matter of fact the other. Then to see the exertions made to pack a bulky purchase into a boy's breeches-pocket, or a girl's side pendulum; and to remark the air of assumed insouciance with which they walked along after the operation was achieved, little dreaming that there is an eye above which marks and records the roguery. I can calculate how business goes on in the adjoining gin shop by the quantity of biscuit called for. I know perfectly how many batches are baked a-week, and when the sponge is set, and what days biscuit and cookies are manufactured. I was a good deal taken aback at first by the Jewish custom of commencing the labours of the week on Sunday afternoon; but when I had found by a week or two's experience that on Sundays Pluto's temporary usurpation of the shop, the centre of attraction in a tradesman's house, was resisted by Apollo, simply through a single embrasure in the form of a rectangular opening at the top of the window shutter; and when it occurred to me that if there were no work on Sunday evening, there would be no hot rolls on Monday morning, the point where my conscience pinched was instantly relieved. The first unequivocal symptom I experienced of having become attached to the family, was a strange uneasiness I felt on seeing another baker's servant pass the door with a basket of loaves on his head. I looked upon it as an unjustifiable intrusion, thought the bread quite as indifferent as appearances justified, and wished the fellow might rather break his leg than come back the same way. I soon discovered that it was, fortunately, a circumstance of rare occurrence. The most arduous part of my duties consists in taking care of the children when they are playing in the street. I have, indeed, as coadjutor, a girl who is hired for the purpose; but she is grievously careless; and what is worse, her diligence, on a sort of compensation principle, relaxes exactly in proportion as mine approaches a state of tension. This is the most weighty objection I have to my situation; and unless she improve in industry, or get an assistant and successor appointed, I fear I may be obliged to quit. But I would be very reluctant to do this at the present conjuncture, as the hope of the family is actively engaged in warlike operations with some urchins of the neighbourhood. They are conducted on a scale of interesting minuteness, and after a fashion which would offer little violence to the feelings of the most sensitive philanthropist; consisting chiefly in alternate pursuit and retreat, and the occasional discharge of missiles of no very mortal description or formidable dimensions. As on some other "theatres of war," it is seldom that a "blow is struck." But what of that?they are about as interesting to me as the siege of Silistria, or the blockade of the Black Sea. The young belligerent is sometimes seduced into achievements of desperate valour, by the consciousness of possessing a secure retreat in the fastnesses of his father's counter; and partly, I begin to suspect, from his reliance on me as a corps de reserve; so that my quitting the field at present would be such an "untoward event" as might give an unfavourable turn to the campaign. The baker's wife is principally occupied in attending to the business of the shop. She is "a fine woman," and goes through her occupations with a decent grace which is quite attractive. Her dress is tasteful and even handsome, and her slattern neighbours, I doubt not, call her "a dandy." But I like her the better for it; and whenever the occupation of females admits of their being neat and unsoiled, it adds, in my estimation, not only to their own worth, but to that of their wares, that they should rather exceed in attention to appearances, from the lady of the mille collonnes down to the snuff girl. Where a little finery is indulged in, it is least likely that cleanliness will be neglected; and where is cleanliness more desirable than in the "Baker's Shop?" It is the ambition of town's folks to get "milk from the cow," not knowing, simple creatures, that the water is put into the pitcher before milking; but so indifferent am I about getting "bread from the oven," that I would almost reject it till it had entered the shop and been dealt out by the baker's wife; and so conceited are solitary men apt to become, that when I send for a biscuit about nunchion time, I almost fancy I see her fair hand wander over the lot to pick out the crispest for my use. When she has a tea-party, it is expected that I should be at home, as on me depends a considerable portion of the evening's amusement; and on unusual occasions I feel it incumbent on me even to invite an unconscious friend or two to add to the hilarity of the entertainment. The party generally consists of "Her sister and her sister's son, Herself and children three." with one or two visitors invited on the shallow pretence of seeing "the strange gentleman." On these occasions I behave with most becoming resignation, seating myself at a window, and occasionally even rising and pacing backwards and forwards in my