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but how am I to reach Birmingham pennyless, as you justly describe me? must write to them. At the same time, I will forward my mother's letter, and beg them to send me money sufficient to convey me to them."

"Then, I can tell you, you'll do no good at all. Catch Brummagem sending money to buy himself an encumbrance. He'll make a hundred and fifty excuses to keep you away. I know the world better. First and foremost, you must find your way down to your uncle, or whatever he is. Tell him you have come, give him the letter-say plump 'you are starving,' set yourself down, and let him kick you out if he can. You are willing to work, and he must get you employment. I think I might manage it now. You'd be glad to travel by waggon, wouldn't you?"

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Yes, had I even the means for that."

"Well, but suppose I could find 'em. Or suppose I have a brother who takes the waggon to Coventry, and suppose we could get you first there, and afterwards to Brummagem, without any money at all. Finish your packing, and just let me have a word with the missus." The energetic Thompson departed, but quickly returned with Mrs Thompson this time in the rear. They had settled my business, said Thompson, with ease. His brother would start for Coventry that night-he'd take care to secure me a place in the wain, and he'd lend me a crown to buy provisions. If I got into work, he'd expect to be paid -but if I had still my old luck, why, he shouldn't be ruined though he gave it to me. "Isn't that right, old wo

man?" he asked in conclusion.

"Quite right, Thompson," was his good lady's reply," and do, for goodness' sake," she exclaimed, appealing to me, 66 give me those shirts to put tidy before you set out. There isn't a button on one of them. Oh, Thompson, what stockings too! Your relations will think you have been herding with heathens. Do give them here." And Mrs Thompson disordered my trunk, and took possession of every thing.

I joined these real friends at dinner; I partook of their tea. At night, when his labours were over, Thompson threw my trunk on his shoulders,

and walked at my side to the Bull's Head in Holborn. There we found the waggon lighted up and ready for moving. There likewise we found, less ready, the waggoner himself, whip in hand, smock-frocked, and drinking stirrup-cups indiscriminately with every member of the establishment. No time was to be lost. My introduction was short. Thompson whispered a word into the ear of his brother, packed me into the waggon, forced into my hand a bottle of cordial, and a lump of cold meat, then desiring me to write how I got on, he bade me take care of myself, and wished me a hearty good-night.

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My heart knocked at my breast with grateful emotion as I watched the noble-spirited labourer running through the streets back to his own home-his genuine palace-where his wife and little ones, conscious of his worth, proud of their possession, awaited him with joy and sweetest expectation. Happy dispenser of domestic light and warmth, richer, in spite of all your daily cares, than you dream of or can understand, may Heaven forget me, if I forget this sympathy for a stranger, this help that you can ill afford to take from those, whose hope of life, whose bread depends upon your sinewy arm!" Heavily the waggon issued from the yard into the crowded thoroughfare, and tears, which none but the Invisible might see, in deepest thankfulness to that humble man, passed down my cheek stopping my utterance. Why, ah why, to embitter and poison that most healthful stream, came driving upon my conscience, noxious recollections of the irremeable past? Why, returned upon my memory, with all the freshness and the vigour of a new existence, scenes of a former time, that mocked me, whilst they forced me to consider and to contrast them with that in which I acted now?

What was the claim of this poor man-found but yesterday-great as I acknowledged it to be, compared with that which I had recognized in her the beloved giver of my life-my lost and sainted mother? In what passionate terms had I expressed my illimitable love when she loosed me into the world unwillingly from her arms? What vows of enduring reverence and duty did I not invoke the

Heavenly One to witness, consecrating every syllable with tears more plenteous, hotter, and more innocent, than I had now to shed! How had I realized the abundant promise? Where was the fruit of all this goodly sowing? Sad, sad, and overwhelming recollection, dragging the crimson to my face, marking with derision and contempt every burst of fancied sensibility, every tear of visionary gratitude! Truly, I had learned a lesson never to be forgotten, and in my loneliness I conned it over, and closed my lips, and ceased my tears-convicted, humbled, and disgraced!

