Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life And Adventures Of Peter Porcupine;
snows , and let me feed on blubber ; stretch me under the burning line , and deny' me thy propitious dews ; nay , if it be thy will , suffocate me with the infected and pestilential air of a democratic clubroom ; but save me , O save me from the desk of a petty-fogging attorney ! Mr . Holland was but little , in the chambers himself . He always went out to dinnerwhile I was left to be provided for by the
hum-, dress as he called her . Those gentlemen of the law , who have resided in the inns of court in London , know very well what a laundress means . Our ' s was , I believe , the oldest and ugliest of the officious sisterhood . She had age and experience enough to be lady abbess of all the nuns in all the convents of Irish-Town . It would be wronging the Witch of Endor to compare her to this hag , who was the only
creature that deigned to enter into conversation with me . All except the name , I was in prison , and this weird sister was my keeper . Our chambers were to me what the subterraneous cavern was to Gil Bias : his description of the dame Leouarda exactly suited my laundress ; nor were the professions , or rather the practice , of our masters altogether dissimilar .
I never quitted this g loomy recess except on Sundays , when I usually took a walk in St . James ' s Park , to feast my eyes with the sight of the trees , the grass , and the water . In one of these walks I happened to cast my eye on an advertisement , inviting all loyal
young men , who had a mind to gain riches and glory , to repair to a certain rendezvous , where tliey mig ht enter into his Ma jest }'' s marine service , and have the peculiar happiness and honour of being enrolled in the Chatham Division . I was not ignorant enough to be the dupe of this morsel of militnn' bombast , but a change was what I wanted ; besides , I knew that marines went to sea , and my desire to be on that element had rather increased than diminished by my being
penned up in London . In short , I resolved to join , this glorious corps ; and , to avoid all possibility of being discovered by my friends , I went down to Chatham , and enlisted into the marines as I thought ; but the next morning I found myself before a Captain of a marching regiment . There was no retreating : 1 had taken a shilling to drink his Majesty ' s healthancl his farther bounty was ready for my
re-, ception . When I told the Captain ( who was an Irishman , and who has since been an excellent friend to me ) , that I thought myself engaged in the marines : ' By Jasus , n- 13 ' lad , ' said he , ' aud 3 "ou have had a narrow escaped Pie told me , that the regiment into which I had been so happy as to enlist , was one of the oldest and boldest in the whole
a : mv , and ihatit was at that moment serving in that fine , flourishing , and p lentiful country Nova Scotia . He dwelt long on the beauties and riches of this terrestrial paradise , and dismissed me , perfectly etv chanted with the prospect of a voyage thither . ( TO BF . fOSTINt'F . t" , }
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life And Adventures Of Peter Porcupine;
snows , and let me feed on blubber ; stretch me under the burning line , and deny' me thy propitious dews ; nay , if it be thy will , suffocate me with the infected and pestilential air of a democratic clubroom ; but save me , O save me from the desk of a petty-fogging attorney ! Mr . Holland was but little , in the chambers himself . He always went out to dinnerwhile I was left to be provided for by the
hum-, dress as he called her . Those gentlemen of the law , who have resided in the inns of court in London , know very well what a laundress means . Our ' s was , I believe , the oldest and ugliest of the officious sisterhood . She had age and experience enough to be lady abbess of all the nuns in all the convents of Irish-Town . It would be wronging the Witch of Endor to compare her to this hag , who was the only
creature that deigned to enter into conversation with me . All except the name , I was in prison , and this weird sister was my keeper . Our chambers were to me what the subterraneous cavern was to Gil Bias : his description of the dame Leouarda exactly suited my laundress ; nor were the professions , or rather the practice , of our masters altogether dissimilar .
I never quitted this g loomy recess except on Sundays , when I usually took a walk in St . James ' s Park , to feast my eyes with the sight of the trees , the grass , and the water . In one of these walks I happened to cast my eye on an advertisement , inviting all loyal
young men , who had a mind to gain riches and glory , to repair to a certain rendezvous , where tliey mig ht enter into his Ma jest }'' s marine service , and have the peculiar happiness and honour of being enrolled in the Chatham Division . I was not ignorant enough to be the dupe of this morsel of militnn' bombast , but a change was what I wanted ; besides , I knew that marines went to sea , and my desire to be on that element had rather increased than diminished by my being
penned up in London . In short , I resolved to join , this glorious corps ; and , to avoid all possibility of being discovered by my friends , I went down to Chatham , and enlisted into the marines as I thought ; but the next morning I found myself before a Captain of a marching regiment . There was no retreating : 1 had taken a shilling to drink his Majesty ' s healthancl his farther bounty was ready for my
re-, ception . When I told the Captain ( who was an Irishman , and who has since been an excellent friend to me ) , that I thought myself engaged in the marines : ' By Jasus , n- 13 ' lad , ' said he , ' aud 3 "ou have had a narrow escaped Pie told me , that the regiment into which I had been so happy as to enlist , was one of the oldest and boldest in the whole
a : mv , and ihatit was at that moment serving in that fine , flourishing , and p lentiful country Nova Scotia . He dwelt long on the beauties and riches of this terrestrial paradise , and dismissed me , perfectly etv chanted with the prospect of a voyage thither . ( TO BF . fOSTINt'F . t" , }