Mr. Midshipman Easy (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY

FREDERICK MARRYAT

This 2011 edition published by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

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ISBN: 978-1-4114-4984-8

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER XXIV

CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXVI

CHAPTER XXVII

CHAPTER XXVIII

CHAPTER XXIX

CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXII

CHAPTER XXXIII

CHAPTER XXXIV

CHAPTER XXXV

CHAPTER XXXVI

CHAPTER XXXVII

CHAPTER XXXVIII

CHAPTER XXXIX

CHAPTER XL

CHAPTER XLI

CHAPTER I

WHICH THE READER WILL FIND VERY EASY TO READ

MR. NICODEMUS EASY was a gentleman who lived down in Hampshire; he was a married man, and in very easy circumstances. Most couples find it very easy to have a family, but not always quite so easy to maintain them. Mr. Easy was not at all uneasy on the latter score, as he had no children; but he was anxious to have them, as most people covet what they cannot obtain. After ten years, Mr. Easy gave it up as a bad job. Philosophy is said to console a man under disappointment, although Shakspeare asserts that it is no remedy for toothache; so Mr. Easy turned philosopher, the very best profession a man can take up, when he is fit for nothing else; he must be a very incapable person indeed who cannot talk nonsense. For some time, Mr. Easy could not decide upon what description his nonsense should consist of; at last he fixed upon the rights of men, equality, and all that: how every person was born to inherit his share of the earth, a right at present only admitted to a certain length; that is, about six feet, for we all inherit our graves, and are allowed to take possession without dispute. But no one would listen to Mr. Easy's philosophy. The women would not acknowledge the rights of men, whom they declared always to be in the wrong; and, as the gentlemen who visited Mr. Easy were all men of property, they could not perceive the advantages of sharing with those who had none. However they allowed him to discuss the question, while they discussed his port wine. The wine was good if the arguments were not, and we must take things as we find them in this world.

While Mr. Easy talked philosophy, Mrs. Easy played patience, and they were a very happy couple, riding side by side on their hobbies, and never interfering with each other. Mr. Easy knew his wife could not understand him, and therefore did not expect her to listen very attentively; and Mrs. Easy did not care how much her husband talked, provided she was not put out in her game. Mutual forbearance will always ensure domestic felicity.

There was another cause for their agreeing so well. Upon any disputed question Mr. Easy invariably gave it up to Mrs. Easy, telling her that she should have her own way—and this pleased his wife; but, as Mr. Easy always took care, when it came to the point, to have his way, he was pleased as well. It is true that Mrs. Easy had long found out that she did not have her own way long; but she was of an easy disposition, and as, in nine cases out of ten, it was of very little consequence how things were done, she was quite satisfied with his submission during the heat of the argument. Mr. Easy had admitted that she was right, and if like all men he would do wrong, why, what could a poor woman do? With a lady of such a quiet disposition, it is easy to imagine that the domestic felicity of Mr. Easy was not easily disturbed. But, as people have observed before, there is a mutability in human affairs. It was at the final of the eleventh year of their marriage that Mrs. Easy at first complained that she could not enjoy her breakfast. Mrs. Easy had her own suspicions, everybody else considered it past doubt, all except Mr. Easy; he little 'thought, good easy man, that his greatness was ripening'; he had decided that to have an heir was no Easy task, and it never came into his calculations that there could be a change in his wife's figure. You might have added to it, subtracted from it, divided it, or multiplied it, but as it was a zero, the result would be always the same. Mrs. Easy also was not quite sure—she believed it might be the case, there was no saying; it might be a mistake, like that of Mrs. Trunnion's in the novel, and, therefore, she said nothing to her husband about the matter. At last Mr. Easy opened his eyes, and when, upon interrogating his wife, he found out the astounding truth, he opened his eyes still wider, and then he snapped his fingers, and danced, like a bear upon hot plates, with delight, thereby proving that different causes may produce similar effects in two instances at the same time. The bear dances from pain, Mr. Easy from pleasure; and again, when we are indifferent, or do not care for anything, we snap our fingers at it, and when we are overjoyed and obtain what we most care for, we also snap our fingers. Two months after Mr. Easy snapped his fingers, Mrs. Easy felt no inclination to snap hers, either from indifference or pleasure. The fact was, that Mrs. Easy's time was come to undergo what Shakespeare pronounces, the pleasing punishment that women bear, but Mrs. Easy, like the rest of her sex, declared, that all men were liars, and most particularly poets.

