"There was now nothing left but the wine-
trade, which, from my father not having
attended to it of late, did not produce so much
as formerly. Such as it was, however, it
furnished the means of employment, and (until
certain debts were paid off) a barely sufficient
sustenance to my younger brother. There
was, therefore, no hope from that quarter.
Besides which, people were in the habit of
saying, 'James has received a splendid
education—a College education—which Charles
has not.' They accordingly aided Charles in
preference to James. Ah! if they had known
now utterly helpless I was. If fifty thousand
pounds had been put into my hands at that
moment, I should not have known what to do
with the sum. Whereas Charles, with business
habits and some knowledge of commercial
matters, might convert a few hundreds into
as many thousands with much more ease than
I could raise the money to pay my butcher's
or my baker's bill.

"At this period, and when nothing short of
downright starvation seemed to be our prospect,
a benevolent peer, who had been a great
patron of my father (and, indeed, of all the
wine-merchants round), came seasonably to
my assistance. Earl Canute was desirous that
his third son, the Honourable Phelim Fitz
Canute should travel abroad for a year
previously to his being entered at Oxford, and
offered me the situation of companion and
tutor to the young man. If I could consent
to part with my wife for so long a time—such
were the terms on which the handsome offer
was made—I should receive five hundred
pounds for my services during the year, with
the certainty of being appointed, on my return,
permanent tutor to the Honourable Phelim,
at Oxford, where of course I could reside.
Such a prospect was too dazzling to be
rejected lightly. Astarté and I compared notes
to see whether we could bear to part with
each other; we found that, upon the whole,
we could. The fact is, that six months after
marriage most husbands and wives are
endowed with wonderful fortitude in this respect;
they have just begun to find out each other's
bad qualities, and have not yet had time to
become accustomed to them. My conscience,
however, compelled me to state to the earl
that I had already attempted to act the part
of tutor, but I failed; that my natural timidity,
a slight impediment which I had at that
time in my speech, and other causes had
operated together to produce this result. His
lordship replied, that that was of no manner
of consequence. He did not mean, by offering
me the post of tutor, to imply that I should
give a regular lesson to his son every day.
There would not, indeed, be any necessity for
Phelim to acquire an extended knowledge of
the classics or mathematics, as the University
would confer upon him an honorary degree in
virtue of his connection with the peerage.
With regard to after-life, it was not intended
to make a Professor or a learned man of him.
On the contrary, he was destined for a Member
of Parliament. My duties would be, therefore,
to regulate his accounts, to see that he formed
no improper connections of any kind, and,
generally, to overlook his conduct and actions,
embraced Astarté (but without any allusion
to Amoebaean odes), and we set off—my pupil,
his valet, and I—for the Continent.

"This pupil of mine, as I soon found out,
was an exceedingly sharp young fellow, and
much better calculated to act the part of
tutor to me than I to him. From his knowing
a little of the French language, and I, of
course (for had I not been Fellow of a
College?) knowing none, he soon contrived
to get the management of accounts into his
own hands. Indeed, I had no clear conception,
at that time, of the process of letters of
credit, by means of which we raised money
in all the principal towns. They were as
full of mystery to me as the words, bill of
exchange, bill of lading, specie, currency,
rate of exchange, and so on, which, not being
obsolete, I was wholly ignorant of. But
though Phelim soon discovered me to be a
fool, I must confess that he behaved very
leniently towards me, sometimes taking me
under his charge for whole days together.
He patronised me in this way, I recollect, at
Pompeii and at Rome, where my classical
knowledge became subservient to his amusement;
and I could tell him of Romulus, and
Julius Caesar, and other persons connected
with the place, whose names he had scarcely
heard before. We journeyed on in this way
for several months, till we came to Baden-
Baden, where we had not been located more
than a few days, when my pupil announced
to me, one morning, at breakfast, his
intention of remaining there for some time
to come. 'You have heard of the great
poet Schiller?' he asked. By a strange
coincidence, I had. 'I have made acquaintance
with his son,' he replied; 'you will see him
presently. He is coming here in about half-
an-hour.'

"In about half-an-hour, accordingly, the son
of the great Schiller made his appearance.
He was, like all the other people, dirty, and
smelling of pipes, which was the only piece of
German statistics that experience had made
me acquainted with.

"'Well!' exclaimed my pupil, as soon as
Schiller had taken a seat. 'I will agree, if
Mr.—has no objection.'

"'To what?' said I.

"'Mr. Schiller, having taken a fancy to me,
has kindly consented to become my instructor
in the German language. With this end in
view, he has invited me to his house for a
few hours every night, to read his father's
works. I suppose you can have no possible
objection.'

"Of course I could not. I was delighted
that such a lucky chance had befallen him.
Breakfast concluded, he and Schiller went
out together.