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diff --git a/old/lbrit10.txt b/old/lbrit10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a08d4a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lbrit10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,825 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Little Britain, by Washington Irving +#2 in our series by Washington Irving + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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Adam +email anthony-adam@tamu.edu + + + + + +Little Britain + +by Washington Irving + + + + + +What I write is most true...I have a whole booke of cases +lying by me which if I should sette foorth, some grave auntients +(within the hearing of Bow bell) would be out of charity with me. + +NASHE. + + + +IN the centre of the great city of London lies a small +neighborhood, consisting of a cluster of narrow streets and +courts, of very venerable and debilitated houses, which goes +by the name of LITTLE BRITAIN. Christ Church School and +St. Bartholomew's Hospital bound it on the west; Smithfield and +Long Lane on the north; Aldersgate Street, like an arm of the +sea, divides it from the eastern part of the city; whilst the +yawning gulf of Bull-and-Mouth Street separates it from +Butcher Lane, and the regions of Newgate. Over this little +territory, thus bounded and designated, the great dome of St. +Paul's, swelling above the intervening houses of Paternoster +Row, Amen Corner, and Ave Maria Lane, looks down with an +air of motherly protection. + +This quarter derives its appellation from having been, in +ancient times, the residence of the Dukes of Brittany. As +London increased, however, rank and fashion rolled off to the +west, and trade, creeping on at their heels, took possession of +their deserted abodes. For some time Little Britain became the +great mart of learning, and was peopled by the busy and +prolific race of booksellers; these also gradually deserted it, +and, emigrating beyond the great strait of Newgate Street, +settled down in Paternoster Row and St. Paul's Churchyard, +where they continue to increase and multiply even at the +present day. + +But though thus falling into decline, Little Britain still bears +traces of its former splendor. There are several houses ready +to tumble down, the fronts of which are magnificently enriched +with old oaken carvings of hideous faces, unknown birds, +beasts, and fishes; and fruits and flowers which it would +perplex a naturalist to classify. There are also, in Aldersgate +Street, certain remains of what were once spacious and lordly +family mansions, but which have in latter days been subdivided +into several tenements. Here may often be found the family of +a petty tradesman, with its trumpery furniture, burrowing +among the relics of antiquated finery, in great, rambling, time- +stained apartments, with fretted ceilings, gilded cornices, and +enormous marble fireplaces. The lanes and courts also contain +many smaller houses, not on so grand a scale, but, like your +small ancient gentry, sturdily maintaining their claims to equal +antiquity. These have their gable ends to the street; great bow- +windows, with diamond panes set in lead, grotesque carvings, +and low arched door-ways. + +In this most venerable and sheltered little nest have I passed +several quiet years of existence, comfortably lodged in the +second floor of one of the smallest but oldest edifices. My +sitting-room is an old wainscoted chamber, with small panels, +and set off with a miscellaneous array of furniture. I have a +particular respect for three or four high-backed claw-footed +chairs, covered with tarnished brocade, which bear the marks +of having seen better days, and have doubtless figured in some +of the old palaces of Little Britain. They seem to me to keep +together, and to look down with sovereign contempt upon +their leathern-bottomed neighbors: as I have seen decayed +gentry carry a high head among the plebeian society with which +they were reduced to associate. The whole front of my sitting- +room is taken up with a bow-window, on the panes of which +are recorded the names of previous occupants for many +generations, mingled with scraps of very indifferent +gentlemanlike poetry, written in characters which I can scarcely +decipher, and which extol the charms of many a beauty of +Little Britain who has long, long since bloomed, faded, and +passed away. As I am an idle personage, with no apparent +occupation, and pay my bill regularly every week, I am looked +upon as the only independent gentleman of the neighborhood; +and, being curious to learn the internal state of a community so +apparently shut up within itself, I have managed to work my +way into all the concerns and secrets of the place. + +Little Britain may truly be called the heart's core of the city; +the stronghold of true John Bullism. It is a fragment of +London as it was in its better days, with its antiquated folks +and fashions. Here flourish in great preservation many of the +holiday games and customs of yore. The inhabitants most +religiously eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, hot-cross-buns on +Good Friday, and roast goose at Michaelmas; they send love- +letters on Valentine's Day, burn the pope on the fifth of +November, and kiss all the girls under the mistletoe at +Christmas. Roast beef and plum pudding are also held in +superstitious veneration, and port and sherry maintain their +grounds as the only true English wines; all others being +considered vile, outlandish beverages. + +Little Britain has its long catalogue of city wonders, which its +inhabitants consider the wonders of the world: such as the +great bell of St. Paul's, which sours all the beer when it tolls; +the figures that strike the hours at St. Dunstan's clock; the +Monument; the lions in the Tower; and the wooden giants in +Guildhall. They still believe in dreams and fortune-telling, and +an old woman that lives in Bull-and-Mouth Street makes a +tolerable subsistence by detecting stolen goods, and promising +the girls good husbands. They are apt to be rendered +uncomfortable by comets and eclipses; and if a dog howls +dolefully at night, it is looked upon as a sure sign of a death +in +the place. There are even many ghost stories current, +particularly concerning the old mansion-houses; in several of +which it is said strange sights are sometimes seen. Lords and +ladies, the former in full bottomed wigs, hanging sleeves, and +swords, the latter in lappets, stays, hoops and brocade, have +been seen walking up and down the great waste chambers, on +moonlight nights; and are supposed to be the shades of the +ancient proprietors in their court-dresses. + +Little Britain has likewise its sages and great men. One of +the most important of the former is a tall, dry old gentleman, of +the name of Skryme, who keeps a small apothecary's shop. He +has a cadaverous countenance, full of cavities and projections; +with a brown circle round each eye, like a pair of horned +spectacles. He is much thought of by the old women, who +consider him a kind of conjurer, because he has two of three +stuffed alligators hanging up in his shop, and several snakes in +bottles. He is a great reader of almanacs and newspapers, and +is much given to pore over alarming accounts of plots, +conspiracies, fires, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions; which +last phenomena he considers as signs of the times. He has +always some dismal tale of the kind to deal out to his customers, +with their doses; and thus at the same time puts both soul and +body into an uproar. He is a great believer in omens and +predictions; and has the prophecies of Robert Nixon and +Mother Shipton by heart. No man can make so much out of an +eclipse, or even an unusually dark day; and he shook the tail of +the last comet over the heads of his customers and disciples +until they were nearly frightened out of their wits. He has +lately got hold of a popular legend or prophecy, on which he +has been unusually eloquent. There has been a saying current +among the ancient sibyls, who treasure up these things, that +when the grasshopper on the top of the Exchange shook hands +with the dragon on the top of Bow Church Steeple, fearful +events would take place. This strange conjunction, it seems, has +as strangely come to pass. The same architect has been engaged +lately on the repairs of the cupola of the Exchange, and the +steeple of Bow church; and, fearful to relate, the dragon and +the grasshopper actually lie, cheek by jole, in the yard of his +workshop. + +"Others," as Mr. Skryme is accustomed to say, "may go star- +gazing, and look for conjunctions in the heavens, but here is a +conjunction on the earth, near at home, and under our own eyes, +which surpasses all the signs and calculations of astrologers." +Since these portentous weathercocks have thus laid their heads +together, wonderful events had already occurred. The good +old king, notwithstanding that he had lived eighty-two years, +had all at once given up the ghost; another king had mounted +the throne; a royal duke had died suddenly,--another, in +France, had been murdered; there had been radical meetings in +all parts of the kingdom; the bloody scenes at Manchester; the +great plot of Cato Street; and above all, the queen had returned +to England! All these sinister events are recounted by Mr. +Skryme, with a mysterious look, and a dismal shake of the +head; and being taken with his drugs, and associated in the +minds of his auditors with stuffed sea-monsters, bottled +serpents, and his own visage, which is a title-page of +tribulation, they have spread great gloom through the minds of +the people of Little Britain. They shake their heads whenever +they go by Bow Church, and observe, that they never expected +any good to come of taking down that steeple, which in old +times told nothing but glad tidings, as the history of +Whittington and his Cat bears witness. + +The rival oracle of Little Britain is a substantial +cheesemonger, who lives in a fragment of one of the old family +mansions, and is as magnificently lodged as a round-bellied +mite in the midst of one of his own Cheshires. Indeed, he