den, that I may exhibit to the utmost advantage the "shaggy honours" of a fur cap and grey morning gown. But I will not encourage such parties overmuch. Should I find that they grow more frequent than is entirely consistent with reasonable assiduity on my part, and a proper attendance to the business of the shop on her's, I will discountenance them in the most unequivocal manner. Yesterday evening she had a few visitors who kept me at home, and to-day I expect two cart-loads of flour from the mill, and must be in attendance to see it delivered. Now this is rather hard duty. The baker and his wife live on the best of connubial terms, and, in my opinion, she does not assume more power and authority in the establishment than a conclave of matrons would award as her due and lawful proportion. I can perceive, indeed, at times a slight remonstrance on the subject of his going beyond the precincts of our own street with his working coat on; and when he goes out with a friend or two, I observe certain motions of the fore-finger, and can perceive plainly enough that on such occasions she suits the word to the action by uttering an injunction that he shall not stay too long or too late,-injunctions which, I am proud to say, meet with more observance than many vested with similar authority, which are to be found recorded both in prose and verse. I am (and I mention it to my own credit) on good terms with the whole family; but like a country parson whose duties require him to mingle with all classes, while he considers himself on a footing with the best, I do not permit any familiarity on the part of servants. My friend the baker, I do sometimes think, looks cool on me; and it is right I should mention this, as being an irrefragable proof, were any necessary, that my intercourse with his wife is most strictly unobjectionable; for were it otherwise, I could not fail to be her husband's first favourite-that being an invariable concomitant in such cases. In spite of some little grievances which affect me, I have not any intention of leaving the family, for I have become attached to it, and I do not think they have much reason to complain of me. 1 do at times amuse myself a little with the visitors in the neighbouring tavern, but on the whole I flatter myself that my attention to my proper avocations has been pretty assiduous; and as no words have ever passed between us, the baker's wife could not in fairness refuse me a character. I beg leave to assure the baker's customers that they need give themselves no uneasiness, and far less need the baker himself, on account of the present wet weather; as, to my certain knowledge, the baker has in his granaries an ample stock of wheat of crop 1827, and a few picked samples of crop 1828, which, when mixed with a pretty sprinkling of good fresh Dantzic, will carry us handsomely through the next season. A faulty crop, therefore, in the present season, without doing any material damage to our customers' stomachs, may be of considerable advantage to the baker's coffers. His trade, firm and steady as it is, may be thereby in creased; and I am not aware that he will find any fault with this; for I do not understand that he is under a vow to confine his progeny to the number of three; and judging from circumstances and appearances, it is probable that a few years hence, the numerical amount of the Muses may be nearer the mark than that of the Graces. ON THE SCENERY AROUND GENEVA. FAREWELL, ye modest roofs, ye antique tow'rs! Adieu, ye rocks, that echo to the voice Ye Alpine monuments of age, whose pride Vanish your awful cliffs and hoary heads of snow! You, heights of Jura, may each patriot hail, I leave the wavy pine, the tufted dell, The vale of smiles and many mansions fair, I leave those charms no common lore can tell, Those charms which lull ambition, pride, and care. And must I leave thee, Leman, Europe's boast, Sweeping in crescent form the vale profound, While fairy wavelets play upon thy coast, And foaming Rhone is soothed, and listens to the sound? Oft would I pore upon thy glassy stream, In balmy visitations of the morn, And oft, at eve, in Cynthia's quiv'ring gleam, Oft have I stray'd the margin's maze along, For blythsome morn, in saffron cincture bound, 'Mid all the glories of the blue serene, Would shed ambrosial dews and fragrance round, When, lo a lurid cloud, athwart the sky, The torrent tumbles to the mountain's base, O ye, who wind along the mountain hoar, your God! Hush'd was the whirlwind, when, from lofty fane, Her walls of lore would then recall a name, To truth, humanity, and freedom dear O ye, whose breast glows with a gen'rous flame And next the rocks of Meillerie display'd Dear sombre haunts, where youths and virgins sigh, Whilst Vevey's shore spoke of the hapless maid, And Chillon's turrets trembled on the eye. Such tender sympathies invade the soul, When fond remembrance wakens from repose, Sweet were those moments when from play we stole And melted at the tale of Julia's woes! Thou sun of eve, whose mild declining ray Yet, oft as radiance of the western skies, |