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accepted this permission. I laid out two pounds of hard-earned money in a neat green frock and leather inexpressibles, not one farthing of which I was ever to see again. Then, for labour, I was worse off than I had been with Mr Bolus. First, I had the housework (every day) to do in the morn ing; and then I went about with master to the schools, or played the fiddle at home, all the while he gave lessons, On Friday nights were our " assemblies," when I had to open the door, and hand the negus. My master, by law, could not take money for admission; so we gave away the ball-ticket, and sold a ticket for refreshments, and cheated the justices that way. Then, after the dance was over, I fetched coaches to take away the "ladies and gentlemen." Some of the ladies were very gay and showy indeed; and they used to be admitted (negus and all) for nothing. Others were milliners, feather-dressers, and straw-bonnet makers. A good many were figurantes at the minor theatres, or smart servant girls, the ladies' maids of the neighbourhood. The "gentlemen" (from whom our chief profit arose) were shopmen and clerks, waiters at coffee-houses, and apprentices. Now and then a real gentleman would come for a frolic. These never danced or took any les sons in dancing; but my master treated them with great respect notwithstanding; and it was generally a shilling in my pocket whenever they called at our house afterwards. But, alas! these shillings were all that I ever received in the employ of Mr Steptoe! We went on pretty smoothly for about three months after I came to him; but direful misfortune overtook us at last. One morning, when I went as usual to fetch our gig from the stables, the stable-keeper said that he should not let it go out, for we owed him more than he should be able to sell it for; a few days afterwards our goods were seized for rent, and master (while he pretended to send me into the city on a message) went off himself upon the sly, and carried off all he could sack along with him. I saw him once, a long time afterwards, acting Pantaloon in a show at Bartholomew Fair, and the young lady that used to count time in the front parlour was playing Colombine; but, when I asked him for money, he protested he had not a shilling, adding, that "if

he had his rights," he should soon be "at the opera," and then he would pay me and everybody else.

"Where shall I dine ?"

This affair, as may be supposed, was a sad blow to a lad like me. I lost my wages, and my place, and threeand-sixpence, money lent. At first I thought of hiring a dancing-room myself, and putting up," Ticklepitcher, late pupil and successor to Mr Steptoe." But I knew that there was nothing to be done without the "assemblies," and the negus, and the red letters in the bills; and I had neither credit nor capital for such an undertaking.

Then I went to live (just to make a shift for a while) with a top-tailor near Bond-Street, who had a fine furnished house, which he let out to gentlemen in the fashionable season-giving parties in it to his brother-tradesinen when the lodgers were out of town. But here there were so many masters and so much work, that, though I had the gayest livery that ever was seen,

light-blue, faced with scarlet, and plush breeches to match,-master made me wear it for a pattern, that other folks might order the same-yet I found the place too much for my patience, and quitted it, at all hazards, in less than a fortnight.

My next master was a Mr Gabblegown, a lawyer in the Temple; and I got his service, when I was in great need of it, through having carried physic to him when I lived at Mr Bolus's. He hired me both as clerk and personal servant; and I staid with him, partly out of inclination, partly out of necessity, almost twelve months. Indeed I found out in this place that other folks might be unhappy besides footmen. My master was an excellent lawyer, I am sure, (for he told me so himself a hundred times ;) but, somehow or other, he got no practice. He used to go down and sit in the courts all day, and bow to the judges, and nod to the attorneys ; but still it would not do.

At last, we did get a brief at the Clerkenwell Sessions to defend an old woman for stealing public-house pots; and, if ever an old woman was in luck, that old woman was in luck to have come to us! My master went into court with his wig fresh powdered, and took nineteen objections to the form

of the indictment. Then he made a speech for the defence, which would have done, I am sure, for a defence of high treason. It lasted above two hours and a half as it was; and I know it would have lasted longer, (for I had copied it out myself the day before,) only that the judge, or chairman, I think they called him, interfered. We went to bed in high glee, though our client was convicted, and borrowed all the newspapers next morning to read what was said about the case; but, would any one believe the neglect of those news-writers! there was no notice of our trial at all in any paper but one; and, in that, our speech was entirely left out! I never knew a gentleman more provoked than my master was on that occasion. I remember he was in such a passion the whole of the day, that, though a dozen people called that he owed money to, he would not see one of them.

