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too, though not so good, she supposed, as Mr. Pope's, who began so early.

"Why they do say," she observed, "that he were but twelve years old when he wrote them lines."

And she pointed to a tablet which I had not noticed, and which her master, Mr. Loveday, had fixed up over the bench in the alcove where the poet sat when he composed.

They were those charming little stanzas on solitude, (charming, with one exception), which had been my favourites, when, at his own age, I first read them, and I have continued to love them ever since; not the less for the knowledge I have since had of things far different.

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"Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,

Whose flocks supply him with attire,

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter fire.

"Blest who can unconcern'dly find

Hours, days, and years slide soft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day,

"Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix'd; sweet recreation;

And innocence, which most does please,

With meditation.

"Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die,

Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie."

Delighted to find these favourite lines in the very spot where they were composed, I read them aloud, and with such unction, that my conductress looked quite pleased, and said how pleased Muster Loveday would be to hear me.

" And yet, to my fancy," added she, "though some be pretty, some be not. I can't say as I should like to die and nobody care for me; or if they did, to have no tombstone for them to find me out."

I quite agreed with this observation upon a wish and a sentiment which I think a drawback upon the philosophy of these otherwise philosophic lines ; and the lady agreed with me in thinking all the rest worthy the golden age. In fact, they gave me a fit of musing on the vanity of the pursuit of riches or the applause of the world. Is not content, thought I, the object of all our exertions? and if this can be obtained without struggle, why should we plunge into it? And I repeated with still greater emphasis

"Blest who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away."

To this I added the silliness of supposing happiness more enjoyed by the great and fashionable than the lowly-born; and this musing lasted all the way back to the Royal Oak, where I was not sorry to join my contented friend, landlord, and yeomanpricker, in making a deep inroad into a fine round of beef, which contented me thoroughly, in appeasing the want then uppermost about me.

CHAPTER XVIII.

OF THE GOOD COMPANY WITH WHOM I DINED AT THE ROYAL OAK, AND THE NOTABLE CONVERSATION I THERE HEARD.- EVENT OF THE TRIALS OF DR. FIREBRASS AND THE PEDLAR, AND THE FINAL FATE OF THOSE PERSONAGES.

A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true to one another. SHAKSPEARE.-1 Henry IV.

Our dinner, at which the landlord presided, sitting under a picture of George III., was, on this occasion, not in the kitchen, but a very decent room; in fact, a sort of ordinary.

Now, an ordinary is the very thing for a young gentleman who wishes to see the world. Certainly, with this view, it is better than the eastern magnificence of eating alone; or, the next thing to it, a college hall, where you see the same hundred-timesseen phizzes, and listen, or pretend to listen, to the same hundred-times-told tales.

In a country town like Oakingham, an ordinary is peculiarly advantageous to a curious traveller, because not only other travellers congregate there, but the notables of the place often drop in, and, at a fixed price, sit down to a plentiful and wholesome repast. Our contented landlord charged but eighteen-pence a head for his excellent viands, leaving his guests to settle the quantity, and therefore the expense of their liquor. This naturally attracted many of the townspeople to him, especially those who had no wives to attract them at home, and some who had.

On this day the meeting was unusually full. At its head were Mr. Simcox, the attorney, Mr. Smellome, the apothecary, and Mr. Sadwright, the bailiff of the place (for there was no mayor)-all topping men. These were all of the aristocracy of the town.

In a somewhat lower degree was a Mr. Smooth, a Dissenting schoolmaster, of very extreme principles, it was said, in all matters of government and legal rights, though he seldom spoke to the full extent of his opinions, and always in very submissive, oily language; so that the vicar applied to him the text, -" His words were softer than butter, having war in his heart." He had been a great favourer of the American cause (when at its height), and had been known to have declared, he thought it was a just one; nay, had illuminated his house on the acquittal of Admiral Keppel ;-all which got him little respect in the loyal town of Oakingham, and accounted for some cold looks even now on the part of his neighbours.

The landlord paid these guests of his all honour due, by assigning them the high places at the table; and having gathered from me that I belonged to Maudlin College, Oxford, after introducing me in form, ranged me among them. Nor did my jacket of many pockets prejudice me in the eyes of the inferioris ordinis commensales, who supposed I must be a man of some distinction, or I would not be so careless of forms as to sit down to table in a shooting dress.

The business of our dinner was not interrupted by any general conversation, but each seemed intent upon his immediate concern-the plate before him; compliments to the landlord, on the goodness of his beef, being the chief topic.

At length, however, one of the guests, a traveller who had just come in from Reading, excited the attention of us all, but mine in particular, by the neverending story of the robbery at Wallingford, and the supposed culprits concerned in it. This was faintly canvassed at its commencement; but as plates were emptied, and hunger satisfied, the tale of the traveller was eagerly listened to, and his relation discussed in a critical examination of its facts, varying according to the varying opinions and capacities of those who sat in judgment upon them.

My own curiosity was interested by the new fact, that Dr. Firebrass had been examined by a full bench of magistrates, and committed, partly for refusing to answer, but also upon the information of a third party, who had been apprehended that morning, and turned what was called king's evidence upon the occasion. The examinations had been taken in short-hand, printed, and spread about the town, and the traveller having got a copy, produced it upon the table after dinner.

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