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must say is rigidly kept up at other times amo my neighbours, is no proof against this Satu alia. There is no such thing as keeping maid s vants within doors. Their brains are absolut set madding with Punch and the Puppet Sho the Flying Horses; Signior Polito; the F Eater; the celebrated Mr. Paap; and the Ir Giant. The children too lavish all their holyc money in toys and gilt gingerbread, and fill i house with the Lilliputian din of drums, tru pets and penny whistles.

But the Lord Mayor's day is the gr anniversary. The Lord Mayor is looked up by the inhabitants of Little Britain as greatest potentate upon earth; his gilt co with six horses as the summit of human spl dour; and his procession, with all the She and Aldermen in his train, as the grandes earthly pageants. How they exult in the ic that the King himself dare not enter the c without first knocking at the gate of Tem Bar, and asking perm

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knowing what might be the consec

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Maver, and is the city chame

to cut down every body tat

the dignity of the city:

little man with a velvet

133

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principles of sturdy John Bullism were garnered up, like seed corn, to renew the national character, when it had run to waste and degeneracy. I have rejoiced also in the general spirit of harmony that prevailed throughout it; for though there might now and then be a few clashes of opinion between the adherents of the cheesemonger and the apothecary, and an occasional feud between the burial societies, yet these were but transient clouds, and soon passed away. The neighbours met with good-will, parted with a shake of the hand, and never abused each other except behind their backs.

I could give rare descriptions of snug junketing parties at which I have been present; where we played at All-Fours, Pope-Joan, Tom-cometickle-me, and other choice old games; where we sometimes had a good old English country dance to the tune of Sir Roger de Coverley. Once a year also the neighbours would gather together and go on a pips to Epping Forest. It wo

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tock pince here as we banqueted on the grass under de ees. H; we made the woods ring wil bursts of hunghter at the songs of little Wagstaff and the merry undertaker! After dinner too, the young folks would play at blindman's-buff and hide and seek; and it was amusing to see them tangled among the briars, and to hear a fine romping girl now and then squeak from among the bushes. The elder folks would gather round the cheesemonger and the apothecary, to hear them talk politics; for they generally brought out a newspaper in their pockets, to pass away time in the country. They would now and then, to be sure, get a little warm in argument; but their disputes were always adjusted by reference to a worthy old umbrella maker in a double chin, who, never exactly comprehending the subject, managed some how or other to decide in favour of both parties.

All empires, he
historian,

ns.

<ays some philosopher

changes and revoovation creep in;

factions arise; and families now and then spring up, whose ambition and intrigues throw the whole system into confusion. Thus in latter days has the tranquillity of Little Britain been grievously disturbed, and its golden simplicity of manners threatened with total subversion, by the aspiring family of a retired butcher.

The family of the Lambs had long been among the most thriving and popular in the neighbourhood: the Miss Lambs were the belles of Little Britain, and every body was pleased when Old Lamb had made money enough to shut up shop, and put his name on a brass plate on his door. In an evil hour, however, one of the Miss Lambs had the honour of being a lady in attendance on the Lady Mayoress, at her grand annual ball, on which occasion she wore three towering ostrich feathers on her head. The family never got over it; they were immediately smitten with a passion for high life; set up a one horse carriage, put a bit of gold lace round the errand boy's hat, and have been the talk and detestation of the whole neighbourhood ever

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