214 THE HUNTING FIELD 



too apt to suppose we are the exceptions, though 

 we should have laughed at anybody else for doing 

 so. 



It has long been a settled opinion of ours, that high 

 wages do not necessarily procure good servants, and 

 our Parisian correspondent fully confirms the truth 

 of that position. Great people, of course, must have 

 servants ; but because my Lord Duke hires a Groom 

 from Squire Rattlecover, at double the wages the 

 Squire gave, does it follow that the man, therefore, 

 becomes doubly good ? Certainly not ; on the con- 

 trary, the chances are that he deteriorates. The 

 Squire was fond of his stable, he knew all about it 

 just as well as his Groom ; his Groom knew this, and 

 was glad that his master took an interest in his 

 department; the Squire knew what a man should 

 do, and knowing it, required to have it done, but he 

 was never unreasonable in his demands, and always 

 considerate in his indulgences, and a community of 

 interest was established between them, and the badge 

 of servitude was almost obliterated by the constant 

 contact with a liberal, right-thinking master. The 

 man was comfortable with Squire Rattlecover, and 

 though his wages might not be higher than the 

 common wages of the country, still that word 

 "comfort" comprised an infinity of attractions. 



Let us glance at the same man in a nobleman's 

 establishment. His lordship, we will readily concede, 

 possesses every amiable quality that the country 

 Squire does, but his intercourse with his servants is 

 necessarily small, and the man finds himself under 

 the dominion of other servants, instead of under the 

 gentle sway of his former master. As our correspond- 

 ent says, " he has now got to a fresh school, and 

 his business will be to find out which is the most 

 plausible and cunning among the upper servants, so 

 as to acquire the greatest influence at head quarters, 

 and then study to please and serve those upper 



