Whittlebury forest lately? "
"No, indeed, Sir Astley."
He smiled again, as I did, when the
cause of the question suddenly occurred
to me.
" Well, let me see you again before you
HAMPSHIRE. 287
go into the country," lie added; and then
wished me good morning.
When I returned and gave an ac-
count of my interview, one of my
sisters, who had attended my bedside at
Kingston, purchased the necessary supply
of calico, in which, with the assistance
of my father's housekeeper, I was tightly
and speedily enveloped. A letter was
then dispatched to my married Sister in
Hampshire, to know if it would be
convenient for me to take up my abode
there for a little time, which was re-
sponded to in the same kind and affec-
tionate spirit she had ever evinced for
my welfare and comfort.
After taking a few days to dispose
of my lodgings and settle my affairs in St.
Martin's Lane, where I had furnished
some apartments, I repaired again to Spring
Gardens. Sir Astley seemed pleased to
see me, and congratulated me on my
288 PETERSFIELD.
improved condition, adding, I could not do
better than follow out his advice. I told
him I was about to leave town the
following day for Hampshire. "Not into
Hertfordshire then ? " he said, interroga-
tively. I said, no Hampshire was my
native County. Upon my naming the
locality, he asked me many questions
as to the medical practitioner of that
place, who it appeared had been a very
favourite pupil of his, and then dwelt
with remarkable exactness and much
sympathy upon an unfortunate fatal in-
cident that had happened but a few
years before at Petersfield, to the gentle-
man to whose practice his young friend
had succeeded. A poor sailor had been
found dead in that neighbourhood, and
in sewing up the body, after a post
mortem examination, he punctured his
finger, and decomposition having already
taken place, the wound festered, mortifi-
. ODD FISH. 289
cation ensued, and put an end to his
existence in a few days.
Sir Astley then reverted to Hertford-
shire, and asked me if I had seen my
friend' at Redbourn lately. I told him
that I had lost sight of him for a long
time.
"Pray," asked he, "did he ever pay
you for the buck you procured for him
from the duke of Grafton's keeper at
\\Tiittlebuiy Forest?"
I said, that in the hurry of his de-
parture I supposed he must have forgotten
it ; but that I freely forgave him ; adding,
that the doctor was a good fellow in the
main, though fortune had been hard with
him, and that, in his own nautical lan-
guage, he was altogether an odd fish.
Sir Astley again put on one of his
good-natured smiles. He enquired the
origin of our acquaintance, which I frankly
told him. He listened with great atten-
TOL. II. U
290 CATHERINGTON.
tion, though I fancied he had been made
acquainted with the principal features of
the doctor's history before, and something
of mine. After half-an-hour's agreeable
chat he rose, and shaking my hand* bade
me farewell, desiring me to write to him
from Hampshire, that he might be as-
sured of my convalescence.
Under my sister's care, and by paying
strict attention to my doctor's instruc-
tions, I gradually got better, but my spirits
did not keep pace with my bodily im-
provement. A melancholy and despairing
feeling had seized me; and, as I got out,
led me to the churchyard, where it would
find vent in odes and elegies of too gloomy
a nature for public or even private in-
spection. I did not at all extend my visits,
nor indeed did I seem to have delight in
the former scenes of iny enjoyments, and
my brother the lieutenant was the only
visitor in whose society I had any pleasure
NOTORIETY. 291
during my summer's residence at Cath-
erington.
In the latter end of the autumn I re-
turned to town, determined to shake off
the hopelessness which was becoming ha-
bitual, and to seek, as common sense and
necessity dictated, some means of obtaining
a subsistence.
During my short sojourn at Oxford, I
had made acquaintance with two or three
celebrated characters who figured conspicu-
ously on that road, of whom I have
attempted to give a sketch of in the early
part of this narrative. Among them was
one who stood very high in his own esti-
mation. He had risen by a peculiar me-
thod, made up of arrogance and persua-
sion, vulgarity and venality, strong nerve
and recklessness of all consequences to all
of which it would be impossible to give
the reader an adequate insight and had
become a man of great notoriety.
