432 THE KING ; GOD BLESS HIM ! 



was extremely rapid of descent, at the foot whereof the crockery 

 shop of an honest German, named Rudolph, was situated ; and it was 

 the fashion, when snow was on the ground, to drive a sleigh or 

 tn'neau, at tandem down it, having especial care nevertheless to ex- 

 hibit the requisite skill in turning sharply at the bottom, which was, 

 I assure you, no contemptible operation. A royal midshipman, de- 

 sirous of exhibiting his phsetonic qualities, must needs follow the 

 dangerous example, set him ; but, forgetful of the necessity of keep- 

 ing the horses at their full speed to prevent the sleigh pressing 

 lovingly on their heels, the tackling became wholly useless, as the 

 affrighted animals, disdaining control, flew with the swiftness of the 

 wind until the driver found himself contemplating the various speci- 

 mens of pottery which, for readier inspection and that no doubt 

 might exist as to the composition of the articles were strewed around, 

 in all variety of anti-etruscan shapes, having been dislodged by the 

 abrupt entry of the " rum customers," who at full gallop had insi- 

 nuated themselves far into the store, to the infinite horror of the 

 petrified Rudolph, and the high entertainment of the illustrious Jehu. 

 He had unwittingly effected, vast architectural improvement, on 

 the front of the German's premises, by imitating him of Gaza, bring- 

 ing the door-posts and windows with him on his introduction to the 

 shop. But fill my glass, young shiver the wind; I shall soon have done. 

 " Somewhat more than half way up the same street was a handsome 

 house, inhabited by a single gentleman, who had found his way from 

 the magnificent scenery of his own land, to the dull shores of Halifax. 

 It was immediately in the rear of the wooden house of assembly for 

 the province, and had a balcony the whole length of the front. 

 Threading the dark streets of Halifax on a gloomy night inspirited 

 by the epilogue of a good dinner, the love of enterprise induced in 

 a midshipman the idea of escalading the mansion. Animated by 

 negus, punch, and other humanities, he proceeded to the church, 

 where the fire-ladders hang listless against its wall, and laden with 

 the " wooden shrouds," with infinite pain and labour, he adjusted 

 them to a perpendicular. The difficulty was, however, to depose the 

 ladder gently on the edge of the lofty ballustrade : but, alas, instead 

 of conforming to the peaceful intent of its juvenile director, it slipped, 

 falling with a crash that shook the fine-built mansion to its centre, 

 deranging the architectural glories of the balcony as if Nash himself 

 han been at work, and arousing all the dormant faculties of the family 

 within. The ladder was hastily abandoned to its fate ; and surmise 

 was sometime left to speculate upon robbery, burglary, and other 

 horrors little contemplated by the frolic-loving midshipmen. The 

 free intercourse thus permitted them, with one of their princes, had 

 tended to arouse, in the minds of the good people of Halifax, an 

 aggravated sense of their proper dignity an idea that even now be- 

 comes unlimited with Englishmen beyond the confines of their own 

 shores ; and which, without speaking of our continental travellers, is 

 admirably exemplied in our colonies, where a sometime-treasury 

 under-strapper becomes lord of the ascendant a Manchester sales- 

 man is converted into a royal merchant a local secretary directs the 

 interests of thousands and a knight of the Ionic order is elevated 



