iving the needle through the
claith, he brogs it through his ain thumb--then, fient a hair care they;
but, standing beside a ranting, roaring, parrot-coal fire, in a white
apron and a gingham jacket, they pour sauce out of ae pan into another,
to suit the taste of my Lord this, and my Lady that, turning, by their
legerdemain, fish into fowl, and fowl into flesh; till, in the long run,
man, woman, and wean, a' chew and champ away, without kenning more what
they are eating than ye ken the day ye'll dee, or whether the Witch of
Endor wore a demity falderal, or a manco petticoat."

"Weel," cried Nanse, half rising to go ben the house, "I'll sit nae
langer to hear ye gabbling nonsense like a magpie. Mak' Benjie what ye
like; but ye'll mak' me greet the een out o' my head."

"Hooly and fairly," said I; "Nanse, sit still like a woman, and hear me
out;" so, giving her a pat on the shouther, she sat her ways down, and I
resumed my discourse.

"Ye've heard, gudewife, from Benjie's own mouth, that he has made up his
mind to follow out the trade of a gentleman;--who has put such outrageous
notions in his head I'm sure I'll not pretend to guess at. Having never
myself been above daily bread, and constant work--when I could get it--I
dare not presume to speak from experience; but this I can say, from
having some acquaintances in the line, that, of all easy lives, commend
me to that of a gentleman's gentleman. It's true he's caa'd a flunky,
which does not sound quite the thing; but what of that? what's in a name?
pugh! it does not signify a bawbee--no, nor that pinch of snuff: for, if
we descend to particulars, we're all flunkies together, except his
Majesty on the throne.--Then William Pitt is his flunky--and half the
house of Commons are his flunkies, doing what he bids them, right or
wrong, and no daring to disobey orders, not for the hair in their
heads--then the Earl waits on my Lord Duke--Sir Something waits on my
Lord Somebody--and his tenant, Mr So-and-so, waits on him--and Mr So-and-
so has his butler--and the butler has his flunky--and the shoeblack
brushes the flunky's jacket--and so on. We all hang at one another's
tails like a rope of ingans--so ye observe, that any such objection in
the sight of a philosopher like our Benjie, would not weigh a straw's
weight.

"Then consider, for a moment--just consider, gudewife--what company a
flunky is every day taken up with, standing behind the chairs, and
helping to clean p