with his own hands, in which she
drinks the health of the company in a truly respectful yet dignified
manner, and then retires. The Squire received the custom from his
father, and has always continued it.

There is a peculiar character about the servants of old English
families that reside principally in the country. They have a quiet,
orderly, respectful mode of doing their duties. They are always neat
in their persons, and appropriately, and if I may use the phrase,
technically dressed; they move about the house without hurry or noise;
there is nothing of the bustle of employment, or the voice of command;
nothing of that obtrusive housewifery that amounts to a torment. You
are not persecuted by the process of making you comfortable; yet every
thing is done, and is done well. The work of the house is performed as
if by magic, but it is the magic of system. Nothing is done by fits
and starts, nor at awkward seasons; the whole goes on like well-oiled
clock-work, where there is no noise nor jarring in its operations.

English servants, in general, are not treated with great indulgence,
nor rewarded by many commendations; for the English are laconic and
reserved toward their domestics; but an approving nod and a kind word
from master or mistress, goes as far here, as an excess of praise or
indulgence elsewhere. Neither do servants often exhibit any animated
marks of affection to their employers; yet, though quiet, they are
strong in their attachments; and the reciprocal regard of masters and
servants, though not ardently expressed, is powerful and lasting in
old English families.

The title of "an old family servant" carries with it a thousand kind
associations, in all parts of the world; and there is no claim upon
the home-bred charities of the heart more irresistible than that of
having been "born in the house." It is common to see gray-headed
domestics of this kind attached to an English family of the "old
school," who continue in it to the day of their death, in the
enjoyment of steady, unaffected kindness, and the performance of
faithful, unofficious duty. I think such instances of attachment speak
well for both master and servant, and the frequency of them speaks
well for national character.

These observations, however, hold good only with families of the
description I have mentioned; and with such as are somewhat retired,
and pass the greater part of their time in the country.

As to the powdered menials that