d to me, as you shall hear. I had taken up my quarters at that
inn, and for three days had done very well in Brentford. On the third
evening I had just come back, it was nearly dusk, and I took my seat on
the bench, thinking of you. My dog, rather tired, was lying down before
the cart when all of a sudden I heard a sharp whistle. The dog sprang
on his legs immediately, and ran off several yards before I could
prevent him. The whistle was repeated, and away went the dog and cart
like lightning. I ran as fast I could, but could not overtake him; and
I perceived that his old master was running ahead of the dog as hard as
he could, and this was the reason why the dog was off. Still I should,
I think, have overtaken him; but an old woman coming out of a door with
a saucepan to pour the hot water into the gutter, I knocked her down and
tumbled right over her into a cellar without steps. There I was; and
before I could climb out again, man, dog, cart, cat's meat and dog's
meat, had all vanished, and I have never seen them since. The rascal
got clear off, and I was a bankrupt. So much for my first set up in
business."

"You forgot to purchase the _good-will_ when you made your bargain,
Timothy, for the stock in trade."

"Very true, Japhet. However, after receiving a very fair share of abuse
from the old woman, and a plaster of hot greens in my face--for she went
supperless to bed, rather than not have her revenge--I walked back to
the inn, and sat down in the tap. The two men next to me were hawkers;
one carried a large pack of dimities and calicoes, and the other a box
full of combs, needles, tapes, scissors, knives, and mock-gold trinkets.
I entered into conversation with them, and, as I again stood treat, I
soon was very intimate. They told me what their profits were, and how
they contrived to get on, and I thought, for a rambling life, it was by
no means an unpleasant one; so having obtained all the information I
required, I went back to town, took out a hawker's licence, for which I
paid two guineas, and purchasing at a shop, to which they gave me a
direction, a pretty fair quantity of articles in the tape and scissor
line, off I set once more on my travels. I took the north road this
time, and picked up a very comfortable subsistence, selling my goods for
a few halfpence here, and a few halfpence there, at the cottages as I
passed by; but I soon found out, that without a newspaper I was not a
confirmed hawk