234- HALF HOURS. 



could boast of having better profited by the preparation experience 

 brings ! Doubtless many of your readers, Mr. Editor, may have had 

 similar experience, and may have employed it more wisely but 

 notwithstanding the seven-league-capacity of modern pedestrianism, 

 and the facilities afforded by steam, there may possibly be various se- 

 questered nooks in the united kingdom which have not yet been put 

 under contribution by the new Tzigany tribe who "Vave, recite, 

 and madden round the land," particularly in the remoter parts 

 of the north, which Scotchmen of the caste alluded to are 

 remarkable for travelling away from, and if I can condense the 

 narration of my recent adventures within the prescribed limits, and 

 afford timely warning to one unadvised patron of the march of 

 intellect, not to admit indiscriminately all men and parcels purport- 

 ing to be literary, I shall not have to weep with the Roman emperor 

 for having lost a day, though I have lost more than half hours ! 



A smart double knock too late for the postman, and too early for 

 any legal visitor, disturbed the serenity of my breakfast- table, and I 

 rung hastily to prevent intrusion for my niece and her young friend 

 Laura, having been late at a ball, were indulging under certain toilette 

 negligences which would only be excusable in the presence of an 

 uncle and a guardian. There was no mirror in the room, save one 

 of hideous convexity, and no escape out of it for them and, for my- 

 self, I hold with the ingenious author of "La Medicine de 1'Esprit" 

 that those who value domestic harmony, and would preserve the 

 moral equilibrium unimpaired, should never permit being disturbed 

 at meals. My orders on this hand were express ; but I knew old 

 Benjamin, like his master, to be sterner in purpose than in action, 

 and he had of late so frequently been won over to transgress my laws 

 of exclusion at such times, an extra emphasis on the bell-pull was both 

 natural and advisable under existing circumstances, as well to remind 

 him of his duty as to spirit him up to the defensive. A lengthened 

 hall-parley ensued, parts of which we distinctly caught, consisting of 

 expostulation from the stranger, and repulse on the part of my liege 

 Dromio, in his best got-up gruff tones "I 'am quite confident" 

 "literary name" "honour" "happiness'' *'half an hour,'' assailed 

 our aural nerves from the one ; clear, brisk, rapid, anything in the 

 world but supplicatory he might be a dun, but it would be highly 

 imaginative through any door to figure such accents issuing from a 

 beggar! "Impossible" "positive orders" "late last night 1 ' "bad 

 headache this morning" "as much as my place is worth, Sir, I can 

 assure you" blurted out at intervals from the other. Nevertheless, 

 I perceived plainly the enemy was gaining upon us, and knew that 

 this prolonged hearing boded no good for Benjamin, still too like his 

 employer, had not the gift of withstanding perseverance so I rang 

 a second time, still more significantly than before. " A gentleman 

 in black, Sir,'* said Benjamin, with a hesitating air of conscious de- 

 linquency, " begs to speak to you on particular business he would 

 not detain you half an hour I told him you could admit nobody at 

 present, but he will wait your time he has brought a book." "Did 

 you not tell him I was at breakfast ?" interrupted I (now thoroughly 

 alarmed) in tones intended to carry further than the room we were 



