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Discovering Diverse Content Through
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the house, and as there was no passage, the lodgers up-stairs
always went through the room of the people of the house, as they
passed in and out; and every time they did so-which, on the
average, was about four times every quarter of an hour-they blowed
up quite frightful: for their things had been seized too, and included
in the inventory. There was a little piece of enclosed dust in front of
the house, with a cinder-path leading up to the door, and an open
rain-water butt on one side. A dirty striped curtain, on a very slack
string, hung in the window, and a little triangular bit of broken
looking-glass rested on the sill inside. I suppose it was meant for the
people's use, but their appearance was so wretched, and so
miserable, that I'm certain they never could have plucked up
courage to look themselves in the face a second time, if they
survived the fright of doing so once. There was two or three chairs,
that might have been worth, in their best days, from eightpence to a
shilling a-piece; a small deal table, an old corner cupboard with
nothing in it, and one of those bedsteads which turn up half way,
and leave the bottom legs sticking out for you to knock your head
against, or hang your hat upon; no bed, no bedding. There was an
old sack, by way of rug, before the fireplace, and four or five
children were grovelling about, among the sand on the floor. The
execution was only put in, to get 'em out of the house, for there was
nothing to take to pay the expenses; and here I stopped for three
days, though that was a mere form too: for, in course, I knew, and
we all knew, they could never pay the money. In one of the chairs,
by the side of the place where the fire ought to have been, was an
old 'ooman-the ugliest and dirtiest I ever see-who sat rocking herself
backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, without once
stopping, except for an instant now and then, to clasp together the
withered hands which, with these exceptions, she kept constantly
rubbing upon her knees, just raising and depressing her fingers
convulsively, in time to the rocking of the chair. On the other side sat
the mother with an infant in her arms, which cried till it cried itself to
sleep, and when it 'woke, cried till it cried itself off again. The old
'ooman's voice I never heard: she seemed completely stupefied; and
as to the mother's, it would have been better if she had been so too,
for misery had changed her to a devil. If you had heard how she
cursed the little naked children as was rolling on the floor, and seen
how savagely she struck the infant when it cried with hunger, you'd
have shuddered as much as I did. There they remained all the time:
the children ate a morsel of bread once or twice, and I gave 'em
best part of the dinners my missis brought me, but the woman ate
nothing; they never even laid on the bedstead, nor was the room
swept or cleaned all the time. The neighbours were all too poor
themselves to take any notice of 'em, but from what I could make
out from the abuse of the woman up-stairs, it seemed the husband
had been transported a few weeks before. When the time was up,
the landlord and old Fixem too, got rather frightened about the
family, and so they made a stir about it, and had 'em taken to the
workhouse. They sent the sick couch for the old 'ooman, and
Simmons took the children away at night. The old 'ooman went into
the infirmary, and very soon died. The children are all in the house
to this day, and very comfortable they are in comparison. As to the
mother, there was no taming her at all. She had been a quiet, hard-
working woman, I believe, but her misery had actually drove her
wild; so after she had been sent to the house of correction half-a-
dozen times, for throwing inkstands at the overseers, blaspheming
the churchwardens, and smashing everybody as come near her, she
burst a blood-vessel one mornin', and died too; and a happy release
it was, both for herself and the old paupers, male and female, which
she used to tip over in all directions, as if they were so many skittles,
and she the ball.
'Now this was bad enough,' resumed Mr. Bung, taking a half-step
towards the door, as if to intimate that he had nearly concluded.
'This was bad enough, but there was a sort of quiet misery-if you
understand what I mean by that, sir-about a lady at one house I was
put into, as touched me a good deal more. It doesn't matter where it
was exactly: indeed, I'd rather not say, but it was the same sort o'
job. I went with Fixem in the usual way-there was a year's rent in
arrear; a very small servant-girl opened the door, and three or four
fine-looking little children was in the front parlour we were shown
into, which was very clean, but very scantily furnished, much like the
children themselves. "Bung," says Fixem to me, in a low voice, when
we were left alone for a minute, "I know something about this here
family, and my opinion is, it's no go." "Do you think they can't
settle?" says I, quite anxiously; for I liked the looks of them children.
