British Honesty, 59 



The scrupulous care bestowed upon us and our be- 

 longings by the innkeepers excited remark. Not one 

 article was lost of the fifty packages, great and small, 

 required by fifteen persons. It was not even practicable 

 to get rid of any trifling article which had served its 

 purpose ; old gloves, or discarded brushes quietly 

 stowed away in some drawer or other would be handed 

 to us at the next stage, having been sent by express by 

 these careful, honest people. It was a great and inter- 

 esting occasion, as the reporters say, when the stowed- 

 away pair of old slippers which she had purposely left, 

 were delivered to one of our ladies with a set speech 

 after dinner one evening. Little did she suspect what 

 was contained in the nice package which had been for- 

 warded. Our cast-off things were veritable devil's 

 ducats which would return to plague us. To the 

 grandest feature of the Briton's character, the love of 

 truth, let one more cardinal virtue be added — his down- 

 right honesty. More Englishmen of all ranks, high and 

 low, in proportion to population, will escape conviction 

 upon two counts of the general indictment, ** Thou 

 shalt not bear false witness," and " Thou shalt not 

 steal," than those of any other nationality ; but upon 

 a collateral count a larger proportion of Englishmen 

 of position will have difficulty in clearing themselves 

 than of any other race of which I have knowledge ; for 

 while the true Briton will tell the truth, if he has to 

 speak at all, he will conceal his honest convictions 



