Weduwe Weegschaal, or Juffrouw Weegschaal, the widow of a Schiedam fisherman, who had perished at sea in his own herring-buss. Finding herself possessed of a little property, and being of a shrewd, active, money-getting disposition, she had attached herself to the court for the purpose of speculating upon its necessities. Whenever they alighted, after their different flights, it was her first care to engage a handsome house, in which she boarded and lodged such of the cavaliers as could afford her terms, which were tolerably high, and of which she always exacted payment in advance. To an old customer, however, whom she had reason to believe tolerably safe, she would occasionally grant credit, never forgetting to make him pay handsome smart-money for the accommodation. By diligently pursuing this profitable trade, by not being at all fastidious as to the purposes to which her house was occasionally applied by the King and others, and by making now

and then judicious advances to some of the needy nobility upon good security, the Juffrouw Weegschaal was supposed to have realized a handsome sum, though she was always complaining of bad debts, and making a profession of poverty. Such a personage was not only an indispensable appendage to such a court, but being a buxom and rather comely widow, "fair, fat, and forty," who was cheerful in her address, loved a glass whenever she could get it for nothing, and had once in a frolic been kissed by the King, she became a favourite butt with some of the more gambolsome courtiers, for those practical jokes and that licentious language which were always so acceptable to their dissipated master.

In the house which this accommodating dame had secured at Bruges, did Sir John take up his quarters, well pleased with his hostess on account of the claret she supplied, which he pronounced to be the best he had tasted since his

ejection from Brambletye. For lack of better recreation, and as a solace to his misfortunes, he betook himself to his favourite beverage, with an ardour which brought him to the bottom of his purse before he had half slaked his thirst; and notwithstanding the fine lessons of economy which he had so lately preached up to Jocelyn, he took no pains whatever to adapt his mode of living to his circumstances. For reasons best known to herself, the widow gave him credit; and her lodger had already become so far infected by the manners of the court, that so long as he could be gratified by sensual indulgences, he cared not a jot at whose cost they were obtained. Thus matters continued, until he had become indebted to some extent, though he knew not how much. On awakening one morning, after an over-night's supper of unusually deep potations, in which the widow had kindly participated, he was astonished to find her sitting by his bed-side, holding a handkerchief to her

eyes, trying to pump up a sob, complaining that she was a ruined woman, and asking Sir John how he could have the baseness to seduce an innocent unsuspecting creature, who had already proved herself the best friend he had in the world, by supporting him, when nobody else would advance him a stiver. Poor Sir John protested his sorrow for whatever had taken place, of which, however, he entertained no distinct recollection; laid the whole blame upon the claret, which he maintained to be half brandy, very different from his usual beverage; and finally suggested, that under existing circumstances they could not do better than continue an intimacy which had been so auspiciously commenced.

To this overture, after a becoming number of remonstrances, objections and difficulties, the tender-hearted widow yielded an apparently reluctant assent, and from that day a liaison commenced between them, of which the object on

the part of the widow will be presently developed, and to which the inducement on the side of the baronet, was the habitual indolence with which he yielded to circumstances, and the hope of obtaining a landlady who would continue to supply him with claret, without the disagreeable ceremony of calling for the reckoning. For various reasons he wished to keep this affaire du cœur a secret from the young courtiers, of whose boisterous raillery he stood in awe; but it was presently detected, to the great glee of the wags and buffoons, who christened him the new Sir John Falstaff in Love, and quizzed his amour and his inamorata with profuse ribaldry and egregious mirth. To the great relief of the baronet, he was befriended in this emergency by the King, who very seriously avowed his admiration of the generalship which had continued to unite three such indispensable comforts as a hostess, a mistress, and a money-lender, in one and