w a thought on the
transactions of the twelfth century, complain of a doggedness,
selfishness, and case-hardened indifference in the class of domestics,
which kindness cannot penetrate, or penetrates only to pervert. The
relation is therefore a painful one in England. There is little
satisfaction to be obtained between the extremes of servility and
defiance, by which the conduct of servants is almost as distinctly
marked now as when the nation was younger by seven centuries. The
English housewives complain that confidence only makes their maid
servants conceited, and that indulgence spoils them.--In Ireland, the
case is of the same nature, but much aggravated. The injury of having an
aristocracy of foreigners forced on the country, to whom the natives are
to render service, is more recent, and the impression more consciously
retained. The servants are ill-treated, and they yield bad service in
return. It is mournful to see the arrangement of Dublin houses. The
drawing-rooms are palace-like, while the servants' apartments are dark
and damp dungeons. It is wearisome to hear the complaints of the dirt,
falsehood, and faithlessness of Irish servants,--complaints which their
mistresses have ever ready for the ear of the stranger; and it is
disgusting to witness the effects in the household. It is equally sad
and ludicrous to see the mistress of some families enter the breakfast
room, with a loaf of bread under her arm, the butter-plate in one hand,
and a bunch of keys in the other;--to see her cut from the loaf the
number of slices required, and send them down to be toasted,--explaining
that she is obliged to lock up the very bread from the thievery of her
servants, and informing against them as if she expected them to be
worthy of trust, while she daily insults them with the refusal of all
trust,--even to the care of the bread-pan. In Scotland, the case is
widely different. Servitude and clanship are there connected, instead of
servitude and conquest. The service is willing in proportion; and the
faults of domestics are not those common to the oppressed, but rather
those proceeding from pride and self-will. The Scotch domestic has still
the pride in the chief of the name which cherishes the self-respect of
every member of a clan; and in the service of the chief there is
scarcely any exertion which the humblest of his name would not make. The
results are obvious. There is a better understanding between the two
classes than in