of venting a foolish boast, and to let me know that you were
+in possession of fifty pounds."
+
+"What is the use of having money unless you let people know you have it?"
+said Mr. Petulengro.  "It is not everyone can read faces, brother; and,
+unless you knew I had money, how could you ask me to lend you any?"
+
+"I am not going to ask you to lend me any."
+
+"Then you may have it without asking; as I said before, I have fifty
+pounds, all lawfully-earnt money, got by fighting in the ring--I will
+lend you that, brother."
+
+"You are very kind," said I; "but I will not take it."
+
+"Then the half of it?"
+
+"Nor the half of it; but it is getting towards evening, I must go back to
+the Great City."
+
+"And what will you do in the Boro Foros?"
+
+"I know not," said I.
+
+"Earn money?"
+
+"If I can."
+
+"And if you can't?"
+
+"Starve!"
+
+"You look ill, brother," said Mr. Petulengro.
+
+"I do not feel well; the Great City does not agree with me.  Should I be
+so fortunate as to earn some money, I would leave the Big City, and take
+to the woods and fields."
+
+"You may do that, brother," said Mr. Petulengro, "whether you have money
+or not.  Our tents and horses are on the other side of yonder wooded
+hill, come and stay with us; we shall all be glad of your company, but
+more especially myself and my wife Pakomovna."
+
+"What hill is that?" I demanded.
+
+And then Mr. Petulengro told me the name of the hill.  "We stay on
+t'other side of the hill a fortnight," he continued; "and as you are fond
+of lil writing, you may employ yourself profitably whilst there.  You can
+write the lil of him whose dook gallops down that hill every night, even
+as the living man was wont to do long ago."
+
+"Who was he?" I demanded.
+
+"Jemmy Abershaw," said Mr. Petulengro; "one of those whom we call Boro
+drom engroes, and the gorgios highwaymen.  I once heard a rye say that
+the life of that man would fetch much money; so come to the other side of
+the hill, and write the lil in the tent of Jasper and his wife
+Pakomovna."
+
+At first I felt inclined to accept the invitation of Mr. Petulengro; a
+little consideration, however, determined me to decline it.  I had always
+been on excellent terms with Mr. Petulengro, but I reflected that people
+might be excellent friends when they met occasionally in the street, or
+on the heath, or in the wood; but that these very people when living
+together in a house, to say nothing of a tent, might quarrel.  I
+reflected, moreover, that Mr. Petulengro had a wife.  I had always, it is
+true, been a great favourite with Mrs. Petulengro, who had frequently
+been loud in her commendation of the young rye, as she called me, and his
+turn of conversation; but this was at a time when I stood in need of
+nothing, lived under my parents' roof, and only visited at the tents to
+divert and to be diverted.  The times were altered, and I was by no means
+certain that Mrs. Petulengro, when she should discover that I was in need
+both of shelter and subsistence, might not alter her opinion both with
+respect to the individual and what he said--stigmatizing my conversation
+as saucy discourse, and myself as a scurvy companion; and that she might
+bring over her husband to her own way of thinking, provided, indeed, he
+should need any conducting.  I therefore, though without declaring my
+reasons, declined the offer of Mr. Petulengro, and presently, after
+shaking him by the hand, bent again my course towards the Great City.
+
+I crossed the river at a bridge considerably above that hight of London;
+for, not being acquainted with the way, I missed the turning which should
+have brought me to the latter.  Suddenly I found myself in a street of
+which I had some recollection, and mechanically stopped before the window
+of a shop at which various publications were exposed; it was that of the
+bookseller to whom I had last applied in the hope of selling my ballads
+or Ab Gwilym, and who had given me hopes that, in the event of my writing
+a decent novel, or a tale, he would prove a purchaser.  As I stood
+listlessly looking at the window, and the publications which it
+contained, I observed a paper affixed to the glass by wafers with
+something written upon it.  I drew yet nearer for the purpose of
+inspecting it; the writing was in a fair round hand--"A Novel or Tale is
+much wanted," was what was written.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+
+Bread and Water--Fair Play--Fashionable Life--Colonel B-----Joseph
+Sell--The Kindly Glow--Easiest Manner Imaginable.
+
+"I must do something," said I, as I sat that night in my lonely
+apartment, with some bread and a pitcher of water before me.
+
+Thereupon taking some of the bread, and eating it, I considered what I
+was to do.  "I have no idea what I am to do," said I, as I stretched my
+hand towards the pitcher, "unless"--and here I took a considerable
+draught--"I write a tale or a novel--That bookseller," I continued,
+speaking to myself, "is certainly much in need of a tale or a novel,
+otherwise he would not advertise for one.  Suppose I write one, I appear
+to have no other chance of extricating myself from my present
+difficulties; surely it was Fate that conducted me to his window."
+
+"I will do it," said I, as I struck my hand against the table; "I will do
+it."  Suddenly a heavy cloud of despondency came over me.  Could I do it?
+Had I the imagination requisite to write a tale or a novel?  "Yes, yes,"
+said I, as I struck my hand again against the table, "I can manage it;
+give me fair play, and I can accomplish anything."
+
+But should I have fair play?  I must have something to maintain myself
+with whilst I wrote my tale, and I had but eighteen pence in the world.
+Would that maintain me whilst I wrote my tale?  Yes, I thought it would,
+provided I ate bread, which did not cost much, and drank water, which
+cost nothing; it was poor diet, it was true, but better men than myself
+had written on bread and water; had not the big man told me so? or
+something to that effect, months before?
+
+It was true there was my lodging to pay for; but up to the present time I
+owed nothing, and perhaps, by the time the people of the house asked me
+for money, I should have written a tale or a novel, which would bring me
+in money; I had paper, pens, and ink, and, let me not forget them, I had
+candles in my closet, all paid for, to light me during my night work.
+Enough, I would go doggedly to work upon my tale or novel.
+
+But what was the tale or novel to be about?  Was it to be a tale of
+fashionable life, about Sir Harry Somebody, and the Countess Something?
+But I knew nothing about fashionable people, and cared less; therefore
+how should I attempt to describe fashionable life?  What should the tale
+consist of?  The life and adventures of some one.  Good--but of whom?
+Did not Mr. Petulengro mention one Jemmy Abershaw?  Yes.  Did he not tell
+me that the life and adventures of Jemmy Abershaw would bring in much
+money to the writer?  Yes, but I knew nothing of that worthy.  I heard,
+it is true, from Mr. Petulengro, that when alive he committed robberies
+on the hill, on the side of which Mr. Petulengro had pitched his tents,
+and that his ghost still haunted the hill at midnight; but those were
+scant materials out of which to write the man's life.  It is probable,
+indeed, that Mr. Petulengro would be able to supply me with further
+materials if I should apply to him, but I was in a hurry, and could not
+afford the time which it would be necessary to spend in passing to and
+from Mr. Petulengro, and consulting him.  Moreover, my pride revolted at
+the idea of being beholden to Mr. Petulengro for the materials of the
+history.  No, I would not write the history of Abershaw.  Whose
+then--Harry Simms?  Alas, the life of Harry Simms had been already much
+better written by himself than I could hope to do it; and, after all,
+Harry Simms, like Jemmy Abershaw, was merely a robber.  Both, though bold
+and extraordinary men, were merely highwaymen.  I questioned whether I
+could compose a tale likely to excite any particular interest out of the
+exploits of a mere robber.  I want a character for my hero, thought I,
+something higher than a mere robber; some one like--like Colonel B---.
+By the way, why should I not write the life and adventures of Colonel
+B--- of Londonderry, in Ireland?
+
+A truly singular man was this same Colonel B--- of Londonderry, in
+Ireland; a personage of most strange and incredible feats and daring, who
+had been a partizan soldier, a bravo--who, assisted by certain
+discontented troopers, nearly succeeded in stealing the crown and regalia
+from the Tower of London; who attempted to hang the Duke of Ormond, at
+Tyburn; and whose strange eventful career did not terminate even with his
+life, his dead body, on the circulation of an unfounded report that he
+did not come to his death by fair means, having been exhumed by the mob
+of his native place, where he had retired to die, and carried in a coffin
+through the streets.
+
+Of his life I had inserted an account in the Newgate Lives and Trials; it
+was bare and meagre, and written in the stiff awkward style of the
+seventeenth century; it had, however, strongly captivated my imagination,
+and I now thought that out of it something better could be made; that, if
+I added to the adventures, and purified the style, I might fashion out of
+it a very decent tale or novel.  On a sudden, however, the proverb of
+mending old garments with new cloth occurred to me.  "I am afraid," said
+I, "any new adventures which I can invent will not fadge well with the
+old tale; one will but spoil the other."  I had better have nothing to do
+with Colonel B---, thought I, but boldly and independently sit down and
+write the life of Joseph Sell.
+
+This Joseph Sell, dear reader, was a fictitious personage who had just
+come into my head.  I had never even heard of the name, but just at that
+moment it happened to come into my head; I would write an entirely
+fictitious narrative, called the Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell, the
+great traveller.
+
+I had better begin at once, thought I; and removing the bread and the
+jug, which latter was now empty, I seized pen and paper, and forthwith
+essayed to write the life of Joseph Sell, but soon discovered that it was
+much easier to resolve upon a thing than to achieve it, or even to
+commence it; for the life of me I did not know how to begin, and, after
+trying in vain to write a line, I thought it would be as well to go to
+bed, and defer my projected undertaking till the morrow.
+
+So I went to bed, but not to sleep.  During the greater part of the night
+I lay awake, musing upon the work which I had determined to execute.  For
+a long time my brain was dry and unproductive; I could form no plan which
+appeared feasible.  At length I felt within my brain a kindly glow; it
+was the commencement of inspiration; in a few minutes I had formed my
+plan; I then began to imagine the scenes and the incidents.  Scenes and
+incidents flitted before my mind's eye so plentifully, that I knew not
+how to dispose of them; I was in a regular embarrassment.  At length I
+got out of the difficulty in the easiest manner imaginable, namely, by
+consigning to the depths of oblivion all the feebler and less stimulant
+scenes and incidents, and retaining the better and more impressive ones.
+Before morning I had sketched the whole work on the tablets of my mind,
+and then resigned myself to sleep in the pleasing conviction that the
+most difficult part of my undertaking was achieved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+
+Considerably Sobered--Power of Writing--The Tempter--Hungry Talent--Work
+Concluded.
+
+Rather late in the morning I awoke; for a few minutes I lay still,
+perfectly still; my imagination was considerably sobered; the scenes and
+situations which had pleased me so much over night appeared to me in a
+far less captivating guise that morning.  I felt languid and almost
+hopeless--the thought, however, of my situation soon roused me,--I must
+make an effort to improve the posture of my affairs; there was no time to
+be lost; so I sprang out of bed, breakfasted on bread and water, and then
+sat down doggedly to write the life of Joseph Sell.
+
+It was a great thing to have formed my plan, and to have arranged the
+scenes in my head, as I had done on the preceding night.  The chief thing
+requisite at present was the mere mechanical act of committing them to
+paper.  This I did not find at first so easy as I could wish--I wanted
+mechanical skill; but I persevered; and before evening I had written ten
+pages.  I partook of some bread and water; and, before I went to bed that
+night, I had completed fifteen pages of my life of Joseph Sell.
+
+The next day I resumed my task--I found my power of writing considerably
+increased; my pen hurried rapidly over the paper--my brain was in a
+wonderfully teeming state; many scenes and visions which I had not
+thought of before were evolved, and, as fast as evolved, written down;
+they seemed to be more pat to my purpose, and more natural to my history,
+than many others which I had imagined before, and which I made now give
+place to these newer creations: by about midnight I had added thirty
+fresh pages to my "Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell."
+
+The third day arose--it was dark and dreary out of doors, and I passed it
+drearily enough within; my brain appeared to have lost much of its former
+glow, and my pen much of its power; I, however, toiled on, but at
+midnight had only added seven pages to my history of Joseph Sell.
+
+On the fourth day the sun shone brightly--I arose, and having breakfasted
+as usual, I fell to work.  My brain was this day wonderfully prolific,
+and my pen never before or since glided so rapidly over the paper;
+towards night I began to feel strangely about the back part of my head,
+and my whole system was extraordinarily affected.  I likewise
+occasionally saw double--a tempter now seemed to be at work within me.
+
+"You had better leave off now for a short space," said the tempter, "and
+go out and drink a pint of beer; you have still one shilling left--if you
+go on at this rate, you will go mad--go out and spend sixpence, you can
+afford it, more than half your work is done."  I was about to obey the
+suggestion of the tempter, when the idea struck me that, if I did not
+complete the work whilst the fit was on me, I should never complete it;
+so I held on.  I am almost afraid to state how many pages I wrote that
+day of the life of Joseph Sell.
+
+From this time I proceeded in a somewhat more leisurely manner; but, as I
+drew nearer and nearer to the completion of my task, dreadful fears and
+despondencies came over me.  It will be too late, thought I; by the time
+I have finished the work, the bookseller will have been supplied with a
+tale or a novel.  Is it probable that, in a town like this, where talent
+is so abundant--hungry talent too--a bookseller can advertise for a tale
+or a novel, without being supplied with half a dozen in twenty-four
+hours?  I may as well fling down my pen--I am writing to no purpose.  And
+these thoughts came over my mind so often, that at last, in utter
+despair, I flung down the pen.  Whereupon the tempter within me
+said--"And, now you have flung down the pen, you may as well fling
+yourself out of the window; what remains for you to do?"  Why, to take it
+up again, thought I to myself, for I did not like the latter suggestion
+at all--and then forthwith I resumed the pen, and wrote with greater
+vigour than before, from about six o'clock in the evening until I could
+hardly see, when I rested for awhile, when the tempter within me again
+said, or appeared to say--"All you have been writing is stuff, it will
+never do--a drug--a mere drug:" and methought these last words were
+uttered in the gruff tones of the big publisher.  "A thing merely to be
+sneered at," a voice like that of Taggart added; and then I seemed to
+hear a sternutation,--as I probably did, for, recovering from a kind of
+swoon, I found myself shivering with cold.  The next day I brought my
+work to a conclusion.
+
+But the task of revision still remained; for an hour or two I shrank from
+it, and remained gazing stupidly at the pile of paper which I had written
+over.  I was all but exhausted, and I dreaded, on inspecting the sheets,
+to find them full of absurdities which I had paid no regard to in the
+furor of composition.  But the task, however trying to my nerves, must be
+got over; at last, in a kind of desperation, I entered upon it.  It was
+far from an easy one; there were, however, fewer errors and absurdities
+than I had anticipated.  About twelve o'clock at night I had got over the
+task of revision.  "To-morrow, for the bookseller," said I, as my hand
+sank on the pillow.  "Oh me!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+
+Nervous Look--The Bookseller's Wife--The Last Stake--Terms--God
+Forbid!--Will You Come to Tea?--A Light Heart.
+
+On arriving at the bookseller's shop, I cast a nervous look at the
+window, for the purpose of observing whether the paper had been removed
+or not.  To my great delight the paper was in its place; with a beating
+heart I entered, there was nobody in the shop; as I stood at the counter,
+however, deliberating whether or not I should call out, the door of what
+seemed to be a back-parlour opened, and out came a well-dressed lady-like
+female, of about thirty, with a good-looking and intelligent countenance.
+"What is your business, young man?" said she to me, after I had made her
+a polite bow.  "I wish to speak to the gentleman of the house," said I.
+"My husband is not within at present," she replied; "what is your
+business?"  "I have merely brought something to show him," said I, "but I
+will call again."  "If you are the young gentleman who has been here
+before," said the lady, "with poems and ballads, as, indeed, I know you
+are," she added, smiling, "for I have seen you through the glass door, I
+am afraid it will be useless; that is," she added with another smile, "if
+you bring us nothing else."  "I have not brought you poems and ballads
+now," said I, "but something widely different; I saw your advertisement
+for a tale or a novel, and have written something which I think will
+suit; and here it is," I added, showing the roll of paper which I held in
+my hand.  "Well," said the bookseller's wife, "you may leave it, though I
+cannot promise you much chance of its being accepted.  My husband has
+already had several offered to him; however, you may leave it; give it
+me.  Are you afraid to intrust it to me?" she demanded somewhat hastily,
+observing that I hesitated.  "Excuse me," said I, "but it is all I have
+to depend upon in the world; I am chiefly apprehensive that it will not
+be read."  "On that point I can reassure you," said the good lady,
+smiling, and there was now something sweet in her smile.  "I give you my
+word that it shall be read; come again to-morrow morning at eleven, when,
+if not approved, it shall be returned to you."
+
+I returned to my lodging, and forthwith betook myself to bed,
+notwithstanding the earliness of the hour.  I felt tolerably tranquil; I
+had now cast my last stake, and was prepared to abide by the result.
+Whatever that result might be, I could have nothing to reproach myself
+with; I had strained all the energies which nature had given me in order
+to rescue myself from the difficulties which surrounded me.  I presently
+sank into a sleep, which endured during the remainder of the day, and the
+whole of the succeeding night.  I awoke about nine on the morrow, and
+spent my last threepence on a breakfast somewhat more luxurious than the
+immediately preceding ones, for one penny of the sum was expended on the
+purchase of milk.
+
+At the appointed hour I repaired to the house of the bookseller; the
+bookseller was in his shop.  "Ah," said he, as soon as I entered, "I am
+glad to see you."  There was an unwonted heartiness in the bookseller's
+tones, an unwonted benignity in his face.  "So," said he, after a pause,
+"you have taken my advice, written a book of adventure; nothing like
+taking the advice, young man, of your superiors in age.  Well, I think
+your book will do, and so does my wife, for whose judgment I have a great
+regard; as well I may, as she is the daughter of a first-rate novelist,
+deceased.  I think I shall venture on sending your book to the press."
+"But," said I, "we have not yet agreed upon terms."  "Terms, terms," said
+the bookseller; "ahem! well, there is nothing like coming to terms at
+once.  I will print the book, and allow you half the profit when the
+edition is sold."  "That will not do," said I; "I intend shortly to leave
+London; I must have something at once."  "Ah, I see," said the
+bookseller, "in distress; frequently the case with authors, especially
+young ones.  Well, I don't care if I purchase it of you, but you must be
+moderate; the public are very fastidious, and the speculation may prove a
+losing one, after all.  Let me see, will five--hem"--he stopped.  I
+looked the bookseller in the face; there was something peculiar in it.
+Suddenly it appeared to me as if the voice of him of the thimble sounded
+in my ear, "Now is your time, ask enough, never such another chance of
+establishing yourself; respectable trade, pea and thimble."  "Well," said
+I at last, "I have no objection to take the offer which you were about to
+make, though I really think five-and-twenty guineas to be scarcely
+enough, everything considered."  "Five-and-twenty guineas!" said the
+bookseller; "are you--what was I going to say--I never meant to offer
+half as much--I mean a quarter; I was going to say five guineas--I mean
+pounds; I will, however, make it up guineas."  "That will not do," said
+I; "but, as I find we shall not deal, return me my manuscript, that I may
+carry it to some one else."  The bookseller looked blank.  "Dear me,"
+said he, "I should never have supposed that you would have made any
+objection to such an offer; I am quite sure that you would have been glad
+to take five pounds for either of the two huge manuscripts of songs and
+ballads that you brought me on a former occasion."  "Well," said I, "if
+you will engage to publish either of those two manuscripts, you shall
+have the present one for five pounds."  "God forbid that I should make
+any such bargain," said the bookseller; "I would publish neither on any
+account; but, with respect to this last book, I have really an
+inclination to print it, both for your sake and mine; suppose we say ten
+pounds."  "No," said I, "ten pounds will not do; pray restore me my
+manuscript."  "Stay," said the bookseller, "my wife is in the next room,
+I will go and consult her."  Thereupon he went into his back room, where
+I heard him conversing with his wife in a low tone; in about ten minutes
+he returned.  "Young gentleman," said he, "perhaps you will take tea with
+us this evening, when we will talk further over the matter."
+
+That evening I went and took tea with the bookseller and his wife, both
+of whom, particularly the latter, overwhelmed me with civility.  It was
+not long before I learned that the work had been already sent to the
+press, and was intended to stand at the head of a series of entertaining
+narratives, from which my friends promised themselves considerable
+profit.  The subject of terms was again brought forward.  I stood firm to
+my first demand for a long time; when, however, the bookseller's wife
+complimented me on my production in the highest terms, and said that she
+discovered therein the germs of genius, which she made no doubt would
+some day prove ornamental to my native land, I consented to drop my
+demand to twenty pounds, stipulating, however, that I should not be
+troubled with the correction of the work.
+
+Before I departed I received the twenty pounds, and departed with a light
+heart to my lodgings.
+
+Reader, amidst the difficulties and dangers of this life, should you ever
+be tempted to despair, call to mind these latter chapters of the life of
+Lavengro.  There are few positions, however difficult, from which dogged
+resolution and perseverance may not liberate you.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+
+Indisposition--A Resolution--Poor Equivalents--The Piece of
+Gold--Flashing Eyes--How Beautiful!--Bon Jour, Monsieur.
+
+I had long ago determined to leave London as soon as the means should be
+in my power, and, now that they were, I determined to leave the Great
+City; yet I felt some reluctance to go.  I would fain have pursued the
+career of original authorship which had just opened itself to me, and
+have written other tales of adventure.  The bookseller had given me
+encouragement enough to do so; he had assured me that he should be always
+happy to deal with me for an article (that was the word) similar to the
+one I had brought him, provided my terms were moderate; and the
+bookseller's wife, by her complimentary language, had given me yet more
+encouragement.  But for some months past I had been far from well, and my
+original indisposition, brought on partly by the peculiar atmosphere of
+the Big City, partly by anxiety of mind, had been much increased by the
+exertions which I had been compelled to make during the last few days.  I
+felt that, were I to remain where I was, I should die, or become a
+confirmed valetudinarian.  I would go forth into the country, travelling
+on foot, and, by exercise and inhaling pure air, endeavour to recover my
+health, leaving my subsequent movements to be determined by Providence.
+
+But whither should I bend my course?  Once or twice I thought of walking
+home to the old town, stay some time with my mother and my brother, and
+enjoy the pleasant walks in the neighbourhood; but, though I wished very
+much to see my mother and my brother, and felt much disposed to enjoy the
+said pleasant walks, the old town was not exactly the place to which I
+wished to go at this present juncture.  I was afraid the people would
+ask, Where are your Northern Ballads?  Where are your alliterative
+translations from Ab Gwilym--of which you were always talking, and with
+which you promised to astonish the world?  Now, in the event of such
+interrogations, what could I answer?  It is true I had compiled Newgate
+Lives and Trials, and had written the life of Joseph Sell, but I was
+afraid that the people of the old town would scarcely consider these as
+equivalents for the Northern Ballads and the songs of Ab Gwilym.  I would
+go forth and wander in any direction but that of the old town.
+
+But how one's sensibility on any particular point diminishes with time;
+at present, I enter the old town perfectly indifferent as to what the
+people may be thinking on the subject of the songs and ballads.  With
+respect to the people themselves, whether, like my sensibility, their
+curiosity has altogether evaporated, or whether, which is at least
+equally probable, they never entertained any, one thing is certain, that
+never in a single instance have they troubled me with any remarks on the
+subject of the songs and ballads.
+
+As it was my intention to travel on foot, with a bundle and a stick, I
+despatched my trunk containing some few clothes and books to the old
+town.  My preparations were soon made; in about three days I was in
+readiness to start.
+
+Before departing, however, I bethought me of my old friend the
+apple-woman of London Bridge.  Apprehensive that she might be labouring
+under the difficulties of poverty, I sent her a piece of gold by the
+hands of a young maiden in the house in which I lived.  The latter
+punctually executed her commission, but brought me back the piece of
+gold.  The old woman would not take it; she did not want it, she said.
+"Tell the poor thin lad," she added, "to keep it for himself, he wants it
+more than I."
+
+Rather late one afternoon I departed from my lodging, with my stick in
+one hand and a small bundle in the other, shaping my course to the
+south-west: when I first arrived, somewhat more than a year before, I had
+entered the city by the north-east.  As I was not going home, I
+determined to take my departure in the direction the very opposite to
+home.
+
+Just as I was about to cross the street called the Haymarket, at the
+lower part, a cabriolet, drawn by a magnificent animal, came dashing
+along at a furious rate; it stopped close by the curb-stone where I was,
+a sudden pull of the reins nearly bringing the spirited animal upon its
+haunches.  The Jehu who had accomplished this feat was Francis Ardry.  A
+small beautiful female, with flashing eyes, dressed in the extremity of
+fashion, sat beside him.
+
+"Holloa, friend," said Francis Ardry, "whither bound?"
+
+"I do not know," said I; "all I can say is, that I am about to leave
+London."
+
+"And the means?" said Francis Ardry.
+
+"I have them," said I, with a cheerful smile.
+
+"_Qui est celui-ci_?" demanded the small female, impatiently.
+
+"_C'est_--_mon ami le plus intime_; so you were about to leave London
+without telling me a word," said Francis Ardry, somewhat angrily.
+
+"I intended to have written to you," said I: "what a splendid mare that
+is!"
+
+"Is she not?" said Francis Ardry, who was holding in the mare with
+difficulty; "she cost a hundred guineas."
+
+"_Qu'est-ce qu'il dit_?" demanded his companion.
+
+"_Il dit que le jument est bien beau_."
+
+"_Allons_, _mon ami_, _il est tard_," said the beauty, with a scornful
+toss of her head; "_allons_!"
+
+"_Encore un moment_," said Francis Ardry; "and when shall I see you
+again?"
+
+"I scarcely know," I replied: "I never saw a more splendid turn out."
+
+"_Qu'est-ce qu'il dit_?" said the lady again.
+
+"_Il dit que tout l'equipage est en assez bon gout_."
+
+"_Allons_, _c'est un ours_," said the lady; "_le cheval meme en a peur_,"
+added she, as the mare reared up on high.
+
+"Can you find nothing else to admire but the mare and the equipage?" said
+Francis Ardry, reproachfully, after he had with some difficulty brought
+the mare to order.
+
+Lifting my hand, in which I held my stick, I took off my hat.  "How
+beautiful!" said I, looking the lady full in the face.
+
+"_Comment_?" said the lady, inquiringly.
+
+"_Il dit que vous etes belle comme un ange_," said Francis Ardry,
+emphatically.
+
+"_Mais_, _a la bonne heure! arretez_, _mon ami_," said the lady to
+Francis Ardry, who was about to drive off; "_je voudrais bien causer un
+moment avec lui_; _arretez_, _il est delicieux_.--_Est-ce bien ainsi que
+vous traitez vos amis_?" said she, passionately, as Francis Ardry lifted
+up his whip.  "_Bon jour_, _Monsieur_, _bon jour_," said she, thrusting
+her head from the side and looking back, as Francis Ardry drove off at
+the rate of thirteen miles an hour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+
+The Milestone--The Meditation--Want to Get Up?--The Off-hand
+Leader--Sixteen Shillings--The Near-hand Wheeler--All Right.
+
+In about two hours I had cleared the Great City, and got beyond the
+suburban villages, or rather towns, in the direction in which I was
+travelling; I was in a broad and excellent road, leading I knew not
+whither.  I now slackened my pace, which had hitherto been great.
+Presently, coming to a milestone on which was graven nine miles, I rested
+against it, and looking round towards the vast city, which had long
+ceased to be visible, I fell into a train of meditation.
+
+I thought of all my ways and doings since the day of my first arrival in
+that vast city--I had worked and toiled, and, though I had accomplished
+nothing at all commensurate with the hopes which I had entertained
+previous to my arrival, I had achieved my own living, preserved my
+independence, and become indebted to no one.  I was now quitting it, poor
+in purse, it is true, but not wholly empty; rather ailing, it may be, but
+not broken in health; and, with hope within my bosom, had I not cause
+upon the whole to be thankful?  Perhaps there were some who, arriving at
+the same time under not more favourable circumstances, had accomplished
+much more, and whose future was far more hopeful--Good!  But there might
+be others who, in spite of all their efforts, had been either trodden
+down in the press, never more to be heard of, or were quitting that
+mighty town broken in purse, broken in health, and, oh! with not one dear
+hope to cheer them.  Had I not, upon the whole, abundant cause to be
+grateful?  Truly, yes!
+
+My meditation over, I left the milestone and proceeded on my way in the
+same direction as before until the night began to close in.  I had always
+been a good pedestrian; but now, whether owing to indisposition or to not
+having for some time past been much in the habit of taking such lengthy
+walks, I began to feel not a little weary.  Just as I was thinking of
+putting up for the night at the next inn or public-house I should arrive
+at, I heard what sounded like a coach coming up rapidly behind me.
+Induced, perhaps, by the weariness which I felt, I stopped and looked
+wistfully in the direction of the sound; presently up came a coach,
+seemingly a mail, drawn by four bounding horses--there was no one upon it
+but the coachman and the guard; when nearly parallel with me it stopped.
+"Want to get up?" sounded a voice, in the true coachman-like tone--half
+querulous, half authoritative.  I hesitated; I was tired, it is true, but
+I had left London bound on a pedestrian excursion, and I did not much
+like the idea of having recourse to a coach after accomplishing so very
+inconsiderable a distance.  "Come, we can't be staying here all night,"
+said the voice, more sharply than before.  "I can ride a little way, and
+get down whenever I like," thought I; and springing forward I clambered
+up the coach, and was going to sit down upon the box, next the coachman.
+"No, no," said the coachman, who was a man about thirty, with a hooked
+nose and red face, dressed in a fashionably cut great coat, with a
+fashionable black castor on his head.  "No, no, keep behind--the box
+a'n't for the like of you," said he, as he drove off; "the box is for
+lords, or gentlemen at least."  I made no answer.  "D--- that off-hand
+leader," said the coachman, as the right-hand front horse made a
+desperate start at something he saw in the road; and, half rising, he
+with great dexterity hit with his long whip the off-hand leader a cut on
+the off cheek.  "These seem to be fine horses," said I.  The coachman
+made no answer.  "Nearly thorough-bred," I continued; the coachman drew
+his breath, with a kind of hissing sound, through his teeth.  "Come,
+young fellow, none of your chaff.  Don't you think, because you ride on
+my mail, I'm going to talk to you about 'orses.  I talk to nobody about
+'orses except lords."  "Well," said I, "I have been called a lord in my
+time."  "It must have been by a thimble-rigger, then," said the coachman,
+bending back, and half turning his face round with a broad leer.  "You
+have hit the mark wonderfully," said I.  "You coachmen, whatever else you
+may be, are certainly no fools."  "We a'n't, a'n't we?" said the
+coachman.  "There you are right; and, to show you that you are, I'll now
+trouble you for your fare.  If you have been amongst the thimble-riggers
+you must be tolerably well cleared out.  Where are you going?--to ---?  I
+think I have seen you there.  The fare is sixteen shillings.  Come, tip
+us the blunt; them that has no money can't ride on my mail."
+
+Sixteen shillings was a large sum, and to pay it would make a
+considerable inroad on my slender finances; I thought, at first, that I
+would say I did not want to go so far; but then the fellow would ask at
+once where I wanted to go, and I was ashamed to acknowledge my utter
+ignorance of the road.  I determined, therefore, to pay the fare, with a
+tacit determination not to mount a coach in future without knowing
+whither I was going.  So I paid the man the money, who, turning round,
+shouted to the guard--"All right, Jem; got fare to ---;" and forthwith
+whipped on his horses, especially the off-hand leader, for whom he seemed
+to entertain a particular spite, to greater speed than before--the horses
+flew.
+
+A young moon gave a feeble light, partially illuminating a line of road
+which, appearing by no means interesting, I the less regretted having
+paid my money for the privilege of being hurried along it in the flying
+vehicle.  We frequently changed horses; and at last my friend the
+coachman was replaced by another, the very image of himself--hawk nose,
+red face, with narrow-rimmed hat and fashionable benjamin.  After he had
+driven about fifty yards, the new coachman fell to whipping one of the
+horses.  "D--- this near-hand wheeler," said he, "the brute has got a
+corn."  "Whipping him won't cure him of his corn," said I.  "Who told you
+to speak?" said the driver, with an oath; "mind your own business;
+'tisn't from the like of you I am to learn to drive 'orses."  Presently I
+fell into a broken kind of slumber.  In an hour or two I was aroused by a
+rough voice--"Got to --- young man; get down if you please."  I opened my
+eyes--there was a dim and indistinct light, like that which precedes
+dawn; the coach was standing still in something like a street; just below
+me stood the guard.  "Do you mean to get down," said he, "or will you
+keep us here till morning? other fares want to get up."  Scarcely knowing
+what I did, I took my bundle and stick and descended, whilst two people
+mounted.  "All right, John," said the guard to the coachman, springing up
+behind; whereupon off whisked the coach, one or two individuals who were
+standing by disappeared, and I was left alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+
+The Still Hour--A Thrill--The Wondrous Circle--The Shepherd--Heaps and
+Barrows--What do you Mean?--Milk of the Plains--Hengist spared it--No
+Presents.
+
+After standing still a minute or two, considering what I should do, I
+moved down what appeared to be the street of a small straggling town;
+presently I passed by a church, which rose indistinctly on my right hand;
+anon there was the rustling of foliage and the rushing of waters.  I
+reached a bridge, beneath which a small stream was running in the
+direction of the south.  I stopped and leaned over the parapet, for I
+have always loved to look upon streams, especially at the still hours.
+"What stream is this, I wonder?" said I, as I looked down from the
+parapet into the water, which whirled and gurgled below.
+
+Leaving the bridge, I ascended a gentle acclivity, and presently reached
+what appeared to be a tract of moory undulating ground.  It was now
+tolerably light, but there was a mist or haze abroad which prevented my
+seeing objects with much precision.  I felt chill in the damp air of the
+early morn, and walked rapidly forward.  In about half an hour I arrived
+where the road divided into two, at an angle or tongue of dark green
+sward.  "To the right or the left?" said I, and forthwith took, without
+knowing why, the left-hand road, along which I proceeded about a hundred
+yards, when, in the midst of the tongue of sward formed by the two roads,
+collaterally with myself, I perceived what I at first conceived to be a
+small grove of blighted trunks of oaks, barked and grey.  I stood still
+for a moment, and then, turning off the road, advanced slowly towards it
+over the sward; as I drew nearer, I perceived that the objects which had
+attracted my curiosity, and which formed a kind of circle, were not
+trees, but immense upright stones.  A thrill pervaded my system; just
+before me were two, the mightiest of the whole, tall as the stems of
+proud oaks, supporting on their tops a huge transverse stone, and forming
+a wonderful doorway.  I knew now where I was, and, laying down my stick
+and bundle, and taking off my hat, I advanced slowly, and cast myself--it
+was folly, perhaps, but I could not help what I did--cast myself, with my
+face on the dewy earth, in the middle of the portal of giants, beneath
+the transverse stone.
+
+The spirit of Stonehenge was strong upon me!
+
+And after I had remained with my face on the ground for some time, I
+arose, placed my hat on my head, and, taking up my stick and bundle,
+wandered around the wondrous circle, examining each individual stone,
+from the greatest to the least; and then, entering by the great door,
+seated myself upon an immense broad stone, one side of which was
+supported by several small ones, and the other slanted upon the earth;
+and there in deep meditation, I sat for an hour or two, till the sun
+shone in my face above the tall stones of the eastern side.
+
+And as I still sat there, I heard the noise of bells, and presently a
+large number of sheep came browzing past the circle of stones; two or
+three entered, and grazed upon what they could find, and soon a man also
+entered the circle at the northern side.
+
+"Early here, sir," said the man, who was tall, and dressed in a dark
+green slop, and had all the appearance of a shepherd; "a traveller, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "I am a traveller; are these sheep yours?"
+
+"They are, sir; that is, they are my master's.  A strange place this,
+sir," said he, looking at the stones; "ever here before?"
+
+"Never in body, frequently in mind."
+
+"Heard of the stones, I suppose; no wonder--all the people of the plain
+talk of them."
+
+"What do the people of the plain say of them?"
+
+"Why, they say--How did they ever come here?"
+
+"Do they not suppose them to have been brought?"
+
+"Who should have brought them?"
+
+"I have read that they were brought by many thousand men."
+
+"Where from?"
+
+"Ireland."
+
+"How did they bring them?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"And what did they bring them for?"
+
+"To form a temple, perhaps."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"A place to worship God in."
+
+"A strange place to worship God in."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It has no roof."
+
+"Yes, it has."
+
+"Where?" said the man, looking up.
+
+"What do you see above you?"
+
+"The sky."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Have you anything to say?"
+
+"How did those stones come here?"
+
+"Are there other stones like these on the plains?" said I.
+
+"None; and yet there are plenty of strange things on these downs."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"Strange heaps, and barrows, and great walls of earth built on the top of
+hills."
+
+"Do the people of the plain wonder how they came there?"
+
+"They do not."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"They were raised by hands."
+
+"And these stones?"
+
+"How did they ever come here?"
+
+"I wonder whether they are here?" said I.
+
+"These stones?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"So sure as the world," said the man; "and as the world, they will stand
+as long."
+
+"I wonder whether there is a world."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"An earth and sea, moon and stars, sheep and men."
+
+"Do you doubt it?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"I never heard it doubted before."
+
+"It is impossible there should be a world."
+
+"It ain't possible there shouldn't be a world."
+
+"Just so."  At this moment a fine ewe attended by a lamb, rushed into the
+circle and fondled the knees of the shepherd.  "I suppose you would not
+care to have some milk," said the man.
+
+"Why do you suppose so?"
+
+"Because, so be, there be no sheep, no milk, you know; and what there
+ben't is not worth having."
+
+"You could not have argued better," said I; "that is, supposing you have
+argued; with respect to the milk you may do as you please."
+
+"Be still, Nanny," said the man; and producing a tin vessel from his
+scrip, he milked the ewe into it.  "Here is milk of the plains, master,"
+said the man, as he handed the vessel to me.
+
+"Where are those barrows and great walls of earth you were speaking of,"
+said I, after I had drunk some of the milk; "are there any near where we
+are?"
+
+"Not within many miles; the nearest is yonder away," said the shepherd,
+pointing to the south-east.  "It's a grand place, that, but not like
+this; quite different, and from it you have a sight of the finest spire
+in the world."
+
+"I must go to it," said I, and I drank the remainder of the milk;
+"yonder, you say."
+
+"Yes, yonder; but you cannot get to it in that direction, the river lies
+between."
+
+"What river?"
+
+"The Avon."
+
+"Avon is British," said I.
+
+"Yes," said the man, "we are all British here."
+
+"No, we are not," said I.
+
+"What are we then?"
+
+"English."
+
+"A'n't they one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Who were the British?"
+
+"The men who are supposed to have worshipped God in this place, and who
+raised these stones."
+
+"Where are they now?"
+
+"Our forefathers slaughtered them, spilled their blood all about,
+especially in this neighbourhood, destroyed their pleasant places, and
+left not, to use their own words, one stone upon another."
+
+"Yes, they did," said the shepherd, looking aloft at the transverse
+stone.
+
+"And it is well for them they did; whenever that stone, which English
+hands never raised, is by English hands thrown down, woe, woe, woe to the
+English race; spare it, English!  Hengist spared it!--Here is sixpence."
+
+"I won't have it," said the man.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"You talk so prettily about these stones; you seem to know all about
+them."
+
+"I never receive presents; with respect to the stones, I say with
+yourself, How did they ever come here?"
+
+"How did they ever come here?" said the shepherd.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+
+The River--Arid Downs--A Prospect.
+
+Leaving the shepherd, I bent my way in the direction pointed out by him
+as that in which the most remarkable of the strange remains of which he
+had spoken lay.  I proceeded rapidly, making my way over the downs
+covered with coarse grass and fern; with respect to the river of which he
+had spoken, I reflected that, either by wading or swimming, I could
+easily transfer myself and what I bore to the opposite side.  On arriving
+at its banks, I found it a beautiful stream, but shallow, with here and
+there a deep place, where the water ran dark and still.
+
+Always fond of the pure lymph, I undressed, and plunged into one of these
+gulfs, from which I emerged, my whole frame in a glow, and tingling with
+delicious sensations.  After conveying my clothes and scanty baggage to
+the farther side, I dressed, and then with hurried steps bent my course
+in the direction of some lofty ground; I at length found myself on a high
+road, leading over wide and arid downs; following the road for some miles
+without seeing anything remarkable, I supposed at length that I had taken
+the wrong path, and wended on slowly and disconsolately for some time,
+till, having nearly surmounted a steep hill, I knew at once, from certain
+appearances, that I was near the object of my search.  Turning to the
+right near the brow of the hill, I proceeded along a path which brought
+me to a causeway leading over a deep ravine, and connecting the hill with
+another which had once formed part of it, for the ravine was evidently
+the work of art.  I passed over the causeway, and found myself in a kind
+of gateway which admitted me into a square space of many acres,
+surrounded on all sides by mounds or ramparts of earth.  Though I had
+never been in such a place before, I knew that I stood within the
+precincts of what had been a Roman encampment, and one probably of the
+largest size, for many thousand warriors might have found room to perform
+their evolutions in that space, in which corn was now growing, the green
+ears waving in the morning wind.
+
+After I had gazed about the space for a time, standing in the gateway
+formed by the mounds, I clambered up the mound to the left hand, and on
+the top of that mound I found myself at a great altitude; beneath, at the
+distance of a mile, was a fair old city, situated amongst verdant
+meadows, watered with streams, and from the heart of that old city, from
+amidst mighty trees, I beheld towering to the sky the finest spire in the
+world.
+
+After I had looked from the Roman rampart for a long time, I hurried
+away, and, retracing my steps along the causeway, regained the road, and,
+passing over the brow of the hill, descended to the city of the spire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+
+The Hostelry--Life Uncertain--Open Countenance--The Grand Point--Thank
+You, Master--A Hard Mother--Poor Dear!--Considerable Odds--The Better
+Country--English Fashion--Landlord-looking Person.
+
+And in the old city I remained two days, passing my time as I best
+could--inspecting the curiosities of the place, eating and drinking when
+I felt so disposed, which I frequently did, the digestive organs having
+assumed a tone to which for many months they had been strangers--enjoying
+at night balmy sleep in a large bed in a dusky room, at the end of a
+corridor, in a certain hostelry in which I had taken up my
+quarters--receiving from the people of the hostelry such civility and
+condescension as people who travel on foot with bundle and stick, but who
+nevertheless are perceived to be not altogether destitute of coin, are in
+the habit of receiving.  On the third day, on a fine sunny afternoon, I
+departed from the city of the spire.
+
+As I was passing through one of the suburbs, I saw, all on a sudden, a
+respectable-looking female fall down in a fit; several persons hastened
+to her assistance.  "She is dead," said one.  "No, she is not," said
+another.  "I am afraid she is," said a third.  "Life is very uncertain,"
+said a fourth.  "It is Mrs. ---," said a fifth; "let us carry her to her
+own house."  Not being able to render any assistance, I left the poor
+female in the hands of her townsfolk, and proceeded on my way.  I had
+chosen a road in the direction of the north-west, it led over downs where
+corn was growing, but where neither tree nor hedge was to be seen; two or
+three hours' walking brought me to a beautiful valley, abounding with
+trees of various kinds, with a delightful village at its farthest
+extremity; passing through it I ascended a lofty acclivity, on the top of
+which I sat down on a bank, and taking off my hat, permitted a breeze,
+which swept coolly and refreshingly over the downs, to dry my hair,
+dripping from the effects of exercise and the heat of the day.
+
+And as I sat there, gazing now at the blue heavens, now at the downs
+before me, a man came along the road in the direction in which I had
+hitherto been proceeding: just opposite to me he stopped, and, looking at
+me, cried--"Am I right for London, master?"
+
+He was dressed like a sailor, and appeared to be between twenty-five and
+thirty years of age--he had an open manly countenance, and there was a
+bold and fearless expression in his eye.
+
+"Yes," said I, in reply to his question; "this is one of the ways to
+London.  Do you come from far?"
+
+"From ---," said the man, naming a well-known sea-port.
+
+"Is this the direct road to London from that place?" I demanded.
+
+"No," said the man; "but I had to visit two or three other places on
+certain commissions I was entrusted with; amongst others to ---, where I
+had to take a small sum of money.  I am rather tired, master; and, if you
+please, I will sit down beside you."
+
+"You have as much right to sit down here as I have," said I, "the road is
+free for every one; as for sitting down beside me, you have the look of
+an honest man, and I have no objection to your company."
+
+"Why, as for being honest, master," said the man, laughing and sitting
+down beside me, "I hav'n't much to say--many is the wild thing I have
+done when I was younger; however, what is done, is done.  To learn, one
+must live, master; and I have lived long enough to learn the grand point
+of wisdom."
+
+"What is that?" said I.
+
+"That honesty is the best policy, master."
+
+"You appear to be a sailor," said I, looking at his dress.
+
+"I was not bred a sailor," said the man, "though, when my foot is on the
+salt water, I can play the part--and play it well too.  I am now from a
+long voyage."
+
+"From America?" said I.
+
+"Farther than that," said the man.
+
+"Have you any objection to tell me?" said I.
+
+"From New South Wales," said the man, looking me full in the face.
+
+"Dear me," said I.
+
+"Why do you say 'Dear me'?" said the man.
+
+"It is a very long way off," said I.
+
+"Was that your reason for saying so?" said the man.
+
+"Not exactly," said I.
+
+"No," said the man, with something of a bitter smile; "it was something
+else that made you say so; you were thinking of the convicts."
+
+"Well," said I, "what then--you are no convict."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"You do not look like one."
+
+"Thank you, master," said the man cheerfully; "and, to a certain extent,
+you are right,--bygones are bygones--I am no longer what I was, nor ever
+will be again; the truth, however, is the truth--a convict I have been--a
+convict at Sydney Cove."
+
+"And you have served out the period for which you were sentenced, and are
+now returned?"
+
+"As to serving out my sentence," replied the man, "I can't say that I
+did; I was sentenced for fourteen years, and I was in Sydney Cove little
+more than half that time.  The truth is that I did the Government a
+service.  There was a conspiracy amongst some of the convicts to murder
+and destroy--I overheard and informed the Government; mind one thing,
+however, I was not concerned in it; those who got it up were no comrades
+of mine, but a bloody gang of villains.  Well, the Government, in
+consideration of the service I had done them, remitted the remainder of
+my sentence; and some kind gentlemen interested themselves about me, gave
+me good books and good advice, and, being satisfied with my conduct,
+procured me employ in an exploring expedition, by which I earned money.
+In fact, the being sent to Sydney was the best thing that ever happened
+to me in all my life."
+
+"And you have now returned to your native country.  Longing to see home
+brought you from New South Wales."
+
+"There you are mistaken," said the man.  "Wish to see England again would
+never have brought me so far; for, to tell you the truth, master, England
+was a hard mother to me, as she has proved to many.  No, a wish to see
+another kind of mother--a poor old woman whose son I am--has brought me
+back."
+
+"You have a mother, then?" said I.  "Does she reside in London?"
+
+"She used to live in London," said the man; "but I am afraid she is long
+since dead."
+
+"How did she support herself?" said I.
+
+"Support herself! with difficulty enough; she used to keep a small stall
+on London Bridge, where she sold fruit; I am afraid she is dead, and that
+she died perhaps in misery.  She was a poor sinful creature; but I loved
+her, and she loved me.  I came all the way back merely for the chance of
+seeing her."
+
+"Did you ever write to her," said I, "or cause others to write to her?"
+
+"I wrote to her myself," said the man, "about two years ago; but I never
+received an answer.  I learned to write very tolerably over there, by the
+assistance of the good people I spoke of.  As for reading, I could do
+that very well before I went--my poor mother taught me to read, out of a
+book that she was very fond of; a strange book it was, I remember.  Poor
+dear!--what would I give only to know that she is alive."
+
+"Life is very uncertain," said I.
+
+"That is true," said the man, with a sigh.
+
+"We are here one moment, and gone the next," I continued.  "As I passed
+through the streets of a neighbouring town, I saw a respectable woman
+drop down, and people said she was dead.  Who knows but that she too had
+a son coming to see her from a distance, at that very time."
+
+"Who knows, indeed," said the man.  "Ah, I am afraid my mother is dead.
+Well, God's will be done."
+
+"However," said I, "I should not wonder at your finding your mother
+alive."
+
+"You wouldn't?" said the man, looking at me wistfully.
+
+"I should not wonder at all," said I; "indeed something within me seems
+to tell me you will; I should not much mind betting five shillings to
+five pence that you will see your mother within a week.  Now, friend,
+five shillings to five pence--"
+
+"Is very considerable odds," said the man, rubbing his hands; "sure you
+must have good reason to hope, when you are willing to give such odds."
+
+"After all," said I, "it not unfrequently happens that those who lay the
+long odds lose.  Let us hope, however.  What do you mean to do in the
+event of finding your mother alive?"
+
+"I scarcely know," said the man; "I have frequently thought that if I
+found my mother alive I would attempt to persuade her to accompany me to
+the country which I have left--it is a better country for a man--that is
+a free man--to live in than this; however, let me first find my
+mother--if I could only find my mother--"
+
+"Farewell," said I, rising.  "Go your way, and God go with you--I will go
+mine."  "I have but one thing to ask you," said the man.  "What is that?"
+I inquired.  "That you would drink with me before we part--you have done
+me so much good."  "How should we drink?" said I; "we are on the top of a
+hill where there is nothing to drink."  "But there is a village below,"
+said the man; "do let us drink before we part."  "I have been through
+that village already," said I, "and I do not like turning back."  "Ah,"
+said the man sorrowfully, "you will not drink with me because I told you
+I was--"
+
+"You are quite mistaken," said I, "I would as soon drink with a convict
+as with a judge.  I am by no means certain that, under the same
+circumstances, the judge would be one whit better than the convict.  Come
+along!  I will go back to oblige you.  I have an odd sixpence in my
+pocket, which I will change, that I may drink with you."  So we went down
+the hill together to the village through which I had already passed,
+where, finding a public-house, we drank together in true English fashion,
+after which we parted, the sailor-looking man going his way and I mine.
+
+After walking about a dozen miles, I came to a town, where I rested for
+the night.  The next morning I set out again in the direction of the
+north-west.  I continued journeying for four days, my daily journeys
+varying from twenty to twenty-five miles.  During this time nothing
+occurred to me worthy of any especial notice.  The weather was brilliant,
+and I rapidly improved both in strength and spirits.  On the fifth day,
+about two o'clock, I arrived at a small town.  Feeling hungry, I entered
+a decent-looking inn--within a kind of bar I saw a huge, fat,
+landlord-looking person, with a very pretty, smartly-dressed maiden.
+Addressing myself to the fat man, "House!" said I, "house!  Can I have
+dinner, house?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+
+Primitive Habits--Rosy-faced Damsel--A Pleasant Moment--Suit of
+Black--The Furtive Glance--The Mighty Round--Degenerate Times--The
+Newspaper--The Evil Chance--I Congratulate You.
+
+"Young gentleman," said the huge fat landlord, "you are come at the right
+time; dinner will be taken up in a few minutes, and such a dinner," he
+continued, rubbing his hands, "as you will not see every day in these
+times."
+
+"I am hot and dusty," said I, "and should wish to cool my hands and
+face."
+
+"Jenny!" said the huge landlord, with the utmost gravity, "show the
+gentleman into number seven, that he may wash his hands and face."
+
+"By no means," said I, "I am a person of primitive habits, and there is
+nothing like the pump in weather like this."
+
+"Jenny!" said the landlord, with the same gravity as before, "go with the
+young gentleman to the pump in the back kitchen, and take a clean towel
+along with you."
+
+Thereupon the rosy-faced clean-looking damsel went to a drawer, and
+producing a large, thick, but snowy-white towel, she nodded to me to
+follow her; whereupon I followed Jenny through a long passage into the
+back kitchen.
+
+And at the end of the back kitchen there stood a pump; and going to it I
+placed my hands beneath the spout, and said, "Pump, Jenny;" and Jenny
+incontinently, without laying down the towel, pumped with one hand, and I
+washed and cooled my heated hands.
+
+And, when my hands were washed and cooled, I took off my neckcloth, and
+unbuttoning my shirt collar, I placed my head beneath the spout of the
+pump, and I said unto Jenny, "Now, Jenny, lay down the towel, and pump
+for your life."
+
+Thereupon Jenny, placing the towel on a linen-horse, took the handle of
+the pump with both hands and pumped over my head as handmaid had never
+pumped before; so that the water poured in torrents from my head, my
+face, and my hair down upon the brick floor.
+
+And after the lapse of somewhat more than a minute, I called out with a
+half-strangled voice, "Hold, Jenny!" and Jenny desisted.  I stood for a
+few moments to recover my breath, then taking the towel which Jenny
+proffered, I dried composedly my hands and head, my face and hair; then,
+returning the towel to Jenny, I gave a deep sigh and said, "Surely this
+is one of the pleasant moments of life."
+
+Then, having set my dress to rights, and combed my hair with a pocket
+comb, I followed Jenny, who conducted me back through the long passage,
+and showed me into a neat sanded parlour on the ground floor.
+
+I sat down by a window which looked out upon the dusty street; presently
+in came the handmaid, and commenced laying the table-cloth.  "Shall I
+spread the table for one, sir," said she, "or do you expect anybody to
+dine with you?"
+
+"I can't say that I expect anybody," said I, laughing inwardly to myself;
+"however, if you please you can lay for two, so that if any acquaintance
+of mine should chance to step in, he may find a knife and fork ready for
+him."
+
+So I sat by the window, sometimes looking out upon the dusty street, and
+now glancing at certain old-fashioned prints which adorned the wall over
+against me.  I fell into a kind of doze, from which I was almost
+instantly awakened by the opening of the door.  Dinner, thought I; and I
+sat upright in my chair.  No, a man of the middle age, and rather above
+the middle height dressed in a plain suit of black, made his appearance,
+and sat down in a chair at some distance from me, but near to the table,
+and appeared to be lost in thought.
+
+"The weather is very warm, sir," said I.
+
+"Very," said the stranger, laconically, looking at me for the first time.
+
+"Would you like to see the newspaper?" said I, taking up one which lay
+upon the window seat.
+
+"I never read newspapers," said the stranger, "nor, indeed--."  Whatever
+it might be that he had intended to say he left unfinished.  Suddenly he
+walked to the mantel-piece at the farther end of the room, before which
+he placed himself with his back towards me.  There he remained motionless
+for some time; at length, raising his hand, he touched the corner of the
+mantel-piece with his finger, advanced towards the chair which he had
+left, and again seated himself.
+
+"Have you come far?" said he, suddenly looking towards me, and speaking
+in a frank and open manner, which denoted a wish to enter into
+conversation.  "You do not seem to be of this place."
+
+"I come from some distance," said I; "indeed I am walking for exercise,
+which I find as necessary to the mind as the body.  I believe that by
+exercise people would escape much mental misery."
+
+Scarcely had I uttered these words when the stranger laid his hand, with
+seeming carelessness, upon the table, near one of the glasses; after a
+moment or two he touched the glass as if inadvertently, then, glancing
+furtively at me, he withdrew his hand and looked towards the window.
+
+"Are you from these parts?" said I at last, with apparent carelessness.
+
+"From this vicinity," replied the stranger.  "You think, then, that it is
+as easy to walk off the bad humours of the mind as of the body?"
+
+"I, at least, am walking in that hope," said I.
+
+"I wish you may be successful," said the stranger; and here he touched
+one of the forks which lay on the table near him.
+
+Here the door, which was slightly ajar, was suddenly pushed open with
+some fracas, and in came the stout landlord, supporting with some
+difficulty an immense dish, in which was a mighty round mass of smoking
+meat garnished all round with vegetables; so high was the mass that it
+probably obstructed his view, for it was not until he had placed it upon
+the table that he appeared to observe the stranger; he almost started,
+and quite out of breath exclaimed, "God bless me, your honour; is your
+honour the acquaintance that the young gentleman was expecting?"
+
+"Is the young gentleman expecting an acquaintance?" said the stranger.
+
+There is nothing like putting a good face upon these matters, thought I
+to myself; and, getting up, I bowed to the unknown.  "Sir," said I, "when
+I told Jenny that she might lay the table-cloth for two, so that in the
+event of any acquaintance dropping in he might find a knife and fork
+ready for him, I was merely jocular, being an entire stranger in these
+parts, and expecting no one.  Fortune, however, it would seem, has been
+unexpectedly kind to me; I flatter myself, sir, that since you have been
+in this room I have had the honour of making your acquaintance; and in
+the strength of that hope I humbly entreat you to honour me with your
+company to dinner, provided you have not already dined."
+
+The stranger laughed outright.
+
+"Sir," I continued, "the round of beef is a noble one, and seems
+exceedingly well boiled, and the landlord was just right when he said I
+should have such a dinner as is not seen every day.  A round of beef, at
+any rate such a round of beef as this, is seldom seen smoking upon the
+table in these degenerate times.  Allow me, sir," said I, observing that
+the stranger was about to speak, "allow me another remark.  I think I saw
+you just now touch the fork, I venture to hail it as an omen that you
+will presently seize it, and apply it to its proper purpose, and its
+companion the knife also."
+
+The stranger changed colour, and gazed upon me in silence.
+
+"Do, sir," here put in the landlord; "do, sir, accept the young
+gentleman's invitation.  Your honour has of late been looking poorly, and
+the young gentleman is a funny young gentleman, and a clever young
+gentleman; and I think it will do your honour good to have a dinner's
+chat with the young gentleman."
+
+"It is not my dinner hour," said the stranger; "I dine considerably
+later; taking anything now would only discompose me; I shall, however, be
+most happy to sit down with the young gentleman; reach me that paper,
+and, when the young gentleman has satisfied his appetite, we may perhaps
+have a little chat together."
+
+The landlord handed the stranger the newspaper, and, bowing, retired with
+his maid Jenny.  I helped myself to a portion of the smoking round, and
+commenced eating with no little appetite.  The stranger appeared to be
+soon engrossed with the newspaper.  We continued thus a considerable
+time--the one reading and the other dining.  Chancing suddenly to cast my
+eyes upon the stranger, I saw his brow contract; he gave a slight stamp
+with his foot, and flung the newspaper to the ground, then stooping down
+he picked it up, first moving his fore finger along the floor, seemingly
+slightly scratching it with his nail.
+
+"Do you hope, sir," said I, "by that ceremony with the finger to preserve
+yourself from the evil chance?"
+
+The stranger started; then, after looking at me for some time in silence,
+he said, "Is it possible that you--?"
+
+"Ay, ay," said I, helping myself to some more of the round, "I have
+touched myself in my younger days, both for the evil chance and the good.
+Can't say, though, that I ever trusted much in the ceremony."
+
+The stranger made no reply, but appeared to be in deep thought; nothing
+further passed between us until I had concluded the dinner, when I said
+to him, "I shall now be most happy, sir, to have the pleasure of your
+conversation over a pint of wine."
+
+The stranger rose; "No, my young friend," said he, smiling, "that would
+scarce be fair.  It is my turn now--pray do me the favour to go home with
+me, and accept what hospitality my poor roof can offer; to tell you the
+truth, I wish to have some particular discourse with you which would
+hardly be possible in this place.  As for wine, I can give you some much
+better than you can get here: the landlord is an excellent fellow, but he
+is an inn-keeper, after all.  I am going out for a moment, and will send
+him in, so that you may settle your account; I trust you will not refuse
+me, I only live about two miles from here."
+
+I looked in the face of the stranger--it was a fine intelligent face,
+with a cast of melancholy in it.  "Sir," said I, "I would go with you
+though you lived four miles instead of two."
+
+"Who is that gentleman?" said I to the landlord, after I had settled his
+bill; "I am going home with him."
+
+"I wish I were going too," said the fat landlord, laying his hand upon
+his stomach.  "Young gentleman, I shall be a loser by his honour's taking
+you away; but, after all, the truth is the truth--there are few gentlemen
+in these parts like his honour, either for learning or welcoming his
+friends.  Young gentleman, I congratulate you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+
+New Acquaintance--Old French Style--The Portrait--Taciturnity--The
+Evergreen Tree--The Dark Hour--The Flash--Ancestors--A Fortunate Man--A
+Posthumous Child--Antagonistic Ideas--The Hawks--Flaws--The
+Pony--Irresistible Impulse--Favourable Crisis--The Topmost Branch--Twenty
+Feet--Heartily Ashamed.
+
+I found the stranger awaiting me at the door of the inn.  "Like yourself,
+I am fond of walking," said he, "and when any little business calls me to
+this place I generally come on foot."
+
+We were soon out of the town, and in a very beautiful country.  After
+proceeding some distance on the high road, we turned off, and were
+presently in one of those mazes of lanes for which England is famous; the
+stranger at first seemed inclined to be taciturn; a few observations,
+however, which I made, appeared to rouse him, and he soon exhibited not
+only considerable powers of observation, but stores of information which
+surprised me.  So pleased did I become with my new acquaintance, that I
+soon ceased to pay the slightest attention either to place or distance.
+At length the stranger was silent, and I perceived that we had arrived at
+a handsome iron gate and lodge; the stranger having rung a bell, the gate
+was opened by an old man, and we proceeded along a gravel path, which in
+about five minutes brought us to a large brick house, built something in
+the old French style, having a spacious lawn before it, and immediately
+in front a pond in which were golden fish, and in the middle a stone swan
+discharging quantities of water from its bill.  We ascended a spacious
+flight of steps to the door, which was at once flung open, and two
+servants with powdered hair, and in livery of blue plush, came out and
+stood one on either side as we passed the threshold.  We entered a large
+hall, and the stranger, taking me by the hand, welcomed me to his poor
+home, as he called it, and then gave orders to another servant, but out
+of livery, to show me to an apartment, and give me whatever assistance I
+might require in my toilette.  Notwithstanding the plea as to primitive
+habits which I had lately made to my other host in the town, I offered no
+objection to this arrangement, but followed the bowing domestic to a
+spacious and airy chamber, where he rendered me all those little nameless
+offices which the somewhat neglected state of my dress required.  When
+everything had been completed to my perfect satisfaction, he told me that
+if I pleased he would conduct me to the library, where dinner would be
+speedily served.
+
+In the library I found a table laid for two; my host was not there,
+having as I supposed not been quite so speedy with his toilette as his
+guest.  Left alone, I looked round the apartment with inquiring eyes; it
+was long and tolerably lofty, the walls from the top to the bottom were
+lined with cases containing books of all sizes and bindings; there were a
+globe or two, a couch, and an easy chair.  Statues and busts there were
+none, and only one painting, a portrait, that of my host, but not him of
+the mansion.  Over the mantel-piece, the features staringly like, but so
+ridiculously exaggerated that they scarcely resembled those of a human
+being, daubed evidently by the hand of the commonest sign-artist, hung a
+half-length portrait of him of round of beef celebrity--my sturdy host of
+the town.
+
+I had been in the library about ten minutes, amusing myself as I best
+could, when my friend entered; he seemed to have resumed his
+taciturnity--scarce a word escaped his lips till dinner was served, when
+he said, smiling, "I suppose it would be merely a compliment to ask you
+to partake?"
+
+"I don't know," said I, seating myself; "your first course consists of
+troutlets, I am fond of troutlets, and I always like to be
+companionable."
+
+The dinner was excellent, though I did but little justice to it from the
+circumstance of having already dined; the stranger also, though without
+my excuse, partook but slightly of the good cheer; he still continued
+taciturn, and appeared lost in thought, and every attempt which I made to
+induce him to converse was signally unsuccessful.
+
+And now dinner was removed, and we sat over our wine, and I remember that
+the wine was good, and fully justified the encomiums of my host of the
+town.  Over the wine I made sure that my entertainer would have loosened
+the chain which seemed to tie his tongue--but no!  I endeavoured to tempt
+him by various topics, and talked of geometry and the use of the globes,
+of the heavenly sphere, and the star Jupiter, which I said I had heard
+was a very large star, also of the evergreen tree, which, according to
+Olaus, stood of old before the heathen temple of Upsal, and which I
+affirmed was a yew--but no, nothing that I said could induce my
+entertainer to relax his taciturnity.
+
+It grew dark, and I became uncomfortable.  "I must presently be going," I
+at last exclaimed.
+
+At these words he gave a sudden start; "Going," said he, "are you not my
+guest, and an honoured one?"
+
+"You know best," said I; "but I was apprehensive I was an intruder; to
+several of my questions you have returned no answer."
+
+"Ten thousand pardons!" he exclaimed, seizing me by the hand; "but you
+cannot go now, I have much to talk to you about--there is one thing in
+particular--"
+
+"If it be the evergreen tree at Upsal," said I, interrupting him, "I hold
+it to have been a yew--what else?  The evergreens of the south, as the
+old bishop observes, will not grow in the north, and a pine was unfitted
+for such a locality, being a vulgar tree.  What else could it have been
+but the yew--the sacred yew which our ancestors were in the habit of
+planting in their churchyards?  Moreover, I affirm it to have been the
+yew for the honour of the tree; for I love the yew, and had I home and
+land, I would have one growing before my front window."
+
+"You would do right; the yew is indeed a venerable tree, but it is not
+about the yew."
+
+"The star Jupiter, perhaps?"
+
+"Nor the star Jupiter, nor its moons; an observation which escaped you at
+the inn has made a considerable impression upon me."
+
+"But I really must take my departure," said I; "the dark hour is at
+hand."
+
+And as I uttered these last words, the stranger touched rapidly something
+which lay near him I forget what it was.  It was the first action of the
+kind which I had observed on his part since we sat down to table.
+
+"You allude to the evil chance," said I; "but it is getting both dark and
+late."
+
+"I believe we are going to have a storm," said my friend, "but I really
+hope that you will give me your company for a day or two; I have, as I
+said before, much to talk to you about."
+
+"Well," said I, "I shall be most happy to be your guest for this night; I
+am ignorant of the country, and it is not pleasant to travel unknown
+paths by night--dear me, what a flash of lightning!"
+
+It had become very dark; suddenly a blaze of sheet lightning illumed the
+room.  By the momentary light I distinctly saw my host touch another
+object upon the table.
+
+"Will you allow me to ask you a question or two?" said he at last.
+
+"As many as you please," said I; "but shall we not have lights?"
