it?) know him no more? In the course of
our researches in shop windows, we have
been pained in these degenerate times by an
absence of Skelt's characters and scenes,
and fear that boys' theatres, common in
our youth, are now but rare. Better or
more amusing toy no boy can have,
however; and if paint, gum, and lamp-oil, do
occasionally play havoc with clothes, still,
painting, pasting, and cutting out, have at
any rate, the great advantage of ensuring
quiet in the house— a point of some
importance in a house much blessed with boys.
Our shop in Fairy-street knows Skelt no
more— has gone out of the trade altogether,
as Skelt himself would seem to have done.
It is a small greengrocer's now, with an
open front full of greens and carrots. Alas !
Skelt never dealt in greens and carrots,
except in his celebrated scene of
"Greengrocer's Shop and Lawyer's Office" in the
Pantomime of Harlequin Philip Quarll, and
then the greens and carrots flew up into the
moon, and the moon came down into the
greengrocer's window, and rolled (or ought
to have rolled, but they were always stiff
and wouldn't work) two goggle eyes.

There was a shop in the High-street of
the town in which stands the public school
where we were supposed to be educated,
that was an endless delight to us. Its
proprietor was in the sporting line— the young
gentlemen of the school were at that time
of a sporting turn— and combined the arts
of taxidermy with a little ratting, a little
pigeon flying, and (our later wisdom
suggests) a good deal of poaching. Stuffed
animals, which we then thought marvels
of life-like art, adorned the windows of this
little shop. The celebrated dog Jimmy,
holding in his mouth a rat of which he
appeared entirely unconscious, gazed at us
blandly from behind the glass of his little
wooden case; and if it were too obvious that
Jimmy's eyes were the products of art and
not of nature, yet his skin was beautifully
smooth and his teeth were highly satisfactory.
Birds, of all sizes and colours, stalked
or hovered, behind other glasses, in
attitudes eminently impossible, and were
eagerly bought up by the young gentlemen
with a view to the adornment of their
rooms. The fish were not so gratifying;
they were very horny and varnishy; but we
were always pleased with the ingenious
devices of the artist for conveying to our
minds the idea that the rigid monster was
still lithely disporting himself in his native
element. A little sand, a pebble or two,
three or four rushes, and some faint blue
lines painted at the back of the box, and
there you were ! The bottom of the river
to the life ! There was a little yard behind
this shop where were kept rats, owls,
dormice, and other small deer charming to the
boyish mind. Some of the young gentlemen
who were possessed of dogs, used to
keep them, as it were at livery, here— not
being allowed to keep them in masters'
houses— and used to bring their friends here
to behold their dogs kill rats : a feat they
never accomplished in our time. In a corner
was kept for some years an aged badger in a
tub, who was intended to be periodically
drawn, but who invariably declined the
honour, and who, dying, full of years, after
we had venerated him for but a few terms,
was stuffed and placed (very unlike
himself) in the window, to the admiration of
all beholders.

Almost next door to this shop was another
shop, more delightful than any. It was
almost dangerous to look into; it was
quite dangerous to go into. It was a smart
little tobacconist's. Cigars of, as we now
suppose, surprising badness were temptingly
displayed in all directions, relieved
by pipes, tobacco-jars, pouches, match-
boxes, and the various little requirements
of the smoker. We all smoked at our seat
of learning: more, because it was a high
crime and misdemeanour than because we
liked it, inasmuch as most of us certainly
didn't like it. It was the fashion to obtain
the materials here. Moreover, there was a
spice of danger about laying in stores at
this establishment which was irresistible.
It had to be done circumspectly, and with
mysterious precautions. Masters might be
hovering about; we might be detected. It
was very delightful, and there was even a
fearful pleasure in gazing in at the window,
keeping, with a delicious sense of guilt, a
sharp look out for the possible advent of
the authorities. The windows of the " sock"
shops were very attractive, and much of our
time was passed in contemplating the jam
tarts, the buns, and the various other articles
with which we proposed to go on with the
work of ruining our digestions, so soon as
Smith major should pay us back that shilling,
or we could borrow sixpence from
Brown maximus, or persuade the proprietor
to extend our tick. A sock shop, be it understood,
is a confectioner's. There was one
of these establishments which all " our
fellows" regarded with secret awe. It was
not in our town, but was up the hill in
Royalborough across the river. Through
its windows we contemplated every kind of