it was now requisite that I should come to
a speedy decision with respect to what I was to do; I had not many
alternatives, and, before I had retired to rest on the night of the day
in question, I had determined that I could do no better than accept the
first proposal of the Armenian, and translate, under his superintendence,
the Haik Esop into English.

I reflected, for I made a virtue of necessity, that, after all, such an
employment would be an honest and honourable one; honest, inasmuch as by
engaging in it I should do harm to nobody; honourable, inasmuch as it was
a literary task, which not every one was capable of executing. It was
not every one of the booksellers' writers of London who was competent to
translate the Haik Esop. I determined to accept the offer of the
Armenian.

Once or twice the thought of what I might have to undergo in the
translation from certain peculiarities of the Armenian's temper almost
unsettled me; but a mechanical diving of my hand into my pocket, and the
feeling of the solitary half-crown, confirmed me; after all this was a
life of trial and tribulation, and I had read somewhere or other that
there was much merit in patience, so I determined to hold fast in my
resolution of accepting the offer of the Armenian.

But all of a sudden I remembered that the Armenian appeared to have
altered his intentions towards me: he appeared no longer desirous that I
should render the Haik Esop into English for the benefit of the stock-
jobbers on Exchange, but rather that I should acquire the rudiments of
doing business in the Armenian fashion, and accumulate a fortune, which
would enable me to make a figure upon 'Change with the best of the stock-
jobbers. "Well," thought I, withdrawing my hand from my pocket, whither
it had again mechanically dived, "after all, what would the world, what
would this city be, without commerce? I believe the world, and
particularly this city, would cut a very poor figure without commerce;
and then there is something poetical in the idea of doing business after
the Armenian fashion, dealing with dark-faced Lascars and Rabbins of the
Sephardim. Yes, should the Armenian insist upon it, I will accept a seat
at the desk, opposite the Moldavian clerk. I do not like the idea of
cuffs similar to those the Armenian bestowed upon the Moldavian clerk;
whatever merit there may be in patience, I do not think that my
estimation of the merit of patience would be sufficient to