+
+"Not unless you particularly wish it," said my entertainer; "I rather
+like the dark, and though a storm is evidently at hand, neither thunder
+nor lightning has any terrors for me.  It is other things I quake at--I
+should rather say ideas.  Now permit me to ask you--"
+
+And then my entertainer asked me various questions, to all of which I
+answered unreservedly; he was then silent for some time, at last he
+exclaimed, "I should wish to tell you the history of my life--though not
+an adventurous one, I think it contains some things which will interest
+you."
+
+Without waiting for my reply he began.  Amidst darkness and gloom,
+occasionally broken by flashes of lightning, the stranger related to me,
+as we sat at the table in the library, his truly touching history.
+
+"Before proceeding to relate the events of my life, it will not be amiss
+to give you some account of my ancestors.  My great grandfather on the
+male side was a silk mercer, in Cheapside, who, when he died, left his
+son, who was his only child, a fortune of one hundred thousand pounds,
+and a splendid business; the son, however, had no inclination for trade,
+the summit of his ambition was to be a country gentleman, to found a
+family, and to pass the remainder of his days in rural ease and dignity,
+and all this he managed to accomplish; he disposed of his business,
+purchased a beautiful and extensive estate for four score thousand
+pounds, built upon it the mansion to which I had the honour of welcoming
+you to-day, married the daughter of a neighbouring squire, who brought
+him a fortune of five thousand pounds, became a magistrate, and only
+wanted a son and heir to make him completely happy; this blessing, it is
+true, was for a long time denied him; it came, however, at last, as is
+usual, when least expected.  His lady was brought to bed of my father,
+and then who so happy a man as my grandsire; he gave away two thousand
+pounds in charities, and in the joy of his heart made a speech at the
+next quarter sessions; the rest of his life was spent in ease,
+tranquillity, and rural dignity; he died of apoplexy on the day that my
+father became of age; perhaps it would be difficult to mention a man who
+in all respects was so fortunate as my grandfather; his death was sudden,
+it is true, but I am not one of those who pray to be delivered from a
+sudden death.
+
+"I should not call my father a fortunate man; it is true that he had the
+advantage of a first-rate education; that he made the grand tour with a
+private tutor, as was the fashion at that time; that he came to a
+splendid fortune on the very day that he came of age; that for many years
+he tasted all the diversions of the capital; that, at last determined to
+settle, he married the sister of a baronet, an amiable and accomplished
+lady, with a large fortune; that he had the best stud of hunters in the
+county, on which, during the season, he followed the fox gallantly; had
+he been a fortunate man he would never have cursed his fate, as he was
+frequently known to do; ten months after his marriage his horse fell upon
+him, and so injured him, that he expired in a few days in great agony.
+My grandfather was, indeed, a fortunate man; when he died he was followed
+to the grave by the tears of the poor--my father was not.
+
+"Two remarkable circumstances are connected with my birth--I am a
+posthumous child, and came into the world some weeks before the usual
+time, the shock which my mother experienced at my father's death having
+brought on the pangs of premature labour; both my mother's life and my
+own were at first despaired of; we both, however, survived the crisis.
+My mother loved me with the most passionate fondness, and I was brought
+up in this house under her own eye--I was never sent to school.
+
+"I have already told you that mine is not a tale of adventure; my life
+has not been one of action, but of wild imaginings and strange
+sensations; I was born with excessive sensibility, and that has been my
+bane.  I have not been a fortunate man.
+
+"No one is fortunate unless he is happy, and it is impossible for a being
+constructed like myself to be happy for an hour, or even enjoy peace and
+tranquillity; most of our pleasures and pains are the effects of
+imagination, and wherever the sensibility is great, the imagination is
+great also.  No sooner has my imagination raised up an image of pleasure,
+than it is sure to conjure up one of distress and gloom; these two
+antagonistic ideas instantly commence a struggle in my mind, and the
+gloomy one generally, I may say invariably, prevails.  How is it possible
+that I should be a happy man?
+
+"It has invariably been so with me from the earliest period that I can
+remember; the first playthings that were given me caused me for a few
+minutes excessive pleasure; they were pretty and glittering; presently,
+however, I became anxious and perplexed; I wished to know their history,
+how they were made, and what of--were the materials precious; I was not
+satisfied with their outward appearance.  In less than an hour I had
+broken the playthings in an attempt to discover what they were made of.
+
+"When I was eight years of age my uncle the baronet, who was also my
+godfather, sent me a pair of Norway hawks, with directions for managing
+them; he was a great fowler.  Oh, how rejoiced was I with the present
+which had been made me, my joy lasted for at least five minutes; I would
+let them breed, I would have a house of hawks; yes, that I
+would--but--and here came the unpleasant idea--suppose they were to fly
+away, how very annoying!  Ah, but, said hope, there's little fear of
+that; feed them well and they will never fly away, or if they do they
+will come back, my uncle says so; so sunshine triumphed for a little
+time.  Then the strangest of all doubts came into my head; I doubted the
+legality of my tenure of these hawks; how did I come by them? why, my
+uncle gave them to me, but how did they come into his possession? what
+right had he to them? after all, they might not be his to give.--I passed
+a sleepless night.  The next morning I found that the man who brought the
+hawks had not departed.  'How came my uncle by these hawks?' I anxiously
+inquired.  'They were sent to him from Norway, master, with another
+pair.'  'And who sent them?'  'That I don't know, master, but I suppose
+his honour can tell you.'  I was even thinking of scrawling a letter to
+my uncle to make inquiry on this point, but shame restrained me, and I
+likewise reflected that it would be impossible for him to give my mind
+entire satisfaction; it is true he could tell who sent him the hawks, but
+how was he to know how the hawks came into the possession of those who
+sent them to him, and by what right they possessed them or the parents of
+the hawks.  In a word, I wanted a clear valid title, as lawyers would
+say, to my hawks, and I believe no title would have satisfied me that did
+not extend up to the time of the first hawk, that is, prior to Adam; and,
+could I have obtained such a title, I make no doubt that, young as I was,
+I should have suspected that it was full of flaws.
+
+"I was now disgusted with the hawks, and no wonder, seeing all the
+disquietude they had caused me; I soon totally neglected the poor birds,
+and they would have starved had not some of the servants taken compassion
+upon them and fed them.  My uncle, soon hearing of my neglect, was angry,
+and took the birds away; he was a very good-natured man, however, and
+soon sent me a fine pony; at first I was charmed with the pony, soon,
+however, the same kind of thoughts arose which had disgusted me on a
+former occasion.  How did my uncle become possessed of the pony?  This
+question I asked him the first time I saw him.  Oh, he had bought it of a
+gypsy, that I might learn to ride upon it.  A gypsy; I had heard that
+gypsies were great thieves, and I instantly began to fear that the gypsy
+had stolen the pony, and it is probable that for this apprehension I had
+better grounds than for many others.  I instantly ceased to set any value
+upon the pony, but for that reason, perhaps, I turned it to some account;
+I mounted it and rode it about, which I don't think I should have done
+had I looked upon it as a secure possession.  Had I looked upon my title
+as secure, I should have prized it so much, that I should scarcely have
+mounted it for fear of injuring the animal; but now, caring not a straw
+for it, I rode it most unmercifully, and soon became a capital rider.
+This was very selfish in me, and I tell the fact with shame.  I was
+punished, however, as I deserved; the pony had a spirit of its own, and,
+moreover, it had belonged to gypsies; once, as I was riding it furiously
+over the lawn, applying both whip and spur, it suddenly lifted up its
+heels, and flung me at least five yards over its head.  I received some
+desperate contusions, and was taken up for dead; it was many months
+before I perfectly recovered.
+
+"But it is time for me to come to the touching part of my story.  There
+was one thing that I loved better than the choicest gift which could be
+bestowed upon me, better than life itself--my mother;--at length she
+became unwell, and the thought that I might possibly lose her now rushed
+into my mind for the first time; it was terrible, and caused me
+unspeakable misery, I may say horror.  My mother became worse, and I was
+not allowed to enter her apartment, lest by my frantic exclamations of
+grief I might aggravate her disorder.  I rested neither day nor night,
+but roamed about the house like one distracted.  Suddenly I found myself
+doing that which even at the time struck me as being highly singular; I
+found myself touching particular objects that were near me, and to which
+my fingers seemed to be attracted by an irresistible impulse.  It was now
+the table or the chair that I was compelled to touch; now the bell-rope;
+now the handle of the door; now I would touch the wall, and the next
+moment stooping down, I would place the point of my finger upon the
+floor: and so I continued to do day after day; frequently I would
+struggle to resist the impulse, but invariably in vain.  I have even
+rushed away from the object, but I was sure to return, the impulse was
+too strong to be resisted: I quickly hurried back, compelled by the
+feeling within me to touch the object.  Now I need not tell you that what
+impelled me to these actions was the desire to prevent my mother's death;
+whenever I touched any particular object, it was with the view of
+baffling the evil chance, as you would call it--in this instance my
+mother's death.
+
+"A favourable crisis occurred in my mother's complaint, and she
+recovered; this crisis took place about six o'clock in the morning;
+almost simultaneously with it there happened to myself a rather
+remarkable circumstance connected with the nervous feeling which was
+rioting in my system.  I was lying in bed in a kind of uneasy doze, the
+only kind of rest which my anxiety, on account of my mother, permitted me
+at this time to take, when all at once I sprang up as if electrified, the
+mysterious impulse was upon me, and it urged me to go without delay, and
+climb a stately elm behind the house, and touch the topmost branch;
+otherwise--you know the rest--the evil chance would prevail.  Accustomed
+for some time as I had been, under this impulse, to perform extravagant
+actions, I confess to you that the difficulty and peril of such a feat
+startled me; I reasoned against the feeling, and strove more strenuously
+than I had ever done before; I even made a solemn vow not to give way to
+the temptation, but I believe nothing less than chains, and those strong
+ones, could have restrained me.  The demoniac influence, for I can call
+it nothing else, at length prevailed; it compelled me to rise, to dress
+myself, to descend the stairs, to unbolt the door, and to go forth; it
+drove me to the foot of the tree, and it compelled me to climb the trunk;
+this was a tremendous task, and I only accomplished it after repeated
+falls and trials.  When I had got amongst the branches, I rested for a
+time, and then set about accomplishing the remainder of the ascent; this
+for some time was not so difficult, for I was now amongst the branches;
+as I approached the top, however, the difficulty became greater, likewise
+the danger; but I was a light boy, and almost as nimble as a squirrel,
+and, moreover, the nervous feeling was within me, impelling me upward.
+It was only by means of a spring, however, that I was enabled to touch
+the top of the tree; I sprang, touched the top of the tree, and fell a
+distance of at least twenty feet, amongst the branches; had I fallen to
+the bottom I must have been killed, but I fell into the middle of the
+tree, and presently found myself astride upon one of the boughs;
+scratched and bruised all over, I reached the ground, and regained my
+chamber unobserved; I flung myself on my bed quite exhausted; presently
+they came to tell me that my mother was better--they found me in the
+state which I have described, and in a fever besides.  The favourable
+crisis must have occurred just about the time that I performed the magic
+touch; it certainly was a curious coincidence, yet I was not weak enough,
+even though a child, to suppose that I had baffled the evil chance by my
+daring feat.
+
+"Indeed, all the time that I was performing these strange feats, I knew
+them to be highly absurd, yet the impulse to perform them was
+irresistible--a mysterious dread hanging over me till I had given way to
+it; even at that early period I frequently used to reason within myself
+as to what could be the cause of my propensity to touch, but of course I
+could come to no satisfactory conclusion respecting it; being heartily
+ashamed of the practice, I never spoke of it to any one, and was at all
+times highly solicitous that no one should observe my weakness."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+
+Maternal Anxiety--The Baronet--Little Zest--Country Life--Mr.
+Speaker!--The Craving--Spirited Address--An Author.
+
+After a short pause my host resumed his narration.  "Though I was never
+sent to school, my education was not neglected on that account; I had
+tutors in various branches of knowledge, under whom I made a tolerable
+progress; by the time I was eighteen I was able to read most of the Greek
+and Latin authors with facility; I was likewise, to a certain degree, a
+mathematician.  I cannot say that I took much pleasure in my studies; my
+chief aim in endeavouring to accomplish my tasks was to give pleasure to
+my beloved parent, who watched my progress with anxiety truly maternal.
+My life at this period may be summed up in a few words; I pursued my
+studies, roamed about the woods, walked the green lanes occasionally,
+cast my fly in a trout stream, and sometimes, but not often, rode a
+hunting with my uncle.  A considerable part of my time was devoted to my
+mother, conversing with her and reading to her; youthful companions I had
+none, and as to my mother, she lived in the greatest retirement, devoting
+herself to the superintendence of my education, and the practice of acts
+of charity; nothing could be more innocent than this mode of life, and
+some people say that in innocence there is happiness, yet I can't say
+that I was happy.  A continual dread overshadowed my mind, it was the
+dread of my mother's death.  Her constitution had never been strong, and
+it had been considerably shaken by her last illness; this I knew, and
+this I saw--for the eyes of fear are marvellously keen.  Well, things
+went on in this way till I had come of age; my tutors were then
+dismissed, and my uncle the baronet took me in hand, telling my mother
+that it was high time for him to exert his authority; that I must see
+something of the world, for that, if I remained much longer with her, I
+should be ruined.  'You must consign him to me,' said he, 'and I will
+introduce him to the world.'  My mother sighed and consented; so my uncle
+the baronet introduced me to the world, took me to horse races and to
+London, and endeavoured to make a man of me according to his idea of the
+term, and in part succeeded.  I became moderately dissipated--I say
+moderately, for dissipation had but little zest for me.
+
+"In this manner four years passed over.  It happened that I was in London
+in the height of the season with my uncle, at his house; one morning he
+summoned me into the parlour, he was standing before the fire, and looked
+very serious.  'I have had a letter,' said he; 'your mother is very ill.'
+I staggered, and touched the nearest object to me; nothing was said for
+two or three minutes, and then my uncle put his lips to my ear and
+whispered something.  I fell down senseless.  My mother was--I remember
+nothing for a long time--for two years I was out of my mind; at the end
+of this time I recovered, or partly so.  My uncle the baronet was very
+kind to me; he advised me to travel, he offered to go with me.  I told
+him he was very kind, but I would rather go by myself.  So I went abroad,
+and saw, amongst other things, Rome and the Pyramids.  By frequent change
+of scene my mind became not happy, but tolerably tranquil.  I continued
+abroad some years, when, becoming tired of travelling, I came home, found
+my uncle the baronet alive, hearty, and unmarried, as he still is.  He
+received me very kindly, took me to Newmarket, and said that he hoped by
+this time I was become quite a man of the world; by his advice I took a
+house in town, in which I lived during the season.  In summer I strolled
+from one watering-place to another; and, in order to pass the time, I
+became very dissipated.
+
+"At last I became as tired of dissipation as I had previously been of
+travelling, and I determined to retire to the country, and live on my
+paternal estate; this resolution I was not slow in putting into effect; I
+sold my house in town, repaired and refurnished my country house, and,
+for at least ten years, lived a regular country life; I gave dinner
+parties, prosecuted poachers, was charitable to the poor, and now and
+then went into my library; during this time I was seldom or never visited
+by the magic impulse, the reason being, that there was nothing in the
+wide world for which I cared sufficiently to move a finger to preserve
+it.  When the ten years, however, were nearly ended, I started out of bed
+one morning in a fit of horror, exclaiming, 'Mercy, mercy! what will
+become of me?  I am afraid I shall go mad.  I have lived thirty-five
+years and upwards without doing anything; shall I pass through life in
+this manner?  Horror!'  And then in rapid succession I touched three
+different objects.
+
+"I dressed myself and went down, determining to set about something; but
+what was I to do?--there was the difficulty.  I ate no breakfast, but
+walked about the room in a state of distraction; at last I thought that
+the easiest way to do something was to get into Parliament, there would
+be no difficulty in that.  I had plenty of money, and could buy a seat;
+but what was I to do in Parliament?  Speak, of course--but could I speak?
+'I'll try at once,' said I, and forthwith I rushed into the largest
+dining room, and, locking the door, I commenced speaking; 'Mr. Speaker,'
+said I, and then I went on speaking for about ten minutes as I best
+could, and then I left off, for I was talking nonsense.  No, I was not
+formed for Parliament; I could do nothing there.  What--what was I to do?
+
+"Many, many times I thought this question over, but was unable to solve
+it; a fear now stole over me that I was unfit for anything in the world,
+save the lazy life of vegetation which I had for many years been leading;
+yet, if that were the case, thought I, why the craving within me to
+distinguish myself?  Surely it does not occur fortuitously, but is
+intended to rouse and call into exercise certain latent powers that I
+possess? and then with infinite eagerness I set about attempting to
+discover these latent powers.  I tried an infinity of pursuits, botany
+and geology amongst the rest, but in vain; I was fitted for none of them.
+I became very sorrowful and despondent, and at one time I had almost
+resolved to plunge again into the whirlpool of dissipation; it was a
+dreadful resource, it was true, but what better could I do?
+
+"But I was not doomed to return to the dissipation of the world.  One
+morning a young nobleman, who had for some time past shown a wish to
+cultivate my acquaintance, came to me in a considerable hurry.  'I am
+come to beg an important favour of you,' said he; 'one of the county
+memberships is vacant--I intend to become a candidate; what I want
+immediately is a spirited address to the electors.  I have been
+endeavouring to frame one all the morning, but in vain; I have,
+therefore, recourse to you as a person of infinite genius; pray, my dear
+friend, concoct me one by the morning.'  'What you require of me,' I
+replied, 'is impossible; I have not the gift of words; did I possess it I
+would stand for the county myself, but I can't speak.  Only the other day
+I attempted to make a speech, but left off suddenly, utterly ashamed,
+although I was quite alone, of the nonsense I was uttering.'  'It is not
+a speech that I want,' said my friend, 'I can talk for three hours
+without hesitating, but I want an address to circulate through the
+county, and I find myself utterly incompetent to put one together; do
+oblige me by writing one for me, I know you can; and, if at any time you
+want a person to speak for you, you may command me not for three but for
+six hours.  Good morning; to-morrow I will breakfast with you.'  In the
+morning he came again.  'Well,' said he, 'what success?'  'Very poor,'
+said I; 'but judge for yourself;' and I put into his hand a manuscript of
+several pages.  My friend read it through with considerable attention.
+'I congratulate you,' said he, 'and likewise myself; I was not mistaken
+in my opinion of you; the address is too long by at least two-thirds, or
+I should rather say it is longer by two-thirds than addresses generally
+are; but it will do--I will not curtail it of a word.  I shall win my
+election.'  And in truth he did win his election; and it was not only his
+own but the general opinion that he owed it to the address.
+
+"But, however that might be, I had, by writing the address, at last
+discovered what had so long eluded my search--what I was able to do.  I,
+who had neither the nerve nor the command of speech necessary to
+constitute the orator--who had not the power of patient research required
+by those who would investigate the secrets of nature, had, nevertheless,
+a ready pen and teeming imagination.  This discovery decided my
+fate--from that moment I became an author."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVI.
+
+
+Trepidations--Subtle Principle--Perverse Imagination--Are they
+Mine?--Another Book--How Hard!--Agricultural Dinner--Incomprehensible
+Actions--Inmost Bosom--Give it Up--Chance Resemblance--Rascally
+Newspaper.
+
+"An author," said I, addressing my host; "is it possible that I am under
+the roof of an author?"
+
+"Yes," said my host, sighing, "my name is so and so, and I am the author
+of so and so; it is more than probable that you have heard both of my
+name and works.  I will not detain you much longer with my history; the
+night is advancing, and the storm appears to be upon the increase.  My
+life since the period of my becoming an author may be summed briefly as
+an almost uninterrupted series of doubts, anxieties, and trepidations.  I
+see clearly that it is not good to love anything immoderately in this
+world, but it has been my misfortune to love immoderately everything on
+which I have set my heart.  This is not good, I repeat--but where is the
+remedy?  The ancients were always in the habit of saying, 'Practise
+moderation,' but the ancients appear to have considered only one portion
+of the subject.  It is very possible to practise moderation in some
+things, in drink and the like--to restrain the appetites--but can a man
+restrain the affections of his mind, and tell them, so far you shall go,
+and no farther?  Alas, no! for the mind is a subtle principle, and cannot
+be confined.  The winds may be imprisoned; Homer says that Odysseus
+carried certain winds in his ship, confined in leathern bags, but Homer
+never speaks of confining the affections.  It were but right that those
+who exhort us against inordinate affections, and setting our hearts too
+much upon the world and its vanities, would tell us how to avoid doing
+so.
+
+"I need scarcely tell you, that no sooner did I become an author, than I
+gave myself up immoderately to my vocation.  It became my idol, and, as a
+necessary consequence, it has proved a source of misery and disquietude
+to me, instead of pleasure and blessing.  I had trouble enough in writing
+my first work, and I was not long in discovering that it was one thing to
+write a stirring and spirited address to a set of county electors, and
+another widely different to produce a work at all calculated to make an
+impression upon the great world.  I felt, however, that I was in my
+proper sphere, and by dint of unwearied diligence and exertion I
+succeeded in evolving from the depths of my agitated breast a work which,
+though it did not exactly please me, I thought would serve to make an
+experiment upon the public; so I laid it before the public, and the
+reception which it met with was far beyond my wildest expectations.  The
+public were delighted with it, but what were my feelings?  Anything,
+alas! but those of delight.  No sooner did the public express its
+satisfaction at the result of my endeavours, than my perverse imagination
+began to conceive a thousand chimerical doubts; forthwith I sat down to
+analyse it; and my worst enemy, and all people have their enemies,
+especially authors--my worst enemy could not have discovered or sought to
+discover a tenth part of the faults which I, the author and creator of
+the unfortunate production, found or sought to find in it.  It has been
+said that love makes us blind to the faults of the loved object--common
+love does, perhaps--the love of a father to his child, or that of a lover
+to his mistress, but not the inordinate love of an author to his works,
+at least not the love which one like myself bears to his works: to be
+brief, I discovered a thousand faults in my work, which neither public
+nor critics discovered.  However, I was beginning to get over this
+misery, and to forgive my work all its imperfections, when--and I shake
+when I mention it--the same kind of idea which perplexed me with regard
+to the hawks and the gypsy pony rushed into my mind, and I forthwith
+commenced touching the objects around me, in order to baffle the evil
+chance, as you call it; it was neither more nor less than a doubt of the
+legality of my claim to the thoughts, expressions, and situations
+contained in the book; that is, to all that constituted the book.  How
+did I get them?  How did they come into my mind?  Did I invent them?  Did
+they originate with myself?  Are they my own, or are they some other
+body's?  You see into what difficulty I had got; I won't trouble you by
+relating all that I endured at that time, but will merely say that after
+eating my own heart, as the Italians say, and touching every object that
+came in my way for six months, I at length flung my book, I mean the copy
+of it which I possessed, into the fire, and began another.
+
+"But it was all in vain; I laboured at this other, finished it, and gave
+it to the world; and no sooner had I done so, than the same thought was
+busy in my brain, poisoning all the pleasure which I should otherwise
+have derived from my work.  How did I get all the matter which composed
+it?  Out of my own mind, unquestionably; but how did it come there--was
+it the indigenous growth of the mind?  And then I would sit down and
+ponder over the various scenes and adventures in my book, endeavouring to
+ascertain how I came originally to devise them, and by dint of reflecting
+I remembered that to a single word in conversation, or some simple
+accident in a street, or on a road, I was indebted for some of the
+happiest portions of my work; they were but tiny seeds, it is true, which
+in the soil of my imagination had subsequently become stately trees, but
+I reflected that without them no stately trees would have been produced,
+and that, consequently, only a part in the merit of these compositions
+which charmed the world--for they did charm the world--was due to myself.
+Thus, a dead fly was in my phial, poisoning all the pleasure which I
+should otherwise have derived from the result of my brain sweat.  'How
+hard!' I would exclaim, looking up to the sky, 'how hard!  I am like
+Virgil's sheep, bearing fleeces not for themselves.'  But, not to tire
+you, it fared with my second work as it did with my first; I flung it
+aside, and in order to forget it I began a third, on which I am now
+occupied; but the difficulty of writing it is immense, my extreme desire
+to be original sadly cramping the powers of my mind; my fastidiousness
+being so great that I invariably reject whatever ideas I do not think to
+be legitimately my own.  But there is one circumstance to which I cannot
+help alluding here, as it serves to show what miseries this love of
+originality must needs bring upon an author.  I am constantly discovering
+that, however original I may wish to be, I am continually producing the
+same things which other people say or write.  Whenever, after producing
+something which gives me perfect satisfaction, and which has cost me
+perhaps days and nights of brooding, I chance to take up a book for the
+sake of a little relaxation, a book which I never saw before, I am sure
+to find in it something more or less resembling some part of what I have
+been just composing.  You will easily conceive the distress which then
+comes over me; 'tis then that I am almost tempted to execrate the chance
+which, by discovering my latent powers, induced me to adopt a profession
+of such anxiety and misery.
+
+"For some time past I have given up reading almost entirely, owing to the
+dread which I entertain of lighting upon something similar to what I
+myself have written.  I scarcely ever transgress without having almost
+instant reason to repent.  To-day, when I took up the newspaper, I saw in
+a speech of the Duke of Rhododendron, at an agricultural dinner, the very
+same ideas, and almost the same expressions which I had put into the
+mouth of an imaginary personage of mine, on a widely different occasion;
+you saw how I dashed the newspaper down--you saw how I touched the floor;
+the touch was to baffle the evil chance, to prevent the critics detecting
+any similarity between the speech of the Duke of Rhododendron at the
+agricultural dinner, and the speech of my personage.  My sensibility on
+the subject of my writings is so great, that sometimes a chance word is
+sufficient to unman me, I apply it to them in a superstitious sense; for
+example, when you said some time ago that the dark hour was coming on, I
+applied it to my works--it appeared to bode them evil fortune; you saw
+how I touched, it was to baffle the evil chance; but I do not confine
+myself to touching when the fear of the evil chance is upon me.  To
+baffle it I occasionally perform actions which must appear highly
+incomprehensible; I have been known, when riding in company with other
+people, to leave the direct road, and make a long circuit by a miry lane
+to the place to which we were going.  I have also been seen attempting to
+ride across a morass, where I had no business whatever, and in which my
+horse finally sank up to its saddle-girths, and was only extricated by
+the help of a multitude of hands.  I have, of course, frequently been
+asked the reason of such conduct, to which I have invariably returned no
+answer, for I scorn duplicity; whereupon people have looked mysteriously,
+and sometimes put their fingers to their foreheads.  'And yet it can't
+be,' I once heard an old gentleman say; 'don't we know what he is capable
+of?' and the old man was right; I merely did these things to avoid the
+evil chance, impelled by the strange feeling within me; and this evil
+chance is invariably connected with my writings, the only things at
+present which render life valuable to me.  If I touch various objects,
+and ride into miry places, it is to baffle any mischance befalling me as
+an author, to prevent my books getting into disrepute; in nine cases out
+of ten to prevent any expressions, thoughts, or situations in any work
+which I am writing from resembling the thoughts, expressions, and
+situations of other authors, for my great wish, as I told you before, is
+to be original.
+
+"I have now related my history, and have revealed to you the secrets of
+my inmost bosom.  I should certainly not have spoken so unreservedly as I
+have done, had I not discovered in you a kindred spirit.  I have long
+wished for an opportunity of discoursing on the point which forms the
+peculiar feature of my history with a being who could understand me; and
+truly it was a lucky chance which brought you to these parts; you who
+seem to be acquainted with all things strange and singular, and who are
+as well acquainted with the subject of the magic touch as with all that
+relates to the star Jupiter, or the mysterious tree at Upsal."
+
+Such was the story which my host related to me in the library, amidst the
+darkness, occasionally broken by flashes of lightning.  Both of us
+remained silent for some time after it was concluded.
+
+"It is a singular story," said I, at last, "though I confess that I was
+prepared for some part of it.  Will you permit me to ask you a question?"
+
+"Certainly," said my host.
+
+"Did you never speak in public?" said I.
+
+"Never."
+
+"And when you made this speech of yours in the dining-room, commencing
+with Mr. Speaker, no one was present?"
+
+"None in the world, I double-locked the door; what do you mean?"
+
+"An idea came into my head--dear me how the rain is pouring--but, with
+respect to your present troubles and anxieties, would it not be wise,
+seeing that authorship causes you so much trouble and anxiety, to give it
+up altogether?"
+
+"Were you an author yourself," replied my host, "you would not talk in
+this manner; once an author, ever an author--besides, what could I do?
+return to my former state of vegetation? no, much as I endure, I do not
+wish that; besides, every now and then my reason tells me that these
+troubles and anxieties of mine are utterly without foundation; that
+whatever I write is the legitimate growth of my own mind, and that it is
+the height of folly to afflict myself at any chance resemblance between
+my own thoughts and those of other writers, such resemblance being
+inevitable from the fact of our common human origin.  In short--"
+
+"I understand you," said I; "notwithstanding your troubles and anxieties
+you find life very tolerable; has your originality ever been called in
+question?"
+
+"On the contrary, every one declares that originality constitutes the
+most remarkable feature of my writings; the man has some faults, they
+say, but want of originality is certainly not one of them.  He is quite
+different from others--a certain newspaper, it is true, the --- I think,
+once insinuated that in a certain work of mine I had taken a hint or two
+from the writings of a couple of authors which it mentioned; it happened,
+however, that I had never even read one syllable of the writings of
+either, and of one of them had never even heard the name; so much for the
+discrimination of the -----By-the-bye, what a rascally newspaper that
+is!"
+
+"A very rascally newspaper," said I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVII.
+
+
+Disturbed Slumbers--The Bed-Post--Two Wizards--What can I Do?--Real
+Library--The Rev. Mr. Platitude--Toleration to Dissenters--Paradox--Sword
+of St. Peter--Enemy to Humbug--High Principles--False Concord--The
+Damsel--What Religion?--Farther Conversation--That would never Do!--May
+you Prosper.
+
+During the greater part of that night my slumbers were disturbed by
+strange dreams.  Amongst other things, I fancied that I was my host; my
+head appeared to be teeming with wild thoughts and imaginations, out of
+which I was endeavouring to frame a book.  And now the book was finished
+and given to the world, and the world shouted; and all eyes were turned
+upon me, and I shrunk from the eyes of the world.  And, when I got into
+retired places, I touched various objects in order to baffle the evil
+chance.  In short, during the whole night, I was acting over the story
+which I had heard before I went to bed.
+
+At about eight o'clock I awoke.  The storm had long since passed away,
+and the morning was bright and shining; my couch was so soft and
+luxurious that I felt loth to quit it, so I lay some time, my eyes
+wandering about the magnificent room to which fortune had conducted me in
+so singular a manner; at last I heaved a sigh; I was thinking of my own
+homeless condition, and imagining where I should find myself on the
+following morning.  Unwilling, however, to indulge in melancholy
+thoughts, I sprang out of bed and proceeded to dress myself, and, whilst
+dressing, I felt an irresistible inclination to touch the bed-post.
+
+I finished dressing and left the room, feeling compelled, however, as I
+left it, to touch the lintel of the door.  Is it possible, thought I,
+that from what I have lately heard the long-forgotten influence should
+have possessed me again? but I will not give way to it; so I hurried down
+stairs, resisting as I went a certain inclination which I occasionally
+felt to touch the rail of the banister.  I was presently upon the gravel
+walk before the house: it was indeed a glorious morning.  I stood for
+some time observing the golden fish disporting in the waters of the pond,
+and then strolled about amongst the noble trees of the park; the beauty
+and freshness of the morning--for the air had been considerably cooled by
+the late storm--soon enabled me to cast away the gloomy ideas which had
+previously taken possession of my mind, and, after a stroll of about half
+an hour, I returned towards the house in high spirits.  It is true that
+once I felt very much inclined to go and touch the leaves of a flowery
+shrub which I saw at some distance, and had even moved two or three paces
+towards it; but, bethinking myself, I manfully resisted the temptation.
+"Begone!" I exclaimed, "ye sorceries, in which I formerly trusted--begone
+for ever vagaries which I had almost forgotten; good luck is not to be
+obtained, or bad averted, by magic touches; besides, two wizards in one
+parish would be too much, in all conscience."
+
+I returned to the house, and entered the library; breakfast was laid on
+the table, and my friend was standing before the portrait which I have
+already said hung above the mantel-piece; so intently was he occupied in
+gazing at it that he did not hear me enter, nor was aware of my presence
+till I advanced close to him and spoke, when he turned round and shook me
+by the hand.
+
+"What can possibly have induced you to hang that portrait up in your
+library? it is a staring likeness, it is true, but it appears to me a
+wretched daub."
+
+"Daub as you call it," said my friend, smiling, "I would not part with it
+for the best piece of Raphael.  For many a happy thought I am indebted to
+that picture--it is my principal source of inspiration; when my
+imagination flags, as of course it occasionally does, I stare upon those
+features, and forthwith strange ideas of fun and drollery begin to flow
+into my mind; these I round, amplify, or combine into goodly creations,
+and bring forth as I find an opportunity.  It is true that I am
+occasionally tormented by the thought that, by doing this, I am
+committing plagiarism; though, in that case, all thoughts must be
+plagiarisms, all that we think being the result of what we hear, see, or
+feel.  What can I do?  I must derive my thoughts from some source or
+other; and, after all, it is better to plagiarise from the features of my
+landlord than from the works of Butler and Cervantes.  My works, as you
+are aware, are of a serio-comic character.  My neighbours are of opinion
+that I am a great reader, and so I am, but only of those features--my
+real library is that picture."
+
+"But how did you obtain it?" said I.
+
+"Some years ago a travelling painter came into this neighbourhood, and my
+jolly host, at the request of his wife, consented to sit for his
+portrait; she highly admired the picture, but she soon died, and then my
+fat friend, who is of an affectionate disposition, said he could not bear
+the sight of it, as it put him in mind of his poor wife.  I purchased it
+of him for five pounds--I would not take five thousand for it; when you
+called that picture a daub, you did not see all the poetry of it."
+
+We sat down to breakfast; my entertainer appeared to be in much better
+spirits than on the preceding day; I did not observe him touch once; ere
+breakfast was over a servant entered--"The Reverend Mr. Platitude, sir,"
+said he.
+
+A shade of dissatisfaction came over the countenance of my host.  "What
+does the silly pestilent fellow mean by coming here?" said he, half to
+himself; "let him come in," said he to the servant.
+
+The servant went out, and in a moment reappeared, introducing the
+Reverend Mr. Platitude.  The Reverend Mr. Platitude, having what is
+vulgarly called a game leg, came shambling into the room; he was about
+thirty years of age, and about five feet three inches high; his face was
+of the colour of pepper, and nearly as rugged as a nutmeg grater; his
+hair was black; with his eyes he squinted, and grinned with his lips,
+which were very much apart, disclosing two very irregular rows of teeth;
+he was dressed in the true Levitical fashion, in a suit of spotless
+black, and a neckerchief of spotless white.
+
+The Reverend Mr. Platitude advanced winking and grinning to my
+entertainer, who received him politely but with evident coldness; nothing
+daunted, however, the Reverend Mr. Platitude took a seat by the table,
+and, being asked to take a cup of coffee, winked, grinned, and consented.
+
+In company I am occasionally subject to fits of what is generally called
+absence; my mind takes flight and returns to former scenes, or presses
+forward into the future.  One of these fits of absence came over me at
+this time--I looked at the Reverend Mr. Platitude for a moment, heard a
+word or two that proceeded from his mouth, and saying to myself, "You are
+no man for me," fell into a fit of musing--into the same train of thought
+as in the morning, no very pleasant one--I was thinking of the future.
+
+I continued in my reverie for some time, and probably should have
+continued longer, had I not been suddenly aroused by the voice of Mr.
+Platitude raised to a very high key.  "Yes, my dear sir," said he, "it is
+but too true; I have it on good authority--a gone church--a lost
+church--a ruined church--a demolished church is the Church of England.
+Toleration to Dissenters! oh, monstrous!"
+
+"I suppose," said my host, "that the repeal of the Test Acts will be
+merely a precursor of the emancipation of the Papists?"
+
+"Of the Catholics," said the Reverend Mr. Platitude.  "Ahem.  There was a
+time, as I believe you are aware, my dear sir, when I was as much opposed
+to the emancipation of the Catholics as it was possible for any one to
+be; but I was prejudiced, my dear sir, labouring under a cloud of most
+unfortunate prejudice; but I thank my Maker I am so no longer.  I have
+travelled, as you are aware.  It is only by travelling that one can rub
+off prejudices; I think you will agree with me there.  I am speaking to a
+traveller.  I left behind all my prejudices in Italy.  The Catholics are
+at least our fellow-Christians.  I thank Heaven that I am no longer an
+enemy to Catholic emancipation."
+
+"And yet you would not tolerate Dissenters?"
+
+"Dissenters, my dear sir; I hope you would not class such a set as the
+Dissenters with Catholics?"
+
+"Perhaps it would be unjust," said my host, "though to which of the two
+parties is another thing; but permit me to ask you a question: Does it
+not smack somewhat of paradox to talk of Catholics, whilst you admit
+there are Dissenters?  If there are Dissenters, how should there be
+Catholics?"
+
+"It is not my fault that there are Dissenters," said the Reverend Mr.
+Platitude; "if I had my will I would neither admit there were any, nor
+permit any to be."
+
+"Of course you would admit there were such as long as they existed; but
+how would you get rid of them?"
+
+"I would have the Church exert its authority."
+
+"What do you mean by exerting its authority?"
+
+"I would not have the Church bear the sword in vain."
+
+"What, the sword of St. Peter?  You remember what the founder of the
+religion which you profess said about the sword, 'He who striketh with
+it--'  I think those who have called themselves the Church have had
+enough of the sword.  Two can play with the sword, Mr. Platitude.  The
+Church of Rome tried the sword with the Lutherans: how did it fare with
+the Church of Rome?  The Church of England tried the sword, Mr.
+Platitude, with the Puritans: how did it fare with Laud and Charles?"
+
+"Oh, as for the Church of England," said Mr. Platitude, "I have little to
+say.  Thank God I left all my Church of England prejudices in Italy.  Had
+the Church of England known its true interests, it would long ago have
+sought a reconciliation with its illustrious mother.  If the Church of
+England had not been in some degree a schismatic church, it would not
+have fared so ill at the time of which you are speaking; the rest of the
+Church would have come to its assistance.  The Irish would have helped
+it, so would the French, so would the Portuguese.  Disunion has always
+been the bane of the Church."
+
+Once more I fell into a reverie.  My mind now reverted to the past;
+methought I was in a small comfortable room wainscoted with oak; I was
+seated on one side of a fireplace, close by a table on which were wine
+and fruit; on the other side of the fire sat a man in a plain suit of
+brown, with the hair combed back from his somewhat high forehead; he had
+a pipe in his mouth, which for some time he smoked gravely and placidly,
+without saying a word; at length, after drawing at the pipe for some time
+rather vigorously, he removed it from his mouth, and emitting an
+accumulated cloud of smoke, he exclaimed in a slow and measured tone, "As
+I was telling you just now, my good chap, I have always been an enemy to
+humbug."
+
+When I awoke from my reverie the Reverend Mr. Platitude was quitting the
+apartment.
+
+"Who is that person?" said I to my entertainer, as the door closed behind
+him.
+
+"Who is he?" said my host; "why, the Rev. Mr. Platitude."
+
+"Does he reside in this neighbourhood?"
+
+"He holds a living about three miles from here; his history, as far as I
+am acquainted with it, is as follows.  His father was a respectable
+tanner in the neighbouring town, who, wishing to make his son a
+gentleman, sent him to college.  Having never been at college myself, I
+cannot say whether he took the wisest course; I believe it is more easy
+to unmake than to make a gentleman; I have known many gentlemanly youths
+go to college, and return anything but what they went.  Young Mr.
+Platitude did not go to college a gentleman, but neither did he return
+one; he went to college an ass, and returned a prig; to his original
+folly was superadded a vast quantity of conceit.  He told his father that
+he had adopted high principles, and was determined to discountenance
+everything low and mean; advised him to eschew trade, and to purchase him
+a living.  The old man retired from business, purchased his son a living,
+and shortly after died, leaving him what remained of his fortune.  The
+first thing the Reverend Mr. Platitude did, after his father's decease,
+was to send his mother and sister into Wales to live upon a small
+annuity, assigning as a reason that he was averse to anything low, and
+that they talked ungrammatically.  Wishing to shine in the pulpit, he now
+preached high sermons, as he called them, interspersed with scraps of
+learning.  His sermons did not, however, procure him much popularity; on
+the contrary, his church soon became nearly deserted, the greater part of
+his flock going over to certain dissenting preachers, who had shortly
+before made their appearance in the neighbourhood.  Mr. Platitude was
+filled with wrath, and abused Dissenters in most unmeasured terms.
+Coming in contact with some of the preachers at a public meeting, he was
+rash enough to enter into argument with them.  Poor Platitude! he had
+better have been quiet, he appeared like a child, a very infant, in their
+grasp; he attempted to take shelter under his college learning, but
+found, to his dismay, that his opponents knew more Greek and Latin than
+himself.  These illiterate boors, as he supposed them, caught him at once
+in a false concord, and Mr. Platitude had to slink home overwhelmed with
+shame.  To avenge himself he applied to the ecclesiastical court, but was
+told that the Dissenters could not be put down by the present
+ecclesiastical law.  He found the Church of England, to use his own
+expression, a poor, powerless, restricted Church.  He now thought to
+improve his consequence by marriage, and made up to a rich and beautiful
+young lady in the neighbourhood; the damsel measured him from head to
+foot with a pair of very sharp eyes, dropped a curtsey, and refused him.
+Mr. Platitude, finding England a very stupid place, determined to travel;
+he went to Italy; how he passed his time there he knows best, to other
+people it is a matter of little importance.  At the end of two years he
+returned with a real or assumed contempt for everything English, and
+especially for the Church to which he belongs, and out of which he is
+supported.  He forthwith gave out that he had left behind him all his
+Church of England prejudices, and, as a proof thereof, spoke against
+sacerdotal wedlock and the toleration of schismatics.  In an evil hour
+for myself he was introduced to me by a clergyman of my acquaintance, and
+from that time I have been pestered, as I was this morning, at least once
+a week.  I seldom enter into any discussion with him, but fix my eyes on
+the portrait over the mantel-piece, and endeavour to conjure up some
+comic idea or situation, whilst he goes on talking tomfoolery by the hour
+about Church authority, schismatics, and the unlawfulness of sacerdotal
+wedlock; occasionally he brings with him a strange kind of being, whose
+acquaintance he says he made in Italy.  I believe he is some sharking
+priest, who has come over to proselytize and plunder.  This being has
+some powers of conversation and some learning, but he carries the
+countenance of an arch villain; Platitude is evidently his tool."
+
+"Of what religion are you?" said I to my host.
+
+"That of the Vicar of Wakefield--good, quiet, Church of England, which
+would live and let live, practises charity, and rails at no one; where
+the priest is the husband of one wife, takes care of his family and his
+parish--such is the religion for me, though I confess I have hitherto
+thought too little of religious matters.  When, however, I have completed
+this plaguy work on which I am engaged, I hope to be able to devote more
+attention to them."
+
+After some further conversation, the subjects being, if I remember right,
+college education, priggism, church authority, tomfoolery, and the like,
+I rose and said to my host, "I must now leave you."
+
+"Whither are you going?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Stay here, then--you shall be welcome as many days, months, and years as
+you please to stay."
+
+"Do you think I would hang upon another man?  No, not if he were Emperor
+of all the Chinas.  I will now make my preparations, and then bid you
+farewell."
+
+I retired to my apartment and collected the handful of things which I
+carried with me on my travels.
+
+"I will walk a little way with you," said my friend on my return.
+
+He walked with me to the park gate; neither of us said anything by the
+way.  When we had come upon the road I said, "Farewell now; I will not
+permit you to give yourself any further trouble on my account.  Receive
+my best thanks for your kindness; before we part, however, I should wish
+to ask you a question.  Do you think you shall ever grow tired of
+authorship?"
+
+"I have my fears," said my friend, advancing his hand to one of the iron
+bars of the gate.
+
+"Don't touch," said I, "it is a bad habit.  I have but one word to add:
+should you ever grow tired of authorship follow your first idea of
+getting into Parliament; you have words enough at command; perhaps you
+want manner and method; but, in that case, you must apply to a teacher,
+you must take lessons of a master of elocution."
+
+"That would never do!" said my host; "I know myself too well to think of
+applying for assistance to any one.  Were I to become a parliamentary
+orator, I should wish to be an original one, even if not above
+mediocrity.  What pleasure should I take in any speech I might make,
+however original as to thought, provided the gestures I employed and the
+very modulation of my voice were not my own?  Take lessons, indeed! why,
+the fellow who taught me, the professor, might be standing in the gallery
+whilst I spoke; and, at the best parts of my speech, might say to
+himself, 'That gesture is mine--that modulation is mine.'  I could not
+bear the thought of such a thing."
+
+"Farewell," said I, "and may you prosper.  I have nothing more to say."
+
+I departed.  At the distance of twenty yards I turned round suddenly; my
+friend was just withdrawing his finger from the bar of the gate.
+
+"He has been touching," said I, as I proceeded on my way; "I wonder what
+was the evil chance he wished to baffle."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVIII.
+
+
+Elastic Step--Disconsolate Party--Not the Season--Mend your Draught--Good
+Ale--Crotchet--Hammer and Tongs--Schoolmaster--True Eden Life--Flaming
+Tinman--Twice my Size--Hard at Work--My Poor Wife--Grey Moll--A
+Bible--Half and Half--What to do--Half Inclined--In No Time--On One
+Condition--Don't Stare--Like the Wind.
+
+After walking some time, I found myself on the great road, at the same
+spot where I had turned aside the day before with my new-made
+acquaintance, in the direction of his house.  I now continued my journey
+as before, towards the north.  The weather, though beautiful, was much
+cooler than it had been for some time past; I walked at a great rate,
+with a springing and elastic step.  In about two hours I came to where a
+kind of cottage stood a little way back from the road, with a huge oak
+before it, under the shade of which stood a little pony and a cart, which
+seemed to contain various articles.  I was going past--when I saw
+scrawled over the door of the cottage, "Good beer sold here;" upon which,
+feeling myself all of a sudden very thirsty, I determined to go in and
+taste the beverage.
+
+I entered a well-sanded kitchen, and seated myself on a bench, on one
+side of a long white table; the other side, which was nearest the wall,
+was occupied by a party, or rather family, consisting of a grimy-looking
+man, somewhat under the middle size, dressed in faded velveteens, and
+wearing a leather apron--a rather pretty-looking woman, but sun-burnt,
+and meanly dressed, and two ragged children, a boy and girl, about four
+or five years old.  The man sat with his eyes fixed upon the table,
+supporting his chin with both his hands; the woman, who was next to him,
+sat quite still, save that occasionally she turned a glance upon her
+husband with eyes that appeared to have been lately crying.  The children
+had none of the vivacity so general at their age.  A more disconsolate
+family I had never seen; a mug, which, when filled, might contain
+half-a-pint, stood empty before them; a very disconsolate party indeed.
+
+"House!" said I; "House!" and then as nobody appeared, I cried again as
+loud as I could, "House! do you hear me, House!"
+
+"What's your pleasure, young man?" said an elderly woman, who now made
+her appearance from a side apartment.
+
+"To taste your ale," said I.
+
+"How much?" said the woman, stretching out her hand towards the empty mug
+upon the table.
+
+"The largest measure-full in your house," said I, putting back her hand
+gently.  "This is not the season for half-pint mugs."
+
+"As you will, young man," said the landlady; and presently brought in an
+earthen pitcher which might contain about three pints, and which foamed
+and frothed withal.
+
+"Will this pay for it?" said I, putting down sixpence.
+
+"I have to return you a penny," said the landlady, putting her hand into
+her pocket.
+
+"I want no change," said I, flourishing my hand with an air.
+
+"As you please, young gentleman," said the landlady, and then making a
+kind of curtsey, she again retired to the side apartment.
+
+"Here is your health, sir," said I to the grimy-looking man, as I raised
+the pitcher to my lips.
+
+The tinker, for such I supposed him to be, without altering his posture,
+raised his eyes, looked at me for a moment, gave a slight nod, and then
+once more fixed his eyes upon the table.  I took a draught of the ale,
+which I found excellent; "won't you drink?" said I, holding the pitcher
+to the tinker.
+
+The man again lifted his eyes, looked at me, and then at the pitcher, and
+then at me again.  I thought at one time that he was about to shake his
+head in sign of refusal, but no, he looked once more at the pitcher, and
+the temptation was too strong.  Slowly removing his head from his arms,
+he took the pitcher, sighed, nodded, and drank a tolerable quantity, and
+then set the pitcher down before me upon the table.
+
+"You had better mend your draught," said I to the tinker, "it is a sad
+heart that never rejoices."
+
+"That's true," said the tinker, and again raising the pitcher to his
+lips, he mended his draught as I had bidden him, drinking a larger
+quantity than before.
+
+"Pass it to your wife," said I.
+
+The poor woman took the pitcher from the man's hand; before, however,
+raising it to her lips, she looked at the children.  True mother's heart,
+thought I to myself, and taking the half-pint mug, I made her fill it,
+and then held it to the children, causing each to take a draught.  The
+woman wiped her eyes with the corner of her gown, before she raised the
+pitcher and drank to my health.
+
+In about five minutes none of the family looked half so disconsolate as
+before, and the tinker and I were in deep discourse.
+
+Oh, genial and gladdening is the power of good ale, the true and proper
+drink of Englishmen.  He is not deserving of the name of Englishman who
+speaketh against ale, that is good ale, like that which has just made
+merry the hearts of this poor family; and yet there are beings, calling
+themselves Englishmen, who say that it is a sin to drink a cup of ale,
+and who, on coming to this passage will be tempted to fling down the book
+and exclaim, "The man is evidently a bad man, for behold, by his own
+confession, he is not only fond of ale himself, but is in the habit of
+tempting other people with it."  Alas! alas! what a number of silly
+individuals there are in this world; I wonder what they would have had me
+do in this instance--given the afflicted family a cup of cold water? go
+to!  They could have found water in the road, for there was a pellucid
+spring only a few yards distant from the house, as they were well
+aware--but they wanted not water; what should I have given them? meat and
+bread? go to!  They were not hungry; there was stifled sobbing in their
+bosoms, and the first mouthful of strong meat would have choked them.
+What should I have given them?  Money! what right had I to insult them by
+offering them money?  Advice! words, words, words; friends, there is a
+time for everything; there is a time for a cup of cold water; there is a
+time for strong meat and bread; there is a time for advice, and there is
+a time for ale; and I have generally found that the time for advice is
+after a cup of ale.  I do not say many cups; the tongue then speaketh
+more smoothly, and the ear listeneth more benignantly; but why do I
+attempt to reason with you? do I not know you for conceited creatures,
+with one idea--and that a foolish one;--a crotchet, for the sake of which
+ye would sacrifice anything, religion if required--country?  There, fling
+down my book, I do not wish ye to walk any farther in my company, unless
+you cast your nonsense away, which ye will never do, for it is the breath
+of your nostrils; fling down my book, it was not written to support a
+crotchet, for know one thing, my good people, I have invariably been an
+enemy to humbug.
+
+"Well," said the tinker, after we had discoursed some time, "I little
+thought when I first saw you, that you were of my own trade."
+
+_Myself_.--Nor am I, at least not exactly.  There _is_ not much
+difference, 'tis true, between a tinker and a smith.
+
+_Tinker_.--You are a whitesmith, then?
+
+_Myself_.--Not I, I'd scorn to be anything so mean; no, friend, black's
+the colour; I am a brother of the horseshoe.  Success to the hammer and
+tongs.
+
+_Tinker_.--Well, I shouldn't have thought you had been a blacksmith by
+your hands.
+
+_Myself_.--I have seen them, however, as black as yours.  The truth is, I
+have not worked for many a day.
+
+_Tinker_.--Where did you serve first?
+
+_Myself_.--In Ireland.
+
+_Tinker_.--That's a good way off, isn't it?
+
+_Myself_.--Not very far; over those mountains to the left, and the run of
+salt water that lies behind them, there's Ireland.
+
+_Tinker_.--It's a fine thing to be a scholar.
+
+_Myself_.--Not half so fine as to be a tinker.
+
+_Tinker_.--How you talk!
+
+_Myself_.--Nothing but the truth; what can be better than to be one's own
+master?  Now a tinker is his own master, a scholar is not?  Let us
+suppose the best of scholars, a schoolmaster, for example, for I suppose
+you will admit that no one can be higher in scholarship than a
+schoolmaster; do you call his a pleasant life?  I don't; we should call
+him a school-slave, rather than a schoolmaster.  Only conceive him in
+blessed weather like this, in his close school, teaching children to
+write in copy-books, "Evil communication corrupts good manners," or "You
+cannot touch pitch without defilement," or to spell out of Abedariums, or
+to read out of Jack Smith, or Sandford and Merton.  Only conceive him, I
+say, drudging in such guise from morning till night, without any rational
+enjoyment but to beat the children.  Would you compare such a dog's life
+as that with your own--the happiest under heaven--true Eden life, as the
+Germans would say,--pitching your tent under the pleasant hedge-rows,
+listening to the song of the feathered tribes, collecting all the leaky
+kettles in the neighbourhood, soldering and joining, earning your honest
+bread by the wholesome sweat of your brow--making ten holes--hey, what's
+this? what's the man crying for?
+
+Suddenly the tinker had covered his face with his hands, and begun to sob
+and moan like a man in the deepest distress; the breast of his wife was
+heaved with emotion; even the children were agitated, the youngest began
+to roar.
+
+_Myself_.--What's the matter with you; what are you all crying about?
+
+_Tinker_ (uncovering his face).--Lord, why to hear you talk; isn't that
+enough to make anybody cry--even the poor babes?  Yes, you said right,
+'tis life in the garden of Eden--the tinker's; I see so now that I'm
+about to give it up.
+
+_Myself_.--Give it up! you must not think of such a thing.
+
+_Tinker_.--No, I can't bear to think of it, and yet I must; what's to be
+done?  How hard to be frightened to death, to be driven off the roads.
+
+_Myself_.--Who has driven you off the roads?
+
+_Tinker_.--Who! the Flaming Tinman.
+
+_Myself_.--Who is he?
+
+_Tinker_.--The biggest rogue in England, and the cruellest, or he
+wouldn't have served me as he has done--I'll tell you all about it.  I
+was born upon the roads, and so was my father before me, and my mother
+too; and I worked with them as long as they lived, as a dutiful child,
+for I have nothing to reproach myself with on their account; and when my
+father died I took up the business, and went his beat, and supported my
+mother for the little time she lived; and when she died I married this
+young woman, who was not born upon the roads, but was a small tradesman's
+daughter, at Glo'ster.  She had a kindness for me, and, notwithstanding
+her friends were against the match, she married the poor tinker, and came
+to live with him upon the roads.  Well, young man, for six or seven years
+I was the happiest fellow breathing, living just the life you described
+just now--respected by everybody in this beat; when in an evil hour comes
+this Black Jack, this flaming tinman, into these parts, driven as they
+say out of Yorkshire--for no good, you may be sure.  Now there is no beat
+will support two tinkers, as you doubtless know; mine was a good one, but
+it would not support the flying tinker and myself, though if it would
+have supported twenty it would have been all the same to the flying
+villain, who'll brook no one but himself; so he presently finds me out,
+and offers to fight me for the beat.  Now, being bred upon the roads, I
+can fight a little, that is with anything like my match, but I was not
+going to fight him, who happens to be twice my size, and so I told him;
+whereupon he knocks me down, and would have done me further mischief had
+not some men been nigh and prevented him; so he threatened to cut my
+throat, and went his way.  Well, I did not like such usage at all, and
+was woundily frightened, and tried to keep as much out of his way as
+possible, going anywhere but where I thought I was likely to meet him;
+and sure enough for several months I contrived to keep out of his way.
+At last somebody told me that he was gone back to Yorkshire, whereupon I
+was glad at heart, and ventured to show myself, going here and there as I
+did before.  Well, young man, it was yesterday that I and mine set
+ourselves down in a lane, about five miles from here, and lighted our
+fire, and had our dinner, and after dinner I sat down to mend three
+kettles and a frying pan which the people in the neighbourhood had given
+me to mend--for, as I told you before, I have a good connection, owing to
+my honesty.  Well, as I sat there hard at work, happy as the day's long,
+and thinking of anything but what was to happen, who should come up but
+this Black Jack, this king of the tinkers, rattling along in his cart,
+with his wife, that they call Grey Moll, by his side--for the villain has
+got a wife, and a maid-servant too; the last I never saw, but they that
+has, says that she is as big as a house, and young, and well to look at,
+which can't be all said of Moll, who, though she's big enough in all
+conscience, is neither young nor handsome.  Well, no sooner does he see
+me and mine, than giving the reins to Grey Moll, he springs out of his
+cart, and comes straight at me; not a word did he say, but on he comes
+straight at me like a wild bull.  I am a quiet man, young fellow, but I
+saw now that quietness would be of no use, so I sprang up upon my legs,
+and being bred upon the roads, and able to fight a little, I squared as
+he came running in upon me, and had a round or two with him.  Lord bless
+you, young man, it was like a fly fighting with an elephant--one of those
+big beasts the show-folks carry about.  I had not a chance with the
+fellow, he knocked me here, he knocked me there, knocked me into the
+hedge, and knocked me out again.  I was at my last shifts, and my poor
+wife saw it.  Now my poor wife, though she is as gentle as a pigeon, has
+yet a spirit of her own, and though she wasn't bred upon the roads, can
+scratch a little, so when she saw me at my last shifts, she flew at the
+villain--she couldn't bear to see her partner murdered--and scratched the
+villain's face.  Lord bless you, young man, she had better have been
+quiet: Grey Moll no sooner saw what she was about, than springing out of
+the cart, where she had sat all along perfectly quiet, save a little
+whooping and screeching to encourage her blade:--Grey Moll, I say (my
+flesh creeps when I think of it--for I am a kind husband, and love my
+poor wife)--
+
+_Myself_.--Take another draught of the ale; you look frightened, and it
+will do you good.  Stout liquor makes stout heart, as the man says in the
+play.
+
+_Tinker_.--That's true, young man; here's to you--where was I?  Grey Moll
+no sooner saw what my wife was about, than springing out of the cart, she
+flew at my poor wife, clawed off her bonnet in a moment, and seized hold
+of her hair.  Lord bless you, young man, my poor wife, in the hands of
+Grey Moll, was nothing better than a pigeon in the claws of a buzzard
+hawk, or I in the hands of the Flaming Tinman, which when I saw, my heart
+was fit to burst, and I determined to give up everything--everything to
+save my poor wife out of Grey Moll's claws.  "Hold!" I shouted.  "Hold,
+both of you--Jack, Moll.  Hold, both of you, for God's sake, and I'll do
+what you will: give up trade, and business, connection, bread, and
+everything, never more travel the roads, and go down on my knees to you
+in the bargain."  Well, this had some effect: Moll let go my wife, and
+the Blazing Tinman stopped for a moment; it was only for a moment,
+however, that he left off--all of a sudden he hit me a blow which sent me
+against a tree; and what did the villain then? why the flying villain
+seized me by the throat, and almost throttled me, roaring--what do you
+think, young man, that the flaming villain roared out?
+
+_Myself_.--I really don't know--something horrible, I suppose.
+
+_Tinker_.--Horrible, indeed; you may well say horrible, young man;
+neither more nor less than the bible--"a bible, a bible!" roared the
+Blazing Tinman; and he pressed my throat so hard against the tree that my
+senses began to dwaul away--a bible, a bible, still ringing in my ears.
+Now, young man, my poor wife is a Christian woman, and, though she
+travels the roads, carries a bible with her at the bottom of her sack,
+with which sometimes she teaches the children to read--it was the only
+thing she brought with her from the place of her kith and kin, save her
+own body and the clothes on her back; so my poor wife, half distracted,
+runs to her sack, pulls out the bible, and puts it into the hand of the
+Blazing Tinman, who then thrusts the end of it into my mouth with such
+fury that it made my lips bleed, and broke short one of my teeth which
+happened to be decayed.  "Swear," said he, "swear, you mumping villain,
+take your bible oath that you will quit and give up the beat altogether,
+or I'll"--and then the hard-hearted villain made me swear by the bible,
+and my own damnation, half-throttled as I was--to--to--I can't go on--
+
+_Myself_.--Take another draught--stout liquor--
+
+_Tinker_.--I can't, young man, my heart's too full, and what's more, the
+pitcher is empty.
+
+_Myself_.--And so he swore you, I suppose, on the bible, to quit the
+roads?
+
+_Tinker_.--You are right, he did so, the gypsy villain.
+
+_Myself_.--Gypsy!  Is he a gypsy?
+
+_Tinker_.--Not exactly; what they call a half and half.  His father was a
+gypsy, and his mother, like mine, one who walked the roads.
+
+_Myself_.--Is he of the Smiths--the Petulengres?
+
+_Tinker_.--I say, young man, you know a thing or two; one would think, to
+hear you talk, you had been bred upon the roads.  I thought none but
+those bred upon the roads knew anything of that name--Petulengres!  No,
+not he, he fights the Petulengres whenever he meets them; he likes nobody
+but himself, and wants to be king of the roads.  I believe he is a Boss,
+or a --- at any rate he's a bad one, as I know to my cost.
+
+_Myself_.--And what are you going to do?
+
+_Tinker_.--Do! you may well ask that; I don't know what to do.  My poor
+wife and I have been talking of that all the morning, over that half-pint
+mug of beer; we can't determine on what's to be done.  All we know is,
+that we must quit the roads.  The villain swore that the next time he saw
+us on the roads he'd cut all our throats, and seize our horse and bit of
+cart that are now standing out there under the tree.
+
+_Myself_.--And what do you mean to do with your horse and cart?
+
+_Tinker_.--Another question!  What shall we do with our cart and pony?
+they are of no use to us now.  Stay on the roads I will not, both for my
+oath's sake and my own.  If we had a trifle of money, we were thinking of
+going to Bristol, where I might get up a little business, but we have
+none; our last three farthings we spent about the mug of beer.
+
+_Myself_.--But why don't you sell your horse and cart?
+
+_Tinker_.--Sell them, and who would buy them, unless some one who wished
+to set up in my line; but there's no beat, and what's the use of the
+horse and cart and the few tools without the beat?
+
+_Myself_.--I'm half inclined to buy your cart and pony, and your beat
+too.
+
+_Tinker_.--You!  How came you to think of such a thing?
+
+_Myself_.--Why, like yourself, I hardly know what to do.  I want a home
+and work.  As for a home, I suppose I can contrive to make a home out of
+your tent and cart; and as for work, I must learn to be a tinker, it
+would not be hard for one of my trade to learn to tinker; what better can
+I do?  Would you have me go to Chester and work there now?  I don't like
+the thoughts of it.  If I go to Chester and work there, I can't be my own
+man; I must work under a master, and perhaps he and I should quarrel, and
+when I quarrel I am apt to hit folks, and those that hit folks are
+sometimes sent to prison; I don't like the thought either of going to
+Chester or to Chester prison.  What do you think I could earn at Chester?
+
+_Tinker_.--A matter of eleven shillings a week, if anybody would employ
+you, which I don't think they would with those hands of yours.  But
+whether they would or not, if you are of a quarrelsome nature, you must
+not go to Chester; you would be in the castle in no time.  I don't know
+how to advise you.  As for selling you my stock, I'd see you farther
+first, for your own sake.
+
+_Myself_.--Why?
+
+_Tinker_.--Why! you would get your head knocked off.  Suppose you were to
+meet him?
+
+_Myself_.--Pooh, don't be afraid on my account; if I were to meet him I
+could easily manage him one way or other.  I know all kinds of strange
+words and names, and, as I told you before, I sometimes hit people when
+they put me out.
+
+Here the tinker's wife, who for some minutes past had been listening
+attentively to our discourse, interposed, saying, in a low soft tone: "I
+really don't see, John, why you shouldn't sell the young man the things,
+seeing that he wishes for them, and is so confident; you have told him
+plainly how matters stand, and if anything ill should befall him, people
+couldn't lay the blame on you; but I don't think any ill will befall him,
+and who knows but God has sent him to our assistance in time of need."
+
+"I'll hear of no such thing," said the tinker; "I have drunk at the young
+man's expense, and though he says he's quarrelsome, I would not wish to
+sit in pleasanter company.  A pretty fellow I should be, now, if I were
+to let him follow his own will.  If he once sets up on my beat, he's a
+lost man, his ribs will be stove in, and his head knocked off his
+shoulders.  There, you are crying, but you shan't have your will, though;
+I won't be the young man's destruction--If, indeed, I thought he could
+manage the tinker--but he never can; he says he can hit, but it's no use
+hitting the tinker;--crying still! you are enough to drive one mad.  I
+say, young man, I believe you understand a thing or two, just now you
+were talking of knowing hard words and names--I don't wish to send you to
+your mischief--you say you know hard words and names; let us see.  Only
+on one condition I'll sell you the pony and things; as for the beat it's
+gone, isn't mine--sworn away by my mouth.  Tell me what's my name; if you
+can't, may I--"
+
+_Myself_.--Don't swear, it's a bad habit, neither pleasant nor
+profitable.  Your name is Slingsby--Jack Slingsby.  There, don't stare,
+there's nothing in my telling you your name: I've been in these parts
+before, at least not very far from here.  Ten years ago, when I was
+little more than a child, I was about twenty miles from here in a post
+chaise, at the door of an inn, and as I looked from the window of the
+chaise, I saw you standing by a gutter, with a big tin ladle in your
+hand, and somebody called you Jack Slingsby.  I never forget anything I
+hear or see; I can't, I wish I could.  So there's nothing strange in my
+knowing your name; indeed, there's nothing strange in anything, provided
+you examine it to the bottom.  Now what am I to give you for the things?
+
+I paid Slingsby five pounds ten shillings for his stock in trade, cart,
+and pony--purchased sundry provisions of the landlady, also a wagoner's
+frock, which had belonged to a certain son of hers, deceased, gave my
+little animal a feed of corn, and prepared to depart.
