nly it
was a shame for Mrs. Dods to be without what every decent house, above
the rank of an alehouse, ought to be largely provided with."

In short, he fussed, fretted, commanded, and was obeyed; kept the house
in hot water, and yet was so truly good-natured when essential matters
were in discussion, that it was impossible to bear him the least
ill-will; so that Mrs. Dods, though in a moment of spleen she sometimes
wished him at the top of Tintock,[I-F] always ended by singing forth his
praises. She could not, indeed, help suspecting that he was a Nabob, as
well from his conversation about foreign parts, as from his freaks of
indulgence to himself, and generosity to others,--attributes which she
understood to be proper to most "Men of Ind." But although the reader
has heard her testify a general dislike to this species of Fortune's
favourites, Mrs. Dods had sense enough to know, that a Nabob living in
the neighbourhood, who raises the price of eggs and poultry upon the
good housewives around, was very different from a Nabob residing within
her own gates, drawing all his supplies from her own larder, and
paying, without hesitation or question, whatever bills her conscience
permitted her to send in. In short, to come back to the point at which
we perhaps might have stopped some time since, landlady and guest were
very much pleased with each other.

But Ennui finds entrance into every scene, when the gloss of novelty is
over; and the fiend began to seize upon Mr. Touchwood just when he had
got all matters to his mind in the Cleikum Inn--had instructed Dame Dods
in the mysteries of curry and mullegatawny--drilled the chambermaid into
the habit of making his bed at the angle recommended by Sir John
Sinclair--and made some progress in instructing the humpbacked postilion
in the Arabian mode of grooming. Pamphlets and newspapers, sent from
London and from Edinburgh by loads, proved inadequate to rout this
invader of Mr. Touchwood's comfort; and, at last, he bethought himself
of company. The natural resource would have been the Well--but the
traveller had a holy shivering of awe, which crossed him at the very
recollection of Lady Penelope, who had worked him rather hard during his
former brief residence; and although Lady Binks's beauty might have
charmed an Asiatic, by the plump graces of its contour, our senior was
past the thoughts of a Sultana and a haram. At length a bright idea
crossed his mind, and he suddenly demanded