bachelor.

His sister Moggy also remained unmarried; but whether it was from a very
unprepossessing squint which deterred suitors, or from the same dislike
to matrimony as her brother had imbibed, it is not in our power to say.
Mr. Witherington was three years younger than his sister; and although
he had for some time worn a wig, it was only because he considered it
more comfortable. Mr. Witherington's whole character might be summed up
in two words--eccentricity and benevolence; eccentric he certainly was,
as most bachelors usually are. Man is but a rough pebble without the
attrition received from contact with the gentler sex; it is wonderful
how the ladies pumice a man down to a smoothness which occasions him to
roll over and over with the rest of his species, jostling but not
wounding his neighbours, as the waves of circumstances bring him into
collision with them.

Mr. Witherington roused himself from his deep reverie and felt for the
string, connected with the bell-pull, which it was the butler's duty
invariably to attach to the arm of his master's chair previous to his
last exit from the dining-room; for, as Mr. Witherington very truly
observed, it was very uncomfortable to be obliged to get up and ring the
bell; indeed, more than once Mr. Witherington had calculated the
advantages and disadvantages of having a daughter about eight years old
who could ring the bell, air the newspapers, and cut the leaves of a new
novel.

When, however, he called to mind that she could not always remain at
that precise age, he decided that the balance of comfort was against it.

Mr. Witherington having pulled the bell again, fell into a brown study.

Mr. Jonathan, the butler, made his appearance; but observing that his
master was occupied, he immediately stopped at the door, erect,
motionless, and with a face as melancholy as if he was performing mute
at the porch of some departed peer of the realm; for it is an understood
thing, that the greater the rank of the defunct the longer must be the
face, and, of course, the better must be the pay.

Now, as Mr. Witherington is still in profound thought, and Mr. Jonathan
will stand as long as a hackney-coach horse, we will just leave them as
they are, while we introduce the brief history of the latter to our
readers. Jonathan Trapp has served as foot-_boy_, which term, we
believe, is derived from those who are in that humble capacity receiving
a _quantum suff._ of the application of