But while Mrs. Easy was suffering, Mr. Easy was in ecstasies. He laughed at pain, as all philosophers do when it is suffered by other people, and not by themselves.

In due course of time, Mrs. Easy presented her husband with a fine boy, whom we present to the public as our hero.

CHAPTER II

IN WHICH MRS. EASY, AS USUAL, HAS HER OWN WAY

IT was the fourth day after Mrs. Easy's confinement that Mr. Easy, who was sitting by her bedside in an easy-chair, commented as follows: 'I have been thinking, my dear Mrs. Easy, about the name I shall give this child.'

'Name, Mr. Easy! why, what name should you give it but your own?'

'Not so, my dear,' replied Mr. Easy; 'they call all names proper names, but I think that mine is not. It is the very worst name in the calendar.'

'Why, what's the matter with it, Mr. Easy?'

'The matter affects me as well as the boy. Nicodemus is a long name to write at full length, and Nick is vulgar.' Besides, as there will be two Nicks, they will naturally call my boy young Nick, and of course I shall be styled old Nick, which will be diabolical.'

'Well, Mr. Easy, at all events then let me choose the name.'

'That you shall, my dear, and it was with this view that I have mentioned the subject so early.'

'I think, Mr. Easy, I will call the boy after my poor father—his name shall be Robert.'

'Very well, my dear, if you wish it, it shall be Robert. You shall have your own way. But I think, my dear, upon a little consideration, you will acknowledge that there is a decided objection.'

'An objection, Mr. Easy?'

'Yes, my dear; Robert may be very well, but you must reflect upon the consequences; he is certain to be called Bob.'

'Well, my dear, and suppose they do call him Bob?'

'I cannot bear even the supposition, my dear. You forget the county in which we are residing, the downs covered with sheep.'

'Why, Mr. Easy, what can sheep have to do with a christian name?'

'There it is; women never look to consequences. My dear, they have a great deal to do with the name of Bob. I will appeal to any farmer in the county, if ninety-nine shepherds' dogs out of one hundred are not called Bob. Now observe, your child is out of doors somewhere in the fields or plantations; you want and you call him. Instead of your child, what do you find? Why, a dozen curs at least who come running up to you, all answering to the name of Bob, and wagging their stumps of tails. You see, Mrs. Easy, it is a dilemma not to be got over. You level your only son to the brute creation by giving him a christian name which, from its peculiar brevity, has been monopolised by all the dogs in the country. Any other name you please, my dear, but in this one instance you must allow me to lay my positive veto.'

'Well, then, let me see—but I'll think of it, Mr. Easy; my head aches very much just now.'

'I will think for you, my dear. What do you say to John?'

'Oh no, Mr. Easy, such a common name.'

'A proof of its popularity, my dear. It is scriptural—we have the Apostle and the Baptist—we have a dozen popes who were all Johns. It is royal—we have plenty of kings who were Johns—and, moreover, it is short, and sounds honest and manly.'

'Yes, very true, my dear; but they will call him Jack.'

'Well, we have had several celebrated characters who were Jacks. There was—let me see—Jack the Giant Killer, and Jack of the Bean Stalk—and Jack—Jack——'

'Jack Spratt,' replied Mrs. Easy.

'And Jack Cade, Mrs. Easy, the great rebel—and Three-fingered Jack, Mrs. Easy, the celebrated negro—and, above all, Jack Falstaff, ma'am, Jack Falstaff,—honest Jack Falstaff,—witty Jack Falstaff—'

'I thought, Mr. Easy, that I was to be permitted to choose the name.'

'Well, so you shall, my dear; I give it up to you. Do just as you please; but depend upon it that John is the right name. Is it not now, my dear?'

'It's the way you always treat me, Mr. Easy; you say that you give it up, and that I shall have my own way, but I never do have it. I am sure that the child will be christened John.'

'Nay, my dear, it shall be just what you please. Now I recollect it, there were several Greek emperors who were Johns; but decide for yourself, my dear.'