Fixem shook his head, and was just about to reply, when the door
opened, and in come a lady, as white as ever I see any one in my
days, except about the eyes, which were red with crying. She walked
in, as firm as I could have done; shut the door carefully after her,
and sat herself down with a face as composed as if it was made of
stone. "What is the matter, gentlemen?" says she, in a surprisin'
steady voice. "Is this an execution?" "It is, mum," says Fixem. The
lady looked at him as steady as ever: she didn't seem to have
understood him. "It is, mum," says Fixem again; "this is my warrant
of distress, mum," says he, handing it over as polite as if it was a
newspaper which had been bespoke arter the next gentleman.
'The lady's lip trembled as she took the printed paper. She cast her
eye over it, and old Fixem began to explain the form, but saw she
wasn't reading it, plain enough, poor thing. "Oh, my God!" says she,
suddenly a-bursting out crying, letting the warrant fall, and hiding
her face in her hands. "Oh, my God! what will become of us!" The
noise she made, brought in a young lady of about nineteen or
twenty, who, I suppose, had been a-listening at the door, and who
had got a little boy in her arms: she sat him down in the lady's lap,
without speaking, and she hugged the poor little fellow to her
bosom, and cried over him, till even old Fixem put on his blue
spectacles to hide the two tears, that was a-trickling down, one on
each side of his dirty face. "Now, dear ma," says the young lady,
"you know how much you have borne. For all our sakes-for pa's
sake," says she, "don't give way to this!"-"No, no, I won't!" says the
lady, gathering herself up, hastily, and drying her eyes; "I am very
foolish, but I'm better now-much better." And then she roused
herself up, went with us into every room while we took the
inventory, opened all the drawers of her own accord, sorted the
children's little clothes to make the work easier; and, except doing
everything in a strange sort of hurry, seemed as calm and composed
as if nothing had happened. When we came down-stairs again, she
hesitated a minute or two, and at last says, "Gentlemen," says she,
"I am afraid I have done wrong, and perhaps it may bring you into
trouble. I secreted just now," she says, "the only trinket I have left
in the world-here it is." So she lays down on the table a little
miniature mounted in gold. "It's a miniature," she says, "of my poor
dear father! I little thought once, that I should ever thank God for
depriving me of the original, but I do, and have done for years back,
most fervently. Take it away, sir," she says, "it's a face that never
turned from me in sickness and distress, and I can hardly bear to
turn from it now, when, God knows, I suffer both in no ordinary
degree." I couldn't say nothing, but I raised my head from the
inventory which I was filling up, and looked at Fixem; the old fellow
nodded to me significantly, so I ran my pen through the "Mini" I had
just written, and left the miniature on the table.
'Well, sir, to make short of a long story, I was left in possession,
and in possession I remained; and though I was an ignorant man,
and the master of the house a clever one, I saw what he never did,
but what he would give worlds now (if he had 'em) to have seen in
time. I saw, sir, that his wife was wasting away, beneath cares of
which she never complained, and griefs she never told. I saw that
she was dying before his eyes; I knew that one exertion from him
might have saved her, but he never made it. I don't blame him: I
don't think he could rouse himself. She had so long anticipated all
his wishes, and acted for him, that he was a lost man when left to
himself. I used to think when I caught sight of her, in the clothes she
used to wear, which looked shabby even upon her, and would have
been scarcely decent on any one else, that if I was a gentleman it
would wring my very heart to see the woman that was a smart and
merry girl when I courted her, so altered through her love for me.