+
+"God bless you, young man," said Slingsby, shaking me by the hand, "you
+are the best friend I've had for many a day: I have but one thing to tell
+you, Don't cross that fellow's path if you can help it; and stay--should
+the pony refuse to go, just touch him so, and he'll fly like the wind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIX.
+
+
+Effects of Corn--One Night Longer--The Hoofs--A Stumble--Are you
+Hurt?--What a Difference!--Drowsy--Maze of Bushes--Housekeeping--Sticks
+and Furze--The Driftway--Account of Stock--Anvil and Bellows--Twenty
+Years.
+
+It was two or three hours past noon when I took my departure from the
+place of the last adventure, walking by the side of my little cart; the
+pony, invigorated by the corn, to which he was probably not much
+accustomed, proceeded right gallantly; so far from having to hasten him
+forward by the particular application which the tinker had pointed out to
+me, I had rather to repress his eagerness, being, though an excellent
+pedestrian, not unfrequently left behind.  The country through which I
+passed was beautiful and interesting, but solitary: few habitations
+appeared.  As it was quite a matter of indifference to me in what
+direction I went, the whole world being before me, I allowed the pony to
+decide upon the matter; it was not long before he left the high road,
+being probably no friend to public places.  I followed him I knew not
+whither, but, from subsequent observation, have reason to suppose that
+our course was in a north-west direction.  At length night came upon us,
+and a cold wind sprang up, which was succeeded by a drizzling rain.
+
+I had originally intended to pass the night in the cart, or to pitch my
+little tent on some convenient spot by the road's side; but, owing to the
+alteration in the weather, I thought that it would be advisable to take
+up my quarters in any hedge alehouse at which I might arrive.  To tell
+the truth, I was not very sorry to have an excuse to pass the night once
+more beneath a roof.  I had determined to live quite independent, but I
+had never before passed a night by myself abroad, and felt a little
+apprehensive at the idea; I hoped, however, on the morrow, to be a little
+more prepared for the step, so I determined for one night--only for one
+night longer--to sleep like a Christian; but human determinations are not
+always put into effect, such a thing as opportunity is frequently
+wanting, such was the case here.  I went on for a considerable time, in
+expectation of coming to some rustic hostelry, but nothing of the kind
+presented itself to my eyes; the country in which I now was seemed almost
+uninhabited, not a house of any kind was to be seen--at least I saw
+none--though it is true houses might be near without my seeing them,
+owing to the darkness of the night, for neither moon nor star was abroad.
+I heard, occasionally, the bark of dogs; but the sound appeared to come
+from an immense distance.  The rain still fell, and the ground beneath my
+feet was wet and miry; in short, it was a night in which even a tramper
+by profession would feel more comfortable in being housed than abroad.  I
+followed in the rear of the cart, the pony still proceeding at a sturdy
+pace, till methought I heard other hoofs than those of my own nag; I
+listened for a moment, and distinctly heard the sound of hoofs
+approaching at a great rate, and evidently from the quarter towards which
+I and my little caravan were moving.  We were in a dark lane--so dark
+that it was impossible for me to see my own hand.  Apprehensive that some
+accident might occur, I ran forward, and, seizing the pony by the bridle,
+drew him as near as I could to the hedge.  On came the hoofs--trot, trot,
+trot; and evidently more than those of one horse; their speed as they
+advanced appeared to slacken--it was only, however, for a moment.  I
+heard a voice cry, "Push on,--this is a desperate robbing place,--never
+mind the dark;" and the hoofs came on quicker than before.  "Stop!" said
+I, at the top of my voice; "stop! or--"  Before I could finish what I was
+about to say there was a stumble, a heavy fall, a cry, and a groan, and
+putting out my foot I felt what I conjectured to be the head of a horse
+stretched upon the road.  "Lord have mercy upon us! what's the matter?"
+exclaimed a voice.  "Spare my life," cried another voice, apparently from
+the ground; "only spare my life, and take all I have."  "Where are you,
+Master Wise?" cried the other voice.  "Help! here, Master Bat," cried the
+voice from the ground, "help me up or I shall be murdered."  "Why, what's
+the matter?" said Bat.  "Some one has knocked me down, and is robbing
+me," said the voice from the ground.  "Help! murder!" cried Bat; and,
+regardless of the entreaties of the man on the ground that he would stay
+and help him up, he urged his horse forward and galloped away as fast as
+he could.  I remained for some time quiet, listening to various groans
+and exclamations uttered by the person on the ground; at length I said,
+"Holloa! are you hurt?"  "Spare my life, and take all I have!" said the
+voice from the ground.  "Have they not done robbing you yet?" said I;
+"when they have finished let me know, and I will come and help you."
+"Who is that?" said the voice; "pray come and help me, and do me no
+mischief."  "You were saying that some one was robbing you," said I;
+"don't think I shall come till he is gone away."  "Then you ben't he?"
+said the voice.  "Ar'n't you robbed?" said I.  "Can't say I be," said the
+voice; "not yet at any rate; but who are you?  I don't know you."  "A
+traveller whom you and your partner were going to run over in this dark
+lane; you almost frightened me out of my senses."  "Frightened!" said the
+voice, in a louder tone; "frightened! oh!" and thereupon I heard somebody
+getting upon his legs.  This accomplished, the individual proceeded to
+attend to his horse, and with a little difficulty raised him upon his
+legs also.  "Ar'n't you hurt?" said I.  "Hurt!" said the voice; "not I;
+don't think it, whatever the horse may be.  I tell you what, my fellow, I
+thought you were a robber, and now I find you are not; I have a good
+mind--"  "To do what?"  "To serve you out; ar'n't you ashamed--?"  "At
+what?" said I; "not to have robbed you?  Shall I set about it now?"  "Ha,
+ha!" said the man, dropping the bullying tone which he had assumed; "you
+are joking--robbing! who talks of robbing?  I wonder how my horse's knees
+are; not much hurt, I think--only mired."  The man, whoever he was, then
+got upon his horse; and, after moving him about a little, said, "Good
+night, friend; where are you?"  "Here I am," said I, "just behind you."
+"You are, are you?  Take that."  I know not what he did, but probably
+pricking his horse with the spur the animal kicked out violently; one of
+his heels struck me on the shoulder, but luckily missed my face; I fell
+back with the violence of the blow, whilst the fellow scampered off at a
+great rate.  Stopping at some distance, he loaded me with abuse, and
+then, continuing his way at a rapid trot, I heard no more of him.
+
+"What a difference!" said I, getting up; "last night I was feted in the
+hall of a rich genius, and to-night I am knocked down and mired in a dark
+lane by the heel of Master Wise's horse--I wonder who gave him that name?
+And yet he was wise enough to wreak his revenge upon me, and I was not
+wise enough to keep out of his way.  Well, I am not much hurt, so it is
+of little consequence."
+
+I now bethought me that, as I had a carriage of my own, I might as well
+make use of it; I therefore got into the cart, and, taking the reins in
+my hand, gave an encouraging cry to the pony, whereupon the sturdy little
+animal started again at as brisk a pace as if he had not already come
+many a long mile.  I lay half reclining in the cart, holding the reins
+lazily, and allowing the animal to go just where he pleased, often
+wondering where he would conduct me.  At length I felt drowsy, and my
+head sank upon my breast; I soon aroused myself, but it was only to doze
+again; this occurred several times.  Opening my eyes after a doze
+somewhat longer than the others, I found that the drizzling rain had
+ceased, a corner of the moon was apparent in the heavens, casting a faint
+light; I looked around for a moment or two, but my eyes and brain were
+heavy with slumber, and I could scarcely distinguish where we were.  I
+had a kind of dim consciousness that we were traversing an uninclosed
+country--perhaps a heath; I thought, however, that I saw certain large
+black objects looming in the distance, which I had a confused idea might
+be woods or plantations; the pony still moved at his usual pace.  I did
+not find the jolting of the cart at all disagreeable; on the contrary, it
+had quite a somniferous effect upon me.  Again my eyes closed; I opened
+them once more, but with less perception in them than before, looked
+forward, and, muttering something about woodlands, I placed myself in an
+easier posture than I had hitherto done, and fairly fell asleep.
+
+How long I continued in that state I am unable to say, but I believe for
+a considerable time; I was suddenly awakened by the ceasing of the
+jolting to which I had become accustomed, and of which I was perfectly
+sensible in my sleep.  I started up and looked around me, the moon was
+still shining, and the face of the heaven was studded with stars; I found
+myself amidst a haze of bushes of various kinds, but principally hazel
+and holly, through which was a path or driftway with grass growing on
+either side, upon which the pony was already diligently browsing.  I
+conjectured that this place had been one of the haunts of his former
+master, and, on dismounting and looking about, was strengthened in that
+opinion by finding a spot under an ash tree which, from its burnt and
+blackened appearance, seemed to have been frequently used as a
+fire-place.  I will take up my quarters here, thought I; it is an
+excellent spot for me to commence my new profession in; I was quite right
+to trust myself to the guidance of the pony.  Unharnessing the animal
+without delay, I permitted him to browse at free will on the grass,
+convinced that he would not wander far from a place to which he was so
+much attached; I then pitched the little tent close beside the ash tree
+to which I have alluded, and conveyed two or three articles into it, and
+instantly felt that I had commenced housekeeping for the first time in my
+life.  Housekeeping, however, without a fire is a very sorry affair,
+something like the housekeeping of children in their toy houses; of this
+I was the more sensible from feeling very cold and shivering, owing to my
+late exposure to the rain, and sleeping in the night air.  Collecting,
+therefore, all the dry sticks and furze I could find, I placed them upon
+the fire-place, adding certain chips and a billet which I found in the
+cart, it having apparently been the habit of Slingsby to carry with him a
+small store of fuel.  Having then struck a spark in a tinder-box and
+lighted a match, I set fire to the combustible heap, and was not slow in
+raising a cheerful blaze; I then drew my cart near the fire, and, seating
+myself on one of the shafts, hung over the warmth with feelings of
+intense pleasure and satisfaction.  Having continued in the posture for a
+considerable time, I turned my eyes to the heaven in the direction of a
+particular star; I, however, could not find the star, nor indeed many of
+the starry train, the greater number having fled, from which
+circumstance, and from the appearance of the sky, I concluded that
+morning was nigh.  About this time I again began to feel drowsy; I
+therefore arose, and having prepared for myself a kind of couch in the
+tent, I flung myself upon it and went to sleep.
+
+I will not say that I was awakened in the morning by the carolling of
+birds, as I perhaps might if I were writing a novel; I awoke because, to
+use vulgar language, I had slept my sleep out, not because the birds were
+carolling around me in numbers, as they had probably been for hours
+without my hearing them.  I got up and left my tent; the morning was yet
+more bright than that of the preceding day.  Impelled by curiosity, I
+walked about, endeavouring to ascertain to what place chance, or rather
+the pony, had brought me; following the driftway for some time, amidst
+bushes and stunted trees, I came to a grove of dark pines, through which
+it appeared to lead; I tracked it a few hundred yards, but seeing nothing
+but trees, and the way being wet and sloughy, owing to the recent rain, I
+returned on my steps, and, pursuing the path in another direction, came
+to a sandy road leading over a common, doubtless the one I had traversed
+the preceding night.  My curiosity satisfied, I returned to my little
+encampment, and on the way beheld a small footpath on the left winding
+through the bushes, which had before escaped my observation.  Having
+reached my tent and cart, I breakfasted on some of the provisions which I
+had procured the day before, and then proceeded to take a regular account
+of the stock formerly possessed by Slingsby the tinker, but now become my
+own by right of lawful purchase.
+
+Besides the pony, the cart, and the tent, I found I was possessed of a
+mattress stuffed with straw on which to lie, and a blanket to cover me,
+the last quite clean and nearly new; then there was a frying pan and a
+kettle, the first for cooking any food which required cooking, and the
+second for heating any water which I might wish to heat.  I likewise
+found an earthen teapot and two or three cups; of the first I should
+rather say I found the remains, it being broken in three parts, no doubt
+since it came into my possession, which would have precluded the
+possibility of my asking anybody to tea for the present, should anybody
+visit me, even supposing I had tea and sugar, which was not the case.  I
+then overhauled what might more strictly be called the stock in trade;
+this consisted of various tools, an iron ladle, a chafing pan and small
+bellows, sundry pans and kettles, the latter being of tin, with the
+exception of one which was of copper, all in a state of considerable
+dilapidation--if I may use the term; of these first Slingsby had spoken
+in particular, advising me to mend them as soon as possible, and to
+endeavour to sell them, in order that I might have the satisfaction of
+receiving some return upon the outlay which I had made.  There was
+likewise a small quantity of block tin, sheet tin, and solder.  "This
+Slingsby," said I, "is certainly a very honest man, he has sold me more
+than my money's worth; I believe, however, there is something more in the
+cart."  Thereupon I rummaged the farther end of the cart, and, amidst a
+quantity of straw, I found a small anvil and bellows of that kind which
+are used in forges, and two hammers such as smiths use, one great, and
+the other small.
+
+The sight of these last articles caused me no little surprise, as no word
+which had escaped from the mouth of Slingsby have given me reason to
+suppose that he had ever followed the occupation of a smith; yet, if he
+had not, how did he come by them?  I sat down upon the shaft, and
+pondered the question deliberately in my mind; at length I concluded that
+he had come by them by one of those numerous casualties which occur upon
+the roads, of which I, being a young hand upon the roads, must have a
+very imperfect conception; honestly, of course--for I scouted the idea
+that Slingsby would have stolen this blacksmith's gear--for I had the
+highest opinion of his honesty, which opinion I still retain at the
+present day, which is upwards of twenty years from the time of which I am
+speaking, during the whole of which period I have neither seen the poor
+fellow, nor received any intelligence of him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXX.
+
+
+New Profession--Beautiful Night--Jupiter--Sharp and Shrill--The Rommany
+Chi--All Alone--Three and Sixpence--What is Rommany?--Be Civil--Parraco
+Tute--Slight Start--She Will Be Grateful--The Rustling.
+
+I passed the greater part of the day in endeavouring to teach myself the
+mysteries of my new profession.  I cannot say that I was very successful,
+but the time passed agreeably, and was therefore not ill spent.  Towards
+evening I flung my work aside, took some refreshment, and afterwards a
+walk.
+
+This time I turned up the small footpath, of which I have already spoken.
+It led in a zigzag manner through thickets of hazel, elder, and sweet
+briar; after following its windings for somewhat better than a furlong, I
+heard a gentle sound of water, and presently came to a small rill, which
+ran directly across the path.  I was rejoiced at the sight, for I had
+already experienced the want of water, which I yet knew must be nigh at
+hand, as I was in a place to all appearance occasionally frequented by
+wandering people, who I was aware never take up their quarters in places
+where water is difficult to be obtained.  Forthwith I stretched myself on
+the ground, and took a long and delicious draught of the crystal stream,
+and then, seating myself in a bush, I continued for some time gazing on
+the water as it purled tinkling away in its channel through an opening in
+the hazels, and should have probably continued much longer had not the
+thought that I had left my property unprotected compelled me to rise and
+return to my encampment.
+
+Night came on, and a beautiful night it was; up rose the moon, and
+innumerable stars decked the firmament of heaven.  I sat on the shaft, my
+eyes turned upwards.  I had found it: there it was twinkling millions of
+miles above me, mightiest star of the system to which we belong: of all
+stars, the one which has the most interest for me--the star Jupiter.
+
+Why have I always taken an interest in thee, O Jupiter?  I know nothing
+about thee, save what every child knows, that thou art a big star, whose
+only light is derived from moons.  And is not that knowledge enough to
+make me feel an interest in thee?  Ay, truly, I never look at thee
+without wondering what is going on in thee; what is life in Jupiter?
+That there is life in Jupiter who can doubt?  There is life in our own
+little star, therefore there must be life in Jupiter, which is not a
+little star.  But how different must life be in Jupiter from what it is
+in our own little star!  Life here is life beneath the dear sun--life in
+Jupiter is life beneath moons--four moons--no single moon is able to
+illumine that vast bulk.  All know what life is in our own little star;
+it is anything but a routine of happiness here, where the dear sun rises
+to us every day: then how sad and moping must life be in mighty Jupiter,
+on which no sun ever shines, and which is never lighted save by pale
+moonbeams!  The thought that there is more sadness and melancholy in
+Jupiter than in this world of ours, where, alas! there is but too much,
+has always made me take a melancholy interest in that huge distant star.
+
+Two or three days passed by in much the same manner as the first.  During
+the morning I worked upon my kettles, and employed the remaining part of
+the day as I best could.  The whole of this time I only saw two
+individuals, rustics, who passed by my encampment without vouchsafing me
+a glance; they probably considered themselves my superiors, as perhaps
+they were.
+
+One very brilliant morning, as I sat at work in very good spirits, for by
+this time I had actually mended in a very creditable way, as I imagined,
+two kettles and a frying pan, I heard a voice which seemed to proceed
+from the path leading to the rivulet; at first it sounded from a
+considerable distance, but drew nearer by degrees.  I soon remarked that
+the tones were exceedingly sharp and shrill, with yet something of
+childhood in them.  Once or twice I distinguished certain words in the
+song which the voice was singing; the words were--but no, I thought again
+I was probably mistaken--and then the voice ceased for a time; presently
+I heard it again, close to the entrance of the footpath; in another
+moment I heard it in the lane or glade in which stood my tent, where it
+abruptly stopped, but not before I had heard the very words which I at
+first thought I had distinguished.
+
+I turned my head: at the entrance of the footpath, which might be about
+thirty yards from the place where I was sitting, I perceived the figure
+of a young girl; her face was turned towards me, and she appeared to be
+scanning me and my encampment; after a little time she looked in the
+other direction, only for a moment, however; probably observing nothing
+in that quarter, she again looked towards me and almost immediately
+stepped forward; and, as she advanced, sang the song which I had heard in
+the wood, the first words of which were those which I have already
+alluded to.
+
+    "The Rommany chi
+    And the Rommany chal,
+    Shall jaw tasaulor
+    To drab the bawlor,
+    And dook the gry
+    Of the farming rye."
+
+A very pretty song, thought I, falling again hard to work upon my kettle;
+a very pretty song, which bodes the farmers much good.  Let them look to
+their cattle.
+
+"All alone here, brother?" said a voice close by me, in sharp but not
+disagreeable tones.
+
+I made no answer, but continued my work, click, click, with the gravity
+which became one of my profession.  I allowed at least half a minute to
+elapse before I even lifted up my eyes.
+
+A girl of about thirteen was standing before me; her features were very
+pretty, but with a peculiar expression; her complexion was a clear olive,
+and her jet black hair hung back upon her shoulders.  She was rather
+scantily dressed, and her arms and feet were bare; round her neck,
+however, was a handsome string of corals, with ornaments of gold; in her
+hand she held a bulrush.
+
+"All alone here, brother?" said the girl, as I looked up; "all alone
+here, in the lane; where are your wife and children?"
+
+"Why do you call me brother?" said I; "I am no brother of yours.  Do you
+take me for one of your people?  I am no gypsy; not I, indeed!"
+
+"Don't be afraid, brother, you are no Roman--Roman indeed, you are not
+handsome enough to be a Roman; not black enough, tinker though you be.
+If I called you brother, it was because I didn't know what else to call
+you.  Marry, come up, brother, I should be very sorry to have you for a
+brother."
+
+"Then you don't like me?"
+
+"Neither like you, nor dislike you, brother; what will you have for that
+kekaubi?"
+
+"What's the use of talking to me in that un-Christian way; what do you
+mean, young gentlewoman?"
+
+"Lord, brother, what a fool you are; every tinker knows what a kekaubi
+is.  I was asking you what you would have for that kettle."
+
+"Three-and-sixpence, young gentlewoman; isn't it well mended?"
+
+"Well mended!  I could have done it better myself; three-and-sixpence!
+it's only fit to be played at football with."
+
+"I will take no less for it, young gentlewoman; it has caused me a world
+of trouble."
+
+"I never saw a worse mended kettle.  I say, brother, your hair is white."
+
+"'Tis nature; your hair is black; nature, nothing but nature."
+
+"I am young, brother; my hair is black--that's nature: you are young,
+brother; your hair is white--that's not nature."
+
+"I can't help it if it be not, but it is nature after all; did you never
+see grey hair on the young?"
+
+"Never!  I have heard it is true of a grey lad, and a bad one he was.
+Oh, so bad."
+
+"Sit down on the grass, and tell me all about it, sister; do to oblige
+me, pretty sister."
+
+"Hey, brother, you don't speak as you did--you don't speak like a gorgio,
+you speak like one of us, you call me sister."
+
+"As you call me brother; I am not an uncivil person after all, sister."
+
+"I say, brother, tell me one thing, and look me in the face--there--do
+you speak Rommany?"
+
+"Rommany!  Rommany! what is Rommany?"
+
+"What is Rommany? our language, to be sure; tell me, brother, only one
+thing, you don't speak Rommany?"
+
+"You say it."
+
+"I don't say it, I wish to know.  Do you speak Rommany?"
+
+"Do you mean thieves' slang--cant? no, I don't speak cant, I don't like
+it, I only know a few words; they call a sixpence a tanner, don't they?"
+
+"I don't know," said the girl, sitting down on the ground, "I was almost
+thinking--well, never mind, you don't know Rommany.  I say, brother, I
+think I should like to have the kekaubi."
+
+"I thought you said it was badly mended?"
+
+"Yes, yes, brother, but--"
+
+"I thought you said it was only fit to be played at football with?"
+
+"Yes, yes, brother, but--"
+
+"What will you give for it?"
+
+"Brother, I am the poor person's child, I will give you sixpence for the
+kekaubi."
+
+"Poor person's child; how came you by that necklace?"
+
+"Be civil, brother; am I to have the kekaubi?"
+
+"Not for sixpence; isn't the kettle nicely mended?"
+
+"I never saw a nicer mended kettle, brother; am I to have the kekaubi,
+brother?"
+
+"You like me then?"
+
+"I don't dislike you--I dislike no one; there's only one, and him I don't
+dislike, him I hate."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"I scarcely know, I never saw him, but 'tis no affair of yours, you don't
+speak Rommany; you will let me have the kekaubi, pretty brother?"
+
+"You may have it, but not for sixpence, I'll give it to you."
+
+"Parraco tute, that is, I thank you, brother; the rikkeni kekaubi is now
+mine.  O, rare!  I thank you kindly, brother."
+
+Starting up, she flung the bulrush aside which she had hitherto held in
+her hand, and seizing the kettle, she looked at it for a moment, and then
+began a kind of dance, flourishing the kettle over her head the while,
+and singing--
+
+    "The Rommany chi
+    And the Rommany chal,
+    Shall jaw tasaulor
+    To drab the bawlor,
+    And dook the gry
+    Of the farming rye."
+
+"Good by, brother I must be going."
+
+"Good by, sister; why do you sing that wicked song?"
+
+"Wicked song, hey, brother! you don't understand the song!"
+
+"Ha, ha! gypsy daughter," said I, starting up and clapping my hands, "I
+don't understand Rommany, don't I?  You shall see; here's the answer to
+your gillie--
+
+    'The Rommany chi
+    And the Rommany chal
+    Love Luripen
+    And dukkeripen,
+    And hokkeripen,
+    And every pen
+    But Lachipen
+    And tatchipen.'"
+
+The girl, who had given a slight start when I began, remained for some
+time after I had concluded the song, standing motionless as a statue,
+with the kettle in her hand.  At length she came towards me, and stared
+me full in the face.  "Grey, tall, and talks Rommany," said she to
+herself.  In her countenance there was an expression which I had not seen
+before--an expression which struck me as being composed of fear,
+curiosity, and the deepest hate.  It was momentary, however, and was
+succeeded by one smiling, frank, and open.  "Ha, ha, brother," said she,
+"well, I like you all the better for talking Rommany; it is a sweet
+language, isn't it? especially as you sing it.  How did you pick it up?
+But you picked it up upon the roads, no doubt?  Ha, it was funny in you
+to pretend not to know it, and you so flush with it all the time; it was
+not kind in you, however, to frighten the poor person's child so by
+screaming out, but it was kind in you to give the rikkeni kekaubi to the
+child of the poor person.  She will be grateful to you; she will bring
+you her little dog to show you, her pretty juggal; the poor person's
+child will come and see you again; you are not going away to-day, I hope,
+or to-morrow, pretty brother, grey-hair'd brother--you are not going away
+to-morrow, I hope?"
+
+"Nor the next day," said I, "only to take a stroll to see if I can sell a
+kettle; good by, little sister, Rommany sister, dingy sister."
+
+"Good by, tall brother," said the girl, as she departed, singing
+
+    "The Rommany chi," etc.
+
+"There's something about that girl that I don't understand," said I to
+myself; "something mysterious.  However, it is nothing to me, she knows
+not who I am, and if she did, what then?"
+
+Late that evening as I sat on the shaft of my cart in deep meditation,
+with my arms folded, I thought I heard a rustling in the bushes over
+against me.  I turned my eyes in that direction, but saw nothing.  "Some
+bird," said I; "an owl, perhaps;" and once more I fell into meditation;
+my mind wandered from one thing to another--musing now on the structure
+of the Roman tongue--now on the rise and fall of the Persian power--and
+now on the powers vested in recorders at quarter sessions.  I was
+thinking what a fine thing it must be to be a recorder of the peace, when
+lifting up my eyes, I saw right opposite, not a culprit at the bar, but,
+staring at me through a gap in the bush, a face wild and strange, half
+covered with grey hair; I only saw it a moment, the next it had
+disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXI.
+
+
+Friend of Slingsby--All Quiet--Danger--The Two Cakes--Children in the
+Wood--Don't be Angry--In Deep Thought--Temples Throbbing--Deadly
+Sick--Another Blow--No Answer--How Old are You?--Play and
+Sacrament--Heavy Heart--Song of Poison--Drow of Gypsies--The Dog--Ely's
+Church--Get up, Bebee--The Vehicle--Can you Speak?--The Oil.
+
+The next day at an early hour, I harnessed my little pony, and, putting
+my things in my cart, I went on my projected stroll.  Crossing the moor,
+I arrived in about an hour at a small village, from which, after a short
+stay, I proceeded to another, and from thence to a third.  I found that
+the name of Slingsby was well known in these parts.
+
+"If you are a friend of Slingsby you must be an honest lad," said an
+ancient crone; "you shall never want for work whilst I can give it you.
+Here, take my kettle, the bottom came out this morning, and lend me that
+of yours till you bring it back.  I'm not afraid to trust you--not I.
+Don't hurry yourself, young man, if you don't come back for a fortnight I
+shan't have the worse opinion of you."
+
+I returned to my quarters at evening, tired but rejoiced at heart; I had
+work before me for several days, having collected various kekaubies which
+required mending, in place of those which I left behind--those which I
+had been employed upon during the last few days.  I found all quiet in
+the lane or glade, and, unharnessing my little horse, I once more pitched
+my tent in the old spot beneath the ash, lighted my fire, ate my frugal
+meal, and then, after looking for some time at the heavenly bodies, and
+more particularly at the star Jupiter, I entered my tent, lay down upon
+my pallet, and went to sleep.
+
+Nothing occurred on the following day which requires any particular
+notice, nor indeed on the one succeeding that.  It was about noon on the
+third day that I sat beneath the shade of the ash tree; I was not at
+work, for the weather was particularly hot, and I felt but little
+inclination to make any exertion.  Leaning my back against the tree, I
+was not long in falling into a slumber; I particularly remember that
+slumber of mine beneath the ash tree, for it was about the sweetest
+slumber that I ever enjoyed; how long I continued in it I do not know; I
+could almost have wished that it had lasted to the present time.  All of
+a sudden it appeared to me that a voice cried in my ear, "Danger! danger!
+danger!"  Nothing seemingly could be more distinct than the words which I
+heard; then an uneasy sensation came over me, which I strove to get rid
+of, and at last succeeded, for I awoke.  The gypsy girl was standing just
+opposite to me, with her eyes fixed upon my countenance; a singular kind
+of little dog stood beside her.
+
+"Ha!" said I, "was it you that cried danger?  What danger is there?"
+
+"Danger, brother, there is no danger; what danger should there be?  I
+called to my little dog, but that was in the wood; my little dog's name
+is not danger, but stranger; what danger should there be, brother?"
+
+"What, indeed, except in sleeping beneath a tree; what is that you have
+got in your hand?"
+
+"Something for you," said the girl, sitting down and proceeding to untie
+a white napkin; "a pretty manricli, so sweet, so nice; when I went home
+to my people I told my grandbebee how kind you had been to the poor
+person's child, and when my grandbebee saw the kekaubi, she said, 'Hir mi
+devlis, it won't do for the poor people to be ungrateful; by my God, I
+will bake a cake for the young harko mescro.'"
+
+"But there are two cakes."
+
+"Yes, brother, two cakes, both for you; my grandbebee meant them both for
+you--but list, brother, I will have one of them for bringing them.  I
+know you will give me one, pretty brother, grey-haired brother--which
+shall I have, brother?"
+
+In the napkin were two round cakes, seemingly made of rich and costly
+compounds, and precisely similar in form, each weighing about half a
+pound.
+
+"Which shall I have, brother?" said the gypsy girl.
+
+"Whichever you please."
+
+"No, brother, no, the cakes are yours, not mine, it is for you to say."
+
+"Well, then, give me the one nearest you, and take the other."
+
+"Yes, brother, yes," said the girl; and taking the cakes, she flung them
+into the air two or three times, catching them as they fell, and singing
+the while.  "Pretty brother, grey-haired brother--here, brother," said
+she, "here is your cake, this other is mine."
+
+"Are you sure," said I, taking the cake, "that this is the one I chose?"
+
+"Quite sure, brother; but if you like you can have mine; there's no
+difference, however--shall I eat?"
+
+"Yes, sister, eat."
+
+"See, brother, I do; now, brother, eat, pretty brother, grey-haired
+brother."
+
+"I am not hungry."
+
+"Not hungry! well, what then--what has being hungry to do with the
+matter?  It is my grandbebee's cake which was sent because you were kind
+to the poor person's child; eat, brother, eat, and we shall be like the
+children in the wood that the gorgios speak of."
+
+"The children in the wood had nothing to eat."
+
+"Yes, they had hips and haws; we have better.  Eat, brother."
+
+"See, sister, I do," and I ate a piece of the cake.
+
+"Well, brother, how do you like it?" said the girl, looking fixedly at
+me.
+
+"It is very rich and sweet, and yet there is something strange about it;
+I don't think I shall eat any more."
+
+"Fie, brother, fie, to find fault with the poor person's cake; see, I
+have nearly eaten mine."
+
+"That's a pretty little dog."
+
+"Is it not, brother? that's my juggal, my little sister, as I call her."
+
+"Come here, juggal," said I to the animal.
+
+"What do you want with my juggal?" said the girl.
+
+"Only to give her a piece of cake," said I, offering the dog a piece
+which I had just broken off.
+
+"What do you mean?" said the girl, snatching the dog away; "my
+grandbebee's cake is not for dogs."
+
+"Why, I just now saw you give the animal a piece of yours."
+
+"You lie, brother, you saw no such thing; but I see how it is, you wish
+to affront the poor person's child.  I shall go to my house."
+
+"Keep still, and don't be angry; see, I have eaten the piece which I
+offered the dog.  I meant no offence.  It is a sweet cake after all."
+
+"Isn't it, brother?  I am glad you like it.  Offence! brother, no offence
+at all!  I am so glad you like my grandbebee's cake, but she will be
+wanting me at home.  Eat one piece more of grandbebee's cake, and I will
+go."
+
+"I am not hungry, I will put the rest by."
+
+"One piece more before I go, handsome brother, grey-haired brother."
+
+"I will not eat any more, I have already eaten more than I wished to
+oblige you; if you must go, good day to you."
+
+The girl rose upon her feet, looked hard at me, then at the remainder of
+the cake which I held in my hand, and then at me again, and then stood
+for a moment or two, as if in deep thought; presently an air of
+satisfaction came over her countenance, she smiled and said, "Well,
+brother, well, do as you please, I merely wished you to eat because you
+have been so kind to the poor person's child.  She loves you so, that she
+could have wished to have seen you eat it all; good by, brother, I dare
+say when I am gone you will eat some more of it, and if you don't I dare
+say you have eaten enough to--to--show your love for us.  After all it
+was a poor person's cake, a Rommany manricli, and all you gorgios are
+somewhat gorgious.  Farewell, brother, pretty brother, grey-haired
+brother.  Come, juggal."
+
+I remained under the ash tree seated on the grass for a minute or two,
+and endeavoured to resume the occupation in which I had been engaged
+before I fell asleep, but I felt no inclination for labour.  I then
+thought I would sleep again, and once more reclined against the tree, and
+slumbered for some little time, but my sleep was more agitated than
+before.  Something appeared to bear heavy on my breast, I struggled in my
+sleep, fell on the grass, and awoke; my temples were throbbing, there was
+a burning in my eyes, and my mouth felt parched; the oppression about the
+chest which I had felt in my sleep still continued.  "I must shake off
+these feelings," said I, "and get upon my legs."  I walked rapidly up and
+down upon the green sward; at length, feeling my thirst increase, I
+directed my steps down the narrow path to the spring which ran amidst the
+bushes; arriving there, I knelt down and drank of the water, but on
+lifting up my head I felt thirstier than before; again I drank, but with
+the like results; I was about to drink for the third time, when I felt a
+dreadful qualm which instantly robbed me of nearly all my strength.  What
+can be the matter with me, thought I; but I suppose I have made myself
+ill by drinking cold water.  I got up and made the best of my way back to
+my tent; before I reached it the qualm had seized me again, and I was
+deadly sick.  I flung myself on my pallet, qualm succeeded qualm, but in
+the intervals my mouth was dry and burning, and I felt a frantic desire
+to drink, but no water was at hand, and to reach the spring once more was
+impossible: the qualms continued, deadly pains shot through my whole
+frame; I could bear my agonies no longer, and I fell into a trance or
+swoon.  How long I continued therein I know not; on recovering, however,
+I felt somewhat better, and attempted to lift my head off my couch; the
+next moment, however, the qualms and pains returned, if possible, with
+greater violence than before.  I am dying, thought I, like a dog, without
+any help; and then methought I heard a sound at a distance like people
+singing, and then once more I relapsed into my swoon.
+
+I revived just as a heavy blow sounded, upon the canvas of the tent.  I
+started, but my condition did not permit me to rise; again the same kind
+of blow sounded upon the canvas; I thought for a moment of crying out and
+requesting assistance, but an inexplicable something chained my tongue,
+and now I heard a whisper on the outside of the tent.  "He does not move,
+bebee," said a voice which I knew.  "I should not wonder if it has done
+for him already; however, strike again with your ran;" and then there was
+another blow, after which another voice cried aloud in a strange tone,
+"Is the gentleman of the house asleep, or is he taking his dinner?"  I
+remained quite silent and motionless, and in another moment the voice
+continued, "What, no answer? what can the gentleman of the house be about
+that he makes no answer? perhaps the gentleman of the house may be
+darning his stockings?"  Thereupon a face peered into the door of the
+tent, at the farther extremity of which I was stretched.  It was that of
+a woman, but owing to the posture in which she stood, with her back to
+the light, and partly owing to a large straw bonnet, I could distinguish
+but very little of the features of her countenance.  I had, however,
+recognised her voice; it was that of my old acquaintance, Mrs. Herne.
+"Ho, ho, sir!" said she, "here you are.  Come here, Leonora," said she to
+the gypsy girl, who pressed in at the other side of the door; "here is
+the gentleman, not asleep, but only stretched out after dinner.  Sit down
+on your ham, child, at the door, I shall do the same.  There--you have
+seen me before, sir, have you not?"
+
+"The gentleman makes no answer, bebee; perhaps he does not know you."
+
+"I have known him of old, Leonora," said Mrs. Herne; "and, to tell you
+the truth, though I spoke to him just now, I expected no answer."
+
+"It's a way he has, bebee, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, child, it's a way he has."
+
+"Take off your bonnet, bebee, perhaps he cannot see your face."
+
+"I do not think that will be of much use, child; however, I will take off
+my bonnet--there--and shake out my hair--there--you have seen this hair
+before, sir, and this face--"
+
+"No answer, bebee."
+
+"Though the one was not quite so grey, nor the other so wrinkled."
+
+"How came they so, bebee?"
+
+"All along of this gorgio, child."
+
+"The gentleman in the house, you mean, bebee."
+
+"Yes, child, the gentleman in the house.  God grant that I may preserve
+my temper.  Do you know, sir, my name?  My name is Herne, which signifies
+a hairy individual, though neither grey-haired nor wrinkled.  It is not
+the nature of the Hernes to be grey or wrinkled, even when they are old,
+and I am not old."
+
+"How old are you, bebee?"
+
+"Sixty-five years, child--an inconsiderable number.  My mother was a
+hundred and one--a considerable age--when she died, yet she had not one
+grey hair, and not more than six wrinkles--an inconsiderable number."
+
+"She had no griefs, bebee?"
+
+"Plenty, child, but not like mine."
+
+"Not quite so hard to bear, bebee?"
+
+"No, child, my head wanders when I think of them.  After the death of my
+husband, who came to his end untimeously, I went to live with a daughter
+of mine, married out among certain Romans who walk about the eastern
+counties, and with whom for some time I found a home and pleasant
+society, for they lived right Romanly, which gave my heart considerable
+satisfaction, who am a Roman born, and hope to die so.  When I say right
+Romanly, I mean that they kept to themselves, and were not much given to
+blabbing about their private matters in promiscuous company.  Well,
+things went on in this way for some time, when one day my son-in-law
+brings home a young gorgio of singular and outrageous ugliness, and,
+without much preamble, says to me and mine, 'This is my pal, a'n't he a
+beauty? fall down and worship him.'  'Hold,' said I, 'I for one will
+never consent to such foolishness.'"
+
+"That was right, bebee, I think I should have done the same."
+
+"I think you would, child; but what was the profit of it?  The whole
+party makes an almighty of this gorgio, lets him into their ways, says
+prayers of his making, till things come to such a pass that my own
+daughter says to me, 'I shall buy myself a veil and fan, and treat myself
+to a play and sacrament.'  'Don't,' says I; says she, 'I should like for
+once in my life to be courtesied to as a Christian gentlewoman.'"
+
+"Very foolish of her, bebee."
+
+"Wasn't it, child?  Where was I?  At the fan and sacrament; with a heavy
+heart I put seven score miles between us, came back to the hairy ones,
+and found them over-given to gorgious companions; said I, 'foolish
+manners is catching, all this comes of that there gorgio.'  Answers the
+child Leonora, 'Take comfort, bebee, I hate the gorgios as much as you
+do.'"
+
+"And I say so again, bebee, as much or more."
+
+"Time flows on, I engage in many matters, in most miscarry.  Am sent to
+prison; says I to myself, I am become foolish.  Am turned out of prison,
+and go back to the hairy ones, who receive me not over courteously; says
+I, for their unkindness, and my own foolishness, all the thanks to that
+gorgio.  Answers to me the child, 'I wish I could set my eyes upon him,
+bebee.'"
+
+"I did so, bebee; go on."
+
+"'How shall I know him, bebee?' says the child.  'Young and grey, tall,
+and speaks Romanly.'  Runs to me the child, and says, 'I've found him,
+bebee.'  'Where, child?' says I.  'Come with me, bebee,' says the child.
+'That's he,' says I, as I looked at my gentleman through the hedge."
+
+"Ha, ha! bebee, and here he lies, poisoned like a hog."
+
+"You have taken drows, sir," said Mrs. Herne; "do you hear, sir? drows;
+tip him a stave, child, of the song of poison."
+
+And thereupon the girl clapped her hands, and sang--
+
+    "The Rommany churl
+    And the Rommany girl
+    To-morrow shall hie
+    To poison the sty,
+    And bewitch on the mead
+    The farmer's steed."
+
+"Do you hear that, sir?" said Mrs. Herne; "the child has tipped you a
+stave of the song of poison: that is, she has sung it Christianly, though
+perhaps you would like to hear it Romanly; you were always fond of what
+was Roman.  Tip it him Romanly, child."
+
+"He has heard it Romanly already, bebee; 'twas by that I found him out,
+as I told you."
+
+"Halloo, sir, are you sleeping? you have taken drows; the gentleman makes
+no answer.  God give me patience!"
+
+"And what if he doesn't, bebee; isn't he poisoned like a hog?  Gentleman!
+indeed, why call him gentleman? if he ever was one he's broke, and is now
+a tinker, and a worker of blue metal."
+
+"That's his way, child, to-day a tinker, to-morrow something else; and as
+for being drabbed, I don't know what to say about it."
+
+"Not drabbed! what do you mean, bebee? but look there, bebee; ha, ha,
+look at the gentleman's motions."
+
+"He is sick, child, sure enough.  Ho, ho! sir, you have taken drows;
+what, another throe! writhe, sir, writhe, the hog died by the drow of
+gypsies; I saw him stretched at even.  That's yourself, sir.  There is no
+hope, sir, no help, you have taken drow; shall I tell you your fortune,
+sir, your dukkerin?  God bless you, pretty gentleman, much trouble will
+you have to suffer, and much water to cross; but never mind, pretty
+gentleman, you shall be fortunate at the end, and those who hate shall
+take off their hats to you."
+
+"Hey, bebee!" cried the girl; "what is this? what do you mean? you have
+blessed the gorgio!"
+
+"Blessed him! no, sure; what did I say?  Oh, I remember, I'm mad; well, I
+can't help it, I said what the dukkerin dook told me; woe's me, he'll get
+up yet."
+
+"Nonsense, bebee!  Look at his motions, he's drabbed, spite of dukkerin."
+
+"Don't say so, child; he's sick, 'tis true, but don't laugh at dukkerin,
+only folks do that that know no better.  I, for one, will never laugh at
+the dukkerin dook.  Sick again; I wish he was gone."
+
+"He'll soon be gone, bebee; let's leave him.  He's as good as gone; look
+there, he's dead."
+
+"No, he's not, he'll get up--I feel it; can't we hasten him?"
+
+"Hasten him! yes, to be sure; set the dog upon him.  Here, juggal, look
+in there, my dog."
+
+The dog made its appearance at the door of the tent, and began to bark
+and tear up the ground.
+
+"At him, juggal, at him; he wished to poison, to drab you.  Halloo!"
+
+The dog barked violently, and seemed about to spring at my face, but
+retreated.
+
+"The dog won't fly at him, child; he flashed at the dog with his eye, and
+scared him.  He'll get up."
+
+"Nonsense, bebee! you make me angry; how should he get up?"
+
+"The dook tells me so, and, what's more, I had a dream.  I thought I was
+at York, standing amidst a crowd to see a man hung, and the crowd shouted
+'There he comes!' and I looked, and, lo! it was the tinker; before I
+could cry with joy I was whisked away, and I found myself in Ely's big
+church, which was chock full of people to hear the dean preach, and all
+eyes were turned to the big pulpit; and presently I heard them say,
+'There he mounts!' and I looked up to the big pulpit, and, lo! the tinker
+was in the pulpit, and he raised his arm and began to preach.  Anon, I
+found myself at York again, just as the drop fell, and I looked up, and I
+saw, not the tinker, but my own self hanging in the air."
+
+"You are going mad, bebee; if you want to hasten him, take your stick and
+poke him in the eye."
+
+"That will be of no use, child, the dukkerin tells me so; but I will try
+what I can do.  Halloo, tinker! you must introduce yourself into a quiet
+family, and raise confusion--must you?  You must steal its language, and,
+what was never done before, write it down Christianly--must you?  Take
+that--and that;" and she stabbed violently with her stick towards the end
+of the tent.
+
+"That's right, bebee, you struck his face; now once more, and let it be
+in the eye.  Stay, what's that? get up, bebee."
+
+"What's the matter, child?"
+
+"Some one is coming, come away."
+
+"Let me make sure of him, child; he'll be up yet."  And thereupon Mrs.
+Herne, rising, leaned forward into the tent, and supporting herself
+against the pole, took aim in the direction of the farther end.  "I will
+thrust out his eye," said she; and, lunging with her stick, she would
+probably have accomplished her purpose had not at that moment the pole of
+the tent given way, whereupon she fell to the ground, the canvas falling
+upon her and her intended victim.
+
+"Here's a pretty affair, bebee," screamed the girl.
+
+"He'll get up yet," said Mrs. Herne, from beneath the canvas.
+
+"Get up!--get up yourself; where are you? where is your--Here, there,
+bebee, here's the door; there, make haste, they are coming."
+
+"He'll get up yet," said Mrs. Herne, recovering her breath, "the dook
+tells me so."
+
+"Never mind him or the dook; he is drabbed; come away, or we shall be
+grabbed--both of us."
+
+"One more blow, I know where his head lies."
+
+"You are mad, bebee; leave the fellow--gorgio avella."
+
+And thereupon the females hurried away.
+
+A vehicle of some kind was evidently drawing nigh; in a little time it
+came alongside of the place where lay the fallen tent, and stopped
+suddenly.  There was a silence for a moment, and then a parley ensued
+between two voices, one of which was that of a woman.  It was not in
+English, but in a deep guttural tongue.
+
+"Peth yw hono sydd yn gorwedd yna ar y ddaear?" said a masculine voice.
+
+"Yn wirionedd--I do not know what it can be," said the female voice, in
+the same tongue.
+
+"Here is a cart, and there are tools; but what is that on the ground?"
+
+"Something moves beneath it; and what was that--a groan?"
+
+"Shall I get down?"
+
+"Of course, Peter, some one may want your help."
+
+"Then I will get down, though I do not like this place, it is frequented
+by Egyptians, and I do not like their yellow faces nor their clibberty
+clabber, as Master Ellis Wyn says.  Now I am down.  It is a tent,
+Winifred, and see, here is a boy beneath it.  Merciful father! what a
+face!"
+
+A middle-aged man, with a strongly marked and serious countenance,
+dressed in sober-coloured habiliments, had lifted up the stifling folds
+of the tent and was bending over me.  "Can you speak, my lad?" said he in
+English, "what is the matter with you? if you could but tell me, I could
+perhaps help you--"  "What is it that you say?  I can't hear you.  I will
+kneel down;" and he flung himself on the ground, and placed his ear close
+to my mouth.  "Now speak if you can.  Hey! what! no, sure, God forbid!"
+then starting up, he cried to a female who sat in the cart, anxiously
+looking on--"Gwenwyn! gwenwyn! yw y gwas wedi ei gwenwynaw.  The oil!
+Winifred, the oil!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXII.
+
+
+Desired Effect--The Three Oaks--Winifred--Things of Time--With God's
+Will--The Preacher--Creature Comforts--Croesaw--Welsh and English--Mayor
+of Chester.
+
+The oil, which the strangers compelled me to take, produced the desired
+effect, though, during at least two hours, it was very doubtful whether
+or not my life would be saved.  At the end of that period the man said,
+that with the blessing of God, he would answer for my life.  He then
+demanded whether I thought I could bear to be removed from the place in
+which we were? "for I like it not," he continued, "as something within me
+tells me that it is not good for any of us to be here."  I told him, as
+well as I was able, that I, too, should be glad to leave the place;
+whereupon, after collecting my things, he harnessed my pony, and, with
+the assistance of the woman, he contrived to place me in the cart; he
+then gave me a draught out of a small phial, and we set forward at a slow
+pace, the man walking by the side of the cart in which I lay.  It is
+probable that the draught consisted of a strong opiate, for after
+swallowing it I fell into a deep slumber; on my awaking, I found that the
+shadows of night had enveloped the earth--we were still moving on.
+Shortly, however, after descending a declivity, we turned into a lane, at
+the entrance of which was a gate.  This lane conducted to a meadow,
+through the middle of which ran a small brook; it stood between two
+rising grounds, that on the left, which was on the farther side of the
+water, was covered with wood, whilst the one on the right, which was not
+so high, was crowned with the white walls of what appeared to be a
+farm-house.
+
+Advancing along the meadow, we presently came to a place where grew three
+immense oaks, almost on the side of the brook, over which they flung
+their arms, so as to shade it as with a canopy; the ground beneath was
+bare of grass, and nearly as hard and smooth as the floor of a barn.
+Having led his own cart on one side of the midmost tree, and my own on
+the other, the stranger said to me, "This is the spot where my wife and
+myself generally tarry in the summer season, when we come into these
+parts.  We are about to pass the night here.  I suppose you will have no
+objection to do the same?  Indeed, I do not see what else you could do
+under present circumstances."  After receiving my answer, in which I, of
+course, expressed my readiness to assent to his proposal, he proceeded to
+unharness his horse, and, feeling myself much better, I got down, and
+began to make the necessary preparations for passing the night beneath
+the oak.
+
+Whilst thus engaged, I felt myself touched on the shoulder, and, looking
+round, perceived the woman, whom the stranger called Winifred, standing
+close to me.  The moon was shining brightly upon her, and I observed that
+she was very good-looking, with a composed, yet cheerful expression of
+countenance; her dress was plain and primitive, very much resembling that
+of a Quaker.  She held a straw bonnet in her hand.  "I am glad to see
+thee moving about, young man," said she, in a soft, placid tone; "I could
+scarcely have expected it.  Thou must be wondrous strong; many, after
+what thou hast suffered, would not have stood on their feet for weeks or
+months.  What do I say?--Peter, my husband, who is skilled in medicine,
+just now told me that not one in five hundred would have survived what
+thou hast this day undergone; but allow me to ask thee one thing, Hast
+thou returned thanks to God for thy deliverance?"  I made no answer, and
+the woman, after a pause, said, "Excuse me, young man, but do you know
+anything of God?"  "Very little," I replied, "but I should say he must be
+a wondrous strong person, if he made all those big bright things up above
+there, to say nothing of the ground on which we stand, which bears beings
+like these oaks, each of which is fifty times as strong as myself, and
+will live twenty times as long."  The woman was silent for some moments,
+and then said, "I scarcely know in what spirit thy words are uttered.  If
+thou art serious, however, I would caution thee against supposing that
+the power of God is more manifested in these trees, or even in those
+bright stars above us, than in thyself--they are things of time, but thou
+art a being destined to an eternity; it depends upon thyself whether thy
+eternity shall be one of joy or sorrow."
+
+Here she was interrupted by the man, who exclaimed from the other side of
+the tree, "Winifred, it is getting late, you had better go up to the
+house on the hill to inform our friends of our arrival, or they will have
+retired for the night."  "True," said Winifred, and forthwith wended her
+way to the house in question, returning shortly with another woman, whom
+the man, speaking in the same language which I had heard him first use,
+greeted by the name of Mary; the woman replied in the same tongue, but
+almost immediately said in English, "We hoped to have heard you speak
+to-night, Peter, but we cannot expect that now, seeing that it is so
+late, owing to your having been detained by the way, as Winifred tells
+me; nothing remains for you to do now but to sup--to-morrow, with God's
+will, we shall hear you."  "And to-night, also, with God's will,
+providing you be so disposed.  Let those of your family come hither."
+"They will be hither presently," said Mary, "for knowing that thou art
+arrived, they will, of course, come and bid thee welcome."  And scarcely
+had she spoke, when I beheld a party of people descending the moonlit
+side of the hill.  They soon arrived at the place where we were; they
+might amount in all to twelve individuals.  The principal person was a
+tall, athletic man, of about forty, dressed like a plain country farmer;
+this was, I soon found, the husband of Mary; the rest of the group
+consisted of the children of these two, and their domestic servants.  One
+after another they all shook Peter by the hand, men and women, boys and
+girls, and expressed their joy at seeing him.  After which, he said,
+"Now, friends, if you please, I will speak a few words to you."  A stool
+was then brought him from the cart, which he stepped on, and the people
+arranging themselves round him, some standing, some seated on the ground,
+he forthwith began to address them in a clear, distinct voice; and the
+subject of his discourse was the necessity, in all human beings, of a
+change of heart.
+
+The preacher was better than his promise, for, instead of speaking a few
+words, he preached for at least three quarters of an hour; none of the
+audience, however, showed the slightest symptom of weariness; on the
+contrary, the hope of each individual appeared to hang upon the words
+which proceeded from his mouth.  At the conclusion of the sermon or
+discourse, the whole assembly again shook Peter by the hand, and returned
+to their house, the mistress of the family saying, as she departed, "I
+shall soon be back, Peter, I go but to make arrangements for the supper
+of thyself and company;" and, in effect, she presently returned, attended
+by a young woman, who bore a tray in her hands.  "Set it down, Jessy,"
+said the mistress to the girl, "and then betake thyself to thy rest, I
+shall remain here for a little time to talk with my friends."  The girl
+departed, and the preacher and the two females placed themselves on the
+ground about the tray.  The man gave thanks, and himself and his wife
+appeared to be about to eat, when the latter suddenly placed her hand
+upon his arm, and said something to him in a low voice, whereupon he
+exclaimed, "Ay, truly, we were both forgetful;" and then getting up, he
+came towards me, who stood a little way off, leaning against the wheel of
+my cart; and, taking me by the hand, he said, "Pardon us, young man, we
+were both so engaged in our own creature-comforts, that we forgot thee,
+but it is not too late to repair our fault; wilt thou not join us, and
+taste our bread and milk?"  "I cannot eat," I replied, "but I think I
+could drink a little milk;" whereupon he led me to the rest, and seating
+me by his side, he poured some milk into a horn cup, saying, "'Croesaw.'
+That," added he, with a smile, "is Welsh for welcome."
+
+The fare upon the tray was of the simplest description, consisting of
+bread, cheese, milk, and curds.  My two friends partook with a good
+appetite.  "Mary," said the preacher, addressing himself to the woman of
+the house, "every time I come to visit thee, I find thee less inclined to
+speak Welsh.  I suppose, in a little time, thou wilt entirely have
+forgotten it; hast thou taught it to any of thy children?"  "The two
+eldest understand a few words," said the woman, "but my husband does not
+wish them to learn it; he says sometimes, jocularly, that though it
+pleased him to marry a Welsh wife, it does not please him to have Welsh
+children.  'Who,' I have heard him say, 'would be a Welshman, if he could
+be an Englishman?'"  "I for one," said the preacher, somewhat hastily;
+"not to be king of all England would I give up my birthright as a
+Welshman.  Your husband is an excellent person, Mary, but I am afraid he
+is somewhat prejudiced."  "You do him justice, Peter, in saying that he
+is an excellent person," said the woman; "as to being prejudiced, I
+scarcely know what to say, but he thinks that two languages in the same
+kingdom are almost as bad as two kings."  "That's no bad observation,"
+said the preacher, "and it is generally the case; yet, thank God, the
+Welsh and English go on very well, side by side, and I hope will do so
+till the Almighty calls all men to their long account."  "They jog on
+very well now," said the woman; "but I have heard my husband say that it
+was not always so, and that the Welsh, in old times, were a violent and
+ferocious people, for that once they hanged the mayor of Chester."  "Ha,
+ha!" said the preacher, and his eyes flashed in the moonlight; "he told
+you that, did he?"  "Yes," said Mary; "once, when the mayor of Chester,
+with some of his people, was present at one of the fairs over the border,
+a quarrel arose between the Welsh and English, and the Welsh beat the
+English, and hanged the mayor."  "Your husband is a clever man," said
+Peter, "and knows a great deal; did he tell you the name of the leader of
+the Welsh?  No! then I will: the leader of the Welsh on that occasion was
+---.  He was a powerful chieftain, and there was an old feud between him
+and the men of Chester.  Afterwards, when two hundred of the men of
+Chester invaded his country to take revenge for their mayor, he enticed
+them into a tower, set fire to it, and burnt them all.  That --- was a
+very fine, noble--God forgive me, what was I about to say!--a very bad,
+violent man; but, Mary, this is very carnal and unprofitable
+conversation, and in holding it we set a very bad example to the young
+man here--let us change the subject."
+
+They then began to talk on religious matters.  At length Mary departed to
+her abode, and the preacher and his wife retired to their tilted cart.
+
+"Poor fellow, he seems to be almost brutally ignorant," said Peter,
+addressing his wife in their own native language, after they had bidden
+me farewell for the night.
+
+"I am afraid he is," said Winifred, "yet my heart warms to the poor lad,
+he seems so forlorn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIII.
+
+
+Morning Hymn--Much Alone--John Bunyan--Beholden to
+Nobody--Sixty-five--Sober Greeting--Early Sabbaths--Finny Brood--The
+Porch--No Fortune-telling--The Master's Niece--Doing Good--Two or Three
+Things--Groans and Voices--Pechod Ysprydd Glan.
+
+I slept soundly during that night, partly owing to the influence of the
+opiate.  Early in the morning I was awakened by the voices of Peter and
+his wife, who were singing a morning hymn in their own language.  Both
+subsequently prayed long and fervently.  I lay still till their devotions
+were completed, and then left my tent.  "Good morning," said Peter, "how
+dost thou feel?"  "Much better," said I, "than I could have expected."
+"I am glad of it," said Peter.  "Art thou hungry? yonder comes our
+breakfast," pointing to the same young woman I had seen the preceding
+night, who was again descending the hill, bearing the tray upon her head.
+
+"What dost thou intend to do, young man, this day?" said Peter, when we
+had about half finished breakfast.  "Do," said I; "as I do other days,
+what I can."  "And dost thou pass this day as thou dost other days?" said
+Peter.  "Why not?" said I; "what is there in this day different from the
+rest? it seems to be of the same colour as yesterday."  "Art thou aware,"
+said the wife, interposing, "what day it is? that it is Sabbath? that it
+is Sunday?"  "No," said I, "I did not know that it was Sunday."  "And how
+did that happen?" said Winifred, with a sigh.  "To tell you the truth,"
+said I, "I live very much alone, and pay very little heed to the passing
+of time."  "And yet of what infinite importance is time," said Winifred.
+"Art thou not aware that every year brings thee nearer to thy end?"  "I
+do not think," said I, "that I am so near my end as I was yesterday."
+"Yes thou art," said the woman; "thou wast not doomed to die yesterday;
+an invisible hand was watching over thee yesterday; but thy day will
+come, therefore improve the time; be grateful that thou wast saved
+yesterday; and, oh! reflect on one thing; if thou hadst died yesterday,
+where wouldst thou have been now?"  "Cast into the earth, perhaps," said
+I.  "I have heard Mr. Petulengro say that to be cast into the earth is
+the natural end of man."  "Who is Mr. Petulengro?" said Peter,
+interrupting his wife, as she was about to speak.  "Master of the
+horseshoe," said I, "and, according to his own account, king of Egypt."
+"I understand," said Peter, "head of some family of wandering
+Egyptians--they are a race utterly godless.  Art thou of them?--but no,
+thou art not, thou hast not their yellow blood.  I suppose thou belongest
+to the family of wandering artizans called ---.  I do not like you the
+worse for belonging to them.  A mighty speaker of old sprang up from
+amidst that family."  "Who was he?" said I.  "John Bunyan," replied
+Peter, reverently, "and the mention of his name reminds me that I have to
+preach this day; wilt thou go and hear? the distance is not great, only
+half a mile."  "No," said I, "I will not go and hear."  "Wherefore?" said
+Peter.  "I belong to the church," said I, "and not to the congregations."
+"Oh! the pride of that church," said Peter, addressing his wife in their
+own tongue, "exemplified even in the lowest and most ignorant of its
+members."  "Then thou, doubtless, meanest to go to church," said Peter,
+again addressing me; "there is a church on the other side of that wooded
+hill."  "No," said I, "I do not mean to go to church."  "May I ask thee
+wherefore?" said Peter.  "Because," said I, "I prefer remaining beneath
+the shade of these trees, listening to the sound of the leaves, and
+tinkling of the waters."
+
+"Then thou intendest to remain here?" said Peter, looking fixedly at me.
+"If I do not intrude," said I; "but if I do, I will wander away; I wish
+to be beholden to nobody--perhaps you wish me to go?"  "On the contrary,"
+said Peter, "I wish you to stay.  I begin to see something in thee which
+has much interest for me; but we must now bid thee farewell for the rest
+of the day, the time is drawing nigh for us to repair to the place of
+preaching; before we leave thee alone, however, I should wish to ask thee
+a question--Didst thou seek thy own destruction yesterday, and didst thou
+wilfully take that poison?"  "No," said I; "had I known there had been
+poison in the cake, I certainly should not have taken it."  "And who gave
+it thee?" said Peter.  "An enemy of mine," I replied.  "Who is thy
+enemy?"  "An Egyptian sorceress and poisonmonger."  "Thy enemy is a
+female.  I fear thou hadst given her cause to hate thee--of what did she
+complain?"  "That I had stolen the tongue out of her head."  "I do not
+understand thee--is she young?"  "About sixty-five."
+
+Here Winifred interposed.  "Thou didst call her just now by hard names,
+young man," said she; "I trust thou dost bear no malice against her."
+"No," said I, "I bear no malice against her."  "Thou art not wishing to
+deliver her into the hand of what is called justice?"  "By no means,"
+said I; "I have lived long enough upon the roads not to cry out for the
+constable when my finger is broken.  I consider this poisoning as an
+accident of the roads; one of those to which those who travel are
+occasionally subject."  "In short, thou forgivest thine adversary?"
+"Both now and for ever," said I.  "Truly," said Winifred, "the spirit
+which the young man displayeth pleases me much: I should be loth that he
+left us yet.  I have no doubt that, with the blessing of God, and a
+little of thy exhortation, he will turn out a true Christian before he
+leaveth us."  "My exhortation!" said Peter, and a dark shade passed over
+his countenance; "thou forgettest what I am--I--I--but I am forgetting
+myself; the Lord's will be done; and now put away the things, for I
+perceive that our friends are coming to attend us to the place of
+meeting."
+
+Again the family which I had seen the night before descended the hill
+from their abode.  They were now dressed in their Sunday's best.  The
+master of the house led the way.  They presently joined us, when a quiet
+sober greeting ensued on each side.  After a little time Peter shook me
+by the hand and bade me farewell till the evening; Winifred did the same,
+adding, that she hoped I should be visited by sweet and holy thoughts.
+The whole party then moved off in the direction by which we had come the
+preceding night, Peter and the master leading the way, followed by
+Winifred and the mistress of the family.  As I gazed on their departing
+forms, I felt almost inclined to follow them to their place of worship.
+I did not stir, however, but remained leaning against my oak with my
+hands behind me.
+
+And after a time I sat me down at the foot of the oak with my face turned
+towards the water, and, folding my hands, I fell into deep meditation.  I
+thought on the early Sabbaths of my life, and the manner in which I was
+wont to pass them.  How carefully I said my prayers when I got up on the
+Sabbath morn, and how carefully I combed my hair and brushed my clothes
+in order that I might do credit to the Sabbath day.  I thought of the old
+church at pretty D---, the dignified rector, and yet more dignified
+clerk.  I thought of England's grand Liturgy, and Tate and Brady's
+sonorous minstrelsy.  I thought of the Holy Book, portions of which I was
+in the habit of reading between service.  I thought, too, of the evening
+walk which I sometimes took in fine weather like the present, with my
+mother and brother--a quiet sober walk, during which I would not break
+into a run, even to chase a butterfly, or yet more a honey-bee, being
+fully convinced of the dread importance of the day which God had
+hallowed.  And how glad I was when I had got over the Sabbath day without
+having done anything to profane it.  And how soundly I slept on the
+Sabbath night after the toil of being very good throughout the day.
+
+And when I had mused on those times a long while, I sighed and said to
+myself, I am much altered since then; am I altered for the better?  And
+then I looked at my hands and my apparel, and sighed again.  I was not
+wont of yore to appear thus on the Sabbath day.
+
+For a long time I continued in a state of deep meditation, till at last I
+lifted up my eyes to the sun, which, as usual during that glorious
+summer, was shining in unclouded majesty; and then I lowered them to the
+sparkling water, in which hundreds of the finny brood were disporting
+themselves, and then I thought what a fine thing it was to be a fish on
+such a fine summer day, and I wished myself a fish, or at least amongst
+the fishes; and then I looked at my hands again, and then, bending over
+the water, I looked at my face in the crystal mirror, and started when I
+saw it, for it looked squalid and miserable.
+
+Forthwith I started up, and said to myself, I should like to bathe and
+cleanse myself from the squalor produced by my late hard life and by Mrs.
+Herne's drow.  I wonder if there is any harm in bathing on the Sabbath
+day.  I will ask Winifred when she comes home; in the mean time I will
+bathe, provided I can find a fitting place.
+
+But the brook, though a very delightful place for fish to disport in, was
+shallow, and by no means adapted for the recreation of so large a being
+as myself; it was, moreover, exposed, though I saw nobody at hand, nor
+heard a single human voice or sound.  Following the winding of the brook
+I left the meadow, and, passing through two or three thickets, came to a
+place where between lofty banks the water ran deep and dark, and there I
+bathed, imbibing new tone and vigour into my languid and exhausted frame.
+
+Having put on my clothes, I returned by the way I had come to my vehicle
+beneath the oak tree.  From thence, for want of something better to do, I
+strolled up the hill, on the top of which stood the farm-house; it was a
+large and commodious building built principally of stone, and seeming of
+some antiquity, with a porch, on either side of which was an oaken bench.
+On the right was seated a young woman with a book in her hand, the same
+who had brought the tray to my friends and myself.
+
+"Good day," said I, "pretty damsel, sitting in the farm porch."
+
+"Good day," said the girl, looking at me for a moment, and then fixing
+her eyes on her book.
+
+"That's a nice book you are reading," said I.
+
+The girl looked at me with surprise.  "How do you know what book it is?"
+said she.
+
+"How do I know--never mind; but a nice book it is--no love, no
+fortune-telling in it."
+
+The girl looked at me half offended.  "Fortune-telling!" said she, "I
+should think not.  But you know nothing about it;" and she bent her head
+once more over the book.
+
+"I tell you what, young person," said I, "I know all about that book;
+what will you wager that I do not?"
+
+"I never wager," said the girl.
+
+"Shall I tell you the name of it," said I, "O daughter of the dairy?"
+
+The girl half started.  "I should never have thought," said she, half
+timidly, "that you could have guessed it."
+
+"I did not guess it," said I, "I knew it; and meet and proper it is that
+you should read it."
+
+"Why so?" said the girl.
+
+"Can the daughter of the dairy read a more fitting book than the
+'Dairyman's Daughter'?"
+
+"Where do you come from?" said the girl.
+
+"Out of the water," said I.  "Don't start, I have been bathing; are you
+fond of the water?"