'No, no,' replied Mrs. Easy, who was ill, and unable to contend any longer, 'I give it up, Mr. Easy. I know how it will be, as it always is; you give me my own way as people give pieces of gold to children, it's their own money, but they must not spend it. Pray call him John.'

'There, my dear, did not I tell you you would be of my opinion upon reflection? I knew you would. I have given you your own way, and you tell me to call him John; so now we're both of the same mind, and that point is settled.'

'I should like to go to sleep, Mr. Easy; I feel far from well.'

'You shall always do just as you like, my dear,' replied the husband, 'and have your own way in everything. It is the greatest pleasure I have when I yield to your wishes. I will walk in the garden. Good-bye, my dear.'

Mrs. Easy made no reply, and the philosopher quitted the room. As may easily be imagined, on the following day the boy was christened John.

CHAPTER III

IN WHICH OUR HERO HAS TO WAIT THE ISSUE OF AN ARGUMENT

THE reader may observe that, in general, all my first chapters are very short, and increase in length as the work advances. I mention this as a proof of my modesty and diffidence. At first, I am like a young bird just out of its mother's nest, pluming my little feathers and taking short flights. By degrees I obtain more confidence, and wing my course over hill and dale.

It is very difficult to throw any interest into a chapter on childhood. There is the same uniformity in all children until they develop. We cannot, therefore, say much relative to Jack Easy's earliest days; he sucked and threw up his milk, while the nurse blessed it for a pretty dear, slept, and sucked again. He crowed in the morning like a cock, screamed when he was washed, stared at the candle, and made wry faces with the wind. Six months passed in these innocent amusements, and then he was put into shorts. But I ought here to have remarked that Mrs. Easy did not find herself equal to nursing her own infant, and it was necessary to look out for a substitute.

Now a commonplace person would have been satisfied with the recommendation of the medical man, who looks but to the one thing needful, which is a sufficient and wholesome supply of nourishment for the child; but Mr. Easy was a philosopher, and had latterly taken to craniology, and he descanted very learnedly with the doctor upon the effect of his only son obtaining his nutriment from an unknown source. 'Who knows,' observed Mr. Easy, 'but that my son may not imbibe with his milk the very worst passions of human nature?'

'I have examined her,' replied the doctor, 'and can safely recommend her.'

'That examination is only preliminary to one more important,' replied Mr. Easy. 'I must examine her.'

'Examine who, Mr. Easy?' exclaimed his wife, who had lain down again on the bed.

'The nurse, my dear.'

'Examine what, Mr. Easy?' continued the lady.

'Her head, my dear,' replied the husband. 'I must ascertain what her propensities are.'

'I think you had better leave her alone, Mr. Easy. She comes this evening, and I shall question her pretty severely. Dr Middleton, what do you know of this young person?'

'I know, madam, that she is very healthy and strong, or I should not have selected her.'

'But is her character good?'

'Really, madam, I know little about her character; but you can make any inquiries you please. At the same time I ought to observe, that if you are too particular on that point, you will have some difficulty in providing yourself.'

'Well, I shall see,' replied Mrs. Easy.

'And I shall feel,' rejoined the husband.

This parleying was interrupted by the arrival of the very person in question, who was announced by the housemaid, and was ushered in. She was a handsome, florid, healthy-looking girl, awkward and naive in her manner, and apparently not over wise; there was more of the dove than of the serpent in her composition.

Mr. Easy, who was very anxious to make his own discoveries, was the first who spoke. 'Young woman, come this way, I wish to examine your head.'

'Oh, dear me, sir, it's quite clean, I assure you,' cried the girl, dropping a curtsey.

Dr. Middleton, who sat between the bed and Mr. Easy's chair, rubbed his hands and laughed.

In the meantime, Mr. Easy had untied the string and taken off the cap of the young woman, and was very busy putting his fingers through her hair, during which the face of the young woman expressed fear and astonishment.

'I am glad to perceive that you have a large portion of benevolence.'

'Yes,' replied the young woman, dropping a curtsey.

'And veneration also.'

'Thanky, sir.'

'And the organ of modesty is strongly developed.'

'Yes, sir,' replied the girl with a smile.

'That's quite a new organ,' thought Dr. Middleton.