Bitter cold and damp weather it was, yet, though her dress was thin,
and her shoes none of the best, during the whole three days, from
morning to night, she was out of doors running about to try and
raise the money. The money was raised and the execution was paid
out. The whole family crowded into the room where I was, when the
money arrived. The father was quite happy as the inconvenience
was removed-I dare say he didn't know how; the children looked
merry and cheerful again; the eldest girl was bustling about, making
preparations for the first comfortable meal they had had since the
distress was put in; and the mother looked pleased to see them all
so. But if ever I saw death in a woman's face, I saw it in hers that
night.
'I was right, sir,' continued Mr. Bung, hurriedly passing his coat-
sleeve over his face; 'the family grew more prosperous, and good
fortune arrived. But it was too late. Those children are motherless
now, and their father would give up all he has since gained-house,
home, goods, money: all that he has, or ever can have, to restore
the wife he has lost.'
 CHAPTER VI-THE LADIES'
SOCIETIES
Our Parish is very prolific in ladies' charitable institutions. In
winter, when wet feet are common, and colds not scarce, we have
the ladies' soup distribution society, the ladies' coal distribution
society, and the ladies' blanket distribution society; in summer, when
stone fruits flourish and stomach aches prevail, we have the ladies'
dispensary, and the ladies' sick visitation committee; and all the year
round we have the ladies' child's examination society, the ladies'
bible and prayer-book circulation society, and the ladies' childbed-
linen monthly loan society. The two latter are decidedly the most
important; whether they are productive of more benefit than the
rest, it is not for us to say, but we can take upon ourselves to affirm,
with the utmost solemnity, that they create a greater stir and more
bustle, than all the others put together.
We should be disposed to affirm, on the first blush of the matter,
that the bible and prayer-book society is not so popular as the
childbed- linen society; the bible and prayer-book society has,
however, considerably increased in importance within the last year or
two, having derived some adventitious aid from the factious
opposition of the child's examination society; which factious
opposition originated in manner following:-When the young curate
was popular, and all the unmarried ladies in the parish took a serious
turn, the charity children all at once became objects of peculiar and
especial interest. The three Miss Browns (enthusiastic admirers of
the curate) taught, and exercised, and examined, and re-examined
the unfortunate children, until the boys grew pale, and the girls
consumptive with study and fatigue. The three Miss Browns stood it
out very well, because they relieved each other; but the children,
having no relief at all, exhibited decided symptoms of weariness and
care. The unthinking part of the parishioners laughed at all this, but
the more reflective portion of the inhabitants abstained from
expressing any opinion on the subject until that of the curate had
been clearly ascertained.
The opportunity was not long wanting. The curate preached a
charity sermon on behalf of the charity school, and in the charity
sermon aforesaid, expatiated in glowing terms on the praiseworthy
and indefatigable exertions of certain estimable individuals. Sobs
were heard to issue from the three Miss Browns' pew; the pew-
opener of the division was seen to hurry down the centre aisle to the
vestry door, and to return immediately, bearing a glass of water in
her hand. A low moaning ensued; two more pew-openers rushed to
the spot, and the three Miss Browns, each supported by a pew-
opener, were led out of the church, and led in again after the lapse
of five minutes with white pocket- handkerchiefs to their eyes, as if
they had been attending a funeral in the churchyard adjoining. If
any doubt had for a moment existed, as to whom the allusion was
intended to apply, it was at once removed. The wish to enlighten the
charity children became universal, and the three Miss Browns were
unanimously besought to divide the school into classes, and to
assign each class to the superintendence of two young ladies.
A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a little patronage is more
so; the three Miss Browns appointed all the old maids, and carefully
excluded the young ones. Maiden aunts triumphed, mammas were
reduced to the lowest depths of despair, and there is no telling in
what act of violence the general indignation against the three Miss
Browns might have vented itself, had not a perfectly providential
occurrence changed the tide of public feeling. Mrs. Johnson Parker,
the mother of seven extremely fine girls-all unmarried-hastily
reported to several other mammas of several other unmarried
families, that five old men, six old women, and children innumerable,
in the free seats near her pew, were in the habit of coming to church
every Sunday, without either bible or prayer-book. Was this to be
borne in a civilised country? Could such things be tolerated in a
Christian land? Never! A ladies' bible and prayer-book distribution
society was instantly formed: president, Mrs. Johnson Parker;
treasurers, auditors, and secretary, the Misses Johnson Parker:
subscriptions were entered into, books were bought, all the free-seat
people provided therewith, and when the first lesson was given out,
on the first Sunday succeeding these events, there was such a
dropping of books, and rustling of leaves, that it was morally
impossible to hear one word of the service for five minutes
afterwards.