U2
292 A CHARACTER.
He had been the principal means of
stirring up opposition after opposition on
almost every line of road out of Oxford ;
but though he had done considerable in-
jury to the old-established concerns, he had
not at all benefited himself. Indeed it
was inconvenient for him to remain in a
place where he was now too well known,
and where there were too many claims
upon him. So, after recovering from the
effects of a recent encounter with an op-
ponent at Stokenchurch Hill, where he
had, technically speaking, floored his drag,
and come off with a broken skull and the
loss of an eye, he, on abandoning his wife
and family, had come up to town.
It was sometime after this that I met
him on my return from Hampshire like
myself, soliciting employment from the
same establishment : but there was this dif-
ference in our manner of seeking it he
considered that he was conferring a favour in
PKOMISES. 293
offering his services to the head and owner
of the establishment ; I deemed an appoint-
ment only a right I was entitled to from
former promises and from the treatment I
had lately received from the same indi-
vidual. However, we both met with the
same success, or, more justly speaking, the
same disappointment ; and the manner in
which our applications were received, and
the effect they had upon each of us, were
equally remarkable.
He was consulted, and his advice asked
as to the policy and the time of putting
on a coach on this or that road, and what
country proprietors he could get to join.
This pleased his self-importance as well
as his inclination, for Harry* was never
so happy as when in opposition, and was
ready to be the instrument in the hands of
any unscrupulous London man, in endea-
* Charlton was killed by the overturn of Mr. Costar's
Hereford coach, near Ross.
294 IGNORANCE.
vouring, by whatever means, to increase
his establishment; consequently, he was
never dejected, but bided his time. I was
put off with empty promises, that were
from time to time as far from fulfilment as
on the day the Cheltenham coach was
discontinued. A twelvemonth or near had
passed away, when one evening, grown
desperate by such repeated disappoint-
ment, I met him at the end of the gate-
way.
" Where are you going, young man?"
said my one-eyed friend, who had been
in conversation with the principal but a
few minutes before.
" I don't know," I replied, in a careless
and indifferent manner.
" Come along with me then," said he.
I followed him instinctively silently
brooding over my own wrongs, and lament-
ing my almost destitute condition. We
walked along Cockspur Street, under the
GULLY. 295
Opera colonnade, turned into and crossed
St. James's Square. My friend was a man
of a very few words indeed his vocabulary
was awkwardly deficient, and he was
grossly ignorant on every subject except
that of coaching. Yet he was generally
pretty well dressed, though not in the
extreme of either the fashion or his profes-
sion. He was a fine made man, though
not tall; his neck and shoulders being
a model for a sculptor, always reminded
a sporting friend of mine of Gully, of
fighting celebrity. His features were not
bad, though a little inclined to the gladi-
ator style, and the loss of his eye had
added to his countenance a quaint, if not
sinister expression. He always walked
with a stick, which gave him more the
appearance of a respectable London horse-
dealer than anything I can compare him
to.
We trudged along without exchanging a
296 GAMBLING.
word, except, perhaps, as to the name of
a coach that might be passing us, till pre-
sently in a street leading out of, or
adjoining St. James' Square, we came to
a house with the door wide open, but
with an inner door closed, in the upper
part of which was a strong light, that
enabled a person inside to perceive who
was coming. My companion knocked, and
the door was partially and cautiously
opened. A glance at me, and a question
to my guide, were sufficient ; we were
admitted, and I began slowly to ascend
the stairs.