'Philoprogenitiveness very powerful.'

'If you please, sir, I don't know what that is,' answered Sarah with a curtsey.

'Nevertheless you have given us a practical illustration. Mrs. Easy, I am satisfied. Have you any questions to ask? But it is quite unnecessary.'

'To be sure I have, Mr. Easy. Pray, young woman, what is your name?'

'Sarah, if you please, ma'am.'

'How long have you been married?'

'Married, ma'am!'

'Yes, married.'

'If you please, ma'am, I had a misfortune, ma'am,' replied the girl, casting down her eyes.

'What, have you not been married?'

'No, ma'am, not yet.'

'Good heavens! Dr. Middleton, what can you mean by bringing this person here?' exclaimed Mrs. Easy. 'Not a married woman, and she has a child!'

'If you please, ma'am,' interrupted the young woman, dropping a curtsey, 'it was a very little one.'

'A very little one!' exclaimed Mrs. Easy.

'Yes, ma'am, very small indeed, and died soon after it was born.'

'Oh, Dr. Middleton—what could you mean, Dr. Middleton?'

'My dear madam,' exclaimed the doctor, rising from his chair, 'this is the only person that I could find suited to the wants of your child, and if you do not take her, I cannot answer for its life. It is true that a married woman might be procured; but married women who have a proper feeling will not desert their own children; and, as Mr. Easy asserts, and you appear to imagine, the temper and disposition of your child may be affected by the nourishment it receives, I think it more likely to be injured by the milk of a married woman who will desert her own child for the sake of gain. The misfortune which has happened to this young woman is not always a proof of a bad heart, but of strong attachment, and the overweening confidence of simplicity.'

'You are correct, Doctor,' replied Mr. Easy, 'and her head proves that she is a modest young woman, with strong religious feelings, kindness of disposition, and every other requisite.'

'The head may prove it all for what I know, Mr. Easy, but her conduct tells another tale.'

'She is well fitted for the situation, ma'am,' continued the doctor.

'And if you please, ma'am,' rejoined Sarah, 'it was such a little one.'

'Shall I try the baby, ma'am?' said the monthly nurse, who had listened in silence. 'It is fretting so, poor thing, and has its dear little fist right down its throat.'

Dr. Middleton gave the signal of assent, and in a few seconds Master John Easy was fixed to Sarah as tight as a leech.

'Lord love it, how hungry it is!—there, there, stop it a moment, it's choking, poor thing!'

Mrs. Easy, who was lying on her bed, rose up, and went to the child. Her first feeling was that of envy, that another should have such a pleasure which was denied to herself, the next that of delight, at the satisfaction expressed by the infant. In a few minutes the child fell back in a deep sleep. Mrs. Easy was satisfied; maternal feelings conquered all others, and Sarah was duly installed.

To make short work of it, we have said that Jack Easy in six months was in shorts. He soon afterwards began to crawl and show his legs; indeed so indecorously, that it was evident that he had imbibed no modesty with Sarah's milk, neither did he appear to have gained veneration or benevolence, for he snatched at everything, squeezed the kitten to death, scratched his mother, and pulled his father by the hair: notwithstanding all which, both his father and mother and the whole household declared him to be the finest and sweetest child in the universe. But if we were to narrate all the wonderful events of Jack's childhood from the time of his birth up to the age of seven years, as chronicled by Sarah, who continued his dry nurse after he had been weaned, it would take at least three volumes folio. Jack was brought up in the way that every only child usually is,—that is, he was allowed to have his own way.

CHAPTER IV

IN WHICH THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBES GOING TO SCHOOL AS A REMEDY FOR A CUT FINGER

'HAVE you no idea of putting the boy to school, Mrs. Easy?' said Dr. Middleton, who had been summoned by a groom with his horse in a foam to attend immediately at Forest Hill, the name of Mr. Easy's mansion, and who, upon his arrival, had found that Master Easy had cut his thumb. One would have thought that he had cut his head off by the agitation pervading the whole household,—Mr. Easy walking up and down very uneasy, Mrs. Easy with great difficulty prevented from syncope, and all the maids bustling and passing round Mrs. Easy's chair. Everybody appeared excited except Master Jack Easy himself, who with a rag round his finger, and his pinafore spotted with blood, was playing at bob-cherry, and cared nothing about the matter.