The three Miss Browns, and their party, saw the approaching
danger, and endeavoured to avert it by ridicule and sarcasm. Neither
the old men nor the old women could read their books, now they
had got them, said the three Miss Browns. Never mind; they could
learn, replied Mrs. Johnson Parker. The children couldn't read either,
suggested the three Miss Browns. No matter; they could be taught,
retorted Mrs. Johnson Parker. A balance of parties took place. The
Miss Browns publicly examined-popular feeling inclined to the child's
examination society. The Miss Johnson Parkers publicly distributed-a
reaction took place in favour of the prayer-book distribution. A
feather would have turned the scale, and a feather did turn it. A
missionary returned from the West Indies; he was to be presented
to the Dissenters' Missionary Society on his marriage with a wealthy
widow. Overtures were made to the Dissenters by the Johnson
Parkers. Their object was the same, and why not have a joint
meeting of the two societies? The proposition was accepted. The
meeting was duly heralded by public announcement, and the room
was crowded to suffocation. The Missionary appeared on the
platform; he was hailed with enthusiasm. He repeated a dialogue he
had heard between two negroes, behind a hedge, on the subject of
distribution societies; the approbation was tumultuous. He gave an
imitation of the two negroes in broken English; the roof was rent
with applause. From that period we date (with one trifling exception)
a daily increase in the popularity of the distribution society, and an
increase of popularity, which the feeble and impotent opposition of
the examination party, has only tended to augment.
 Now, the great points about the childbed-linen monthly loan
society are, that it is less dependent on the fluctuations of public
opinion than either the distribution or the child's examination; and
that, come what may, there is never any lack of objects on which to
exercise its benevolence. Our parish is a very populous one, and, if
anything, contributes, we should be disposed to say, rather more
than its due share to the aggregate amount of births in the
metropolis and its environs. The consequence is, that the monthly
loan society flourishes, and invests its members with a most enviable
amount of bustling patronage. The society (whose only notion of
dividing time, would appear to be its allotment into months) holds
monthly tea-drinkings, at which the monthly report is received, a
secretary elected for the month ensuing, and such of the monthly
boxes as may not happen to be out on loan for the month, carefully
examined.
We were never present at one of these meetings, from all of
which it is scarcely necessary to say, gentlemen are carefully
excluded; but Mr. Bung has been called before the board once or
twice, and we have his authority for stating, that its proceedings are
conducted with great order and regularity: not more than four
members being allowed to speak at one time on any pretence
whatever. The regular committee is composed exclusively of married
ladies, but a vast number of young unmarried ladies of from
eighteen to twenty-five years of age, respectively, are admitted as
honorary members, partly because they are very useful in
replenishing the boxes, and visiting the confined; partly because it is
highly desirable that they should be initiated, at an early period, into
the more serious and matronly duties of after-life; and partly,
because prudent mammas have not unfrequently been known to
turn this circumstance to wonderfully good account in matrimonial
speculations.
In addition to the loan of the monthly boxes (which are always
painted blue, with the name of the society in large white letters on
the lid), the society dispense occasional grants of beef-tea, and a
composition of warm beer, spice, eggs, and sugar, commonly known
by the name of 'candle,' to its patients. And here again the services
of the honorary members are called into requisition, and most
cheerfully conceded. Deputations of twos or threes are sent out to
visit the patients, and on these occasions there is such a tasting of
candle and beef-tea, such a stirring about of little messes in tiny
saucepans on the hob, such a dressing and undressing of infants,
such a tying, and folding, and pinning; such a nursing and warming
of little legs and feet before the fire, such a delightful confusion of
talking and cooking, bustle, importance, and officiousness, as never
can be enjoyed in its full extent but on similar occasions.