I had scarcely time to consider, or
ask my conductor the nature of the
house to which he had brought me,
when at the top we entered through a
pair of folding doors a large parlour or
saloon, full of well-dressed people, some
seated round a large table, others standing,
but most, if not all, silently and seriously
GAMIXG. 297
engaged. In the centre of a table on one
side I observed a hoary-headed, venerable-
looking gentleman, dealing out a handful
of cards, and placing them in two lines
before him ; opposite to him sat another
with a long staff or rake in his hand,
which ever and anon, upon his senior's
muttering a word or two, he would extend
right and left to gather up the silver and
notes (there being but little gold, Peel's
Bill not having yet passed) and then dis-
tribute to one and the other the amount
they had left on the opposite two seg-
ments, out of the four, into which the
cloth on the table alternately red and
black was divided.
I was soon convinced that I was
in one of those houses that I had
frequently heard and read of in books
both of the past and present century,
which have been, and are justly deno-
minated a pandemonium. On looking
298 EOUGE ET NOIK.
round, I thought I could recognise one,
two or more faces. Indeed, one in par-
ticular, whose services had gained him
rank and distinction in the Navy, I
could not be mistaken, from the very
peculiar expression of countenance an
unfortunate imperfection of speech gave
him. He and many others I could see
intent upon the game, their features con-
tracting in frowns or expanding in smiles
as their different chances came off. My
companion soon obtained a seat, and
every now and then I could see his one
eye turned up to the ceiling as if asking
there for information, upon what colour
he .should deposit his chance.
" Make your game, make your game, Gen-
tlemen," was intermittently reiterated by the
venerable dealer and his associate; and urged
by the nods and gesticulation of my in-
troducer, and imbibing at the same time
the general infatuation, I ventured to
GAIN. 299
throw a half-crown on the table the
lowest sum the rules of the room admit-
ted. The game was made, and the cards
were dealt. I scarcely regarded the issue,
my eyes wandering round the crowded
room, and my mind wrapt in contem-
plating so novel a scene, consequently I
did not take any money up. The game
was made time after time, till the spot
where I had deposited my half-crown was
covered with notes the venerable gen-
tleman looking at me very hard every
time he doubled the heap. All eyes
were turned on me, till the dealer stopt
and asked whose money that was, as the
stake, as they termed it, exceeded their
limit, that is 100/., when my friend
Monops exclaimed, " Why don't you take
your money up, young man ? " Not a
little disconcerted by this polite admo-
nition, at the same time flushed with joy
at so unexpected an acquisition of fortune,
300 GAIN.
I managed to retain sufficient self-pos-
session to reach over, for I had not been
seated, grasp the notes with one hand,
and put up the half-crowns that lay
under them with the other, and thrust
both indiscriminately into my breeches
pocket.
After some little time my friend and I
retired, and entering an hotel in the Hay-
market, I proceeded to count my gains,
which amounted to 127?. 175. 6d. We then
regaled ourselves with some lobster salad
and other delicacies, I of course standing
treat ; but this was not attended with any
considerable expense, as since his accident
my friend Monops had never drank any-
thing stronger than tea, of which he im-
bibed a large quantity, and always had a
great objection to make what he termed
a hog-tub of his internals. Upon my asking
him how it was that I had been so success-
ful, or how he could account for my good
JFORTUNE. 301
fortune "A run upon red, young man,"
was all I got in reply; and with a little
further comment on the evening's occur-
rence, we retired to our respective domi-
ciles.
Waking in the morning, and recalling
what had passed, I certainly did not repent
of the adventure, and I do not pretend to
be an exception to those who are seduced
by the first favours of the strumpet For-
tune ; but I did not, like the generality of
unfortunate youths who are first entrapped
into those dens of iniquity, endeavour im-
mediately to follow up my success ; indeed,
I could not class myself as such, for I had
nothing to lose, except what they had fur-
nished me with, which I did not feel dis-
posed to risk again.