The fourth evening of our most tedious journey had for some hours closed upon us, when the waggoner to whom I had been transferred at Coventry, crawled with his ponderous machine, snail wise, into the town of Birmingham. Fatigued with the excess of physical repose, oppressed by constant mental agitation, I longed to throw myself at once into the arms of my sole remaining relatives. "Their hospitable reception," I thought, "their assuaging accents, their warm and feeling manner, all that I may confidently expect from those whose veins carry a portion of the blood which streamed originally in our common ancestor would soothe at once my harassed spirits, and restore me to myself again." But the lateness of the hour, and my anxiety lest I should disturb a slumbering household, induced me to forego this personal indulgence. It was my duty to consider their comfort, however great would be their eagerness to embrace me, how deeply soever they might themselves regret a delicacy which our relationship justified me in not observing. I accompanied the waggoner to the small inn at which he himself put up; and, for my last sixpence, obtained a slight refreshment and a portion of a bed, which, with six others, filled the meanest room of the public-house, and the one most distant from all that was creditable and proper to be seen in the place. The man who shared my straw for the night was old and palsied. He walked into the room shortly after me. The other travellers had retired to rest already, and were fast asleep. My temporary companion scarcely noticed me; but as he divested himself of his clothes-a process very long and painful to behold, by reason

At

of his calamity, he muttered to himself, and moaned exceedingly. length he tumbled into bed, and my flesh crawled and crept as he breathed, lying at my side. There is no extremity so desperate and gloomy as to forbid the glimmering of one small ray of hope and consolation, ever welling from the human heart. What so soon, so easily seduced and lulled to quiet as Despair itself? Would you extract the hidden virtue of a great affliction? Compare the sorrow with your neighbour's, and behold it shine. The old man murmured still in bed, and ere he closed his eyes, exclaimed in agony, "Where next-where next? -without a soul that knows me in the world, no friends, relations, money-God help me-nothing!" He groaned himself to sleep. Dismal were the moments with me, but oh, how dif ferent to this poor wretch's state, my fortunate position! One more night of misery, and in the morning I should be with loving friends, in health, and plenty would abound again. Daylight was about to drop the curtain on my sufferings, but to renew them for the paralyzed, deserted, and unpitied beggar. The thought brought ease, and I slept in spite of the old man.

Loud was the clink of hammers, and louder the noise of anvils, as I sought my way through the close and narrow streets of Birmingham, seeking the dwelling-place of Mr Chaser. Busy were the looks of mortals, and business-like their gait. Men with brawny arms, plated with thick coats of dirt, met me at every turn, whilst higher mortals, full of bustle and assurance, jostled along with a perking pride of industry staring on their brow, that carried shame and terror to every idler on whom it chanced to fall. Idlers, in truth, there were very few. Indolence and pleasure were expelled from the streets, which were taken up entirely by an intense and concentrated assiduity, real in many instances, but assumed in not a few. As I walked through the close streets of Birmingham for the first time, I could have imagined—and without taxing my imagination largely-that I was once more trudging along the familiar ways of my own beloved City

-dear in spite of perhaps, BECAUSE of all that I had suffered in it-of all that I had lost and left there; but an accurate observer could not fail to be

impressed with the conviction that the imitation was defective, the assimilation incomplete. London, mighty London, gigantic, incomparable, and unapproachable, scarce noticeable was Birmingham's thin and thready current contrasted with the overwhelming flood that I have seen pressing along thy narrow, deeply-fretted channels! Inferior was the place in all respects. The very handicraftsmen were a less clean and neat, a paler, and a sadder race, than that I had left behind me. Mr Chaser, my mother's cousin, was the owner of a foundery, situated in a smoke-dried lane. Attached to the works was a small house, in which resided the proprietor and his family. I reached the door, surveyed it for a moment, and sighed with apprehension. I touched the bell, and my heart palpitated when I heard it tinging through the house. The bell was not answered. quarter of an hour I stood expectant, lacking the courage to ring again. At last I ventured. At the close of another quarter of an hour, and after a third appeal, the door was opened. A young man, pale and sickly-looking, stood before me. He was in his shirt sleeves. His hands and arms were smeared with patches of dirt, and his face, from which perspiration was falling thickly, matched them.

For a

His eyes

were of a light blue colour, and deeply sunk in his head. He fixed them on the ground, from which fact you might possibly infer that he was modest and bashful, if the sinister and villanous expression of the rest of his features did not prove him at once to be as whiteliver'd and vicious, as he was blue-eyed and whitefaced.

"Did you ring before?" he enquired in a surly tone, and without deigning to look at me.

"I did," I answered, with some hauteur; " and I desire to speak with your master."