We got into print, however, in some quarters, if the newspapers did us injustice, for my master wrote occasionally for one of the minor magazines. It was the theatrical criticisms principally that he used to do. He used to dictate, and I used to write. He took the opinions out of the morning papers, and the jokes out of some old play-books that he had; and this turned to account, for we always had tickets for the theatre; and sometimes used to send beside for orders to the performers, who generally gave them with great good-nature and politeness. But although I had not much hard work to complain of with Mr Gabblegown, yet I had the deuce and all of difficulty ever to get any wages. Then I was run off my feet with carrying books, which he wrote, to all the publishers in town; and always having to fetch them back again. Then another thing which was unbearable was, that he used constantly to dine abroad; and almost always on such occasions forgot that I had to dine at home; and, above all, I had now grown up to a respectable figure;-I could have looked down upon Corporal Stock, and even the serjeant of the 10th hussars would not have blushed to notice me ;-in short, I had lived in various services, and knew (or thought I knew) something of the world; and, seeing no reason why I should not die an exciseman as well as my neighbours, I resolved to give up plebeian allegiance altogether,

and, in future, black no boots but those of persons of distinction.

"We, who have the honour to serve nobility."

Did you ever, in your visits to Lon. don, Mr Editor, walk round Grosvenor-Square about nine o'clock on a fine summer's evening? You must have taken notice, I am sure, of the glorious mansions in that neighbourhood,with their spacious entries, splendid halls, ample offices, and noble gardens? Did the peculiar repose of the streets in this quarter ever strike you, Mr Editor? The vicinity seeming in a manner to be a world of itself,-a region into which business or vulgarity never entered, and where every object you met was an appurtenance to grandeur? I declare to you, Mr Editor, that, whenever I carried a letter from my master, the counsellor, to any of the great houses about this neighbourhood, I used to feel a sort of awe as I entered the boundary of the parish; and I am sure I walked along the streets as if I had stolen something. Oh! when I saw a fat porter, laced from head to foot, sitting like an emperor in his great hall chair, or snuffing the air at his street door, I could not help fancying that I stood in the presence of a superior being. As I live by cast clothes, Mr Editor, I can distinguish at this moment blindfold-by the mere atmosphere-between the parishes of Bloomsbury and St James's. I heard a gentleman say once, who was come from abroad, that he had brought over a cameleon with him; but that it died coming through the city.

You will imagine my delight then, Mr Editor, on hearing, from a butler who patronized me, that the Hon. Mrs Whirligig wanted a footman five feet eight inches high. Fixed with this lady, only two doors out of PortmanSquare, with four male companions in servitude, and in the society of almost twice as many damsels,-with splendid accoutrements, good cuisine, liberal stipend, and small beer unknown,-I made up my mind that I was settled for life. But there are circumstances, sir-I am afraid you will begin to think that I can never be contented,-but there are circumstances which may neutralize even advantages like these!

The Honourable Mrs Whirligig

had, I believe, no other fault than that of being the most unreasonable wo man in the world. She was good-natured at times; but fact never made any impression upon her. Setting all hours and regulations at defiance herself, she was furious from morning till night at the irregularity of her dependants. If she wanted a particular tradesman at one o'clock, it was useless to say, that he had been ordered to come at two. From the moment a new Waverley Novel was advertised, what ratings did I not receive, if it happened to be detained on the road! I don't think she once gave me a right direction all the while I lived with her; but, if I had failed to find any place, (even although there were no such place in the world,) dismission, without a character, would have been my lightest punishment.

