There was both pride in the humility, and humility in the pride, of Adam Brown, who delighted in referring to his humble origin, and never testified so high an enjoyment of his pres

silence. But the most singular personage of the mer-ent wealth as when it afforded a contrast to his chant's household was Mrs. Glossop, the house- former poverty. With this feeling he had orkeeper; an office to which she had been ap- dered a pair of post-horses to be added to the pointed, with very liberal wages, as a reward carriage at the last stage, that his triumphal refor having most carefully nursed him during the turn to Woodcote might the more strikingly resevere fit of asthma, followed by an attack of mind himself, and perhaps others, of the miserinfluenza, which had finally determined his de- able plight in which he had originally quitted it. parture from London. For many years she had The rider of the hacks, a little wiry, wizened, filled a similar situation in the family of his bow-kneed figure, who had grown old and gray London partner, Mr. Gubbins, whose service as a postboy, had a pride of his own, and would she quitted solely because she declined accom- have dashed through the village with an addipanying him to Smyrna. Unfortunately, how- tional speed, had he not been arrested by the ever, she had accompanied Mrs. Gubbins and stentorian voice of the merchant, shouting out, her family to Paris, where they had resided for "Hallo, you Sir! pull up at the Green Man;" two or three months, in which interval she had a mandate which was so suddenly obeyed, and picked up, by ear, a few French phrases, and with such a scuffling of horses' feet, that the delighted to interlard them with her discourse, vehicle became suddenly enveloped in a cloud rarely failing to introduce them with a curious of dust. The youngster in the tree, quite reinfelicity, and generally vaunting her knowl- joiced to be right at last, had flourished his sigedge of the language when she was most une-nal-the church-bells, a poor peal of five, one quivocally betraying her gross ignorance of it. As her ordinary English discourse might not seldom have authorized her to claim relationship with the Malaprop family, it may be surmised that her compound dialect was by no means of the purest lingua franca. Fat, fair, fonder of tawdry dress than quite became her situation, and, though verging towards fifty, still looking as if she were perfectly well aware that she had once been good-looking, Mrs. Glossop had received a very high character from her late mistress as "" a bustling, honest, and respectable body."

of which was cracked, were ringing out the crazy gladness of their welcome-the rustics collected at the corner of the Common had vociferously given the preconcerted three cheers, and had crowded round the carriage to have a peep at the Squire, when, on the clearing away of the dust, their stultified and bewildered look attested their utter inability to determine which was the Squire. It couldn't be Mrs. Glossop inside; it couldn't be the dust-covered John Trotman in the rumble behind; it couldn't be the fat coachman, for he wore a livery; a summary which left no other candidate for the vacant honour than our merchant, whose appearance was in antipodean opposition to all their preconceived notions of the Squirearchy.

where they were met by mackarel silk stockings, losing themselves in nankin half-gaiters. Owing to the heat, he had unbuckled his stock, which he held in his left hand, while his right rested on a stout cane, supported by the footboard.

With a housekeeper of such a discreet age and unblemished reputation, Adam Brown, himself an old bachelor of sixty, might have felt himself justified in defying the breath of A very broad-brimmed hat, meant to protect scandal, had he troubled his head about it; but his eyes from the sun, only partially concealed thoughts of what the world might think, or say, his oldfashioned wig, which was furnished with or surmise as to his habits or proceedings, never cannon curls and a pig-tail. His cinnamonentered into his mind. In the consciousness coloured coat and waistcoat spoke of former that no imputations could justly rest upon his days and exploded fashions; his nether_garown character, he sturdily scorned all the con-ments, of the same hue, terminated at the knee, ventionalities of English society and manners, continuing to act, dress, talk, and smoke his chibouque with the same perfect independence as when he followed his own whims and fancies at Smyrna. In accordance with this freedom, and perhaps under a vague notion that true gallantry has reference to the sex rather than to the Not of long continuance was the moonstruck rank of its object, he would not permit Mrs. quandary of the spectators. Adam Brown soon Glossop to climb up into the dickey of the car- established his own identity by calling out, as riage when they started from London, but in- he leaned back over the carriage, "I say, Mrs. sisted on her taking a place inside, spite of her Glossop-I say, John Trotman-here we are at repeated exclamations of "O mon doo, Sir, point last-this is Woodcote-yonder's the churchde two; I couldn't think of such a thing toutafait. above the trees to the left you may see the belIt's quite entirely hors de combat. Riding inside fry atop o' the Manor-House and yonder always gives me a violent tout autre chose in the butcher's shop, but it was a grocer's then, is the head, and besides, Sir, I know my place bet-cottage in which I was born. It's eight-andforty-ay, near nine-and-forty years since I left Woodcote-afoot, with a wallet at my back, and seven shillings and nine pence in my pocket; and now I come back with four horses to my chariot and a leetle-yes, a leetle more than seven and ninepence in my pocket. What d'ye think o' that, hey? Ha! ha!" The latter exclamation, rather an habitual mode of satisfactory self-assertion than a laugh, was usually accompanied by two confirmatory thumps of his

