32 \VHAT DO POLKS LAUGH AT ? 



body grow fat." Good gracious, thought I, asl turned away, your crops 

 must have been very successful lately, if we may judge by your granary. 

 But, however, the old (/entlemans wit was not to pass with only my soli- 

 tary reflection ; for from the wheel I could hear it followed up by the 

 enchanting " hi-hl-ho-hoop — he-he-he — ha-ha-haa," and then came the 

 thunderinng bass, " ho-ho-ho-ho" — bringing up the rear, like a body of 

 heavy artillery. I shuddered as I said aloud " what do folks laugh at ?" 



I reached Canterbury — Canterbury Cathedral is a beautiful building — 

 I was always particularly fond of old churches and castles : there is a 

 gloomy grandeur hanging about them which I love ; they have existed 

 when mortals, vainly famed for their learning or their greatness, trod 

 their stone aisles, or knelt before their holy altars : they still exist when 

 those heads are laid low in the dust — when even their memories are 

 almost forgotten. When we gaze upon this time-seared fane, how natu- 

 ral is it for the spirit to fly back to the days of Henry the Second and 

 Thomas a Eecket ; the past is once more embodied, it lives again in 

 the imagination of the beholder. But such was not to be my lot ; for I 

 had no sooner cast eyes upon the crumbling pile than my meditations 

 were interrupted by the cachinations of some impertinent jackass at ray 

 elbow : I turned abruptly upon the inquisitive animal, with, "and pray. 

 Sir, what do you laugh at?" "Nothing, Sir, nothing," replied the in- 

 truding ape, in a sharp wiry tone, like the grating of a weather-cock. 

 " D n, do all folks laugh at nothing ?" bellowed I. " May be," con- 

 tinued tlie inquisitor, who was a little — very little creature, 'arrayed in 

 dirty black, with[a nose that resembled the shape of a gun made to shoot 

 round corners, and a pair of bullet eyes, " may be you've never seen our 

 cat before. Sir? " — casting his lively orbs from his spindle knee, breeched 

 legs, to the gorgeous mass — the house of prayer ! " No, Sir," I replied, 

 " I have never seen your cat before, or behind. Sir — do you take me for 

 a cat-skinner,or what do you mean by asking such impertinent questions ?" 

 "Pertinent, yes, very pertinent to the time — cat means Cathedral here. 

 Sir ; it's a way I've got of my own, — I am the sexton. Sir — shall be happy 

 to show you all over the Cathedral, Sir — for half a crown. Sir : if you 

 go into the vaults, six-pence more. Sir. — He-hi-he-hi-ho-ho-hum !" 

 "What the devil do you laugh at now, my good fellow, ch?" "Oh, 

 nothing Sir," again squeaked the weather-cock, more shrilly than before. 



Escaping the temptations of a trip to Calais, and the perils of Romney 

 Marsh, I arrived at Hastings. Beautiful country round about. Put up 

 at the " Albion," fine sea view from Dungcness to Bcachy. " Boots," 

 said I, the first morning, as he brought up the hot water ; " what kind 

 of batliing have you here ?" " De bathing, Sir, is dewine generally." 

 " Bathe in wine ! what Jo 5'ou mean!" "No, Sir, bathe in de sea, 

 but there he's a monstracious big swell on, dis morning. Sir." " Well, 

 never mind, I shall try it," said I ; " and then there'll be two swells 

 together." I strolled down to the beach, and found myself safely 

 ensconced in " a machine." I now discovered why bathing is recom- 

 mended by the Faculty, (who certainly have the faculty of taking people 

 in, as much as they do tlieir phvsic) in order to remove pimples, or 

 bumps, from the skin; for just as I started, forgetting it was a shingly 

 beach, I was standing upright, when away I went from my pins, and 

 my hands being engaged, my face must inevitably have come in rude 



