e. His tandem made a great sensation in Clavering market-place;
where he upset a market stall, and cut Mrs. Pybus's poodle over the
shaven quarters, and drank a glass of raspberry bitters at the Clavering
Arms. All the society in the little place heard who he was, and looked
out his name in their Peerages. He was so young, and their books so old,
that his name did not appear in many of their volumes; and his mamma,
now quite an antiquated lady, figured amongst the progeny of the Earl
of Rosherville, as Lady Agnes Milton still. But his name, wealth, and
honourable lineage were speedily known about Clavering, where you may be
sure that poor Pen's little transaction with the Chatteris actress was
also pretty freely discussed.

Looking at the little old town of Clavering St. Mary from the London
road as it runs by the lodge at Fairoaks, and seeing the rapid and
shining Brawl winding down from the town and skirting the woods of
Clavering Park, and the ancient church tower and peaked roofs of the
houses rising up amongst trees and old walls, behind which swells a
fair background of sunshiny hills that stretch from Clavering westwards
towards the sea--the place looks so cheery and comfortable that many a
traveller's heart must have yearned towards it from the coach-top, and
he must have thought that it was in such a calm friendly nook he would
like to shelter at the end of life's struggle. Tom Smith, who used to
drive the Alacrity coach, would often point to a tree near the river,
from which a fine view of the church and town was commanded, and inform
his companion on the box that "Artises come and take hoff the Church
from that there tree--It was a Habby once, sir:"--and indeed a pretty
view it is, which I recommend to Mr. Stanfield or Mr. Roberts, for their
next tour.

Like Constantinople seen from the Bosphorus; like Mrs. Rougemont viewed
in her box from the opposite side of the house; like many an object
which we pursue in life, and admire before we have attained it;
Clavering is rather prettier at a distance than it is on a closer
acquaintance. The town so cheerful of aspect a few furlongs off, looks
very blank and dreary. Except on market days there is nobody in the
streets. The clack of a pair of pattens echoes through half the place,
and you may hear the creaking of the rusty old ensign at the Clavering
Arms, without being disturbed by any other noise. There has not been a
ball in the Assembly Rooms since the Claverin