ter."

"And I know it better still," replied her master, pushing her in not very ceremoniously, and taking a seat beside her, when he amused himself with his companion for some time-for he had a touch of waggery in his compositionby drawing out an account of her Parisian adventures, and laughing at her misplaced Gallicisms, though at other times her farrago would move his ire, and draw down an angry order

cane, which on the present occasion sounded | ber the bonfire," until he drew forth the remark sharply against the footboard. of, "Well, it is a thumping bonfire, I confess." Where did you get all those boughs and sticks from ?"

Though the rustics could hardly believe their eyes, they could not distrust their ears, and accordingly raised a new shout of "Long live the Squire!"

(6 Thank ye, thank ye," nodded the merchant, smilingly; but Squire me no Squires: I'm a British merchant-at least I was one, and shall be always proud to be called one. Please to remember that, my good friends."

"We picked most on 'em from the Friar's Field," was the reply.

"The deuce you did! Why that's my field, you young rascal; and am I to give you money for destroying my hedges?"

Please, Sir, there was one large gap al

ready."

"Good friends, forsooth!" repeated Mrs. "And you have been kind enough to make a Glossop, as she turned up her nose at the smock-second. I won't give you a farthing, young ed rustics and ragged urchins surrounding the scapegrace!" Whether he repented of this rescarriage: ma foi! this must surely be the pol-olution as soon as he had formed it, or that he lyshongs and the canal of the place."

"Tut, woman!" cried her master, who had overheard the latter phrase; "there's no canal here-this is the brook that runs into the Chilt. I've bathed in it scores of times, and treacherous bathing it is when there's rain on the Cotswolds, though it's so quiet and so shallow now. Hilloa-Green Man! Landlord! Master Wag

horn."

"Here I am, Squire," replied the party thus lustily invoked, repeatedly bowing very low, and smoothing down his bald pate.

"What's the price of your ale?" "Two shillings a gallon for the best double X from Gloucester."

"And what's the size of your casks?"

Why, we do always keep that ale in eighteens, Squire."

"And what discount do ye allow if a fellow orders a whole cask, and pays for it next morning?"

"Discount, Squire! I never heard tell o' such a thing I can't bate a farden. I can hardly get salt to my porridge as it is."

"But you get plenty of porridge to your salt, if I may judge by your paunch, Master Tunbelly. Well, if you can't afford discount, I can't afford double X. What's your next price ?"

Eighteenpenny-and prime stuff it be."

"And if you were to roll a cask out of your cellar, and tap it beside the bonfire, d'ye think you could find customers for the whole eighteen gallons-free-gratis-for nothing?"

"Dear heart, Squire, to be sure I could, and twice as much. Ask Sam Belcher if I couldn't, Why, if the Sodger do come down from the farm, he could drink three gallons to his own cheek."