is a +man of no little standing and importance; and his renown +extends through Huggin Lane, and Lad Lane, and even unto +Aldermanbury. His opinion is very much taken in affairs of +state, having read the Sunday papers for the last half century, +together with the "Gentleman's Magazine," Rapin's "History of +England," and the "Naval Chronicle." His head is stored with +invaluable maxims which have borne the test of time and use +for centuries. It is his firm opinion that "it is a moral +impossible," so long as England is true to herself, that anything +can shake her; and he has much to say on the subject of the +national debt, which, somehow or other, he proves to be a +great national bulwark and blessing. He passed the greater part +of his life in the purlieus of Little Britain, until of late +years, +when, having become rich, and grown into the dignity of a +Sunday cane, he begins to take his pleasure and see the world. +He has therefore made several excursions to Hampstead, +Highgate, and other neighboring towns, where he has passed +whole afternoons in looking back upon the metropolis through +a telescope, and endeavoring to descry the steeple of St. +Bartholomew's. Not a stage-coachman of Bull-and-Mouth +Street but touches his hat as he passes; and he is considered +quite a patron at the coach-office of the Goose and Gridiron, +St. Paul's churchyard. His family have been very urgent for +him to make an expedition to Margate, but he has great doubts +of those new gimcracks, the steamboats, and indeed thinks +himself too advanced in life to undertake sea-voyages. + +Little Britain has occasionally its factions and divisions, and +party spirit ran very high at one time in consequence of two +rival "Burial Societies" being set up in the place. One held its +meeting at the Swan and Horse Shoe, and was patronized by the +cheesemonger; the other at the Cock and Crown, under the +auspices of the apothecary; it is needless to say that the latter +was the most flourishing. I have passed an evening or two at +each, and have acquired much valuable information, as to the +best mode of being buried, the comparative merits of +churchyards, together with divers hints on the subject of +patent-iron coffins. I have heard the question discussed in all +its bearings as to the legality of prohibiting the latter on +account of their durability. The feuds occasioned by these +societies have happily died of late; but they were for a long +time prevailing themes of controversy, the people of Little +Britain being extremely solicitous of funereal honors and of +lying comfortably in their graves. + +Besides these two funeral societies there is a third of quite a +different cast, which tends to throw the sunshine of good- +humor over the whole neighborhood. It meets once a week at +a little old-fashioned house, kept by a jolly publican of the +name of Wagstaff, and bearing for insignia a resplendent half- +moon, with a most seductive bunch of grapes. The old edifice +is covered with inscriptions to catch the eye of the thirsty +wayfarer, such as "Truman, Hanbury, and Co.'s Entire," "Wine, +Rum, and Brandy Vaults," "Old Tom, Rum and Compounds, +etc." This indeed has been a temple of Bacchus and Momus +from time immemorial. It ha always been in the family of the +Wagstaffs, so that its history is tolerably preserved by the +present landlord. It was much frequented by the gallants and +cavalieros of the reign of Elizabeth, and was looked into now +and then by the wits of Charles the Second's day. But what +Wagstaff principally prides himself upon is, that Henry the +Eighth, in one of his nocturnal rambles, broke the head of one +of his ancestors with his famous walking-staff. This, however, +is considered as a rather dubious and vainglorious boast of the +landlord. + +The club which now holds its weekly sessions here goes by +the name of "The Roaring Lads of Little Britain." They +abound in old catches, glees, and choice stories, that are +traditional in the place, and not to be met with in any other +part +of the metropolis. There is a madcap undertaker who is +inimitable at a merry song; but the life of the club, and indeed +the prime wit of Little Britain, is bully Wagstaff himself. His +ancestors were all wags before him, and he has inherited with +the inn a large stock of songs and jokes, which go with it from +generation to generation as heirlooms. He is a dapper little +fellow, with bandy legs and pot belly, a red face, with a moist, +merry eye, and a little shock of gray hair behind. At the +opening of every club night he is called in to sing his +"Confession of Faith," which is the famous old drinking trowl +from "Gammer Gurton's Needle." He sings it, to be sure, with +many variations, as he received it from his father's lips; for it +has been a standing favorite at the Half-Moon and Bunch of +Grapes ever since it was written; nay, he affirms that his +predecessors have often had the honor of singing it before the +nobility and gentry at Christmas mummeries, when Little +Britain was in all its glory. + +It would do one's heart good to hear, on a club night, the +shouts of merriment, the snatches of song, and now and then +the choral bursts of half a dozen discordant voices, which issue +from this jovial mansion. At such times the street is lined with +listeners, who enjoy a delight equal to that of gazing into a +confectioner's window, or snuffing up the steams of a +cookshop. + +There are two annual events which produce great stir and +sensation in Little Britain; these are St. Bartholomew's Fair, +and the Lord Mayor's Day. During the time of the fair, which +is held in the adjoining regions of Smithfield, there is nothing +going on but gossiping and gadding about. The late quiet +streets of Little Britain are overrun with an irruption of +strange +figures and faces; every tavern is a scene of rout and revel. +The fiddle and the song are heard from the tap-room, morning, +noon, and night; and at each window may be seen some group +of boon companions, with half-shut eyes, hats on one side, pipe +in mouth, and tankard in hand, fondling, and prosing, and +singing maudlin songs over their liquor. Even the sober +decorum of private families, which I must say is rigidly kept up +at other times among my neighbors, is no proof against this +Saturnalia. There is no such thing as keeping maid-servants +within doors. Their brains are absolutely set madding with +Punch and the Puppet Show; the Flying Horses; Signior Polito; +the Fire-Eater; the celebrated Mr. Paap; and the Irish Giant. +The children, too, lavish all their holiday money in toys and +gilt +gingerbread, and fill the house with the Lilliputian din of +drums, trumpets, and penny whistles. + +But the Lord mayor's Day is the great anniversary. The Lord +Mayor is looked up to by the inhabitants of Little Britain as the +greatest potentate upon earth; his gilt coach with six horses as +the summit of human splendor; and his procession, with all the +Sheriffs and Aldermen in his train, as the grandest of earthly +pageants. How they exult in the idea that the King himself +dare not enter the city without first knocking at the gate of +Temple Bar, and asking permission of the Lord Mayor: for if +he did, heaven and earth! there is no knowing what might be +the consequence. The man in armor, who rides before the +Lord mayor, and is the city champion, has orders to cut down +everybody that offends against the dignity of the city; and then +there is the little man with a velvet porringer on his head, who +sits at the window of the state-coach, and holds the city sword, +as long as a pike-staff--Odd's blood! If he once draws that +sword, Majesty itself is not safe! + +Under the protection of this mighty potentate, therefore, the +good people of Little Britain sleep in peace. Temple Bar is an +effectual barrier against all interior foes; and as to foreign +invasion, the Lord Mayor has but to throw himself into the +Tower, call in the trainbands, and put the standing army of +Beef-eaters under arms, and he may bid defiance to the world! + + Thus wrapped up in its own concerns, its own habits, and its +own opinions, Little Britain has long flourished as a sound +heart to this great fungous metropolis. I have pleased myself +with considering it as a chosen spot, where the principles of +sturdy John Bullism were garnered up, like seed corn, to renew +the national character, when it had run to waste and +degeneracy. I have rejoiced also in the general spirit of +harmony that prevailed throughout it; for though there might +now and then be a few clashes of opinion between the +adherents of the cheesemonger and the apothecary, and an +occasional feud between the burial societies, yet these were but +transient clouds, and soon passed away. The neighbors met +with good-will, parted with a shake of the hand, and never +abused each other except behind their backs. + +I could give rare descriptions of snug junketing parties at +which I have been present; where we played at All-fours, Pope- +Joan, Tome-come-tickle-me, and other choice old games; and +where we sometimes had a good old English country dance to +the tune of Sir Roger de Coverley. Once a year, also, the +neighbors would gather together, and go on a gypsy party to +Epping Forest. It would have done any man's heart good to +see the merriment that took place here as we banqueted on the +grass under the trees. How we made the woods ring with +bursts of laughter at the songs of little Wagstaff and the merry +undertaker! After dinner, too, the young folks would play at +blind-man's-buff and hide-and-seek; and it was amusing to see +them tangled among the briers, and to hear a fine romping girl +now and then squeak from among the bushes. The elder folks +would gather round the cheesemonger and the apothecary to +hear them talk politics; for they generally brought out a +newspaper in their pockets, to pass away time in the country. +They would now and then, to be sure, get a little warm in +argument; but their disputes were always adjusted by reference +to a worthy old umbrellamaker, in a double chin, who, never +exactly comprehending the subject, managed somehow or other +to decide in favor of both parties. + +All