1831.] The Man of Letters. 531 



letters, too, because it is more general than any thing else. Do you 

 stand up stoutly foi- my reputation, and then, if I should prove ignorant 

 here or there, it will only be thought that my vein has not yet been 

 discovered, and that I am like a mine that has not yet been successfully 

 worked." 



Though I could not help laughing mightily at my friend's notion of 

 passing himself off as a literary man, I promised to give him my best 

 support; and, that point settled, Susy was again summoned to get 

 ready the spare bed-room, which being prepared, we bade each other 

 farewell for the night. 



As I again laid myself down on my pillow, I could not help sighing 

 at the recollection of the unceremonious manner in which my peace had 

 that night been disturbed. Jack Howden was a good fellow — an ad- 

 mirable fellow — a kind-hearted fellow ; but, alas, he was also a noisy 

 fellow. His burly sailor voice was still ringing in my ears, and I went 

 to sleep with sad foreboding that the kneU of the tranquillity of the hall 

 had been sounded in that ominous rap, that at past twelve o'clock had 

 aroused me from ray repose. 



The melancholy foretelling of my spirit was but too true. The next 

 day the hall wore quite a different aspect. Half an hour served to in- 

 troduce the frank-hearted sailor to my nieces, Fanny and Kate. Young 

 girls have light hearts ; and in another half hour there was more 

 giggling, laughing, smiling, and romping, than the old hall had Avit- 

 nessed during the whole of the previous time that I had occupied it. 

 Still I contrived to bear up against my misfortune pretty well. Jack 

 was an old friend, and I was willing to suffer a little for his sake. But 

 when he got to his practical jests, my patience was put to a severe trial : 

 — a pound's- worth of crockery was nothing in his eyes compared to a 

 hearty laugh ; and the fracture of one of my best mahogany chairs 

 seemed with him to be justified, if it was but accompanied with the 

 cracking of one of his superlative jokes. 



But " bad begins, and worse remains behind." If there is any point 

 on which I am peculiarly sensitive, it is that of keeping up a right un- 

 derstanding with my neighbours. This is sufficiently necessary in 

 London ; but in the country, where every body knows every body, it is 

 absolutely indispensable; and the thing, of all others, that has always 

 most flattered me, when it reached my ears, was, " Well, I must say. 

 Captain Burton, of the hall, is a man that every body must like." 



How it got about I can't imagine ; but, nevertheless, there is no 

 denying that, before Jack had been with me a week, every one in Eye 

 was aware that there was a most eminent man of letters sojourning at the 

 hall. I did all in my power to keep the Hon to myself, and for a while I 

 succeeded ; but at last the fatal moment of trial came, for to resist such a 

 note as this was impossible, especially as it was from a lady, who, by 

 dint of wealth, scandal, and bluishness, had contrived to be sovereign 

 queen of Eye for the last twenty years. 



" J\lrs. Bluebusk presents her compliments to Captain Burton, and 

 " requests the favour of his and his nieces' company to a soirrc, on Wed- 

 " nesday evening. Mrs. Bluebusk, being told that a gentleman very 

 " higli in the literary world is on a visit at the liall, hopes that the 

 " captain will 80 far overlook ceremony, as to bring him with him, as 



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