+
+"No," said the girl, heaving a sigh; "I am not fond of the water, that
+is, of the sea;" and here she sighed again.
+
+"The sea is a wide gulf," said I, "and frequently separates hearts."
+
+The girl sobbed.
+
+"Why are you alone here?" said I.
+
+"I take my turn with the rest," said the girl, "to keep at home on
+Sunday."
+
+"And you are--" said I.
+
+"The master's niece!" said the girl.  "How came you to know it?  But why
+did you not go with the rest and with your friends?"
+
+"Who are those you call my friends?" said I.
+
+"Peter and his wife."
+
+"And who are they?" said I.
+
+"Do you not know?" said the girl; "you came with them."
+
+"They found me ill by the way," said I; "and they relieved me: I know
+nothing about them."
+
+"I thought you knew everything," said the girl.
+
+"There are two or three things which I do not know, and this is one of
+them.  Who are they?"
+
+"Did you never hear of the great Welsh preacher, Peter Williams?"
+
+"Never," said I.
+
+"Well," said the girl, "this is he, and Winifred is his wife, and a nice
+person she is.  Some people say, indeed, that she is as good a preacher
+as her husband, though of that matter I can say nothing, having never
+heard her preach.  So these two wander over all Wales and the greater
+part of England, comforting the hearts of the people with their doctrine,
+and doing all the good they can.  They frequently come here, for the
+mistress is a Welsh woman, and an old friend of both, and then they take
+up their abode in the cart beneath the old oaks down there by the
+stream."
+
+"And what is their reason for doing so?" said I; "would it not be more
+comfortable to sleep beneath a roof?"
+
+"I know not their reasons," said the girl, "but so it is; they never
+sleep beneath a roof unless the weather is very severe.  I once heard the
+mistress say that Peter had something heavy upon his mind; perhaps that
+is the cause.  If he is unhappy, all I can say is, that I wish him
+otherwise, for he is a good man and a kind--"
+
+"Thank you," said I, "I will now depart."
+
+"Hem!" said the girl, "I was wishing--"
+
+"What? to ask me a question?"
+
+"Not exactly; but you seem to know everything; you mentioned, I think,
+fortune-telling."
+
+"Do you wish me to tell your fortune?"
+
+"By no means; but I have a friend at a distance at sea, and I should wish
+to know--"
+
+"When he will come back?  I have told you already there are two or three
+things which I do not know--this is another of them.  However, I should
+not be surprised if he were to come back some of these days; I would, if
+I were in his place.  In the mean time be patient, attend to the dairy,
+and read the 'Dairyman's Daughter' when you have nothing better to do."
+
+It was late in the evening when the party of the morning returned.  The
+farmer and his family repaired at once to their abode, and my two friends
+joined me beneath the tree.  Peter sat down at the foot of the oak, and
+said nothing.  Supper was brought by a servant, not the damsel of the
+porch.  We sat round the tray, Peter said grace, but scarcely anything
+else; he appeared sad and dejected, his wife looked anxiously upon him.
+I was as silent as my friends; after a little time we retired to our
+separate places of rest.
+
+About midnight I was awakened by a noise; I started up and listened; it
+appeared to me that I heard voices and groans.  In a moment I had issued
+from my tent--all was silent--but the next moment I again heard groans
+and voices; they proceeded from the tilted cart where Peter and his wife
+lay; I drew near, again there was a pause, and then I heard the voice of
+Peter, in an accent of extreme anguish, exclaim, "Pechod Ysprydd Glan--O
+pechod Ysprydd Glan!" and then he uttered a deep groan.  Anon, I heard
+the voice of Winifred, and never shall I forget the sweetness and
+gentleness of the tones of her voice in the stillness of that night.  I
+did not understand all she said--she spoke in her native language, and I
+was some way apart; she appeared to endeavour to console her husband, but
+he seemed to refuse all comfort, and, with many groans, repeated--"Pechod
+Ysprydd Glan--O pechod Ysprydd Glan!"  I felt I had no right to pry into
+their afflictions, and retired.
+
+Now "pechod Ysprydd Glan," interpreted, is the sin against the Holy
+Ghost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIV.
+
+
+The Following Day--Pride--Thriving Trade--Tylwyth Teg--Ellis
+Wyn--Sleeping Bard--Incalculable Good--Fearful Agony--The Tale.
+
+Peter and his wife did not proceed on any expedition during the following
+day.  The former strolled gloomily about the fields, and the latter
+passed many hours in the farmhouse.  Towards evening, without saying a
+word to either, I departed with my vehicle, and finding my way to a small
+town at some distance, I laid in a store of various articles, with which
+I returned.  It was night, and my two friends were seated beneath the
+oak; they had just completed their frugal supper.  "We waited for thee
+some time," said Winifred, "but finding that thou didst not come, we
+began without thee; but sit down, I pray thee, there is still enough for
+thee."  "I will sit down," said I, "but I require no supper, for I have
+eaten where I have been;" nothing more particular occurred at the time.
+Next morning the kind pair invited me to share their breakfast.  "I will
+not share your breakfast," said I.  "Wherefore not?" said Winifred,
+anxiously.  "Because," said I, "it is not proper that I be beholden to
+you for meat and drink."  "But we are beholden to other people," said
+Winifred.  "Yes," said I, "but you preach to them, and give them ghostly
+advice, which considerably alters the matter; not that I would receive
+anything from them, if I preached to them six times a day."  "Thou art
+not fond of receiving favours, then, young man," said Winifred.  "I am
+not," said I.  "And of conferring favours?"  "Nothing affords me greater
+pleasure," said I, "than to confer favours."  "What a disposition!" said
+Winifred, holding up her hands; "and this is pride, genuine pride--that
+feeling which the world agrees to call so noble.  Oh, how mean a thing is
+pride! never before did I see all the meanness of what is called pride!"
+
+"But how wilt thou live, friend," said Peter, "dost thou not intend to
+eat?"  "When I went out last night," said I, "I laid in a provision."
+"Thou hast laid in a provision!" said Peter, "pray let us see it.
+Really, friend," said he, after I had produced it, "thou must drive a
+thriving trade; here are provisions enough to last three people for
+several days.  Here are butter and eggs, here is tea, here is sugar, and
+there is a flitch.  I hope thou wilt let us partake of some of thy fare."
+"I should be very happy if you would," said I.  "Doubt not but we shall,"
+said Peter; "Winifred shall have some of thy flitch cooked for dinner.
+In the meantime, sit down, young man, and breakfast at our expense--we
+will dine at thine."
+
+On the evening of that day, Peter and myself sat alone beneath the oak.
+We fell into conversation; Peter was at first melancholy, but he soon
+became more cheerful, fluent, and entertaining.  I spoke but little; but
+I observed that sometimes what I said surprised the good Methodist.  We
+had been silent some time.  At length, lifting up my eyes to the broad
+and leafy canopy of the trees, I said, having nothing better to remark,
+"What a noble tree!  I wonder if the fairies ever dance beneath it?"
+
+"Fairies!" said Peter, "fairies! how came you, young man, to know
+anything about the fair family?"
+
+"I am an Englishman," said I, "and of course know something about
+fairies; England was once a famous place for them."
+
+"Was once, I grant you," said Peter, "but is so no longer.  I have
+travelled for years about England, and never heard them mentioned before;
+the belief in them has died away, and even their name seems to be
+forgotten.  If you had said you were a Welshman, I should not have been
+surprised.  The Welsh have much to say of the Tylwyth Teg, or fair
+family, and many believe in them."
+
+"And do you believe in them?" said I.
+
+"I scarcely know what to say.  Wise and good men have been of opinion
+that they are nothing but devils, who, under the form of pretty and
+amiable spirits, would fain allure poor human beings; I see nothing
+irrational in the supposition."
+
+"Do you believe in devils, then?"
+
+"Do I believe in devils, young man!" said Peter, and his frame was shaken
+as if by convulsions.  "If I do not believe in devils, why am I here at
+the present moment?"
+
+"You know best," said I; "but I don't believe the fairies are devils, and
+I don't wish to hear them insulted.  What learned men have said they are
+devils?"
+
+"Many have said it, young man, and, amongst others, Master Ellis Wyn, in
+that wonderful book of his, the 'Bardd Cwsg.'"
+
+"The 'Bardd Cwsg,'" said I; "what kind of book is that?  I have never
+heard of that book before."
+
+"Heard of it before; I suppose not; how should you have heard of it
+before!  By-the-bye, can you read?"
+
+"Very tolerably," said I; "so there are fairies in this book.  What do
+you call it--the 'Bardd Cwsg?'"
+
+"Yes, the 'Bardd Cwsg.'  You pronounce Welsh very fairly; have you ever
+been in Wales?"
+
+"Never," said I.
+
+"Not been in Wales; then, of course, you don't understand Welsh; but we
+were talking of the 'Bardd Cwsg,'--yes, there are fairies in the 'Bardd
+Cwsg,' the author of it, Master Ellis Wyn, was carried away in his sleep
+by them over mountains and valleys, rivers and great waters, incurring
+mighty perils at their hands, till he was rescued from them by an angel
+of the Most High, who subsequently showed him many wonderful things."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said I, "but what were those wonderful things?"
+
+"I see, young man," said Peter, smiling, "that you are not without
+curiosity; but I can easily pardon any one for being curious about the
+wonders contained in the book of Master Ellis Wyn.  The angel showed him
+the course of this world, its pomps and vanities, its cruelty and its
+pride, its crimes and deceits.  On another occasion, the angel showed him
+Death in his nether palace, surrounded by his grisly ministers, and by
+those who are continually falling victims to his power.  And, on a third
+occasion, the state of the condemned in their place of everlasting
+torment."
+
+"But this was all in his sleep," said I, "was it not?"
+
+"Yes," said Peter, "in his sleep; and on that account the book is called
+'Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsg,' or, Visions of the Sleeping Bard."
+
+"I do not care for wonders which occur in sleep," said I.  "I prefer real
+ones; and perhaps, notwithstanding what he says, the man had no visions
+at all--they are probably of his own invention."
+
+"They are substantially true, young man," said Peter; "like the dreams of
+Bunyan, they are founded on three tremendous facts, Sin, Death, and Hell;
+and, like his, they have done incalculable good, at least in my own
+country, in the language in which they are written.  Many a guilty
+conscience has the 'Bardd Cwsg' aroused with its dreadful sights, its
+strong sighs, its puffs of smoke from the pit, and its showers of sparks
+from the mouth of the yet lower gulf of--Unknown--were it not for the
+'Bardd Cwsg' perhaps I might not be here."
+
+"I would sooner hear your own tale," said I, "than all the visions of the
+'Bardd Cwsg.'"
+
+Peter shook, bent his form nearly double, and covered his face with his
+hands.  I sat still and motionless, with my eyes fixed upon him.
+Presently Winifred descended the hill, and joined us.  "What is the
+matter?" said she, looking at her husband, who still remained in the
+posture I have described.  He made no answer; whereupon, laying her hand
+gently on his shoulder, she said, in the peculiar soft and tender tone
+which I had heard her use on a former occasion, "Take comfort, Peter;
+what has happened now to afflict thee?"  Peter removed his hands from his
+face.  "The old pain, the old pain," said he; "I was talking with this
+young man, and he would fain know what brought me here, he would fain
+hear my tale, Winifred--my sin: O pechod Ysprydd Glan!  O pechod Ysprydd
+Glan!" and the poor man fell into a more fearful agony than before.
+Tears trickled down Winifred's face, I saw them trickling by the
+moonlight, as she gazed upon the writhing form of her afflicted husband.
+I arose from my seat; "I am the cause of all this," said I, "by my folly
+and imprudence, and it is thus I have returned your kindness and
+hospitality, I will depart from you and wander my way."  I was retiring,
+but Peter sprang up and detained me.  "Go not," said he, "you were not in
+fault; if there be any fault in the case, it was mine; if I suffer, I am
+but paying the penalty of my own iniquity;" he then paused, and appeared
+to be considering: at length he said, "Many things which thou hast seen
+and heard connected with me require explanation; thou wishest to know my
+tale, I will tell it thee, but not now, not to-night; I am too much
+shaken."
+
+Two evenings later, when we were again seated beneath the oak, Peter took
+the hand of his wife in his own, and then, in tones broken and almost
+inarticulate, commenced telling me his tale--the tale of the Pechod
+Ysprydd Glan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXV.
+
+
+Taking a Cup--Getting to Heaven--After Breakfast--Wooden
+Gallery--Mechanical Habit--Reserved and Gloomy--Last Words--A Long
+Time--From the Clouds--Ray of Hope--Momentary Chill--Pleasing
+Anticipation.
+
+"I was born in the heart of North Wales, the son of a respectable farmer,
+and am the youngest of seven brothers.
+
+"My father was a member of the Church of England, and was what is
+generally called a serious man.  He went to church regularly, and read
+the Bible every Sunday evening; in his moments of leisure he was fond of
+holding religious discourse both with his family and his neighbours.
+
+"One autumn afternoon, on a week day, my father sat with one of his
+neighbours taking a cup of ale by the oak table in our stone kitchen.  I
+sat near them, and listened to their discourse.  I was at that time seven
+years of age.  They were talking of religious matters.  'It is a hard
+matter to get to heaven,' said my father.  'Exceedingly so,' said the
+other.  'However, I don't despond, none need despair of getting to
+heaven, save those who have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost.'
+
+"'Ah!' said my father, 'thank God I never committed that--how awful must
+be the state of a person who has committed the sin against the Holy
+Ghost!  I can scarcely think of it without my hair standing on end;' and
+then my father and his friend began talking of the nature of the sin
+against the Holy Ghost, and I heard them say what it was, as I sat with
+greedy ears listening to their discourse.
+
+"I lay awake the greater part of the night musing upon what I had heard.
+I kept wondering to myself what must be the state of a person who had
+committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and how he must feel.  Once or
+twice I felt a strong inclination to commit it, a strange kind of fear,
+however, prevented me; at last I determined not to commit it, and having
+said my prayers, I fell asleep.
+
+"When I awoke in the morning the first thing I thought of was the
+mysterious sin, and a voice within me seemed to say, 'Commit it;' and I
+felt a strong temptation to do so, even stronger than in the night.  I
+was just about to yield, when the same dread, of which I have already
+spoken, came over me, and, springing out of bed, I went down on my knees.
+I slept in a small room alone, to which I ascended by a wooden stair,
+open to the sky.  I have often thought since that it is not a good thing
+for children to sleep alone.
+
+"After breakfast I went to school, and endeavoured to employ myself upon
+my tasks, but all in vain; I could think of nothing but the sin against
+the Holy Ghost; my eyes, instead of being fixed upon my book, wandered in
+vacancy.  My master observed my inattention, and chid me.  The time came
+for saying my task, and I had not acquired it.  My master reproached me,
+and, yet more, he beat me; I felt shame and anger, and I went home with a
+full determination to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost.
+
+"But when I got home my father ordered me to do something connected with
+the farm, so that I was compelled to exert myself; I was occupied till
+night, and was so busy that I almost forgot the sin and my late
+resolution.  My work completed, I took my supper, and went to my room; I
+began my prayers, and, when they were ended, I thought of the sin, but
+the temptation was slight, I felt very tired, and was presently asleep.
+
+"Thus, you see, I had plenty of time allotted me by a gracious and kind
+God to reflect on what I was about to do.  He did not permit the enemy of
+souls to take me by surprise, and to hurry me at once into the commission
+of that which was to be my ruin here and hereafter.  Whatever I did was
+of my own free will, after I had had time to reflect.  Thus God is
+justified; he had no hand in my destruction, but, on the contrary, he did
+all that was compatible with justice to prevent it.  I hasten to the
+fatal moment.  Awaking in the night, I determined that nothing should
+prevent my committing the sin.  Arising from my bed, I went out upon the
+wooden gallery; and having stood for a few moments looking at the stars,
+with which the heavens were thickly strewn, I laid myself down, and
+supporting my face with my hand, I murmured out words of horror--words
+not to be repeated, and in this manner I committed the sin against the
+Holy Ghost.
+
+"When the words were uttered I sat up upon the topmost step of the
+gallery; for some time I felt stunned in somewhat the same manner as I
+once subsequently felt after being stung by an adder.  I soon arose,
+however, and retired to my bed, where, notwithstanding what I had done, I
+was not slow in falling asleep.
+
+"I awoke several times during the night, each time with a dim idea that
+something strange and monstrous had occurred, but I presently fell asleep
+again; in the morning I awoke with the same vague feeling, but presently
+recollection returned, and I remembered that I had committed the sin
+against the Holy Ghost.  I lay musing for some time on what I had done,
+and I felt rather stunned, as before; at last I arose and got out of bed,
+dressed myself, and then went down on my knees, and was about to pray
+from the force of mechanical habit; before I said a word, however, I
+recollected myself, and got up again.  What was the use of praying?  I
+thought; I had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost.
+
+"I went to school, but sat stupified.  I was again chidden, again beaten
+by my master.  I felt no anger this time, and scarcely heeded the
+strokes.  I looked, however, at my master's face, and thought to myself,
+you are beating me for being idle, as you suppose; poor man, what would
+you do if you knew I had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost?
+
+"Days and weeks passed by.  I had once been cheerful, and fond of the
+society of children of my own age; but I was now reserved and gloomy.  It
+seemed to me that a gulf separated me from all my fellow-creatures.  I
+used to look at my brothers and schoolfellows, and think how different I
+was from them; they had not done what I had.  I seemed, in my own eyes, a
+lone monstrous being, and yet, strange to say, I felt a kind of pride in
+being so.  I was unhappy, but I frequently thought to myself, I have done
+what no one else would dare to do; there was something grand in the idea;
+I had yet to learn the horror of my condition.
+
+"Time passed on, and I began to think less of what I had done; I began
+once more to take pleasure in my childish sports; I was active, and
+excelled at football and the like all the lads of my age.  I likewise
+began, what I had never done before, to take pleasure in the exercises of
+the school.  I made great progress in Welsh and English grammar, and
+learnt to construe Latin.  My master no longer chid or beat me, but one
+day told my father that he had no doubt that one day I should be an
+honour to Wales.
+
+"Shortly after this my father fell sick; the progress of the disorder was
+rapid; feeling his end approaching, he called his children before him.
+After tenderly embracing us, he said, 'God bless you, my children; I am
+going from you, but take comfort, I trust that we shall all meet again in
+heaven.'
+
+"As he uttered these last words, horror took entire possession of me.
+Meet my father in heaven,--how could I ever hope to meet him there?  I
+looked wildly at my brethren and at my mother; they were all bathed in
+tears, but how I envied them!  They might hope to meet my father in
+heaven, but how different were they from me, they had never committed the
+unpardonable sin.
+
+"In a few days my father died; he left his family in comfortable
+circumstances, at least such as would be considered so in Wales, where
+the wants of the people are few.  My elder brother carried on the farm
+for the benefit of my mother and us all.  In course of time my brothers
+were put out to various trades.  I still remained at school, but without
+being a source of expense to my relations, as I was by this time able to
+assist my master in the business of the school.
+
+"I was diligent both in self-improvement and in the instruction of
+others; nevertheless, a horrible weight pressed upon my breast; I knew I
+was a lost being; that for me there was no hope; that, though all others
+might be saved, I must of necessity be lost: I had committed the
+unpardonable sin, for which I was doomed to eternal punishment, in the
+flaming gulf, as soon as life was over!--and how long could I hope to
+live? perhaps fifty years; at the end of which I must go to my place; and
+then I would count the months and the days, nay, even the hours which yet
+intervened between me and my doom.  Sometimes I would comfort myself with
+the idea that a long time would elapse before my time would be out; but
+then again I thought that, however long the term might be, it must be out
+at last; and then I would fall into an agony, during which I would almost
+wish that the term were out, and that I were in my place; the horrors of
+which I thought could scarcely be worse than what I then endured.
+
+"There was one thought about this time which caused me unutterable grief
+and shame, perhaps more shame than grief.  It was that my father, who was
+gone to heaven, and was there daily holding communion with his God, was
+by this time aware of my crime.  I imagined him looking down from the
+clouds upon his wretched son, with a countenance of inexpressible horror.
+When this idea was upon me, I would often rush to some secret place to
+hide myself,--to some thicket, where I would cast myself on the ground,
+and thrust my head into a thick bush, in order to escape from the
+horror-struck glance of my father above in the clouds; and there I would
+continue groaning till the agony had, in some degree, passed away.
+
+"The wretchedness of my state increasing daily, it at last became
+apparent to the master of the school, who questioned me earnestly and
+affectionately.  I, however, gave him no satisfactory answer, being
+apprehensive that, if I unbosomed myself, I should become as much an
+object of horror to him as I had long been to myself.  At length he
+suspected that I was unsettled in my intellects; and, fearing probably
+the ill effect of my presence upon his scholars, he advised me to go
+home; which I was glad to do, as I felt myself every day becoming less
+qualified for the duties of the office which I had undertaken.
+
+"So I returned home to my mother and my brother, who received me with the
+greatest kindness and affection.  I now determined to devote myself to
+husbandry, and assist my brother in the business of the farm.  I was
+still, however, very much distressed.  One fine morning, however, as I
+was at work in the field, and the birds were carolling around me, a ray
+of hope began to break upon my poor dark soul.  I looked at the earth and
+looked at the sky, and felt as I had not done for many a year; presently
+a delicious feeling stole over me.  I was beginning to enjoy existence.
+I shall never forget that hour.  I flung myself on the soil, and kissed
+it; then, springing up with a sudden impulse, I rushed into the depths of
+a neighbouring wood, and, falling upon my knees, did what I had not done
+for a long time--prayed to God.
+
+"A change, an entire change, seemed to have come over me.  I was no
+longer gloomy and despairing, but gay and happy.  My slumbers were light
+and easy; not disturbed, as before, by frightful dreams.  I arose with
+the lark, and like him uttered a cheerful song of praise to God,
+frequently and earnestly, and was particularly cautious not to do
+anything which I considered might cause His displeasure.
+
+"At church I was constant, and when there listened with deepest attention
+to every word which proceeded from the mouth of the minister.  In a
+little time it appeared to me that I had become a good, very good young
+man.  At times the recollection of the sin would return, and I would feel
+a momentary chill; but the thought quickly vanished, and I again felt
+happy and secure.
+
+"One Sunday morning, after I had said my prayers, I felt particularly
+joyous.  I thought of the innocent and virtuous life I was leading; and
+when the recollection of the sin intruded for a moment, I said, 'I am
+sure God will never utterly cast away so good a creature as myself.'  I
+went to church, and was as usual attentive.  The subject of the sermon
+was on the duty of searching the Scriptures: all I knew of them was from
+the Liturgy.  I now, however, determined to read them, and perfect the
+good work which I had begun.  My father's Bible was upon the shelf, and
+on that evening I took it with me to my chamber.  I placed it on the
+table, and sat down.  My heart was filled with pleasing anticipation.  I
+opened the book at random, and began to read; the first passage on which
+my eyes lighted was the following:--
+
+"'He who committeth the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven,
+either in this world or the next.'"
+
+Here Peter was seized with convulsive tremors.  Winifred sobbed
+violently.  I got up, and went away.  Returning in about a quarter of an
+hour, I found him more calm; he motioned me to sit down; and, after a
+short pause, continued his narration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVI.
+
+
+Hasty Farewell--Lofty Rock--Wrestlings of Jacob--No Rest--Ways of
+Providence--Two Females--Foot of the Cross--Enemy of
+Souls--Perplexed--Lucky Hour--Valetudinarian--Methodists--Fervent in
+Prayer--You Saxons--Weak Creatures--Very Agreeable--Almost
+Happy--Kindness and Solicitude.
+
+"Where was I, young man?  Oh, I remember, at the fatal passage which
+removed all hope.  I will not dwell on what I felt.  I closed my eyes,
+and wished that I might be dreaming; but it was no dream, but a terrific
+reality: I will not dwell on that period, I should only shock you.  I
+could not bear my feelings; so, bidding my friends a hasty farewell, I
+abandoned myself to horror and despair, and ran wild through Wales,
+climbing mountains and wading streams.
+
+"Climbing mountains and wading streams, I ran wild about, I was burnt by
+the sun, drenched by the rain, and had frequently at night no other
+covering than the sky, or the humid roof of some cave; but nothing seemed
+to affect my constitution; probably the fire which burned within me
+counteracted what I suffered from without.  During the space of three
+years I scarcely knew what befel me; my life was a dream--a wild,
+horrible dream; more than once I believe I was in the hands of robbers,
+and once in the hands of gypsies.  I liked the last description of people
+least of all; I could not abide their yellow faces, or their ceaseless
+clabber.  Escaping from these beings, whose countenances and godless
+discourse brought to my mind the demons of the deep Unknown, I still ran
+wild through Wales, I know not how long.  On one occasion, coming in some
+degree to my recollection, I felt myself quite unable to bear the horrors
+of my situation; looking round I found myself near the sea; instantly the
+idea came into my head that I would cast myself into it, and thus
+anticipate my final doom.  I hesitated a moment, but a voice within me
+seemed to tell me that I could do no better; the sea was near, and I
+could not swim, so I determined to fling myself into the sea.  As I was
+running along at great speed, in the direction of a lofty rock, which
+beetled over the waters, I suddenly felt myself seized by the coat.  I
+strove to tear myself away, but in vain; looking round, I perceived a
+venerable hale old man, who had hold of me.  'Let me go!' said I,
+fiercely.  'I will not let thee go,' said the old man; and now, instead
+of with one, he grappled me with both hands.  'In whose name dost thou
+detain me?' said I, scarcely knowing what I said.  'In the name of my
+Master, who made thee and yonder sea; and has said to the sea, so far
+shalt thou come, and no farther, and to thee, thou shalt do no murder.'
+'Has not a man a right to do what he pleases with his own?' said I.  'He
+has,' said the old man, 'but thy life is not thy own; thou art
+accountable for it to thy God.  Nay, I will not let thee go,' he
+continued, as I again struggled; 'if thou struggle with me the whole day
+I will not let thee go, as Charles Wesley says, in his 'Wrestlings of
+Jacob;' and see, it is of no use struggling, for I am, in the strength of
+my Master, stronger than thou;' and, indeed, all of a sudden I had become
+very weak and exhausted; whereupon the old man, beholding my situation,
+took me by the arm and led me gently to a neighbouring town, which stood
+behind a hill, and which I had not before observed; presently he opened
+the door of a respectable-looking house, which stood beside a large
+building having the appearance of a chapel, and conducted me into a small
+room, with a great many books in it.  Having caused me to sit down, he
+stood looking at me for some time, occasionally heaving a sigh.  I was,
+indeed, haggard and forlorn.  'Who art thou?' he said at last.  'A
+miserable man,' I replied.  'What makes thee miserable?' said the old
+man.  'A hideous crime,' I replied.  'I can find no rest; like Cain, I
+wander here and there.'  The old man turned pale.  'Hast thou taken
+another's life?' said he; 'if so, I advise thee to surrender thyself to
+the magistrate; thou canst do no better; thy doing so will be the best
+proof of thy repentance; and though there be no hope for thee in this
+world there may be much in the next.'  'No,' said I, 'I have never taken
+another's life.'  'What then, another's goods?  If so, restore them
+seven-fold, if possible: or, if it be not in thy power, and thy
+conscience accuse thee, surrender thyself to the magistrate, and make the
+only satisfaction thou art able.'  'I have taken no one's goods,' said I.
+'Of what art thou guilty, then?' said he.  'Art thou a drunkard? a
+profligate?'  'Alas, no,' said I; 'I am neither of these; would that I
+were no worse!'
+
+"Thereupon the old man looked steadfastly at me for some time; then,
+after appearing to reflect, he said, 'Young man, I have a great desire to
+know your name.'  'What matters it to you what is my name?' said I; 'you
+know nothing of me.'  'Perhaps you are mistaken,' said the old man,
+looking kindly at me; 'but at all events tell me your name.'  I hesitated
+a moment, and then told him who I was, whereupon he exclaimed with much
+emotion, 'I thought so; how wonderful are the ways of Providence!  I have
+heard of thee, young man, and know thy mother well.  Only a month ago,
+when upon a journey, I experienced much kindness from her.  She was
+speaking to me of her lost child, with tears; she told me that you were
+one of the best of sons, but that some strange idea appeared to have
+occupied your mind.  Despair not, my son.  If thou hast been afflicted, I
+doubt not but that thy affliction will eventually turn out to thy
+benefit; I doubt not but that thou wilt be preserved, as an example of
+the great mercy of God.  I will now kneel down and pray for thee, my
+son.'
+
+"He knelt down, and prayed long and fervently.  I remained standing for
+some time; at length I knelt down likewise.  I scarcely knew what he was
+saying, but when he concluded I said 'Amen.'
+
+"And when we had risen from our knees, the old man left me for a short
+time, and on his return led me into another room, where were two females;
+one was an elderly person, the wife of the old man,--the other was a
+young woman of very prepossessing appearance (hang not down thy head,
+Winifred), who I soon found was a distant relation of the old man,--both
+received me with great kindness, the old man having doubtless previously
+told them who I was.
+
+"I staid several days in the good man's house.  I had still the greater
+portion of a small sum which I happened to have about me when I departed
+on my dolorous wandering, and with this I purchased clothes, and altered
+my appearance considerably.  On the evening of the second day, my friend
+said, 'I am going to preach, perhaps you will come and hear me.'  I
+consented, and we all went, not to a church, but to the large building
+next the house; for the old man, though a clergyman, was not of the
+established persuasion, and there the old man mounted a pulpit, and began
+to preach.  'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,' etc.,
+etc., was his text.  His sermon was long, but I still bear the greater
+portion of it in my mind.
+
+"The substance of it was that Jesus was at all times ready to take upon
+himself the burden of our sins, provided we came to him with a humble and
+contrite spirit, and begged his help.  This doctrine was new to me; I had
+often been at church, but had never heard it preached before, at least so
+distinctly.  When he said that all men might be saved, I shook, for I
+expected he would add, all except those who had committed the mysterious
+sin; but no, all men were to be saved who with a humble and contrite
+spirit would come to Jesus, cast themselves at the foot of his cross, and
+accept pardon through the merits of his blood-shedding alone.
+'Therefore, my friends,' said he, in conclusion, 'despair not--however
+guilty you may be, despair not--however desperate your condition may
+seem,' said he, fixing his eyes upon me, 'despair not.  There is nothing
+more foolish and more wicked than despair; overweening confidence is not
+more foolish than despair; both are the favourite weapons of the enemy of
+souls.'
+
+"This discourse gave rise in my mind to no slight perplexity.  I had read
+in the Scriptures that he who committeth a certain sin shall never be
+forgiven, and that there is no hope for him either in this world or the
+next.  And here was a man, a good man certainly, and one who, of
+necessity, was thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures, who told me
+that any one might be forgiven, however wicked, who would only trust in
+Christ and in the merits of his blood-shedding.  Did I believe in Christ?
+Ay, truly.  Was I willing to be saved by Christ?  Ay, truly.  Did I trust
+in Christ?  I trusted that Christ would save every one but myself.  And
+why not myself? simply because the Scriptures had told me that he who has
+committed the sin against the Holy Ghost can never be saved, and I had
+committed the sin against the Holy Ghost,--perhaps the only one who ever
+had committed it.  How could I hope?  The Scriptures could not lie, and
+yet here was this good old man, profoundly versed in the Scriptures, who
+bade me hope; would he lie?  No.  But did the old man know my case?  Ah,
+no, he did not know my case! but yet he had bid me hope, whatever I had
+done, provided I would go to Jesus.  But how could I think of going to
+Jesus, when the Scriptures told me plainly that all would be useless?  I
+was perplexed, and yet a ray of hope began to dawn in my soul.  I thought
+of consulting the good man, but I was afraid he would drive away the
+small glimmer.  I was afraid he would say, 'O, yes, every one is to be
+saved, except a wretch like you; I was not aware before that there was
+anything so horrible,--begone!'  Once or twice the old man questioned me
+on the subject of my misery, but I evaded him; once, indeed, when he
+looked particularly benevolent, I think I should have unbosomed myself to
+him, but we were interrupted.  He never pressed me much; perhaps he was
+delicate in probing my mind, as we were then of different persuasions.
+Hence he advised me to seek the advice of some powerful minister in my
+own church; there were many such in it, he said.
+
+"I staid several days in the family, during which time I more than once
+heard my venerable friend preach; each time he preached, he exhorted his
+hearers not to despair.  The whole family were kind to me; his wife
+frequently discoursed with me, and also the young person to whom I have
+already alluded.  It appeared to me that the latter took a peculiar
+interest in my fate.
+
+"At last my friend said to me, 'It is now time thou shouldst return to
+thy mother and thy brother.'  So I arose, and departed to my mother and
+my brother; and at my departure my old friend gave me his blessing, and
+his wife and the young person shed tears, the last especially.  And when
+my mother saw me, she shed tears, and fell on my neck and kissed me, and
+my brother took me by the hand and bade me welcome; and when our first
+emotions were subsided, my mother said, 'I trust thou art come in a lucky
+hour.  A few weeks ago my cousin (whose favourite thou always wast) died
+and left thee his heir--left thee the goodly farm in which he lived.  I
+trust, my son, that thou wilt now settle, and be a comfort to me in my
+old days.'  And I answered, 'I will, if so please the Lord;' and I said
+to myself, 'God grant that this bequest be a token of the Lord's favour.'
+
+"And in a few days I departed to take possession of my farm; it was about
+twenty miles from my mother's house, in a beautiful but rather wild
+district; I arrived at the fall of the leaf.  All day long I busied
+myself with my farm, and thus kept my mind employed.  At night, however,
+I felt rather solitary, and I frequently wished for a companion.  Each
+night and morning I prayed fervently unto the Lord; for His hand had been
+very heavy upon me, and I feared Him.
+
+"There was one thing connected with my new abode, which gave me
+considerable uneasiness--the want of spiritual instruction.  There was a
+church, indeed, close at hand, in which service was occasionally
+performed, but in so hurried and heartless a manner that I derived little
+benefit from it.  The clergyman to whom the benefice belonged was a
+valetudinarian, who passed his time in London, or at some watering place,
+entrusting the care of his flock to the curate of a distant parish, who
+gave himself very little trouble about the matter.  Now I wanted every
+Sunday to hear from the pulpit words of consolation and encouragement,
+similar to those which I had heard uttered from the pulpit by my good and
+venerable friend, but I was debarred from this privilege.  At length, one
+day being in conversation with one of my labourers, a staid and serious
+man, I spoke to him of the matter which lay heavy upon my mind;
+whereupon, looking me wistfully in the face, he said, 'Master, the want
+of religious instruction in my church was what drove me to the
+Methodists.'  'The Methodists,' said I; 'are there any in these parts?'
+'There is a chapel,' said he, 'only half a mile distant, at which there
+are two services every Sunday, and other two during the week.'  Now it
+happened that my venerable friend was of the Methodist persuasion, and
+when I heard the poor man talk in this manner, I said to him, 'May I go
+with you next Sunday?'  'Why not?' said he; so I went with the labourer
+on the ensuing Sabbath to the meeting of the Methodists.
+
+"I liked the preaching which I heard at the chapel very well, though it
+was not quite so comfortable as that of my old friend, the preacher being
+in some respects a different kind of man.  It, however, did me good, and
+I went again, and continued to do so, though I did not become a regular
+member of the body at that time.
+
+"I had now the benefit of religious instruction, and also to a certain
+extent of religious fellowship, for the preacher and various members of
+his flock frequently came to see me.  They were honest plain men, not
+exactly of the description which I wished for, but still good sort of
+people, and I was glad to see them.  Once on a time, when some of them
+were with me, one of them enquired whether I was fervent in prayer.
+'Very fervent,' said I.  'And do you read the Scriptures often?' said he.
+'No,' said I.  'Why not?' said he.  'Because I am afraid to see there my
+own condemnation.'  They looked at each other, and said nothing at the
+time.  On leaving me, however, they all advised me to read the Scriptures
+with fervency and prayer.
+
+"As I had told these honest people, I shrank from searching the
+Scriptures; the remembrance of the fatal passage was still too vivid in
+my mind to permit me.  I did not wish to see my condemnation repeated,
+but I was very fervent in prayer, and almost hoped that God would yet
+forgive me by virtue of the blood-shedding of the Lamb.  Time passed on,
+my affairs prospered, and I enjoyed a certain portion of tranquillity.
+Occasionally, when I had nothing else to do, I renewed my studies.  Many
+is the book I read, especially in my native language, for I was always
+fond of my native language, and proud of being a Welshman.  Amongst the
+books I read were the odes of the great Ab Gwilym, whom thou, friend,
+hast never heard of; no, nor any of thy countrymen, for you are an
+ignorant race, you Saxons, at least with respect to all that relates to
+Wales and Welshmen.  I likewise read the book of Master Ellis Wyn.  The
+latter work possessed a singular fascination for me, on account of its
+wonderful delineations of the torments of the nether world.
+
+"But man does not love to be alone; indeed, the Scripture says that it is
+not good for man to be alone.  I occupied my body with the pursuits of
+husbandry, and I improved my mind with the perusal of good and wise
+books; but, as I have already said, I frequently sighed for a companion
+with whom I could exchange ideas, and who could take an interest in my
+pursuits; the want of such a one I more particularly felt in the long
+winter evenings.  It was then that the image of the young person whom I
+had seen in the house of the preacher frequently rose up distinctly
+before my mind's eye, decked with quiet graces--hang not down your head,
+Winifred--and I thought that of all the women in the world I should wish
+her to be my partner, and then I considered whether it would be possible
+to obtain her.  I am ready to acknowledge, friend, that it was both
+selfish and wicked in me to wish to fetter any human being to a lost
+creature like myself, conscious of having committed a crime for which the
+Scriptures told me there is no pardon.  I had, indeed, a long struggle as
+to whether I should make the attempt or not--selfishness however
+prevailed.  I will not detain your attention with relating all that
+occurred at this period--suffice it to say that I made my suit and was
+successful; it is true that the old man, who was her guardian, hesitated,
+and asked several questions respecting my state of mind.  I am afraid
+that I partly deceived him, perhaps he partly deceived himself; he was
+pleased that I had adopted his profession--we are all weak creatures.
+With respect to the young person, she did not ask many questions; and I
+soon found that I had won her heart.  To be brief, I married her; and
+here she is, the truest wife that ever man had, and the kindest.  Kind I
+may well call her, seeing that she shrinks not from me, who so cruelly
+deceived her, in not telling her at first what I was.  I married her,
+friend; and brought her home to my little possession, where we passed our
+time very agreeably.  Our affairs prospered, our garners were full, and
+there was coin in our purse.  I worked in the field; Winifred busied
+herself with the dairy.  At night I frequently read books to her, books
+of my own country, friend; I likewise read to her songs of my own, holy
+songs and carols which she admired, and which yourself would perhaps
+admire, could you understand them; but I repeat, you Saxons are an
+ignorant people with respect to us, and a perverse, inasmuch as you
+despise Welsh without understanding it.  Every night I prayed fervently,
+and my wife admired my gift of prayer.
+
+"One night, after I had been reading to my wife a portion of Ellis Wyn,
+my wife said, 'This is a wonderful book, and containing much true and
+pleasant doctrine; but how is it that you, who are so fond of good books,
+and good things in general, never read the Bible?  You read me the book
+of Master Ellis Wyn, you read me sweet songs of your own composition, you
+edify me with your gift of prayer, but yet you never read the Bible.'
+And when I heard her mention the Bible I shook, for I thought of my own
+condemnation.  However, I dearly loved my wife, and as she pressed me, I
+commenced on that very night reading the Bible.  All went on smoothly for
+a long time; for months and months I did not find the fatal passage, so
+that I almost thought that I had imagined it.  My affairs prospered much
+the while, so that I was almost happy,--taking pleasure in everything
+around me,--in my wife, in my farm, my books and compositions, and the
+Welsh language; till one night, as I was reading the Bible, feeling
+particularly comfortable, a thought having just come into my head that I
+would print some of my compositions, and purchase a particular field of a
+neighbour--oh, God--God!  I came to the fatal passage.
+
+"Friend, friend, what shall I say?  I rushed out.  My wife followed me,
+asking me what was the matter.  I could only answer with groans--for
+three days and three nights I did little else than groan.  Oh, the
+kindness and solicitude of my wife!  'What is the matter, husband, dear
+husband?' she was continually saying.  I became at last more calm.  My
+wife still persisted in asking me the cause of my late paroxysm.  It is
+hard to keep a secret from a wife, especially such a wife as mine, so I
+told my wife the tale, as we sat one night--it was a mid-winter
+night--over the dying brands of our hearth, after the family had retired
+to rest, her hand locked in mine, even as it is now.
+
+"I thought she would have shrunk from me with horror; but she did not;
+her hand, it is true, trembled once or twice; but that was all.  At last
+she gave mine a gentle pressure; and, looking up in my face, she
+said--what do you think my wife said, young man?"
+
+"It is impossible for me to guess," said I.
+
+"'Let us go to rest, my love; your fears are all groundless.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVII.
+
+
+Getting Late--Seven Years Old--Chastening--Go Forth--London Bridge--Same
+Eyes--Common Occurrence--Very Sleepy.
+
+"And so I still say," said Winifred, sobbing.  "Let us retire to rest,
+dear husband; your fears are groundless.  I had hoped long since that
+your affliction would have passed away, and I still hope that it
+eventually will; so take heart, Peter, and let us retire to rest, for it
+is getting late."
+
+"Rest!" said Peter; "there is no rest for the wicked!"
+
+"We are all wicked," said Winifred; "but you are afraid of a shadow.  How
+often have I told you that the sin of your heart is not the sin against
+the Holy Ghost: the sin of your heart is its natural pride, of which you
+are scarcely aware, to keep down which God in His mercy permitted you to
+be terrified with the idea of having committed a sin which you never
+committed."
+
+"Then you will still maintain," said Peter, "that I never committed the
+sin against the Holy Spirit?"
+
+"I will," said Winifred; "you never committed it.  How should a child
+seven years old commit a sin like that?"
+
+"Have I not read my own condemnation?" said Peter.  "Did not the first
+words which I read in the Holy Scripture condemn me?  'He who committeth
+the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never enter into the kingdom of
+God.'"
+
+"You never committed it," said Winifred.
+
+"But the words! the words! the words!" said Peter.
+
+"The words are true words," said Winifred, sobbing; "but they were not
+meant for you, but for those who have broken their profession, who,
+having embraced the cross, have receded from their Master."
+
+"And what sayst thou to the effect which the words produced upon me?"
+said Peter.  "Did they not cause me to run wild through Wales for years,
+like Merddin Wyllt of yore? thinkest thou that I opened the book at that
+particular passage by chance?"
+
+"No," said Winifred, "not by chance; it was the hand of God directed you,
+doubtless for some wise purpose.  You had become satisfied with yourself.
+The Lord wished to rouse thee from thy state of carnal security, and
+therefore directed your eyes to that fearful passage."
+
+"Does the Lord then carry out His designs by means of guile?" said Peter,
+with a groan.  "Is not the Lord true?  Would the Lord impress upon me
+that I had committed a sin of which I am guiltless?  Hush, Winifred!
+hush! thou knowest that I have committed the sin."
+
+"Thou hast not committed it," said Winifred, sobbing yet more violently.
+"Were they my last words, I would persist that thou hast not committed
+it, though, perhaps, thou wouldst, but for this chastening; it was not to
+convince thee that thou hast committed the sin, but rather to prevent
+thee from committing it, that the Lord brought that passage before thy
+eyes.  He is not to blame, if thou art wilfully blind to the truth and
+wisdom of His ways."
+
+"I see thou wouldst comfort me," said Peter, "as thou hast often before
+attempted to do.  I would fain ask the young man his opinion."
+
+"I have not yet heard the whole of your history," said I.
+
+"My story is nearly told," said Peter; "a few words will complete it.  My
+wife endeavoured to console and reassure me, using the arguments which
+you have just heard her use, and many others, but in vain.  Peace nor
+comfort came to my breast.  I was rapidly falling into the depths of
+despair; when one day Winifred said to me, 'I see thou wilt be lost if we
+remain here.  One resource only remains.  Thou must go forth, my husband,
+into the wide world, and to comfort thee I will go with thee.'  'And what
+can I do in the wide world?' said I, despondingly.  'Much,' replied
+Winifred, 'if you will but exert yourself; much good canst thou do with
+the blessing of God.'  Many things of the same kind she said to me; and
+at last I arose from the earth to which God had smitten me, and disposed
+of my property in the best way I could, and went into the world.  We did
+all the good we were able, visiting the sick, ministering to the sick,
+and praying with the sick.  At last I became celebrated as the possessor
+of a great gift of prayer.  And people urged me to preach, and Winifred
+urged me too, and at last I consented, and I preached.  I--I--outcast
+Peter, became the preacher, Peter Williams.  I, the lost one, attempted
+to show others the right road.  And in this way I have gone on for
+thirteen years, preaching and teaching, visiting the sick, and
+ministering to them, with Winifred by my side hearkening me on.
+Occasionally I am visited with fits of indescribable agony, generally on
+the night before the Sabbath; for I then ask myself, how dare I, the
+outcast, attempt to preach the word of God?  Young man, my tale is told;
+you seem in thought!"
+
+"I am thinking of London Bridge," said I.
+
+"Of London Bridge!" said Peter and his wife.
+
+"Yes," said I, "of London Bridge.  I am indebted for much wisdom to
+London Bridge; it was there that I completed my studies.  But to the
+point.  I was once reading on London Bridge a book which an ancient
+gentlewoman, who kept the bridge, was in the habit of lending me; and
+there I found written, 'Each one carries in his breast the recollection
+of some sin which presses heavy upon him.  O! if men could but look into
+each other's hearts, what blackness would they find there!'"
+
+"That's true," said Peter.  "What is the name of the book?"
+
+"'The Life of Blessed Mary Flanders.'"
+
+"Some popish saint, I suppose," said Peter.
+
+"As much of a saint, I dare say," said I, "as most popish ones; but you
+interrupted me.  One part of your narrative brought the passage which I
+have quoted into my mind.  You said that after you had committed this
+same sin of yours you were in the habit, at school, of looking upon your
+schoolfellows with a kind of gloomy superiority, considering yourself a
+lone monstrous being who had committed a sin far above the daring of any
+of them.  Are you sure that many others of your schoolfellows were not
+looking upon you and the others with much the same eyes with which you
+were looking upon them!"
+
+"How!" said Peter, "dost thou think that they had divined my secret?"
+
+"Not they," said I; "they were, I dare say, thinking too much of
+themselves and of their own concerns to have divined any secrets of
+yours.  All I mean to say is, they had probably secrets of their own, and
+who knows that the secret sin of more than one of them was not the very
+sin which caused you so much misery?"
+
+"Dost thou then imagine," said Peter, "the sin against the Holy Ghost to
+be so common an occurrence?"
+
+"As you have described it," said I, "of very common occurrence,
+especially amongst children, who are, indeed, the only beings likely to
+commit it."
+
+"Truly," said Winifred, "the young man talks wisely."
+
+Peter was silent for some moments, and appeared to be reflecting; at
+last, suddenly raising his head, he looked me full in the face, and,
+grasping my hand with vehemence, he said, "Tell me, young man, only one
+thing, hast thou, too, committed the sin against the Holy Ghost?"
+
+"I am neither Papist nor Methodist," said I, "but of the Church, and,
+being so, confess myself to no one, but keep my own counsel; I will tell
+thee, however, had I committed, at the same age, twenty such sins as that
+which you committed, I should feel no uneasiness at these years--but I am
+sleepy, and must go to rest."
+
+"God bless thee, young man," said Winifred.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVIII.
+
+
+Low and Calm--Much Better--Blessed Effect--No Answer--Such a Sermon.
+
+Before I sank to rest I heard Winifred and her husband conversing in the
+place where I had left them; both their voices were low and calm.  I soon
+fell asleep, and slumbered for some time.  On my awakening I again heard
+them conversing, but they were now in their cart; still the voices of
+both were calm.  I heard no passionate bursts of wild despair on the part
+of the man.  Methought I occasionally heard the word Pechod proceeding
+from the lips of each, but with no particular emphasis.  I supposed they
+were talking of the innate sin of both their hearts.
+
+"I wish that man were happy," said I to myself, "were it only for his
+wife's sake, and yet he deserves to be happy for his own."
+
+The next day Peter was very cheerful, more cheerful than I had ever seen
+him.  At breakfast his conversation was animated, and he smiled
+repeatedly.  I looked at him with the greatest interest, and the eyes of
+his wife were almost constantly fixed upon him.  A shade of gloom would
+occasionally come over his countenance, but it almost instantly
+disappeared; perhaps it proceeded more from habit than anything else.
+After breakfast he took his Welsh Bible and sat down beneath a tree.  His
+eyes were soon fixed intently on the volume; now and then he would call
+his wife, show her some passage, and appeared to consult with her.  The
+day passed quickly and comfortably.
+
+"Your husband seems much better," said I, at evening fall, to Winifred,
+as we chanced to be alone.
+
+"He does," said Winifred, "and that on the day of the week when he was
+wont to appear most melancholy, for to-morrow is the Sabbath.  He now no
+longer looks forward to the Sabbath with dread, but appears to reckon on
+it.  What a happy change! and to think that this change should have been
+produced by a few words, seemingly careless ones, proceeding from the
+mouth of one who is almost a stranger to him.  Truly, it is wonderful."
+
+"To whom do you allude," said I; "and to what words?"
+
+"To yourself, and to the words which came from your lips last night,
+after you had heard my poor husband's history.  Those strange words,
+drawn out with so much seeming indifference, have produced in my husband
+the blessed effect which you have observed.  They have altered the
+current of his ideas.  He no longer thinks himself the only being in the
+world doomed to destruction,--the only being capable of committing the
+never-to-be-forgiven sin.  Your supposition that that which harrowed his
+soul is of frequent occurrence amongst children, has tranquillized him;
+the mist which hung over his mind has cleared away, and he begins to see
+the groundlessness of his apprehensions.  The Lord has permitted him to
+be chastened for a season, but his lamp will only burn the brighter for
+what he has undergone."
+
+Sunday came, fine and glorious as the last.  Again my friends and myself
+breakfasted together--again the good family of the house on the hill
+above, headed by the respectable master, descended to the meadow.  Peter
+and his wife were ready to receive them.  Again Peter placed himself at
+the side of the honest farmer, and Winifred by the side of her friend.
+"Wilt thou not come?" said Peter, looking towards me with a face in which
+there was much emotion.  "Wilt thou not come?" said Winifred, with a face
+beaming with kindness.  But I made no answer, and presently the party
+moved away, in the same manner in which it had moved on the preceding
+sabbath, and I was again left alone.
+
+The hours of the sabbath passed slowly away.  I sat gazing at the sky,
+the trees, and the water.  At last I strolled up to the house and sat
+down in the porch.  It was empty; there was no modest maiden there, as on
+the preceding sabbath.  The damsel of the book had accompanied the rest.
+I had seen her in the procession, and the house appeared quite deserted.
+The owners had probably left it to my custody, so I sat down in the
+porch, quite alone.  The hours of the sabbath passed heavily away.
+
+At last evening came, and with it the party of the morning, I was now at
+my place beneath the oak.  I went forward to meet them.  Peter and his
+wife received me with a calm and quiet greeting, and passed forward.  The
+rest of the party had broke into groups.  There was a kind of excitement
+amongst them, and much eager whispering.  I went to one of the groups;
+the young girl of whom I have spoken more than once, was speaking: "Such
+a sermon," said she, "it has never been our lot to hear; Peter never
+before spoke as he has done this day--he was always a powerful preacher;
+but oh, the unction of the discourse of this morning, and yet more of
+that of the afternoon, which was the continuation of it."  "What was the
+subject?" said I, interrupting her.  "Ah! you should have been there,
+young man, to have heard it; it would have made a lasting impression upon
+you.  I was bathed in tears all the time; those who heard it will never
+forget the preaching of the good Peter Williams on the Power, Providence,
+and Goodness of God."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIX.
+
+
+Deep Interest--Goodly Country--Two Mansions--Welshman's Candle--Beautiful
+Universe--Godly Discourse--Fine Church--Points of Doctrine--Strange
+Adventures--Paltry Cause--Roman Pontiff--Evil Spirit.
+
+On the morrow I said to my friends, "I am about to depart; farewell!"
+"Depart!" said Peter and his wife, simultaneously, "whither wouldst thou
+go?"  "I can't stay here all my days," I replied.  "Of course not," said
+Peter; "but we had no idea of losing thee so soon: we had almost hoped
+that thou wouldst join us, become one of us.  We are under infinite
+obligations to thee."  "You mean I am under infinite obligations to you,"
+said I.  "Did you not save my life?"  "Perhaps so, under God," said
+Peter; "and what hast thou not done for me?  Art thou aware that, under
+God, thou hast preserved my soul from despair?  But, independent of that,
+we like thy company, and feel a deep interest in thee, and would fain
+teach thee the way that is right.  Hearken, to-morrow we go into Wales;
+go with us."  "I have no wish to go into Wales," said I.  "Why not?" said
+Peter, with animation, "Wales is a goodly country; as the Scripture
+says--a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out
+of valleys and hills, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose
+hills thou mayest dig lead."
+
+"I dare say it is a very fine country," said I, "but I have no wish to go
+there just now; my destiny seems to point in another direction, to say
+nothing of my trade."  "Thou dost right to say nothing of thy trade,"
+said Peter, smiling, "for thou seemest to care nothing about it; which
+has led Winifred and myself to suspect that thou art not altogether what
+thou seemest; but, setting that aside, we should be most happy if thou
+wouldst go with us into Wales."  "I cannot promise to go with you into
+Wales," said I; "but, as you depart to-morrow, I will stay with you
+through the day, and on the morrow accompany you part of the way."  "Do,"
+said Peter.  "I have many people to see to-day, and so has Winifred; but
+we will both endeavour to have some serious discourse with thee, which,
+perhaps, will turn to thy profit in the end."
+
+In the course of the day the good Peter came to me, as I was seated
+beneath the oak, and, placing himself by me, commenced addressing me in
+the following manner:--
+
+"I have no doubt, my young friend, that you are willing to admit, that
+the most important thing which a human being possesses is his soul; it is
+of infinite more importance than the body, which is a frail substance,
+and cannot last for many years; but not so the soul, which, by its
+nature, is imperishable.  To one of two mansions the soul is destined to
+depart, after its separation from the body, to heaven or hell: to the
+halls of eternal bliss, where God and His holy angels dwell, or to the
+place of endless misery, inhabited by Satan and his grisly companions.
+My friend, if the joys of heaven are great, unutterably great, so are the
+torments of hell unutterably so.  I wish not to speak of them, I wish not
+to terrify your imagination with the torments of hell; indeed, I like not
+to think of them; but it is necessary to speak of them sometimes, and to
+think of them sometimes, lest you should sink into a state of carnal
+security.  Authors, friend, and learned men, are not altogether agreed as
+to the particulars of hell.  They all agree, however, in considering it a
+place of exceeding horror.  Master Ellis Wyn, who by-the-bye was a
+churchman, calls it, amongst other things, a place of strong sighs, and
+of flaming sparks.  Master Rees Pritchard, who was not only a churchman,
+but Vicar of Llandovery, and flourished about two hundred years ago--I
+wish many like him flourished now--speaking of hell, in his collection of
+sweet hymns, called the 'Welshman's Candle,' observes,
+
+"'The pool is continually blazing; it is very deep, without any known
+bottom, and the walls are so high, that there is neither hope nor
+possibility of escaping over them.'
+
+"But, I told you just now, I have no great pleasure in talking of hell.
+No, friend, no; I would sooner talk of the other place, and of the
+goodness and hospitality of God amongst His saints above."
+
+And then the excellent man began to dilate upon the joys of heaven, and
+the goodness and hospitality of God in the mansions above; explaining to
+me, in the clearest way, how I might get there.
+
+And when he had finished what he had to say, he left me, whereupon
+Winifred drew nigh, and sitting down by me, began to address me.  "I do
+not think," said she, "from what I have observed of thee, that thou
+wouldst wish to be ungrateful, and yet, is not thy whole life a series of
+ingratitude, and to whom?--to thy Maker.  Has He not endowed thee with a
+goodly and healthy form; and senses which enable thee to enjoy the
+delights of His beautiful universe--the work of His hands?  Canst thou
+not enjoy, even to rapture, the brightness of the sun, the perfume of the
+meads, and the song of the dear birds, which inhabit among the trees?
+Yes, thou canst; for I have seen thee, and observed thee doing so.  Yet,
+during the whole time that I have known thee, I have not heard proceed
+from thy lips one single word of praise or thanksgiving to--"
+
+And in this manner the admirable woman proceeded for a considerable time,
+and to all her discourse I listened with attention; and when she had
+concluded I took her hand and said, "I thank you," and that was all.
+
+On the next day everything was ready for our departure.  The good family
+of the house came to bid us farewell.  There were shaking of hands, and
+kisses, as on the night of our arrival.
+
+And as I stood somewhat apart, the young girl of whom I have spoken so
+often, came up to me, and holding out her hand said, "Farewell, young
+man, wherever thou goest."  Then, after looking around her, she said, "It
+was all true you told me.  Yesterday I received a letter from him thou
+wottest of, he is coming soon.  God bless you, young man; who would have
+thought thou knewest so much!"
+
+So after we had taken our farewell of the good family, we departed,
+proceeding in the direction of Wales.  Peter was very cheerful, and
+enlivened the way with godly discourse and spiritual hymns, some of which
+were in the Welsh language.  At length I said, "It is a pity that you did
+not continue in the church; you have a turn for Psalmody, and I have
+heard of a man becoming a bishop, by means of a less qualification."
+
+"Very probably," said Peter; "more the pity.  But I have told you the
+reason of my forsaking it.  Frequently, when I went to the church door, I
+found it barred, and the priest absent; what was I to do?  My heart was
+bursting for want of some religious help and comfort; what could I do? as
+good Master Rees Pritchard observes in his 'Candle for Welshmen.'
+
+"'It is a doleful thing to see little children burning on the hot coals
+for want of help; but yet more doleful to see a flock of souls falling
+into the burning lake for want of a priest.'"
+
+"The Church of England is a fine church," said I; "I would not advise any
+one to speak ill of the Church of England before me."
+
+"I have nothing to say against the church," said Peter; "all I wish is
+that it would fling itself a little more open, and that its priests would
+a little more bestir themselves; in a word, that it would shoulder the
+cross and become a missionary church."
+
+"It is too proud for that," said Winifred.
+
+"You are much more of a Methodist," said I, "than your husband.  But tell
+me," said I, addressing myself to Peter, "do you not differ from the
+church in some points of doctrine?  I, of course, as a true member of the
+church, am quite ignorant of the peculiar opinions of wandering
+sectaries!"
+
+"Oh, the pride of that church!" said Winifred, half to herself;
+"wandering sectaries!"
+
+"We differ in no points of doctrine," said Peter: "we believe all the
+church believes, though we are not so fond of vain and superfluous
+ceremonies, snow-white neckcloths and surplices, as the church is.  We
+likewise think that there is no harm in a sermon by the road-side, or in
+holding free discourse with a beggar beneath a hedge, or a tinker," he
+added, smiling; "it was those superfluous ceremonies, those surplices and
+white neckcloths, and, above all, the necessity of strictly regulating
+his words and conversation, which drove John Wesley out of the church,
+and sent him wandering up and down as you see me, poor Welsh Peter, do."
+
+Nothing further passed for some time; we were now drawing near the hills:
+at last I said, "You must have met with a great many strange adventures
+since you took up this course of life?"
+
+"Many," said Peter, "it has been my lot to meet with; but none more
+strange than one which occurred to me only a few weeks ago.  You were
+asking me, not long since, whether I believed in devils?  Ay, truly,
+young man; and I believe that the abyss and the yet deeper unknown do not
+contain them all; some walk about upon the green earth.  So it happened,
+some weeks ago, that I was exercising my ministry, about forty miles from
+here.  I was alone, Winifred being slightly indisposed, staying for a few
+days at the house of an acquaintance; I had finished afternoon's
+worship--the people had dispersed, and I was sitting solitary by my cart
+under some green trees in a quiet retired place; suddenly a voice said to
+me, 'Good evening, Pastor;' I looked up, and before me stood a man, at
+least the appearance of a man, dressed in a black suit of rather a
+singular fashion.  He was about my own age, or somewhat older.  As I
+looked upon him, it appeared to me that I had seen him twice before
+whilst preaching.  I replied to his salutation, and perceiving that he
+looked somewhat fatigued, I took out a stool from the cart, and asked him
+to sit down.  We began to discourse; I at first supposed that he might be
+one of ourselves, some wandering minister; but I was soon undeceived.
+Neither his language nor his ideas were those of any one of our body.  He
+spoke on all kinds of matters with much fluency; till at last he
+mentioned my preaching, complimenting me on my powers.  I replied, as
+well I might, that I could claim no merit of my own, and that if I spoke
+with any effect, it was only by the grace of God.  As I uttered these
+last words, a horrible kind of sneer came over his countenance, which
+made me shudder, for there was something diabolical in it.  I said little
+more, but listened attentively to his discourse.  At last he said that 'I
+was engaged in a paltry cause, quite unworthy of one of my powers.'  'How
+can that be,' said I, 'even if I possessed all the powers in the world,
+seeing that I am engaged in the cause of our Lord Jesus?'
+
+"The same kind of sneer again came on his countenance, but he almost
+instantly observed that if I chose to forsake this same miserable cause,
+from which nothing but contempt and privation were to be expected, he
+would enlist me into another, from which I might expect both profit and
+renown.  An idea now came into my head, and I told him firmly, that if he
+wished me to forsake my present profession and become a member of the
+Church of England, I must absolutely decline; that I had no ill-will
+against that church, but I thought I could do most good in my present
+position, which I would not forsake to be Archbishop of Canterbury.
+Thereupon he burst into a strange laughter, and went away, repeating to
+himself, 'Church of England!  Archbishop of Canterbury!'  A few days
+after, when I was once more in a solitary place, he again appeared before
+me, and asked me whether I had thought over his words, and whether I was
+willing to enlist under the banners of his master, adding, that he was
+eager to secure me, as he conceived that I might be highly useful to the
+cause.  I then asked him who his master was; he hesitated for a moment,
+and then answered, 'The Roman Pontiff.'  'If it be he,' said I, 'I can
+have nothing to do with him, I will serve no one who is an enemy of
+Christ.'  Thereupon he drew near to me and told me not to talk so much
+like a simpleton; that as for Christ, it was probable that no such person
+ever existed, but that if he ever did, he was the greatest impostor the
+world ever saw.  How long he continued in this way I know not, for I now
+considered that an evil spirit was before me, and shrank within myself,
+shivering in every limb; when I recovered myself and looked about me, he
+was gone.  Two days after, he again stood before me, in the same place,
+and about the same hour, renewing his propositions, and speaking more
+horribly than before.  I made him no answer; whereupon he continued; but
+suddenly hearing a noise behind him, he looked round and beheld Winifred,
+who had returned to me on the morning of that day.  'Who are you?' said
+he, fiercely.  'This man's wife,' said she, calmly fixing her eyes upon
+him.  'Begone from him, unhappy one, thou temptest him in vain.'  He made
+no answer, but stood as if transfixed: at length recovering himself, he
+departed, muttering 'Wife! wife!  If the fool has a wife, he will never
+do for us.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXX.
+
+
+The Border--Thank you Both--Pipe and Fiddle--Taliesin.
+
+We were now drawing very near the hills, and Peter said, "If you are to
+go into Wales, you must presently decide, for we are close upon the
+border."
+
+"Which is the border?" said I.
+
+"Yon small brook," said Peter, "into which the man on horseback who is
+coming towards us, is now entering."
+
+"I see it," said I, "and the man; he stops in the middle of it, as if to
+water his steed."
+
+We proceeded till we had nearly reached the brook.  "Well," said Peter,
+"will you go into Wales?"
+
+"What should I do in Wales?" I demanded.
+
+"Do!" said Peter, smiling, "learn Welsh."
+
+I stopped my little pony.  "Then I need not go into Wales; I already know
+Welsh."
+
+"Know Welsh!" said Peter, staring at me.
+
+"Know Welsh!" said Winifred, stopping her cart.
+
+"How and when did you learn it?" said Peter.
+
+"From books, in my boyhood."
+
+"Read Welsh!" said Peter, "is it possible?"
+
+"Read Welsh!" said Winifred, "is it possible?"
+
+"Well, I hope you will come with us," said Peter.
+
+"Come with us, young man," said Winifred; "let me, on the other side of
+the brook, welcome you into Wales."
+
+"Thank you both," said I, "but I will not come."
+
+"Wherefore?" exclaimed both, simultaneously.
+
+"Because it is neither fit nor proper that I cross into Wales at this
+time, and in this manner.  When I go into Wales, I should wish to go in a
+new suit of superfine black, with hat and beaver, mounted on a powerful
+steed, black and glossy, like that which bore Greduv to the fight of
+Catraeth.  I should wish, moreover, to see the Welshmen assembled on the
+border ready to welcome me with pipe and fiddle, and much whooping and
+shouting, and to attend me to Wrexham, or even as far as Machynllaith,
+where I should wish to be invited to a dinner at which all the bards
+should be present, and to be seated at the right hand of the president,
+who, when the cloth was removed, should arise, and, amidst cries of
+silence, exclaim--'Brethren and Welshmen, allow me to propose the health
+of my most respectable friend the translator of the odes of the great Ab
+Gwilym, the pride and glory of Wales.'"
+
+"How!" said Peter, "hast thou translated the works of the mighty Dafydd?"
+
+"With notes critical, historical, and explanatory."
+
+"Come with us, friend," said Peter.  "I cannot promise such a dinner as
+thou wishest, but neither pipe nor fiddle shall be wanting."
+
+"Come with us, young man," said Winifred, "even as thou art, and the
+daughters of Wales shall bid thee welcome."
+
+"I will not go with you," said I.  "Dost thou see that man in the ford?"
+
+"Who is staring at us so, and whose horse has not yet done drinking?  Of
+course I see him."
+
+"I shall turn back with him.  God bless you!"
+
+"Go back with him not," said Peter, "he is one of those whom I like not,
+one of the clibberty-clabber, as Master Ellis Wyn observes--turn not with
+that man."
