ase with his conscience, which would not
be comfortable; the church was also rejected, as it was, with him,
connected with the idea of a small stipend, hard duty, a wife and eleven
children, which were anything but comfortable. Much to the horror of
his family he eschewed all the liberal professions, and embraced the
offer of an old backslider of an uncle, who proposed to him a situation
in his banking-house, and a partnership as soon as he deserved it; the
consequence was, that his relations bade him an indignant farewell, and
then made no further inquiries about him: he was as decidedly cut as one
of the female branches of the family would have been had she committed a
_faux pas_.

Nevertheless, Mr Witherington senior stuck diligently to his business,
in a few years was partner, and, at the death of the old gentleman, his
uncle, found himself in possession of a good property, and every year
coining money at his bank.

Mr Witherington senior then purchased a house in Finsbury Square, and
thought it advisable to look out for a wife.

Having still much of the family pride in his composition, he resolved
not to muddle the blood of the Witheringtons by any cross from Cateaton
Street or Mincing Lane; and, after a proper degree of research, he
selected the daughter of a Scotch earl, who went to London with a bevy
of nine in a Leith smack to barter blood for wealth. Mr Witherington
being so unfortunate as to be the first comer, had the pick of the nine
ladies by courtesy; his choice was light-haired, blue-eyed, a little
freckled, and very tall, by no means bad-looking, and standing on the
list in the family Bible, Number Four. From this union Mr Witherington
had issue; first, a daughter, christened Moggy, whom we shall soon have
to introduce to our readers as a spinster of forty-seven; and second,
Antony Alexander Witherington Esquire, whom we just now have left in a
very comfortable position, and in a very brown study.

Mr Witherington senior persuaded his son to enter the banking-house,
and, as a dutiful son, he entered it every day; but he did nothing more,
having made the fortunate discovery that "his father was born before
him;" or, in other words, that his father had plenty of money, and would
be necessitated to leave it behind him.

As Mr Witherington senior had always studied comfort, his son had early
imbibed the same idea, and carried his feelings, in that respect, to a
much greater excess; he divided things