eat many I have taken in. Ha! ha! ha!"

This was one of the worthy man's harmless conceits. He never lost an
opportunity of indulging in the joke to his own amusement; and I
remarked that he laughed as heartily the last time he uttered it as the
first.

I set to work diligently at once on the tasks given me, and was rewarded
by the approving remarks of Mr Janrin and Mr Thursby. Mr Garrard had
long ago left, not only the business but this world; the "Co." was his
nephew, Mr Luttridge, who was absent on account of ill-health, and thus
the whole weight of the business rested on the shoulders of Mr Janrin.
But, as Thursby remarked, "He can well support it, Mr James. He's an
Atlas. It's my belief that he would manage the financial affairs of
this kingdom better than any Chancellor of the Exchequer, or other
minister of State, past or present; and that had he been at the head of
affairs we should not have lost our North American Colonies, or have got
plunged over head and ears in debt as we are, alack! already; and now,
with war raging and all the world in arms against us, getting deeper and
deeper into the mire." Without holding my worthy principal in such deep
admiration as our head clerk evidently did, I had a most sincere regard
and respect for him.

Our dinner hour was at one o'clock, in a room over the office. Mr
Janrin himself presided, and all the clerks, from the highest to the
lowest, sat at the board. Here, however, on certain occasions, handsome
dinners were given at a more fashionable hour to any friends or
correspondents of the house who might be in London. Mr Thursby took
the foot of the table, and I was always expected to be present. At
length I completed two years of servitude in the house, and by that time
was thoroughly up to all the details of business. I had been very
diligent. I had never taken a holiday, and never had cause to absent
myself from business on account of ill-health. On the very day I speak
of we had one of the dinners mentioned. The guests were chiefly
merchants or planters from the West Indies, with a foreign consul or
two, and generally a few masters of merchantmen. The guests as they
arrived were announced by Mr Janrin's own servant, Peter Klopps, who
always waited on these occasions. Peter was himself a character. He
was a Dutchman. Mr Janrin had engaged his services many years before
during a visit to Holland. He had picked Peter out of a canal, or Peter
had pick