]

With all his love of amusement, however, Jack is by no means a
boisterous jovial companion. He is seldom known to laugh even in the
midst of his gaiety; but maintains the same grave, lion-like demeanour.
He is very slow at comprehending a joke; and is apt to sit puzzling at
it, with a perplexed look, while the rest of the company is in a roar.
This gravity has, perhaps, grown on him with the growing weight of his
character; for he is gradually rising into patriarchal dignity in his
native place. Though he no longer takes an active part in athletic
sports, yet he always presides at them, and is appealed to on all
occasions as umpire. He maintains the peace on the village-green at
holiday games, and quells all brawls and quarrels by collaring the
parties and shaking them heartily, if refractory. No one ever pretends
to raise a hand against him, or to contend against his decisions; the
young men having grown up in habitual awe of his prowess, and in
implicit deference to him as the champion and lord of the green.

[Illustration: Quelling the Brawl]

He is a regular frequenter of the village inn, the landlady having been
a sweetheart of his in early life, and he having always continued on
kind terms with her. He seldom, however, drinks anything but a draught
of ale; smokes his pipe, and pays his reckoning before leaving the
tap-room. Here he "gives his little senate laws;" decides bets, which
are very generally referred to him; determines upon the characters and
qualities of horses; and indeed plays now and then the part of a judge,
in settling petty disputes between neighbours, which otherwise might
have been nursed by country attorneys into tolerable lawsuits. Jack is
very candid and impartial in his decisions, but he has not a head to
carry a long argument, and is very apt to get perplexed and out of
patience if there is much pleading. He generally breaks through the
argument with a strong voice, and brings matters to a summary
conclusion, by pronouncing what he calls the "upshot of the business,"
or, in other words, "the long and short of the matter."

Jack once made a journey to London, a great many years since, which has
furnished him with topics of conversation ever since. He saw the old
king on the terrace at Windsor, who stopped, and pointed him out to one
of the princesses, being probably struck with Jack's truly yeoman-like
appearance. This is a favourite anecdote with him, and has no doubt had
a great eff