272 WANDERINGS IN 



V 



Fourth drawii ill siicli different shades, by different travellers 



Journey. 



who have been through his territory, that it requires a 



personal interview before a correct idea can be formed of 

 his true colours. He is very inquisitive ; but it is quite 

 wrong on that account to tax him with being of an 

 impertinent turn. He merely interrogates you for infor- 

 mation ; and when you have satisfied him on that score, 

 only ask him in your turn for an account of what is going 

 on in his own country, and he will tell you every thing 

 about it with great good humour, and in excellent lan- 

 guage. He has certainly hit upon the way (but I could 

 not make out by what means) of speaking a much purer 

 English language than that which is in general spoken on 

 the parent soil. This astonished me much ; but it is 

 really the case. Amongst his many good qualities, he 

 has one unenviable, and I may add, a bad propensity ; he 

 is immoderately fond of smoking. He may say, that he 

 learned it from his nurse, with whom it was once much 

 in vogue. In Dutch William's time (he was a man of 

 bad taste) the English gentleman could not do without 

 his pipe. During the short space of time that corporal 

 Trim was at the inn inquiring after poor Lefevre's health, 

 my uncle Toby had knocked the ashes out of three pipes. 



It was not till my uncle Toby had knocked the ashes 

 out of his third pipe,'' &c. Now these times have luckily 

 gone by, and the custom of smoking amongst genteel 

 Englishmen has nearly died away with them ; it is a foul 



