up to modern times ; that is to say, geologically
speaking, to the Deluge : then, taking
good heart, and nerving ourselves for a long
pull, and a strong pull, we row gallantly into
'51, and to within sight of Saint Paul's.

THE BOHEMIAN SCHOOLMASTER

HERR HOLUB was the sub-tutor of our village
school in Bohemia. He dwells in my recollection
as the thundering Jove, the Frederic
Lemaire, and the wizard Jacobs of my boyhood.
He was engaged as second and extraordinary
usher to Herr Melitka, the schoolmaster of
our parish, and his lodging and board were
found for him, because Herr Melitka was
too old, too fat, and too rich to exert
himself. The instruction, moral and religious
training, of our youths devolved on Herr
Holub, and his superior in office, the chief
usher.

Herr Holub had the use of an attic in the
school-house; but in summer he was bound
to divide it with the grass and clover for the
Frau Schulmeisterin's goat: cabbage and
potatoes were chummed upon him, in
autumn, winter, and throughout the year. The
second usher's " chamber " was considered
as the airiest, and most eligible place to dry
the household linen. On Saturdays, Herr
Holub's attic became the orchestra of the
village-musicians, for their rehearsals of sacred
music for Sunday morning, and of waltzes and
gallops for the ball on Sunday afternoon.
Herr Holub took his meals with the family;
but while the family had good coffee, Herr
Holub and the chief usher were regaled with
a decoction of carrots, barley, and chicory.
At the dinner table, Herr Holub had soup,
boiled beef, and vegetables; but the appearance
of the " Braten," or roast, was the signal
for his leaving the table. As for supper, the
Frau Schulmeisterin was of opinion that a
sub-usher had no claim whatever to the
honours of that convivial meal. An allowance
of two candles a month in summer, and
of the same number per week in winter, was
made to Herr Holub, and in December and
January a few logs of wood were daily thrown
into the black furnace of his brick stove. Thus
fed, enlightened, and warmed, he was cheered
by the hope of advancing in the course of
years to the dignity and emolument of a chief
ushership; to the sole and undivided
possession of an attic, the addition of "Braten"
to his dinner, and the enjoyment of a glass of
beer and a sandwich for supper, in addition to
a stipend of thirty florins, in notes, per annum.*

* The repudiation of the Austrian Debt, in 1811, has
created a fictitious currency of " Gulden Schein." Thirty
florins in notes are equal to about twenty florins in the
current coin of the realm, or two pounds in English money.

It is, however, self-evident that hope,
though it might sustain Herr Holub, could
not provide him with raiment. Nor are ushers,
in this our time, like the lilies of the field. It
is true that Herr Holub's bass voice was in
request at burials ; but seasons of general
and pestilential diseases are few and far
between; and the worthy usher was compelled
to look out for various sources of gain to
defray the expenses which his position in
society, as one of the Honoratiores of the
village, entailed upon, him. Waistcoats,
tobacco, a pinch of snuff now and then,
and a Sunday coat, were objects for the
attainment of which Herr Holub exerted all
his ingenuity. He conducted the correspondence
among the illiterate in our own and
the neighbouring village. He wrote the
letters of maid-servants to their mothers or
lovers; of parents to their daughters who
were out in service, or to their sons and their
grandsons in Poland or Hungary; he made
petitions, reclamations, and protests, to the
various authorities which decided on the
fates of Bohemian villagers; and he used to
boast, that his pen found him not only in
tobacco, but in boots also. He was, moreover,
a musician, and a performer on almost any
instrument, from the fiddle down to the
trumpet. His performances at church were,
of course, part of his duty. For these Herr
Melitka was paid; but on Sunday evenings
he used to play the clarionet to the dances of
the villagers, whenever they requested and
paid for his services.

But to think that the respected instructor
of my youth laboured solely for the mere
lucre of gain, would be doing him grievous
wrong indeed. That praiseworthy
perseverance which enabled him to eke out, not
only the bare necessities, but the decencies,
also, of life, by dint of his multifarious avocations,
inspired him to practise the arts of
penmanship and music, wholly irrespective of
the sordid considerations of "groschen und
kreutzer." He copied and re-copied the notes
which he had made of the lectures in the
training-school at Prague, until his manuscripts
were wonder-works of neatness and elegance;
and the " True Correspondence for Lovers,"
which he found in the book-case of the Herr
Amtmann, and which he forthwith proceeded
to borrow, was, in the course of a few months,
converted into a manuscript which would have
done honour to any monk of the twelfth
century. His studies in the science of music
were equally unremitting, but not equally
noiseless—to the disgust of the Frau
Schulmeisterin, who hinted that nothing could be
more unpleasant and heathenish than fiddle-
practice at that witching hour of night when
all good Christians ought to be asleep.

In the midst of these various occupations,
it is almost a marvel that Herr Holub should
have found leisure from time to time to
promenade the main street of our village, and by
a judicious course of bowing and scraping,
to conciliate the good-will of the wealthier
and more influential of its inhabitants. His
ulterior objects were, firstly, the acquisition
of private pupils, and, secondly, the
discovery of a being, amidst the female