They are so generous, not a livre out of my

But they have where

an English one more than any other? said the landlord. I'll be shot if this is pocket, quoth I to myself, this very night. withal to be so, Monsieur, added he. Set down one livre more for that, quoth I. It was but last night, said the landlord, qu'un my Lord Anglois présentoit un écu à la fille de chambre. Tant pis pour Mademoiselle Janatone, said I.

Now, Janatone being the landlord's daughter, and the landlord supposing I was young in French, took the liberty to inform me I should not have said tant pis, but tant mieux. Tant

mieux, toujours, Monsieur, said he,

when there is anything to be got;

tant pis, when there is nothing.

It comes to the same thing, said I. Pardonnez moi, said the landlord.

I cannot take a fitter opportunity to observe, once for all, that tant pis and tant mieux being two of the great hinges in French conversation, a stranger would do well to set himself right in the use of them, before he gets to Paris.

A prompt French marquis at our ambas

sador's table, demanded of Mr. H- if he was H- the poet.

No, said Mr. H-, mildly. Tant pis, replied the marquis.

It is H the historian, said another. Tant mieux, said the marquis. And Mr. HAnd Mr. H, who is a man of an excellent

heart, returned thanks for both.

When the landlord had set me- right in this matter, he called in La Fleur, which was the name of the young man he had spoke of, saying only first, that as for his talents he would

presume to say nothing-Monsieur was the best judge what would suit him; but for the fidelity of La Fleur, he would stand responsible in all he was worth.

The landlord delivered this in a manner which instantly set my mind to the business I was upon; and La Fleur, who stood waiting without, in that breathless expectation which every son of Nature of us have felt in our turns, came in.

I AM apt to be taken with all kinds of people at first sight; but never more so than when a poor devil comes to offer his service to so poor a devil as myself; and, as I know this weakness, I always suffer my judgment to draw back something on that very account, and this more or less, according to the mood I am in, and the case; and, I may add, the gender too of the person I am to govern.

When La Fleur entered the room, after every discount I could make for my soul, the genuine look and air of the fellow determined the matter at once in his favor: so I hired him first,

and then began to inquire what he could do. But I shall find out his talents, quoth I, as I want them; besides, a Frenchman can do everything.

Now, poor La Fleur could do nothing in the world but beat a drum, and play a march or two upon the fife. I was determined to make his talents do; and can't say my weakness was ever so insulted by my wisdom, as in the attempt.

1.

La Fleur had set out early in life, as gallantly as most Frenchmen do, with serving for a few years: at the end of which, having satisfied the sentiment, and found, moreover, that the honor of beat

ing a drum was likely

to be its own reward,

as it opened no further

track of glory to him, he retired à ses terres, and lived comme il plaisoit à Dieu; that is to say, upon nothing.

And so, quoth Wisdom, you have hired a drummer to attend you in this tour of yours through France and Italy! Psha! said I, and do not one half of our gentry go with a humdrum compagnon du voyage the same round, and have the piper and the Devil and all to pay besides? When a man can extricate himself with an équivoque in such an unequal match, he is not ill off. But you can do something else, La Fleur? said I. O qu'oui! he could make spatterdashes, and play a little on the fiddle. Bravo! said Wisdom. Why, I play a bass myself, said I; we shall do very well. You can shave and dress a wig a

little, La Fleur? He had all the dispositions in the world. It is enough for Heaven, said I, interrupting him, and ought to be enough for me. So supper coming in, and having a frisky English spaniel on one side of my chair, and a French valet, with as much hilarity in his countenance as ever Nature painted in one, on the other, I was satisfied to my heart's content with my empire; and if monarchs knew what they would be at, they might be as satisfied as I was.