+
+"Go not back with him," said Winifred.  "If thou goest with that man,
+thou wilt soon forget all our profitable counsels; come with us."
+
+"I cannot; I have much to say to him.  Kosko Divous, Mr. Petulengro."
+
+"Kosko Divous, Pal," said Mr. Petulengro, riding through the water; "are
+you turning back?"
+
+I turned back with Mr. Petulengro.
+
+Peter came running after me: "One moment, young man, who and what are
+you?"
+
+"I must answer in the words of Taliesin," said I; "none can say with
+positiveness whether I be fish or flesh, least of all myself.  God bless
+you both!"
+
+"Take this," said Peter; and he thrust his Welsh Bible into my hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXI.
+
+
+At a Funeral--Two Days Ago--Very Coolly--Roman Woman--Well and
+Hearty--Somewhat Dreary--Plum Pudding--Roman Fashion--Quite
+Different--The Dark Lane--Beyond the Time--Fine Fellow--Such a
+Struggle--Like a Wild Cat--Fair Play--Pleasant Enough Spot--No Gloves.
+
+So I turned back with Mr. Petulengro.  We travelled for some time in
+silence; at last we fell into discourse.  "You have been in Wales, Mr.
+Petulengro?"
+
+"Ay, truly, brother."
+
+"What have you been doing there?"
+
+"Assisting at a funeral."
+
+"At whose funeral?"
+
+"Mrs. Herne's, brother."
+
+"Is she dead, then?"
+
+"As a nail, brother."
+
+"How did she die?"
+
+"By hanging, brother."
+
+"I am lost in astonishment," said I; whereupon Mr. Petulengro, lifting
+his sinister leg over the neck of his steed, and adjusting himself
+sideways in the saddle, replied, with great deliberation, "Two days ago,
+I happened to be at a fair not very far from here; I was all alone by
+myself, for our party were upwards of forty miles off, when who should
+come up but a chap that I knew, a relation, or rather, a connection of
+mine; one of those Hernes.  'Ar'n't you going to the funeral?' said he;
+and then, brother, there passed between him and me, in the way of
+questioning and answering, much the same as has just now passed between I
+and you; but when he mentioned hanging, I thought I could do no less than
+ask who hanged her, which you forgot to do.  'Who hanged her?' said I;
+and then the man told me that she had done it herself; been her own
+hinjiri; and then I thought to myself what a sin and shame it would be if
+I did not go to the funeral, seeing that she was my own mother-in-law.  I
+would have brought my wife, and, indeed, the whole of our party, but
+there was no time for that; they were too far off, and the dead was to be
+buried early the next morning, so I went with the man, and he led me into
+Wales, where his party had lately retired, and when there, through many
+wild and desolate places to their encampment, and there I found the
+Hernes, and the dead body--the last laid out on a mattress, in a tent,
+dressed Romaneskoenaes in a red cloak, and big bonnet of black beaver.  I
+must say for the Hernes that they took the matter very coolly, some were
+eating, others drinking, and some were talking about their small affairs;
+there was one, however, who did not take the matter so coolly, but took
+on enough for the whole family, sitting beside the dead woman, tearing
+her hair, and refusing to take either meat or drink; it was the child
+Leonora.  I arrived at night-fall, and the burying was not to take place
+till the morning, which I was rather sorry for, as I am not very fond of
+them Hernes, who are not very fond of anybody.  They never asked me to
+eat or drink, notwithstanding I had married into the family; one of them,
+however, came up and offered to fight me for five shillings; had it not
+been for them I should have come back as empty as I went--he didn't stand
+up five minutes.  Brother, I passed the night as well as I could, beneath
+a tree, for the tents were full, and not over clean; I slept little, and
+had my eyes about me, for I knew the kind of people I was among.
+
+"Early in the morning the funeral took place.  The body was placed not in
+a coffin but on a bier, and carried not to a churchyard but to a deep
+dell close by; and there it was buried beneath a rock, dressed just as I
+have told you; and this was done by the bidding of Leonora, who had heard
+her bebee say that she wished to be buried, not in gorgeous fashion, but
+like a Roman woman of the old blood, the kosko puro rati, brother.  When
+it was over, and we had got back to the encampment, I prepared to be
+going.  Before mounting my gry, however, I bethought me to ask what could
+have induced the dead woman to make away with herself, a thing so
+uncommon amongst Romanies; whereupon one squinted with his eyes, a second
+spirted saliver into the air, and a third said that he neither knew nor
+cared; she was a good riddance, having more than once been nearly the
+ruin of them all, from the quantity of brimstone she carried about her.
+One, however, I suppose, rather ashamed of the way in which they had
+treated me, said at last, that if I wanted to know all about the matter,
+none could tell me better than the child, who was in all her secrets, and
+was not a little like her; so I looked about for the child, but could
+find her nowhere.  At last the same man told me that he shouldn't wonder
+if I found her at the grave; so I went back to the grave, and sure enough
+there I found the child, Leonora, seated on the ground above the body,
+crying and taking on; so I spoke kindly to her, and said, 'How came all
+this, Leonora? tell me all about it.'  It was a long time before I could
+get any answer; at last she opened her mouth, and spoke, and these were
+the words she said, 'It was all along of your Pal;' and then she told me
+all about the matter.  How Mrs. Herne could not abide you, which I knew
+before, and that she had sworn your destruction, which I did not know
+before.  And then she told me how she found you living in the wood by
+yourself, and how you were enticed to eat a poisoned cake; and she told
+me many other things that you wot of, and she told me what perhaps you
+don't wot, namely, that finding that you had been removed, she, the
+child, had tracked you a long way, and found you at last well and hearty,
+and no ways affected by the poison, and heard you, as she stood
+concealed, disputing about religion with a Welsh Methody.  Well, brother,
+she told me all this; and moreover, that when Mrs. Herne heard of it, she
+said that a dream of hers had come to pass.  I don't know what it was,
+but something about herself, a tinker, and a dean; and then she added,
+that it was all up with her, and that she must take a long journey.
+Well, brother, that same night Leonora, waking from her sleep in the
+tent, where Mrs. Herne and she were wont to sleep, missed her bebee, and,
+becoming alarmed, went in search of her, and at last found her hanging
+from a branch; and when the child had got so far, she took on violently,
+and I could not get another word from her; so I left her, and here I am."
+
+"And I am glad to see you, Mr. Petulengro; but this is sad news which you
+tell me about Mrs. Herne."
+
+"Somewhat dreary, brother; yet perhaps, after all, it is a good thing
+that she is removed; she carried so much Devil's tinder about with her,
+as the man said."
+
+"I am sorry for her," said I; "more especially as I am the cause of her
+death--though the innocent one."
+
+"She could not bide you, brother, that's certain; but that is no
+reason"--said Mr. Petulengro, balancing himself upon the saddle--"that is
+no reason why she should prepare drow to take away your essence of life;
+and, when disappointed, to hang herself upon a tree: if she was
+dissatisfied with you, she might have flown at you, and scratched your
+face; or, if she did not judge herself your match, she might have put
+down five shillings for a turn-up between you and some one she thought
+could beat you--myself, for example, and so the matter might have ended
+comfortably; but she was always too fond of covert wars, drows, and
+brimstones.  This is not the first poisoning affair she has been engaged
+in."
+
+"You allude to drabbing bawlor."
+
+"Bah!" said Mr. Petulengro; "there's no harm in that.  No, no! she has
+cast drows in her time for other guess things than bawlor; both Gorgios
+and Romans have tasted of them, and died.  Did you never hear of the
+poisoned plum pudding?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Then I will tell you about it.  It happened about six years ago, a few
+months after she had quitted us--she had gone first amongst her own
+people, as she called them; but there was another small party of Romans,
+with whom she soon became very intimate.  It so happened that this small
+party got into trouble; whether it was about a horse or an ass, or
+passing bad money, no matter to you and me, who had no hand in the
+business; three or four of them were taken and lodged in --- Castle, and
+amongst them was a woman; but the sherengro, or principal man of the
+party, and who it seems had most hand in the affair, was still at large.
+All of a sudden a rumour was spread abroad that the woman was about to
+play false, and to peach the rest.  Said the principal man, when he heard
+it, 'If she does, I am nashkado.'  Mrs. Herne was then on a visit to the
+party, and when she heard the principal man take on so, she said, 'But I
+suppose you know what to do?'  'I do not,' said he.  'Then hir mi
+devlis,' said she, 'you are a fool.  But leave the matter to me, I know
+how to dispose of her in Roman fashion.'  Why she wanted to interfere in
+the matter, brother, I don't know, unless it was from pure brimstoneness
+of disposition--she had no hand in the matter which had brought the party
+into trouble--she was only on a visit, and it had happened before she
+came; but she was always ready to give dangerous advice.  Well, brother,
+the principal man listened to what she had to say, and let her do what
+she would; and she made a pudding, a very nice one, no doubt--for,
+besides plums, she put in drows and all the Roman condiments that she
+knew of; and she gave it to the principal man, and the principal man put
+it into a basket and directed it to the woman in --- Castle, and the
+woman in the castle took it and--"
+
+"Ate of it," said I, "just like my case?"
+
+"Quite different, brother, she took it, it is true; but instead of giving
+way to her appetite as you might have done, she put it before the rest
+whom she was going to impeach--perhaps she wished to see how they liked
+it before she tasted it herself--and all the rest were poisoned, and one
+died, and there was a precious outcry, and the woman cried the loudest of
+all; and she said, 'it was my death was sought for; I know the man, and
+I'll be revenged,' and then the Poknees spoke to her and said, 'Where can
+we find him?' and she said, 'I am awake to his motions; three weeks from
+hence, the night before the full moon, at such and such an hour, he will
+pass down such a lane with such a man.'"
+
+"Well," said I, "and what did the Poknees do?"
+
+"Do, brother, sent for a plastramengro from Bow Street, quite secretly,
+and told him what the woman had said; and the night before the full moon,
+the plastramengro went to the place which the juwa had pointed out, all
+alone, brother; and, in order that he might not be too late, he went two
+hours before his time.  I know the place well, brother, where the
+plastramengro placed himself behind a thick holly-tree, at the end of a
+lane, where a gate leads into various fields, through which there is a
+path for carts and horses.  The lane is called the dark lane by the
+Gorgios, being much shaded by trees; so the plastramengro placed himself
+in the dark lane behind the holly tree; it was a cold February night,
+dreary, though; the wind blew in gusts, and the moon had not yet risen,
+and the plastramengro waited behind the tree till he was tired, and
+thought he might as well sit down; so he sat down, and was not long in
+falling to sleep, and there he slept for some hours; and when he awoke,
+the moon had risen, and was shining bright, so that there was a kind of
+moonlight even in the dark lane; and the plastramengro pulled out his
+watch, and contrived to make out that it was just two hours beyond the
+time when the men should have passed by.  Brother, I do not know what the
+plastramengro thought of himself, but I know, brother, what I should have
+thought of myself in his situation.  I should have thought, brother, that
+I was a drowsy scoppelo, and that I had let the fellow pass by whilst I
+was sleeping behind a bush.  As it turned out, however, his going to
+sleep did no harm, but quite the contrary: just as he was going away, he
+heard a gate slam in the direction of the fields, and then he heard the
+low stumping of horses, as if on soft ground, for the path in those
+fields is generally soft, and at that time it had been lately ploughed
+up.  Well, brother, presently he saw two men on horseback coming towards
+the lane through the field behind the gate; the man who rode foremost was
+a tall big fellow, the very man he was in quest of; the other was a
+smaller chap, not so small either, but a light, wiry fellow, and a proper
+master of his hands when he sees occasion for using them.  Well, brother,
+the foremost man came to the gate, reached at the hank, undid it, and
+rode through, holding it open for the other.  Before, however, the other
+could follow into the lane, out bolted the plastramengro from behind the
+tree, kicked the gate too with his foot, and, seizing the big man on
+horseback, 'You are my prisoner,' said he.  I am of opinion, brother,
+that plastramengro, notwithstanding he went to sleep, must have been a
+regular fine fellow."
+
+"I am entirely of your opinion," said I; "but what happened then?"
+
+"Why, brother, the Rommany chal, after he had somewhat recovered from his
+surprise, for it is rather uncomfortable to be laid hold of at
+night-time, and told you are a prisoner; more especially when you happen
+to have two or three things on your mind, which, if proved against you,
+would carry you to the nashky.  The Rommany chal, I say, clubbed his
+whip, and aimed a blow at the plastramengro, which, if it had hit him on
+the skull, as was intended, would very likely have cracked it.  The
+plastramengro, however, received it partly on his staff, so that it did
+him no particular damage.  Whereupon seeing what kind of customer he had
+to deal with, he dropped his staff, and seized the chal with both his
+hands, who forthwith spurred his horse, hoping by doing so, either to
+break away from him, or fling him down; but it would not do--the
+plastramengro held on like a bulldog, so that the Rommany chal, to escape
+being hauled to the ground, suddenly flung himself off the saddle, and
+then happened in that lane, close by the gate, such a struggle between
+those two--the chal and the runner--as I suppose will never happen again.
+But you must have heard of it; every one has heard of the fight between
+the Bow Street engro and the Rommany chal."
+
+"I never heard of it till now."
+
+"All England rung of it, brother.  There never was a better match than
+between those two.  The runner was somewhat the stronger of the two--all
+these engroes are strong fellows--and a great deal cooler, for all of
+that sort are wondrous cool people--he had, however, to do with one who
+knew full well how to take his own part.  The chal fought the engro,
+brother, in the old Roman fashion.  He bit, he kicked, and screamed like
+a wild cat of Benygant; casting foam from his mouth, and fire from his
+eyes.  Sometimes he was beneath the engro's legs, and sometimes he was
+upon his shoulders.  What the engro found the most difficult, was to get
+a firm hold of the chal, for no sooner did he seize the chal by any part
+of his wearing apparel, than the chal either tore himself away, or
+contrived to slip out of it; so that in a little time the chal was three
+parts naked; and as for holding him by the body, it was out of the
+question, for he was as slippery as an eel.  At last the engro seized the
+chal by the Belcher's handkerchief, which he wore in a knot round his
+neck, and do whatever the chal could, he could not free himself; and when
+the engro saw that, it gave him fresh heart, no doubt; 'It's of no use,'
+said he; 'you had better give in; hold out your hands for the darbies, or
+I will throttle you.'"
+
+"And what did the other fellow do, who came with the chal?" said I.
+
+"I sat still on my horse, brother."
+
+"You," said I.  "Were you the man?"
+
+"I was he, brother."
+
+"And why did you not help your comrade?"
+
+"I have fought in the ring, brother."
+
+"And what had fighting in the ring to do with fighting in the lane?"
+
+"You mean not fighting.  A great deal, brother; it taught me to prize
+fair play.  When I fought Staffordshire Dick, t'other side of London, I
+was alone, brother.  Not a Rommany chal to back me, and he had all his
+brother pals about him; but they gave me fair play, brother; and I beat
+Staffordshire Dick, which I couldn't have done had they put one finger on
+his side the scale; for he was as good a man as myself, or nearly so.
+Now, brother, had I but bent a finger in favour of the Rommany chal, the
+plastramengro would never have come alive out of the lane; but I did not,
+for I thought to myself fair play is a precious stone; so you see,
+brother--"
+
+"That you are quite right, Mr. Petulengro; I see that clearly; and now,
+pray proceed with your narration; it is both moral and entertaining."
+
+But Mr. Petulengro did not proceed with his narration, neither did he
+proceed upon his way; he had stopped his horse, and his eyes were
+intently fixed on a broad strip of grass beneath some lofty trees, on the
+left side of the road.  It was a pleasant enough spot, and seemed to
+invite wayfaring people, such as we were, to rest from the fatigues of
+the road, and the heat and vehemence of the sun.  After examining it for
+a considerable time, Mr. Petulengro said, "I say, brother, that would be
+a nice place for a tuzzle!"
+
+"I dare say it would," said I, "if two people were inclined to fight."
+
+"The ground is smooth," said Mr. Petulengro; "without holes or ruts, and
+the trees cast much shade.  I don't think, brother, that we could find a
+better place," said Mr. Petulengro, springing from his horse.
+
+"But you and I don't want to fight!"
+
+"Speak for yourself, brother," said Mr. Petulengro.  "However, I will
+tell you how the matter stands.  There is a point at present between us.
+There can be no doubt that you are the cause of Mrs. Herne's death,
+innocently, you will say, but still the cause.  Now, I shouldn't like it
+to be known that I went up and down the country with a pal who was the
+cause of my mother-in-law's death, that's to say, unless he gave me
+satisfaction.  Now, if I and my pal have a tuzzle, he gives me
+satisfaction; and, if he knocks my eyes out, which I know you can't do,
+it makes no difference at all, he gives me satisfaction; and he who says
+to the contrary, knows nothing of gypsy law, and is a dinelo into the
+bargain."
+
+"But we have no gloves!"
+
+"Gloves!" said Mr. Petulengro, contemptuously, "gloves!  I tell you what,
+brother, I always thought you were a better hand at the gloves than the
+naked fist; and, to tell you the truth, besides taking satisfaction for
+Mrs. Herne's death, I wish to see what you can do with your morleys; so
+now is your time, brother, and this is your place, grass and shade, no
+ruts or holes; come on, brother, or I shall think you what I should not
+like to call you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXII.
+
+
+Offence and Defence--I'm Satisfied--Fond of Solitude--Possession of
+Property--Chal Devlehi--Winding Path.
+
+And when I heard Mr. Petulengro talk in this manner, which I had never
+heard him do before, and which I can only account for by his being
+fasting and ill-tempered, I had of course no other alternative than to
+accept his challenge; so I put myself into a posture which I deemed the
+best both for offence and defence, and the tuzzle commenced; and when it
+had endured for about half an hour, Mr. Petulengro said, "Brother, there
+is much blood on your face; you had better wipe it off;" and when I had
+wiped it off, and again resumed my former attitude, Mr. Petulengro said,
+"I think enough has been done, brother, in the affair of the old woman; I
+have, moreover, tried what you are able to do, and find you as I thought,
+less apt with the naked morleys than the stuffed gloves; nay, brother,
+put your hands down; I'm satisfied; blood has been shed, which is all
+that can be reasonably expected for an old woman, who carried so much
+brimstone about with her as Mrs. Herne."
+
+So the struggle ended, and we resumed our route, Mr. Petulengro sitting
+sideways upon his horse as before, and I driving my little pony-cart; and
+when he had proceeded about three miles, we came to a small public-house,
+which bore the sign of the Silent Woman, where we stopped to refresh our
+cattle and ourselves; and as we sat over our bread and ale, it came to
+pass that Mr. Petulengro asked me various questions, and amongst others,
+how I intended to dispose of myself; I told him that I did not know;
+whereupon with considerable frankness, he invited me to his camp, and
+told me that if I chose to settle down amongst them, and become a Rommany
+chal, I should have his wife's sister, Ursula, who was still unmarried,
+and occasionally talked of me.
+
+I declined his offer, assigning as a reason the recent death of Mrs.
+Herne, of which I was the cause, although innocent.  "A pretty life I
+should lead with those two," said I, "when they came to know it."
+"Pooh," said Mr. Petulengro, "they will never know it.  I shan't blab,
+and as for Leonora, that girl has a head on her shoulders."  "Unlike the
+woman in the sign," said I, "whose head is cut off.  You speak nonsense,
+Mr. Petulengro; as long as a woman has a head on her shoulders she'll
+talk,--but, leaving women out of the case, it is impossible to keep
+anything a secret; an old master of mine told me so long ago.  I have
+moreover another reason for declining your offer.  I am at present not
+disposed for society.  I am become fond of solitude.  I wish I could find
+some quiet place to which I could retire to hold communion with my own
+thoughts, and practise, if I thought fit, either of my trades."  "What
+trades?" said Mr. Petulengro.  "Why, the one which I have lately been
+engaged in, or my original one, which I confess I should like better,
+that of a kaulomescro."  "Ah, I have frequently heard you talk of making
+horse-shoes," said Mr. Petulengro.  "I, however, never saw you make one,
+and no one else that I am aware, I don't believe--come, brother, don't be
+angry, it's quite possible that you may have done things which neither I
+nor any one else has seen you do, and that such things may some day or
+other come to light, as you say nothing can be kept secret.  Be that,
+however, as it may, pay the reckoning and let us be going, I think I can
+advise you to just such a kind of place as you seem to want."
+
+"And how do you know that I have got wherewithal to pay the reckoning?" I
+demanded.  "Brother," said Mr. Petulengro, "I was just now looking in
+your face, which exhibited the very look of a person conscious of the
+possession of property; there was nothing hungry or sneaking in it.  Pay
+the reckoning, brother."
+
+And when we were once more upon the road Mr. Petulengro began to talk of
+the place which he conceived would serve me as a retreat under present
+circumstances.  "I tell you frankly, brother, that it is a queer kind of
+place, and I am not very fond of pitching my tent in it, it is so
+surprisingly dreary.  It is a deep dingle in the midst of a large field,
+on an estate about which there has been a lawsuit for some years past.  I
+dare say you will be quiet enough, for the nearest town is five miles
+distant, and there are only a few huts and hedge public-houses in the
+neighbourhood.  Brother, I am fond of solitude myself, but not that kind
+of solitude; I like a quiet heath, where I can pitch my house, but I
+always like to have a gay stirring place not far off, where the women can
+pen dukkerin, and I myself can sell or buy a horse, if needful--such a
+place as the Chong Gav.  I never feel so merry as when there, brother, or
+on the heath above it, where I taught you Rommany."
+
+Shortly after this discourse we reached a milestone, and a few yards from
+the milestone, on the left hand, was a cross-road.  Thereupon Mr.
+Petulengro said, "Brother, my path lies to the left; if you choose to go
+with me to my camp, good, if not Chal Devlehi."  But I again refused Mr.
+Petulengro's invitation, and, shaking him by the hand, proceeded forward
+alone, and about ten miles farther on I reached the town of which he had
+spoken, and following certain directions which he had given, discovered,
+though not without some difficulty, the dingle which he had mentioned.
+It was a deep hollow in the midst of a wide field, the shelving sides
+were overgrown with trees and bushes, a belt of sallows surrounded it on
+the top, a steep winding path led down into the depths, practicable,
+however, for a light cart, like mine; at the bottom was an open space,
+and there I pitched my tent, and there I contrived to put up my forge.
+"I will here ply the trade of kaulomescro," said I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIII.
+
+
+Highly Poetical--Volundr--Grecian Mythology--Making a Petul--Tongues of
+Flame--Hammering--Spite of Dukkerin--Heaviness.
+
+It has always struck me that there is something highly poetical about a
+forge.  I am not singular in this opinion: various individuals have
+assured me that they can never pass by one, even in the midst of a
+crowded town, without experiencing sensations which they can scarcely
+define, but which are highly pleasurable.  I have a decided _penchant_
+for forges, especially rural ones, placed in some quaint quiet spot--a
+dingle, for example, which is a poetical place, or at a meeting of four
+roads, which is still more so; for how many a superstition--and
+superstition is the soul of poetry--is connected with these cross roads!
+I love to light upon such a one, especially after nightfall, as
+everything about a forge tells to most advantage at night; the hammer
+sounds more solemnly in the stillness; the glowing particles scattered by
+the strokes sparkle with more effect in the darkness, whilst the sooty
+visage of the sastramescro, half in shadow, and half illumined by the red
+and partial blaze of the forge, looks more mysterious and strange.  On
+such occasions I draw in my horse's rein, and, seated in the saddle,
+endeavour to associate with the picture before me--in itself a picture of
+romance--whatever of the wild and wonderful I have read of in books, or
+have seen with my own eyes in connection with forges.
+
+I believe the life of any blacksmith, especially a rural one, would
+afford materials for a highly poetical history.  I do not speak
+unadvisedly, having the honour to be free of the forge, and therefore
+fully competent to give an opinion as to what might be made out of the
+forge by some dextrous hand.  Certainly, the strangest and most
+entertaining life ever written is that of a blacksmith of the olden
+north, a certain Volundr, or Velint, who lived in woods and thickets,
+made keen swords, so keen, indeed, that if placed in a running stream,
+they would fairly divide an object, however slight, which was borne
+against them by the water, and who eventually married a king's daughter,
+by whom he had a son, who was as bold a knight as his father was a
+cunning blacksmith.  I never see a forge at night, when seated on the
+back of my horse at the bottom of a dark lane, but I somehow or other
+associate it with the exploits of this extraordinary fellow, with many
+other extraordinary things, amongst which, as I have hinted before, are
+particular passages of my own life, one or two of which I shall perhaps
+relate to the reader.
+
+I never associate Vulcan and his Cyclops with the idea of a forge.  These
+gentry would be the very last people in the world to flit across my mind
+whilst gazing at the forge from the bottom of the dark lane.  The truth
+is, they are highly unpoetical fellows, as well they may be, connected as
+they are with the Grecian mythology.  At the very mention of their names
+the forge burns dull and dim, as if snow-balls had been suddenly flung
+into it; the only remedy is to ply the bellows, an operation which I now
+hasten to perform.
+
+I am in the dingle making a horse-shoe.  Having no other horses on whose
+hoofs I could exercise my art, I made my first essay on those of my own
+horse, if that could be called horse which horse was none, being only a
+pony.  Perhaps if I had sought all England, I should scarcely have found
+an animal more in need of the kind offices of the smith.  On three of his
+feet there were no shoes at all, and on the fourth only a remnant of one,
+on which account his hoofs were sadly broken and lacerated by his late
+journeys over the hard and flinty roads.  "You belonged to a tinker
+before," said I, addressing the animal, "but now you belong to a smith.
+It is said that the household of the shoemaker invariably go worse shod
+than that of any other craft.  That may be the case of those who make
+shoes of leather, but it shan't be said of the household of him who makes
+shoes of iron; at any rate, it shan't be said of mine.  I tell you what,
+my gry, whilst you continue with me, you shall both be better shod, and
+better fed, than you were with your last master."
+
+I am in the dingle making a petul; and I must here observe, that whilst I
+am making a horse-shoe, the reader need not be surprised if I speak
+occasionally in the language of the lord of the horse-shoe--Mr.
+Petulengro.  I have for some time past been plying the peshota, or
+bellows, endeavouring to raise up the yag, or fire, in my primitive
+forge.  The angar, or coals, are now burning fiercely, casting forth
+sparks and long vagescoe chipes, or tongues of flame; a small bar of
+sastra, or iron, is lying in the fire, to the length of ten or twelve
+inches, and so far it is hot, very hot, exceedingly hot, brother.  And
+now you see me prala, snatch the bar of iron, and place the heated end of
+it upon the covantza, or anvil, and forthwith I commence cooring the
+sastra as hard as if I had been just engaged by a master at the rate of
+dui caulor, or two shillings a day, brother; and when I have beaten the
+iron till it is nearly cool, and my arm tired, I place it again in the
+angar, and begin again to rouse the fire with the pudamengro, which
+signifies the blowing thing, and is another and more common word for
+bellows, and whilst thus employed I sing a gypsy song, the sound of which
+is wonderfully in unison with the hoarse moaning of the pudamengro, and
+ere the song is finished, the iron is again hot and malleable.  Behold, I
+place it once more on the covantza, and recommence hammering; and now I
+am somewhat at fault; I am in want of assistance; I want you, brother, or
+some one else, to take the bar out of my hand and support it upon the
+covantza, whilst I, applying a chinomescro, or kind of chisel, to the
+heated iron, cut off with a lusty stroke or two of the shukaro baro, or
+big hammer, as much as is required for the petul.  But having no one to
+help me, I go on hammering till I have fairly knocked off as much as I
+want, and then I place the piece in the fire, and again apply the
+bellows, and take up the song where I left it off; and when I have
+finished the song, I take out the iron, but this time with my plaistra,
+or pincers, and then I recommence hammering, turning the iron round and
+round with my pincers: and now I bend the iron, and lo, and behold, it
+has assumed something of the outline of a petul.
+
+I am not going to enter into farther details with respect to the
+process--it was rather a wearisome one.  I had to contend with various
+disadvantages; my forge was a rude one, my tools might have been better;
+I was in want of one or two highly necessary implements, but, above all,
+manual dexterity.  Though free of the forge, I had not practised the
+albeytarian art for very many years, never since--but stay, it is not my
+intention to tell the reader, at least in this place, how and when I
+became a blacksmith.  There was one thing, however, which stood me in
+good stead in my labour, the same thing which through life has ever been
+of incalculable utility to me, and has not unfrequently supplied the
+place of friends, money, and many other things of almost equal
+importance--iron perseverance, without which all the advantages of time
+and circumstance are of very little avail in any undertaking.  I was
+determined to make a horse-shoe, and a good one, in spite of every
+obstacle--ay, in spite of dukkerin.  At the end of four days, during
+which I had fashioned and refashioned the thing at least fifty times, I
+had made a petul such as no master of the craft need have been ashamed
+of; with the second shoe I had less difficulty, and, by the time I had
+made the fourth, I would have scorned to take off my hat to the best
+smith in Cheshire.
+
+But I had not yet shod my little gry; this I proceeded now to do.  After
+having first well pared the hoofs with my churi, I applied each petul
+hot, glowing hot to the pindro.  Oh, how the hoofs hissed; and, oh, the
+pleasant pungent odour which diffused itself through the dingle, an odour
+good for an ailing spirit.
+
+I shod the little horse bravely--merely pricked him once, slightly, with
+a cafi, for doing which, I remember, he kicked me down; I was not
+disconcerted, however, but, getting up, promised to be more cautious in
+future; and having finished the operation, I filed the hoof well with the
+rin baro; then dismissed him to graze amongst the trees, and, putting my
+smaller tools into the muchtar, I sat down on my stone, and, supporting
+my arm upon my knee, leaned my head upon my hand.  Heaviness had come
+over me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIV.
+
+
+Several Causes--Frogs and Eftes--Gloom and Twilight--What should I
+Do?--"Our Father"--Fellow Men--What a Mercy!--Almost Calm--Fresh
+Store--History of Saul--Pitch Dark.
+
+Heaviness had suddenly come over me, heaviness of heart, and of body
+also.  I had accomplished the task which I had imposed upon myself, and
+now that nothing more remained to do, my energies suddenly deserted me,
+and I felt without strength, and without hope.  Several causes, perhaps,
+co-operated to bring about the state in which I then felt myself.  It is
+not improbable that my energies had been overstrained during the work,
+the progress of which I have attempted to describe; and every one is
+aware that the results of overstrained energies are feebleness and
+lassitude--want of nourishment might likewise have something to do with
+it.  During my sojourn in the dingle, my food has been of the simplest
+and most unsatisfying description, by no means calculated to support the
+exertions which the labour I had been engaged upon required; it had
+consisted of coarse oaten cakes, and hard cheese, and for beverage I had
+been indebted to a neighbouring pit, in which, in the heat of the day, I
+frequently saw, not golden or silver fish, but frogs and eftes swimming
+about.  I am, however, inclined to believe that Mrs. Herne's cake had
+quite as much to do with the matter as insufficient nourishment.  I had
+never entirely recovered from the effects of its poison, but had
+occasionally, especially at night, been visited by a grinding pain in the
+stomach, and my whole body had been suffused with cold sweat; and indeed
+these memorials of the drow have never entirely disappeared--even at the
+present time they display themselves in my system, especially after much
+fatigue of body, and excitement of mind.  So there I sat in the dingle
+upon my stone, nerveless and hopeless, by whatever cause or causes that
+state had been produced--there I sat with my head leaning upon my hand,
+and so I continued a long, long time.  At last I lifted my head from my
+hand, and began to cast anxious, unquiet looks about the dingle--the
+entire hollow was now enveloped in deep shade--I cast my eyes up; there
+was a golden gleam on the tops of the trees which grew towards the upper
+parts of the dingle; but lower down, all was gloom and twilight--yet,
+when I first sat down on my stone, the sun was right above the dingle,
+illuminating all its depths by the rays which it cast perpendicularly
+down--so I must have sat a long, long time upon my stone.  And now, once
+more, I rested my head upon my hand, but almost instantly lifted it again
+in a kind of fear, and began looking at the objects before me, the forge,
+the tools, the branches of the trees, endeavouring to follow their rows,
+till they were lost in the darkness of the dingle; and now I found my
+right hand grasping convulsively the three fore fingers of the left,
+first collectively, and then successively, wringing them till the joints
+cracked; then I became quiet, but not for long.
+
+Suddenly I started up, and could scarcely repress the shriek which was
+rising to my lips.  Was it possible?  Yes, all too certain; the evil one
+was upon me; the inscrutable horror which I had felt in my boyhood had
+once more taken possession of me.  I had thought that it had forsaken me;
+that it would never visit me again; that I had outgrown it; that I might
+almost bid defiance to it; and I had even begun to think of it without
+horror, as we are in the habit of doing of horrors of which we conceive
+we run no danger; and, lo! when least thought of, it had seized me again.
+Every moment I felt it gathering force, and making me more wholly its
+own.  What should I do?--resist, of course; and I did resist.  I grasped,
+I tore, and strove to fling it from me; but of what avail were my
+efforts?  I could only have got rid of it by getting rid of myself: it
+was a part of myself, or rather it was all myself.  I rushed amongst the
+trees, and struck at them with my bare fists, and dashed my head against
+them, but I felt no pain.  How could I feel pain with that horror upon
+me! and then I flung myself on the ground, gnawed the earth, and
+swallowed it; and then I looked round; it was almost total darkness in
+the dingle, and the darkness added to my horror.  I could no longer stay
+there; up I rose from the ground, and attempted to escape; at the bottom
+of the winding path which led up the acclivity I fell over something
+which was lying on the ground; the something moved, and gave a kind of
+whine.  It was my little horse, which had made that place its lair; my
+little horse; my only companion and friend, in that now awful solitude.
+I reached the mouth of the dingle; the sun was just sinking in the far
+west, behind me; the fields were flooded with his last gleams.  How
+beautiful everything looked in the last gleams of the sun!  I felt
+relieved for a moment; I was no longer in the horrid dingle; in another
+minute the sun was gone, and a big cloud occupied the place where he had
+been; in a little time it was almost as dark as it had previously been in
+the open part of the dingle.  My horror increased; what was I to do?--it
+was of no use fighting against the horror; that I saw; the more I fought
+against it, the stronger it became.  What should I do: say my prayers?
+Ah! why not?  So I knelt down under the hedge, and said, "Our Father;"
+but that was of no use; and now I could no longer repress cries; the
+horror was too great to be borne.  What should I do: run to the nearest
+town or village, and request the assistance of my fellow-men?  No! that I
+was ashamed to do; notwithstanding the horror was upon me, I was ashamed
+to do that.  I knew they would consider me a maniac, if I went screaming
+amongst them; and I did not wish to be considered a maniac.  Moreover, I
+knew that I was not a maniac, for I possessed all my reasoning powers,
+only the horror was upon me--the screaming horror!  But how were
+indifferent people to distinguish between madness and this screaming
+horror?  So I thought and reasoned; and at last I determined not to go
+amongst my fellow-men, whatever the result might be.  I went to the mouth
+of the dingle, and there, placing myself on my knees, I again said the
+Lord's Prayer; but it was of no use; praying seemed to have no effect
+over the horror; the unutterable fear appeared rather to increase than
+diminish; and I again uttered wild cries, so loud that I was apprehensive
+they would be heard by some chance passenger on the neighbouring road; I,
+therefore, went deeper into the dingle; I sat down with my back against a
+thorn bush; the thorns entered my flesh; and when I felt them, I pressed
+harder against the bush; I thought the pain of the flesh might in some
+degree counteract the mental agony; presently I felt them no longer; the
+power of the mental horror was so great that it was impossible, with that
+upon me, to feel any pain from the thorns.  I continued in this posture a
+long time, undergoing what I cannot describe, and would not attempt if I
+were able.  Several times I was on the point of starting up and rushing
+anywhere; but I restrained myself, for I knew I could not escape from
+myself, so why should I not remain in the dingle? so I thought and said
+to myself, for my reasoning powers were still uninjured.  At last it
+appeared to me that the horror was not so strong, not quite so strong
+upon me.  Was it possible that it was relaxing its grasp, releasing its
+prey?  O what a mercy! but it could not be--and yet I looked up to
+heaven, and clasped my hands, and said "Our Father."  I said no more; I
+was too agitated; and now I was almost sure that the horror had done its
+worst.
+
+After a little time I arose, and staggered down yet farther into the
+dingle.  I again found my little horse on the same spot as before, I put
+my hand to his mouth; he licked my hand.  I flung myself down by him and
+put my arms round his neck, the creature whinnied, and appeared to
+sympathize with me; what a comfort to have any one, even a dumb brute, to
+sympathize with me at such a moment!  I clung to my little horse, as if
+for safety and protection.  I laid my head on his neck, and felt almost
+calm; presently the fear returned, but not so wild as before; it
+subsided, came again, again subsided; then drowsiness came over me, and
+at last I fell asleep, my head supported on the neck of the little horse.
+I awoke; it was dark, dark night--not a star was to be seen--but I felt
+no fear, the horror had left me.  I arose from the side of the little
+horse, and went into my tent, lay down, and again went to sleep.
+
+I awoke in the morning weak and sore, and shuddering at the remembrance
+of what I had gone through on the preceding day; the sun was shining
+brightly, but it had not yet risen high enough to show its head above the
+trees which fenced the eastern side of the dingle, on which account the
+dingle was wet and dank, from the dews of the night.  I kindled my fire,
+and, after sitting by it for some time to warm my frame, I took some of
+the coarse food which I have already mentioned; notwithstanding my late
+struggle, and the coarseness of the fare, I ate with appetite.  My
+provisions had by this time been very much diminished, and I saw that it
+would be speedily necessary, in the event of my continuing to reside in
+the dingle, to lay in a fresh store.  After my meal I went to the pit,
+and filled a can with water, which I brought to the dingle, and then
+again sat down on my stone.  I considered what I should next do; it was
+necessary to do something, or my life in this solitude would be
+insupportable.  What should I do? rouse up my forge and fashion a
+horse-shoe; but I wanted nerve and heart for such an employment;
+moreover, I had no motive for fatiguing myself in this manner; my own
+horse was shod, no other was at hand, and it is hard to work for the sake
+of working.  What should I do? read?  Yes, but I had no other book than
+the Bible which the Welsh Methodist had given me; well, why not read the
+Bible?  I was once fond of reading the Bible; ay, but those days were
+long gone by.  However, I did not see what else I could do on the present
+occasion--so I determined to read the Bible--it was in Welsh; at any rate
+it might amuse me, so I took the Bible out of the sack, in which it was
+lying in the cart, and began to read at the place where I chanced to open
+it.  I opened it at that part where the history of Saul commences.  At
+first I read with indifference, but after some time my attention was
+riveted, and no wonder, I had come to the visitations of Saul, those dark
+moments of his, when he did and said such unaccountable things; it almost
+appeared to me that I was reading of myself; I, too, had my visitations,
+dark as ever his were.  O, how I sympathized with Saul, the tall dark
+man!  I had read his life before, but it had made no impression on me; it
+had never occurred to me that I was like him, but I now sympathized with
+Saul, for my own dark hour was but recently passed, and, perhaps, would
+soon return again; the dark hour came frequently on Saul.
+
+Time wore away; I finished the book of Saul, and, closing the volume,
+returned it to its place.  I then returned to my seat on the stone, and
+thought of what I had read, and what I had lately undergone.  All at once
+I thought I felt well-known sensations, a cramping of the breast, and a
+tingling of the soles of the feet--they were what I had felt on the
+preceding day; they were the forerunners of the fear.  I sat motionless
+on my stone, the sensations passed away, and the fear came not.  Darkness
+was now coming again over the earth; the dingle was again in deep shade;
+I roused the fire with the breath of the bellows, and sat looking at the
+cheerful glow; it was cheering and comforting.  My little horse came now
+and lay down on the ground beside the forge; I was not quite deserted.  I
+again ate some of the coarse food, and drank plentifully of the water
+which I had fetched in the morning.  I then put fresh fuel on the fire,
+and sat for a long time looking on the blaze; I then went into my tent.
+
+I awoke, on my own calculation, about midnight--it was pitch dark, and
+there was much fear upon me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXV.
+
+
+Free and Independent--I Don't See Why--Oats--A Noise--Unwelcome
+Visitors--What's the Matter?--Good Day to Ye--The Tall
+Girl--Dovrefeld--Blow on the Face--Civil Enough--What's This?--Vulgar
+Woman--Hands off--Gasping for Breath--Long Melford--A Pretty Manoeuvre--A
+Long Draught--Signs of Animation--It Won't Do--No Malice--Bad People.
+
+Two mornings after the period to which I have brought the reader in the
+preceding chapter, I sat by my fire at the bottom of the dingle; I had
+just breakfasted, and had finished the last morsel of food which I had
+brought with me to that solitude.
+
+"What shall I now do?" said I, to myself; "shall I continue here, or
+decamp--this is a sad lonely spot--perhaps I had better quit it; but
+whither should I go? the wide world is before me, but what can I do
+therein?  I have been in the world already without much success.  No, I
+had better remain here; the place is lonely, it is true, but here I am
+free and independent, and can do what I please; but I can't remain here
+without food.  Well, I will find my way to the nearest town, lay in a
+fresh supply of provision, and come back, turning my back upon the world,
+which has turned its back upon me.  I don't see why I should not write a
+little sometimes; I have pens and an ink-horn, and for a writing-desk I
+can place the Bible on my knee.  I shouldn't wonder if I could write a
+capital satire on the world on the back of that Bible; but first of all I
+must think of supplying myself with food."
+
+I rose up from the stone on which I was seated, determining to go to the
+nearest town, with my little horse and cart, and procure what I
+wanted--the nearest town, according to my best calculation, lay about
+five miles distant; I had no doubt, however, that by using ordinary
+diligence, I should be back before evening.  In order to go lighter, I
+determined to leave my tent standing as it was, and all the things which
+I had purchased of the tinker, just as they were.  "I need not be
+apprehensive on their account," said I, to myself; "nobody will come here
+to meddle with them--the great recommendation of this place is its
+perfect solitude--I dare say that I could live here six months without
+seeing a single human visage.  I will now harness my little gry and be
+off to the town."
+
+At a whistle which I gave, the little gry, which was feeding on the bank
+near the uppermost part of the dingle, came running to me, for by this
+time he had become so accustomed to me, that he would obey my call for
+all the world as if he had been one of the canine species.  "Now," said I
+to him, "we are going to the town to buy bread for myself, and oats for
+you--I am in a hurry to be back; therefore, I pray you to do your best,
+and to draw me and the cart to the town with all possible speed, and to
+bring us back; if you do your best, I promise you oats on your return.
+You know the meaning of oats, Ambrol?"
+
+Ambrol whinnied as if to let me know that he understood me perfectly
+well, as indeed he well might, as I had never once fed him during the
+time he had been in my possession without saying the word in question to
+him.  Now, Ambrol, in the Gypsy tongue, signifieth a pear.
+
+So I caparisoned Ambrol, and then, going to the cart, I removed two or
+three things from out it into the tent; I then lifted up the shafts, and
+was just going to call to the pony to come and be fastened to them, when
+I thought I heard a noise.
+
+I stood stock still supporting the shafts of the little cart in my hand,
+and bending the right side of my face slightly towards the ground; but I
+could hear nothing; the noise which I thought I had heard was not one of
+those sounds which I was accustomed to hear in that solitude, the note of
+a bird, or the rustling of a bough; it was--there I heard it again, a
+sound very much resembling the grating of a wheel amongst gravel.  Could
+it proceed from the road?  Oh no, the road was too far distant for me to
+hear the noise of anything moving along it.  Again I listened, and now I
+distinctly heard the sound of wheels, which seemed to be approaching the
+dingle; nearer and nearer they drew, and presently the sound of wheels
+was blended with the murmur of voices.  Anon I heard a boisterous shout,
+which seemed to proceed from the entrance of the dingle.  "Here are folks
+at hand," said I, letting the shaft of the cart fall to the ground, "is
+it possible that they can be coming here?"
+
+My doubts on that point, if I entertained any, were soon dispelled; the
+wheels, which had ceased moving for a moment or two, where once again in
+motion, and were now evidently moving down the winding path which led to
+my retreat.  Leaving my cart, I came forward and placed myself near the
+entrance of the open space, with my eyes fixed on the path down which my
+unexpected and I may say unwelcome visitors were coming.  Presently I
+heard a stamping or sliding, as if of a horse in some difficulty; and
+then a loud curse, and the next moment appeared a man and a horse and
+cart; the former holding the head of the horse up to prevent him from
+falling, of which he was in danger, owing to the precipitous nature of
+the path.  Whilst thus occupied, the head of the man was averted from me.
+When, however, he had reached the bottom of the descent, he turned his
+head, and perceiving me, as I stood bareheaded, without either coat or
+waistcoat, about two yards from him, he gave a sudden start, so violent,
+that the backward motion of his hand had nearly flung the horse upon his
+haunches.
+
+"Why don't you move forward?" said a voice from behind, apparently that
+of a female, "you are stopping up the way, and we shall be all down upon
+one another;" and I saw the head of another horse overtopping the back of
+the cart.
+
+"Why don't you move forward, Jack?" said another voice, also of a female,
+yet higher up the path.
+
+The man stirred not, but remained staring at me in the posture which he
+had assumed on first perceiving me, his body very much drawn back, his
+left foot far in advance of his right, and with his right hand still
+grasping the halter of the horse, which gave way more and more, till it
+was clean down on its haunches.
+
+"What is the matter?" said the voice which I had last heard.
+
+"Get back with you, Belle, Moll," said the man, still staring at me,
+"here's something not over-canny or comfortable."
+
+"What is it?" said the same voice; "let me pass, Moll, and I'll soon
+clear the way," and I heard a kind of rushing down the path.
+
+"You need not be afraid," said I, addressing myself to the man, "I mean
+you no harm; I am a wanderer like yourself--come here to seek for
+shelter--you need not be afraid; I am a Rome chabo by matriculation--one
+of the right sort, and no mistake--Good day to ye, brother; I bids ye
+welcome."
+
+The man eyed me suspiciously for a moment--then, turning to his horse
+with a loud curse, he pulled him up from his haunches, and led him and
+the cart farther down to one side of the dingle, muttering as he passed
+me, "Afraid.  Hm!"
+
+I do not remember ever to have seen a more ruffianly-looking fellow; he
+was about six feet high, with an immensely athletic frame; his face was
+black and bluff, and sported an immense pair of whiskers, but with here
+and there a grey hair, for his age could not be much under fifty.  He
+wore a faded blue frock coat, corduroys, and highlows--on his black head
+was a kind of red nightcap, round his bull neck a Barcelona
+handkerchief--I did not like the look of the man at all.
+
+"Afraid," growled the fellow, proceeding to unharness his horse; "that
+was the word, I think."
+
+But other figures were now already upon the scene.  Dashing past the
+other horse and cart, which by this time had reached the bottom of the
+pass, appeared an exceedingly tall woman, or rather girl, for she could
+scarcely have been above eighteen; she was dressed in a tight bodice and
+a blue stuff gown; hat, bonnet, or cap she had none, and her hair, which
+was flaxen, hung down on her shoulders unconfined; her complexion was
+fair, and her features handsome, with a determined but open
+expression--she was followed by another female, about forty, stout and
+vulgar-looking, at whom I scarcely glanced, my whole attention being
+absorbed by the tall girl.
+
+"What's the matter, Jack?" said the latter, looking at the man.
+
+"Only afraid, that's all," said the man, still proceeding with his work.
+
+"Afraid at what--at that lad? why, he looks like a ghost--I would engage
+to thrash him with one hand."
+
+"You might beat me with no hands at all," said I, "fair damsel, only by
+looking at me--I never saw such a face and figure, both regal--why, you
+look like Ingeborg, Queen of Norway; she had twelve brothers, you know,
+and could lick them all, though they were heroes--
+
+    "'On Dovrefeld in Norway,
+    Were once together seen,
+    The twelve heroic brothers
+    Of Ingeborg the queen.'"
+
+"None of your chaffing, young fellow," said the tall girl, "or I will
+give you what shall make you wipe your face; be civil, or you will rue
+it."
+
+"Well, perhaps I was a peg too high," said I, "I ask your pardon--here's
+something a bit lower--
+
+    "'As I was jawing to the gav yeck divvus
+    I met on the drom miro Rommany chi--'"
+
+"None of your Rommany chies, young fellow," said the tall girl, looking
+more menacingly than before, and clenching her fist, "you had better be
+civil, I am none of your chies; and, though I keep company with gypsies,
+or, to speak more proper, half and halfs, I would have you to know that I
+come of Christian blood and parents, and was born in the great house of
+Long Melford."
+
+"I have no doubt," said I, "that it was a great house; judging from your
+size, I shouldn't wonder if you were born in a church."
+
+"Stay, Belle," said the man, putting himself before the young virago, who
+was about to rush upon me, "my turn is first"--then, advancing to me in a
+menacing attitude, he said, with a look of deep malignity, "'Afraid' was
+the word, wasn't it?"
+
+"It was," said I, "but I think I wronged you; I should have said, aghast,
+you exhibited every symptom of one labouring under uncontrollable fear."
+
+The fellow stared at me with a look of stupid ferocity, and appeared to
+be hesitating whether to strike or not: ere he could make up his mind,
+the tall girl stepped forward, crying, "He's chaffing; let me at him;"
+and, before I could put myself on my guard, she struck me a blow on the
+face which had nearly brought me to the ground.
+
+"Enough," said I, putting my hand to my cheek; "you have now performed
+your promise, and made me wipe my face: now be pacified, and tell me
+fairly the ground of this quarrel."
+
+"Grounds!" said the fellow; "didn't you say I was afraid; and if you
+hadn't, who gave you leave to camp on my ground?"
+
+"Is it your ground?" said I.
+
+"A pretty question," said the fellow; "as if all the world didn't know
+that.  Do you know who I am?"
+
+"I guess I do," said I; "unless I am much mistaken, you are he whom folks
+call the 'Flaming Tinman.'  To tell you the truth, I'm glad we have met,
+for I wished to see you.  These are your two wives, I suppose; I greet
+them.  There's no harm done--there's room enough here for all of us--we
+shall soon be good friends, I dare say; and when we are a little better
+acquainted, I'll tell you my history."
+
+"Well, if that doesn't beat all," said the fellow.
+
+"I don't think he's chaffing now," said the girl, whose anger seemed to
+have subsided on a sudden; "the young man speaks civil enough."
+
+"Civil," said the fellow, with an oath; "but that's just like you; with
+you it is a blow, and all over.  Civil!  I suppose you would have him
+stay here, and get into all my secrets, and hear all I may have to say to
+my two morts."
+
+"Two morts," said the girl, kindling up, "where are they?  Speak for one,
+and no more.  I am no mort of yours, whatever some one else may be.  I
+tell you one thing, Black John, or Anselo, for t'other an't your name,
+the same thing I told the young man here, be civil, or you will rue it."
+
+The fellow looked at the girl furiously, but his glance soon quailed
+before hers; he withdrew his eyes, and cast them on my little horse,
+which was feeding amongst the trees.  "What's this?" said he, rushing
+forward and seizing the animal.  "Why, as I am alive, this is the horse
+of that mumping villain Slingsby."
+
+"It's his no longer; I bought it and paid for it."
+
+"It's mine now," said the fellow; "I swore I would seize it the next time
+I found it on my beat; ay, and beat the master too."
+
+"I am not Slingsby."
+
+"All's one for that."
+
+"You don't say you will beat me?"
+
+"Afraid was the word."
+
+"I'm sick and feeble."
+
+"Hold up your fists."
+
+"Won't the horse satisfy you?"
+
+"Horse nor bellows either."
+
+"No mercy, then."
+
+"Here's at you."
+
+"Mind your eyes, Jack.  There, you've got it.  I thought so," shouted the
+girl, as the fellow staggered back from a sharp blow in the eye.  "I
+thought he was chaffing at you all along."
+
+"Never mind, Anselo.  You know what to do--go in," said the vulgar woman,
+who had hitherto not spoken a word, but who now came forward with all the
+look of a fury; "go in apopli; you'll smash ten like he."
+
+The Flaming Tinman took her advice, and came in bent on smashing, but
+stopped short on receiving a left-handed blow on the nose.
+
+"You'll never beat the Flaming Tinman in that way," said the girl,
+looking at me doubtfully.
+
+And so I began to think myself, when, in the twinkling of an eye, the
+Flaming Tinman, disengaging himself of his frock-coat, and dashing off
+his red night-cap, came rushing in more desperately than ever.  To a
+flush hit which he received in the mouth he paid as little attention as a
+wild bull would have done; in a moment his arms were around me, and in
+another, he had hurled me down, falling heavily upon me.  The fellow's
+strength appeared to be tremendous.
+
+"Pay him off now," said the vulgar woman.  The Flaming Tinman made no
+reply, but planting his knee on my breast, seized my throat with two huge
+horny hands.  I gave myself up for dead, and probably should have been so
+in another minute but for the tall girl, who caught hold of the
+handkerchief which the fellow wore round his neck with a grasp nearly as
+powerful as that with which he pressed my throat.
+
+"Do you call that fair play?" said she.
+
+"Hands off, Belle," said the other woman; "do you call it fair play to
+interfere? hands off, or I'll be down upon you myself."
+
+But Belle paid no heed to the injunction, and tugged so hard at the
+handkerchief, that the Flaming Tinman was nearly throttled; suddenly
+relinquishing his hold of me, he started on his feet, and aimed a blow at
+my fair preserver, who avoided it, but said coolly:--
+
+"Finish t'other business first, and then I'm your woman whenever you
+like; but finish it fairly--no foul play when I'm by--I'll be the boy's
+second, and Moll can pick up you when he happens to knock you down."
+
+The battle during the next ten minutes raged with considerable fury, but
+it so happened that during this time I was never able to knock the
+Flaming Tinman down, but on the contrary received six knock-down blows
+myself.  "I can never stand this," said I, as I sat on the knee of Belle,
+"I am afraid I must give in; the Flaming Tinman hits very hard," and I
+spat out a mouthful of blood.
+
+"Sure enough you'll never beat the Flaming Tinman in the way you
+fight--it's of no use flipping at the Flaming Tinman with your left hand;
+why don't you use your right?"
+
+"Because I'm not handy with it," said I; and then getting up, I once more
+confronted the Flaming Tinman, and struck him six blows for his one, but
+they were all left-handed blows, and the blow which the Flaming Tinman
+gave me knocked me off my legs.
+
+"Now, will you use Long Melford?" said Belle, picking me up.
+
+"I don't know what you mean by Long Melford," said I, gasping for breath.
+
+"Why, this long right of yours," said Belle, feeling my right arm--"if
+you do, I shouldn't wonder if you yet stand a chance."
+
+And now the Flaming Tinman was once more ready, much more ready than
+myself.  I, however, rose from my second's knee as well as my weakness
+would permit me; on he came, striking left and right, appearing almost as
+fresh as to wind and spirit as when he first commenced the combat, though
+his eyes were considerably swelled, and his nether lip was cut in two; on
+he came, striking left and right, and I did not like his blows at all, or
+even the wind of them, which was anything but agreeable, and I gave way
+before him.  At last he aimed a blow, which, had it taken full effect,
+would doubtless have ended the battle, but owing to his slipping, the
+fist only grazed my left shoulder, and came with terrific force against a
+tree, close to which I had been driven; before the Tinman could recover
+himself, I collected all my strength, and struck him beneath the ear, and
+then fell to the ground completely exhausted, and it so happened that the
+blow which I struck the Tinker beneath the ear was a right-handed blow.
+
+"Hurrah for Long Melford!" I heard Belle exclaim; "there is nothing like
+Long Melford for shortness all the world over."
+
+At these words, I turned round my head as I lay, and perceived the
+Flaming Tinman stretched upon the ground apparently senseless.  "He is
+dead," said the vulgar woman, as she vainly endeavoured to raise him up;
+"he is dead; the best man in all the north country, killed in this
+fashion, by a boy."  Alarmed at these words, I made shift to get on my
+feet; and, with the assistance of the woman, placed my fallen adversary
+in a sitting posture.  I put my hand to his heart, and felt a slight
+pulsation--"He's not dead," said I, "only stunned; if he were let blood,
+he would recover presently."  I produced a penknife which I had in my
+pocket, and, baring the arm of the Tinman, was about to make the
+necessary incision, when the woman gave me a violent blow, and, pushing
+me aside, exclaimed, "I'll tear the eyes out of your head, if you offer
+to touch him.  Do you want to complete your work, and murder him
+outright, now he's asleep? you have had enough of his blood already."
+"You are mad," said I, "I only seek to do him service.  Well, if you
+won't let him be blooded, fetch some water and fling it into his face,
+you know where the pit is."
+
+"A pretty manoeuvre," said the woman; "leave my husband in the hands of
+you and that limmer, who has never been true to us; I should find him
+strangled or his throat cut when I came back."  "Do you go," said I, to
+the tall girl, "take the can and fetch some water from the pit."  "You
+had better go yourself," said the girl, wiping a tear as she looked on
+the yet senseless form of the tinker; "you had better go yourself, if you
+think water will do him good."  I had by this time somewhat recovered my
+exhausted powers, and, taking the can, I bent my steps as fast as I could
+to the pit; arriving there, I lay down on the brink, took a long draught,
+and then plunged my head into the water; after which I filled the can,
+and bent my way back to the dingle.  Before I could reach the path which
+led down into its depths, I had to pass some way along its side; I had
+arrived at a part immediately over the scene of the last encounter, where
+the bank, overgrown with trees, sloped precipitously down.  Here I heard
+a loud sound of voices in the dingle; I stopped, and laying hold of a
+tree, leaned over the bank and listened.  The two women appeared to be in
+hot dispute in the dingle.  "It was all owing to you, you limmer," said
+the vulgar woman to the other; "had you not interfered, the old man would
+soon have settled the boy."
+
+"I'm for fair play and Long Melford," said the other.  "If your old man,
+as you call him, could have settled the boy fairly, he might, for all I
+should have cared, but no foul work for me; and as for sticking the boy
+with our gulleys when he comes back, as you proposed, I am not so fond of
+your old man or you that I should oblige you in it, to my soul's
+destruction."  "Hold your tongue, or I'll--"; I listened no farther, but
+hastened as fast as I could to the dingle.  My adversary had just begun
+to show signs of animation; the vulgar woman was still supporting him,
+and occasionally cast glances of anger at the tall girl who was walking
+slowly up and down.  I lost no time in dashing the greater part of the
+water into the Tinman's face, whereupon he sneezed, moved his hands, and
+presently looked round him.  At first his looks were dull and heavy, and
+without any intelligence at all; he soon, however, began to recollect
+himself, and to be conscious of his situation; he cast a scowling glance
+at me, then one of the deepest malignity at the tall girl, who was still
+walking about without taking much notice of what was going forward.  At
+last he looked at his right hand, which had evidently suffered from the
+blow against the tree, and a half-stifled curse escaped his lips.  The
+vulgar woman now said something to him in a low tone, whereupon he looked
+at her for a moment, and then got upon his legs.  Again the vulgar woman
+said something to him; her looks were furious, and she appeared to be
+urging him on to attempt something.  I observed that she had a clasped
+knife in her hand.  The fellow remained standing for some time as if
+hesitating what to do, at last he looked at his hand, and, shaking his
+head, said something to the woman which I did not understand.  The tall
+girl, however, appeared to overhear him, and, probably repeating his
+words, said, "No, it won't do; you are right there, and now hear what I
+have to say,--let bygones be bygones, and let us all shake hands, and
+camp here, as the young man was saying just now."  The man looked at her,
+and then, without any reply, went to his horse, which was lying down
+among the trees, and kicking it up, led it to the cart, to which he
+forthwith began to harness it.  The other cart and horse had remained
+standing motionless during the whole affair which I have been recounting,
+at the bottom of the pass.  The woman now took the horse by the head, and
+leading it with the cart into the open part of the dingle turned both
+round, and then led them back, till the horse and cart had mounted a
+little way up the ascent; she then stood still and appeared to be
+expecting the man.  During this proceeding Belle had stood looking on
+without saying anything; at last, perceiving that the man had harnessed
+his horse to the other cart, and that both he and the woman were about to
+take their departure, she said, "You are not going, are you?"  Receiving
+no answer, she continued: "I tell you what, both of you, Black John, and
+you Moll, his mort, this is not treating me over civilly,--however, I am
+ready to put up with it, and go with you if you like, for I bear no
+malice.  I'm sorry for what has happened, but you have only yourselves to
+thank for it.  Now, shall I go with you, only tell me?"  The man made no
+manner of reply, but flogged his horse.  The woman, however, whose
+passions were probably under less control, replied, with a screeching
+tone, "Stay where you are, you jade, and may the curse of Judas cling to
+you,--stay with the bit of a mullo whom you helped, and my only hope is
+that he may gulley you before he comes to be--Have you with us, indeed!
+after what's past, no, nor nothing belonging to you.  Fetch down your
+mailla go-cart and live here with your chabo."  She then whipped on the
+horse, and ascended the pass, followed by the man.  The carts were light,
+and they were not long in ascending the winding path.  I followed to see
+that they took their departure.  Arriving at the top, I found near the
+entrance a small donkey-cart, which I concluded belonged to the girl.
+The tinker and his mort were already at some distance; I stood looking
+after them for a little time, then taking the donkey by the reins I led
+it with the cart to the bottom of the dingle.  Arrived there, I found
+Belle seated on the stone by the fireplace.  Her hair was all
+dishevelled, and she was in tears.
+
+"They were bad people," said she, "and I did not like them, but they were
+my only acquaintance in the wide world."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVI.
+
+
+At Tea--Vapours--Isopel Berners--Softly and Kindly--Sweet Pretty
+Creature--Bread and Water--Two Sailors--Truth and Constancy--Very
+Strangely.
+
+In the evening of that same day the tall girl and I sat at tea by the
+fire, at the bottom of the dingle; the girl on a small stool, and myself,
+as usual, upon my stone.
+
+The water which served for the tea had been taken from a spring of
+pellucid water in the neighbourhood, which I had not had the good fortune
+to discover, though it was well known to my companion, and to the
+wandering people who frequented the dingle.
+
+"This tea is very good," said I, "but I cannot enjoy it as much as if I
+were well: I feel very sadly."
+
+"How else should you feel," said the girl, "after fighting with the
+Flaming Tinman?  All I wonder is that you can feel at all!  As for the
+tea, it ought to be good, seeing that it cost me ten shillings a pound."
+
+"That's a great deal for a person in your station to pay."
+
+"In my station!  I'd have you to know, young man--however, I haven't the
+heart to quarrel with you, you look so ill; and after all, it is a good
+sum to pay for one who travels the roads; but if I must have tea, I like
+to have the best; and tea I must have, for I am used to it, though I
+can't help thinking that it sometimes fills my head with strange
+fancies--what some folk call vapours, making me weep and cry."
+
+"Dear me," said I, "I should never have thought that one of your size and
+fierceness would weep and cry!"
+
+"My size and fierceness!  I tell you what, young man, you are not over
+civil, this evening; but you are ill, as I said before, and I shan't take
+much notice of your language, at least for the present; as for my size, I
+am not so much bigger than yourself; and as for being fierce, you should
+be the last one to fling that at me.  It is well for you that I can be
+fierce sometimes.  If I hadn't taken your part against blazing Bosville,
+you wouldn't be now taking tea with me."
+
+"It is true that you struck me in the face first; but we'll let that
+pass.  So that man's name is Bosville; what's your own?"
+
+"Isopel Berners."
+
+"How did you get that name?"
+
+"I say, young man, you seem fond of asking questions! will you have
+another cup of tea?"
+
+"I was just going to ask for another."
+
+"Well, then, here it is, and much good may it do you; as for my name, I
+got it from my mother."
+
+"Your mother's name, then, was Isopel?"
+
+"Isopel Berners."
+
+"But had you never a father?"
+
+"Yes, I had a father," said the girl, sighing, "but I don't bear his
+name."
+
+"Is it the fashion, then, in your country for children to bear their
+mother's name?"
+
+"If you ask such questions, young man, I shall be angry with you.  I have
+told you my name, and whether my father's or mother's, I am not ashamed
+of it."
+
+"It is a noble name."
+
+"There you are right, young man.  The chaplain in the great house, where
+I was born, told me it was a noble name; it was odd enough, he said, that
+the only three noble names in the county were to be found in the great
+house; mine was one; the other two were Devereux and Bohun."
+
+"What do you mean by the great house?"
+
+"The workhouse."
+
+"Is it possible that you were born there?"
+
+"Yes, young man; and as you now speak softly and kindly, I will tell you
+my whole tale.  My father was an officer of the sea, and was killed at
+sea, as he was coming home to marry my mother, Isopel Berners.  He had
+been acquainted with her, and had left her; but after a few months he
+wrote her a letter, to say that he had no rest, and that he repented, and
+that as soon as his ship came to port he would do her all the reparation
+in his power.  Well, young man, the very day before they reached port
+they met the enemy, and there was a fight, and my father was killed,
+after he had struck down six of the enemy's crew on their own deck; for
+my father was a big man, as I have heard, and knew tolerably well how to
+use his hands.  And when my mother heard the news, she became half
+distracted, and ran away into the fields and forests, totally neglecting
+her business, for she was a small milliner; and so she ran demented about
+the meads and forests for a long time, now sitting under a tree, and now
+by the side of a river--at last she flung herself into some water, and
+would have been drowned, had not some one been at hand and rescued her,
+whereupon she was conveyed to the great house, lest she should attempt to
+do herself further mischief, for she had neither friends nor parents--and
+there she died three months after, having first brought me into the
+world.  She was a sweet pretty creature, I'm told, but hardly fit for
+this world, being neither large, nor fierce, nor able to take her own
+part.  So I was born and bred in the great house, where I learnt to read
+and sew, to fear God, and to take my own part.  When I was fourteen I was
+put out to service to a small farmer and his wife, with whom, however, I
+did not stay long, for I was half starved, and otherwise ill-treated,
+especially by my mistress, who one day attempting to knock me down with a
+besom, I knocked her down with my fist, and went back to the great
+house."
+
+"And how did they receive you in the great house?"
