as acquired great learning, and
raised himself to a position of honour and independence. And why have I
not done the same? Because I am lazy, have got weak eyes, and am fond of
beer. I do not care for your wine; good Liesinger beer is the drink for
me.

"My brother wished me to attain a lofty position in the world. I am the
younger. He paid teachers to instruct me, and I learned a great deal;
but it was dry work, and I sought change, after days of study, in
beer-cellars, among a few choice boosers. And my eyes were weak, and
close study made them worse; and many a day I stole from my lessons on
the plea of failing sight. My brother, who is a good fellow, only that
he does not sufficiently consider my weakness, employed physicians and
oculists out of number; and among them I lost the sight of one eye. It
was of no use; I did not like the labour of learning, and I made my weak
eyes an excuse for doing less than I could have done.

"At last I gave it up altogether, and my brother got me into the
'Institute for the Blind.' _That_ would not do for me at all; I was not
blind enough for _that_. So, one day, when the door was open, and the
weather fine, I strolled home again to my brother. This vexed him
greatly; but he got over it, and then he placed me in the 'Imperial
Bounty.' A stylish place, I can tell you, where few but nobles were
allowed.

"But how could I, a lusty young fellow, be happy among that moping,
musty, crampt-up lot of old respectables? Not I! so, as I could not
easily get out in the day-time, I ran away one night, and went back to my
old quarters. At first my brother would not see me; but that passed
over, for he could not let me starve. He then obtained for me a post in
the 'Refuge for the Aged;' about the dullest place in all Vienna. I was
too young to be one of the members, so they gave me a birth, where I did
nothing. But what was the use of that? I could not live among that
company of mumbling, bible-backed old people; and if I could, it was all
the same, for they kicked me out at the end of a month for impropriety.

"It was lucky for me that I tumbled into a legacy about this time, of
eighty gulden munz. I enjoyed myself while it lasted, and never troubled
my brother with my presence.

"It did not last long; for, what with drinking beer, and wearing fine
clothes, and taking a dashing lodging on the Glacis, I found my eighty
guldens gone, just as I was in a position to enjoy them