"And who may the Sodger be?"

tr

'Why, John Chubbs; we call he the Sodger, 'cause he's an old Waterloo man."

found it impossible to resist that love of waggery to which we have alluded, we cannot say; but certain it is, that, as his eye fell upon a large puddle, occasioned by the emptying of some washerwoman's tubs, he tossed into it a handful of small silver, calling out, "Well, well, there's something for the bonfire." Upward of a dozen urchins were presently scrambling and rolling over each other in the muddy soapsuds, besmirching their clothes and faces in so ludicrous a manner that the author of the mischief shook his shoulders with a wheezing chuckle, which terminated in a cough; while Mrs. Glossop drew up the glass, and turned away her head distastefully, exclaiming, "Vraimong, I never saw such a set of toutafait petty blackguards! They don't seem to have the smallest notion of à la bonne heure; but what can one expect? Sans doute, they all came out of the Poor-house; and I dare say every one of them boys is a nasty dirty little sewer de charité."

"John! you don't seem much pleased with the village," said the merchant to his man: "they are ringing the bells for my arrival-d'ye hear 'em?" An affirmative nod was the reply. "They make a pretty peal, don't they?" John shook his head, and muttered the words, "One of 'em cracked;" at the same time pointing to the dust, which still settled upon the carriage, and shaking the flap of his coat with a somewhat impatient gesture, as if anxious to move on. "Well, John Trotman, you're right there," admitted his master, not in the least offended at his rudeness; "so drive on, coachman."

The postillion, who began to feel a thirsty apprehension that he might not be able to return to the green in time for the gratuitous ale, plied his whip, and the carriage drove off to the accompaniment of a still heartier cheer than that which had welcomed its arrival; and in a few minutes our merchant, swelling with a pride and satisfaction which were exhibited in sundry ejaculations of "Ha, ha!" and concurrent thumps of his cane, passed through the stone-seated porch, and planted his foot firmly and triumphantly upon the floor of his own mansion-the Manor-House.

"I'll have no such swilling-no drunkenness, Master Waghorn; but you may bundle out the cask, with plenty of mugs, and set fire to the bonfire as soon as you like." A general shout of "Long life to the Squire!" attested the popular sense of this order, while the landlord waddled back to the house, muttering to himself, "Discount indeed! what a shabby hound! Well, I couldn't ha' done sich a particular mean thing. Howsever, I'll be up to him, for they shall have the eighteen I tapp'd last Wednes-cote were several garden-enclosed houses, which day there's not above three gallon drawed."

CHAPTER II.

DOTTED around the green or common of Wood

presented an appearance of comparative gentilIt might have been thought that Adam ity when contrasted with the neighbouring shops Brown's first act on entering the village would and sheds. To the smallest and prettiest of these have been deemed sufficient for the moment, detached cottages we are about to introduce the but such was not the opinion of a little urchin, reader, first drawing attention to the decorous who, as he took no great interest in the ale, kept manners and appropriate dress of the truly "neat bawling most vociferously, "Please to remem-handed Phillis" who will hasten to open the

|

ance upon each other and upon their home en-, joyments, in much ignorance of the world, except such knowledge as could be obtained from books; and with a simplicity and purity of character which the young rakes who have been initiated in the premature vices of our public schools would term a pitiful effeminacy. For country sports the brothers had no predilection, and, even had they been addicted to such pursuits, they could not have incurred their expense, the whole of their spare means being devoted to the maintenance of an humble one-horse carriage for their mother, whose debility prevented her from walking, and who derived both health and amusement from the little excursions in which she was thus enabled to indulge.

Allan, who was a proficient in drawing, and who played on the violoncello like a master, had not only a passionate taste, but a positive genius, for the arts, while he possessed literary talents of no mean order, although few opportunities for their development had hitherto occurred. Walter had sufficient taste for such accomplishments to render them a constant source of amusement; but his ardour was less intense, his success decidedly inferior a fact which no one was so ready to acknowledge as himself. Incongruous as it may sound, he had, moreover, a turn for mechanics, and was the amateur carpenter of the family, his good will rather than his good workmanship being evidenced by the unprofessional-looking frames of which mention has been made. Neither of the brothers disdained the humble occupations to which their straitened finances occasionally consigned them, both acting as gardeners, and both looking after the horse and carriage, with half a day's assistance, now and then, of a stable-boy from the Green Man.

be seen.

