1830.] . [ 385 1 



THE GOLDEN CITY. 



MR. JOHNSON was a brewer in a small country town, and as the 

 natives were not very well-bred people, he carried on a flourishing 

 trade, and was generally said to be making money. He had neither 

 wife nor family, or, as the newspapers, by a happy and polite synonyme, 

 express the same condition, he was <( without incumbrance ;" and to 

 supply the want of both heirs and partners, he had introduced into his 

 business a distant relative, by name Jonathan Maurice. The young 

 man, or rather boy, who had no better prospects, was highly delighted 

 with an offer so promising, and continued for some years an active and 

 cheerful superintendent of the manufacture of ale. An intimacy with 

 the neighbouring family of a wealthy farmer formed one of his chief 

 pleasures, and no higher ambition disturbed an incipient attachment for 

 his youngest daughter, Juliet. 



But in an evil hour, as he was on the point of being constituted a 

 partner in the business, he received a pressing invitation from an old 

 school-fellow ; and having obtained a month's furlough, set out to pay 

 the required visit. His friend was one of a family who had risen in 

 the world, and exhibited all its vice and pride, with none of its dignity. 

 The father had, by a happy concurrence of circumstances, made a for- 

 tune, and his next step was to make himself a family. While he 

 remained in comparative poverty, he cared little whether he had any 

 ancestors or not, but when wealth poured in upon him, he grew very 

 jealous of the idea of regular procreation, and seemed really apprehen- 

 sive lest some terrible mistake should be made respecting his origin. 

 As his riches increased, so did his' ancestors ; when he had one thou- 

 sand a year, his genealogy extended only to one hundred years, and 

 embraced no names of any eminence but at two thousand, a noble 

 progenitor was beheaded for high treason ; at four thousand, he was 

 connected with royalty ; and when he retired from business, there was 

 no question that the founder of his race was a Norman Vagabond, atten- 

 dant on the Conqueror. In establishing his dignity, he was, however, 

 a little puzzled by the brevity and unimportance of his name, which 

 was, simply, John James ; but having observed that it was usual in such 

 cases to double the appellation, he thought it would be still more 

 remarkable to repeat it thrice, and, accordingly, denominated himself 

 " John James James- James, Esq., of Nutbridge-park." 



The novelty of his pretensions was not displayed by ordinary vul- 

 garity, but, what was far more insufferable, by excessive politeness and 

 inveterate good breeding. His taste was not indeed aristocratically 

 plain, nor could he refrain from making the footman and footboy, one 

 very tall, and the other as remarkably short, both stand together behind 

 his carriage ; but he knew enough of the world to be aware that 

 extravagant show is the last means by which a man of moderate sense 

 would seek to display newly acquired wealth. He insisted that his 

 daughters should dress plainly, though exquisitely; refused his sons per- 

 mission to drive tandem in a dog-cart ; and supplied his groom, whom, 

 by the way, he caused to ride so close behind him as to leave no assign- 

 able interval, with a horse much handsomer than his own. 



But in spite, or rather in consequence, of much study to be polite and 

 easy, an air of pride and vulgar restraint pervaded the whole family. 

 They were proud of every thing of their wealth, their taste, their con- 



M,M. New Series VOL. X. No. 58. 3 C 



