THE SQUIRE 203 



by servants as the best situation. In them there is that proper 

 personal inspection by the heads of the establishment that no 

 really honest servant will ever object to, while there is none of 

 that currying favour with upper servants incident to the 

 steward's room of great houses. Our papers on " The 

 Groom " drew from a subscriber in Paris, who states himself 

 to be an "Old Stableman," a letter approving of our "hints," 

 but wishing we had given the masters a few as well as the 

 men, and among others he drew our attention to the fact that 

 a " talking servant " will frequently command a place to the 

 exclusion of the quiet, hard-working man. He certainly admits 

 that the persons who hire such are " simpletons," but the 

 tongue is such a deceitful, seductive instrument, that we fear 

 what he says is too true, especially with young men of large 

 fortune. Much as we are all disposed to repudiate the idea of 

 a talking servant, often as the impolicy of trusting to them is 

 exposed, still there is a something about the plausible subtlety 

 of the tongue that beguiles us when the rule comes to direct 

 application. So with persons dealing largely in promises and 

 professions ; as a general rule, we know they are always to be 

 suspected, yet when the professions come to be made to 

 ourselves, we are 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 contrary, 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 



