y think; Ranger Gernau sends me word, that yesterday the
news arrived, that my brother has been made a Privy Counsellor.

_Clar._ Privy Counsellor?--hem!--Curse that iron merchant, that--

_Fred._ He is now the first man in this town.

_Clar._ Take money! sell privileges! (walks up and down.) It is
impossible! Father and mother are honest people; he has been sent to
church and school, never saw any thing amiss in us; no, nothing amiss
in all his life-time. We have worked hard day after day; never indulged
ourselves with breakfast or bagging,[1] that he might have every
requisite, that we might spend on him as much as ever we could afford.
And now, he is got up so high, and is one of those that rule the
country, that now he should be worse than I would suffer a 'prentice
boy to be, that I employ in my yard! Oh! if that be so, Lord take him
or me, for I cannot bear it, either in this world or in the next! [Exit.

[Footnote 1: _Bagging_, in the North of England, is the common
expression for a meal taken between dinner and supper. And, as it
perfectly expresses the meaning of the German _vesperbrod_, I thought
myself authorized to adopt it here; particularly as _tea_, in the mouth
of a character, like carpenter Clarenbach, would appear preposterous.
The antiquaries of Yorkshire and Lancashire derive the word _bagging_
from the old custom of carrying bread and cheese in a bag, in the
afternoon, to the labourers in the fields; and this derivation is not
altogether improbable. _Translator._]

_Fred._ I do not understand a word of all this. What does he mean?

SCENE VII.

Enter GERNAU.

_Gern._ Good morrow, Frederica!

_Fred._ Why so ruffled? Is that your welcome, after having kept out of
the way for two days together?

_Gern._ Things grow worse and worse, between your brother and me, every
day.

_Fred._ Why so?

_Gern._ He would have me do things which I neither can, must, nor will
do.

SCENE VIII.

Enter CLARENBACH.

_Clar._ Jack a Privy Counsellor, you say?

_Fred._ Gernau says so.

_Gern._ His diploma arrived yesterday.

_Clar._ He has not mentioned it to me.

_Fred._ He will most certainly come to day.

_Clar._ But could he wait till to day?

_Fred._ Who knows but he wishes to surprise us?

_Clar._ He is going to be married too.

_Fred._ M