+
+"Not very kindly, young man--on the contrary, I was put into a dark room,
+where I was kept a fortnight on bread and water; I did not much care,
+however, being glad to have got back to the great house at any rate, the
+place where I was born, and where my poor mother died, and in the great
+house I continued two years longer, reading and sewing, fearing God, and
+taking my own part when necessary.  At the end of the two years I was
+again put out to service, but this time to a rich farmer and his wife,
+with whom, however, I did not live long, less time, I believe, than with
+the poor ones, being obliged to leave for--"
+
+"Knocking your mistress down?"
+
+"No, young man, knocking my master down, who conducted himself improperly
+towards me.  This time I did not go back to the great house, having a
+misgiving that they would not receive me, so I turned my back to the
+great house where I was born, and where my poor mother died, and wandered
+for several days, I know not whither, supporting myself on a few
+halfpence which I chanced to have in my pocket.  It happened one day, as
+I sat under a hedge crying, having spent my last farthing, that a
+comfortable-looking elderly woman came up in a cart, and seeing the state
+in which I was, she stopped and asked what was the matter with me; I told
+her some part of my story, whereupon she said, 'Cheer up, my dear, if you
+like you shall go with me, and wait upon me.'  Of course I wanted little
+persuasion, so I got into the cart and went with her.  She took me to
+London and various other places, and I soon found that she was a
+travelling woman, who went about the country with silks and linen.  I was
+of great use to her, more especially in those places where we met evil
+company.  Once, as we were coming from Dover, we were met by two sailors,
+who stopped our cart, and would have robbed and stripped us.  'Let me get
+down,' said I; so I got down, and fought with them both, till they turned
+round and ran away.  Two years I lived with the old gentlewoman, who was
+very kind to me, almost as kind as a mother; at last she fell sick at a
+place in Lincolnshire, and after a few days died, leaving me her cart and
+stock in trade, praying me only to see her decently buried, which I did,
+giving her a funeral fit for a gentlewoman.  After which I travelled the
+country melancholy enough for want of company, but so far fortunate, that
+I could take my own part when any body was uncivil to me.  At last,
+passing through the valley of Todmorden, I formed the acquaintance of
+Blazing Bosville and his wife, with whom I occasionally took journeys for
+company's sake, for it is melancholy to travel about alone, even when one
+can take one's own part.  I soon found they were evil people; but, upon
+the whole, they treated me civilly, and I sometimes lent them a little
+money, so that we got on tolerably well together.  He and I, it is true,
+had once a dispute, and nearly came to blows, for once, when we were
+alone, he wanted me to marry him, promising, if I would, to turn off Grey
+Moll, or if I liked it better, to make her wait upon me as a
+maid-servant; I never liked him much, but from that hour less than ever.
+Of the two, I believe Grey Moll to be the best, for she is at any rate
+true and faithful to him, and I like truth and constancy, don't you,
+young man?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "they are very nice things.  I feel very strangely."
+
+"How do you feel, young man?"
+
+"Very much afraid."
+
+"Afraid, at what?  At the Flaming Tinman?  Don't be afraid of him.  He
+won't come back, and if he did, he shouldn't touch you in this state.
+I'd fight him for you, but he won't come back, so you needn't be afraid
+of him."
+
+"I'm not afraid of the Flaming Tinman."
+
+"What, then, are you afraid of?"
+
+"The evil one."
+
+"The evil one," said the girl "where is he?"
+
+"Coming upon me."
+
+"Never heed," said the girl, "I'll stand by you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVII.
+
+
+Hubbub of Voices--No Offence--Nodding--The Guests.
+
+The kitchen of the public-house was a large one, and many people were
+drinking in it; there was a confused hubbub of voices.
+
+I sat down on a bench behind a deal table, of which there were three or
+four in the kitchen; presently a bulky man, in a green coat, of the
+Newmarket cut, and without a hat, entered, and observing me, came up, and
+in rather a gruff tone cried, "Want anything, young fellow?"
+
+"Bring me a jug of ale," said I; "if you are the master, as I suppose you
+are, by that same coat of yours, and your having no hat on your head."
+
+"Don't be saucy, young fellow," said the landlord, for such he was,
+"don't be saucy, or--"  Whatever he intended to say, he left unsaid, for
+fixing his eyes upon one of my hands, which I had placed by chance upon
+the table, he became suddenly still.
+
+This was my left hand, which was raw and swollen, from the blows dealt on
+a certain hard skull in a recent combat.  "What do you mean by staring at
+my hand so?" said I, withdrawing it from the table.
+
+"No offence, young man, no offence," said the landlord, in a quite
+altered tone; "but the sight of your hand--," then observing that our
+conversation began to attract the notice of the guests in the kitchen, he
+interrupted himself, saying in an under tone, "But mum's the word for the
+present, I will go and fetch the ale."
+
+In about a minute he returned, with a jug of ale foaming high.  "Here's
+your health," said he, blowing off the foam, and drinking; but perceiving
+that I looked rather dissatisfied, he murmured, "All's right, I glory in
+you; but mum's the word."  Then placing the jug on the table, he gave me
+a confidential nod, and swaggered out of the room.
+
+What can the silly impertinent fellow mean, thought I; but the ale was
+now before me, and I hastened to drink, for my weakness was great, and my
+mind was full of dark thoughts, the remains of the indescribable horror
+of the preceding night.  It may kill me, thought I, as I drank deep, but
+who cares, anything is better than what I have suffered.  I drank deep,
+and then leaned back against the wall; it appeared as if a vapour was
+stealing up into my brain, gentle and benign, soothing and stilling the
+horror and the fear; higher and higher it mounted, and I felt nearly
+overcome; but the sensation was delicious, compared with that I had
+lately experienced, and now I felt myself nodding; and, bending down, I
+laid my head on the table on my folded hands.
+
+And in that attitude I remained some time, perfectly unconscious.  At
+length, by degrees, perception returned, and I lifted up my head.  I felt
+somewhat dizzy and bewildered, but the dark shadow had withdrawn itself
+from me.  And now, once more, I drank of the jug; this second draught did
+not produce an overpowering effect upon me--it revived and strengthened
+me--I felt a new man.
+
+I looked around me: the kitchen had been deserted by the greater part of
+the guests; besides myself, only four remained; these were seated at the
+farther end.  One was haranguing fiercely and eagerly; he was abusing
+England, and praising America.  At last he exclaimed, "So when I gets to
+New York, I will toss up my hat, and damn the King."
+
+That man must be a Radical, thought I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
+
+
+A Radical--Simple-Looking Man--Church of England--The
+President--Aristocracy--Gin and Water--Mending the Roads--Persecuting
+Church--Simon de Montford--Broken Bells--Get Up--Not for the Pope--Quay
+of New York--Mumpers' Dingle--No Wish to Fight--First Draught--A Poor
+Pipe--Half-a-crown Broke.
+
+The individual whom I supposed to be a Radical, after a short pause,
+again uplifted his voice; he was rather a strong-built fellow of about
+thirty, with an ill-favoured countenance, a white hat on his head, a
+snuff-coloured coat on his back, and when he was not speaking, a pipe in
+his mouth.  "Who would live in such a country as England?" he shouted.
+
+"There is no country like America--" said his nearest neighbour, a man
+also in a white hat, and of a very ill-favoured countenance--"there is no
+country like America," said he, withdrawing a pipe from his mouth, "I
+think I shall--" and here he took a draught from a jug, the contents of
+which he appeared to have in common with the other,--"go to America one
+of these days myself."
+
+"Poor old England is not such a bad country, after all," said a third, a
+simple-looking man in a labouring dress, who sat smoking a pipe without
+anything before him.  "If there was but a little more work to be got I
+should have nothing to say against her.  I hope, however--"
+
+"You hope, who cares what you hope?" interrupted the first, in a savage
+tone; "you are one of those sneaking hounds who are satisfied with dog's
+wages, a bit of bread and a kick.  Work, indeed, who, with the spirit of
+a man, would work for a country where there is neither liberty of speech,
+nor of action, a land full of beggarly aristocracy, hungry
+borough-mongers, insolent parsons, and 'their wives and daughters,' as
+William Cobbett says, in his 'Register.'"
+
+"Ah, the Church of England has been a source of incalculable mischief to
+these realms," said another.
+
+The person who uttered these words sat rather aloof from the rest; he was
+dressed in a long black surtout.  I could not see much of his face,
+partly owing to his keeping it very much directed to the ground, and
+partly owing to a large slouched hat, which he wore; I observed, however,
+that his hair was of a reddish tinge.  On the table near him was a glass
+and spoon.
+
+"You are quite right," said the first, alluding to what this last had
+said, "the Church of England has done incalculable mischief here.  I
+value no religion three halfpence, for I believe in none; but the one
+that I hate most is the Church of England; so when I get to New York,
+after I have shown the fine fellows on the quay a spice of me, by --- the
+King, I'll toss up my hat again, and the --- Church of England too."
+
+"And suppose the people of New York should clap you in the stocks?" said
+I.
+
+These words drew upon me the attention of the whole four.  The Radical
+and his companion stared at me ferociously; the man in black gave me a
+peculiar glance from under his slouched hat; the simple-looking man in
+the labouring dress laughed.
+
+"What are you laughing at, you fool?" said the Radical, turning and
+looking at the other, who appeared to be afraid of him, "hold your noise;
+and a pretty fellow you," said he, looking at me, "to come here, and
+speak against the great American nation."
+
+"I speak against the great American nation?" said I, "I rather paid them
+a compliment."
+
+"By supposing they would put me in the stocks.  Well, I call it abusing
+them, to suppose they would do any such thing--stocks, indeed!--there are
+no stocks in all the land.  Put me in the stocks? why, the President will
+come down to the quay, and ask me to dinner, as soon as he hears what I
+have said about the King and Church."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," said I, "if you go to America, you will say of the
+President and country what now you say of the King and Church, and cry
+out for somebody to send you back to England."
+
+The Radical dashed his pipe to pieces against the table.  "I tell you
+what, young fellow, you are a spy of the aristocracy, sent here to kick
+up a disturbance."
+
+"Kicking up a disturbance," said I, "is rather inconsistent with the
+office of spy.  If I were a spy, I should hold my head down, and say
+nothing."
+
+The man in black partially raised his head, and gave me another peculiar
+glance.
+
+"Well, if you ar'n't sent to spy, you are sent to bully, to prevent
+people speaking, and to run down the great American nation; but you
+sha'n't bully me.  I say down with the aristocracy, the beggarly British
+aristocracy.  Come, what have you to say to that?"
+
+"Nothing," said I.
+
+"Nothing!" repeated the Radical.
+
+"No," said I, "down with them as soon as you can."
+
+"As soon as I can!  I wish I could.  But I can down with a bully of
+theirs.  Come, will you fight for them?"
+
+"No," said I.
+
+"You won't?"
+
+"No," said I; "though from what I have seen of them I should say they are
+tolerably able to fight for themselves."
+
+"You won't fight for them," said the Radical triumphantly; "I thought so;
+all bullies, especially those of the aristocracy, are cowards.  Here,
+landlord," said he, raising his voice, and striking against the table
+with the jug, "some more ale--he won't fight for his friends."
+
+"A white feather," said his companion.
+
+"He! he!" tittered the man in black.
+
+"Landlord, landlord," shouted the Radical, striking the table with the
+jug louder than before.  "Who called?" said the landlord, coming in at
+last.  "Fill this jug again," said the other, "and be quick about it."
+"Does any one else want anything?" said the landlord.  "Yes," said the
+man in black; "you may bring me another glass of gin and water."  "Cold?"
+said the landlord.  "Yes," said the man in black, "with a lump of sugar
+in it."
+
+"Gin and water cold, with a lump of sugar in it," said I, and struck the
+table with my fist.
+
+"Take some?" said the landlord, inquiringly.
+
+"No," said I, "only something came into my head."
+
+"He's mad," said the man in black.
+
+"Not he," said the Radical.  "He's only shamming; he knows his master is
+here, and therefore has recourse to those manoeuvres, but it won't do.
+Come, landlord, what are you staring at?  Why don't you obey your orders?
+Keeping your customers waiting in this manner is not the way to increase
+your business."
+
+The landlord looked at the Radical, and then at me.  At last, taking the
+jug and glass, he left the apartment, and presently returned with each
+filled with its respective liquor.  He placed the jug with beer before
+the Radical, and the glass with the gin and water before the man in
+black, and then, with a wink to me, he sauntered out.
+
+"Here is your health, sir," said the man of the snuff-coloured coat,
+addressing himself to the man in black, "I honour you for what you said
+about the Church of England.  Every one who speaks against the Church of
+England has my warm heart.  Down with it, I say, and may the stones of it
+be used for mending the roads, as my friend William says in his
+Register."
+
+The man in black, with a courteous nod of his head, drank to the man in
+the snuff-coloured coat.  "With respect to the steeples," said he, "I am
+not altogether of your opinion; they might be turned to better account
+than to serve to mend the roads; they might still be used as places of
+worship, but not for the worship of the Church of England.  I have no
+fault to find with the steeples, it is the Church itself which I am
+compelled to arraign, but it will not stand long, the respectable part of
+its ministers are already leaving it.  It is a bad Church, a persecuting
+Church."
+
+"Whom does it persecute?" said I.
+
+The man in black glanced at me slightly, and then replied slowly, "The
+Catholics."
+
+"And do those whom you call Catholics never persecute?" said I.
+
+"Never," said the man in black.
+
+"Did you ever read 'Fox's Book of Martyrs?'" said I.
+
+"He! he!" tittered the man in black, "there is not a word of truth in
+'Fox's Book of Martyrs.'"
+
+"Ten times more than in the 'Flos Sanctorum,'" said I.
+
+The man in black looked at me, but made no answer.
+
+"And what say you to the Massacre of the Albigenses and the Vaudois,
+'whose bones lie scattered on the cold Alp,' or the Revocation of the
+Edict of Nantes?"
+
+The man in black made no answer.
+
+"Go to," said I, "it is because the Church of England is not a
+persecuting Church, that those whom you call the respectable part are
+leaving her; it is because they can't do with the poor Dissenters what
+Simon de Montford did with the Albigenses, and the cruel Piedmontese with
+the Vaudois, that they turn to bloody Rome; the Pope will no doubt
+welcome them, for the Pope, do you see, being very much in want, will
+welcome--"
+
+"Hollo!" said the Radical, interfering.  "What are you saying about the
+Pope?  I say hurrah for the Pope: I value no religion three halfpence, as
+I said before, but if I were to adopt any, it should be the Popish, as
+it's called, because I conceives the Popish to be the grand enemy of the
+Church of England, of the beggarly aristocracy, and the borough-monger
+system, so I won't hear the Pope abused while I am by.  Come, don't look
+fierce.  You won't fight, you know, I have proved it; but I will give you
+another chance--I will fight for the Pope, will you fight against him?"
+
+"O dear me, yes," said I, getting up and stepping forward.  "I am a quiet
+peaceable young man, and, being so, am always ready to fight against the
+Pope--the enemy of all peace and quiet--to refuse fighting for the
+aristocracy is a widely different thing from refusing to fight against
+the Pope--so come on, if you are disposed to fight for him.  To the Pope
+broken bells, to Saint James broken shells.  No Popish vile oppression,
+but the Protestant succession.  Confusion to the Groyne, hurrah for the
+Boyne, for the army at Clonmel, and the Protestant young gentlemen who
+live there as well."
+
+"An Orangeman," said the man in black.
+
+"Not a Platitude," said I.
+
+The man in black gave a slight start.
+
+"Amongst that family," said I, "no doubt something may be done, but
+amongst the Methodist preachers I should conceive that the success would
+not be great."
+
+The man in black sat quite still.
+
+"Especially amongst those who have wives," I added.
+
+The man in black stretched his hand towards his gin and water.
+
+"However," said I, "we shall see what the grand movement will bring
+about, and the results of the lessons in elocution."
+
+The man in black lifted the glass up to his mouth, and in doing so, let
+the spoon fall.
+
+"But what has this to do with the main question?" said I, "I am waiting
+here to fight against the Pope."
+
+"Come, Hunter," said the companion of the man in the snuff-coloured coat,
+"get up, and fight for the Pope."
+
+"I don't care for the young fellow," said the man in the snuff-coloured
+coat.
+
+"I know you don't," said the other, "so get up, and serve him out."
+
+"I could serve out three like him," said the man in the snuff-coloured
+coat.
+
+"So much the better for you," said the other, "the present work will be
+all the easier for you, get up, and serve him out at once."
+
+The man in the snuff-coloured coat did not stir.
+
+"Who shows the white feather now?" said the simple-looking man.
+
+"He! he! he!" tittered the man in black.
+
+"Who told you to interfere?" said the Radical, turning ferociously
+towards the simple-looking man; "say another word, and I'll--And you!"
+said he, addressing himself to the man in black, "a pretty fellow you to
+turn against me, after I had taken your part.  I tell you what, you may
+fight for yourself.  I'll see you and your Pope in the pit of Eldon,
+before I fight for either of you, so make the most of it."
+
+"Then you won't fight?" said I.
+
+"Not for the Pope," said the Radical; "I'll see the Pope--"
+
+"Dear me!" said I, "not fight for the Pope, whose religion you would turn
+to, if you were inclined for any.  I see how it is, you are not fond of
+fighting; but I'll give you another chance--you were abusing the Church
+of England just now.  I'll fight for it--will you fight against it?"
+
+"Come, Hunter," said the other, "get up, and fight against the Church of
+England."
+
+"I have no particular quarrel against the Church of England," said the
+man in the snuff-coloured coat, "my quarrel is with the aristocracy.  If
+I said anything against the Church, it was merely for a bit of corollary,
+as Master William Cobbett would say; the quarrel with the Church belongs
+to this fellow in black; so let him carry it on.  However," he continued
+suddenly, "I won't slink from the matter either; it shall never be said
+by the fine fellows on the quay of New York, that I wouldn't fight
+against the Church of England.  So down with the beggarly aristocracy,
+the Church, and the Pope, to the bottom of the pit of Eldon, and may the
+Pope fall first, and the others upon him."
+
+Thereupon, dashing his hat on the table, he placed himself in an attitude
+of offence, and rushed forward.  He was, as I have said before, a
+powerful fellow, and might have proved a dangerous antagonist, more
+especially to myself, who, after my recent encounter with the Flaming
+Tinman, and my wrestlings with the evil one, was in anything but fighting
+order.  Any collision, however, was prevented by the landlord, who,
+suddenly appearing, thrust himself between us.  "There shall be no
+fighting here," said he, "no one shall fight in this house, except it be
+with myself; so if you two have anything to say to each other, you had
+better go into the field behind the house.  But you fool," said he,
+pushing Hunter violently on the breast, "do you know whom you are going
+to tackle with--this is the young chap that beat Blazing Bosville, only
+as late as yesterday, in Mumpers' Dingle.  Grey Moll told me all about it
+last night, when she came for some brandy for her husband, who, she said,
+had been half killed; and she described the young man to me so closely,
+that I knew him at once, that is, as soon as I saw how his left hand was
+bruised, for she told me he was a left hand hitter.  Ar'n't it all true,
+young man?  Ar'n't you he that beat Flaming Bosville in Mumpers' Dingle?"
+"I never beat Flaming Bosville," said I, "he beat himself.  Had he not
+struck his hand against a tree, I shouldn't be here at the present
+moment."  "Hear! hear!" said the landlord, "now that's just as it should
+be; I like a modest man, for, as the parson says, nothing sits better
+upon a young man than modesty.  I remember, when I was young, fighting
+with Tom, of Hopton, the best man that ever pulled off coat in England.
+I remember, too, that I won the battle; for I happened to hit Tom, of
+Hopton, in the mark, as he was coming in, so that he lost his wind, and
+falling squelch on the ground, do ye see, he lost the battle, though I am
+free to confess that he was a better man than myself; indeed, the best
+man that ever fought in England; yet still I won the battle, as every
+customer of mine, and everybody within twelve miles round, has heard over
+and over again.  Now, Mr. Hunter, I have one thing to say, if you choose
+to go into the field behind the house, and fight the young man, you can.
+I'll back him for ten pounds; but no fighting in my kitchen--because why?
+I keeps a decent kind of an establishment."
+
+"I have no wish to fight the young man," said Hunter; "more especially as
+he has nothing to say for the aristocracy.  If he chose to fight for
+them, indeed--but he won't, I know; for I see he's a decent, respectable
+young man; and, after all, fighting is a blackguard way of settling a
+dispute; so I have no wish to fight; however, there is one thing I'll
+do," said he, uplifting his fist; "I'll fight this fellow in black here
+for half-a-crown, or for nothing, if he pleases; it was he that got up
+the last dispute between me and the young man, with his Pope and his
+nonsense; so I will fight him for anything he pleases, and perhaps the
+young man will be my second; whilst you--"
+
+"Come, Doctor," said the landlord, "or whatsoever you be, will you go
+into the field with Hunter?  I'll second you, only you must back
+yourself.  I'll lay five pounds on Hunter, if you are inclined to back
+yourself; and will help you to win it as far, do you see, as a second
+can; because why?  I always likes to do the fair thing."
+
+"Oh!  I have no wish to fight," said the man in black, hastily; "fighting
+is not my trade.  If I have given any offence, I beg anybody's pardon."
+
+"Landlord," said I, "what have I to pay?"
+
+"Nothing at all," said the landlord, "glad to see you.  This is the first
+time that you have been at my house, and I never charge new customers, at
+least customers such as you, anything for the first draught.  You'll come
+again, I dare say; shall always be glad to see you.  I won't take it,"
+said he, as I put sixpence on the table; "I won't take it."
+
+"Yes, you shall," said I; "but not in payment for anything I have had
+myself: it shall serve to pay for a jug of ale for that gentleman," said
+I, pointing to the simple-looking individual; "he is smoking a poor pipe.
+I do not mean to say that a pipe is a bad thing; but a pipe without ale,
+do you see--"
+
+"Bravo!" said the landlord, "that's just the conduct I like."
+
+"Bravo!" said Hunter.  "I shall be happy to drink with the young man
+whenever I meet him at New York, where, do you see, things are better
+managed than here."
+
+"If I have given offence to anybody," said the man in black, "I repeat
+that I ask pardon--more especially to the young gentleman, who was
+perfectly right to stand up for his religion, just as I--not that I am of
+any particular religion, no more than this honest gentleman here," bowing
+to Hunter; "but I happen to know something of the Catholics--several
+excellent friends of mine are Catholics--and of a surety the Catholic
+religion is an ancient religion, and a widely-extended religion though it
+certainly is not a universal religion, but it has of late made
+considerable progress, even amongst those nations who have been
+particularly opposed to it--amongst the Prussians and the Dutch, for
+example, to say nothing of the English; and then, in the East, amongst
+the Persians, among the Armenians."
+
+"The Armenians," said I; "O dear me, the Armenians--"
+
+"Have you anything to say about these people, sir?" said the man in
+black, lifting up his glass to his mouth.
+
+"I have nothing further to say," said I, "than that the roots of Ararat
+are occasionally found to be deeper than those of Rome."
+
+"There's half-a-crown broke," said the landlord, as the man in black let
+fall the glass, which was broken to pieces on the floor.  "You will pay
+me the damage, friend, before you leave this kitchen.  I like to see
+people drink freely in my kitchen, but not too freely, and I hate
+breakages; because why?  I keeps a decent kind of an establishment."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIX.
+
+
+The Dingle--Give them Ale--Not over Complimentary--America--Many
+People--Washington--Promiscuous Company--Language of the Roads--The Old
+Women--Numerals--The Man in Black.
+
+The public-house where the scenes which I have attempted to describe in
+the preceding chapters took place, was at the distance of about two miles
+from the dingle.  The sun was sinking in the west by the time I returned
+to the latter spot.  I found Belle seated by a fire, over which her
+kettle was suspended.  During my absence she had prepared herself a kind
+of tent, consisting of large hoops covered over with tarpaulin, quite
+impenetrable to rain, however violent.  "I am glad you are returned,"
+said she, as soon as she perceived me; "I began to be anxious about you.
+Did you take my advice?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "I went to the public-house and drank ale as you advised
+me; it cheered, strengthened, and drove away the horror from my mind,--I
+am much beholden to you."
+
+"I knew it would do you good," said Belle; "I remembered that when the
+poor women in the great house were afflicted with hysterics and fearful
+imaginings, the surgeon, who was a good, kind man, used to say, 'Ale,
+give them ale, and let it be strong.'"
+
+"He was no advocate for tea, then?" said I.
+
+"He had no objection to tea; but he used to say, 'Everything in its
+season.'  Shall we take ours now--I have waited for you."
+
+"I have no objection," said I; "I feel rather heated, and at present
+should prefer tea to ale--'Everything in its season,' as the surgeon
+said."
+
+Thereupon Belle prepared tea, and, as we were taking it, she said, "What
+did you see and hear at the public-house?"
+
+"Really," said I, "you appear to have your full portion of curiosity;
+what matters it to you what I saw and heard at the public-house?"
+
+"It matters very little to me," said Belle; "I merely inquired of you,
+for the sake of a little conversation--you were silent, and it is
+uncomfortable for two people to sit together without opening their
+lips--at least I think so."
+
+"One only feels uncomfortable," said I, "in being silent, when one
+happens to be thinking of the individual with whom one is in company.  To
+tell you the truth, I was not thinking of my companion, but of certain
+company with whom I had been at the public-house."
+
+"Really, young man," said Belle, "you are not over complimentary; but who
+may this wonderful company have been--some young--?" and here Belle
+stopped.
+
+"No," said I, "there was no young person--if person you were going to
+say.  There was a big portly landlord, whom I dare say you have seen; a
+noisy savage Radical, who wanted at first to fasten upon me a quarrel
+about America, but who subsequently drew in his horns; then there was a
+strange fellow, a prowling priest, I believe, whom I have frequently
+heard of, who at first seemed disposed to side with the Radical against
+me, and afterwards with me against the Radical.  There, you know my
+company, and what took place."
+
+"Was there no one else?" said Belle.
+
+"You are mighty curious," said I.  "No, none else, except a poor simple
+mechanic, and some common company, who soon went away."
+
+Belle looked at me for a moment, and then appeared to be lost in
+thought--"America!" said she, musingly--"America!"
+
+"What of America?" said I.
+
+"I have heard that it is a mighty country."
+
+"I dare say it is," said I; "I have heard my father say that the
+Americans are first-rate marksmen."
+
+"I heard nothing about that," said Belle; "what I heard was, that it is a
+great and goodly land, where people can walk about without jostling, and
+where the industrious can always find bread; I have frequently thought of
+going thither."
+
+"Well," said I, "the Radical in the public-house will perhaps be glad of
+your company thither; he is as great an admirer of America as yourself,
+though I believe on different grounds."
+
+"I shall go by myself," said Belle, "unless--unless that should happen
+which is not likely--I am not fond of Radicals no more than I am of
+scoffers and mockers."
+
+"Do you mean to say that I am a scoffer and mocker?"
+
+"I don't wish to say you are," said Belle; "but some of your words sound
+strangely like scoffing and mocking.  I have now one thing to beg, which
+is, that if you have anything to say against America, you would speak it
+out boldly."
+
+"What should I have to say against America?  I never was there."
+
+"Many people speak against America who never were there."
+
+"Many people speak in praise of America who never were there; but with
+respect to myself, I have not spoken for or against America."
+
+"If you liked America you would speak in its praise."
+
+"By the same rule, if I disliked America I should speak against it."
+
+"I can't speak with you," said Belle; "but I see you dislike the
+country."
+
+"The country!"
+
+"Well, the people--don't you?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Why do you dislike them?"
+
+"Why, I have heard my father say that the American marksmen, led on by a
+chap of the name of Washington, sent the English to the right-about in
+double-quick time."
+
+"And that is your reason for disliking the Americans?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "that is my reason for disliking them."
+
+"Will you take another cup of tea?" said Belle.
+
+I took another cup; we were again silent.  "It is rather uncomfortable,"
+said I, at last, "for people to sit together without having anything to
+say."
+
+"Were you thinking of your company?" said Belle.
+
+"What company?" said I.
+
+"The present company."
+
+"The present company! oh, ah!--I remember that I said one only feels
+uncomfortable in being silent with a companion, when one happens to be
+thinking of the companion.  Well, I had been thinking of you the last two
+or three minutes, and had just come to the conclusion, that to prevent us
+both feeling occasionally uncomfortable towards each other, having
+nothing to say, it would be as well to have a standing subject, on which
+to employ our tongues.  Belle, I have determined to give you lessons in
+Armenian."
+
+"What is Armenian?"
+
+"Did you ever hear of Ararat?"
+
+"Yes, that was the place where the ark rested; I have heard the chaplain
+in the great house talk of it; besides, I have read of it in the Bible."
+
+"Well, Armenian is the speech of people of that place, and I should like
+to teach it you."
+
+"To prevent--"
+
+"Ay, ay, to prevent our occasionally feeling uncomfortable together.
+Your acquiring it besides might prove of ulterior advantage to us both;
+for example, suppose you and I were in promiscuous company, at Court, for
+example, and you had something to communicate to me which you did not
+wish anyone else to be acquainted with, how safely you might communicate
+it to me in Armenian."
+
+"Would not the language of the roads do as well?" said Belle.
+
+"In some places it would," said I, "but not at Court, owing to its
+resemblance to thieves' slang.  There is Hebrew, again, which I was
+thinking of teaching you, till the idea of being presented at Court made
+me abandon it, from the probability of our being understood, in the event
+of our speaking it, by at least half a dozen people in our vicinity.
+There is Latin, it is true, or Greek, which we might speak aloud at Court
+with perfect confidence of safety, but upon the whole I should prefer
+teaching you Armenian, not because it would be a safer language to hold
+communication with at Court, but because, not being very well grounded in
+it myself, I am apprehensive that its words and forms may escape from my
+recollection, unless I have sometimes occasion to call them forth."
+
+"I am afraid we shall have to part company before I have learnt it," said
+Belle; "in the mean time, if I wish to say anything to you in private,
+somebody being by, shall I speak in the language of the roads?"
+
+"If no roadster is nigh, you may," said I, "and I will do my best to
+understand you.  Belle, I will now give you a lesson in Armenian."
+
+"I suppose you mean no harm?" said Belle.
+
+"Not in the least; I merely propose the thing to prevent our occasionally
+feeling uncomfortable together.  Let us begin."
+
+"Stop till I have removed the tea-things," said Belle; and, getting up,
+she removed them to her own encampment.
+
+"I am ready," said Belle, returning, and taking her former seat, "to join
+with you in anything which will serve to pass away the time agreeably,
+provided there is no harm in it."
+
+"Belle," said I, "I have determined to commence the course of Armenian
+lessons by teaching you the numerals; but, before I do that, it will be
+as well to tell you that the Armenian language is called Haik."
+
+"I am sure that word will hang upon my memory," said Belle.
+
+"Why hang upon it?" said I.
+
+"Because the old women in the great house used to call so the
+chimney-hook, on which they hung the kettle; in like manner, on the hake
+of my memory I will hang your hake."
+
+"Good!" said I, "you will make an apt scholar; but, mind, that I did not
+say hake, but haik; the words are, however, very much alike; and, as you
+observe, upon your hake you may hang my haik.  We will now proceed to the
+numerals."
+
+"What are numerals?" said Belle.
+
+"Numbers.  I will say the Haikan numbers up to ten.  There, have you
+heard them?"--"Yes."  "Well, try and repeat them."
+
+"I only remember number one," said Belle, "and that because it is me."
+
+"I will repeat them again," said I, "and pay great attention.  Now, try
+again."
+
+"Me, jergo, earache."
+
+"I neither said jergo, nor earache.  I said yergou and yerek.  Belle, I
+am afraid I shall have some difficulty with you as a scholar."
+
+Belle made no answer.  Her eyes were turned in the direction of the
+winding path, which led from the bottom of the hollow where we were
+seated, to the plain above.  "Gorgio shunella," she said, at length, in a
+low voice.
+
+"Pure Rommany," said I; "where?" I added, in a whisper.
+
+"Dovey odoi," said Belle, nodding with her head towards the path.
+
+"I will soon see who it is," said I; and starting up, I rushed towards
+the pathway, intending to lay violent hands on any one I might find
+lurking in its windings.  Before, however, I had reached its
+commencement, a man, somewhat above the middle height, advanced from it
+into the dingle, in whom I recognised the man in black, whom I had seen
+in the public-house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XC.
+
+
+Buona Sera--Rather Apprehensive--The Steep Bank--Lovely
+Virgin--Hospitality--Tory Minister--Custom of the Country--Sneering
+Smile--Wandering Zigan--Gypsies' Cloaks--Certain Faculty--Acute
+Answer--Various Ways--Adio--Best Hollands.
+
+The man in black and myself stood opposite to each other for a minute or
+two in silence; I will not say that we confronted each other that time,
+for the man in black, after a furtive glance, did not look me in the
+face, but kept his eyes fixed, apparently on the leaves of a bunch of
+ground nuts which were growing at my feet.  At length, looking around the
+dingle, he exclaimed, "Buona Sera, I hope I don't intrude."
+
+"You have as much right here," said I, "as I or my companion; but you had
+no right to stand listening to our conversation."
+
+"I was not listening," said the man, "I was hesitating whether to advance
+or retire; and if I heard some of your conversation, the fault was not
+mine."
+
+"I do not see why you should have hesitated if your intentions were
+good," said I.
+
+"I think the kind of place in which I found myself, might excuse some
+hesitation," said the man in black, looking around; "moreover, from what
+I had seen of your demeanour at the public-house, I was rather
+apprehensive that the reception I might experience at your hands might be
+more rough than agreeable."
+
+"And what may have been your motive for coming to this place?" said I.
+
+"Per far visita a sua signoria, ecco il motivo."
+
+"Why do you speak to me in that gibberish," said I; "do you think I
+understand it?"
+
+"It is not Armenian," said the man in black; "but it might serve in a
+place like this, for the breathing of a little secret communication, were
+any common roadster near at hand.  It would not do at Court, it is true,
+being the language of singing women, and the like; but we are not at
+Court--when we are, I can perhaps summon up a little indifferent Latin,
+if I have anything private to communicate to the learned Professor."
+
+At the conclusion of this speech the man in black lifted up his head,
+and, for some moments, looked me in the face.  The muscles of his own
+seemed to be slightly convulsed, and his mouth opened in a singular
+manner.
+
+"I see," said I, "that for some time you were standing near me, and my
+companion, in the mean act of listening."
+
+"Not at all," said the man in black; "I heard from the steep bank above,
+that to which I have now alluded, whilst I was puzzling myself to find
+the path which leads to your retreat.  I made, indeed, nearly the compass
+of the whole thicket before I found it."
+
+"And how did you know that I was here?" I demanded.
+
+"The landlord of the public-house, with whom I had some conversation
+concerning you, informed me that he had no doubt I should find you in
+this place, to which he gave me instructions not very clear.  But now I
+am here, I crave permission to remain a little time, in order that I may
+hold some communion with you."
+
+"Well," said I, "since you are come, you are welcome, please to step this
+way."
+
+Thereupon I conducted the man in black to the fire-place, where Belle was
+standing, who had risen from her stool on my springing up to go in quest
+of the stranger.  The man in black looked at her with evident curiosity,
+then making her rather a graceful bow, "Lovely virgin," said he,
+stretching out his hand, "allow me to salute your fingers."
+
+"I am not in the habit of shaking hands with strangers," said Belle.
+
+"I did not presume to request to shake hands with you," said the man in
+black, "I merely wished to be permitted to salute with my lips the
+extremity of your two fore-fingers."
+
+"I never permit anything of the kind," said Belle, "I do not approve of
+such unmanly ways, they are only befitting those who lurk in corners or
+behind trees, listening to the conversation of people who would fain be
+private."
+
+"Do you take me for a listener, then?" said the man in black.
+
+"Ay, indeed I do," said Belle; "the young man may receive your excuses,
+and put confidence in them if he please, but for my part I neither admit
+them, nor believe them;" and thereupon flinging her long hair back, which
+was hanging over her cheeks, she seated herself on her stool.
+
+"Come, Belle," said I, "I have bidden the gentleman welcome; I beseech
+you, therefore, to make him welcome, he is a stranger, where we are at
+home, therefore, even did we wish him away, we are bound to treat him
+kindly."
+
+"That's not English doctrine," said the man in black.
+
+"I thought the English prided themselves on their hospitality," said I.
+
+"They do so," said the man in black; "they are proud of showing
+hospitality to people above them, that is to those who do not want it,
+but of the hospitality which you were now describing, and which is
+Arabian, they know nothing.  No Englishman will tolerate another in his
+house, from whom he does not expect advantage of some kind, and to those
+from whom he does, he can be civil enough.  An Englishman thinks that,
+because he is in his own house, he has a right to be boorish and brutal
+to any one who is disagreeable to him, as all those are who are really in
+want of assistance.  Should a hunted fugitive rush into an Englishman's
+house, beseeching protection, and appealing to the master's feelings of
+hospitality, the Englishman would knock him down in the passage."
+
+"You are too general," said I, "in your strictures; Lord ---, the
+unpopular Tory minister, was once chased through the streets of London by
+a mob, and, being in danger of his life, took shelter in the shop of a
+Whig linendraper, declaring his own unpopular name, and appealing to the
+linendraper's feelings of hospitality; whereupon the linendraper, utterly
+forgetful of all party rancour, nobly responded to the appeal, and
+telling his wife to conduct his lordship upstairs, jumped over the
+counter, with his ell in his hand, and placing himself with half-a-dozen
+of his assistants at the door of his boutique, manfully confronted the
+mob, telling them that he would allow himself to be torn to a thousand
+pieces, ere he would permit them to injure a hair of his lordship's head;
+what do you think of that?"
+
+"He! he! he!" tittered the man in black.
+
+"Well," said I, "I am afraid your own practice is not very different from
+that which you have been just now describing, you sided with the Radical
+in the public-house against me, as long as you thought him the most
+powerful, and then turned against him, when you saw he was cowed.  What
+have you to say to that?"
+
+"O! when one is in Rome, I mean England, one must do as they do in
+England, I was merely conforming to the custom of the country, he! he!
+but I beg your pardon here, as I did in the public-house.  I made a
+mistake."
+
+"Well," said I, "we will drop the matter, but pray seat yourself on that
+stone, and I will sit down on the grass near you."
+
+The man in black, after proffering two or three excuses for occupying
+what he supposed to be my seat, sat down upon the stone, and I squatted
+down, gypsy fashion, just opposite to him, Belle sitting on her stool a
+slight distance on my right.  After a time I addressed him thus.  "Am I
+to reckon this a mere visit of ceremony? should it prove so, it will be,
+I believe, the first visit of the kind ever paid me."
+
+"Will you permit me to ask," said the man in black,--"the weather is very
+warm," said he, interrupting himself, and taking off his hat.
+
+I now observed that he was partly bald, his red hair having died away
+from the fore part of his crown--his forehead was high, his eyebrows
+scanty, his eyes grey and sly, with a downward tendency, his nose was
+slightly aquiline, his mouth rather large--a kind of sneering smile
+played continually on his lips, his complexion was somewhat rubicund.
+
+"A bad countenance," said Belle, in the language of the roads, observing
+that my eyes were fixed on his face.
+
+"Does not my countenance please you, fair damsel?" said the man in black,
+resuming his hat and speaking in a peculiarly gentle voice.
+
+"How," said I, "do you understand the language of the roads?"
+
+"As little as I do Armenian," said the man in black; "but I understand
+look and tone."
+
+"So do I, perhaps," retorted Belle; "and, to tell you the truth, I like
+your tone as little as your face."
+
+"For shame," said I; "have you forgot what I was saying just now about
+the duties of hospitality?  You have not yet answered my question," said
+I, addressing myself to the man, "with respect to your visit."
+
+"Will you permit me to ask who you are?"
+
+"Do you see the place where I live?" said I.
+
+"I do," said the man in black, looking around.
+
+"Do you know the name of this place?"
+
+"I was told it was Mumpers', or Gypsies' Dingle," said the man in black.
+
+"Good," said I; "and this forge and tent, what do they look like?"
+
+"Like the forge and tent of a wandering Zigan; I have seen the like in
+Italy."
+
+"Good," said I; "they belong to me."
+
+"Are you, then, a Gypsy?" said the man in black.
+
+"What else should I be?"
+
+"But you seem to have been acquainted with various individuals with whom
+I have likewise had acquaintance; and you have even alluded to matters,
+and even words, which have passed between me and them."
+
+"Do you know how Gypsies live?" said I.
+
+"By hammering old iron, I believe, and telling fortunes."
+
+"Well," said I, "there's my forge, and yonder is some iron, though not
+old, and by your own confession I am a soothsayer."
+
+"But how did you come by your knowledge?"
+
+"O," said I, "if you want me to reveal the secrets of my trade, I have,
+of course, nothing further to say.  Go to the scarlet dyer, and ask him
+how he dyes cloth."
+
+"Why scarlet?" said the man in black.  "Is it because Gypsies blush like
+scarlet?"
+
+"Gypsies never blush," said I; "but Gypsies' cloaks are scarlet."
+
+"I should almost take you for a Gypsy," said the man in black, "but
+for--"
+
+"For what?" said I.
+
+"But for that same lesson in Armenian, and your general knowledge of
+languages; as for your manners and appearance I will say nothing," said
+the man in black, with a titter.
+
+"And why should not a Gypsy possess a knowledge of languages?" said I.
+
+"Because the Gypsy race is perfectly illiterate," said the man in black;
+"they are possessed, it is true, of a knavish acuteness; and are
+particularly noted for giving subtle and evasive answers--and in your
+answers, I confess, you remind me of them; but that one of the race
+should acquire a learned language like the Armenian, and have a general
+knowledge of literature, is a thing che io non credo afatto."
+
+"What do you take me for?" said I.
+
+"Why," said the man in black, "I should consider you to be a philologist,
+who, for some purpose, has taken up a Gypsy life; but I confess to you
+that your way of answering questions is far too acute for a philologist."
+
+"And why should not a philologist be able to answer questions acutely?"
+said I.
+
+"Because the philological race is the most stupid under Heaven," said the
+man in black; "they are possessed, it is true, of a certain faculty for
+picking up words, and a memory for retaining them; but that any one of
+the sect should be able to give a rational answer, to say nothing of an
+acute one, on any subject--even though the subject were philology--is a
+thing of which I have no idea."
+
+"But you found me giving a lesson in Armenian to this handmaid?"
+
+"I believe I did," said the man in black.
+
+"And you heard me give what you are disposed to call acute answers to the
+questions you asked me?"
+
+"I believe I did," said the man in black.
+
+"And would any one but a philologist think of giving a lesson in Armenian
+to a handmaid in a dingle?"
+
+"I should think not," said the man in black.
+
+"Well, then, don't you see that it is possible for a philologist to give
+not only a rational, but an acute answer?"
+
+"I really don't know," said the man in black.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" said I.
+
+"Merely puzzled," said the man in black.
+
+"Puzzled?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Really puzzled?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Remain so."
+
+"Well," said the man in black, rising, "puzzled or not, I will no longer
+trespass upon your and this young lady's retirement; only allow me,
+before I go, to apologize for my intrusion."
+
+"No apology is necessary," said I; "will you please to take anything
+before you go?  I think this young lady, at my request, would contrive to
+make you a cup of tea."
+
+"Tea!" said the man in black--"he! he!  I don't drink tea; I don't like
+it--if, indeed, you had," and here he stopped.
+
+"There's nothing like gin and water, is there?" said I, "but I am sorry
+to say I have none."
+
+"Gin and water," said the man in black, "how do you know that I am fond
+of gin and water?"
+
+"Did I not see you drinking some at the public-house?"
+
+"You did," said the man in black, "and I remember, that when I called for
+some, you repeated my words--permit me to ask, is gin and water an
+unusual drink in England?"
+
+"It is not usually drunk cold, and with a lump of sugar," said I.
+
+"And did you know who I was by my calling for it so?"
+
+"Gypsies have various ways of obtaining information," said I.
+
+"With all your knowledge," said the man in black, "you do not appear to
+have known that I was coming to visit you?"
+
+"Gypsies do not pretend to know anything which relates to themselves,"
+said I; "but I advise you, if you ever come again, to come openly."
+
+"Have I your permission to come again?" said the man in black.
+
+"Come when you please; this dingle is as free for you as me."
+
+"I will visit you again," said the man in black--"till then, addio."
+
+"Belle," said I, after the man in black had departed, "we did not treat
+that man very hospitably; he left us without having eaten or drunk at our
+expense."
+
+"You offered him some tea," said Belle, "which, as it is mine, I should
+have grudged him, for I like him not."
+
+"Our liking or disliking him had nothing to do with the matter, he was
+our visitor and ought not to have been permitted to depart dry; living as
+we do in this desert, we ought always to be prepared to administer to the
+wants of our visitors.  Belle, do you know where to procure any good
+Hollands?"
+
+"I think I do," said Belle, "but--"
+
+"I will have no buts.  Belle, I expect that with as little delay as
+possible you procure, at my expense, the best Hollands you can find."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCI.
+
+
+Excursions--Adventurous English--Opaque Forests--The Greatest Patience.
+
+Time passed on, and Belle and I lived in the dingle; when I say lived,
+the reader must not imagine that we were always there.  She went out upon
+her pursuits, and I went out where inclination led me; but my excursions
+were very short ones, and hers occasionally occupied whole days and
+nights.  If I am asked how we passed the time when we were together in
+the dingle, I would answer that we passed the time very tolerably, all
+things considered; we conversed together, and when tired of conversing I
+would sometimes give Belle a lesson in Armenian; her progress was not
+particularly brilliant, but upon the whole satisfactory; in about a
+fortnight she had hung up one hundred Haikan numerals upon the hake of
+her memory.  I found her conversation highly entertaining; she had seen
+much of England and Wales, and had been acquainted with some of the most
+remarkable characters who travelled the roads at that period; and let me
+be permitted to say that many remarkable characters have travelled the
+roads of England, of whom fame has never said a word.  I loved to hear
+her anecdotes of these people; some of whom I found had occasionally
+attempted to lay violent hands either upon her person or effects, and had
+invariably been humbled by her without the assistance of either justice
+or constable.  I could clearly see, however, that she was rather tired of
+England, and wished for a change of scene; she was particularly fond of
+talking of America, to which country her aspirations chiefly tended.  She
+had heard much of America, which had excited her imagination; for at that
+time America was much talked of, on roads and in homesteads, at least so
+said Belle, who had good opportunities of knowing, and most people
+allowed that it was a good country for adventurous English.  The people
+who chiefly spoke against it, as she informed me, were soldiers disbanded
+upon pensions, the sextons of village churches, and excisemen.  Belle had
+a craving desire to visit that country, and to wander with cart and
+little animal amongst its forests; when I would occasionally object, that
+she would be exposed to danger from strange and perverse customers, she
+said that she had not wandered the roads of England so long and alone, to
+be afraid of anything which might befall in America; and that she hoped,
+with God's favour, to be able to take her own part, and to give to
+perverse customers as good as they might bring.  She had a dauntless
+heart, that same Belle: such was the staple of Belle's conversation.  As
+for mine, I would endeavour to entertain her with strange dreams of
+adventure, in which I figured in opaque forests, strangling wild beasts,
+or discovering and plundering the hordes of dragons; and sometimes I
+would narrate to her other things far more genuine--how I had tamed
+savage mares, wrestled with Satan, and had dealings with ferocious
+publishers.  Belle had a kind heart, and would weep at the accounts I
+gave her of my early wrestlings with the dark Monarch.  She would sigh,
+too, as I recounted the many slights and degradations I had received at
+the hands of ferocious publishers; but she had the curiosity of a woman;
+and once, when I talked to her of the triumphs which I had achieved over
+unbroken mares, she lifted up her head and questioned me as to the secret
+of the virtue which I possessed over the aforesaid animals; whereupon I
+sternly reprimanded, and forthwith commanded her to repeat the Armenian
+numerals; and, on her demurring, I made use of words, to escape which she
+was glad to comply, saying the Armenian numerals from one to a hundred,
+which numerals, as a punishment for her curiosity, I made her repeat
+three times, loading her with the bitterest reproaches whenever she
+committed the slightest error, either in accent or pronunciation, which
+reproaches she appeared to bear with the greatest patience.  And now I
+have given a very fair account of the manner in which Isopel Berners and
+myself passed our time in the dingle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCII.
+
+
+The Landlord--Rather Too Old--Without a Shilling--Reputation--A Fortnight
+Ago--Liquids--The Main Chance--Respectability--Irrational
+Beings--Parliament Cove--My Brewer.
+
+Amongst other excursions, I went several times to the public-house to
+which I introduced the reader in a former chapter.  I had experienced
+such beneficial effects from the ale I had drunk on that occasion, that I
+wished to put its virtue to a frequent test; nor did the ale on
+subsequent trials belie the good opinion which I had at first formed of
+it.  After each visit which I made to the public-house, I found my frame
+stronger, and my mind more cheerful than they had previously been.  The
+landlord appeared at all times glad to see me, and insisted that I should
+sit within the bar, where, leaving his other guests to be attended to by
+a niece of his who officiated as his housekeeper, he would sit beside me
+and talk of matters concerning "the ring," indulging himself with a cigar
+and a glass of sherry, which he told me was his favourite wine, whilst I
+drank my ale.  "I loves the conversation of all you coves of the ring,"
+said he once, "which is natural, seeing as how I have fought in a ring
+myself.  Ah, there is nothing like the ring; I wish I was not rather too
+old to go again into it.  I often think I should like to have another
+rally--one more rally, and then--but there's a time for all things--youth
+will be served, every dog has his day, and mine has been a fine one--let
+me be content.  After beating Tom of Hopton, there was not much more to
+be done in the way of reputation; I have long sat in my bar the wonder
+and glory of this here neighbourhood.  I'm content, as far as reputation
+goes; I only wish money would come in a little faster; however, the next
+main of cocks will bring me in something handsome--comes off next
+Wednesday at --- have ventured ten five pound notes--shouldn't say
+ventured either--run no risk at all, because why?  I knows my birds."
+About ten days after this harangue, I called again at about three o'clock
+one afternoon.  The landlord was seated on a bench by a table in the
+common room, which was entirely empty; he was neither smoking nor
+drinking, but sat with his arms folded, and his head hanging down over
+his breast.  At the sound of my step he looked up; "Ah," said he, "I am
+glad you are come, I was just thinking about you."  "Thank you," said I;
+"it was very kind of you, especially at a time like this, when your mind
+must be full of your good fortune.  Allow me to congratulate you on the
+sums of money you won by the main of cocks at ---.  I hope you brought it
+all safe home."  "Safe home!" said the landlord; "I brought myself safe
+home, and that was all, came home without a shilling, regularly done,
+cleaned out."  "I am sorry for that," said I; "but after you had won the
+money, you ought to have been satisfied, and not risked it again--how did
+you lose it?  I hope not by the pea and thimble."  "Pea and thimble,"
+said the landlord--"not I; those confounded cocks left me nothing to lose
+by the pea and thimble."  "Dear me," said I; "I thought that you knew
+your birds."  "Well, so I did," said the landlord, "I knew the birds to
+be good birds, and so they proved, and would have won if better birds had
+not been brought against them, of which I knew nothing, and so do you see
+I am done, regularly done."  "Well," said I, "don't be cast down; there
+is one thing of which the cocks by their misfortune cannot deprive
+you--your reputation; make the most of that, give up cock-fighting, and
+be content with the custom of your house, of which you will always have
+plenty, as long as you are the wonder and glory of the neighbourhood."
+
+The landlord struck the table before him violently with his fist.
+"Confound my reputation!" said he.  "No reputation that I have will be
+satisfaction to my brewer for the seventy pounds I owe him.  Reputation
+won't pass for the current coin of this here realm; and let me tell you,
+that if it a'n't backed by some of it, it a'n't a bit better than rotten
+cabbage, as I have found.  Only three weeks since I was, as I told you,
+the wonder and glory of the neighbourhood; and people used to come and
+look at me, and worship me, but as soon as it began to be whispered about
+that I owed money to the brewer, they presently left off all that kind of
+thing; and now, during the last three days, since the tale of my
+misfortune with the cocks has got wind, almost everybody has left off
+coming to the house, and the few who does, merely comes to insult and
+flout me.  It was only last night that fellow, Hunter, called me an old
+fool in my own kitchen here.  He wouldn't have called me a fool a
+fortnight ago; 'twas I called him fool then, and last night he called me
+old fool; what do you think of that? the man that beat Tom, of Hopton, to
+be called, not only a fool, but an old fool; and I hadn't heart, with one
+blow of this here fist into his face, to send his head ringing against
+the wall; for when a man's pocket is low, do you see, his heart a'n't
+much higher; but it is of no use talking, something must be done.  I was
+thinking of you just as you came in, for you are just the person that can
+help me."
+
+"If you mean," said I, "to ask me to lend you the money which you want,
+it will be to no purpose, as I have very little of my own, just enough
+for my own occasions; it is true, if you desired it, I would be your
+intercessor with the person to whom you owe the money, though I should
+hardly imagine that anything I could say--"  "You are right there," said
+the landlord, "much the brewer would care for anything you could say on
+my behalf--your going would be the very way to do me up entirely.  A
+pretty opinion he would have of the state of my affairs if I were to send
+him such a 'cessor as you, and as for your lending me money, don't think
+I was ever fool enough to suppose either that you had any, or if you had
+that you would be fool enough to lend me any.  No, no, the coves of the
+ring knows better, I have been in the ring myself, and knows what a
+fighting cove is, and though I was fool enough to back those birds, I was
+never quite fool enough to lend anybody money.  What I am about to
+propose is something very different from going to my landlord, or lending
+any capital; something which, though it will put money into my pocket,
+will likewise put something handsome into your own.  I want to get up a
+fight in this here neighbourhood, which would be sure to bring plenty of
+people to my house, for a week before and after it takes place, and as
+people can't come without drinking, I think I could, during one
+fortnight, get off for the brewer all the sour and unsaleable liquids he
+now has, which people wouldn't drink at any other time, and by that
+means, do you see, liquidate my debt; then, by means of betting, making
+first all right, do you see, I have no doubt that I could put something
+handsome into my pocket and yours, for I should wish you to be the
+fighting man, as I think I can depend upon you."  "You really must excuse
+me," said I, "I have no wish to figure as a pugilist, besides there is
+such a difference in our ages; you may be the stronger man of the two,
+and perhaps the hardest hitter, but I am in much better condition, am
+more active on my legs, so that I am almost sure I should have the
+advantage, for, as you very properly observed, 'Youth will be served.'"
+"Oh, I didn't mean to fight," said the landlord, "I think I could beat
+you if I were to train a little; but in the fight I propose I looks more
+to the main chance than anything else.  I question whether half so many
+people could be brought together if you were to fight with me as the
+person I have in view, or whether there would be half such opportunities
+for betting, for I am a man, do you see, the person I wants you to fight
+with is not a man, but the young woman you keeps company with."
+
+"The young woman I keep company with," said I, "pray what do you mean?"
+
+"We will go into the bar, and have something," said the landlord, getting
+up.  "My niece is out, and there is no one in the house, so we can talk
+the matter over quietly."  Thereupon I followed him into the bar, where,
+having drawn me a jug of ale, helped himself as usual to a glass of
+sherry, and lighted a cigar, he proceeded to explain himself farther.
+"What I wants, is to get up a fight between a man and a woman; there
+never has yet been such a thing in the ring, and the mere noise of the
+matter would bring thousands of people together, quite enough to drink
+out, for the thing should be close to my house, all the brewer's stock of
+liquids, both good and bad."  "But," said I, "you were the other day
+boasting of the respectability of your house; do you think that a fight
+between a man and a woman close to your establishment would add to its
+respectability?"  "Confound the respectability of my house," said the
+landlord, "will the respectability of my house pay the brewer, or keep
+the roof over my head?  No, no! when respectability won't keep a man, do
+you see, the best thing is to let it go and wander.  Only let me have my
+own way, and both the brewer, myself, and every one of us, will be
+satisfied.  And then the betting--what a deal we may make by the
+betting--and that we shall have all to ourselves, you, I, and the young
+woman; the brewer will have no hand in that.  I can manage to raise ten
+pounds, and if by flashing that about, I don't manage to make a hundred,
+call me horse."  "But, suppose," said I, "the party should lose, on whom
+you sport your money, even as the birds did?"  "We must first make all
+right," said the landlord, "as I told you before; the birds were
+irrational beings, and therefore couldn't come to an understanding with
+the others, as you and the young woman can.  The birds fought fair; but I
+intend that you and the young woman should fight cross."  "What do you
+mean by cross?" said I.  "Come, come," said the landlord, "don't attempt
+to gammon me; you in the ring, and pretend not to know what fighting
+cross is.  That won't do, my fine fellow; but as no one is near us, I
+will speak out.  I intend that you and the young woman should understand
+one another and agree beforehand which should be beat; and if you take my
+advice you will determine between you that the young woman shall be beat,
+as I am sure that the odds will run high upon her, her character as a
+fist woman being spread far and wide, so that all the flats who think it
+will be all right, will back her, as I myself would, if I thought it
+would be a fair thing."  "Then," said I, "you would not have us fight
+fair?"  "By no means," said the landlord, "because why?  I conceives that
+a cross is a certainty to those who are in it, whereas by the fair thing
+one may lose all he has."  "But," said I, "you said the other day, that
+you liked the fair thing."  "That was by way of gammon," said the
+landlord; "just, do you see, as a Parliament cove might say, speechifying
+from a barrel to a set of flats, whom he means to sell.  Come, what do
+you think of the plan?"
+
+"It is a very ingenious one," said I.
+
+"A'n't it?" said the landlord.  "The folks in this neighbourhood are
+beginning to call me old fool, but if they don't call me something else,
+when they sees me friends with the brewer, and money in my pocket, my
+name is not Catchpole.  Come, drink your ale, and go home to the young
+gentlewoman."
+
+"I am going," said I, rising from my seat, after finishing the remainder
+of the ale.
+
+"Do you think she'll have any objection?" said the landlord.
+
+"To do what?" said I.
+
+"Why, to fight cross."
+
+"Yes, I do," said I.
+
+"But you will do your best to persuade her?"
+
+"No, I will not," said I.
+
+"Are you fool enough to wish to fight fair?"
+
+"No!" said I, "I am wise enough to wish not to fight at all."
+
+"And how's my brewer to be paid?" said the landlord.
+
+"I really don't know," said I.
+
+"I'll change my religion," said the landlord.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIII.
+
+
+Another Visit--_A la Margutte_--Clever Man--Napoleon's Estimate--Another
+Statue.
+
+One evening Belle and myself received another visit from the man in
+black.  After a little conversation of not much importance, I asked him
+whether he would not take some refreshment, assuring him that I was now
+in possession of some very excellent Hollands which, with a glass, a jug
+of water, and a lump of sugar, were heartily at his service; he accepted
+my offer, and Belle going with a jug to the spring, from which she was in
+the habit of procuring water for tea, speedily returned with it full of
+the clear, delicious water of which I have already spoken.  Having placed
+the jug by the side of the man in black, she brought him a glass and
+spoon, and a tea-cup, the latter containing various lumps of snowy-white
+sugar: in the meantime I had produced a bottle of the stronger liquid.
+The man in black helped himself to some water, and likewise to some
+Hollands, the proportion of water being about two-thirds; then adding a
+lump of sugar, he stirred the whole up, tasted it, and said that it was
+good.
+
+"This is one of the good things of life," he added, after a short pause.
+
+"What are the others?" I demanded.
+
+"There is Malvoisia sack," said the man in black, "and partridge, and
+beccafico."
+
+"And what do you say to high mass?" said I.
+
+"High mass!" said the man in black; "however," he continued, after a
+pause, "I will be frank with you; I came to be so; I may have heard high
+mass on a time, and said it too; but as for any predilection for it, I
+assure you I have no more than for a long High Church sermon."
+
+"You speak _a la Margutte_," said I.
+
+"Margutte!" said the man in black, musingly, "Margutte!"
+
+"You have read Pulci, I suppose?" said I.
+
+"Yes, yes," said the man in black, laughing; "I remember."
+
+"He might be rendered into English," said I, "something in this style:--
+
+    'To which Margutte answered with a sneer,
+    I like the blue no better than the black,
+    My faith consists alone in savoury cheer,
+    In roasted capons, and in potent sack;
+    But above all, in famous gin and clear,
+    Which often lays the Briton on his back,
+    With lump of sugar, and with lympth from well,
+    I drink it, and defy the fiends of hell.'"
+
+"He! he! he!" said the man in black; "that is more than Mezzofante could
+have done for a stanza of Byron."
+
+"A clever man," said I.
+
+"Who?" said the man in black.
+
+"Mezzofante di Bologna."
+
+"He! he! he!" said the man in black; "now I know that you are not a
+Gypsy, at least a soothsayer; no soothsayer would have said that--"
+
+"Why," said I, "does he not understand five-and-twenty tongues?"
+
+"O yes," said the man in black; "and five-and-twenty added to them;
+but--he! he! he! it was principally from him who is certainly the
+greatest of Philologists that I formed my opinion of the sect."
+
+"You ought to speak of him with more respect," said I; "I have heard say
+that he has done good service to your See."
+
+"O, yes," said the man in black; "he has done good service to our See,
+that is, in his way; when the neophytes of the propaganda are to be
+examined in the several tongues in which they are destined to preach, he
+is appointed to question them, the questions being first written down for
+him, or else, he! he! he!  Of course you know Napoleon's estimate of
+Mezzofante; he sent for the linguist from motives of curiosity, and after
+some discourse with him, told him that he might depart; then turning to
+some of his generals, he observed, '_Nous avons eu ici un exemple qu'un
+homme peut avoir beaucoup de paroles avec bien peu d'esprit_.'"
+
+"You are ungrateful to him," said I; "well, perhaps, when he is dead and
+gone you will do him justice."
+
+"True," said the man in black; "when he is dead and gone we intend to
+erect him a statue of wood, on the left-hand side of the door of the
+Vatican library."
+
+"Of wood?" said I.
+
+"He was the son of a carpenter, you know," said the man in black; "the
+figure will be of wood, for no other reason, I assure you; he! he!"
+
+"You should place another statue on the right."
+
+"Perhaps we shall," said the man in black; "but we know of no one amongst
+the philologists of Italy, nor, indeed, of the other countries, inhabited
+by the faithful, worthy to sit parallel in effigy with our illustrissimo;
+when, indeed, we have conquered those regions of the perfidious by
+bringing the inhabitants thereof to the true faith, I have no doubt that
+we shall be able to select one worthy to bear him company, one whose
+statue shall be placed on the right hand of the library, in testimony of
+our joy at his conversion; for, as you know, 'There is more joy,' etc."
+
+"Wood?" said I.
+
+"I hope not," said the man in black; "no, if I be consulted as to the
+material for the statue, I should strongly recommend bronze."
+
+And when the man in black had said this, he emptied his second tumbler of
+its contents, and prepared himself another.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIV.
+
+
+Prerogative--Feeling of Gratitude--A Long History--Alliterative
+Style--Advantageous Specimen--Jesuit Benefice--Not Sufficient--Queen
+Stork's Tragedy--Good Sense--Grandeur and Gentility--Ironmonger's
+Daughter--Clan Mac-Sycophant--Lick-Spittles--A Curiosity--Newspaper
+Editors--Charles the Simple--High-flying Ditty--Dissenters--Lower
+Classes--Priestley's House--Saxon Ancestors--Austin--Renovating
+Glass--Money--Quite Original.
+
+"So you hope to bring these regions again beneath the banner of the Roman
+See?" said I; after the man in black had prepared the beverage, and
+tasted it.
+
+"Hope," said the man in black; "how can we fail?  Is not the Church of
+these regions going to lose its prerogative?"
+
+"Its prerogative?"
+
+"Yes; those who should be the guardians of the religion of England are
+about to grant Papists emancipation and to remove the disabilities from
+Dissenters, which will allow the Holy Father to play his own game in
+England."
+
+On my inquiring how the Holy Father intended to play his game, the man in
+black gave me to understand that he intended for the present to cover the
+land with temples, in which the religion of Protestants would be
+continually scoffed at and reviled.
+
+On my observing that such behaviour would savour strongly of ingratitude,
+the man in black gave me to understand that if I entertained the idea
+that the See of Rome was ever influenced in its actions by any feeling of
+gratitude I was much mistaken, assuring me that if the See of Rome in any
+encounter should chance to be disarmed and its adversary, from a feeling
+of magnanimity, should restore the sword which had been knocked out of
+its hand, the See of Rome always endeavoured on the first opportunity to
+plunge the said sword into its adversary's bosom,--conduct which the man
+in black seemed to think was very wise, and which he assured me had
+already enabled it to get rid of a great many troublesome adversaries,
+and would, he had no doubt, enable it to get rid of a great many more.
+
+On my attempting to argue against the propriety of such behaviour, the
+man in black cut the matter short, by saying, that if one party was a
+fool he saw no reason why the other should imitate it in its folly.
+
+After musing a little while I told him that emancipation had not yet
+passed through the legislature, and that perhaps it never would,
+reminding him that there was often many a slip between the cup and the
+lip; to which observation the man in black agreed, assuring me, however,
+that there was no doubt that emancipation would be carried, inasmuch as
+there was a very loud cry at present in the land; a cry of "tolerance,"
+which had almost frightened the Government out of its wits; who, to get
+rid of the cry, was going to grant all that was asked in the way of
+toleration, instead of telling the people to "Hold their nonsense," and
+cutting them down, provided they continued bawling longer.
+
+I questioned the man in black with respect to the origin of this cry; but
+he said to trace it to its origin would require a long history; that, at
+any rate, such a cry was in existence, the chief raisers of it being
+certain of the nobility, called Whigs, who hoped by means of it to get
+into power, and to turn out certain ancient adversaries of theirs called
+Tories, who were for letting things remain in _statu quo_; that these
+Whigs were backed by a party amongst the people called Radicals, a
+specimen of whom I had seen in the public-house; a set of fellows who
+were always in the habit of bawling against those in place; "and so," he
+added, "by means of these parties, and the hubbub which the Papists and
+other smaller sects are making, a general emancipation will be carried,
+and the Church of England humbled, which is the principal thing which the
+See of Rome cares for."
