=Source.=--Washington Irving's _Sketch Book_. Pp. 237-239. Bohn's
Libraries. G. Bell & Sons, London.
What is worst of all, is the effect which these pecuniary
embarrassments and domestic feuds have had on the poor man
himself. Instead of that jolly round corporation, and snug rosy
face, which he used to present, he has of late become as shrivelled
and shrunk as a frost-bitten apple. His scarlet gold-laced
waistcoat, which bellied out so bravely in those prosperous days
when he sailed before the wind, now hangs loosely about him like
a mainsail in a calm. His leather breeches are all in folds and
wrinkles, and apparently have much ado to hold up the boots that
yawn on both sides of his once sturdy legs.
Instead of strutting about as formerly, with his three-cornered
hat on one side; flourishing his cudgel, and bringing it down
every moment with a hearty thump upon the ground; looking every
one sturdily in the face, and trolling out a stave of a catch or a
drinking song; he now goes about whistling thoughtfully to himself,
with his head drooping down, his cudgel tucked under his arm, and
his hands thrust to the bottom of his breeches pockets, which are
evidently empty.
Such is the plight of honest John Bull at present; yet for all
this, the old fellow's spirit is as tall and as gallant as ever. If
you drop the least expression of sympathy or concern, he takes fire
in an instant; swears that he is the richest and stoutest fellow in
the country; talks of laying out large sums to adorn his house or
buy another estate; and with a valiant swagger and grasping of his
cudgel, longs exceedingly to have another bout at quarter-staff.
Though there may be something rather whimsical in all this, yet I
confess I cannot look upon John's situation without strong feelings
of interest. With all his odd humours and obstinate prejudices,
he is a sterling-hearted old blade. He may not be so wonderfully
fine a fellow as he thinks himself, but he is at least twice as
good as his neighbours represent him. His virtues are all his own;
all plain, home bred and unaffected. His very faults smack of the
raciness of his good qualities. His extravagance savours of his
generosity; his quarrelsomeness, of his courage; his credulity, of
his open faith; his vanity, of his pride; and his bluntness, of his
sincerity. They are all the redundancies of a rich and liberal
character. He is like his old oak, rough without, but sound and
solid within, whose bark abounds with excrescences in proportion
to the growth and grandeur of the timber; and whose branches make
a fearful groaning and murmuring in the least storm, from their
very magnitude and luxuriance. There is something, too, in the
appearance of his old family mansion that is extremely poetical
and picturesque; and, as long as it can be rendered comfortably
habitable, I should almost tremble to see it meddled with, during
the present conflict of tastes and opinions. Some of his advisers
are no doubt good architects, that might be of service; but many, I
fear, are mere levellers, who, when they had once got to work with
their mattocks on this venerable edifice, would never stop until
they had brought it to the ground, and perhaps buried themselves
among the ruins. All that I wish is that John's present troubles
may teach him more prudence in the future. That he may cease to
distress his mind about other people's affairs; that he may give
up the fruitless attempt to promote the good of his neighbours,
and the peace and happiness of the world, by dint of the cudgel;
that he may remain quietly at home; gradually get his house into
repair; cultivate his rich estate according to his fancy; husband
his income--if he thinks proper; bring his unruly children into
order--if he can; renew the jovial scenes of ancient prosperity;
and long enjoy, on his paternal lands, a green, an honourable and a
merry old age.