Then the walks, and the messages, in every weather, were inconceivable. After sending me through a hail-storm from Berkeley-Square to the Bank, she would be surprised that I was not ready to wait in the drawing-room the moment I came back. She had a quantity of gold-fish too, who seemed to have been spawned for my especial torment. There was a pump in the garden of Lady Anne Somebody, full a mile and a half off, the water of which was sovereign, she fancied, for the health of gold fishes; and to this pump, with two great pitchers, I was compelled to walk every day. Again, as ladies' footman, it was my duty to attend the ladies of our family on all occasions; and the power even of a London footman has its limits. All the ladies of our family kept different hours of business and amusement, and all expected me to be always ready. My mistress kept me up at parties the whole night; and the young ladies, her daughters, kept me out shopping the whole day. I used to come home with my mistress at four o'clock in a summer's morning from a rout; and the young ladies, and their governess, wanted me to take their morning's walk with them at six ! "Francis!

Anon, anon, sir."

I might go on to give the details of my subsequent services with the Dowager-Countess of Skin-Flint, and the West India Governor Whip and Strip-with the first of whom I lived

in a superb family mansion, where board-wages, of the closest character, were the order of the day; while the governor, who chose to make his servants " part of his family," having found negroes thrive well on salt fish and damaged rice, saw no reason why the same diet should not prove salutary to English domestics.

I might speak of the Miss Justenoughs, who jobbed a carriage, and dined upon eggs and bacon; but who, nevertheless, discharged me for taking my hand once from my hat, in listening to a message much longer than a bill in Chancery.

Or I might talk of the Earl of Cutand-run, with whom luxury was even matter of command; but who turned me off, nevertheless, for refusing to hang a Newfoundland dog, when the animal would not jump a fifth time off Richmond-bridge for a wager.

I might go on, too, to relate the thousand-and-one rebuffs which I received in the course of my various applications for service. My being rejected at one house, because I was too tall-at the next, because I was too short-at a third, because I was not "serious"-at a dozen, because I did not fit the last man's livery. I might comment generally upon the unfairness of masters and mistresses, who blame servants for bad weather, non-arrival of the post, intrusion of unwelcome guests, and all other current inconveniences-who measure, in their estimate of fitting employment, the greatest quantity of work which can be done in the hour, and expect just four-and-twenty times as much to be performed in the day-who devise impossibilities with infinite thought, and expect to have them performed without any thought at all-who make up their minds, whenever any article is missing, that "the servant" must have taken it, because he is obviously the person most in need of it-who allow their domestics not even those infirmities which are inseparable from our common nature-who believe them impervious to wet, insensible to cold, and unsusceptible of fatigue-who talk ever of their mercenary feeling, their ingratitude, or their infidelity-and look for devotion, disinterestedness, and affection, in a being who only exists upon the tenure of their caprice; and who is but too well aware, that, after years of faithful service, it needs

but the whim of a moment, and he has to begin the world again.

But I will not, unless in passing, complain of these afflictions. On the contrary, I will confess, in earnest of repentance I will acknowledge my own crimes, for iniquities I have committed.

I do repent me that, while starving in the service of the Miss Justenoughs, I ate the mince meat out of certain pies, and stuck the tops on again as before to the manifest discredit and severe jobation of the pastry cook. I do regret that out of aversion to Mr Twangle, the music teacher, I spilled a plate of soup into his lap one day, when he dined with the Earl of Cut and-run. I regret that I strangled two of Mrs Whirligig's gold fishes, to make her think that the water, a mile and a half off, was unwholesome for them-I regret that I rubbed a hole in Governer Whip and Strip's livery, because he contracted with his tailor, and returned the old clothes. I say, in sin cerity, that I do repent these things; and that, spite of temptation or provo cation, I will so offend no more.

"Liberty and Fleet Street for ever!" Thanks be, however, to the rod which, in the Blue-coat school of Birmingham, awakened in me the spirit of reading and writing! I speak, fortune be praised, not from the pressure of immediate feeling, for I have a better service, at present, than falls to the lot of most. My master is a benevolent, and, what is more, a considerate man; and, but that he has an unlucky turn for mechanical invention, and will keep devising machines

to assist me in my work, which are more trouble to look after, than it would be to do the work three times over; but for this, my situation would be a footman's bed of roses.

