512 " Liberal Notions." [[Nov. 



profession I adopt, I hope and trust I shall carry into it the liberal 

 ideas of a man of high spirit." " What think you of the church ?" 

 " The church ! Why, there are some men of liberal notions in it, but 

 yet they are under some kind of restraint, and it would not suit my 

 liberal notions to undergo an examination by a bishop's chaplain : thpse 

 fellows are sometimes apt to ask a variety of impertinent questions, which 

 no man of liberal notions would care to answer. Then the style of dress 



very bad— always black, — no. Sir, that would never do. Besides, 



Sir, there are many pleasant amusements which a clergyman is debarred 

 from, which no man of liberal notions would choose to surrender. No, 

 Sir, the church will not do." " The law ?" " As far as my observation 

 has' gone, I have fancied that the law contracts the mind ; besides. Sir, 

 law depends so much upon precedents and antiquated notions, and 

 ridiculous out-of-the-way old fashioned acts of parliament, that ought to 

 .be buried out of sight and forgotten. Then, you know, there is no 

 getting on at the bar without a great deal of labour and study, and 

 poring over disgusting and wearisome books, v/hich by no means meet 

 the views of a man of liberal notions. Really, Sir, with all due respect 

 to you and my grandfather, I must take the liberty to say, that I have 

 no such very high opinions of the wisdom of my ancestors. Old people. 

 Sir, are much addicted to entertain narrow views of things ; and law has 

 so much to do with antiquity and by-gone notions, that I must decline 

 it as a profession." " Well, Bob, as you please ; but you must do some- 

 thin"-, what think you of physic ?" " Don't like it, Sir, — can't bear 



the smell of drugs. Then to have a gilt Galen's head, or pestle and 

 mortar, over one's door, a transparency in the shop-window, advice 

 gratis to the poor,— to be called out of one's bed, or away from one's 



dinner, especially if I was dining out, as men of liberal notions are 



very apt to do, — or to be called out of church, and suddenly woke in 

 the midst of a sermon. To be accountable for all the crotchets and 

 caprices of jalap — bah. No, Sir, physic will never do for a man of 

 liberal notions." " But, Bob, you positively must do something.'' 

 " Must I, Sir, I am sorry for it ; that word inust is very annoying to a 

 man of liberal notions." " What do you think of keeping a shop ?" 

 Can't think of it at all. Sir ;— bowing behind the counter to whimsical 

 customers, when I am longing to kick — What's the next article ? — Oh, 

 no, no ! shopkeeping wiU never do for a man of liberal notions." 



So I could never make choice of a profession from that day to this. 

 What a pity it is that the state does not make provision for gentlemen of 

 liberal notions ! so that they need not be under the galling and degrading 

 necessity of stooping to some trumpery profession or peddling employ- 

 ment to avoid starvation. I am really quite disgusted when I look round 

 upon my old school-fellows, and see some of them riding in carriages, 

 and others estabhslied in lucrative professions, who were once not half so 

 well off as myself They are rich, to be sure, but they are not to be 

 envied, for they have exceedingly contracted notions of things. Once 

 they were hearty, generous, high-spirited felloAVs, singing loud songs, 

 and drinking deep cups ; but now they are as grave as judges, as sordid 

 as Jews, and as starched as old maids. They turn their backs on their 

 old friends, and all their souls are absorbed in making money. Some- 

 times, indeed, when I find my coat out at elbows, and my finances scarcely 

 equal to a dinner at an " ordinary," I am tempted to wish that I had 

 adopted some profession, and had given a little attention to the meanness 



