1831.J C 107 ] 



BY A MIDDLE-AGED GENTLEMAN. 



Content. — Content, " thou art my lieutenant !" I have occasionally 

 cherished discontent ; but it is an ugly humour. It puckers the lips, 

 and twists the natural shape of the mouth into that of a vinegar-cruet ; 

 pulls down the brows ; lengthens the face ; makes pits in the cheek ; 

 gives a Zachary-Macauley severity of look to the entire countenance, 

 which frightens little children, who are great physiognomists ; turns the 

 sweet milk of humanitjr into a sort of unbearable curds and whey ; and 

 is altogether an unsightly and unhandsome indulgence. 



Besides these considerations, I have, so to speak, no reasonable reasons 

 for discontent. Have I not every thing which can gratify man ? It is 

 for me that the Misses Stubbses (ugly, but well off), my opposite neigh- 

 bours, come out daily in all the glory of the rainbow and humility of 

 the peacock. It is for me that the beauties of this great city walk 

 abroad in May : I behold them with reverence and bachelorly devotion ; 

 for I have not yet sung to the tune of " Hail, wedded love !" and have 

 never responded to that service which begins with " Dearly beloved," 

 and ends with " amazement." For me the doors of taverns, out of 

 number, gape their mahogany jaws. When I grow weary, a carriage 

 waits ; but the holding up of my hand, and a cry of " coach !" and I 

 am wheeled and whirled off to wherever I wish. If I desire to make a 

 short cut into Surrey from the theatres, a bridge has been thrown over 

 the Thames for me : it cost my considerate countrymen too many thou- 

 sands ; I acknowledge their munificence, and drop a penny to one of 

 their rough-coated retainers, as a slight douceur for his civility in turn- 

 ing a stile to let me pass. St. James's Park was a duck-pond and a 

 cow-lair ; it is now made pleasant with shrubs, swans, and serpentining 

 waters for my delectation. The Lord Mayor (no less a man) goes 

 yearly in state from the good city of London to the tolerably vir- 

 tuous one of Westminster, partly by land and partly by water, being 

 amphibious, that I may choose where I prefer to behold the show. 

 The parliament and play-houses are thrown open, to g:atify my alternate 

 relish for politics and poetry. Books are published almost daily to in- 

 struct and delight me : they are made cheap to suit my circumstances ; 

 and comely, to take my eye. For me, Wilkie paints, and Chantrey 

 chissels ; and the " Times" is printed for me every morning, in order 

 that I may know the news. 



So much for town contentments. If I visit the country, Nature, the 

 best florist and horticulturist I know of, places before me every object 

 that can administer delight to the better senses of man. Rivers run in 

 silvery splendour at my feet ; flowers kiss " the shadow of my shoe-tie ;" 

 trees lend me their umbrellas or parasols, just as it happens to rain or 

 shine ; birds troll out their songs, the oldest national melodies I have yet 

 heard, if not the best ; the air is made fragrant with perfumes which no 

 pastilles can imitate ; fields, leading to some rural resting-place, invite 

 me to tread their primrose paths ; banks, rendered soft with moss, tempt 

 me to repose in the shade. I agree not with the lamentable poet, wiio 

 said that " the sun shone not for him ;" on the contrary, I assert that 

 that rcs))cctable liiniiiiary sliines euiphatically for me; the stars are 

 (•<Hially good, and the moon lends nie " all her liglit," and borrows more 

 when that is insufficient. These marks of attention to my wants and 



