gentleman, dressed in a rusty black coat, a pair of
olive velvet breeches, and a small cocked hat. He had a few gray hairs
plaited and clubbed behind, and his beard seemed to be of some
eight-and-forty hours' growth. The only piece of finery which he bore
about him was a bright pair of square silver shoe-buckles; and all his
baggage was contained in a pair of saddle-bags, which he carried under his
arm. His whole appearance was something out of the common run; and my
wife, who is a very shrewd little body, at once set him down for some
eminent country schoolmaster.

As the Independent Columbian Hotel is a very small house, I was a little
puzzled at first where to put him; but my wife, who seemed taken with his
looks, would needs put him in her best chamber, which is genteelly set off
with the profiles of the whole family, done in black, by those two great
painters, Jarvis and Wood: and commands a very pleasant view of the new
grounds on the Collect, together with the rear of the Poor House and
Bridewell, and the full front of the Hospital; so that it is the
cheerfulest room in the whole house.

During the whole time that he stayed with us, we found him a very worthy,
good sort of an old gentleman, though a little queer in his ways. He would
keep in his room for days together, and if any of the children cried, or
made a noise about his door, he would bounce out in a great passion, with
his hands full of papers, and say something about "deranging his ideas;"
which made my wife believe sometimes that he was not altogether _compos_.
Indeed, there was more than one reason to make her think so, for his room
was always covered with scraps of paper and old mouldy books, lying about
at sixes and sevens, which he would never let anybody touch; for he said
he had laid them all away in their proper places, so that he might know
where to find them; though, for that matter, he was half his time worrying
about the house in search of some book or writing which he had carefully
put out of the way. I shall never forget what a pother he once made,
because my wife cleaned out his room when his back was turned, and put
everything to rights; for he swore he would never be able to get his
papers in order again in a twelve-month. Upon this my wife ventured to ask
him, what he did with so many books and papers? and he told her, that he
was "seeking for immortality"; which made her think, more than ever, that
the poor old gentleman's head was a