'Well, what's the matter, my little man?' said Dr. Middleton, on entering, addressing himself to Jack, as the most sensible of the whole party.

'Oh, Dr. Middleton,' interrupted Mrs. Easy, 'he has cut his hand; I'm sure that a nerve is divided, and then the lockjaw——'

The doctor made no reply but examined the finger: Jack Easy continued to play bob-cherry with his right hand.

'Have you such a thing as a piece of sticking-plaster, in the house, madam?' observed the doctor, after examination.

'Oh yes;—run, Mary—run, Sarah!' In a few seconds the maids appeared, Sarah bringing the sticking-plaster, and Mary following with the scissors.

'Make yourself quite easy, madam,' said Dr. Middleton, after he put on the plaster, 'I will answer for no evil consequences.'

'Had I not better take him upstairs, and let him lie down a little?' replied Mrs. Easy, slipping a guinea into the doctor's hand.

'It is not absolutely requisite, madam,' said the doctor; 'but at all events he will be kept out of more mischief.'

'Come, my dear, you hear what Dr. Middleton says.'

'Yes, I heard,' replied Jack; 'but I shan't go.'

'My dear Johnny—come, love—now do, my dear Johnny.'

Johnny played bob-cherry, and made no answer.

'Come, Master Johnny,' said Sarah.

'Go away, Sarah,' said Johnny, with a backhander.

'Oh fie, Master Johnny!' said Mary.

'Johnny, my love,' said Mrs. Easy in a coaxing tone, 'come now—will you go?'

'I'll go in the garden and get some more cherries,' replied Master Johnny.

'Come, then, love, we will go into the garden.'

Master Johnny jumped off his chair and took his mamma by the hand.

'What a dear, good, obedient child it is!' exclaimed Mrs. Easy: 'you may lead him with a thread.'

'Yes, to pick cherries,' thought Dr. Middleton.

Mrs. Easy, and Johnny, and Sarah, and Mary went into the garden, leaving Dr. Middleton alone with Mr. Easy, who had been silent during this scene. Now Dr. Middleton was a clever, sensible man, who had no wish to impose upon any one. As for his taking a guinea for putting on a piece of sticking-plaster, his conscience was very easy on that score. His time was equally valuable, whether he were employed for something or nothing; and moreover he attended the poor gratis. Constantly in the house, he had seen much of Mr. John Easy, and perceived that he was a courageous, decided boy, of a naturally good disposition; but from the idiosyncrasy of the father and the doting folly of the mother, in a sure way of being spoiled. As soon, therefore, as the lady was out of hearing, he took a chair, and made the query at the commencement of the chapter, which we shall now repeat.

'Have you no idea of putting the boy to school, Mr. Easy?'

Mr. Easy crossed his legs, and clasped his hands together over his knees, as he always did when he was about to commence an argument.

'The great objection that I have to sending a boy to school, Dr. Middleton, is, that I conceive that the discipline enforced is not only contrary to the rights of men, but also in opposition to all sound sense and common judgment. Not content with punishment, which is in itself erroneous and an infringement of social justice, they even degrade the minds of the boys still more by applying punishment to the most degraded part, adding contumely to tyranny. Of course it is intended that a boy who is sent to school should gain by precept and example; but is he to learn benevolence by the angry look and the flourish of the vindictive birch,—or forbearance by the cruelty of the ushers,—or patience, when the masters over him are out of all patience,—or modesty, when his nether parts are exposed to general examination? Is he not daily reading a lesson at variance with that equality which we all possess, but of which we are unjustly deprived? Why should there be a distinction between the flogger and the floggee? Are they not both fashioned alike after God's image, endowed with the same reason, having an equal right to what the world offers, and which was intended by Providence to be equally distributed? Is it not that the sacred inheritance of all, which has tyrannously and impiously been ravished from the many for the benefit of the few, and which ravishment, from long custom of iniquity and inculcation of false precepts, has too long been basely submitted to? Is it not the duty of a father to preserve his only son from imbibing these dangerous and debasing errors, which will render him only one of a vile herd who are content to suffer, provided that they live? And yet are not these very errors inculcated at school, and impressed upon their minds inversely by the birch? Do not they there receive their first lesson in slavery with the first lesson in A B C; and are not their minds thereby prostrated, so as never to rise again but ever to bow to despotism, to cringe to rank, to think and act by the precepts of others, and to tacitly disavow that sacred equality which is our birthright? No, sir, without they can teach without resorting to such a fundamental error as flogging, my boy shall never go to school.'