In rivalry of these two institutions, and as a last expiring effort to
acquire parochial popularity, the child's examination people
determined, the other day, on having a grand public examination of
the pupils; and the large school-room of the national seminary was,
by and with the consent of the parish authorities, devoted to the
purpose. Invitation circulars were forwarded to all the principal
parishioners, including, of course, the heads of the other two
societies, for whose especial behoof and edification the display was
intended; and a large audience was confidently anticipated on the
occasion. The floor was carefully scrubbed the day before, under the
immediate superintendence of the three Miss Browns; forms were
placed across the room for the accommodation of the visitors,
specimens in writing were carefully selected, and as carefully
patched and touched up, until they astonished the children who had
written them, rather more than the company who read them; sums
in compound addition were rehearsed and re-rehearsed until all the
children had the totals by heart; and the preparations altogether
were on the most laborious and most comprehensive scale. The
morning arrived: the children were yellow-soaped and flannelled,
and towelled, till their faces shone again; every pupil's hair was
carefully combed into his or her eyes, as the case might be; the girls
were adorned with snow-white tippets, and caps bound round the
head by a single purple ribbon: the necks of the elder boys were
fixed into collars of startling dimensions.
 The doors were thrown open, and the Misses Brown and Co. were
discovered in plain white muslin dresses, and caps of the same-the
child's examination uniform. The room filled: the greetings of the
company were loud and cordial. The distributionists trembled, for
their popularity was at stake. The eldest boy fell forward, and
delivered a propitiatory address from behind his collar. It was from
the pen of Mr. Henry Brown; the applause was universal, and the
Johnson Parkers were aghast. The examination proceeded with
success, and terminated in triumph. The child's examination society
gained a momentary victory, and the Johnson Parkers retreated in
despair.
A secret council of the distributionists was held that night, with
Mrs. Johnson Parker in the chair, to consider of the best means of
recovering the ground they had lost in the favour of the parish.
What could be done? Another meeting! Alas! who was to attend it?
The Missionary would not do twice; and the slaves were
emancipated. A bold step must be taken. The parish must be
astonished in some way or other; but no one was able to suggest
what the step should be. At length, a very old lady was heard to
mumble, in indistinct tones, 'Exeter Hall.' A sudden light broke in
upon the meeting. It was unanimously resolved, that a deputation of
old ladies should wait upon a celebrated orator, imploring his
assistance, and the favour of a speech; and the deputation should
also wait on two or three other imbecile old women, not resident in
the parish, and entreat their attendance. The application was
successful, the meeting was held; the orator (an Irishman) came. He
talked of green isles-other shores-vast Atlantic-bosom of the deep-
Christian charity-blood and extermination-mercy in hearts-arms in
hands-altars and homes-household gods. He wiped his eyes, he blew
his nose, and he quoted Latin. The effect was tremendous-the Latin
was a decided hit. Nobody knew exactly what it was about, but
everybody knew it must be affecting, because even the orator was
overcome. The popularity of the distribution society among the
ladies of our parish is unprecedented; and the child's examination is
going fast to decay.
 CHAPTER VII-OUR NEXT-DOOR
NEIGHBOUR
We are very fond of speculating as we walk through a street, on
the character and pursuits of the people who inhabit it; and nothing
so materially assists us in these speculations as the appearance of
the house doors. The various expressions of the human countenance
afford a beautiful and interesting study; but there is something in
the physiognomy of street-door knockers, almost as characteristic,
and nearly as infallible. Whenever we visit a man for the first time,
we contemplate the features of his knocker with the greatest
curiosity, for we well know, that between the man and his knocker,
there will inevitably be a greater or less degree of resemblance and
sympathy.