+
+On my telling the man in black that I believed that even among the high
+dignitaries of the English Church there were many who wished to grant
+perfect freedom to religions of all descriptions, he said he was aware
+that such was the fact, and that such a wish was anything but wise,
+inasmuch as if they had any regard for the religion they professed, they
+ought to stand by it through thick and thin, proclaiming it to be the
+only true one, and denouncing all others, in an alliterative style, as
+dangerous and damnable; whereas, by their present conduct, they were
+bringing their religion into contempt with the people at large, who would
+never continue long attached to a Church, the ministers of which did not
+stand up for it, and likewise cause their own brethren, who had a clearer
+notion of things, to be ashamed of belonging to it.  "I speak advisedly,"
+said he, in continuation, "there is one Platitude."
+
+"And I hope there is only one," said I; "you surely would not adduce the
+likes and dislikes of that poor silly fellow as the criterions of the
+opinions of any party?"
+
+"You know him," said the man in black; "nay, I, heard you mention him in
+the public-house; the fellow is not very wise, I admit, but he has sense
+enough to know, that unless a Church can make people hold their tongues
+when it thinks fit, it is scarcely deserving the name of a Church; no, I
+think that the fellow is not such a very bad stick, and that upon the
+whole he is, or rather was, an advantageous specimen of the High Church
+English clergy, who, for the most part, so far from troubling their heads
+about persecuting people, only think of securing their tithes, eating
+their heavy dinners, puffing out their cheeks with importance on country
+justice benches, and occasionally exhibiting their conceited wives,
+hoyden daughters, and gawky sons at country balls, whereas Platitude--"
+
+"Stop," said I; "you said in the public-house that the Church of England
+was a persecuting Church, and here in the dingle you have confessed that
+one section of it is willing to grant perfect freedom to the exercise of
+all religions, and the other only thinks of leading an easy life."
+
+"Saying a thing in the public-house is a widely-different thing from
+saying it in the dingle," said the man in black; "had the Church of
+England been a persecuting Church, it would not stand in the position in
+which it stands at present; it might, with its opportunities, have spread
+itself over the greater part of the world.  I was about to observe, that
+instead of practising the indolent habits of his High Church brethren,
+Platitude would be working for his money, preaching the proper use of
+fire and faggot, or rather of the halter and the whipping-post,
+encouraging mobs to attack the houses of Dissenters, employing spies to
+collect the scandal of neighbourhoods, in order that he might use it for
+sacerdotal purposes, and, in fact, endeavouring to turn an English parish
+into something like a Jesuit benefice in the south of France."
+
+"He tried that game," said I, "and the parish said--'Pooh, pooh,' and,
+for the most part, went over to the Dissenters."
+
+"Very true," said the man in black, taking a sip at his glass, "but why
+were the Dissenters allowed to preach? why were they not beaten on the
+lips till they spat out blood, with a dislodged tooth or two?  Why, but
+because the authority of the Church of England has, by its own fault,
+become so circumscribed that Mr. Platitude was not able to send a host of
+beadles and sbirri to their chapel to bring them to reason, on which
+account Mr. Platitude is very properly ashamed of his Church, and is
+thinking of uniting himself with one which possesses more vigour and
+authority."
+
+"It may have vigour and authority," said I, "in foreign lands, but in
+these kingdoms the day for practising its atrocities is gone by.  It is
+at present almost below contempt, and is obliged to sue for grace _in
+forma pauperis_."
+
+"Very true," said the man in black, "but let it once obtain emancipation,
+and it will cast its slough, put on its fine clothes, and make converts
+by thousands.  'What a fine Church,' they'll say; 'with what authority it
+speaks--no doubts, no hesitation, no sticking at trifles.'  What a
+contrast to the sleepy English Church! they'll go over to it by millions,
+till it preponderates here over every other, when it will of course be
+voted the dominant one; and then--and then--" and here the man in black
+drank a considerable quantity of gin and water.
+
+"What then?" said I.
+
+"What then?" said the man in black, "why, she will be true to herself.
+Let Dissenters, whether they be Church of England, as perhaps they may
+still call themselves, Methodist, or Presbyterian, presume to grumble,
+and there shall be bruising of lips in pulpits, tying up to
+whipping-posts, cutting off ears and noses--he! he! the farce of King Log
+has been acted long enough; the time for Queen Stork's tragedy is drawing
+nigh;" and the man in black sipped his gin and water in a very exulting
+manner.
+
+"And this is the Church which, according to your assertion in the
+public-house, never persecutes?"
+
+"I have already given you an answer," said the man in black, "with
+respect to the matter of the public-house; it is one of the happy
+privileges of those who belong to my church to deny in the public-house
+what they admit in the dingle; we have high warranty for such double
+speaking.  Did not the foundation stone of our Church, Saint Peter, deny
+in the public-house what he had previously professed in the valley?"
+
+"And do you think," said I, "that the people of England, who have shown
+aversion to anything in the shape of intolerance, will permit such
+barbarities as you have described?"
+
+"Let them become Papists," said the man in black: "only let the majority
+become Papists, and you will see."
+
+"They will never become so," said I; "the good sense of the people of
+England will never permit them to commit such an absurdity."
+
+"The good sense of the people of England!" said the man in black, filling
+himself another glass.
+
+"Yes," said I; "the good sense of not only the upper, but the middle and
+lower classes."
+
+"And of what description of people are the upper class?" said the man in
+black, putting a lump of sugar into his gin and water.
+
+"Very fine people," said I, "monstrously fine people; so, at least, they
+are generally believed to be."
+
+"He! he!" said the man in black; "only those think them so who don't know
+them.  The male part of the upper class are in youth a set of heartless
+profligates; in old age, a parcel of poor, shaking, nervous paillards.
+The female part, worthy to be the sisters and wives of such wretches,
+unmarried, full of cold vice, kept under by vanity and ambition, but
+which, after marriage, they seek not to restrain; in old age, abandoned
+to vapours and horrors; do you think that such beings will afford any
+obstacle to the progress of the Church in these regions, as soon as her
+movements are unfettered?"
+
+"I cannot give an opinion; I know nothing of them, except from a
+distance.  But what think you of the middle classes?"
+
+"Their chief characteristic," said the man in black, "is a rage for
+grandeur and gentility; and that same rage makes us quite sure of them in
+the long run.  Everything that's lofty meets their unqualified
+approbation; whilst everything humble, or, as they call it, 'low,' is
+scouted by them.  They begin to have a vague idea that the religion which
+they have hitherto professed is low; at any rate that it is not the
+religion of the mighty ones of the earth, of the great kings and emperors
+whose shoes they have a vast inclination to kiss, nor was used by the
+grand personages of whom they have read in their novels and romances,
+their Ivanhoes, their Marmions, and their Ladies of the Lake."
+
+"Do you think that the writings of Scott have had any influence in
+modifying their religious opinions?"
+
+"Most certainly I do," said the man in black.  "The writings of that man
+have made them greater fools than they were before.  All their
+conversation now is about gallant knights, princesses, and cavaliers,
+with which his pages are stuffed--all of whom were Papists, or very high
+Church, which is nearly the same thing; and they are beginning to think
+that the religion of such nice sweet-scented gentry must be something
+very superfine.  Why, I know at Birmingham the daughter of an ironmonger,
+who screeches to the piano the Lady of the Lake's hymn to the Virgin
+Mary, always weeps when Mary Queen of Scots is mentioned, and fasts on
+the anniversary of the death of that very wise martyr, Charles the First.
+Why, I would engage to convert such an idiot to popery in a week, were it
+worth my trouble.  _O Cavaliere Gualtiero avete fatto molto in favore
+delle Santa Sede_!"
+
+"If he has," said I, "he has done it unwittingly; I never heard before
+that he was a favourer of the popish delusion."
+
+"Only in theory," said the man in black.  "Trust any of the clan
+Mac-Sycophant for interfering openly and boldly in favour of any cause on
+which the sun does not shine benignantly.  Popery is at present, as you
+say, suing for grace in these regions _in forma pauperis_; but let
+royalty once take it up, let old gouty George once patronize it, and I
+would consent to drink puddle-water, if the very next time the canny Scot
+was admitted to the royal symposium he did not say, 'By my faith, yere
+Majesty, I have always thought, at the bottom of my heart, that popery,
+as ill scrapit tongues ca' it, was a very grand religion; I shall be
+proud to follow your Majesty's example in adopting it.'"
+
+"I doubt not," said I, "that both gouty George and his devoted servant
+will be mouldering in their tombs long before Royalty in England thinks
+about adopting popery."
+
+"We can wait," said the man in black, "in these days of rampant
+gentility, there will be no want of Kings nor of Scots about them."
+
+"But not Walters," said I.
+
+"Our work has been already tolerably well done by one," said the man in
+black; "but if we wanted literature we should never lack in these regions
+hosts of literary men of some kind or other to eulogize us, provided our
+religion were in the fashion, and our popish nobles choose, and they
+always do our bidding, to admit the canaille to their tables, their
+kitchen tables.  As for literature in general," said he, "the Santa Sede
+is not particularly partial to it, it may be employed both ways.  In
+Italy, in particular, it has discovered that literary men are not always
+disposed to be lick-spittles."
+
+"For example, Dante," said I.
+
+"Yes," said the man in black.  "A dangerous personage; that poem of his
+cuts both ways; and then there was Pulci, that Morgante of his cuts both
+ways, or rather one way, and that sheer against us; and then there was
+Aertino, who dealt so hard with the poveri frati; all writers, at least
+Italian ones, are not lick-spittles.  And then in Spain,--'tis true, Lope
+de Vega and Calderon were most inordinate lick-spittles; the Principe
+Constante of the last is a curiosity in its way; and then the Mary Stuart
+of Lope; I think I shall recommend the perusal of that work to the
+Birmingham ironworker's daughter; she has been lately thinking of adding
+'a slight knowledge of the magneeficent language of the Peninsula' to the
+rest of her accomplishments, he! he! he! but then there was Cervantes,
+starving, but straight; he deals us some hard knocks in that second part
+of his Quixote; then there was some of the writers of the picaresque
+novels.  No, all literary men are not lick-spittles, whether in Italy or
+Spain, or, indeed, upon the Continent; it is only in England that all--"
+
+"Come," said I, "mind what you are about to say of English literary men."
+
+"Why should I mind?" said the man in black, "there are no literary men
+here.  I have heard of literary men living in garrets, but not in
+dingles, whatever philologists may do; I may, therefore, speak out
+freely.  It is only in England that literary men are invariably
+lickspittles; on which account, perhaps, they are so despised, even by
+those who benefit by their dirty services.  Look at your fashionable
+novel writers, he! he! and above all at your newspaper editors, ho! ho!"
+
+"You will, of course, except the editors of the --- from your censure of
+the last class?" said I.
+
+"Them!" said the man in black; "why, they might serve as models in the
+dirty trade to all the rest who practise it.  See how they bepraise their
+patrons, the grand Whig nobility, who hope, by raising the cry of
+liberalism, and by putting themselves at the head of the populace, to
+come into power shortly.  I don't wish to be hard, at present, upon those
+Whigs," he continued, "for they are playing our game; but a time will
+come when, not wanting them, we will kick them to a considerable
+distance: and then, when toleration is no longer the cry, and the Whigs
+are no longer backed by the populace, see whether the editors of the ---
+will stand by them; they will prove themselves as expert lick-spittles of
+despotism as of liberalism.  Don't think they will always bespatter the
+Tories and Austria."
+
+"Well," said I, "I am sorry to find that you entertain so low an opinion
+of the spirit of English literary men; we will now return, if you please,
+to the subject of the middle classes; I think your strictures upon them
+in general are rather too sweeping--they are not altogether the foolish
+people you have described.  Look, for example, at that very powerful and
+numerous body the Dissenters, the descendants of those sturdy Patriots
+who hurled Charles the Simple from his throne."
+
+"There are some sturdy fellows amongst them, I do not deny," said the man
+in black, "especially amongst the preachers, clever withal--two or three
+of that class nearly drove Mr. Platitude mad, as perhaps you are aware,
+but they are not very numerous; and the old sturdy sort of preachers are
+fast dropping off, and, as we observe with pleasure, are generally
+succeeded by frothy coxcombs, whom it would not be very difficult to gain
+over.  But what we most rely upon as an instrument to bring the
+Dissenters over to us is the mania for gentility, which amongst them has
+of late become as great, and more ridiculous, than amongst the middle
+classes belonging to the Church of England.  All the plain and simple
+fashions of their forefathers they are either about to abandon, or have
+already done so.  Look at the most part of their chapels, no longer
+modest brick edifices, situated in quiet and retired streets, but
+lunatic-looking erections, in what the simpletons call the modern Gothic
+taste, of Portland-stone, with a cross upon the top, and the site
+generally the most conspicuous that can be found, and look at the manner
+in which they educate their children, I mean those that are wealthy.
+They do not even wish them to be Dissenters, 'the sweet dears shall enjoy
+the advantages of good society, of which their parents were debarred.'
+So the girls are sent to tip-top boarding schools, where amongst other
+trash they read 'Rokeby,' and are taught to sing snatches from that
+high-flying ditty, the 'Cavalier ---'
+
+    'Would you match the base Skippon, and Massey, and Brown
+    With the barons of England, who fight for the crown?'--
+
+he! he! their own names.  Whilst the lads are sent to those hot-beds of
+pride and folly--colleges, whence they return with a greater contempt for
+everything 'low,' and especially for their own pedigree, than they went
+with.  I tell you, friend, the children of Dissenters, if not their
+parents, are going over to the Church, as you call it, and the Church is
+going over to Rome."
+
+"I do not see the justice of that latter assertion at all," said I; "some
+of the Dissenters' children may be coming over to the Church of England,
+and yet the Church of England be very far from going over to Rome."
+
+"In the high road for it, I assure you," said the man in black, "part of
+it is going to abandon, the rest to lose their prerogative, and when a
+Church no longer retains its prerogative, it speedily loses its own
+respect, and that of others."
+
+"Well," said I, "if the higher classes have all the vices and follies
+which you represent, on which point I can say nothing, as I have never
+mixed with them; and even supposing the middle classes are the foolish
+beings you would fain make them, and which I do not believe them as a
+body to be, you would still find some resistance amongst the lower
+classes, I have a considerable respect for their good sense and
+independence of character; but pray let me hear your opinion of them."
+
+"As for the lower classes," said the man in black, "I believe them to be
+the most brutal wretches in the world, the most addicted to foul feeding,
+foul language, and foul vices of every kind; wretches who have neither
+love for country, religion, nor anything save their own vile selves.  You
+surely do not think that they would oppose a change of religion? why,
+there is not one of them but would hurrah for the Pope, or Mahomet, for
+the sake of a hearty gorge and a drunken bout, like those which they are
+treated with at election contests."
+
+"Has your church any followers amongst them?" said I.
+
+"Wherever there happens to be a Romish family of considerable
+possessions," said the man in black, "our church is sure to have
+followers of the lower class, who have come over in the hope of getting
+something in the shape of dole or donation.  As, however, the Romish is
+not yet the dominant religion, and the clergy of the English
+establishment have some patronage to bestow, the churches are not quite
+deserted by the lower classes; yet were the Romish to become the
+established religion, they would, to a certainty, all go over to it; you
+can scarcely imagine what a self-interested set they are--for example,
+the landlord of that public-house in which I first met you, having lost a
+sum of money upon a cock-fight, and his affairs in consequence being in a
+bad condition, is on the eve of coming over to us, in the hope that two
+old Popish females of property, whom, I confess, will advance a sum of
+money to set him up again in the world."
+
+"And what could have put such an idea into the poor fellow's head?" said
+I.
+
+"Oh! he and I have had some conversation upon the state of his affairs,"
+said the man in black; "I think he might make a rather useful convert in
+these parts, provided things take a certain turn, as they doubtless will.
+It is no bad thing to have a fighting fellow, who keeps a public-house,
+belonging to one's religion.  He has been occasionally employed as a
+bully at elections by the Tory party, and he may serve us in the same
+capacity.  The fellow comes of a good stock; I heard him say that his
+father headed the high Church mob, who sacked and burnt Priestley's house
+at Birmingham towards the end of the last century."
+
+"A disgraceful affair," said I.
+
+"What do you mean by a disgraceful affair?" said the man in black.  "I
+assure you that nothing has occurred for the last fifty years which has
+given the high-Church party so much credit in the eyes of Rome as that;
+we did not imagine that the fellows had so much energy.  Had they
+followed up that affair, by twenty others of a similar kind, they would
+by this time have had everything in their own power; but they did not,
+and, as a necessary consequence, they are reduced to almost nothing."
+
+"I suppose," said I, "that your church would have acted very differently
+in its place."
+
+"It has always done so," said the man in black, coolly sipping.  "Our
+church has always armed the brute-population against the genius and
+intellect of a country, provided that same intellect and genius were not
+willing to become its instruments and eulogists; and provided we once
+obtain a firm hold here again, we would not fail to do so.  We would
+occasionally stuff the beastly rabble with horseflesh and bitter ale, and
+then halloo them on against all those who were obnoxious to us."
+
+"Horseflesh and bitter ale!" I replied.
+
+"Yes," said the man in black; "horseflesh and bitter ale, the favourite
+delicacies of their Saxon ancestors, who were always ready to do our
+bidding after a liberal allowance of such cheer.  There is a tradition in
+our church, that before the Northumbrian rabble, at the instigation of
+Austin, attacked and massacred the presbyterian monks of Bangor, they had
+been allowed a good gorge of horseflesh and bitter ale.  He! he! he!"
+continued the man in black, "what a fine spectacle to see such a mob,
+headed by a fellow like our friend, the landlord, sack the house of
+another Priestley!"
+
+"Then you don't deny that we have had a Priestley," said I, "and admit
+the possibility of our having another?  You were lately observing that
+all English literary men were sycophants?"
+
+"Lick-spittles," said the man in black; "yes, I admit that you have had a
+Priestley, but he was a Dissenter of the old class; you have had him, and
+perhaps may have another."
+
+"Perhaps we may," said I.  "But with respect to the lower classes, have
+you mixed much with them?"
+
+"I have mixed with all classes," said the man in black, "and with the
+lower not less than the upper and middle, they are much as I have
+described them; and of the three, the lower are the worst.  I never knew
+one of them that possessed the slightest principle, no, not--.  It is
+true, there was one fellow whom I once met, who--; but it is a long
+story, and the affair happened abroad."
+
+"I ought to know something of the English people," he continued, after a
+moment's pause; "I have been many years amongst them labouring in the
+cause of the Church."
+
+"Your See must have had great confidence in your powers, when it selected
+you to labour for it in these parts."  Said I.
+
+"They chose me," said the man in black, "principally because being of
+British extraction and education, I could speak the English language and
+bear a glass of something strong.  It is the opinion of my See, that it
+would hardly do to send a missionary into a country like this who is not
+well versed in English; a country where they think, so far from
+understanding any language besides his own, scarcely one individual in
+ten speaks his own intelligibly, or an ascetic person where, as they say,
+high and low, male and female, are, at some period of their lives, fond
+of a renovating glass as it is styled, in other words, of tippling."
+
+"Your See appears to entertain a very strange opinion of the English,"
+said I.
+
+"Not altogether an unjust one," said the man in black, lifting the glass
+to his mouth.
+
+"Well," said I, "it is certainly very kind on its part to wish to bring
+back such a set of beings beneath its wing."
+
+"Why, as to the kindness of my See," said the man in black, "I have not
+much to say; my See has generally in what it does a tolerably good
+motive; these heretics possess in plenty what my See has a great
+hankering for, and can turn to a good account--money!"
+
+"The founder of the Christian religion cared nothing for money," said I.
+
+"What have we to do with what the founder of the Christian religion cared
+for?" said the man in black.  "How could our temples be built, and our
+priests supported without money?  But you are unwise to reproach us with
+a desire of obtaining money; you forget that your own church, if the
+Church of England be your own church, as I suppose it is, from the
+willingness which you displayed in the public-house to fight for it, is
+equally avaricious; look at your greedy Bishops, and your corpulent
+Rectors! do they imitate Christ in his disregard for money?  You might as
+well tell me that they imitate Christ in His meekness and humility."
+
+"Well," said I, "whatever their faults may be, you can't say that they go
+to Rome for money."
+
+The man in black made no direct answer, but appeared by the motion of his
+lips to be repeating something to himself.
+
+"I see your glass is again empty," said I; "perhaps you will replenish
+it?"
+
+The man in black arose from his chair, adjusted his habiliments which
+were rather in disorder, and placed upon his head his hat, which he had
+laid aside, then, looking at me, who was still lying on the ground, he
+said--"I might, perhaps, take another glass, though I believe I have had
+quite as much as I can well bear; but I do not wish to hear you utter
+anything more this evening after that last observation of yours--it is
+quite original; I will meditate upon it on my pillow this night after
+having said an ave and a pater--go to Rome for money!"  He then made
+Belle a low bow, slightly motioned to me with his hand as if bidding
+farewell, and then left the dingle with rather uneven steps.
+
+"Go to Rome for money," I heard him say as he ascended the winding path,
+"he! he! he!  Go to Rome for money, ho! ho! ho!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCV.
+
+
+Wooded Retreat--Fresh Shoes--Wood Fire--Ash, when Green--Queen of
+China--Cleverest People--Declensions--Armenian--Thunder--Deep Olive--What
+Do You Mean?--Koul Adonai--The Thick Bushes--Wood Pigeon--Old Goethe.
+
+Nearly three days elapsed without anything of particular moment
+occurring.  Belle drove the little cart containing her merchandise about
+the neighbourhood, returning to the dingle towards the evening.  As for
+myself, I kept within my wooded retreat, working during the periods of
+her absence leisurely at my forge.  Having observed that the quadruped
+which my companion drove was as much in need of shoes as my own had been
+some time previously, I had determined to provide it with a set, and
+during the aforesaid periods occupied myself in preparing them.  As I was
+employed three mornings and afternoons about them, I am sure that the
+reader will agree that I worked leisurely, or rather lazily.  On the
+third day Belle arrived, somewhat later than usual; I was lying on my
+back at the bottom of the dingle, employed in tossing up the shoes, which
+I had produced, and catching them as they fell, some being always in the
+air mounting or descending, somewhat after the fashion of the waters of a
+fountain.
+
+"Why have you been absent so long?" said I to Belle, "it must be long
+past four by the day."
+
+"I have been almost killed by the heat," said Belle; "I was never out in
+a more sultry day--the poor donkey, too, could scarcely move along."
+
+"He shall have fresh shoes," said I, continuing my exercise, "here they
+are, quite ready; to-morrow I will tack them on."
+
+"And why are you playing with them in that manner?" said Belle.
+
+"Partly in triumph at having made them, and partly to show that I can do
+something besides making them; it is not every one who, after having made
+a set of horse-shoes, can keep them going up and down in the air, without
+letting one fall."
+
+"One has now fallen on your chin," said Belle.
+
+"And another on my cheek," said I, getting up, "it is time to discontinue
+the game, for the last shoe drew blood."
+
+Belle went to her own little encampment; and as for myself, after having
+flung the donkey's shoes into my tent, I put some fresh wood on the fire,
+which was nearly out, and hung the kettle over it.  I then issued forth
+from the dingle, and strolled round the wood that surrounded it; for a
+long time I was busied in meditation, looking at the ground, striking
+with my foot, half unconsciously, the tufts of grass and thistles that I
+met in my way.  After some time, I lifted up my eyes to the sky, at first
+vacantly, and then with more attention, turning my head in all directions
+for a minute or two; after which I returned to the dingle.  Isopel was
+seated near the fire, over which the kettle was now hung; she had changed
+her dress--no signs of the dust and fatigue of her late excursion
+remained; she had just added to the fire a small billet of wood, two or
+three of which I had left beside it; the fire cracked, and a sweet odour
+filled the dingle.
+
+"I am fond of sitting by a wood fire," said Belle, "when abroad, whether
+it be hot or cold; I love to see the flames dart out of the wood; but
+what kind is this, and where did you get it?"
+
+"It is ash," said I, "green ash.  Somewhat less than a week ago, whilst I
+was wandering along the road by the side of a wood, I came to a place
+where some peasants were engaged in cutting up and clearing away a
+confused mass of fallen timber: a mighty aged oak had given way the night
+before, and in its fall had shivered some smaller trees; the upper part
+of the oak, and the fragments of the rest, lay across the road.  I
+purchased, for a trifle, a bundle or two, and the wood on the fire is
+part of it--ash, green ash."
+
+"That makes good the old rhyme," said Belle, "which I have heard sung by
+the old women in the great house:--
+
+    'Ash, when green,
+    Is fire for a queen.'"
+
+"And on fairer form of queen, ash fire never shone," said I, "than on
+thine, O beauteous queen of the dingle."
+
+"I am half disposed to be angry with you, young man," said Belle.
+
+"And why not entirely?" said I.
+
+Belle made no reply.
+
+"Shall I tell you?" I demanded.  "You had no objection to the first part
+of the speech, but you did not like being called queen of the dingle.
+Well, if I had the power, I would make you queen of something better than
+the dingle--Queen of China.  Come, let us have tea."
+
+"Something less would content me," said Belle, sighing, as she rose to
+prepare our evening meal.
+
+So we took tea together, Belle and I.  "How delicious tea is after a hot
+summer's day, and a long walk," said she.
+
+"I dare say it is most refreshing then," said I; "but I have heard people
+say that they most enjoy it on a cold winter's night, when the kettle is
+hissing on the fire, and their children playing on the hearth."
+
+Belle sighed.  "Where does tea come from?" she presently demanded.
+
+"From China," said I; "I just now mentioned it, and the mention of it put
+me in mind of tea."
+
+"What kind of country is China?"
+
+"I know very little about it; all I know is, that it is a very large
+country far to the East, but scarcely large enough to contain its
+inhabitants, who are so numerous, that though China does not cover
+one-ninth part of the world, its inhabitants amount to one-third of the
+population of the world."
+
+"And do they talk as we do?"
+
+"O no!  I know nothing of their language; but I have heard that it is
+quite different from all others, and so difficult that none but the
+cleverest people amongst foreigners can master it, on which account,
+perhaps, only the French pretend to know anything about it."
+
+"Are the French so very clever, then?" said Belle.
+
+"They say there are no people like them, at least in Europe.  But talking
+of Chinese reminds me that I have not for some time past given you a
+lesson in Armenian.  The word for tea in Armenian is--by-the-bye, what is
+the Armenian word for tea?"
+
+"That's your affair, not mine," said Belle; "it seems hard that the
+master should ask the scholar."
+
+"Well," said I, "whatever the word may be in Armenian, it is a noun; and
+as we have never yet declined an Armenian noun together, we may as well
+take this opportunity of declining one.  Belle, there are ten declensions
+in Armenian!"
+
+"What's a declension?"
+
+"The way of declining a noun."
+
+"Then, in the civilest way imaginable, I decline the noun.  Is that a
+declension?"
+
+"You should never play on words; to do so is low, vulgar, smelling of the
+pothouse, the workhouse.  Belle, I insist on your declining an Armenian
+noun."
+
+"I have done so already," said Belle.
+
+"If you go on in this way," said I, "I shall decline taking any more tea
+with you.  Will you decline an Armenian noun?"
+
+"I don't like the language," said Belle.  "If you must teach me
+languages, why not teach me French or Chinese?"
+
+"I know nothing of Chinese; and as for French, none but a Frenchman is
+clever enough to speak it--to say nothing of teaching; no, we will stick
+to Armenian, unless, indeed, you would prefer Welsh!"
+
+"Welsh, I have heard, is vulgar," said Belle; "so, if I must learn one of
+the two, I will prefer Armenian, which I never heard of till you
+mentioned it to me; though of the two, I really think Welsh sounds best."
+
+"The Armenian noun," said I, "which I propose for your declension this
+night, is --- which signifieth Master."
+
+"I neither like the word nor the sound," said Belle.
+
+"I can't help that," said I; "it is the word I choose: Master, with all
+its variations, being the first noun, the sound of which I would have you
+learn from my lips.  Come, let us begin--
+
+"A master.  Of a master, etc.  Repeat--"
+
+"I am not much used to say the word," said Belle, "but to oblige you I
+will decline it as you wish;" and thereupon Belle declined Master in
+Armenian.
+
+"You have declined the noun very well," said I; "that is in the singular
+number; we will now go to the plural."
+
+"What is the plural?" said Belle.
+
+"That which implies more than one, for example, Masters; you shall now go
+through Masters in Armenian."
+
+"Never," said Belle, "never; it is bad to have one master, but more I
+would never bear, whether in Armenian or English."
+
+"You do not understand," said I; "I merely want you to decline Masters in
+Armenian."
+
+"I do decline them; I will have nothing to do with them, nor with master
+either; I was wrong to--What sound is that?"
+
+"I did not hear it, but I dare say it is thunder; in Armenian--"
+
+"Never mind what it is in Armenian; but why do you think it is thunder?"
+
+"Ere I returned from my stroll, I looked up into the heavens, and by
+their appearance I judged that a storm was nigh at hand."
+
+"And why did you not tell me so?"
+
+"You never asked me about the state of the atmosphere, and I am not in
+the habit of giving my opinion to people on any subject, unless
+questioned.  But, setting that aside, can you blame me for not troubling
+you with forebodings about storm and tempest, which might have prevented
+the pleasure you promised yourself in drinking tea, or perhaps a lesson
+in Armenian, though you pretend to dislike the latter."
+
+"My dislike is not pretended," said Belle; "I hate the sound of it, but I
+love my tea, and it was kind of you not to wish to cast a cloud over my
+little pleasures; the thunder came quite time enough to interrupt it
+without being anticipated--there is another peal--I will clear away, and
+see that my tent is in a condition to resist the storm, and I think you
+had better bestir yourself."
+
+Isopel departed, and I remained seated on my stone, as nothing belonging
+to myself required any particular attention; in about a quarter of an
+hour she returned, and seated herself upon her stool.
+
+"How dark the place is become since I left you," said she; "just as if
+night were just at hand."
+
+"Look up at the sky," said I; "and you will not wonder; it is all of a
+deep olive.  The wind is beginning to rise; hark how it moans among the
+branches; and see now their tops are bending--it brings dust on its
+wings--I felt some fall on my face; and what is this, a drop of rain?"
+
+"We shall have plenty anon," said Belle; "do you hear? it already begins
+to hiss upon the embers; that fire of ours will soon be extinguished."
+
+"It is not probable that we shall want it," said I, "but we had better
+seek shelter: let us go into my tent."
+
+"Go in," said Belle, "but you go in alone; as for me, I will seek my
+own."
+
+"You are right," said I, "to be afraid of me; I have taught you to
+decline master in Armenian."
+
+"You almost tempt me," said Belle, "to make you decline mistress in
+English."
+
+"To make matters short," said I, "I decline a mistress."
+
+"What do you mean?" said Belle, angrily.
+
+"I have merely done what you wished me," said I, "and in your own style;
+there is no other way of declining anything in English, for in English
+there are no declensions."
+
+"The rain is increasing," said Belle.
+
+"It is so," said I; "I shall go to my tent; you may come, if you please;
+I do assure you I am not afraid of you."
+
+"Nor I of you," said Belle; "so I will come.  Why should I be afraid?  I
+can take my own part; that is--"
+
+We went into the tent and sat down, and now the rain began to pour with
+vehemence.  "I hope we shall not be flooded in this hollow," said I to
+Belle.  "There is no fear of that," said Belle; "the wandering people,
+amongst other names, call it the dry hollow.  I believe there is a
+passage somewhere or other by which the wet is carried off.  There must
+be a cloud right above us, it is so dark.  Oh! what a flash!"
+
+"And what a peal," said I; "that is what the Hebrews call Koul
+Adonai--the voice of the Lord.  Are you afraid?"
+
+"No," said Belle, "I rather like to hear it."
+
+"You are right," said I, "I am fond of the sound of thunder myself.
+There is nothing like it; Koul Adonai behadar; the voice of the Lord is a
+glorious voice, as the prayer-book version hath it."
+
+"There is something awful in it," said Belle; "and then the lightning,
+the whole dingle is now in a blaze."
+
+"'The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the
+thick bushes.'  As you say, there is something awful in thunder."
+
+"There are all kinds of noises above us," said Belle; "surely I heard the
+crashing of a tree?"
+
+"'The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar trees,'" said I, "but what you
+hear is caused by a convulsion of the air; during a thunder-storm there
+are occasionally all kinds of aerial noises.  Ab Gwilym, who, next to
+King David, has best described a thunder-storm, speaks of these aerial
+noises in the following manner:--
+
+    'Astonied now I stand at strains,
+    As of ten thousand clanking chains;
+    And once, methought, that overthrown,
+    The welkin's oaks came whelming down;
+    Upon my head up starts my hair:
+    Why hunt abroad the hounds of air?
+    What cursed hag is screeching high,
+    Whilst crash goes all her crockery?"
+
+You would hardly believe, Belle, that though I offered at least ten
+thousand lines nearly as good as those to the booksellers in London, the
+simpletons were so blind to their interest as to refuse purchasing them."
+
+"I don't wonder at it," said Belle, "especially if such dreadful
+expressions frequently occur as that towards the end; surely that was the
+crash of a tree?"
+
+"Ah!" said I, "there falls the cedar tree--I mean the sallow; one of the
+tall trees on the outside of the dingle has been snapped short."
+
+"What a pity," said Belle, "that the fine old oak, which you saw the
+peasants cutting up, gave way the other night, when scarcely a breath of
+air was stirring; how much better to have fallen in a storm like this,
+the fiercest I remember."
+
+"I don't think so," said I; "after braving a thousand tempests, it was
+meeter for it to fall of itself than to be vanquished at last.  But to
+return to Ab Gwilym's poetry, he was above culling dainty words, and
+spoke boldly his mind on all subjects.  Enraged with the thunder for
+parting him and Morfydd, he says, at the conclusion of his ode,
+
+    'My curse, O Thunder, cling to thee,
+    For parting my dear pearl and me!'"
+
+"You and I shall part; this is, I shall go to my tent if you persist in
+repeating from him.  The man must have been a savage.  A poor wood-pigeon
+has fallen dead."
+
+"Yes," said I, "there he lies just outside the tent; often have I
+listened to his note when alone in this wilderness.  So you do not like
+Ab Gwilym; what say you to old Goethe:--
+
+    'Mist shrouds the night, and rack;
+    Hear, in the woods, what an awful crack!
+    Wildly the owls are flitting,
+    Hark to the pillars splitting
+    Of palaces verdant ever,
+    The branches quiver and sever,
+    The mighty stems are creaking,
+    The poor roots breaking and shrieking,
+    In wild mixt ruin down dashing,
+    O'er one another they're crashing;
+    Whilst 'midst the rocks so hoary,
+    Whirlwinds hurry and worry.
+    Hear'st not, sister--'"
+
+"Hark!" said Belle, "hark!"
+
+    "'Hear'st not, sister, a chorus
+    Of voices--?'"
+
+"No," said Belle, "but I hear a voice."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVI.
+
+
+A Shout--A Fire Ball--See to the Horses--Passing Away--Gap in the
+Hedge--On Three Wheels--Why Do You Stop?--No Craven Heart--The
+Cordial--Across the Country--Small Bags.
+
+I listened attentively, but I could hear nothing but the loud clashing of
+branches, the pattering of rain, and the muttered growl of thunder.  I
+was about to tell Belle that she must have been mistaken, when I heard a
+shout, indistinct it is true, owing to the noises aforesaid, from some
+part of the field above the dingle.  "I will soon see what's the matter,"
+said I to Belle, starting up.  "I will go, too," said the girl.  "Stay
+where you are," said I; "if I need you, I will call;" and, without
+waiting for any answer, I hurried to the mouth of the dingle.  I was
+about a few yards only from the top of the ascent, when I beheld a blaze
+of light, from whence I knew not; the next moment there was a loud crash,
+and I appeared involved in a cloud of sulphurous smoke.  "Lord have mercy
+upon us!" I heard a voice say, and methought I heard the plunging and
+struggling of horses.  I had stopped short on hearing the crash, for I
+was half stunned; but I now hurried forward, and in a moment stood upon
+the plain.  Here I was instantly aware of the cause of the crash and the
+smoke.  One of those balls, generally called fire-balls, had fallen from
+the clouds, and was burning on the plain at a short distance; and the
+voice which I had heard, and the plunging, were as easily accounted for.
+Near the left-hand corner of the grove which surrounded the dingle, and
+about ten yards from the fire-ball, I perceived a chaise, with a
+postillion on the box, who was making efforts, apparently useless, to
+control his horses, which were kicking and plunging in the highest degree
+of excitement.  I instantly ran towards the chaise, in order to offer
+what help was in my power.  "Help me," said the poor fellow, as I drew
+nigh; but before I could reach the horses, they had turned rapidly round,
+one of the fore-wheels flew from its axle-tree, the chaise was overset,
+and the postillion flung violently from his seat upon the field.  The
+horses now became more furious than before, kicking desperately, and
+endeavouring to disengage themselves from the fallen chaise.  As I was
+hesitating whether to run to the assistance of the postillion, or
+endeavour to disengage the animals, I heard the voice of Belle
+exclaiming, "See to the horses, I will look after the man."  She had, it
+seems, been alarmed by the crash which accompanied the firebolt, and had
+hurried up to learn the cause.  I forthwith seized the horses by the
+heads, and used all the means I possessed to soothe and pacify them,
+employing every gentle modulation of which my voice was capable.  Belle,
+in the meantime, had raised up the man, who was much stunned by his fall;
+but presently recovering his recollection to a certain degree, he came
+limping to me, holding his hand to his right thigh.  "The first thing
+that must now be done," said I, "is to free these horses from the traces;
+can you undertake to do so?"  "I think I can," said the man, looking at
+me somewhat stupidly.  "I will help," said Belle, and without loss of
+time laid hold of one of the traces.  The man, after a short pause, also
+set to work, and in a few minutes the horses were extricated.  "Now,"
+said I to the man, "what is next to be done?"  "I don't know," said he;
+"indeed, I scarcely know anything; I have been so frightened by this
+horrible storm, and so shaken by my fall."  "I think," said I, "that the
+storm is passing away, so cast your fears away too; and as for your fall,
+you must bear it as lightly as you can.  I will tie the horses amongst
+those trees, and then we will all betake us to the hollow below."  "And
+what's to become of my chaise?" said the postillion, looking ruefully on
+the fallen vehicle.  "Let us leave the chaise for the present," said I;
+"we can be of no use to it."  "I don't like to leave my chaise lying on
+the ground in this weather," said the man, "I love my chaise, and him
+whom it belongs to."  "You are quite right to be fond of yourself," said
+I, "on which account I advise you to seek shelter from the rain as soon
+as possible."  "I was not talking of myself," said the man, "but my
+master, to whom the chaise belongs."  "I thought you called the chaise
+yours," said I.  "That's my way of speaking," said the man, "but the
+chaise is my master's, and a better master does not live.  Don't you
+think we could manage to raise up the chaise?"  "And what is to become of
+the horses?" said I.  "I love my horses well enough," said the man; "but
+they will take less harm than the chaise.  We two can never lift up that
+chaise."  "But we three can," said Belle; "at least, I think so; and I
+know where to find two poles which will assist us."  "You had better go
+to the tent," said I, "you will be wet through."  "I care not for a
+little wetting," said Belle; "moreover, I have more gowns than one--see
+you after the horses."  Thereupon, I led the horses past the mouth of the
+dingle, to a place where a gap in the hedge afforded admission to the
+copse or plantation, on the southern side.  Forcing them through the gap,
+I led them to a spot amidst the trees, which I deemed would afford them
+the most convenient place for standing; then, darting down into the
+dingle, I brought up a rope, and also the halter of my own nag, and with
+these fastened them each to a separate tree in the best manner I could.
+This done, I returned to the chaise and the postillion.  In a minute or
+two Belle arrived with two poles, which, it seems, had long been lying,
+overgrown with brushwood, in a ditch or hollow behind the plantation.
+With these both she and I set to work in endeavouring to raise the fallen
+chaise from the ground.
+
+We experienced considerable difficulty in this undertaking; at length,
+with the assistance of the postillion, we saw our efforts crowned with
+success--the chaise was lifted up, and stood upright on three wheels.
+
+"We may leave it here in safety," said I, "for it will hardly move away
+on three wheels, even supposing it could run by itself; I am afraid there
+is work here for a wheelwright, in which case I cannot assist you; if you
+were in need of a blacksmith it would be otherwise."  "I don't think
+either the wheel or the axle is hurt," said the postillion, who had been
+handling both; "it is only the linch-pin having dropped out that caused
+the wheel to fly off; if I could but find the linch-pin! though, perhaps,
+it fell out a mile away."  "Very likely," said I; "but never mind the
+linch-pin, I can make you one, or something that will serve: but I can't
+stay here any longer, I am going to my place below with this young
+gentlewoman, and you had better follow us."  "I am ready," said the man;
+and after lifting up the wheel and propping it against the chaise, he
+went with us, slightly limping, and with his hand pressed to his thigh.
+
+As we were descending the narrow path, Belle leading the way, and myself
+the last of the party, the postillion suddenly stopped short, and looked
+about him.  "Why do you stop?" said I.  "I don't wish to offend you,"
+said the man; "but this seems to be a strange place you are leading me
+into; I hope you and the young gentlewoman, as you call her, don't mean
+me any harm--you seemed in a great hurry to bring me here."  "We wished
+to get you out of the rain," said I, "and ourselves too; that is, if we
+can, which I rather doubt, for the canvas of a tent is slight shelter in
+such a rain; but what harm should we wish to do you?"  "You may think I
+have money," said the man, "and I have some, but only thirty shillings,
+and for a sum like that it would be hardly worth while to--"  "Would it
+not?" said I; "thirty shillings, after all, are thirty shillings, and for
+what I know, half-a-dozen throats may have been cut in this place for
+that sum at the rate of five shillings each; moreover, there are the
+horses, which would serve to establish the young gentlewoman and myself
+in housekeeping, provided we were thinking of such a thing."  "Then I
+suppose I have fallen into pretty hands," said the man, putting himself
+in a posture of defence; "but I'll show no craven heart; and if you
+attempt to lay hands on me, I'll try to pay you in your own coin.  I'm
+rather lamed in the leg, but I can still use my fists; so come on both of
+you, man and woman, if woman this be, though she looks more like a
+grenadier."
+
+"Let me hear no more of this nonsense," said Belle; "if you are afraid,
+you can go back to your chaise--we only seek to do you a kindness."
+
+"Why, he was just now talking of cutting throats," said the man.  "You
+brought it on yourself," said Belle; "you suspected us, and he wished to
+pass a joke upon you; he would not hurt a hair of your head, were your
+coach laden with gold, nor would I."  "Well," said the man, "I was
+wrong--here's my hand to both of you," shaking us by the hands; "I'll go
+with you where you please, but I thought this a strange lonesome place,
+though I ought not much to mind strange lonesome places, having been in
+plenty of such when I was a servant in Italy, without coming to any
+harm--come, let us move on, for 'tis a shame to keep you two in the
+rain."
+
+So we descended the path which led into the depths of the dingle; at the
+bottom I conducted the postillion to my tent, which, though the rain
+dripped and trickled through it, afforded some shelter; there I bade him
+sit down on the log of wood, while I placed myself as usual on my stone.
+Belle in the meantime had repaired to her own place of abode.  After a
+little time, I produced a bottle of the cordial of which I have
+previously had occasion to speak, and made my guest take a considerable
+draught.  I then offered him some bread and cheese, which he accepted
+with thanks.  In about an hour the rain had much abated: "What do you now
+propose to do?" said I.  "I scarcely know," said the man; "I suppose I
+must endeavour to put on the wheel with your help."  "How far are you
+from your home?" I demanded.  "Upwards of thirty miles," said the man;
+"my master keeps an inn on the great north road, and from thence I
+started early this morning with a family which I conveyed across the
+country to a hall at some distance from here.  On my return I was beset
+by the thunder-storm, which frightened the horses, who dragged the chaise
+off the road to the field above, and overset it as you saw.  I had
+proposed to pass the night at an inn about twelve miles from here on my
+way back, though how I am to get there to-night I scarcely know, even if
+we can put on the wheel, for, to tell you the truth, I am shaken by my
+fall, and the smoulder and smoke of that fire-ball have rather bewildered
+my head; I am, moreover, not much acquainted with the way."
+
+"The best thing you can do," said I, "is to pass the night here; I will
+presently light a fire, and endeavour to make you comfortable--in the
+morning we will see to your wheel."  "Well," said the man, "I shall be
+glad to pass the night here, provided I do not intrude, but I must see to
+the horses."  Thereupon I conducted the man to the place where the horses
+were tied.  "The trees drip very much upon them," said the man, "and it
+will not do for them to remain here all night; they will be better out on
+the field picking the grass, but first of all they must have a good feed
+of corn."  Thereupon he went to his chaise, from which he presently
+brought two small bags, partly filled with corn--into them he inserted
+the mouths of the horses, tying them over their heads.  "Here we will
+leave them for a time," said the man; "when I think they have had enough,
+I will come back, tie their fore-legs, and let them pick about."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVII.
+
+
+Fire of Charcoal--The New Comer--No Wonder!--Not a Blacksmith--A Love
+Affair--Gretna Green--A Cool Thousand--Family Estates--Borough
+Interest--Grand Education--Let us Hear--Already Quarrelling--Honourable
+Parents--Most Heroically--Not Common People--Fresh Charcoal.
+
+It might be about ten o'clock at night.  Belle, the postillion, and
+myself sat just within the tent, by a fire of charcoal which I had
+kindled in the chafing-pan.  The man had removed the harness from his
+horses, and, after tethering their legs, had left them for the night in
+the field above, to regale themselves on what grass they could find.  The
+rain had long since entirely ceased, and the moon and stars shone bright
+in the firmament, up to which, putting aside the canvas, I occasionally
+looked from the depths of the dingle.  Large drops of water, however,
+falling now and then upon the tent from the neighbouring trees, would
+have served, could we have forgotten it, to remind us of the recent
+storm, and also a certain chilliness in the atmosphere, unusual to the
+season, proceeding from the moisture with which the ground was saturated;
+yet these circumstances only served to make our party enjoy the charcoal
+fire the more.  There we sat bending over it: Belle, with her long
+beautiful hair streaming over her magnificent shoulders; the postillion
+smoking his pipe, in his shirt-sleeves and waistcoat, having flung aside
+his great coat, which had sustained a thorough wetting; and I without my
+wagoner's slop, of which, it being in the same plight, I had also
+divested myself.
+
+The new comer was a well-made fellow of about thirty, with an open and
+agreeable countenance.  I found him very well informed for a man in his
+station, and with some pretensions to humour.  After we had discoursed
+for some time on indifferent subjects, the postillion, who had exhausted
+his pipe, took it from his mouth, and, knocking out the ashes upon the
+ground, exclaimed, "I little thought, when I got up in the morning, that
+I should spend the night in such agreeable company, and after such a
+fright."
+
+"Well," said I, "I am glad that your opinion of us has improved; it is
+not long since you seemed to hold us in rather a suspicious light."
+
+"And no wonder," said the man, "seeing the place you were taking me to.
+I was not a little, but very much, afraid of ye both; and so I continued
+for some time, though, not to show a craven heart, I pretended to be
+quite satisfied; but I see I was altogether mistaken about ye.  I thought
+you vagrant Gypsy folks and trampers; but now--"
+
+"Vagrant Gypsy folks and trampers," said I; "and what are we but people
+of that stamp?"
+
+"Oh," said the postillion, "if you wish to be thought such, I am far too
+civil a person to contradict you, especially after your kindness to me,
+but--"
+
+"But!" said I; "what do you mean by but?  I would have you to know that I
+am proud of being a travelling blacksmith: look at these donkey-shoes, I
+finished them this day."
+
+The postillion took the shoes and examined them.  "So you made these
+shoes?" he cried at last.
+
+"To be sure I did; do you doubt it?"
+
+"Not in the least," said the man.
+
+"Ah! ah!" said I, "I thought I should bring you back to your original
+opinion.  I am, then, a vagrant Gypsy body, a tramper, a wandering
+blacksmith."
+
+"Not a blacksmith, whatever else you may be," said the postillion,
+laughing.
+
+"Then how do you account for my making those shoes?"
+
+"By your not being a blacksmith," said the postillion; "no blacksmith
+would have made shoes in that manner.  Besides, what did you mean just
+now by saying you had finished these shoes to-day? a real blacksmith
+would have flung off three or four sets of donkey-shoes in one morning,
+but you, I will be sworn, have been hammering at these for days, and they
+do you credit, but why? because you are no blacksmith; no, friend, your
+shoes may do for this young gentlewoman's animal, but I shouldn't like to
+have my horses shod by you, unless at a great pinch indeed."
+
+"Then," said I, "for what do you take me?"
+
+"Why, for some runaway young gentleman," said the postillion.  "No
+offence, I hope?"
+
+"None at all; no one is offended at being taken or mistaken for a young
+gentleman, whether runaway or not; but from whence do you suppose I have
+run away?"
+
+"Why, from college," said the man; "no offence?"
+
+"None whatever; and what induced me to run away from college?"
+
+"A love affair, I'll be sworn," said the postillion.  "You had become
+acquainted with this young gentlewoman, so she and you--"
+
+"Mind how you get on, friend," said Belle, in a deep serious tone.
+
+"Pray proceed," said I; "I dare say you mean no offence."
+
+"None in the world," said the postillion; "all I was going to say was
+that you agreed to run away together, you from college, and she from
+boarding-school.  Well, there's nothing to be ashamed of in a matter like
+that, such things are done every day by young folks in high life."
+
+"Are you offended?" said I to Belle.
+
+Belle made no answer; but, placing her elbows on her knees, buried her
+face in her hands.
+
+"So we ran away together?" said I.
+
+"Ay, ay," said the postillion, "to Gretna Green, though I can't say that
+I drove ye, though I have driven many a pair."
+
+"And from Gretna Green we came here?"
+
+"I'll be bound you did," said the man, "till you could arrange matters at
+home."
+
+"And the horse-shoes?" said I.
+
+"The donkey-shoes, you mean," answered the postillion; "why, I suppose
+you persuaded the blacksmith who married you to give you, before you
+left, a few lessons in his trade."
+
+"And we intend to stay here till we have arranged matters at home?"
+
+"Ay, ay," said the postillion, "till the old people are pacified, and
+they send you letters directed to the next post town, to be left till
+called for, beginning with 'Dear children,' and enclosing you each a
+cheque for one hundred pounds, when you will leave this place, and go
+home in a coach like gentlefolks, to visit your governors; I should like
+nothing better than to have the driving of you: and then there will be a
+grand meeting of the two families, and after a few reproaches, the old
+people will agree to do something handsome for the poor thoughtless
+things; so you will have a genteel house taken for you, and an annuity
+allowed you.  You won't get much the first year, five hundred at the
+most, in order that the old folks may let you feel that they are not
+altogether satisfied with you, and that you are yet entirely in their
+power; but the second, if you don't get a cool thousand, may I catch
+cold, especially should young madam here present a son and heir for the
+old people to fondle, destined one day to become sole heir of the two
+illustrious houses, and then all the grand folks in the neighbourhood,
+who have, bless their prudent hearts! kept rather aloof from you till
+then, for fear you should want anything from them--I say, all the
+carriage people in the neighbourhood, when they see how swimmingly
+matters are going on, will come in shoals to visit you."
+
+"Really," said I, "you are getting on swimmingly."
+
+"Oh," said the postillion, "I was not a gentleman's servant nine years
+without learning the ways of gentry, and being able to know gentry when I
+see them."
+
+"And what do you say to all this?" I demanded of Belle.
+
+"Stop a moment," interposed the postillion, "I have one more word to
+say:--and when you are surrounded by your comforts, keeping your nice
+little barouche and pair, your coachman and livery servant, and visited
+by all the carriage people in the neighbourhood--to say nothing of the
+time when you come to the family estates on the death of the old
+people--I shouldn't wonder if now and then you look back with longing and
+regret to the days when you lived in the damp dripping dingle, had no
+better equipage than a pony or donkey-cart, and saw no better company
+than a tramper or Gypsy, except once, when a poor postillion was glad to
+seat himself at your charcoal fire."
+
+"Pray," said I, "did you ever take lessons in elocution?"
+
+"Not directly," said the postillion; "but my old master, who was in
+Parliament, did, and so did his son, who was intended to be an orator.  A
+great professor used to come and give them lessons, and I used to stand
+and listen, by which means I picked up a considerable quantity of what is
+called rhetoric.  In what I last said, I was aiming at what I have heard
+him frequently endeavouring to teach my governors as a thing
+indispensably necessary in all oratory, a graceful
+pere--pere--peregrination."
+
+"Peroration, perhaps?"
+
+"Just so," said the postillion; "and now I'm sure I am not mistaken about
+you; you have taken lessons yourself, at first hand, in the college
+vacations, and a promising pupil you were, I make no doubt.  Well, your
+friends will be all the happier to get you back.  Has your governor much
+borough interest?"
+
+"I ask you once more," said I, addressing myself to Belle, "what you
+think of the history which this good man has made for us?"
+
+"What should I think of it," said Belle, still keeping her face buried in
+her hands, "but that it is mere nonsense?"
+
+"Nonsense!" said the postillion.
+
+"Yes," said the girl, "and you know it."
+
+"May my leg always ache, if I do," said the postillion, patting his leg
+with his hand; "will you persuade me that this young man has never been
+at college?"
+
+"I have never been at college, but--"
+
+"Ay, ay," said the postillion; "but--"
+
+"I have been to the best schools in Britain, to say nothing of a
+celebrated one in Ireland."
+
+"Well, then, it comes to the same thing," said the postillion; "or
+perhaps you know more than if you had been at college--and your
+governor?"
+
+"My governor, as you call him," said I, "is dead."
+
+"And his borough interest?"
+
+"My father had no borough interest," said I; "had he possessed any, he
+would perhaps not have died as he did, honourably poor."
+
+"No, no," said the postillion; "if he had had borough interest, he
+wouldn't have been poor, nor honourable, though perhaps a right
+honourable.  However, with your grand education and genteel manners, you
+made all right at last by persuading this noble young gentlewoman to run
+away from boarding-school with you."
+
+"I was never at boarding-school," said Belle, "unless you call--"
+
+"Ay, ay," said the postillion, "boarding-school is vulgar, I know: I beg
+your pardon, I ought to have called it academy, or by some other much
+finer name--you were in something much greater than a boarding-school."
+
+"There you are right," said Belle, lifting up her head and looking the
+postillion full in the face by the light of the charcoal fire; "for I was
+bred in the workhouse."
+
+"Wooh!" said the postillion.
+
+"It is true that I am of good--"
+
+"Ay, ay," said the postillion, "let us hear--"
+
+"Of good blood," continued Belle; "my name is Berners, Isopel Berners,
+though my parents were unfortunate.  Indeed, with respect to blood, I
+believe I am of better blood than the young man."
+
+"There you are mistaken," said I; "by my father's side I am of Cornish
+blood, and by my mother's of brave French Protestant extraction.  Now,
+with respect to the blood of my father--and to be descended well on the
+father's side is the principal thing--it is the best blood in the world,
+for the Cornish blood, as the proverb says--"
+
+"I don't care what the proverb says," said Belle; "I say my blood is the
+best--my name is Berners, Isopel Berners--it was my mother's name, and is
+better, I am sure, than any you bear, whatever that may be; and though
+you say that the descent on the father's side is the principal thing--and
+I know why you say so," she added with some excitement--"I say that
+descent on the mother's side is of most account, because the mother--"
+
+"Just come from Gretna Green, and already quarrelling!" said the
+postillion.
+
+"We do not come from Gretna Green," said Belle.
+
+"Ah, I had forgot," said the postillion, "none but great people go to
+Gretna Green.  Well, then, from church, and already quarrelling about
+family, just like two great people."
+
+"We have never been to church," said Belle, "and, to prevent any more
+guessing on your part, it will be as well for me to tell you, friend,
+that I am nothing to the young man, and he, of course, nothing to me.  I
+am a poor travelling girl, born in a workhouse: journeying on my
+occasions with certain companions, I came to this hollow, where my
+company quarrelled with the young man, who had settled down here, as he
+had a right to do, if he pleased; and not being able to drive him out,
+they went away after quarrelling with me, too, for not choosing to side
+with them; so I stayed here along with the young man, there being room
+for us both, and the place being as free to me as to him."
+
+"And, in order that you may be no longer puzzled with respect to myself,"
+said I, "I will give you a brief outline of my history.  I am the son of
+honourable parents, who gave me a first-rate education, as far as
+literature and languages went, with which education I endeavoured, on the
+death of my father, to advance myself to wealth and reputation in the big
+city; but failing in the attempt, I conceived a disgust for the busy
+world, and determined to retire from it.  After wandering about for some
+time, and meeting with various adventures, in one of which I contrived to
+obtain a pony, cart, and certain tools, used by smiths and tinkers, I
+came to this place, where I amused myself with making horse-shoes, or
+rather pony-shoes, having acquired the art of wielding the hammer and
+tongs from a strange kind of smith--not him of Gretna Green--whom I knew
+in my childhood.  And here I lived, doing harm to no one, quite lonely
+and solitary, till one fine morning the premises were visited by this
+young gentlewoman and her companions.  She did herself anything but
+justice when she said that her companions quarrelled with her because she
+would not side with them against me; they quarrelled with her, because
+she came most heroically to my assistance as I was on the point of being
+murdered; and she forgot to tell you, that after they had abandoned her,
+she stood by me in the dark hour, comforting and cheering me, when
+unspeakable dread, to which I am occasionally subject, took possession of
+my mind.  She says she is nothing to me, even as I am nothing to her.  I
+am of course nothing to her, but she is mistaken in thinking she is
+nothing to me.  I entertain the highest regard and admiration for her,
+being convinced that I might search the whole world in vain for a nature
+more heroic and devoted."
+
+"And for my part," said Belle, with a sob, "a more quiet agreeable
+partner in a place like this I would not wish to have; it is true he has
+strange ways, and frequently puts words into my mouth very difficult to
+utter, but--but--" and here she buried her face once more in her hands.
+
+"Well," said the postillion, "I have been mistaken about you; that is,
+not altogether, but in part.  You are not rich folks, it seems, but you
+are not common people, and that I could have sworn.  What I call a shame
+is, that some people I have known are not in your place and you in
+theirs,--you with their estates and borough interest, they in this dingle
+with these carts and animals; but there is no help for these things.
+Were I the great Mumbo Jumbo above, I would endeavour to manage matters
+better; but being a simple postillion, glad to earn three shillings a
+day, I can't be expected to do much."
+
+"Who is Mumbo Jumbo?" said I.
+
+"Ah!" said the postillion, "I see there may be a thing or two I know
+better than yourself.  Mumbo Jumbo is a god of the black coast, to which
+people go for ivory and gold."
+
+"Were you ever there?" I demanded.
+
+"No," said the postillion, "but I heard plenty of Mumbo Jumbo when I was
+a boy."
+
+"I wish you would tell us something about yourself.  I believe that your
+own real history would prove quite as entertaining, if not more, than
+that which you imagined about us."
+
+"I am rather tired," said the postillion, "and my leg is rather
+troublesome.  I should be glad to try to sleep upon one of your blankets.
+However, as you wish to hear something about me, I shall be happy to
+oblige you; but your fire is rather low, and this place is chilly."
+
+Thereupon I arose, and put fresh charcoal on the pan; then taking it
+outside the tent, with a kind of fan which I had fashioned, I fanned the
+coals into a red glow, and continued doing so until the greater part of
+the noxious gas, which the coals are in the habit of exhaling, was
+exhausted.  I then brought it into the tent and reseated myself,
+scattering over the coals a small portion of sugar.  "No bad smell," said
+the postillion; "but upon the whole I think I like the smell of tobacco
+better; and with your permission I will once more light my pipe."
+
+Thereupon he relighted his pipe; and, after taking two or three whiffs,
+began in the following manner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVIII.
+
+
+An Exordium--Fine Ships--High Barbary Captains--Free-Born
+Englishmen--Monstrous Figure--Swash-buckler--The Grand Coaches--The
+Footmen--A Travelling Expedition--Black Jack--Nelson's Cannon--Pharaoh's
+Butler--A Diligence--Two Passengers--Sharking Priest--Virgilio--Lessons
+in Italian--Two Opinions--Holy Mary--Priestly Confederates--Methodist
+Chapel--Veturini--Some of Our Party--Like a Sepulchre--All for
+Themselves.
+
+"I am a poor postillion, as you see; yet, as I have seen a thing or two,
+and heard a thing or two of what is going on in the world, perhaps what I
+have to tell you connected with myself may not prove altogether
+uninteresting.  Now, my friends, this manner of opening a story is what
+the man who taught rhetoric would call a hex--hex--"
+
+"Exordium," said I.
+
+"Just so," said the postillion; "I treated you to a per--per--peroration
+some time ago, so that I have contrived to put the cart before the horse,
+as the Irish orators frequently do in the honourable House, in whose
+speeches, especially those who have taken lessons in rhetoric, the
+per--per--what's the word?--frequently goes before the exordium.
+
+"I was born in the neighbouring county; my father was land-steward to a
+squire of about a thousand a year.  My father had two sons, of whom I am
+the youngest by some years.  My elder brother was of a spirited roving
+disposition, and for fear that he should turn out what is generally
+termed ungain, my father determined to send him to sea: so once upon a
+time, when my brother was about fifteen, he took him to the great
+sea-port of the county, where he apprenticed him to a captain of one of
+the ships which trade to the high Barbary coast.  Fine ships they were, I
+have heard say, more than thirty in number, and all belonging to a
+wonderful great gentleman, who had once been a parish boy, but had
+contrived to make an immense fortune by trading to that coast for
+gold-dust, ivory, and other strange articles; and for doing so, I mean
+for making a fortune, had been made a knight baronet.  So my brother went
+to the high Barbary shore, on board the fine vessel, and in about a year
+returned and came to visit us; he repeated the voyage several times,
+always coming to see his parents on his return.  Strange stories he used
+to tell us of what he had been witness to on the high Barbary coast, both
+off shore and on.  He said that the fine vessel in which he sailed was
+nothing better than a painted hell; that the captain was a veritable
+fiend, whose grand delight was in tormenting his men, especially when
+they were sick, as they frequently were, there being always fever on the
+high Barbary coast; and that though the captain was occasionally sick
+himself, his being so made no difference, or rather it did make a
+difference, though for the worse, he being when sick always more
+inveterate and malignant than at other times.  He said that once, when he
+himself was sick, his captain had pitched his face all over, which
+exploit was much applauded by the other high Barbary captains; all of
+whom, from what my brother said, appeared to be of much the same
+disposition as my brother's captain, taking wonderful delight in
+tormenting the crews, and doing all manner of terrible things.  My
+brother frequently said that nothing whatever prevented him from running
+away from his ship, and never returning, but the hope he entertained of
+one day being captain himself, and able to torment people in his turn,
+which he solemnly vowed he would do, as a kind of compensation for what
+he himself had undergone.  And if things were going on in a strange way
+off the high Barbary shore amongst those who came there to trade, they
+were going on in a way yet stranger with the people who lived upon it.
+
+"Oh the strange ways of the black men who lived on that shore, of which
+my brother used to tell us at home; selling their sons, daughters, and
+servants for slaves, and the prisoners taken in battle, to the Spanish
+captains, to be carried to Havannah, and when there, sold at a profit,
+the idea of which, my brother said, went to the hearts of our own
+captains, who used to say what a hard thing it was that free-born
+Englishmen could not have a hand in the traffic, seeing that it was
+forbidden by the laws of their country; talking fondly of the good old
+times when their forefathers used to carry slaves to Jamaica and
+Barbadoes, realizing immense profit, besides the pleasure of hearing
+their shrieks on the voyage; and then the superstitions of the blacks,
+which my brother used to talk of; their sharks' teeth, their wisps of
+fowls' feathers, their half-baked pots, full of burnt bones, of which
+they used to make what they called fetish; and bow down to, and ask
+favours of, and then, perhaps, abuse and strike, provided the senseless
+rubbish did not give them what they asked for; and then, above all, Mumbo
+Jumbo, the grand fetish master, who lived somewhere in the woods, and who
+used to come out every now and then with his fetish companions; a
+monstrous figure, all wound round with leaves and branches, so as to be
+quite indistinguishable, and, seating himself on the high seat in the
+villages, receive homage from the people, and also gifts and offerings,
+the most valuable of which were pretty damsels, and then betake himself
+back again, with his followers, into the woods.  Oh the tales that my
+brother used to tell us of the high Barbary shore!  Poor fellow! what
+became of him I can't say; the last time he came back from a voyage, he
+told us that his captain, as soon as he had brought his vessel to port,
+and settled with his owner, drowned himself off the quay, in a fit of the
+horrors, which it seems high Barbary captains, after a certain number of
+years, are much subject to.  After staying about a month with us, he went
+to sea again, with another captain; and, bad as the old one had been, it
+appears the new one was worse, for, unable to bear his treatment, my
+brother left his ship off the high Barbary shore, and ran away up the
+country.  Some of his comrades, whom we afterwards saw, said that there
+were various reports about him on the shore; one that he had taken on
+with Mumbo Jumbo, and was serving him in his house in the woods, in the
+capacity of swash-buckler, or life-guardsman; another, that he was gone
+in quest of a mighty city in the heart of the negro country; another,
+that in swimming a stream he had been devoured by an alligator.  Now,
+these two last reports were bad enough; the idea of their flesh and blood
+being bit asunder by a ravenous fish, was sad enough to my poor parents;
+and not very comfortable was the thought of his sweltering over the hot
+sands in quest of the negro city; but the idea of their son, their eldest
+child, serving Mumbo Jumbo as swash-buckler, was worst of all, and caused
+my poor parents to shed many a scalding tear.
+
+"I stayed at home with my parents until I was about eighteen, assisting
+my father in various ways.  I then went to live at the Squire's, partly
+as groom, partly as footman.  After living in the country some time, I
+attended the family in a trip of six weeks, which they made to London.
+Whilst there, happening to have some words with an old ill-tempered
+coachman, who had been for a great many years in the family, my master
+advised me to leave, offering to recommend me to a family of his
+acquaintance who were in need of a footman.  I was glad to accept his
+offer, and in a few days went to my new place.  My new master was one of
+the great gentry, a baronet in Parliament, and possessed of an estate of
+about twenty thousand a year; his family consisted of his lady, a son, a
+fine young man, just coming of age, and two very sweet amiable daughters.