But, if I need not now speak for myself, Mr Editor, I have a feeling for my fellows. This appeal is not the first exertion that I have made on behalf of my class generally. I was the man who laid the corner-sixpence of the Servant's New Benefit Society

It is I who have lately, intent upon justice, so often paid the expense of summoning the Register office-keeper I was the man who led the battle, last season, at the Opera-house, when the footmen were to have been ousted from the waiting room, which belonged to them; and I have a petition now lying in my pantry for signature, praying that an additional duty may be imposed upon that vile small beer; which many a stout stomach has disturbed so terribly!

If these slight remarks, Mr Editor, finding their way into your publication, should save one footman from a damp garret, my labour will not be quite lost. May they weigh with those candid and clement minds, who expect all personal accomplishments, all cardinal virtues, intuitive perception, and universal knowledge, for twenty guineas a-year, and "the run of the kitchen!" At all events, Mr Editor, for myself I may say " if you accept them, then their worth is great ;" and there will be no compliment in my adding, that you will always be able to command the services, as well as the gratitude, of your constant reader, THOMAS TICKLEPITCHER.

SIX SONNETS ON THE SCENERY OF THE ESK.

SONNET DEDICATORY.

Although a hundred leagues of weary soil,

Rivers, and plains, and mountains, stretch between,
And years of gloom have pass'd, since we were seen
On Esk's green banks, abroad at early toil;
(What time ascending to the lucid skies

The summer lark far up his singing shrouds,)
Bidding upon the snowy sheet to rise

The hills-the hamlets-and the morning clouds-
Yet, Edward, deem not, 'mid a world of strife,
That thoughts of early days can ever fade,
Or late-found friendships overcast with shade
The dear, the heartfelt joys of early life.
Let then these trifles a memorial be

To thy benignant heart, of Esk and me!

A

No. I.

A mountain child, 'mid Pentland's solitudes,
Thou risest, murmuring Esk, and lapsing on,
Between rude banks, o'er rock and mossy stone,
Glitterest remote, where seldom step intrudes;
Nor unremoved, as, with a broader tide,

Thou windest through the glens of Woodhouselee,
Where 'mid the song of bird, the hum of bee,
A bard with scenes Arcadian cloth'd thy side,
The pastoral Ramsay.-Lofty woods embower
Thy rocky bed 'mid Roslin's forest deep,
Above whose top time-hallowed ruins peep
Of castle and chapelle ; yea, to this hour

Grey Hawthornden looks downward from its steep,
To tell of Drummond,‡ poesy's bright flower.

It is here that the scenery of that inimitable pastoral, "The Gentle Shepherd," is placed. It has become, like the poetry of Tasso to the Italians, thoroughly national in Scotland, and in the best sense of the word, national. It is pleasing to find, that Campbell, in his Specimens of the Poets, stands forward in defence of this domestic drama, with a truly chivalrous ardour.-Embellished editions of this poem are frequent, and many paintings in reference to it have been made from the actual scenery." Habbie's How" has long been one of the favourite resorts for rural festivities, during the summer months, to the inhabitants of the metropolis.

Castle and Chapelle.

The Castle of Roslin is now almost in a state of entire ruin, only an apartment or two, at the upper part of the south-eastern extremity, being habitable.

The Chapel, so famous in the earlier poems of Scott, is still remarkably entire; and one of the principal curiosities in the county to which travellers resort.-See Lay of the Last Minstrel, Forsyth's Beauties of Scotland, and Peter's Letters, Vol. III.

Grey Hawthornden.

A poetical licence is here taken, the present house being an almost completely modernized one. In it are portraits of Drummond and Ben Jonson. For a conversation between these sages concerning the merits of many old English authors, vide the folio edition of Drummond's Works, page 224. It was for this conversation that the cha racter of the poet of Hawthornden is so severely handled by Mr Gifford, in his edition of the works of the "Rare Ben." For a fine dramatic sketch of the same, see Tim's Magic Lantern, No. VIII. in Vol. IV. of this Magazine. Wordsworth also visited Mr Gillies amid the same scenery; and has left a fine sonnet commemorative of "Roslin's faded grove."

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