In so ostentatious a country as England, where appearances are deemed all-important, and horses and carriages are kept quite as much for purposes of display as of utility, Mrs. Latimer's equipage would be stigmatized by a fashionable spectator as a most sorry and disreputable affair, a miserable attempt, in which any person making the smallest pretensions would blush to The little chariot had once done duty as a fly at Cheltenham; the low-sized and lowpriced horse, although in good condition, seemed to have derived very little benefit from his grooming; and the harness had been rubbed until the plating had disappeared. Yet this forlorn "turn-out," which was in almost daily requisition, had been a constant source of health and gratification to the widow and her sons. Ignorant of the real motive with which it was kept, the villagers sneeringly proclaimed, as it passed, that there was nothing they despised so much as a union of pride and poverty, ridiculing it, accordingly, as an inconsistent attempt; and although the Latimer family gave away in charity quite as much as their humble means would allow, it was often observed that, if they were only to lay down their paltry attempt at an equipage, they would be enabled to do much more for their poorer neighbours.

Nor did the rich always allow this four-wheeled delinquent to pass with impunity. Whenever, in their drives towards Cheltenham, its owners encountered the visitants of that city in their luxurious, well-appointed britchskas, it provoked a contemptuous or compassionate smile, an expression much more offensively marked in the aristocracy of wealth than in the

real nobility of the land, who, if they shared the feeling at all, were generally polite enough to restrain its exhibition; but in all instances these disdainful notices were met by a look of beaming good-humour, as if the trio had rejoined, "We are quite aware that ours is a sorry equipage, but we cannot afford a better; it answers our purpose, and we are very thankful to have it."

This all-condemned fly-for the family never gave it any more exalted appellation-having been got ready by the joint assistance of the brothers, was driven to the door by Allan, its usual charioteer, when Walter handed in his mother, took his seat by her side, pulled up the step by a little mechanical contrivance of his own, shut the door, and the party drove off to the Manor-House. Short as was the distance, the anxious Mrs. Latimer twice let down the front glass to caution her eldest son against giving any unnecessary offence to Mr. Brown, observing to Walter, in a low voice, "Allan is apt to be hasty and impetuous, and, though his temper is the finest in the world, except, perhaps, yours, my dear boy, he is extremely sensitive, particularly where he thinks any slight has been offered to those whom he loves. He has a high sense of independence, and I would have him preserve it, as he well may, for, thank God! we already possess everything we could wish in the world; but I cannot bear bickerings, or even coldness and estrangement; and as Mr. Brown is to be our permanent neighbour, I should wish him to be our friend. I need not caution you, dear Walter; for, though you have as much proper pride as your brother, you are too gentle and kind-hearted either to give or to take offence without good cause.'

"And so is Allan," was the prompt reply. 'Hasty he may be when his feelings are hurt, but where will you find a milder disposition or a more affectionate fellow? When did you ever know him-”

"Nay, nay," interposed the mother, "I am not finding fault with him-indeed, he never gave me occasion, nor you either; bless you both! and it is a delight to see you as fond of each other as you are of me; and I often think that I am not sufficiently grateful, either to you or to Heaven, for being such a happy mother." Walter maintained that nobody else would think so; and in this endearing strain, which was, indeed, the general character of their conversation, they arrived at the Manor-House.

As the little horse was much more rough than ready, and, so far from volunteering a start, never began one without much verbal coaxing, the driver being chary of the whip, Allan got down from the box and rang the gate-bell, a summons which seemed to awaken nothing but its own echoes. After a pretty long interval, which the gentle Walter and his mother expressed a vain wish to prolong, Allan repeated the application with a vigour that attested some degree of impatience, but which was attended with no better success; and he was on the point of sounding a third alarum, when John Trotman, whose shirt-sleeves and heated appearance showed that his delay did not arise from idleness, walked deliberately up, pointing to the latch as he approached, and pronouncing, in a quiet, respectful voice, the word Open;" as much as to say, "Why don't you drive in? the gates are only on the latch." They were now swung back, creaking shrilly on their rusty hinges; the car