For instance, there is one description of knocker that used to be
common enough, but which is fast passing away-a large round one,
with the jolly face of a convivial lion smiling blandly at you, as you
twist the sides of your hair into a curl or pull up your shirt-collar
while you are waiting for the door to be opened; we never saw that
knocker on the door of a churlish man-so far as our experience is
concerned, it invariably bespoke hospitality and another bottle.
No man ever saw this knocker on the door of a small attorney or
bill- broker; they always patronise the other lion; a heavy ferocious-
looking fellow, with a countenance expressive of savage stupidity-a
sort of grand master among the knockers, and a great favourite with
the selfish and brutal.
Then there is a little pert Egyptian knocker, with a long thin face, a
pinched-up nose, and a very sharp chin; he is most in vogue with
your government-office people, in light drabs and starched cravats;
little spare, priggish men, who are perfectly satisfied with their own
opinions, and consider themselves of paramount importance.
We were greatly troubled a few years ago, by the innovation of a
new kind of knocker, without any face at all, composed of a wreath
depending from a hand or small truncheon. A little trouble and
attention, however, enabled us to overcome this difficulty, and to
reconcile the new system to our favourite theory. You will invariably
find this knocker on the doors of cold and formal people, who always
ask you why you don't come, and never say do.
Everybody knows the brass knocker is common to suburban villas,
and extensive boarding-schools; and having noticed this genus we
have recapitulated all the most prominent and strongly-defined
species.
Some phrenologists affirm, that the agitation of a man's brain by
different passions, produces corresponding developments in the
form of his skull. Do not let us be understood as pushing our theory
to the full length of asserting, that any alteration in a man's
disposition would produce a visible effect on the feature of his
knocker. Our position merely is, that in such a case, the magnetism
which must exist between a man and his knocker, would induce the
man to remove, and seek some knocker more congenial to his
altered feelings. If you ever find a man changing his habitation
without any reasonable pretext, depend upon it, that, although he
may not be aware of the fact himself, it is because he and his
knocker are at variance. This is a new theory, but we venture to
launch it, nevertheless, as being quite as ingenious and infallible as
many thousands of the learned speculations which are daily
broached for public good and private fortune-making.
Entertaining these feelings on the subject of knockers, it will be
readily imagined with what consternation we viewed the entire
removal of the knocker from the door of the next house to the one
we lived in, some time ago, and the substitution of a bell. This was a
calamity we had never anticipated. The bare idea of anybody being
able to exist without a knocker, appeared so wild and visionary, that
it had never for one instant entered our imagination.
We sauntered moodily from the spot, and bent our steps towards
Eaton- square, then just building. What was our astonishment and
indignation to find that bells were fast becoming the rule, and
knockers the exception! Our theory trembled beneath the shock. We
hastened home; and fancying we foresaw in the swift progress of
events, its entire abolition, resolved from that day forward to vent
our speculations on our next-door neighbours in person. The house
adjoining ours on the left hand was uninhabited, and we had,
therefore, plenty of leisure to observe our next-door neighbours on
the other side.
The house without the knocker was in the occupation of a city
clerk, and there was a neatly-written bill in the parlour window
intimating that lodgings for a single gentleman were to be let within.
It was a neat, dull little house, on the shady side of the way, with
new, narrow floorcloth in the passage, and new, narrow stair-carpets
up to the first floor. The paper was new, and the paint was new, and
the furniture was new; and all three, paper, paint, and furniture,
bespoke the limited means of the tenant. There was a little red and
black carpet in the drawing-room, with a border of flooring all the
way round; a few stained chairs and a pembroke table. A pink shell
was displayed on each of the little sideboards, which, with the
addition of a tea-tray and caddy, a few more shells on the
mantelpiece, and three peacock's feathers tastefully arranged above
them, completed the decorative furniture of the apartment.
This was the room destined for the reception of the single
gentleman during the day, and a little back room on the same floor
was assigned as his sleeping apartment by night.
