204 THE HUNTING FIELD 



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 establish- 

 ment. His lordship, we will readily concede, possesses every 

 amiable quality that the country Squire does, but his inter- 

 course 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 corre- 

 spondent 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 servants — drive out the lady's-maid, lend 

 the butler and valet horses, convey them or their friends to the 

 railway station, pick out their co7ifidantcs among the lower 

 servants, to praise them to " — in fact, make those upper 

 servants masters, and trust to them for keeping right with the 

 real employer. " It is no matter how good a stableman a man 

 may be," he says, " unless he stands well with the people in 

 the steward's room, for there is the real dominion. There is 

 none of this," he adds, "in the house of the well-regulated 

 country Squire, where every servant stands on his own merit, 

 and the master and mistress can see who do their duty, without 

 trusting to what other servants say or think." 



Our correspondent, as we said before, being in Paris, 

 concludes his sensible letter with the following observations on 

 the difference between English and French servants. " I was 