+I liked this place much better than my first, there was so much more
+pleasant noise and bustle--so much more grand company--and so many more
+opportunities of improving myself.  Oh, how I liked to see the grand
+coaches drive up to the door, with the grand company; and though, amidst
+that company, there were some who did not look very grand, there were
+others, and not a few, who did.  Some of the ladies quite captivated me;
+there was the Marchioness of --- in particular.  This young lady puts me
+much in mind of her; it is true, the Marchioness, as I saw her then, was
+about fifteen years older than this young gentlewoman is now, and not so
+tall by some inches, but she had the very same hair, and much the same
+neck and shoulders--no offence, I hope?  And then some of the young
+gentlemen, with their cool, haughty, care-for-nothing looks, struck me as
+being very fine fellows.  There was one in particular, whom I frequently
+used to stare at, not altogether unlike some one I have seen
+hereabouts--he had a slight cast in his eye, and--but I won't enter into
+every particular.  And then the footmen!  Oh, how those footmen helped to
+improve me with their conversation.  Many of them could converse much
+more glibly than their masters, and appeared to have much better taste.
+At any rate, they seldom approved of what their masters did.  I remember
+being once with one in the gallery of the play-house, when something of
+Shakspeare's was being performed; some one in the first tier of boxes was
+applauding very loudly.  'That's my fool of a governor,' said he; 'he is
+weak enough to like Shakspeare--I don't--he's so confoundedly low, but he
+won't last long--going down.  Shakspeare culminated--I think that was the
+word--culminated some time ago.'
+
+"And then the professor of elocution, of whom my governors used to take
+lessons, and of which lessons I had my share, by listening behind the
+door; but for that professor of elocution I should not be able to round
+my periods--an expression of his--in the manner I do.
+
+"After I had been three years at this place my mistress died.  Her death,
+however, made no great alteration in my way of living, the family
+spending their winters in London, and their summers at their old seat in
+S--- as before.  At last, the young ladies, who had not yet got husbands,
+which was strange enough, seeing, as I told you before, they were very
+amiable, proposed to our governor a travelling expedition abroad.  The
+old baronet consented, though young master was much against it, saying,
+they would all be much better at home.  As the girls persisted, however,
+he at last withdrew his opposition, and even promised to follow them, as
+soon as his parliamentary duties would permit, for he was just got into
+Parliament; and, like most other young members, thought that nothing
+could be done in the House without him.  So the old gentleman and the two
+young ladies set off, taking me with them, and a couple of ladies' maids
+to wait upon them.  First of all, we went to Paris, where we continued
+three months, the old baronet and the ladies going to see the various
+sights of the city and the neighbourhood, and I attending them.  They
+soon got tired of sight-seeing, and of Paris too; and so did I.  However,
+they still continued there, in order, I believe, that the young ladies
+might lay in a store of French finery.  I should have passed my idle time
+at Paris, of which I had plenty after the sight-seeing was over, very
+unpleasantly, but for Black Jack.  Eh! did you never hear of Black Jack?
+Ah! if you had ever been an English servant in Paris, you would have
+known Black Jack; not an English gentleman's servant who has been at
+Paris for this last ten years but knows Black Jack and his ordinary.  A
+strange fellow he was--of what country no one could exactly say--for as
+for judging from speech, that was impossible, Jack speaking all languages
+equally ill.  Some said he came direct from Satan's kitchen, and that
+when he gives up keeping ordinary, he will return there again, though the
+generally-received opinion at Paris was, that he was at one time butler
+to King Pharaoh; and that, after lying asleep for four thousand years in
+a place called the Kattycombs, he was awaked by the sound of Nelson's
+cannon, at the Battle of the Nile; and going to the shore, took on with
+the admiral, and became, in course of time, ship steward; and that after
+Nelson's death, he was captured by the French, on board one of whose
+vessels he served in a somewhat similar capacity till the peace, when he
+came to Paris, and set up an ordinary for servants, sticking the name of
+Katcomb over the door, in allusion to the place where he had his long
+sleep.  But, whatever his origin was, Jack kept his own council, and
+appeared to care nothing for what people said about him, or called him.
+Yes, I forgot, there was one name he would not be called, and that was
+'Portuguese.'  I once saw Black Jack knock down a coachman, six foot
+high, who called him black-faced Portuguese.  'Any name but dat, you
+shab,' said Black Jack, who was a little round fellow, of about five feet
+two; 'I would not stand to be called Portuguese by Nelson himself.'  Jack
+was rather fond of talking about Nelson, and hearing people talk about
+him, so that it is not improbable that he may have sailed with him; and
+with respect to his having been King Pharaoh's butler, all I have to say
+is, I am not disposed to give the downright lie to the report.  Jack was
+always ready to do a kind turn to a poor servant out of place, and has
+often been known to assist such as were in prison, which charitable
+disposition he perhaps acquired from having lost a good place himself,
+having seen the inside of a prison, and known the want of a meal's
+victuals, all which trials King Pharaoh's butler underwent, so he may
+have been that butler; at any rate, I have known positive conclusions
+come to, on no better premises, if indeed as good.  As for the story of
+his coming direct from Satan's kitchen, I place no confidence in it at
+all, as Black Jack had nothing of Satan about him, but blackness, on
+which account he was called Black Jack.  Nor am I disposed to give credit
+to a report that his hatred of the Portuguese arose from some ill
+treatment which he had once experienced when on shore, at Lisbon, from
+certain gentlewomen of the place, but rather conclude that it arose from
+an opinion he entertained that the Portuguese never paid their debts, one
+of the ambassadors of that nation, whose house he had served, having left
+Paris several thousand francs in his debt.  This is all that I have to
+say about Black Jack, without whose funny jokes, and good ordinary, I
+should have passed my time in Paris in a very disconsolate manner.
+
+"After we had been at Paris between two and three months, we left it in
+the direction of Italy, which country the family had a great desire to
+see.  After travelling a great many days in a thing which, though called
+a diligence, did not exhibit much diligence, we came to a great big town,
+seated around a nasty salt-water basin, connected by a narrow passage
+with the sea.  Here we were to embark; and so we did as soon as possible,
+glad enough to get away; at least I was, and so I make no doubt were the
+rest; for such a place for bad smells I never was in.  It seems all the
+drains and sewers of the place run into that same salt basin, voiding
+into it all their impurities, which, not being able to escape into the
+sea in any considerable quantity, owing to the narrowness of the
+entrance, there accumulate, filling the whole atmosphere with these same
+outrageous scents, on which account the town is a famous lodging-house of
+the plague.  The ship in which we embarked was bound for a place in Italy
+called Naples, where we were to stay some time.  The voyage was rather a
+lazy one, the ship not being moved by steam; for at the time of which I
+am speaking, some five years ago, steamships were not so plentiful as
+now.  There were only two passengers in the grand cabin, where my
+governor and his daughters were, an Italian lady and a priest.  Of the
+lady I have not much to say; she appeared to be a quiet respectable
+person enough, and after our arrival at Naples, I neither saw nor heard
+anything more of her; but of the priest I shall have a good deal to say
+in the sequel, (that, by-the-bye, is a word I learned from the professor
+of rhetoric,) and it would have been well for our family had they never
+met him.
+
+"On the third day of the voyage the priest came to me, who was rather
+unwell with sea-sickness, which he, of course, felt nothing of, that kind
+of people being never affected like others.  He was a finish-looking man
+of about forty-five, but had something strange in his eyes, which I have
+since thought denoted that all was not right in a certain place called
+the heart.  After a few words of condolence, in a broken kind of English,
+he asked me various questions about our family; and I, won by his seeming
+kindness, told him all I knew about them, of which communicativeness I
+afterwards very much repented.  As soon as he had got out of me all he
+desired, he left me; and I observed that during the rest of the voyage he
+was wonderfully attentive to our governor, and yet more to the young
+ladies.  Both, however, kept him rather at a distance; the young ladies
+were reserved, and once or twice I heard our governor cursing him between
+his teeth for a sharking priest.  The priest, however, was not
+disconcerted, and continued his attentions, which in a little time
+produced an effect, so that, by the time we landed at Naples, our great
+folks had conceived a kind of liking for the man, and when they took
+their leave invited him to visit them, which he promised to do.  We hired
+a grand house or palace at Naples; it belonged to a poor kind of prince,
+who was glad enough to let it to our governor, and also his servants and
+carriages; and glad enough were the poor servants, for they got from us
+what they never got from the prince--plenty of meat and money--and glad
+enough, I make no doubt, were the horses for the provender we gave them;
+and I daresay the coaches were not sorry to be cleaned and furbished up.
+Well, we went out and came in; going to see the sights, and returning.
+Amongst other things we saw was the burning mountain, and the tomb of a
+certain sorcerer called Virgilio, who made witch rhymes, by which he
+could raise the dead.  Plenty of people came to see us, both English and
+Italians, and amongst the rest the priest.  He did not come amongst the
+first, but allowed us to settle and become a little quiet before he
+showed himself; and after a day or two he paid us another visit, then
+another, till at last his visits were daily.
+
+"I did not like that Jack Priest; so I kept my eye upon all his motions.
+Lord! how that Jack Priest did curry favour with our governor and the two
+young ladies; and he curried, and curried, till he had got himself into
+favour with the governor, and more especially with the two young ladies,
+of whom their father was doatingly fond.  At last the ladies took lessons
+in Italian of the priest, a language in which he was said to be a grand
+proficient, and of which they had hitherto known but very little; and
+from that time his influence over them, and consequently over the old
+governor, increased till the tables were turned, and he no longer curried
+favour with them, but they with him; yes, as true as my leg aches, the
+young ladies curried, and the old governor curried favour with that same
+Priest; when he was with them, they seemed almost to hang on his lips,
+that is, the young ladies; and as for the old governor, he never
+contradicted him, and when the fellow was absent, which, by-the-bye, was
+not often, it was 'Father so-and-so said this, and Father so-and-so said
+that; Father so-and-so thinks we should do so-and-so, or that we should
+not do so-and-so.'  I at first thought that he must have given them
+something, some philtre or the like; but one of the English
+maid-servants, who had a kind of respect for me, and who saw much more
+behind the scenes than I did, informed me that he was continually
+instilling strange notions into their heads, striving, by every possible
+method, to make them despise the religion of their own land, and take up
+that of the foreign country in which they were.  And sure enough, in a
+little time, the girls had altogether left off going to an English
+chapel, and were continually visiting places of Italian worship.  The old
+governor, it is true, still went to his church, but he appeared to be
+hesitating between two opinions; and once when he was at dinner, he said
+to two or three English friends, that since he had become better
+acquainted with it, he had conceived a much more favourable opinion of
+the Catholic religion than he had previously entertained.  In a word, the
+priest ruled the house, and everything was done according to his will and
+pleasure; by degrees he persuaded the young ladies to drop their English
+acquaintances, whose place he supplied with Italians, chiefly females.
+My poor old governor would not have had a person to speak to, for he
+never could learn the language, but for two or three Englishmen who used
+to come occasionally and take a bottle with him, in a summer-house, whose
+company he could not be persuaded to resign, notwithstanding the
+entreaties of his daughters, instigated by the priest, whose grand
+endeavour seemed to be to render the minds of all three foolish, for his
+own ends.  And if he was busy above stairs with the governor, there was
+another busy below with us poor English servants, a kind of subordinate
+priest, a low Italian; as he could speak no language but his own, he was
+continually jabbering to us in that, and by hearing him the maids and
+myself contrived to pick up a good deal of the language, so that we
+understood most that was said, and could speak it very fairly; and the
+themes of his jabber were the beauty and virtues of one whom he called
+Holy Mary, and the power and grandeur of one whom he called the Holy
+Father; and he told us that we should shortly have an opportunity of
+seeing the Holy Father, who could do anything he liked with Holy Mary: in
+the mean time we had plenty of opportunities of seeing Holy Mary, for in
+every church, chapel, and convent to which we were taken, there was an
+image of Holy Mary, who, if the images were dressed at all in her
+fashion, must have been very fond of short petticoats and tinsel, and
+who, if those said figures at all resembled her in face, could scarcely
+have been half as handsome as either of my two fellow-servants, not to
+speak of the young ladies.
+
+"Now it happened that one of the female servants was much taken with what
+she saw and heard, and gave herself up entirely to the will of the
+subordinate, who had quite as much dominion over her as his superior had
+over the ladies; the other maid, however, the one who had a kind of
+respect for me, was not so easily besotted; she used to laugh at what she
+saw, and at what the fellow told her, and from her I learnt that amongst
+other things intended by these priestly confederates was robbery; she
+said that the poor old governor had already been persuaded by his
+daughters to put more than a thousand pounds into the superior priest's
+hands for purposes of charity and religion, as was said, and that the
+subordinate one had already inveigled her fellow-servant out of every
+penny which she had saved from her wages, and had endeavoured likewise to
+obtain what money she herself had, but in vain.  With respect to myself,
+the fellow shortly after made an attempt towards obtaining a hundred
+crowns, of which, by some means, he knew me to be in possession, telling
+me what a meritorious thing it was to give one's superfluities for the
+purposes of religion.  'That is true,' said I, 'and if, after my return
+to my native country, I find I have anything which I don't want myself, I
+will employ it in helping to build a Methodist chapel.'
+
+"By the time that the three months were expired for which we had hired
+the palace of the needy Prince, the old governor began to talk of
+returning to England, at least of leaving Italy.  I believe he had become
+frightened at the calls which were continually being made upon him for
+money; for after all, you know, if there is a sensitive part of a man's
+wearing apparel it is his breeches pocket; but the young ladies could not
+think of leaving dear Italy and the dear priest; and then they had seen
+nothing of the country, they had only seen Naples; before leaving dear
+Italia they must see more of the country and the cities; above all, they
+must see a place which they called the Eternal City, or by some similar
+nonsensical name; and they persisted so that the poor governor permitted
+them, as usual, to have their way; and it was decided what route they
+should take, that is, the priest was kind enough to decide for them; and
+was also kind enough to promise to go with them part of the route, as far
+as a place where there was a wonderful figure of Holy Mary, which the
+priest said it was highly necessary for them to see before visiting the
+Eternal City; so we left Naples in hired carriages, driven by fellows
+they call veturini, cheating drunken dogs, I remember they were.  Besides
+our own family, there was the priest and his subordinate, and a couple of
+hired lackeys.  We were several days upon the journey, travelling through
+a very wild country, which the ladies pretended to be delighted with, and
+which the governor cursed on account of the badness of the roads; and
+when we came to any particularly wild spot we used to stop, in order to
+enjoy the scenery, as the ladies said; and then we would spread a
+horse-cloth on the ground, and eat bread and cheese, and drink wine of
+the country.  And some of the holes and corner in which we bivouacked, as
+the ladies called it, were something like this place where we are now, so
+that when I came down here it put me in mind of them.  At last we arrived
+at the place where was the holy image.
+
+"We went to the house or chapel in which the holy image was kept, a
+frightful ugly black figure of Holy Mary, dressed in her usual way; and
+after we had stared at the figure, and some of our party had bowed down
+to it, we were shown a great many things which were called holy relics,
+which consisted of thumb-nails and fore-nails and toe-nails, and hair and
+teeth, and a feather or two, a mighty thigh-bone, but whether of a man or
+a camel, I can't say; all of which things I was told, if properly touched
+and handled, had mighty power to cure all kinds of disorders.  And as we
+went from the holy house, we saw a man in a state of great excitement, he
+was foaming at the mouth, and cursing the holy image and all its
+household, because, after he had worshipped it and made offerings to it,
+and besought it to assist him in a game of chance which he was about to
+play, it had left him in the lurch, allowing him to lose all his money;
+and when I thought of all the rubbish I had seen, and the purposes which
+it was applied to, in conjunction with the rage of the losing gamester at
+the deaf and dumb image, I could not help comparing the whole with what
+my poor brother used to tell me of the superstitious practices of the
+blacks on the high Barbary shore, and their occasional rage and fury at
+the things they worshipped; and I said to myself, if all this here
+doesn't smell of fetish may I smell fetid.
+
+"At this place the priest left us, returning to Naples with his
+subordinate, on some particular business I suppose.  It was, however,
+agreed that he should visit us at the Holy City.  We did not go direct to
+the Holy City, but bent our course to two or three other cities which the
+family were desirous of seeing, but as nothing occurred to us in these
+places of any particular interest, I shall take the liberty of passing
+them by in silence.  At length we arrived at the Eternal City; an immense
+city it was, looking as if it had stood for a long time, and would stand
+for a long time still; compared with it, London would look like a mere
+assemblage of bee-skeps; however, give me the bee-skeps with their merry
+hum and bustle, and life and honey, rather than that huge town, which
+looked like a sepulchre, where there was no life, no busy hum, no bees,
+but a scanty sallow population, intermixed with black priests, white
+priests, grey priests; and though I don't say there was no honey in the
+place, for I believe there was, I am ready to take my Bible oath that it
+was not made there, and that the priests kept it all for themselves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIX.
+
+
+A Cloister--Half English--New Acquaintance--Mixed Liquors--Turning
+Papist--Purposes of Charity--Foreign Religion--Melancholy--Elbowing and
+Pushing--Outlandish Sight--The Figure--I Don't Care for You--Merry
+Andrews--One Good--Religion of My Country--Fellow of Spirit--A
+Dispute--The Next Morning--Female Doll--Proper Dignity--Fetish Country.
+
+"The day after our arrival," continued the postillion, "I was sent, under
+the guidance of a lackey of the place, with a letter, which the priest,
+when he left, had given us for a friend of his in the Eternal City.  We
+went to a large house, and on ringing, were admitted by a porter into a
+cloister, where I saw some ill-looking, shabby young fellows walking
+about, who spoke English to one another.  To one of these the porter
+delivered the letter, and the young fellow going away, presently returned
+and told me to follow him; he led me into a large room, where, behind a
+table, on which were various papers, and a thing, which they call in that
+country a crucifix, sat a man in a kind of priestly dress.  The lad
+having opened the door for me, shut it behind me, and went away.  The man
+behind the table was so engaged in reading the letter which I had
+brought, that at first he took no notice of me; he had red hair, a kind
+of half-English countenance, and was seemingly about five-and-thirty.
+After a little time he laid the letter down, appeared to consider a
+moment, and then opened his mouth with a strange laugh, not a loud laugh,
+for I heard nothing but a kind of hissing deep down the throat; all of a
+sudden, however, perceiving me, he gave a slight start, but instantly
+recovering himself, he inquired in English concerning the health of the
+family, and where we lived; on my delivering him a card, he bade me
+inform my master and the ladies that in the course of the day he would do
+himself the honour of waiting upon them.  He then arose and opened the
+door for me to depart; the man was perfectly civil and courteous, but I
+did not like that strange laugh of his, after having read the letter.  He
+was as good as his word, and that same day paid us a visit.  It was now
+arranged that we should pass the winter in Rome, to my great annoyance,
+for I wished to return to my native land, being heartily tired of
+everything connected with Italy.  I was not, however, without hope that
+our young master would shortly arrive, when I trusted that matters, as
+far as the family were concerned, would be put on a better footing.  In a
+few days our new acquaintance, who, it seems, was a mongrel Englishman,
+had procured a house for our accommodation; it was large enough, but not
+near so pleasant as that we had at Naples, which was light and airy, with
+a large garden.  This was a dark gloomy structure in a narrow street,
+with a frowning church beside it; it was not far from the place where our
+new friend lived, and its being so was probably the reason why he
+selected it.  It was furnished partly with articles which we bought, and
+partly with those which we hired.  We lived something in the same way as
+at Naples; but though I did not much like Naples, I yet liked it better
+than this place, which was so gloomy.  Our new acquaintance made himself
+as agreeable as he could, conducting the ladies to churches and convents,
+and frequently passing the afternoon drinking with the governor, who was
+fond of a glass of brandy and water and a cigar, as the new acquaintance
+also was--no, I remember, he was fond of gin and water, and did not
+smoke.  I don't think he had so much influence over the young ladies as
+the other priest, which was, perhaps, owing to his not being so good
+looking; but I am sure he had more influence with the governor, owing,
+doubtless, to his bearing him company in drinking mixed liquors, which
+the other priest did not do.
+
+"He was a strange fellow, that same new acquaintance of ours, and unlike
+all the priests I saw in that country, and I saw plenty of various
+nations,--they were always upon their guard, and had their features and
+voice modulated; but this man was subject to fits of absence, during
+which he would frequently mutter to himself; then, though he was
+perfectly civil to everybody, as far as words went, I observed that he
+entertained a thorough contempt for most people, especially for those
+whom he was making dupes.  I have observed him whilst drinking with our
+governor, when the old man's head was turned, look at him with an air
+which seemed to say, 'What a thundering old fool you are!' and at our
+young ladies, when their backs were turned, with a glance which said
+distinctly enough, 'You precious pair of ninnyhammers;' and then his
+laugh--he had two kinds of laughs--one which you could hear, and another
+which you could only see.  I have seen him laugh at our governor and the
+young ladies, when their heads were turned away, but I heard no sound.
+My mother had a sandy cat, which sometimes used to open its mouth wide
+with a mew which nobody could hear, and the silent laugh of that
+red-haired priest used to put me wonderfully in mind of the silent mew of
+my mother's sandy-red cat.  And then the other laugh, which you could
+hear; what a strange laugh that was, never loud, yes, I have heard it
+tolerably loud.  He once passed near me, after having taken leave of a
+silly English fellow--a limping parson of the name of Platitude, who they
+said was thinking of turning Papist, and was much in his company; I was
+standing behind the pillar of a piazza, and as he passed he was laughing
+heartily.  O he was a strange fellow, that same red-haired acquaintance
+of ours!
+
+"After we had been at Rome about six weeks, our old friend the priest of
+Naples arrived, but without his subordinate, for whose services he now
+perhaps thought that he had no occasion.  I believe he found matters in
+our family wearing almost as favourable an aspect as he could desire:
+with what he had previously taught them and shown them at Naples and
+elsewhere, and with what the red-haired confederate had taught them and
+shown them at Rome, the poor young ladies had become quite handmaids of
+superstition, so that they, especially the youngest, were prepared to bow
+down to anything, and kiss anything, however vile and ugly, provided a
+priest commanded them; and as for the old governor, what with the
+influence which his daughters exerted, and what with the ascendancy which
+the red-haired man had obtained over him, he dared not say his purse, far
+less his soul, was his own.  Only think of an Englishman not being master
+of his own purse!  My acquaintance, the lady's maid, assured me, that to
+her certain knowledge, he had disbursed to the red-haired man, for
+purposes of charity, as it was said, at least one thousand pounds during
+the five weeks we had been at Rome.  She also told me that things would
+shortly be brought to a conclusion, and so indeed they were, though in a
+different manner from what she and I and some other people imagined; that
+there was to be a grand festival, and a mass, at which we were to be
+present, after which the family were to be presented to the Holy Father,
+for so those two priestly sharks had managed it; and then--she said she
+was certain that the two ladies, and perhaps the old governor, would
+forsake the religion of their native land, taking up with that of these
+foreign regions, for so my fellow-servant expressed it, and that perhaps
+attempts might be made to induce us poor English servants to take up with
+the foreign religion, that is herself and me, for as for our
+fellow-servant, the other maid, she wanted no inducing, being disposed
+body and soul to go over to it.  Whereupon, I swore with an oath that
+nothing should induce me to take up with the foreign religion; and the
+poor maid, my fellow-servant, bursting into tears, said that for her part
+she would sooner die than have anything to do with it; thereupon we shook
+hands and agreed to stand by and countenance one another: and moreover,
+provided our governors were fools enough to go over to the religion of
+these here foreigners, we would not wait to be asked to do the like, but
+leave them at once, and make the best of our way home, even if we were
+forced to beg on the road.
+
+"At last the day of the grand festival came, and we were all to go to the
+big church to hear the mass.  Now it happened that for some time past I
+had been much afflicted with melancholy, especially when I got up of a
+morning, produced by the strange manner in which I saw things going on in
+our family; and to dispel it in some degree, I had been in the habit of
+taking a dram before breakfast.  On the morning in question, feeling
+particularly low-spirited when I thought of the foolish step our governor
+would probably take before evening, I took two drams before breakfast,
+and after breakfast, feeling my melancholy still continuing, I took
+another, which produced a slight effect upon my head, though I am
+convinced nobody observed it.
+
+"Away we drove to the big church; it was a dark, misty day, I remember,
+and very cold, so that if anybody had noticed my being slightly in
+liquor, I could have excused myself by saying that I had merely taken a
+glass to fortify my constitution against the weather; and of one thing I
+am certain, which is, that such an excuse would have stood me in stead
+with our governor, who looked, I thought, as if he had taken one too; but
+I may be mistaken, and why should I notice him, seeing that he took no
+notice of me: so away we drove to the big church, to which all the
+population of the place appeared to be moving.
+
+"On arriving there we dismounted, and the two priests who were with us
+led the family in, whilst I followed at a little distance, but quickly
+lost them amidst the throng of people.  I made my way, however, though in
+what direction I knew not, except it was one in which everybody seemed
+striving, and by dint of elbowing and pushing, I at last got to a place
+which looked like the aisle of a cathedral, where the people stood in two
+rows, a space between being kept open by certain strangely-dressed men
+who moved up and down with rods in their hands; all were looking to the
+upper end of this place or aisle; and at the upper end, separated from
+the people by palings like those of an altar, sat in magnificent-looking
+stalls, on the right and the left, various wonderful-looking individuals
+in scarlet dresses.  At the farther end was what appeared to be an altar,
+on the left hand was a pulpit, and on the right a stall higher than any
+of the rest, where was a figure whom I could scarcely see.
+
+"I can't pretend to describe what I saw exactly, for my head, which was
+at first rather flurried, had become more so from the efforts which I had
+made to get through the crowd; also from certain singing which proceeded
+from I know not where, and above all from the bursts of an organ which
+were occasionally so loud that I thought the roof, which was painted with
+wondrous colours, would come toppling down on those below.  So there
+stood I--a poor English servant--in that outlandish place, in the midst
+of that foreign crowd, looking at that outlandish sight--hearing those
+outlandish sounds, and occasionally glancing at our party, which, by this
+time, I distinguished at the opposite side to where I stood, but much
+nearer the place where the red figures sat.  Yes, there stood our poor
+governor, and the sweet young ladies, and I thought they never looked so
+handsome before, and close by them were the sharking priests, and not far
+from them was that idiotical parson Platitude, winking and grinning, and
+occasionally lifting up his hands as if in ecstasy at what he saw and
+heard, so that he drew upon himself the notice of the congregation.
+
+"And now an individual mounted the pulpit, and began to preach in a
+language which I did not understand, but which I believe to be Latin,
+addressing himself seemingly to the figure in the stall; and when he had
+ceased, there was more singing, more organ playing, and then two men in
+robes brought forth two things which they held up; and then the people
+bowed their heads, and our poor governor bowed his head, and the sweet
+young ladies bowed their heads, and the sharking priests, whilst the
+idiotical parson Platitude tried to fling himself down; and then there
+were various evolutions withinside the pale, and the scarlet figures got
+up and sat down, and this kind of thing continued for some time.  At
+length the figure which I had seen in the principal stall came forth and
+advanced towards the people; an awful figure he was, a huge old man with
+a sugar-loaf hat, with a sulphur-coloured dress, and holding a crook in
+his hand like that of a shepherd; and as he advanced the people fell on
+their knees, our poor old governor amongst them; the sweet young ladies,
+the sharking priests, the idiotical parson Platitude, all fell on their
+knees, and somebody or other tried to pull me on my knees; but by this
+time I had become outrageous, all that my poor brother used to tell me of
+the superstitions of the high Barbary shore rushed into my mind, and I
+thought they were acting them over here; above all, the idea that the
+sweet young ladies, to say nothing of my poor old governor, were, after
+the conclusion of all this mummery, going to deliver themselves up body
+and soul into the power of that horrid-looking old man, maddened me, and,
+rushing forward into the open space, I confronted the horrible-looking
+old figure with the sugar-loaf hat, the sulphur-coloured garments, and
+shepherd's crook, and shaking my fist at his nose, I bellowed out in
+English--
+
+"'I don't care for you, old Mumbo Jumbo, though you have fetish!'
+
+"I can scarcely tell you what occurred for some time.  I have a dim
+recollection that hands were laid upon me, and that I struck out
+violently left and right.  On coming to myself, I was seated on a stone
+bench in a large room, something like a guard-room, in the custody of
+certain fellows dressed like Merry Andrews; they were bluff,
+good-looking, wholesome fellows, very different from the sallow Italians;
+they were looking at me attentively, and occasionally talking to each
+other in a language which sounded very like the cracking of walnuts in
+the mouth, very different from cooing Italian.  At last one of them asked
+me in Italian what had ailed me, to which I replied, in an incoherent
+manner, something about Mumbo Jumbo; whereupon the fellow, one of the
+bluffest of the lot, a jovial rosy-faced rascal, lifted up his right
+hand, placing it in such a manner that the lips were between the
+forefinger and thumb, then lifting up his right foot and drawing back his
+head, he sucked in his breath with a hissing sound, as if to imitate one
+drinking a hearty draught, and then slapped me on the shoulder, saying
+something which sounded like goot wine, goot companion, whereupon they
+all laughed, exclaiming, ya, ya, goot companion.  And now hurried into
+the room our poor old governor, with the red-haired priest; the first
+asked what could have induced me to behave in such a manner in such a
+place, to which I replied that I was not going to bow down to Mumbo
+Jumbo, whatever other people might do.  Whereupon my master said he
+believed I was mad, and the priest said he believed I was drunk; to which
+I answered that I was neither so mad nor drunk but I could distinguish
+how the wind lay.  Whereupon they left me, and in a little time I was
+told by the bluff-looking Merry Andrews I was at liberty to depart.  I
+believe the priest, in order to please my governor, interceded for me in
+high quarters.
+
+"But one good resulted from this affair; there was no presentation of our
+family to the Holy Father, for old Mumbo was so frightened by my
+outrageous looks that he was laid up for a week, as I was afterwards
+informed.
+
+"I went home, and had scarcely been there half an hour when I was sent
+for by the governor, who again referred to the scene in church, said that
+he could not tolerate such scandalous behaviour, and that unless I
+promised to be more circumspect in future, he should be compelled to
+discharge me.  I said that if he was scandalized at my behaviour in the
+church, I was more scandalized at all I saw going on in the family, which
+was governed by two rascally priests, who, not content with plundering
+him, appeared bent on hurrying the souls of us all to destruction; and
+that with respect to discharging me, he could do so that moment, as I
+wished to go.  I believe his own reason told him that I was right, for he
+made no direct answer; but, after looking on the ground for some time, he
+told me to leave him.  As he did not tell me to leave the house, I went
+to my room, intending to lie down for an hour or two; but scarcely was I
+there when the door opened, and in came the red-haired priest.  He showed
+himself, as he always did, perfectly civil, asked me how I was, took a
+chair and sat down.  After a hem or two he entered into a long
+conversation on the excellence of what he called the Catholic religion;
+told me that he hoped I would not set myself against the light, and
+likewise against my interest; for that the family were about to embrace
+the Catholic religion, and would make it worth my while to follow their
+example.  I told him that the family might do what they pleased, but that
+I would never forsake the religion of my country for any consideration
+whatever; that I was nothing but a poor servant, but I was not to be
+bought by base gold.  'I admire your honourable feelings,' said he; 'you
+shall have no gold; and as I see you are a fellow of spirit, and do not
+like being a servant, for which I commend you, I can promise you
+something better.  I have a good deal of influence in this place; and if
+you will not set your face against the light, but embrace the Catholic
+religion, I will undertake to make your fortune.  You remember those fine
+fellows to-day who took you into custody, they are the guards of his
+Holiness.  I have no doubt that I have interest enough to procure your
+enrolment amongst them.'  'What,' said I, 'become swash-buckler to Mumbo
+Jumbo up here!  May I'--and here I swore--'if I do.  The mere possibility
+of one of their children being swash-buckler to Mumbo Jumbo on the high
+Barbary shore has always been a source of heart-breaking to my poor
+parents.  What, then, would they not undergo if they knew for certain
+that their other child was swash-buckler to Mumbo Jumbo up here?'
+Thereupon he asked me, even as you did some time ago, what I meant by
+Mumbo Jumbo?  And I told him all I had heard about the Mumbo Jumbo of the
+high Barbary shore; telling him that I had no doubt that the old fellow
+up here was his brother, or nearly related to him.  The man with the red
+hair listened with the greatest attention to all I said, and when I had
+concluded, he got up, nodded to me, and moved to the door; ere he reached
+the door I saw his shoulders shaking, and as he closed it behind him I
+heard him distinctly laughing, to the tune of--he! he! he!
+
+"But now matters began to mend.  That same evening my young master
+unexpectedly arrived.  I believe he soon perceived that something
+extraordinary had been going on in the family.  He was for some time
+closeted with the governor, with whom, I believe, he had a dispute; for
+my fellow-servant, the ladies' maid, informed me that she heard high
+words.
+
+"Rather late at night the young gentleman sent for me into his room, and
+asked me various questions with respect to what had been going on, and my
+behaviour in the church, of which he had heard something.  I told him all
+I knew with respect to the intrigues of the two priests in the family,
+and gave him a circumstantial account of all that had occurred in the
+church; adding that, under similar circumstances, I was ready to play the
+same part over again.  Instead of blaming me, he commended my behaviour,
+told me I was a fine fellow, and said he hoped that if he wanted my
+assistance, I would stand by him; this I promised to do.  Before I left
+him, he entreated me to inform him the very next time I saw the priests
+entering the house.
+
+"The next morning, as I was in the court-yard, where I had placed myself
+to watch, I saw the two enter and make their way up a private stair to
+the young ladies' apartment; they were attended by a man dressed
+something like a priest, who bore a large box; I instantly ran to relate
+what I had seen to my young master.  I found him shaving.  'I will just
+finish what I am about,' said he, 'and then wait upon these gentlemen.'
+He finished what he was about with great deliberation; then taking a
+horsewhip, and bidding me follow him, he proceeded at once to the door of
+his sisters' apartment; finding it fastened, he burst it open at once
+with his foot, and entered, followed by myself.  There we beheld the two
+unfortunate young ladies down on their knees before a large female doll,
+dressed up, as usual, in rags and tinsel; the two priests were standing
+near, one on either side, with their hands uplifted, whilst the fellow
+who brought the trumpery stood a little way down the private stair, the
+door of which stood open; without a moment's hesitation, my young master
+rushed forward, gave the image a cut or two with his horsewhip--then
+flying at the priests, he gave them a sound flogging, kicked them down
+the private stair, and spurned the man, box and image after them--then
+locking the door, he gave his sisters a fine sermon, in which he
+represented to them their folly in worshipping a silly wooden graven
+image, which, though it had eyes, could see not; though it had ears,
+could hear not; though it had hands, could not help itself; and though it
+had feet, could not move about unless it were carried.  Oh, it was a fine
+sermon that my young master preached, and sorry I am that the Father of
+the Fetish, old Mumbo, did not hear it.  The elder sister looked ashamed,
+but the youngest, who was very weak, did nothing but wring her hands,
+weep and bewail the injury which had been done to the dear image.  The
+young man, however, without paying much regard to either of them, went to
+his father, with whom he had a long conversation, which terminated in the
+old governor giving orders for preparations to be made for the family's
+leaving Rome and returning to England.  I believe that the old governor
+was glad of his son's arrival, and rejoiced at the idea of getting away
+from Italy, where he had been so plundered and imposed upon.  The
+priests, however, made another attempt upon the poor young ladies.  By
+the connivance of the female servant who was in their interest, they
+found their way once more into their apartment, bringing with them the
+fetish image, whose body they partly stripped, exhibiting upon it certain
+sanguine marks which they had daubed upon it with red paint, but which
+they said were the result of the lashes which it had received from the
+horsewhip.  The youngest girl believed all they said, and kissed and
+embraced the dear image; but the eldest, whose eyes had been opened by
+her brother, to whom she was much attached, behaved with proper dignity;
+for, going to the door, she called the female servant who had a respect
+for me, and in her presence reproached the two deceivers for their
+various impudent cheats, and especially for this their last attempt at
+imposition; adding that if they did not forthwith withdraw and rid her
+sister and herself of their presence, she would send word by her maid to
+her brother, who would presently take effectual means to expel them.
+They took the hint and departed, and we saw no more of them.
+
+"At the end of three days we departed from Rome, but the maid whom the
+Priests had cajoled remained behind, and it is probable that the youngest
+of our ladies would have done the same thing if she could have had her
+own will, for she was continually raving about her image, and saying, she
+should wish to live with it in a convent; but we watched the poor thing,
+and got her on board ship.  Oh, glad was I to leave that fetish country
+and old Mumbo behind me!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER C.
+
+
+Nothing but Gloom--Sporting Character--Gouty Tory--Servants'
+Club--Politics--Reformado Footman--Peroration--Good Night.
+
+"We arrived in England, and went to our country seat, but the peace and
+tranquillity of the family had been marred, and I no longer found my
+place the pleasant one which it had formerly been; there was nothing but
+gloom in the house, for the youngest daughter exhibited signs of lunacy,
+and was obliged to be kept under confinement.  The next season I attended
+my master, his son, and eldest daughter to London, as I had previously
+done.  There I left them, for hearing that a young baronet, an
+acquaintance of the family, wanted a servant, I applied for the place,
+with the consent of my masters, both of whom gave me a strong
+recommendation; and, being approved of, I went to live with him.
+
+"My new master was what is called a sporting character, very fond of the
+turf, upon which he was not very fortunate.  He was frequently very much
+in want of money, and my wages were anything but regularly paid;
+nevertheless, I liked him very much, for he treated me more like a friend
+than a domestic, continually consulting me as to his affairs.  At length
+he was brought nearly to his last shifts, by backing the favourite at the
+Derby, which favourite turned out a regular brute, being found nowhere at
+the rush.  Whereupon, he and I had a solemn consultation over fourteen
+glasses of brandy and water, and as many cigars--I mean, between us--as
+to what was to be done.  He wished to start a coach, in which event he
+was to be driver, and I guard.  He was quite competent to drive a coach,
+being a first-rate whip, and I dare say I should have made a first-rate
+guard; but to start a coach requires money, and we neither of us believed
+that anybody would trust us with vehicles and horses, so that idea was
+laid aside.  We then debated as to whether or not he should go into the
+Church; but to go into the Church--at any rate to become a dean or
+bishop, which would have been our aim--it is necessary for a man to
+possess some education; and my master, although he had been at the best
+school in England, that is, the most expensive, and also at College, was
+almost totally illiterate, so we let the Church scheme follow that of the
+coach.  At last, bethinking me that he was tolerably glib at the tongue,
+as most people are who are addicted to the turf, also a great master of
+slang, remembering also that he had a crabbed old uncle, who had some
+borough interest, I proposed that he should get into the House, promising
+in one fortnight to qualify him to make a figure in it, by certain
+lessons which I would give him.  He consented; and during the next
+fortnight I did little else than give him lessons in elocution, following
+to a tittle the method of the great professor, which I had picked up,
+listening behind the door.  At the end of that period, we paid a visit to
+his relation, an old gouty Tory, who, at first, received us very coolly.
+My master, however, by flattering a predilection of his for Billy Pitt,
+soon won his affections so much, that he promised to bring him into
+Parliament; and in less than a month was as good as his word.  My master,
+partly by his own qualifications, and the assistance which he had
+derived, and still occasionally derived, from me, cut a wonderful figure
+in the House, and was speedily considered one of the most promising
+speakers; he was always a good hand at promising--he is, at present, I
+believe, a Cabinet minister.
+
+"But as he got up in the world, he began to look down on me.  I believe
+he was ashamed of the obligation under which he lay to me; and at last,
+requiring no further hints as to oratory from a poor servant like me, he
+took an opportunity of quarrelling with me and discharging me.  However,
+as he had still some grace, he recommended me to a gentleman with whom,
+since he had attached himself to politics, he had formed an acquaintance,
+the editor of a grand Tory Review.  I lost caste terribly amongst the
+servants for entering the service of a person connected with a profession
+so mean as literature; and it was proposed at the Servants' Club, in Park
+Lane, to eject me from that society.  The proposition, however, was not
+carried into effect, and I was permitted to show myself among them,
+though few condescended to take much notice of me.  My master was one of
+the best men in the world, but also one of the most sensitive.  On his
+veracity being impugned by the editor of a newspaper, he called him out,
+and shot him through the arm.  Though servants are seldom admirers of
+their masters, I was a great admirer of mine, and eager to follow his
+example.  The day after the encounter, on my veracity being impugned by
+the servant of Lord C--- in something I said in praise of my master, I
+determined to call him out; so I went into another room and wrote a
+challenge.  But whom should I send it by?  Several servants to whom I
+applied refused to be the bearers of it; they said I had lost caste, and
+they could not think of going out with me.  At length the servant of the
+Duke of B--- consented to take it; but he made me to understand that,
+though he went out with me, he did so merely because he despised the
+Whiggish principles of Lord C---'s servant, and that if I thought he
+intended to associate with me, I should be mistaken.  Politics, I must
+tell you, at that time ran as high amongst the servants as the gentlemen,
+the servants, however, being almost invariably opposed to the politics of
+their respective masters, though both parties agreed in one point, the
+scouting of everything low and literary, though I think, of the two, the
+liberal or reform party were the most inveterate.  So he took my
+challenge, which was accepted; we went out, Lord C---'s servant being
+seconded by a reformado footman from the palace.  We fired three times
+without effect; but this affair lost me my place; my master on hearing it
+forthwith discharged me; he was, as I have said before, very sensitive,
+and he said this duel of mine was a parody of his own.  Being, however,
+one of the best men in the world, on his discharging me he made me a
+donation of twenty pounds.
+
+"And it was well that he made me this present, for without it I should
+have been penniless, having contracted rather expensive habits during the
+time that I lived with the young baronet.  I now determined to visit my
+parents, whom I had not seen for years.  I found them in good health,
+and, after staying with them for two months, I returned again in the
+direction of town, walking, in order to see the country.  On the second
+day of my journey, not being used to such fatigue, I fell ill at a great
+inn on the north road, and there I continued for some weeks till I
+recovered, but by that time my money was entirely spent.  By living at
+the inn I had contracted an acquaintance with the master and the people,
+and become accustomed to inn life.  As I thought that I might find some
+difficulty in procuring any desirable situation in London, owing to my
+late connection with literature, I determined to remain where I was,
+provided my services would be accepted.  I offered them to the master,
+who, finding I knew something of horses, engaged me as a postillion.  I
+have remained there since.  You have now heard my story.
+
+"Stay, you sha'n't say that I told my tale without a per--peroration.
+What shall it be?  Oh, I remember something which will serve for one.  As
+I was driving my chaise some weeks ago I saw standing at the gate of an
+avenue, which led up to an old mansion, a figure which I thought I
+recognised.  I looked at it attentively, and the figure, as I passed,
+looked at me; whether it remembered me I do not know, but I recognised
+the face it showed me full well.
+
+"If it was not the identical face of the red-haired priest whom I had
+seen at Rome, may I catch cold!
+
+"Young gentleman, I will now take a spell on your blanket--young lady,
+good night."
+
+                                 THE END.
+
+
+
+
+SOME OPINIONS.
+
+
+"The death of his father as told in the last chapter of _Lavengro_.  Is
+there anything of the kind more affecting in the library? . . . People
+there are for whom Borrow will play the same part as did horses and dogs
+for the gentleman in the tall white hat, whom David Copperfield met on
+the top of the Canterbury coach.  'Orses and dorgs,' said that gentleman,
+'is some men's fancy.  They are wittles and drink to me, lodging, wife
+and children, reading, writing and 'rithmetic, snuff, tobacker and
+sleep.'"--MR. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL in "_Res Judicatae_."
+
+"The spirit of Le Sage, the genius of Sterne find new life in these
+pages.  We promise our readers intellectual enjoyment of the highest
+order from a perusal of this extraordinary book."--MORNING POST.
+
+"Described with extraordinary vigour, and no one will lay down the volume
+unless compelled."--ATHENAEUM.
+
+"Mr. Borrow has the rare art of describing scenes and presenting
+characters with that graphic force and clearness which arise from
+thorough knowledge of and interest in his subject. . . . As an observer
+of strange varieties of the human race, he at once charms and rewards the
+attention of the reader."--SPECTATOR.
+
+            _By the same author and uniform with this volume_.
+
+               In neat cloth, with cut or uncut edges, 2s.
+
+                           THE BIBLE IN SPAIN;
+
+ _Or_, _The Journeys and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an attempt to
+               circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula_.
+
+                            BY GEORGE BORROW.
+
+
+
+
+MINERVA LIBRARY OF FAMOUS BOOKS.
+
+
+             _AN INEXPENSIVE LIBRARY OF INDISPENSABLE BOOKS_.
+
+ _An Illustrated Series of first-class Books_, _averaging from 400 to 600
+           pages_, _strongly and attractively bound in cloth_.
+
+                     PRICE TWO SHILLINGS EACH VOLUME,
+                         WITH CUT OR UNCUT EDGES.
+
+  In Half-Calf, Half-Persian, or Half-Morocco, Price Five Shillings each
+                                 Volume.
+
+The Design and Plan of the MINERVA LIBRARY OF FAMOUS BOOKS have been
+amply justified by the remarkable favour with which it has been received
+by the press and the public.  The design is to provide _at the lowest
+possible cost_ books which every intelligent reader will wish to possess
+in a form readable, attractive, and lasting.  The issue at monthly
+intervals, not so frequent as to distract, not so intermittent as to lose
+the advantage of regularity, enables readers to add to their library at
+an almost imperceptible cost.  Thus for about one pound a year, every man
+may form a library which will afford an ever-increasing source of
+gratification and cultivation to himself and his family.  There is no
+doubt, as in buying the novelties of the day, as to whether the new
+volume will prove to be of permanent value and interest.  It will have
+already stood the test of time and of good critics, though frequently it
+may have been unattainable except at a heavy cost.  THE MINERVA LIBRARY
+includes only works of widespread popularity, which have proved
+themselves worthy of a permanent place in literature.
+
+Variety is studied in the selection of books, so that all classes of the
+best literature of all nations may be represented.  The adoption of the
+name "Minerva" is justified by the abundant wisdom, thought, and
+imaginative and inventive power which the books will be found to contain.
+
+Each volume contains an introduction by the Editor, in which a biography
+of the author, or critical or explanatory notes, place the reader in
+sympathy with the author and his work.  In some of the books additional
+elucidations and illustrations of the text are given, and in others
+side-notes indicate the subjects of the paragraphs.
+
+The number of separate Plates as well as illustrations in the text forms
+a marked feature of the series.  As far as possible an authentic portrait
+of every author is given.  An inspection of the books only is needed to
+make their attractiveness evident.
+
+Every Englishman who reads and thinks, and wishes to possess the BEST
+BOOKS, should have every book in the Minerva Library.
+
+The Youth beginning to form a Library of books for lifelong companionship
+cannot do better than subscribe to the Minerva Library.
+
+Schools, Mechanics, and Village Libraries, and literary institutions of
+all kinds, should provide themselves with a number of copies of this
+inexpensive library of indispensable books.
+
+The Artisan and the Shop Assistant will find their means and
+opportunities consulted in this series.  They cannot buy the best books
+in the English language in a better and cheaper form combined.
+
+Naturally every Englishman wants to possess the choice works of the
+greatest Englishmen; and to complete his ideas as a citizen of the world,
+he needs a selection of the greatest writings of the geniuses of other
+countries.  Both these wants it is the object of the Minerva Library to
+supply.
+
+
+
+Volume I.--Eleventh Edition.
+
+
+CHARLES DARWIN'S JOURNAL During the Voyage of H.M.S. "Beagle" round the
+World.  With a Biographical Introduction by the Editor, Portrait of
+Darwin, and Illustrations.
+
+    "'The 'Minerva Library,' the new venture of Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co.
+    has made an excellent start. . . .  No better volumes could be chosen
+    for popular reading of a healthy sort than 'Darwin's Journal of
+    Researches during the Voyage of the Beagle,' and 'Borrow's Bible in
+    Spain.'  The paper is good, the type is tolerable, the binding is in
+    excellent taste, and the price is extremely low."--_Athenaeum_.
+
+
+
+Volume II.--Fifth Edition.
+
+
+THE INGOLDSBY LEGENDS.  With a Critical Introduction by the Editor,
+Portrait of the Author, and reproductions of the celebrated Illustrations
+by PHIZ and CRUIKSHANK.
+
+    "This series, which is edited by Mr. G. T. Bettany, is neatly bound,
+    well illustrated, and nicely printed."--_Graphic_.
+
+    "The determination of the publishers of the 'Minerva Library' to
+    render the series attractive and representative of English literature
+    of all kinds, is strikingly displayed in this volume. . . The book is
+    well printed and bound, and will be eagerly welcomed by all desiring
+    to obtain at a small cost a good edition of the works of the famous
+    humourist."--_Liverpool Courier_.
+
+
+
+Volume III.--Fourth Edition.
+
+
+BORROW'S BIBLE IN SPAIN: The Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of
+an Englishman, in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the
+Peninsula.  By GEORGE BORROW, Author of "The Gipsies of Spain."  With a
+Biographical Introduction by the Editor, and Illustrations.
+
+"Lovers of good literature and cheap may be commended to the 'Minerva
+Library' Edition of 'The Bible in Spain,' edited by Mr. G. T. Bettany.
+This is an excellent reprint, with neat binding, good type, and fair
+woodcuts."--_Saturday Review_.
+
+
+
+Volume IV.--Sixth Edition.
+
+
+EMERSON'S PROSE WORKS: The complete Prose Works of RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+With a Critical Introduction by the Editor, and Portrait of the Author.
+
+    "The series, judging by the initial volumes, will be endowed with
+    everything that makes reading pleasant and agreeable. . . . The
+    printing is a marvel of clearness, the slurs that too often
+    characterise cheap volumes being conspicuous by their absence. . . .
+    The binding is both elegant and durable. . . . If the excellence of
+    the first volumes is maintained in the future, the series will enjoy
+    a success both widespread and prolonged."  _City Press_.
+
+
+
+Volume V.--Fourth Edition.
+
+
+GALTON'S SOUTH AFRICA: The Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South
+Africa: being an Account of a Visit to Damaraland in 1851.  By FRANCIS
+GALTON, F.R.S.  With a New Map and Appendix, together with a Biographical
+Introduction by the Editor, Portrait of Mr. Gallon, and Illustrations.
+Containing also Vacation Tours in 1860 and 1861, by SIR GEORGE GROVE,
+FRANCIS GALTON, F.R.S., and W. G. CLARK, M.A.
+
+    "Be it understood the 'Minerva Library' presents itself in a form
+    that even the lover of luxurious books could scarcely find fault
+    with."--_Warrington Guardian_.
+
+    "The 'Minerva Library' will be hailed with delight, we are sure, by
+    all readers."--_The Weekly Times_.
+
+
+
+Volume VI.--Third Edition.
+
+
+THE BETROTHED LOVERS (I Promessi Sposi).  By ALESSANDRO MANZONI.  With a
+Biographical Introduction by the Editor, and Portrait of the Author.
+
+    Of this great work GOETHE wrote:--"Manzoni's romance transcends all
+    that we have knowledge of in this kind.  I need only say that the
+    internal part, all that comes from the core of the poet, is
+    thoroughly perfect, and that the external part, all the notes of
+    localities and so forth, is not a whit behind its great inner
+    qualities. . . . The work gives us the pleasure of an absolutely ripe
+    fruit."
+
+
+
+Volume VII.--Fourth Edition.
+
+
+GOETHE'S FAUST (Complete).  Translated in the Original Metres, with
+copious Critical and Explanatory Notes by BAYARD TAYLOR.  With a Critical
+Introduction by the Editor, Portrait of GOETHE, and RETZSCH'S
+Illustrations.
+
+*** This is a full and complete reprint of BAYARD TAYLOR'S unrivalled
+rendering of GOETHE'S masterpiece.  It is published by special
+arrangement with MRS. BAYARD TAYLOR, and contains the whole of the
+Translator's copious and extremely valuable Notes, Introductions, and
+Appendices.
+
+
+
+Volume VIII.--Fourth Edition.
+
+
+WALLACE'S TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON: Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.  By
+ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, Author of "The Malay Archipelago," "Darwinism,"
+etc.  Giving an account of the Native Tribes, and Observations on the
+Climate, Geology, and Natural History of the Amazon Valley.  With a
+Biographical Introduction, Portrait of the Author, and Illustrations.
+
+    "It would be impossible to overstate the service which Mr. Wallace,
+    the co-discoverer of Darwinism, has done."--_Times_, September 11th,
+    1889.
+
+
+
+Volume IX.--Fifth Edition.
+
+
+DEAN STANLEY'S LIFE OF DR. ARNOLD.  The Life and Correspondence of Thomas
+Arnold, D.D. (Head-Master of Rugby School).  By ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY,
+D.D., Dean of Westminster.  With a Portrait of DR. ARNOLD, and Full-page
+Illustrations.
+
+    "One of the most remarkable and most instructive books ever
+    published--a book for which Arnold himself left abundant materials in
+    his voluminuous correspondence, supplemented by a large quantity of
+    miscellaneous matter added by his friend and former pupil, Dean
+    Stanley."--_Morning Advertiser_.
+
+
+
+Volume X.--Third Edition,
+
+
+POE'S TALES OF ADVENTURE, MYSTERY, AND Imagination.  By EDGAR ALLAN POE.
+With a Biographical Introduction by the Editor, Portrait of the Author,
+and Illustrations.
+
+    "Contains over forty of Poe's marvellous stories, certainly among the
+    most exciting and sensational tales ever written.  The volume itself
+    is a marvel, comprising, as it does, over 560 pages, strongly and
+    neatly bound, for two shillings."--_Newcastle Chronicle_.
+
+
+
+Volume XI.--Second Edition.
+
+
+COMEDIES BY MOLIERE: Including The Would-be Gentleman; The Affected Young
+Ladies; The Forced Marriage; The Doctor by Compulsion; Scapin's
+Rogueries; The Blunderer; The School for Husbands; The School for Wives;
+The Miser; The Hypochondriac; The Misanthrope; The Blue-Stockings;
+Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite.  Newly Translated by CHARLES MATTHEW, M.A.
+The Translation revised by the Editor, with a Portrait of the Author, and
+Biographical Introduction.
+
+    "We hope that this new translation of Moliere's magnificent comedies
+    will make them as widely known as they deserve to be."--_Playgoer_.
+
+
+
+Volume XII.--Second Edition.
+
+
+FORSTER'S LIFE OF GOLDSMITH: The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith.  By
+JOHN FORSTER, Author of "The Life of Charles Dickens," etc.  With a
+Biography of FORSTER by the Editor, and Numerous Illustrations by
+MACLISE, STANFIELD, LEECH, and others.
+
+    Forster's "Life of Goldsmith" is a work which ranks very high among
+    successful biographies.  Washington Irving said of it: "It is
+    executed with a spirit, a feeling, a grace, and an elegance, that
+    leave nothing to be desired."
+
+
+
+Volume XIII.--Second Edition.
+
+
+LANE'S MODERN EGYPTIANS: The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians.
+By EDWARD WILLIAM LANE, Translator of the "Arabian Nights'
+Entertainments."  With a Biographical Introduction by the Editor, Sixteen
+Full-page Plates, and Eighty Illustrations in the Text.
+
+    "A famous and valuable book by one of the best Oriental Scholars of
+    the century.  It is, indeed, the fact that the present work is, as
+    has been said, the most remarkable description of a people ever
+    written."--_Glasgow Herald_.
+
+
+
+Volume XIV.
+
+
+TORRENS' LIFE OF MELBOURNE: Memoirs of William Lamb, Second Viscount
+Melbourne.  By W. M. TORRENS.  With Introduction by the Editor, and
+Portrait of LORD MELBOURNE.
+
+    "It is, indeed, one of the best and most interesting biographies ever
+    written . . . For ourselves, we must admit we have read the book from
+    cover to cover with avidity, and we hope it will reach the hands of
+    tens of thousands of our middle and working classes."--_Daily
+    Chronicle_.
+
+
+
+Volume XV.--Fourth Edition.
+
+
+THACKERAY'S VANITY FAIR.  Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero.  By
+WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.  With Biographical Introduction by the
+Editor, Portrait of the Author, and full-page Illustrations.
+
+    "The masterpiece of Thackeray's satire is here placed within reach of
+    the slenderest purse, and yet in a form that leaves nothing to be
+    desired in the way of clear printing, and neat, serviceable
+    binding."--_Manchester Examiner_.
+
+
+
+Volume XVI.
+
+
+BARTH'S TRAVELS IN AFRICA: Travels and Discoveries in North and Central
+Africa.  Including Accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the Remarkable
+Kingdom of Bornu, and the Countries round Lake Chad.  By HENRY BARTH,
+Ph.D., D.C.L.  With Biographical Introduction by the Editor, Full-page
+Plates, and Illustrations in the Text.
+
+    "Barth's journey through Tripoli to Central Africa is full of
+    instruction and entertainment.  He had a fine feeling for the remote,
+    the unknown, the mysterious . . . Altogether, his is one of the most
+    inspiring of records."--_Saturday Review_.
+
+
+
+Volume XVII.--Second Edition.
+
+
+VICTOR HUGO: SELECT POEMS AND TRAGEDIES.  ("Hernani" and "The King's
+Amusement.")  Translated by FRANCIS, FIRST EARL OF ELLESMERE, SIR EDWIN
+ARNOLD, K.S.I., SIR GILBERT CAMPBELL, BART., BP. ALEXANDER, RICHARD
+GARNETT, LL.D., ANDREW LANG, LL.D., CLEMENT SCOTT, M.A., CHARLES MATTHEW,
+M.A., NELSON R. TYERMAN, and many others.  With Portrait of VICTOR HUGO.
+
+    "One of the best volumes yet issued in the splendid series of 'Famous
+    Books' which go to make up Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co's 'Minerva
+    Library,'"--_Northampton Mercury_.
+
+
+
+Volume XVIII.--Second Edition.
+
+
+DARWIN'S CORAL REEFS, VOLCANIC ISLANDS, AND South American Geology: With
+Critical and Historical Introductions, specially written for this edition
+by Professor JOHN W. JUDD, F.R.S., Professor of Geology in the Normal
+College of Science, South Kensington.  With Maps and Illustrations.
+
+    Darwin's "Coral Reefs" is at once one of his most notable and
+    charming books, and one that has excited a most vigorous recent
+    controversy.  His account of the Volcanic Islands he visited, and his
+    still more remarkable book describing the vast changes that have
+    taken place in South America in geological time, are also reprinted
+    in this volume, thus completing the "Geology of the Voyage of the
+    Beagle."
+
+
+
+Volume XIX.
+
+
+LOCKHART'S LIFE OF BURNS.  Revised.  With New Notes, &c., by J. H.
+INGRAM.  Portrait and Full-page Engravings.
+
+
+
+Volume XX.
+
+
+BARTH'S CENTRAL AFRICA: Timbuktu and the Niger.  With Full-page and other
+Engravings.
+
+
+
+Volume XXI.
+
+
+LYRA ELEGANTIARUM.  New, Revised, and Enlarged Edition.  Edited by FREDK.
+LOCKER-LAMPSON, assisted by COULSON KERNAHAN.
+
+
+
+Volume XXII.
+
+
+CARLYLE'S SARTOR RESARTUS, HERO-WORSHIP, and PAST AND PRESENT.  With
+Introduction and Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXIII.
+
+
+AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND LETTERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.  With authentic Portrait.
+
+
+
+Volume XXIV.
+
+
+BECKFORD'S "VATHEK," and European Travels: With Biographical Introduction
+and Portrait of Beckford.
+
+
+
+Volume XXV.
+
+
+MACAULAY'S HISTORICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS.  With Biographical
+Introduction and Full-page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXVI.
+
+
+YONGE'S LIFE OF WELLINGTON.  By the Author of "History of the British
+Navy," etc.  With Portrait and Plans of Battles.
+
+
+
+Volume XXVII.
+
+
+CARLYLE'S HISTORY of the FRENCH REVOLUTION.  With Introduction and
+Full-page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXVIII.
+
+
+THE LAND OF THE LION AND SUN: Or, Modern Persia.  By C. J. WILLS, M.D.
+With Full-page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXIX.
+
+
+MARY BARTON: A Tale of Manchester Life.  By Mrs. GASKELL.  With full
+Biographical Notice of the Author.
+
+
+
+Volume XXX.
+
+
+INGRAM'S LIFE OF POE: The Life, Letters, and Opinions of Edgar Allan Poe.
+By J. H. INGRAM.  With Portraits.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXI.
+
+
+SHIRLEY.  By CHARLOTTE BRONTE.  With Biographical Introduction, Portrait,
+and four Full-page Illustrations.
+
+Among novels of the nineteenth century, few are more secure of literary
+immortality than those of Charlotte Bronte.  The illustrations of
+localities mentioned in "Shirley" add to the interest of this edition.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXII.
+
+
+HOOKER'S HIMALAYAN JOURNALS: Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim
+and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.  By Sir JOSEPH HOOKER,
+K.C.S.I., F.R.S., LL.D., etc.  New Edition, Revised by the Author.  With
+Portrait, Maps, and Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXIII.
+
+
+BACON'S FAMOUS WORKS: "Essays, Civil and Moral," "The Proficience and
+Advancement of Learning," "Novum Organum," etc.  With Biographical
+Introduction and Portrait.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXIV.
+
+
+MACAULAY'S BIOGRAPHICAL, CRITICAL, AND MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS AND POEMS,
+including the "Lays of Ancient Rome."  With Marginal Notes, Introduction,
+and Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXV.
+
+
+CARLYLE'S OLIVER CROMWELL'S LETTERS AND SPEECHES.  With Introduction and
+Full-page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXVI.
+
+
+ALTON LOCKE; Tailor and Poet.  By CHARLES KINGSLEY.  With Critical
+Introduction by COULSON KERNAHAN, and Portrait of the Author.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXVII.
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF PENDENNIS.  By WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.  With Critical
+Introduction, Portrait, and Illustrations by the Author.
+
+
+
+Volume XXXVIII.
+
+
+LAVENGRO: The Scholar, The Priest, The Gipsy.  By GEORGE BORROW, Author
+of "The Bible in Spain," etc.  With Introduction by THEODORE WATTS, and
+Two Full-page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+
+    "Messrs. Ward & Lock's 'Minerva Library' comes with particular
+    acceptance.  Seven volumes of the series are before us, and they are
+    models of cheapness and general excellence."--THE STAR.
+
+    "A series of Famous Books published at the cheapest price consistent
+    with excellent binding and a neat and handsome volume for the
+    bookshelves. . .  The first volume is a most acceptable book, and
+    ought to have a multitude of readers."--THE NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE.
+
+    "Readers who delight in high-class literature will owe a deep debt of
+    gratitude to Messrs. Ward & Lock."--THE DAILY CHRONICLE.
+
+    "Works of this character, so well printed and bound, ought to be
+    widely welcomed, and the Minerva Library has clearly a career before
+    it."--THE YORKSHIRE POST.
+
+    "'The Minerva Library' will be hailed with delight, we are sure, by
+    all readers. . . .  Will assuredly take as high a place among the
+    cheap issues of sterling literature as its patroness among the
+    goddesses."--THE WEEKLY TIMES.
+
+   WARD, LOCK, BOWDEN, & Co., London, New York, Melbourne, and Sydney.
+                        _And of all Booksellers_.
+
+                       BY THE AUTHOR OF "LAVENGRO."
+
+                        FOURTH EDITION NOW READY.
+
+ _Crown 8vo_, _cloth_, _with either cut or uncut edges_.  TWO SHILLINGS.
+
+                           THE BIBLE IN SPAIN,
+
+ _The Journeys_, _Adventures_, _and Imprisonments of an Englishman_, _in
+        an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula_.
+
+                                    BY
+                              GEORGE BORROW,
+            Author of "Lavengro," "The Gipsies of Spain," etc.
+
+         WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION BY G. T. BETTANY, M.A.,
+                      _AND FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS_.
+
+                        A LEADING LITERARY CRITIC
+
+_wrote as follows to the Editor_: "As a friend and admirer of George
+Borrow, I cannot resist the impulse to write and thank you for the good
+service you are doing his memory, and the good service you are doing the
+public, by the issue of your admirable edition of 'The Bible in Spain.'
+This is a period of marvellously cheap reprints, but surely the 'Minerva
+Library' leaves them all behind."
+
+
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+
+    "The next cheap book is one of the famous books of the world.  As to
+    the reception which this reprint of Borrow's 'Bible in Spain' is
+    likely to receive there can hardly be any misgiving."--THE ECHO.
+
+    "Lovers of good literature, and cheap, may be commended to the
+    'Minerva Library' edition of 'The Bible in Spain.'"--THE SATURDAY
+    REVIEW.
+
+    "That wonderfully interesting and too little known work 'The Bible in
+    Spain.' . . . Borrow's literary style is faultless, and his keen
+    powers of observation were employed to excellent purpose.  With 400
+    pages and several illustrations, the volume is a striking
+    illustration of the cheap form in which our leading publishers can
+    serve up the best examples of English literature."--SHEFFIELD
+    TELEGRAPH.
+
+    "The manner in which Spanish life is photographed and the
+    circumstantial narration of incidents occurring in a time
+    particularly eventful for Spain, are in themselves sufficient to
+    secure for the book a permanent place in our literature."--MANCHESTER
+    EXAMINER.
+
+    "'The Bible in Spain' is one of the most interesting works ever
+    written, and has been pronounced to be 'a genuine book,' abounding in
+    life-like pictures of Spain and Portugal, and recording also many
+    romantic adventures."--THE NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE.
+
+                        WARD, LOCK, BOWDEN, & CO.,
+                 LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, AND SYDNEY.
+                        _And of all Booksellers_.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+
+{1}  "In Cornwall are the best gentlemen."--_Corn Prov._
+
+{10}  Norwegian ells--about eight feet.
+
+{95}  Klopstock.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAVENGRO***
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