empires, however, says some philosopher or historian, are +doomed to changes and revolutions. Luxury and innovation +creep in; factions arise; and families now and then spring up, +whose ambition and intrigues throw the whole system into +confusion. Thus in latter days has the tranquillity of Little +Britain been grievously disturbed, and its golden simplicity of +manners threatened with total subversion by the aspiring family +of a retired butcher. + +The family of the Lambs had long been among the most +thriving and popular in the neighborhood; the Miss Lambs +were the belles of Little Britain, and everybody was pleased +when Old Lamb had made money enough to shut up shop, and +put his name on a brass plate on his door. In an evil hour, +however, one of the Miss Lambs had the honor of being a lady +in attendance on the Lady Mayoress, at her grand annual ball, +on which occasion she wore three towering ostrich feathers on +her head. The family never got over it; they were immediately +smitten with a passion for high life; set up a one-horse +carriage, +put a bit of gold lace round the errand boy's hat, and have been +the talk and detestation of the whole neighborhood ever since. +They could no longer be induced to play at Pope-Joan or blind- +man's-buff; they could endure no dances but quadrilles, which +nobody had ever heard of in Little Britain; and they took to +reading novels, talking bad French, and playing upon the piano. +Their brother, too, who had been articled to an attorney, set up +for a dandy and a critic, characters hitherto unknown in these +parts; and he confounded the worthy folks exceedingly by +talking about Kean, the opera, and the "Edinburgh Review." + +What was still worse, the Lambs gave a grand ball, to which +they neglected to invite any of their old neighbors; but they had +a great deal of genteel company from Theobald's Road, Red- +Lion Square, and other parts towards the west. There were +several beaux of their brother's acquaintance from Gray's Inn +Lane and Hatton Garden; and not less than three Aldermen's +ladies with their daughters. This was not to be forgotten or +forgiven. All Little Britain was in an uproar with the smacking +of whips, the lashing of miserable horses, and the rattling and +the jingling of hackney coaches. The gossips of the +neighborhood might be seen popping their nightcaps out at +every window, watching the crazy vehicles rumble by; and +there was a knot of virulent old cronies, that kept a lookout +from a house just opposite the retired butcher's, and scanned +and criticised every one that knocked at the door. + +This dance was a cause of almost open war, and the whole +neighborhood declared they would have nothing more to say to +the Lambs. It is true that Mrs. Lamb, when she had no +engagements with her quality acquaintance, would give little +humdrum tea-junketings to some of her old cronies, "quite," as +she would say, "in a friendly way;" and it is equally true that +her invitations were always accepted, in spite of all previous +vows to the contrary. Nay, the good ladies would sit and be +delighted with the music of the Miss Lambs, who would +condescend to strum an Irish melody for them on the piano; +and they would listen with wonderful interest to Mrs. Lamb's +anecdotes of Alderman Plunket's family, of Portsokenward, +and the Miss Timberlakes, the rich heiresses of Crutched-Friars; +but then they relieved their consciences, and averted the +reproaches of their confederates, by canvassing at the next +gossiping convocation everything that had passed, and pulling +the Lambs and their rout all to pieces. + +The only one of the family that could not be made +fashionable was the retired butcher himself. Honest Lamb, in +spite of the meekness of his name, was a rough, hearty old +fellow, with the voice of a lion, a head of black hair like a +shoe- +brush, and a broad face mottled like his own beef. It was in +vain that the daughters always spoke of him as "the old +gentleman," addressed him as "papa," in tones of infinite +softness, and endeavored to coax him into a dressing-gown and +slippers, and other gentlemanly habits. Do what they might, +there was no keeping down the butcher. His sturdy nature +would break through all their glozings. He had a hearty vulgar +good-humor that was irrepressible. His very jokes made his +sensitive daughters shudder; and he persisted in wearing his +blue cotton coat of a morning, dining at two o'clock, and +having a "bit of sausage with his tea." + +He was doomed, however, to share the unpopularity of his +family. He found his old comrades gradually growing cold and +civil to him; no longer laughing at his jokes; and now and then +throwing out a fling at "some people," and a hint about "quality +binding." This both nettled and perplexed the honest butcher; +and his wife and daughters, with the consummate policy of the +shrewder sex, taking advantage of the circumstance, at length +prevailed upon him to give up his afternoon's pipe and tankard +at Wagstaff's; to sit after dinner by himself, and take his pint +of +port--a liquor he detested--and to nod in his chair in