militia.

[99] #Don#: a nickname for a university professor.

[100] #Sirens#: sea-nymphs who enticed sailors into their
power by their singing, and then devoured them.

THE OLD BOY APPROVETH MOVING ON.

Yet why should I, after all, abuse the gadabout propensities of my
countrymen? We are a vagabond nation now, that's certain, for better,
for worse. I am a vagabond; I have been away from home no less
than five distinct times in the last year. The Queen sets us the
example--we are moving on from top to bottom. Little dirty Jack,
who abides in Clement's Inn[101] gateway, and blacks my boots for a
penny, takes his month's hop-picking[102] every year as a matter of
course. Why shouldn't he? I am delighted at it. I love vagabonds,
only I prefer poor to rich ones;-couriers[103] and ladies' maids,
imperials[104] and travelling carriages are an abomination unto me--I
cannot away with them. But for dirty Jack, and every good fellow who,
in the words of the capital French song, moves about,

"Comme le limacon,
Portant tout son bagage,
Ses meubles, sa maison,"[105]

on his own back, why, good luck to them, and many a merry road-side
adventure, and steaming supper in the chimney-corners of road-side
inns, Swiss chalets,[106] Hottentot kraals,[107] or wherever else they
like to go. So having succeeded in contradicting myself in my first
chapter (which gives me great hopes that you will all go on, and think
me a good fellow, notwithstanding my crotchets), I shall here shut up
for the present, and consider my ways; having resolved to "sar' it
out,"[108] as we say in the Vale, "holus bolus,"[109] just as it
comes, and then you'll probably get the truth out of me.

[101] #Clement's Inn#: formerly a college and residence for
law students in London. It is now given up to law offices.

[102] #Hop-picking#: all the vagabonds of London go to Kent
and Surrey in the autumn to pick hops for the farmers,
regarding the work as a kind of vacation frolic.

[103] #Courier#: a person hired by wealthy travellers to go in
advance and engage rooms at hotels, etc.

[104] #Imperial#: the best seat on a French diligence or
stage-coach.

[105] #Comme le limacon#, etc.: like the snail, carrying all
his baggage, his furniture, and his house.

[106] #Chalet# (shal-ay'): a Swiss herdsman's hut.

[107] #Kraal#: a Hottentot hut or village.

[108] #"Sar' it out"#: deal it