feed on the public; a
great many of the public feed upon him: and, therefore, his practical
experience a little staggers and perplexes Lenny Fairfield as to
the gospel accuracy of his theoretical dogmas. Masters, parsons, and
landowners! having, at the risk of all popularity, just given a coup de
patte to certain sages extremely the fashion at present, I am not going
to let you off without an admonitory flea in the ear. Don't suppose that
any mere scribbling and typework will suffice to answer the scribbling
and typework set at work to demolish you,--write down that rubbish you
can't; live it down you may. If you are rich, like Squire Hazeldean, do
good with your money; if you are poor, like Signor Riccabocca, do good
with your kindness.

See! there is Lenny now receiving his week's wages; and though Lenny
knows that he can get higher wages in the very next parish, his blue
eyes are sparkling with gratitude, not at the chink of the money, but at
the poor exile's friendly talk on things apart from all service; while
Violante is descending the steps from the terrace, charged by her
mother-in-law with a little basket of sago, and such-like delicacies,
for Mrs. Fairfield, who has been ailing the last few days.

Lenny will see the tinker as he goes home, and he will buy a most
Demosthenean "Appeal,"--a tract of tracts, upon the propriety of Strikes
and the Avarice of Masters. But, somehow or other, I think a few words
from Signor Riccabocca, that did not cost the signor a farthing, and the
sight of his mother's smile at the contents of the basket, which cost
very little, will serve to neutralize the effects of that "Appeal" much
more efficaciously than the best article a Brougham or a Mill could
write on the subject.

CHAPTER VIII.

Spring had come again; and one beautiful May day, Leonard Fairfield sat
beside the little fountain which he had now actually constructed in the
garden. The butterflies were hovering over the belt of flowers which
he had placed around his fountain, and the birds were singing overhead.
Leonard Fairfield was resting from his day's work, to enjoy his
abstemious dinner, beside the cool play of the sparkling waters, and,
with the yet keener appetite of knowledge, he devoured his book as he
munched his crusts.

A penny tract is the shoeing-horn of literature! it draws on a great
many books, and some too tight to be very useful in walking. The penny
tract quotes a celebrated writer--you long