And Mr. Easy threw himself back in his chair, imagining, like all philosophers, that he had said something very clever.

Dr. Middleton knew his man, and therefore patiently waited until he had exhausted his oratory.

'I will grant,' said the doctor at last, 'that all you say may have great truth in it; but, Mr. Easy, do you not think that by not permitting a boy to be educated, you allow him to remain more open to that very error of which you speak? It is only education which will conquer prejudice, and enable a man to break through the trammels of custom. Now, allowing that the birch is used, yet it is at a period when the young mind is so elastic as to soon become indifferent; and after he has attained the usual rudiments of education, you will then find him prepared to receive those lessons which you can yourself instil.'

'I will teach him everything myself,' replied Mr. Easy, folding his arms consequentially and determinedly.

'I do not doubt your capability, Mr. Easy; but unfortunately you will always have a difficulty which you never can get over. Excuse me, I know what you are capable of, and the boy would indeed be happy with such a preceptor, but—if I must speak plain—you must be aware as well as I am, that the maternal fondness of Mrs. Easy will always be a bar to your intention. He is already so spoiled by her, that he will not obey; and without obedience you cannot inculcate.'

'I grant, my dear sir, that there is a difficulty on that point; but maternal weakness must then be overcome by paternal severity.'

'May I ask how, Mr. Easy? for it appears to me impossible.'

'Impossible! By heavens, I'll make him obey, or I'll——'—Here Mr. Easy stopped before the word flog was fairly out of his mouth,—'I'll know the reason why, Dr. Middleton.'

Dr. Middleton checked his inclination to laugh, and replied, 'That you would hit upon some scheme, by which you would obtain the necessary power over him, I have no doubt; but what will be the consequence? The boy will consider his mother as a protector, and you as a tyrant. He will have an aversion to you, and with that aversion he will never pay respect and attention to your valuable precepts when he arrives at an age to understand them. Now it appears to me that this difficulty which you have raised may be got over. I know a very worthy clergyman who does not use the birch; but I will write, and put the direct question to him, and then if your boy is removed from the danger arising from Mrs. Easy's over-indulgence, in a short time he will be ready for your more important tuition.'

'I think,' replied Mr. Easy, after a pause, 'that what you say merits consideration. I acknowledge that in consequence of Mrs. Easy's nonsensical indulgence, the boy is unruly, and will not obey me at present; and if your friend does not apply the rod, I will think seriously of sending my son John to him to learn the elements.'

The doctor had gained his point by flattering the philosopher.

In a day he returned with a letter from the pedagogue in answer to one supposed to be sent to him, in which the use of the birch was indignantly disclaimed, and Mr. Easy announced to his wife, when they met that day at tea-time, his intentions with regard to his son John.

'To school, Mr. Easy? what, send Johnny to school! a mere infant to school!'

'Surely, my dear, you must be aware that at nine years it is high time that he learned to read.'

'Why he almost reads already, Mr. Easy; surely I can teach him that. Does he not, Sarah?'

'Lord bless him, yes, ma'am, he was saying his letters yesterday.'

'Oh, Mr. Easy, what can have put this in your head? Johnny, my dear, come here—tell me now what's the letter A? You were singing it in the garden this morning.'

'I want some sugar,' replied Johnny, stretching his arm over the table to the sugar-basin, which was out of his reach.

'Well, my love, you shall have a great lump if you will tell me what's the letter A.'

'A was an archer, and shot at a frog,' replied Johnny in a surly tone.

'There now, Mr. Easy; and he can go through the whole alphabet—can't he, Sarah?'

'That he can, the dear—can't you, Johnny dear?'

'No,' replied Johnny.

'Yes, you can, my love, you know what's the letter B. Now don't you?'

'Yes,' replied Johnny.

'There, Mr. Easy, you see what the boy knows, and how obedient he is too. Come, Johnny dear, tell us what was B?'

