melancholy, I have called up the time I spent there, and never
failed to become cheerful from the recollection.

I found the master of the house a very kind and civil person. Before
being an innkeeper he had been in some other line of business, but, on
the death of the former proprietor of the inn had married his widow, who
was still alive, but being somewhat infirm, lived in a retired part of
the house. I have said that he was kind and civil; he was, however, not
one of those people who suffer themselves to be made fools of by anybody;
he knew his customers, and had a calm clear eye, which would look through
a man without seeming to do so. The accommodation of his house was of
the very best description; his wines were good, his viands equally so,
and his charges not immoderate; though he very properly took care of
himself. He was no vulgar innkeeper, had a host of friends, and deserved
them all. During the time I lived with him, he was presented, by a large
assemblage of his friends and customers, with a dinner at his own house,
which was very costly, and at which the best of wines were sported, and
after the dinner with a piece of plate, estimated at fifty guineas. He
received the plate, made a neat speech of thanks, and when the bill was
called for, made another neat speech, in which he refused to receive one
farthing for the entertainment, ordering in at the same time two dozen
more of the best champagne, and sitting down amidst uproarious applause,
and cries of 'You shall be no loser by it!' Nothing very wonderful in
such conduct, some people will say; I don't say there is, nor have I any
intention to endeavour to persuade the reader that the landlord was a
Carlo Borromeo; he merely gave a quid pro quo; but it is not every person
who will give you a quid pro quo. Had he been a vulgar publican, he
would have sent in a swinging bill after receiving the plate; 'but then
no vulgar publican would have been presented with plate;' perhaps not,
but many a vulgar public character has been presented with plate, whose
admirers never received a quid pro quo, except in the shape of a swinging
bill.

I found my duties of distributing hay and corn, and keeping an account
thereof, anything but disagreeable, particularly after I had acquired the
good-will of the old ostler, who at first looked upon me with rather an
evil eye, considering me somewhat in the light of one who had usurped an
office which belonged to himself by