"What do you mean, stupid, by master?" was the elegant reply. "Here, come in," he continued. "Curse the door-this is how half the work gets spoilt. He may find somebody else to be porter, or else a better man to stand at the forge. Well, come in, can't you? Who are you? What's your business?

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"Does Mr Chaser live here?" I asked.

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Why, of course he does-you know that as well as I do-didn't you say just now you wanted to see him?why, what the devil do you mean?”

With these words I was ushered, or rather pushed, into a room that opened into the passage, and was within a few yards of the street door. The palefaced youth departed. Who was he? Surely not a relative of Mr Chaser's? His son, for instance? Oh, Heaven forbid! I had scarcely time to notice two red-coloured prints upon the wall -representations of Industry and Idleness before a heavy footstep warned me to prepare for the bodily presence of Mr Chaser himself. My pulse leaped higher and higher as the affecting moment of our interview drew near. How delighted he would be to receive me! He had never seen me before. Twenty years had elapsed since he last beheld my mother. How he would grieve to hear of her death! How bitterly would he regret the angry words which had passed between him and my father, giving rise to the family quarrel which followed so soon afterwards - severing them entirely from one another. A fat, unshaven gentleman walked in, and I retreated involuntarily a pace or two. He also was without a coat. An air of unmitigated vulgarity pervaded the whole man, and I prayed internally that the fleshy bulk constituted Mr Chaser's foreman. He spoke the accent was provincial-" Well, young man, and what do you woant with me?"

"Mr Chaser, sir?" I asked, too well assured already.

"Yes; you've hit it," he answered with a grin. "I are Chaser, and I are awful busy, too, so I'll thank you to make haste.'

"You are connected, sir, I think, with a family of the name of Stukely,' (I looked in vain in Mr Chaser's eye for some glad token of acknowledgement,) "lately resident in London?" I continued, in dismay.

"Well, and whoat of that, my man? If you have any claim on that there estate, you should see the assignees. I can't help you. Í haven't seen the man for twenty years, and I don't know nothing on his affairs. My only wonder is, he warn't in the Gazette a score of years ago-a sleepy-headed, obstinate, old stupid ass.'

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"I am his son, sir," I answered

quickly-trembling with indignation. "He is in his grave-you must not speak so of him."

"Whoat!" he exclaimed, seemingly surprised, but laughing very loud, "be you the chap as went to college to be made a parson on, and to learn extravagance, as if they didn't teach it fast enough at home? Nice notions them for working people! I say," he added, tipping me what I supposed to be the true Brummagem wink, "it was hardly fair upon the creditors to be filling your pockets up there when he knew he was a-going to break. I've heard it all, you see. We are not asleep, you see. And so the old man's dead! But he has taken care of you, I reckon?"

"I do not understand you, sir." "Oh, doan't you?" said he, looking very cunning. "Well, then, perhaps you'll tell me whoat you have come to ask of me?"

"Nothing," I answered, determined at that moment, if I died afterwards of want, not to become indebted to Mr Chaser for a sixpence.

"Noathing?-that's queer at any rate. Well-your mother's dead, I hear. A pretty match she made of it at last. I toald her how it would be -and so did every body else. A good woman, too, was Mary. I loiked your mother. Many a frolic I are had with her when we were youngsters. She was a tender-hearted creature. I wonder she never wrote to me; but if she had, I dare say I shouldn't have answered her, for I hate writing, and I couldn't bear your father."

Disgusted as I had become in this short space of time with Mr Chaser, his affectionate remembrance of my mother extracted all viciousness from the aversion with which I looked upon him. Furthermore, his mention of my dear mother's name recalled her last sad interview with me-her latest wish-my own solemn promise to her, and I felt that I dared not withhold the letter which I had engaged to place in Mr Chaser's hands. In many things I had crossed the nearest wishes of her heart. The only compensation that I could offer to her memory was a compliance with her strict injunction. What if a shrinking sense of vexation and of shame irritated me, and sought to hold me back? What, if in entreating aid from such a man, I suffered pangs far more se

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"And whoy, in the name of goodness, didn't you send it by the post before? That's cheap and expeditious like."

"Read it, sir," I answered. "Noa, do you read it to me. should loike to hear a college chap. That must be foine-cut on.'

I

I was sick at heart; but I performed my penance faithfully, and read on. It was a long epistle; such as I expected it to be. First, it reverted, and most feelingly, to the distant days which they had passed together, nurtured and brought up under one roof -but soon it flew to its main object, that of securing for me a home when my own should have passed away. She implored her cousin to receive me, and informed him that her deathbed would be made easy by the assurance she would have in her last moments of his ready agreement with her wishes."

