we have only an hour and forty minutes to do the twenty- 

 one miles in." 



" Kick away," said Hargrave, as he came staggering 

 towards the tandem ; " you know I'd rather be upset than 

 not ; who cares for a kicker, with a kicking strap over her 

 back, and a good coachman behind her ? " 



" Many a true word is spoken in jest," says the proverb ; 

 the mare did not kick ; but in descending one of those 

 sharp " pitches,'"' as they are called by coachmen, between 

 Burford and Witney which, in those days, were often 

 covered with half-broken stone and at by far too quick 

 a rate, she stepped on one of them, and fell, and was 

 dragged some distance by the leader. But now for the 

 fate of her driver ; he escaped with only some slight 

 bruises, by falling on the mare whilst she was being 

 dragged, and rolling thence to the ground ; but Hargrave 

 was not so fortunate. A dislocation of his left shoulder 

 was the result, which, he being a very muscular young 

 man, it required the united strength of four men to 

 reduce putting him to extreme torture for the time ; 

 neither did he speedily recover its effects. 



But there is another proverb which applies well here. 

 " Good comes out of evil ; " as it did in this case. Both 

 these young gentlemen made a solemn vow, on the 

 morrow, that they would never again mount either a 

 tandem or a coach box, at least, not with reins in their 

 hands, when they had drunk too much wine ; and, though 

 they became very celebrated as coachmen, and were 

 occasionally put to rather a severe test, they most 

 religiously adhered to their vow. 



It was reserved to Hogarth to write a scene of furniture. 

 The rake's levee-room ; the nobleman's dining-room ; the 

 apartments of the husband and wife, in Marriage A la 

 mode ; the alderman's parlour ; the poet's bed-chamber ; 

 and many others, are a history of the manners of the age. 

 Nevertheless, as the furniture and other accompaniments 

 of apartments do, in a great measure, describe the char- 

 acters of the persons who inhabit them, I will attempt a 

 brief sketch of the rooms occupied by the two Rabys, at 

 Christchurch, as also those of Hargrave. 



The apartments of Andrew require only a short notice. 

 A bust of Shakspeare was on one table, and one of Sir 

 Isaac Newton on another ; prints of Mr. Pitt and Mr. 

 Fox, and also of Adam Smith, author of the " Theory of 