It will be thought, too, that I should
have been grateful to the friend through
whose means I had been put into a little
ready cash ; but so perverse is the human
302 CONTRAST.
heart, that my feelings were of the very
opposite nature; and I seemed, in antici-
pation, to loathe the very appearance of
the man to whom I ought to have con-
sidered myself indebted. There was, how-
ever, nothing in common between us ; his
manners were coarse, his associations vul-
gar ; conversation he had none ; and what-
ever his morals may have been, abstinence
seemed to me to be his only virtue, and
that a very negative one ; it must be con-
fessed, therefore, that it was chiefly my
dislike to be seen with him, in the com-
pany of those I took to be gentlemen
indeed some of whom I knew were
than any repugnance I had to the fas-
cinating vice, that kept me from repeating
my visit.
Glad of an opportunity of absenting
myself from the locality of my daily attend-
ance, and stealing into the country above
all, to avoid my last night's companion, I
ST. ALBANS. 303
rose, dressed, and had an early breakfast;
then, putting a change into my carpet
bag, and taking it in my hand, I strolled
leisurely towards the " Peacock " at Isling-
ton. St. Albans was the attraction, but
it was in vain that my inclination true
as the magnetic needle to the pole turned
in that direction.
The Bedford coach coming up, I got on
it, and had a very pleasant ride through
Welwyn, Hitchin, and Shefford, to that neat
little County Town. After taking my
dinner at the " Swan," and sauntering
about the place, in which I saw nothing to
attract or distract my attention, I enquired
for the house of a person whom I knew one
who drove another Bedford coach, that went
to the great metropolis by a different route,
and passed through a village where I was
informed I might meet with an object, the
sight of which would be ample reward for
my trouble.
304 BEDFORD PILOT.
My friend of the " Bedford Pilot " was an
old ally, and, like myself, had been reduced
by circumstances ; that is, from being the
proprietor of an Inn on the North road,
where, by coaching and posting, he had
hoped to preserve a decent provision for a
rising family to picking up his crumbs
on the box. I knew the man well, for he
had been long connected with us in the
York and Leeds coaches. He could not
aspire to any of the qualifications that
marked the most favoured of the frater-
nity, but he was a straightforward, honest,
and most respectable man. I spent a very
pleasant evening with him and his
family, and finding, in answer to a few
questions, adroitly, though furtively, put,
that I had not been deceived in the object
I had in view, I determined, at his invita-
tion, to accompany him in the morning.
After a delightful drive by Ampthill,
Selsoe, and Luton, near which places are
RACES. 305
the mansions of the Earls of Cork and de
Grey, and of the Marquis of Bute, I took
leave of my friend in the pretty little vil-
lage of Harpenden.
I subsequently took a ride to Ports-
mouth, and discharged a few obligations of
a private nature, stopping principally at the
house of my deceased wife's brother's
widow. I took my children with me, and
spent here our Christmas. My thoughts
would sometimes revert to the scene that
had so dazzled my understanding in St.
James's Square. I had been at races at
Epsom in particular, as well as in other
sporting circles, where I had witnessed and
partook of the excitement, in a small way,
that such meetings generally produced,
where the qualities of the different animals
were exhibited, and their merits decided by
what appeared a fair competition. A nu-
merous and joyous assemblage gave anima-
tion to the scene, and few were those of
VOL. II. X
306 OPPOSITION COACH.
any class who did not, from some cause or
other, feel inclined to have a little venture
on a favourite animal. But this was far
away from that deep-set, ardent and de-
moniacal spirit of gaming I for the first
time was introduced to by Monops. At
the time I did not give it much con-
sideration ; only wondering how one of his
grade could find his way among men who
appeared to belong to a very different class.
On my return to town, I found he
had, by undeniable assurance, obtained
employment, having been put on a new
Birmingham day-coach, started in opposi-
tion. I was very much annoyed at his
being preferred to me, and more, by the
proprietors telling me that he was more
fitted for it than I was ; they not giving me
even a distant prospect of success. I re-
sorted in a pet to the scene of my former
success, where I soon exhausted what I had
left of my ill-gotten gains.
