C 538 3 [Nov. 



THE SYCOPHANT. " ^"^ '^^''♦^^^ ^"^ "^"^ 



Bearfoot Hall, January 18-^.' 

 i My dkar Bkother. — You were certainly very considerate in offering 

 to provide for one of my boys in your Giv?i line ; you meant it kindly, I 

 know, and I thank you. And yet I think I should hardly have intruded 

 my second son, Winterton, on your protection, were it not that he has 

 already manifested in so many various ways the disposition of a courtier, 

 that, faith, I suspect he can never be an honest man. 



You see, brother, I am unchanged ; the worthy representative of 

 those (with one exception) unbaroneted Bears, who, ever since the days 

 of the fifth Henry, have been ready and willing to shew and use their 

 tusks. IMy other son is a chip of the old block ; but Winterton re- 

 sembles you in person as well as in mind : and I never witness the 

 graceful bow which he makes when Lord C. pays us a visit, without 

 thinking of the congee with which you never failed to salute the provost 

 at Cambridge ; while your artless elder brother paid his respects so 

 awkwardly, that he excited the ridicule, and he used to fancy, the con- 

 tempt of professors and students. Well ! in this old weather-beaten 

 hall, I will venture to assert that I have been as happy as you, with the 

 smiles of your king (God bless him) beaming on you, and the applause 

 of a parcel of sycophants ringing in your ears. 



When Winterton has been with you a few months, perhaps you will 

 be able to write and tell me if he is likely to make a figure in your 

 Avorld. If he is to go to the devil, it is easier travelling a road em- 

 bedded with golden sand, than one covered with paving stones ; and I 

 should like my boy to make the best of it, at all events. Perhaps you 

 may be able to come down to us sometime during the shooting season ; 

 you will hardly know the girls, they are so much improved. 



My dear Basil, 

 To the Right Hon. Your affectionate brother. 



Sir Basil Monkton Bearfoot. Harold Bearfoot. 



The baronet to whom this note was addressed, received it about two 

 o'clock on the afternoon of a winter's day, in his library — a small and 

 silent room, where no light was admitted except through a painted oriel 

 window, opening into St. James's park. A servant in a rich livery pre- 

 sented it to him, upon a chased gold salver, and then stood back, 

 evidently waiting to deliver a message. Sir Basil, after casting his eye 

 over the letter, looked up. 



" The young gentleman who brought that letter, sir ?" — 



" Let him be shewn an apartment ; he is my nephew." 



" And the messenger from Whitehall, sir .''" — 



" Must wait." 



" IMr. Granville is below, sir." 



" Let him call to-morrow, at twelve." 



" There is a person from the city — a clerk of " 



" I know ; let him also call to-morrow, and tell every one that I am 

 particularly engaged. I shall not want the carriage till four o'clock." 

 The servant bowed and withdrew. 



Sir Basil IMonkton Bearfoot was a slight and worn-looking man, of it 

 might be forty or even fifty, for care had suffered no traces but its own 

 to remain on his aristocratic features ; his mouth when in repose was 