'No, I won't,' replied Johnny, 'I want some more sugar'; and Johnny, who had climbed on a chair, spread himself over the table to reach it.

'Mercy! Sarah, pull him off—he'll upset the urn,' screamed Mrs. Easy. Sarah caught hold of Johnny by the loins to pull him back, but Johnny, resisting the interference, turned round on his back as he lay on the table, and kicked Sarah in the face, just as she made another desperate grasp at him. The rebound from the kick, given as he lay on a smooth mahogany table, brought Johnny's head in contact with the urn, which was upset in the opposite direction, and notwithstanding a rapid movement on the part of Mr. Easy, he received a sufficient portion of boiling liquid on his legs to scald him severely, and induce him to stamp and swear in a very unphilosophical way. In the meantime Sarah and Mrs. Easy had caught up Johnny, and were both holding him at the same time, exclaiming and lamenting. The pain of the scald and the indifference shown towards him were too much for Mr. Easy's temper to put up with. He snatched Johnny out of their arms, and quite forgetting his equality and rights of men, belaboured him without mercy. Sarah flew in to interfere, and received a blow which not only made her see a thousand stars, but sent her reeling on the floor. Mrs. Easy went off into hysterics, and Johnny howled so as to be heard at a quarter of a mile.

How long Mr. Easy would have continued it is impossible to say; but the door opened, and Mr. Easy looked up while still administering the punishment, and perceived Dr. Middleton in mute astonishment. He had promised to come in to tea, and enforce Mr. Easy's arguments, if it were necessary; but it certainly appeared to him that in the argument which Mr. Easy was then enforcing he required no assistance. However, at the entrance of Dr. Middleton, Johnny was dropped, and lay roaring on the floor; Sarah too remained where she had been floored, Mrs. Easy had rolled on the floor, the urn was also on the floor, and Mr. Easy, although not floored, had not a leg to stand upon.

Never did a medical man look in more opportunely. Mr. Easy at first was not certainly of that opinion, but his legs became so painful that he soon became a convert.

Dr. Middleton, as in duty bound, first picked up Mrs. Easy, and laid her on the sofa. Sarah rose, picked up Johnny, and carried him kicking and roaring out of the room; in return for which attention she received sundry bites. The footman, who had announced the doctor, picked up the urn, that being all that was in his department. Mr. Easy threw himself panting and in agony on the other sofa, and Dr. Middleton was excessively embarrassed how to act: he perceived that Mr. Easy required his assistance, and that Mrs. Easy could do without it; but how to leave a lady who was half really and half pretendedly in hysterics, was difficult; for if he attempted to leave her, she kicked and flounced, and burst out the more. At last Dr. Middleton rang the bell, which brought the footman, who summoned all the maids, who carried Mrs. Easy upstairs, and then the doctor was able to attend to the only patient who really required his assistance. Mr. Easy explained the affair in a few words, broken into ejaculations from pain, as the doctor removed his stockings. From the applications of Dr. Middleton, Mr. Easy soon obtained bodily relief; but what annoyed him still more than his scalded legs, was the doctor having been a witness to his infringement of the equality and rights of man. Dr. Middleton perceived this, and he knew also how to pour balm into that wound.

'My dear Mr. Easy, I am very sorry that you have had this accident, for which you are indebted to Mrs. Easy's foolish indulgence of the boy, but I am glad to perceive that you have taken up those parental duties which are inculcated by the Scriptures. Solomon says that he who spares the rod, spoils the child, thereby implying that it is the duty of a father to correct his children, and in a father, the so doing does not interfere with the rights of man, or any natural equality, for the son being a part or portion of the father, he only is correcting his own self, and the proof of it is, that a father, in punishing his own son, feels as much pain in so doing as if he were himself punished. It is therefore nothing but self-discipline, which is strictly enjoined us by the Scriptures.'

'That is exactly my opinion,' replied Mr. Easy, comforted at the doctor having so logically got him out of the scrape. 'But—he shall go to school tomorrow, that I'm determined on.'

'He will have to thank Mrs. Easy for that,' replied the doctor.

'Exactly,' replied Mr. Easy. 'Doctor, my legs are getting very hot again.'

