CHAPTER VIII.

This the seat

That we must change for heaven? this mournful gloom,

For that celestial light?

MILTON.

THE servant who had been selected to accompany Jocelyn, had been several years in the Burgomaster's family, where he bore the somewhat ludicrous name of Winky Boss, the former being a sobriquet originally applied to him by some of the English clerks, from his odd habit of winking his eyes; and the latter, a nick-name also, of uncertain Dutch origin; but both so naturalised by process of time, as to have completely superseded his baptismal and patronymic appellations. Under a boorish slouching exterior, and a heavy phlegmatic physiognomy, he possessed a good deal of shrewdness and some little humour ; qualities for which no one would have given him credit from a casual observation. His eyes seemed to be the only feature that could express emotion of any sort. Their twinkling was a sure index to his feelings; his fellow

servants being enabled to discover anger in the quickness of the motion and sparkling of the orbs, or laughter in their sleepy leer, while all the rest of his countenance preserved its usual imperturbable phlegm. Like many of his countrymen, he considered his pipe almost a part and parcel of himself; while he stoutly maintained, that owing to the moisture and fogginess of the climate, it was highly salutiferous and desirable to swallow a dram whereever and whensoever it could be obtained. His sobriety, notwithstanding, was unimpeachable : he could drink all day with impunity; you might as well attempt to intoxicate a sponge.

The pony upon which Jocelyn was mounted had so long been accustomed to carry Winky Boss, who was a sort of domestic courier in the family, that it had acquired something of its master's phlegmatical character. Out of the regular bumping jog-trot to which it had been accustomed, but which its present rider held in special abhorrence, it evinced a stubborn resolution not to deviate; and when Jocelyn endeavoured to substitute his own will by a smart application of the whip, the mutinous quadruped gave such a sudden plunge, and then stopped short, that any less expert horseman would have been infallibly shot over its head. As it was, the present rider did not appear likely to gain much by keeping his seat; for the only motion he could prevail upon the little mulish mutineer to adopt was the rotatory, which it increased in velocity in the

same ratio as he redoubled the chastisement. Like a squirrel in a cage, our hero was now in full motion, though making very little advance; and it would have been difficult to pronounce which he was most effectually losing his time or his temper. Any one who could have inspected his attendant's eyes at this spectacle, would have observed five little wrinkles at the corners, as if they were holding their sides with laughter; the orbs glistened all over with a silent chuckle; but as to the varlet himself, he sate looking on, as grave and unmoved as a judge; smoking his pipe, and apparently in no kind of hurry for the conclusion of the discussion.

"How far are we from Dordrecht ?" inquired our hero, out of breath with his exertions, and still performing an involuntary pirouette.

"About three pipes," replied Boss, who had no other idea of mensuration.

"As you are accustomed to this restive and intractable brute," said Jocelyn, "you can perhaps manage him better than myself, and in that case we may as well change horses."

"He is the quietest and the best pony in all Holland," replied Boss: "you may treat him as you like, and make him do what you please, if you only attend to two rules."

"And, prythee, what are these magical secrets,” said Jocelyn, "that are to convert a wrong-headed mule, which seems to have been intended for a live tetotum, into the best pony in all Holland ?”

VOL. II.

20*

"You must never strike him, and you must always let him choose his own pace."

"Then, in fact he is to be the master instead of myself," said Jocelyn. "Ja, mijn heer," replied Boss, "and that will be the better for both of you; for the pace he will choose will be an easy trot, the best adapted for such a long journey as ours, and which he will keep up for a day and night together, when a stronger-looking animal, such as that I am riding, would drop from under you." Dismounting at these words, he went up to the little animal, which was still angrily shaking its ears and circumvolving; and calling to it by the name of Punchinello, it instantly stopped, and, whinnying as it recognised its old rider, held up its head to receive the embraces which he bestowed upon it, with a greater appearance of affection than could have been expected from so lumpish a stoic. Better acquainted now with its peculiar temper, Jocelyn patted and caressed his nag, which instantly fell with alacrity into its regular pace, and both parties continued to jog on for some time with every external sign of amity and reconciliation. This truce, however, was not of long continuance; for, on their shortly afterwards approaching a bridge, the animal suddenly bolted on one side, scrambled down the bank to the stream, where it had occasionally been led to drink by Boss, and, laying itself down in the middle of the current, left Jocelyn to scramble from

its back, and wade to the opposite shore in the best way he could. Fortunately the water was not deep, so that he escaped for a wetting, which was sufficient, however, to render the remainder of his ride uncomfortable.

Winky Boss, in the meantime, had drawn up his heavy Flemish steed on the further side, where, by the help of a full-moon, he sate enjoying the catastrophe, his eyes rolling in laughter, but the rest of his countenance solemn and imperturbable; while the smoke oozed from a little aperture at one corner of his mouth, with its usual regularity of puff.

"Curse you, for a phlegmatical Dutch stockfish!" cried Jocelyn, provoked at his apathy; "have you mounted me upon this perverse and skittish devil, that I might afford you amusement? Is this another customary trick of the best pony in all Holland ?"

"Neen, mijn heer, not customary," replied Boss calmly, "though he served me so once; but that was before I knew him, and when I was fool enough to maltreat him. This is nothing but a little playful bit of revenge; a ducking for a whipping, that 's all. It is his way of crying quits; and I will forfeit my head, which you will please to recollect includes my pipe, if he gives you any further trouble: that is to say, provided you observe the rules."

"And provided also," added Jocelyn, "that we can coax or pelt the brute out of the water, where