"Well, I are glad of that, at all events," said Chaser, when I had finished.

“ Of what, sir?" I enquired.

"Of her dying easy and assured; because whatever happens now can make no difference to her. I doan't see what I can do for you. My lads have done their schooling, and I are too old to learn myself. You put up for a schoolmaster, I suppose?"

"I think, sir, I could teach the rudiments."

"Can you make a pair of breeches?" "A pair of breeches!"

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Yes-boots, or any thing that's useful? You doan't expect me to keep you like a gentleman at college, do you? The lads are wanting clothes. If you were a tailor now, you might have the job.'

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"I am willing to work, sir," I replied," and am ready to learn; and I come to you only in obedience to my mother's commands. If you can help me, and wish to help me, a little ridicule, and a few harsh words, shall not

prevent my accepting a favour at your hands."

"I doan't know what you mean by that exactly. I suppose its sarce. Damn it, beggars shouldn't be sarcy, any how!"

My acquaintance with Mr Chaser would at this moment have been brought to an abrupt conclusion, if the sudden appearance of a lady had not permitted the train of angry words, that had already taken fire on my tongue, to go out without explosion. The lady was finely dressed; she presented a marked, and I thought at first, a favourable contrast to the two male beasts with whom it had been my unlucky fate to engage on this eventful morning. She was bedizened in a highly-coloured gown, and a pink turban adorned a reddish head of hair. Her person was short and thin, and she had a small face with pinched-up features. Her mouth was very small indeed by nature, but art was reducing its dimensions daily. Could she live long enough, the time would arrive at length for its closing up and disappearance altogether. It will have been observed that in the language and deportment of the gentlemen, there had appeared a slight uncouthness, an utter absence, in fact, of the polished ways and forms of lifethose smiling agents, who, on the shortest notice, so courteously and so ably occupy the place of friendshipherself too sacred for undistinguishable mixing in the world. This obvious fault it was the lady's anxious effort to improve. Her method was a pretty one. As I have said, she screwed and drew her mouth into the smallest and genteelest shape, and words fit only for a lady's lips struggled through it, cut and polished, and qualified for ears as royal as a queen's. What could display high breeding better than such a mouth and such speech? True it is that in the process of refining, some words were clipped and maimed, shorn of a few proportions. But much might be forgiven where the intention was so good as Mistress Chaser's. Was it her fault that V and W would still play masquerade upon her tongue-that Veal was Weal, and Washing Vashing? Was she to blame if some independent and unnatural H would at momentous periods be absent without leave; and could she be answerable if he appeared again

just when absenteeism was most devoutly to be wished? How willingly would she have kept the unruly alphabet in order, had it been permitted her! What but an obedient alphabet did she need, in order to become a perfect model of good manners and elegant deportment? Mr Chaser introduced me in his own offensive manner to the fine lady, and took his leave immediately, informing me, as he departed, that it was very plain I could be of no use to him-there was nothing I could do in the shop, and therefore he could be of no possible service to me. He thought, as I had travelled from London on purpose to see him, that I might as well stay that day to dinner; if I did so, he promised to introduce me to as fine" a set of cheops as had ever grown out of loins, though every one had earned his living since he was ten year old, and ne'er a soul of the lot had ever been to college." He grinned and left

me.

The plaited lips then opened slightly, and a few syllables escaped them. "You are, I presume, the relative of Mr Chaser ?"

"My mother was, ma'am," I replied, waiving all personal claim to that high honour.

"He is a noble character, is he not? The true John Bull—the Englishman. There is no hart about him-none at all."

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Very little ma'am, I think," I answered most sincerely.

"You have been introduced to Master William." (Master to rhyme with disaster.)

"I have not been so fortunate." "He told me that he had spoken to you."

"I have seen no one, ma'am, but Mr Chaser, and the man who came to the street door."

"That man, as you design him, was Master William. He is our eldest boy-and he is at the head of the rough" department.

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"Where then presided Mr Chaser?" thought I, at once smiling from the very depths of my misery.

"You shall see all the boys at dinner, Mr Stukely. As Mr Chaser said in his queent way, they are as fine a set of children as ever you beheld."

"Have you many of them, ma'am?" "I have height." Every one superintends one department-so that all

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