When my

stripes of the rods they held. young friend again joined me, I was much shocked at his appearance, for already the stinging-nettles had caused large white blains to appear upon the surface of his skin. We then dressed, hurried home, and within our bosoms concealed the knowledge of this sad affair. Kind reader, we had unconsciously been trespassing on private ground, and mistaken for a public bath, the inviting appearance of a sheepwash!

157

CHAPTER XIV.

In the garb of a Friar I once was drest,
With a leathern belt for my purple vest,
While breeches encircled my tiny knee,
As an island girt by the sunlit sea.
My neck with clerical bands was graced,
And a small black cap on my head was placed :
For a prouder fellow you ne'er could see,
Than I in the days of my infancy.

My legs shone bright with the hue of gold,
My shoes were dull with a tinge of mould,
But what was that to a man like me?

My heart was light and my thoughts were free.
Oh! I looked the monk in my new-made clothes;
Where I strutted my figure a cry arose,

And folks peeped forth from their blinds at me,
Like so many Toms of Coventry.

THE appearance of a Blue-coat Boy created much surprise with the rustics, who crowded to their doors to obtain a glimpse of me as I

passed, thinking me doubtless some rara avis who had escaped the vigilance of its keepers, and roamed at large in their green fields.

It was very seldom I met with insult, and then only from ragged urchins, who I regret to say assume a license to insult whom they please. I always found silent contempt the best remedy, and I trust the Blue-coat Boy of the present day will have the good sense in this respect to follow my example.

The holiday-time flew quickly and perhaps a question may arise, How is a Blue-coat Boy to be kept out of mischief for so long a period? my answer is, that youth, like champagne, is worthless without a little effervescence, and the trifling peccadilloes a boy may commit are excusable, provided he is not actuated by a self-willed and revengeful disposition. My own adventures during this time of relaxation may be considered a tolerable sample of the manner in which we whiled the hours away.

'The town of M being an assize town,

and the month of August the period at which the judges went the circuit, I spent the greater portion of the first week in listening to the trials; those in the Criminal Court possessing more charms for me than the dry law-suits of the Nisi Prius.

About the middle of this my first vacation, I was offered by a friend the use of his pony, which he kept expressly for the juvenile branches of his family, and which offer I was exceedingly glad to accept. I accordingly mounted my Bucephalus, as a matter of course getting up on the wrong side, and quietly walked him up the High-street of M, when, leading him in the gutter instead of the middle of the thoroughfare, he very unceremoniously threw me, leaving me in the kennel, which, I have no doubt, from my style of riding, he thought a safer place for me, while he resumed his proper station in the centre of the road. The pony being small, I did not suffer from my fall; the greater pain was produced by the titter of the

passers-by. Determined to have my revenge, I mounted the little animal, and rode him that afternoon a distance of sixteen miles, viz., from Mto Chatham, and back again. I had no notion of taxes in those days, and on arriving at the turnpike-gate, I thought it would as easily yield at my desire as the door of the robbers' cave to Alla Baba by the magic words of Open, sesame! I had passed the first gate, which was open, without molestation, but, behold, the second was closed against me; I began to think my Quixotic expedition at an end, but on the gatekeeper advancing, my grotesque appearance found favour in his sight, and on my affirmation that I had no money in my pocket, he kindly allowed me to pass. I must indeed have been a curious figure, with my blue coat covering the hind quarters of my charger, as the cloak of a life-guardsman that of his war-steed on a rainy day. Had it been winter instead of summer, I scarcely know what I should have done; for my yellow petticoat would have pre