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THE ANT.

A Selection of Pieces in Prose & Verse.

THE CONTENTED MAN.

BY WASHINGTON IRVING.

IN the garden of the Tuilleries, there is a sunny corner under the wall of a terrace which fronts the south. Along the wall is a range of benches, commanding a view of the walks and avenues of the garden. This genial nook is a place of great resort in the latter part of autumn, and in fine days in winter, as it seems to retain the flavour of departed summer. On a calm bright morning, it is quite alive with nursery-maids and their playful little charges. Hither also resort a number of ancient ladies and gentlemen, who, with laudable thrift in small pleasures and small expenses, for which the French are to be noted, come here to enjoy sunshine and save firewood. Here may often be seen some cavalier of the old school, when the sunbeams have warmed his blood into something like a glow, fluttering about like a frost-bitten moth thawed before the fire, putting forth a feeble show of gallantry among the antiquated dames, and now and then eyeing the buxom nursery-maids with what might almost be mistaken for an air of libertinism.

Among the habitual frequenters of this place, I had often remarked an old gentleman, whose dress was decidNo. 1.

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edly anti-revolutional. He wore the three-cornered cocked hat of the ancien regime; his hair was frizzed over each ear into ailes de pigeon, a style strongly savouring of Bourbonism; and a queue stuck out behind, the loyalty of which was not to be disputed. His dress, though ancient, had an air of decayed gentility; and I observed that he took his snuff out of an elegant though old-fashioned gold box. He appeared to be the most popular man on the walk. He had a compliment for every old lady, he kissed every child, and he patted every little dog on the head; for children and little dogs are very important members of society in France. I must observe, however, that he seldom kissed a child, without, at the same time, pinching the nursery-maid's cheek; a Frenchman of the old school never forgets his devoirs to the sex. I had taken a liking to this old gentleman. There was a habitual expression of benevolence in his face, which I have very frequently remarked in these reliques of the politer days of France. The constant interchange of those thousand little courtesies which imperceptibly sweeten life, have a happy effect upon the features, and spread a mellow evening charm over the wrinkles of old age. Where there is a favourable predisposition, one soon forms a kind of tacit intimacy by often meeting on the same walks. Once or twice I accommodated him with a bench, after which we touched hats on passing each other; at length we got so far as to take a pinch of snuff together out of his box, which is equivalent to eating salt together in the East: from that time our acquaintance was established. I now became his frequent companion in his morning promenades, and derived much amusement from his good-humoured remarks on men and

manners.

One morning as we were strolling through an alley of the Tuilleries, with the autumnal breeze whirling the yellow leaves about our path, my companion fell into a peculiarly communicative vein, and gave me several particulars of his history. He had once been wealthy, and

possessed of a fine estate in the country, and a noble hotel in Paris; but the Revolution, which effected so many disastrous changes, stripped him of every thing. He was secretly denounced by his own steward, during a sanguinary period of the Revolution, and a number of the blood-hounds of the Convention were sent to arrest him. He received private intelligence of their approach in time to effect his escape. He landed in England without money or friends, but considered himself singularly fortunate in having his head upon his shoulders; several of his neighbours having been guillotined as a punishment for being rich. When he reached London, he had but a louis in his pocket, and no prospect of getting another. He ate a solitary dinner on beefsteak, and was almost poisoned by port wine, which, from its colour, he had mistaken for claret. The dingy look of the chop-house, and of the little mahogany-coloured box in which he ate his dinner, contrasted sadly with the gay saloons of Paris. Every thing looked gloomy and disheartening. Poverty stared him in the face; he turned over the few shillings he had of change; did not know what was to become of him; and went to the theatre! He took his seat in the pit; listened attentively to a tragedy, of which he did not understand a word, and which seemed made up of fighting, and stabbing, and scene-shifting; and began to feel his spirits sinking within him; when, casting his eyes into the orchestra, what was his surprise to recognise an old friend and neighbour in the very act of extorting music from a huge violoncello. As soon as the evening's performance was over, he tapped his friend on the shoulder; they kissed each other on each cheek, and the musician took him home, and shared his lodgings with him. He had learned music as an accomplishment; by his friend's advice, he now turned to it as a mean of support. He procured a violin, offered himself for the orchestra, was received, and again considered himself one of the most fortunate men upon earth. Here, therefore, he lived for many

years during the ascendancy of the terrible Napoleon. He found several emigrants living, like himself, by the exercise of their talents. They associated together, talked of France, and of old times, and endeavoured to keep up a semblance of Parisian life in the centre of London. They dined at a miserable cheap French restaurateur's in the neighbourhood of Leicester-Square, where they were served with a caricature of French cookery. They took their promenade in St. James's Park, and endeavoured to fancy it the Tuilleries; in short, they made a shift to accommodate themselves to every thing but an English Sunday. Indeed, the old gentleman seemed to have nothing to say against the English, whom he affirmed to be braves gens; and he mingled so much among them, that at the end of twenty years he could speak their language almost well enough to be understood. The downfall of Napoleon was another epoch in his life. He had considered himself a fortunate man to make his escape pennyless out of France, and he considered himself fortunate to be able to return pennyless into it. It is true that he found his Parisian hotel had passed through several hands during the vicissitudes of the times, so as to be beyond the reach of recovery; but then he had been noticed benignantly by government, and had a pension of several hundred franks, upon which, with careful management, he lived independently, and, as far as I could judge, happily. As his once splendid hotel was now occupied as a hotel garni, he hired a small chamber in the attic; it was but, as he said, changing his bed-room up two pair of stairs-he was still in his own house. His room was decorated with pictures of several beauties of former times, with whom he professed to have been on favourable terms: among them was a favourite opera dancer, who had been the admiration of Paris at the breaking out of the Revolution. She had been a protegee of my friend, and one of the few of his youthful favourites who had survived the lapse of time, and its various vicissitudes.

They had renewed their acquaintance, and she now and then visited him; but the beautiful Psyche, once the fashion of the day, and the idol of the parterre, was now a shrivelled little old woman, warped in the back, and with a hooked nose. The old gentleman was a devout attendant upon levees: he was most zealous in his loyalty, and could not speak of the royal family without a burst of enthusiasm; for he still felt towards them as his companions in exile. As to his poverty, he made light of it, and, indeed, had a good-humoured way of consoling himself for every cross and privation. If he had lost his chateau in the country, he had half-a-dozen royal palaces, as it were, at his command. He had Versailles and St. Cloud for his country resorts, and the shady alleys of the Tuilleries and the Luxembourg for his town recreation. Thus, all his promenades and relaxations were magnificent, yet cost nothing. "When I walk through these fine gardens," said he, "I have only to fancy myself the owner of them, and they are mine. All these gay crowds are my visitors; and I defy the grand signior himself to display a greater variety of beauty. Nay, what is better, I have not the trouble of entertaining them. My estate is a perfect Sans Souci, where every one does as he pleases, and no one troubles the owner. All Paris is my theatre, and presents me with a continual spectacle. I have a table spread for me in every street, and thousands of waiters ready to fly at my bidding. When my servants have waited upon me, I pay them, discharge them, and there's an end; I have no fears of their wronging or pilfering me when my back is turned. Upon the whole," said the old gentleman, with a smile of infinite good-humour, "when I think upon the various risks I have run, and the manner in which I have escaped them; when I recollect all that I have suffered, and consider all that I at present enjoy, I cannot but look upon myself as a man of singular good fortune."

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