st you to pause in front of this little bar-place with the
sash-windows; and beg your particular attention to the steady,
honest-looking old fellow in black, who is its sole occupant. Nicholas
(we do not mind mentioning the old fellow's name, for if Nicholas be not
a public man, who is?--and public men's names are public
property)--Nicholas is the butler of Bellamy's, and has held the same
place, dressed exactly in the same manner, and said precisely the same
things, ever since the oldest of its present visitors can remember. An
excellent servant Nicholas is--an unrivalled compounder of
salad-dressing--an admirable preparer of soda-water and lemon--a special
mixer of cold grog and punch--and, above all, an unequalled judge of
cheese. If the old man have such a thing as vanity in his composition,
this is certainly his pride; and if it be possible to imagine that
anything in this world could disturb his impenetrable calmness, we should
say it would be the doubting his judgment on this important point.

We needn't tell you all this, however, for if you have an atom of
observation, one glance at his sleek, knowing-looking head and face--his
prim white neckerchief, with the wooden tie into which it has been
regularly folded for twenty years past, merging by imperceptible degrees
into a small-plaited shirt-frill--and his comfortable-looking form
encased in a well-brushed suit of black--would give you a better idea of
his real character than a column of our poor description could convey.

Nicholas is rather out of his element now; he cannot see the kitchen as
he used to in the old House; there, one window of his glass-case opened
into the room, and then, for the edification and behoof of more juvenile
questioners, he would stand for an hour together, answering deferential
questions about Sheridan, and Percival, and Castlereagh, and Heaven knows
who beside, with manifest delight, always inserting a 'Mister' before
every commoner's name.

Nicholas, like all men of his age and standing, has a great idea of the
degeneracy of the times. He seldom expresses any political opinions, but
we managed to ascertain, just before the passing of the Reform Bill, that
Nicholas was a thorough Reformer. What was our astonishment to discover
shortly after the meeting of the first reformed Parliament, that he was a
most inveterate and decided Tory! It was very odd: some men change their
opinions from necessity, others from expediency, other