encountering as many difficulties and ob- 

 structions from carriages, and as much din 

 and disorder on the causeway, as we shall 

 often have the pleasure of meeting with out 

 of London. 



One of the most popular and frequented 

 shops in the street, and out of all manner of 

 comparison the prettiest to look at, was the 

 well-furnished glass and china warehouse of 

 Philadelphia Firkin, spinster. Few things 

 are, indeed, more agreeable to the eye, than 

 the mixture of glittering cut glass, with rich 

 and delicate china, so beautiful in shape, 

 color, and material, which adorn a nicely- 

 assorted show-room of that description. 

 The manufactures of Sevres, of Dresden, of 

 Derby, and of Worcester, are really works 

 of art, and very beautiful ones too ; and even 

 the less choice specimens have about them 

 a clearness, a glossiness, and a nicety, ex- 

 ceedingly pleasant to look upon ; so that a 

 china-shop is, in some sense, a shop of temp- 

 tation : and that it is also a shop of necessity, 

 every housekeeper, who knows to her cost, 

 the infinite number of plates, dishes, cups, 

 and glasses, which contrive to get broken in 

 the course of the year (chiefly by that grand 

 demolisher of crockery ware, called Nobody), 

 will not fail to bear testimony. 



Miss Philadelphia's was, therefore, a well- 

 accustomed shop, and she herself was, in 

 appearance, most fit to be its inhabitant, 

 being a trim, prim little woman, neither old 

 nor young, whose dress hung about her in 

 stiff regular folds, very like the drapery of a 

 china shepherdess on a mantel-piece, and 

 whose pink and white complexion, skin, eye- 

 brows, and hair, all tinted, as it seemed, 

 with one dash of ruddy color, had the same 

 professional hue. Change her spruce cap 

 for a wide-brimmed hat, and the damask 

 napkin which she flourished in wiping her 

 wares, for a china crook, and the figure in 

 question might have passed for a miniature 

 of the mistress. In one respect they dif- 

 fered. The china shepherdess was a silent 

 personage. Miss Philadelphia was not ; on 

 the contrary, she was reckoned to make, 

 after her own mincing fashion, as good a use 

 of her tongue as any woman, gentle or sim- 

 ple, in the whole town of Belford. 



She was assisted in her avocations by a 

 little shop-woman, not much taller than a 

 china mandarin, remarkable for the height 

 of her comb, and the length of her ear-rings, 

 whom she addressed, sometimes as Miss 

 Wolfe, sometimes as Marianne, and some- 

 times as Polly, thus multiplying the young- 

 lady's individuality by three ; and a little 

 shopman, in apron and sleeves, whom, with 

 equal ingenuity, she called by the several 

 appellations of Jack, Jonathan, and Mr. 

 Lamb — mister ! but who was really such a 

 cock-o'-my-thumb as might have been served 



up in a tureen, or baked in a pie- dish, with- 

 out, in the slightest degree, abridging his 

 personal dimensions. I have known him 

 quite hidden behind a china jar, and as com- 

 pletely buried, whilst standing on tip-toe in 

 a crate, as the dessert- service which he was 

 engaged in unpacking. Whether this pair 

 of originals was transferred from a show at 

 a fair to Miss Philly's warehouse, or whether 

 she had picked them up accidentally, first 

 one and then the other, guided by a fine 

 sense of congruity, as she might match a 

 wine-glass or a tea-cup, must be left to con- 

 jecture. Certain they answered her purpose 

 as well as if they had been the size of Gog 

 and Magog ; were attentive to the customers, 

 faithful to their employer, and crept about 

 amongst the china as softly as two mice. 



The world went well with Miss Philly 

 Firkin, in the shop and out. She won favor 

 in the sight of her betters by a certain prim, 

 demure, simpering civility, and a power of 

 multiplying herself, as well as her little 

 officials, like Yates or Matthews in a mono- 

 polylogue, and attending to half-a-dozen 

 persons at once; whilst she was no less 

 popular amongst her equals, in virtue of 

 her excellent gift in gossiping. Nobody 

 better loved a gentle tale of scandal to 

 sweeten a quiet cup of tea. Nobody evinced 

 a finer talent for picking up whatever news 

 happened tobe stirring, or greater liberality 

 in its diffusion. She was the intelligencer 

 of the place — a walking chronicle. 



In a word, Miss Philly Firkin was cer- 

 tainly a prosperous, and, as times go, a 

 tolerably happy woman. To be sure, her 

 closest intimates, those very dear friends, 

 who, as our confidence gives them the oppor- 

 tunity, are so obliging as to watch our 

 weaknesses and report our foibles — certain 

 of these bosom companions had been heard 

 to hint, that Miss Philly, who had refused 

 two or three good matches in her bloom, 

 repented of this cruelty, and would probably 

 be found less obdurate, now that suitors 

 had ceased to offer. This, if true, was one 

 hidden grievance, a flitting shadow upon a 

 sunny destiny; whilst another might be 

 found in a circumstance, of which she was 

 so far from making a secret, that it was one 

 of her most frequent topics of discourse. 



The calamity in question took the not tin- 

 frequent form of a next-door neighbor. On 

 the right dwelt an eminent tinman, with his 

 pretty daughter, two of the most respectable, 

 kindest, and best-conducted persons in the 

 town ; but on her left was an open bricked 

 archway, just wide enough to admit a cart, 

 surmounted by a dim and dingy representa- 

 tion of some horned animal, with " The 

 Old Red Cow," written in white capitals above, 

 and "James Tyler, licensed to sell beer, 

 ale, wine, and all sorts of spirituous liquors," 



