Though I look old, I am strong and lusty : Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, The young master's admiration of such conduct is thus touchingly spoken: O good old man; how well in thee appears This renews the old man's devotedness: Master, go on; and I will follow thee, We scarcely know how to express our admiration of this scene. Its morality is suited to all the ties that bind master and servant, and servant and master. Although it is but a scene in a play, and may never have actually occurred, Shakspeare drew so closely from nature, that the lesson is as perfect as though we were assured of its being a fact. But, let us proceed to fact. * As You Like It, act ii. sc. 3. Goldsmith, whose delightful Essays you have probably read or heard of, says, "If a person may judge, who has seen the world, our English servants are the best treated, because the generality of our English gentlemen are the politest under the sun." In proof of this observation, we need only step into our own churchyard, and there we shall be sure to find some memorial of a faithful servant; though, probably, an epitaph may be the only record of his useful life. Robert Dodsley, who rose from being footman to the Hon. Mr. Lowther to become a bookseller in Pall Mall, may probably be in your recollection. He was a man of genius, and, while in service, he wrote some verses, which were praised by Pope, the celebrated poet; and he likewise wrote the Economy of Human Life, a little book of maxims, which we especially recommend to the notice of all concerned in self-improvement. There is an anecdote told which places his character in an amiable light, by showing that after he had risen in the world, he was not ashamed of his former condition in life. One day, when his friend Pope happened, in conversing with him, to mention a certain individual celebrated for the good table he kept," I knew him well," said Dodsley, "I was his servant." Dodsley lived and died respected. He was buried in the churchyard of Durham Cathedral, where is an altar-tomb to his memory; the inscription upon which, as follows, was written by a professor, at Oxford: If you have any respect In which are interred the Remains Mr. Robert Dodsley: Who, as an author, raised himself And without learned education : September 23, 1764, in the 61st year of his age. Upon a tombstone of a churchyard in Warwickshire is the following: "Here lieth the body of Joseph Batte, confidential servant to George Birch, Esq. of Hampstead Hall. His grateful friend and master caused this inscription to be written in memory of his discretion, fidelity, diligence, and continence: he died (a bachelor), aged eighty-four, having lived forty-four years in the same family." A stone in Eltham churchyard bears the following: "Here lie the remains of Mr. James Tappy, who departed this life on the 8th of September, 1818, aged eighty-four, after a faithful service of sixty years in one family; by each individual of which he lived respected, and died lamented by the sole survivor." In the church of King's Swinford, Staffordshire, is a stone tablet, erected by Joseph Scott, Esq. and his wife, in memory of Elizabeth Harrison, who had been thirty years in their service, and had conducted herself with such integrity, and anxiety for her master's interests, as drew from him the following epitaph: "While flattering praises from oblivion save The rich, and splendour decorates the grave, Let this plain stone, O Harrison! proclaim Thy humble fortune, and thy honest fame. In work unwearied, labour knew no endIn all things faithful, every where a friend: Herself forgot, she toil'd with generous zeal, And knew no interest but her master's weal. 'Midst the rude storms that shook his ev'ning day, No wealth could bribe her, and no power dismay; Her patrons' love she dwelt on e'en in death, And dying, blest them with her latest breath. She departed this life, June 19, 1797, aged fifty years. Farewell, thou best of servants-may the tear That sorrow trickled o'er thy parting bier, Prove to thy happy shade our fond regard, And all thy virtues find their full reward." In some instances, faithful servants have been buried beside the tombs of the families in which they lived. We find memorials of two persons who had lived and grown old in the service of the Merry family, recorded thus: "Sacred to the memory of Mrs. E. Meredith, who died 26th November, 1829, aged seventy-six years. The above lived fifty-six years housekeeper to the Merry family, who are interred in the adjoining vault. Amongst these silent mansions of the dead, A valued old domestic rests her head; That mends the soul, and opens wide the heart; With virtues that no malice could offend, The safest guide and the sincerest friend; "Here lieth the body of Charles Reeves, who was servant in Captain Merry's family upwards of fifty years. Died September 25th, 1770, aged seventy-eight." Upon a tablet in Wimbledon church, Surrey: "To the memory of John Marteno, a gardener, a native of Portugal, who cultivated here, with industry and success, the same ground under three masters (a Mr. Bish, who brought him from Portugal, Bish Richards, Esq. and Sir Henry Banks, Knt.) forty years. Though skilful and experienced, he was modest and unassuming; and though faithful to his masters, and with reason esteemed, he was kind to his fellow-servants, and was therefore beloved. His family and neighbours lamented his death, as he was a careful husband, a tender father, and an honest man. This character is given to posterity by his late master willingly, because deservedly, as a lasting testimony of his great regard for so good a servant. He died March 30, 1760; aged sixty-six years." In some respects a more interesting memorial than any yet described, remains to be noticed. This is a neat tablet on the wall of the great cloisters of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and bears the following inscription: King George III. Near this place the body of Servant to the late Princess Amelia, |