XII. The Gentleman's Answer to the Tailor XIII. From a young Gentleman, desirous of entering the Army, PUNCH'S LETTERS TO HIS SON. Dedication. ΤΟ THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN, (WHOEVER HE MAY BE.) MY LORD,-Take my word for it, you have greater reason to be proud of this Dedication than of your wand of office. Having read it, you may, for the remainder of your official life, walk in the eyes of all men, at least half an inch higher. As, however, persons in your exalted rank are not always inevitably promoted to the eminence by the invincibility of their reasoning powers, or the subtlety of their wit, it may perhaps be necessary for me to explain to you why, from this day forward, you should enjoy an increase of official altitude. Few things irk a man more, than to know he has inflicted the heaviest, yet withal the sweetest, obligation on another, who nevertheless obstinately remains in the most Stygian ignorance of the fact. Fancy, my lord, a pearldiver your lordship may possibly guess the perils of the trade having plunged to the bottom of the oozy deep; strange, horrid monsters about him; the ocean booming and rolling over him; fearful thoughts of his wife and little ones stirring in his breast; imagine him groping for the treasure which, it may be, is destined to repose upon the palpitating bosom of an Eastern queen. He rises to the surface of the deep-he is on dry land. Happy diver! he hath fished up a union "Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn!" He believes his fortune made; the precious pearl has enriched him, his wife, and little ones for life. Alas, no! the waywardness B |