THE KING ; GOD BLESS HIM ! 420 



who, by the application of new and ingenious rules to commerce, 

 had contrived to exchange the uncertain glory of a mercantile career, 

 for the more sure estate of poverty ; and, instead of balancing his 

 books, had more frequently to balance how to obtain a dinner, until 

 he attained the elevated post of writing-master in a public school. 

 In all the chances and changes of his mortal career, Mat could, how- 

 ever, at all times draw contentment, if not delight, from one pure, 

 unallowed source, which was his, and his alone. Whenever the 

 wintry blasts, in numbing my fingers, forced me to describe, instead 

 of graceful pothooks and hangers, certain fearful hieroglyphics, 

 worthy of the pens of John Bell, the equity jurist, or the late Sir 

 William Curtis, and decidedly repugnant to the sophisticated taste of 

 Mat ; he would, with an air of mixed reproach and dignity, extract 

 from his well soiled deal desk, with most reverend care, a naval 

 cocked-hat certainly a handsome one and, after eyeing it a few 

 seconds, as Othello might have looked on Desdemona, after having 

 burked his spouse, he would, with a solemnity of tone, somewhat 

 superior in effect to the late John Kemble's celebrated invocation in 

 Lear, exclaim "Young gentleman look at that!" And the hat, 

 slowly arose aloft, in the style of the annual exhibition of the holy 

 relics at the Scala Santa of Rome. It was certainly felt " The 

 identical hat, young gentleman, of his Royal Highness Prince Wil- 

 liam Henry, third son of his Most Gracious Majesty, King George 

 the third, whom /" and Mat's rubicond visage shone like Baron 

 Garrow's " whom / had the inexpressible honour of instructing, or 

 rather polishing, in the scriptural art, when His Royal Highness lay 

 at New York, on board his Majesty's ship Young gentleman ! His 

 Royal Highness would have blushed, to have detracted from his 

 rank, station and education, by such anomalous signs and wonders ; 

 such negro-maid kisses, as you have been ruthlessly executing on 



that spotless paper. By the way, I remember me " Enough ! 



for when Mat got upon the beaver its noble character and fair pro- 

 portionsall else was forgotten; and to our infinite digital relief, we 

 used to crowd round the iron stove, inserting apples into its orifice, 

 well assured they would be amply cooked, ere Mat reached the loop, 

 much less the binding, in his amorous description of the Bicknell. 

 Poor Mat! when the toil of " scribble scribble scribble still" 

 as the great Duke of Cumberland flatteringly observed to Gibbon- 

 was over, he would hie him down the hill of Halifax to the Long 

 Wharf; and there, in what was vulgarly termed a grog shop, would 

 he quaff his oft-replenished glass of rum-and-water ; and, Theriaki- 

 like, indulge in reminiscences of royalty and its capital adornments ; 

 embroidering the memory of the past, and aggravating the felicity of 

 the present ; enjoying a blissful dream of prince and sky-scraper 

 until one day he dreamed himself beyond this sphere, and all earthly 

 cares and joys leaving to his heir and only son, young Mat Hutchins, 

 the entirety of his worldly possessions, in the shape of the aforesaid 

 hat. It proved, however, no grateful heritage, for it inspired young 

 Mat with towering ideas ; and placing the hat on his head (disagree- 

 ing as it did with his shabby unmilitary dress), he presented himself 

 to the admiral on the station I believe the late George Murray, hat 