The bill had not been long in the window, when a stout, good-
humoured looking gentleman, of about five-and-thirty, appeared as a
candidate for the tenancy. Terms were soon arranged, for the bill
was taken down immediately after his first visit. In a day or two the
single gentleman came in, and shortly afterwards his real character
came out.
First of all, he displayed a most extraordinary partiality for sitting
up till three or four o'clock in the morning, drinking whiskey-and-
water, and smoking cigars; then he invited friends home, who used
to come at ten o'clock, and begin to get happy about the small
hours, when they evinced their perfect contentment by singing
songs with half-a- dozen verses of two lines each, and a chorus of
ten, which chorus used to be shouted forth by the whole strength of
the company, in the most enthusiastic and vociferous manner, to the
great annoyance of the neighbours, and the special discomfort of
another single gentleman overhead.
Now, this was bad enough, occurring as it did three times a week
on the average, but this was not all; for when the company did go
away, instead of walking quietly down the street, as anybody else's
company would have done, they amused themselves by making
alarming and frightful noises, and counterfeiting the shrieks of
females in distress; and one night, a red-faced gentleman in a white
hat knocked in the most urgent manner at the door of the
powdered-headed old gentleman at No. 3, and when the powdered-
headed old gentleman, who thought one of his married daughters
must have been taken ill prematurely, had groped down-stairs, and
after a great deal of unbolting and key-turning, opened the street
door, the red-faced man in the white hat said he hoped he'd excuse
his giving him so much trouble, but he'd feel obliged if he'd favour
him with a glass of cold spring water, and the loan of a shilling for a
cab to take him home, on which the old gentleman slammed the
door and went up-stairs, and threw the contents of his water jug out
of window-very straight, only it went over the wrong man; and the
whole street was involved in confusion.
A joke's a joke; and even practical jests are very capital in their
way, if you can only get the other party to see the fun of them; but
the population of our street were so dull of apprehension, as to be
quite lost to a sense of the drollery of this proceeding: and the
consequence was, that our next-door neighbour was obliged to tell
the single gentleman, that unless he gave up entertaining his friends
at home, he really must be compelled to part with him.
The single gentleman received the remonstrance with great good-
humour, and promised from that time forward, to spend his evenings
at a coffee- house-a determination which afforded general and
unmixed satisfaction.
The next night passed off very well, everybody being delighted
with the change; but on the next, the noises were renewed with
greater spirit than ever. The single gentleman's friends being unable
to see him in his own house every alternate night, had come to the
determination of seeing him home every night; and what with the
discordant greetings of the friends at parting, and the noise created
by the single gentleman in his passage up-stairs, and his subsequent
struggles to get his boots off, the evil was not to be borne. So, our
next-door neighbour gave the single gentleman, who was a very
good lodger in other respects, notice to quit; and the single
gentleman went away, and entertained his friends in other lodgings.
The next applicant for the vacant first floor, was of a very different
character from the troublesome single gentleman who had just
quitted it. He was a tall, thin, young gentleman, with a profusion of
brown hair, reddish whiskers, and very slightly developed
moustaches. He wore a braided surtout, with frogs behind, light grey
trousers, and wash- leather gloves, and had altogether rather a
military appearance. So unlike the roystering single gentleman. Such
insinuating manners, and such a delightful address! So seriously
disposed, too! When he first came to look at the lodgings, he
inquired most particularly whether he was sure to be able to get a
seat in the parish church; and when he had agreed to take them, he
requested to have a list of the different local charities, as he
intended to subscribe his mite to the most deserving among them.
 Our next-door neighbour was now perfectly happy. He had got a
lodger at last, of just his own way of thinking-a serious, well-
disposed man, who abhorred gaiety, and loved retirement. He took
down the bill with a light heart, and pictured in imagination a long
series of quiet Sundays, on which he and his lodger would exchange
mutual civilities and Sunday papers.
The serious man arrived, and his luggage was to arrive from the
country next morning. He borrowed a clean shirt, and a prayer-book,
from our next-door neighbour, and retired to rest at an early hour,
requesting that he might be called punctually at ten o'clock next
morning-not before, as he was much fatigued.