solitary +and dismal gentility. + +The Miss Lambs might now be seen flaunting along the +streets in French bonnets, with unknown beaux; and talking +and laughing so loud that it distressed the nerves of every good +lady within hearing. They even went so far as to attempt +patronage, and actually induced a French dancing-master to set +up in the neighborhood; but the worthy folks of Little Britain +took fire at it, and did so persecute the poor Gaul that he was +fain to pack up fiddle and dancing-pumps, and decamp with +such precipitation that he absolutely forgot to pay for his +lodgings. + +I had flattered myself, at first, with the idea that all this +fiery +indignation on the part of the community was merely the +overflowing of their zeal for good old English manners, and +their horror of innovation; and I applauded the silent contempt +they were so vociferous in expressing, for upstart pride, French +fashions, and the Miss Lambs. But I grieve to say that I soon +perceived the infection had taken hold; and that my neighbors, +after condemning, were beginning to follow their example. I +overheard my landlady importuning her husband to let their +daughters have one quarter at French and music, and that they +might take a few lessons in quadrille. I even saw, in the course +of a few Sundays, no less than five French bonnets, precisely +like those of the Miss Lambs, parading about Little Britain. + +I still had my hopes that all this folly would gradually die +away; that the Lambs might move out of the neighborhood; +might die, or might run away with attorneys' apprentices; and +that quiet and simplicity might be again restored to the +community. But unluckily a rival power arose. An opulent +oilman died, and left a widow with a large jointure and a family +of buxom daughters. The young ladies had long been repining +in secret at the parsimony of a prudent father, which kept down +all their elegant aspirings. Their ambition, being now no longer +restrained, broke out into a blaze, and they openly took the +field against the family of the butcher. It is true that the +Lambs, having had the first start, had naturally an advantage of +them in the fashionable career. They could speak a little bad +French, play the piano, dance quadrilles, and had formed high +acquaintances; but the Trotters were not to be distanced. +When the Lambs appeared with two feathers in their hats, the +Miss Trotters mounted four, and of twice as fine colors. If the +Lambs gave a dance, the Trotters were sure not to be +behindhand: and though they might not boast of as good +company, yet they had double the number, and were twice as +merry. + +The whole community has at length divided itself into +fashionable factions, under the banners of these two families. +The old games of Pope-Joan and Tom-come-tickle-me are +entirely discarded; there is no such thing as getting up an +honest country dance; and on my attempting to kiss a young +lady under the mistletoe last Christmas, I was indignantly +repulsed; the Miss Lambs having pronounced it "shocking +vulgar." Bitter rivalry has also broken out as to the most +fashionable part of Little Britain; the Lambs standing up for the +dignity of the Cross-Keys Square, and the Trotters for the +vicinity of St. Bartholomew's. + +Thus is this little territory torn by factions and internal +dissensions, like the great empire who name it bears; and what +will be the result would puzzle the apothecary himself, with all +his talent at prognostics, to determine; though I apprehend that +it will terminate in the total downfall of genuine John Bullism. + +The immediate effects are extremely unpleasant to me. +Being a single man, and, as I observed before, rather an idle +good-for-nothing personage, I have been considered the only +gentleman by profession in the place. I stand therefore in high +favor with both parties, and have to hear all their cabinet +councils and mutual backbitings. As I am too civil not to agree +with the ladies on all occasions, I have committed myself most +horribly with both parties, by abusing their opponents. I might +manage to reconcile this to my conscience, which is a truly +accommodating one, but I cannot to my apprehension--if the +Lambs and Trotters ever come to a reconciliation, and compare +notes, I am ruined! + +I have determined, therefore, to beat a retreat in time, and am +actually looking out for some other nest in this great city, +where old English manners are still kept up; where French is +neither eaten, drunk, danced, nor spoken; and where there are +no fashionable families of retired tradesmen. This found, I +will, +like a veteran rat, hasten away before I have an old house +about my ears; bid a long, though a sorrowful, adieu to my +present abode, and leave the rival factions of the Lambs and +the Trotters to divide the distracted empire of LITTLE BRITAIN. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Little Britain, by Washington Irving + diff --git a/old/lbrit10.zip b/old/lbrit10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c59bdf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lbrit10.zip |