'Continue to bathe them with the vinegar and water, Mr. Easy, until I send you an embrocation, which will give you immediate relief. I will call tomorrow. By the bye, I am to see a little patient at Mr. Bonnycastle's; if it is any accommodation, I will take your son with me.'

'It will be a great accommodation, doctor,' replied Mr. Easy.

'Then, my dear sir, I will just go up and see how Mrs. Easy is, and tomorrow I will call at ten. I can wait an hour. Good night.'

'Good night, doctor.'

The doctor had his game to play with Mrs. Easy. He magnified her husband's accident—he magnified his wrath, and advised her by no means to say one word, until he was well, and more pacified. The next day he repeated this dose, and, in spite of the ejaculations of Sarah, and the tears of Mrs. Easy, who dared not venture to plead her cause, and the violent resistance of Master Johnny, who appeared to have a presentiment of what was to come, our hero was put into Dr. Middleton's chariot, and with the exception of one plate of glass which he kicked out of the window with his feet, and for which feat the doctor, now that he had him all to himself, boxed his ears till he was nearly blind, he was, without any further eventful occurrence, carried by the doctor's footman into the parlour of Mr. Bonnycastle.

CHAPTER V

JACK EASY IS SENT TO A SCHOOL AT WHICH THERE IS NO FLOGGING

MASTER JACK had been plumped down in a chair by the doctor's servant, who, as he quitted him, first looked at his own hands, from which the blood was drawn in several parts, and then at Master Jack, with his teeth closed and lips compressed, as much as to say, 'If I only dared, would not I, that's all?' and then walked out of the room, repaired to the carriage at the front door, when he showed his hands to the coachman, who looked down from his box in great commiseration, at the same time fully sharing his fellow-servants indignation. But we must repair to the parlour. Dr. Middleton ran over a newspaper, while Johnny sat on the chair all of a heap, looking like a lump of sulks, with his feet on the upper front bar, and his knees almost up to his nose. He was a promising pupil, Jack.

Mr. Bonnycastle made his appearance—a tall, well-built, handsome, fair man, with a fine powdered head, dressed in solemn black, and knee buckles; his linen beautifully clean, and with a peculiar bland expression of countenance. When he smiled he showed a row of teeth white as ivory, and his mild blue eye was the ne plus ultra of beneficence. He was the beau ideal of a preceptor, and it was impossible to see him and hear his mild pleasing voice, without wishing that all your sons were under his protection. He was a ripe scholar, and a good one, and at the time we speak of had the care of upwards of one hundred boys. He was celebrated for turning them out well, and many of his pupils were rising fast in the senate, as well as distinguishing themselves in the higher professions.

Dr. Middleton, who was on intimate terms with Bonnycastle, rose as he entered the room, and they shook hands. Middleton then turned to where Jack sat, and, pointing to him, said, 'Look there.'

Bonnycastle smiled. 'I cannot say that I have had worse, but I have almost as bad. I will apply the Promethean torch, and soon vivify that rude mass. Come, sit down, Middleton.'

'But,' said the doctor, as he resumed his chair, 'tell me, Bonnycastle, how you will possibly manage to lick such a cub into shape, when you do not resort to flogging?'

'I have no opinion of flogging, and therefore I do not resort to it. The fact is, I was at Harrow myself, and was rather a Pickle. I was called up as often as most boys in the school, and I perfectly recollect that eventually I cared nothing for a flogging. I had become case-hardened. It is the least effective part that you can touch a boy upon. It leaves nothing behind to refresh their memory.'

'I should have thought otherwise.'

'My dear Middleton, I can produce more effect by one caning than twenty floggings. Observe, you flog upon a part for the most part quiescent; but you cane upon all parts, from the head to the heels. Now, when once the first sting of the birch is over, then a dull sensation comes over the part, and the pain after that is nothing; whereas a good sound caning leaves sores and bruises in every part, and on all the parts which are required for muscular action. After a flogging, a boy may run out in the hours of recreation, and join his playmates as well as ever, but a good caning tells a very different tale; he cannot move one part of his body without being reminded for days by the pain of the punishment he has undergone, and he is very careful how he is called up again.'

'My dear sir, I really had an idea that you were excessively lenient.' replied Middleton, laughing; 'I am glad that I am under a mistake.'