He was called, and did not answer: he was called again, but there
was no reply. Our next-door neighbour became alarmed, and burst
the door open. The serious man had left the house mysteriously;
carrying with him the shirt, the prayer-book, a teaspoon, and the
bedclothes.
Whether this occurrence, coupled with the irregularities of his
former lodger, gave our next-door neighbour an aversion to single
gentlemen, we know not; we only know that the next bill which
made its appearance in the parlour window intimated generally, that
there were furnished apartments to let on the first floor. The bill was
soon removed. The new lodgers at first attracted our curiosity, and
afterwards excited our interest.
They were a young lad of eighteen or nineteen, and his mother, a
lady of about fifty, or it might be less. The mother wore a widow's
weeds, and the boy was also clothed in deep mourning. They were
poor-very poor; for their only means of support arose from the
pittance the boy earned, by copying writings, and translating for
booksellers.
They had removed from some country place and settled in
London; partly because it afforded better chances of employment for
the boy, and partly, perhaps, with the natural desire to leave a place
where they had been in better circumstances, and where their
poverty was known. They were proud under their reverses, and
above revealing their wants and privations to strangers. How bitter
those privations were, and how hard the boy worked to remove
them, no one ever knew but themselves. Night after night, two,
three, four hours after midnight, could we hear the occasional raking
up of the scanty fire, or the hollow and half-stifled cough, which
indicated his being still at work; and day after day, could we see
more plainly that nature had set that unearthly light in his plaintive
face, which is the beacon of her worst disease.
Actuated, we hope, by a higher feeling than mere curiosity, we
contrived to establish, first an acquaintance, and then a close
intimacy, with the poor strangers. Our worst fears were realised; the
boy was sinking fast. Through a part of the winter, and the whole of
the following spring and summer, his labours were unceasingly
prolonged: and the mother attempted to procure needle-work,
embroidery-anything for bread.
A few shillings now and then, were all she could earn. The boy
worked steadily on; dying by minutes, but never once giving
utterance to complaint or murmur.
One beautiful autumn evening we went to pay our customary visit
to the invalid. His little remaining strength had been decreasing
rapidly for two or three days preceding, and he was lying on the sofa
at the open window, gazing at the setting sun. His mother had been
reading the Bible to him, for she closed the book as we entered, and
advanced to meet us.
'I was telling William,' she said, 'that we must manage to take him
into the country somewhere, so that he may get quite well. He is not
ill, you know, but he is not very strong, and has exerted himself too
much lately.' Poor thing! The tears that streamed through her
fingers, as she turned aside, as if to adjust her close widow's cap,
too plainly showed how fruitless was the attempt to deceive herself.
 We sat down by the head of the sofa, but said nothing, for we saw
the breath of life was passing gently but rapidly from the young form
before us. At every respiration, his heart beat more slowly.
The boy placed one hand in ours, grasped his mother's arm with
the other, drew her hastily towards him, and fervently kissed her
cheek. There was a pause. He sunk back upon his pillow, and looked
long and earnestly in his mother's face.
'William, William!' murmured the mother, after a long interval,
'don't look at me so-speak to me, dear!'
The boy smiled languidly, but an instant afterwards his features
resolved into the same cold, solemn gaze.
'William, dear William! rouse yourself; don't look at me so, love-
pray don't! Oh, my God! what shall I do!' cried the widow, clasping
her hands in agony-'my dear boy! he is dying!' The boy raised
himself by a violent effort, and folded his hands together-'Mother!
dear, dear mother, bury me in the open fields-anywhere but in these
dreadful streets. I should like to be where you can see my grave, but
not in these close crowded streets; they have killed me; kiss me
again, mother; put your arm round my neck-'
He fell back, and a strange expression stole upon his features; not
of pain or suffering, but an indescribable fixing of every line and
muscle.
The boy was dead.
SCENES
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