THE SERVANTS' HALL, A Tale. EDITED BY A CLERGYMAN. "A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine : Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, Makes that and th' action fine." HERBERT. London: FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE. THE SERVANTS' HALL. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. "This being waid, To read with love, And so to come By practice true."-TUSSER. THERE is something to me so very peaceful and happy in a country life, that I must beg you, my readers, to come with me quite away from the bustle and splendour of the metropolis, and to be content to hear the history of a family living in a small village in the south of England, about eighty miles from London. Let us, however, understand each other from the first. When I ask you to listen to the account of a family, indeed the only gentleman's family residing in the parish of Colnbrook, I ought to add that it is but of one half of it I am chiefly going to speak, and of the other part just occasionally, as I may find necessary for my story. The servants at Colnbrook House had ways and doings, which, I hope, will make some account of them interesting; and I know not how better I can teach a B |