I dined one day at a bachelor's dinner in Lincoln's Inn-fields, and my
wife having no engagement that evening, I gave my coachman a half
holiday, and when he had set me down, desired him to put up his horses,
as I should return home in a jarvey. At eleven, my conveyance arrived;
the steps were let down, and, when down, they slanted under the body of
the carriage; my foot slipped from the lowest step, and I grazed my shin
against the second; but at last I surmounted the difficulty, and seating
myself, sank back upon the musty, fusty, ill-savoured squabs of the
jarvey.
I was about to undertake a very formidable journey; I lived in the
Regent's Park; and as the horses that now drew me had been worked hard
during the day, it seemed probable that some hours would elapse before I
could reach my own door. Off they went, however; the coachman urged them
on with whip and tongue: the body of the jarvey swung to and fro; the
glasses shook and clattered; the straw on the floor felt damp, and rain
water oozed through the roof, (for it was a landaulet). I felt chilled,
and drew up the front window, at least I drew up the frame; but as it
contained no glass, I was not the warmer for my pains; so I wrapped my
cloak around me, and rather sulkily sank into a reverie. The vehicle
still continued to rumble, and rattle, and shake, and squeak; I fell
into a doze, caused by some fatigue and much claret, and gradually these
sounds seemed to soften into a voice! I distinguished intelligible
accents! I listened attentively to the low murmurs, and distinctly I
heard, and treasured in my memory, what appeared to me to be the "Lament
of the Landaulet!"
The poor _body_ seemed to sigh, and the wheels became _spokesmen_!
"I am about fifteen years of age," (thus squeaked my equipage); "I was
born in Long Acre, the birthplace of the aristocracy of my race, and
Messrs. Houlditch were my parents.
"No four-wheeled carriage could possibly have entered upon life with
brighter prospects; it is, alas! my hard lot to detail the vicissitudes
that rendered me what I am.
"I was ordered by an earl, who was on the point of marriage with an
heiress, and I was fitted up in the most expensive style. My complexion
was pale yellow; on my sides I had coronets and supporters; my inside
was soft and comfortable; my rumble behind was satisfactory; and my
dicky was perfection, and provided with a hammercloth. My boots were
capacious, my pockets were ample, and my leathers in good condition.
"When I stood at the earl's door on the morning of his marriage, it was
admitted by all who beheld me, that a neater _turn-out_ had never
left Long Acre. Lightly did my noble possessor press my cushions, as I
wafted him to St. George's Church, Hanover Square; and when the ceremony
was over, and the happy pair sat side by side within me, the earl kissed
the lips of his countess, and I felt proud, not of the rank and wealth
of my contents, but because they were contented and happy.
"Oh, how merrily my wheels whirled in those days! I bore my possessors
to their country-seat; I flew about the county returning wedding visits;
I went to races, with sandwiches and champagne in my pockets; and I
spent many a long night in the inn-yard, while my lord and lady were
presiding at county assemblies.
"Mine was a life of sunshine and smiles. But ladies are capricious: the
countess suddenly discovered that I was heavy. Now, if she wished me to
be light-headed, why did she order a landaulet? She declared, too, that
I was unfit for town service; gave new orders to Houlditch; took
possession of a chariot fashioned eight months later than myself; sent
me to Long Acre to be disposed of, and I became a secondhand article!
"My humiliation happened at an unlucky moment, for continual racketing
in the country had quite unhinged me; I required bracing, and had quite
lost my colour. My paternal relation, however, (Houlditch), undertook my
repair, and I was very soon exhibited painted green, and ticketed, 'For
sale secondhand.'
"It was now the month of May, when all persons of the smallest
fashionable pretensions shun their country abodes and come to London,
that they may escape the first fragrance of the flowers, the first song
of the birds, the budding beauty of the forests and the fresh verdure of
the fields. I therefore felt (as young unmarried ladies feel at the
commencement of the season) that there was every chance of my finding a
lord and master, and becoming a prominent ornament of his establishment.
"After standing for a month at Houlditch's, (who, by the by, was not
over-civil to his own child, but made a great favour of giving me
house-room), I one day found myself scrutinized by a gentleman of very
fashionable appearance. He was in immediate want of a carriage; I was,
fortunately, exactly the sort of carriage he required, and in a quarter
of an hour the transfer was arranged.
"The gentleman was on the point of running away with a young lady;
_he_ was attached to _her_, four horses were attached to
_me_, and I was in waiting at the corner of Grosvenor Street at
midnight. I thought myself a fortunate vehicle; I anticipated another
marriage, another matrimonial trip, another honeymoon. Alas! my present
trip was not calculated to add to my respectability. My owner, who was a
military man, was at his post at the appointed time: he seemed hurried
and agitated; frequently looked at his watch; paced rapidly before one
of the houses, and continually looked towards the drawing-room windows.
At length a light appeared, the window was opened, and a female, muffled
in a cloak and veil, stood on the balcony; she leaned anxiously forward;
he spoke, and without replying she re-entered the room. The street-door
opened, and a brisk little waiting-maid came out with some bundles,
which she deposited in the carriage: the captain (for such was his rank)
had entered the hall, and he now returned, bearing in his arms a
fainting, weeping woman; he placed her by his side in the carriage: my
rumble was instantly occupied by the waiting-maid and my master's man,
and we drove off rapidly towards Brighton.
"The captain was a man of fashion; handsome, insinuating, profligate,
and unfeeling. The lady--it is painful to speak of her: what she
_had_ been, she could never more be; and what she then was, she
herself had yet to learn. She had been the darling pet daughter of a
rich old man; and a dissipated nobleman had married her for her money
when she was only sixteen. She had been accustomed to have every wish
gratified by her doting parent; she now found herself neglected and
insulted by her husband. Her father could not bear to see his darling's
once-smiling face grow pale and sad, and he died two years after her
marriage. She plunged into the whirlpool of dissipation, and tasted the
rank poisons which are so often sought as the remedies for a sad heart.
From folly she ran to imprudence; from imprudence to guilt;--and was
the runaway wife happier than she who once suffered unmerited ill-usage
at home? Time will show.
"At Brighton, my wheels rattled along the cliffs as briskly and as
loudly as the noblest equipage there; but no female turned a glance of
recognition towards my windows, and the eyes of former friends were
studiously averted. I bore my lady through the streets, and I waited for
her now and then at the door of the theatre; but at gates of
respectability, at balls, and at assemblies, I, alas! was never
'called,' and never 'stopped the way.' Like a disabled soldier, I ceased
to bear _arms_, and I was _crest_-fallen!
"This could not last: my mistress could little brook contempt,
especially when she felt it to be deserved; her cheek lost its bloom,
her eye its lustre; and when her beauty became less brilliant, she no
longer possessed the only attraction which had made the captain her
lover. He grew weary of her, soon took occasion to quarrel with her, and
she was left without friends, without income, and without character.
I was at length torn from her: it nearly broke my springs to part with
her; but I was despatched to the bazaar in London, and saw no more of
my lady.
(_To be continued_.)
* * * * *