PROSPECT. 307
To the uninitiated that is, to any but
the heartless reveller in the orgies of a
Pandemonium where all the evil passions
of our nature are developed success and
loss are equally destructive of moral obli-
gations and religious duty. The first car-
ries him into the region of extravagance
and folly, the other commits him to the
lowest pit of despondency and despair.
I was silently and gloomily lamenting
my sad fate, when one of the book-keepers
at the establishment where I had so repea-
tedly sought employment, and who had
been in my father's service, sent to say he
wished to speak to me. I hurried to the
office. He told me he had just heard that
a certain person who drove out of the yard
was about to leave. Upon my doubting
the truth of his information, he assured me
that the man had taken an Inn on the
road; and consequently, to make use of a
hackneyed term, must vacate his seat on
x2
308 SEEKING EMPLOYMENT.
or before a certain day then fast approach-
ing. Seats of another kind are frequently
vacated, and as eagerly sought for by
hungry applicants.
There were four proprietors on this
road, each possessing an equal right to
the appointment; but the London man
was considered the one whose sanction or
interest it was most desirous to obtain;
therefore, to him I went in the morning
and stated my business. He had not heard
anything about the man leaving, and
said that he could not, or should not,
trouble himself in the matter. I then
waited the arrival of the coach in the
evening, and asked the driver himself, as
he and I had been acquainted some little
time. He decidedly told me that it was
not his intention to leave. I told this to
the book-keeper, who smiled and replied,
" he will leave," and hinted to me the
reason for his denying it. Thus was I
NEGOCIATIONS. 309
bandied about, from one to the other, with-
out any satisfactory arrangement. At last
I went to my old friend the wine-merchant,
whom I have before spoken of, and at
whose house I always received the kindest
hospitality. I asked him to use the
power of his rhetoric with the principal
in London in my favour ; he entered
warmly into my feelings, for I explained
everything to him as regarded my future,
and he promised to do all I asked
him.
" I shall be sure to see him," said he ;
" and you had better come and dine
with me on Sunday, when I will tell
you the result."
Accordingly, I was true to my ap-
pointment, and met with a hearty welcome ;
but he first told me that he regretted
very much he had not been successful,
for the man was not going to leave.
"Well," I replied, "it is very strange;
310 DECISION.
I know from the best authority he takes
possession of his new house on Monday."
" Did he tell you so ? "
" No, but it is a fact."
" Well, if that be the case, we will
first have some dinner, and then ar-
range the affair."
As soon, therefore, as the cloth was
cleared, and we had a glass or two of
wine, he said:
" Now, take my advice."
I listened with much attention.
" Get your box-coat and Y n *P > sav
nothing to anybody, but go down to
Cambridge by the Fakenham coach this
evening; in the morning go to the l Bull 1
at Cambridge, and when the coach ar-
rives from Lynn, if anybody asks you
any questions, say you are come to take
the coach up."
I gave myself but a few moments to
consider, and then determined to follow
CAMBRIDGE. 311
his advice to the letter; for, if neither
of the proprietors had appointed a man
and from the occupant persisting in
telling them all, he was not going to
leave, I could not think they had I
might have a chance.
Arrived at Cambridge, I slept where
the coach stopped, and in due time made
my appearance at the " Bull." The first
person I saw with whom I was ac-
quainted was the Cambridge proprietor,
who shook hands with me, and asked
kindly after my Father, whom he had
known many years, having been engaged
in business with him. He presently de-
manded
"What brings you to Cambridge?"
" I am come to take the Lynn coach
up, Sir," I replied.
He looked very much surprised, and
asked where the other man was. No
one could tell him. Then saying, it was
312 ON THE BOX.
very strange altogether, he turned away.
I asked for the way-bill, which was
given to me, and the horses being put
to, without further conversation I mounted
the box and drove off.
END OF VOL. II.
R. BORN, PRINTER, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT 8 PARK
i D i