She prided

GOLDSMITH.

THE OLD HOUSEKEEPER.

BY ALICE.

LOOKING forth from the narrow casement of the three-pair-of-stairs attic in which we are wont to take refuge when the scribbling fit is upon us, our eyes rest on the turrets of an old castle, one of the proudest of the ancestral homes of England; and, while busy memory soon carries us back to that sunny period of our own existence, its earliest youth, when we had used to wander beneath the stately oaks that encompass it, and pause, ever and anon, to gaze on its iron bound portals and frowning battlements, we find them all associated with the image of one who is still ever ready cheerfully to greet us, and who seems herself a part and parcel of that ancient building-so long, so intimate has been her connexion with it. Yes, many and very pleasant are the reminiscences created by a perusal of those pages of our journal which are devoted to the Old Housekeeper, and the hours we have spent ensconced in her old leather chair, listening to tales of other days, when the great, the gay, the young, of a generation almost forgotten, congregated there, and lived and laughed, and hoped as we do now: never sure was leather chair so easy-never were tales so worthy of repetition; the narrator, too, her form, her dress, her blithe and joyous nature, imparting a tinge of its own bright hue to every thing around her shall we ever, when she has passed away, for she has already reached that period of human life which borders on the very verge of the grave, shall we ever again gaze on so mild a countenance--one so beautiful, even in age, that the gazer is apt to wonder what it must have been in youth? That it was then an almost perfect specimen of rustic loveliness, there is little doubt, for dearly the old lady loves to tell, how Lord North, in one of the annual processions of the Brothers of the Trinity House to Greenwich, did, to the exclusion of many richer and better born maidens, cast at her feet the nosegay, which, by establishing her claim to the possession of superior attractions, drew towards her a thousand male eyes, and fixed the serpent tooth of envy in a thousand female bosoms. We love, oh! how we love, to look

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upon her, that Old Housekeeper, as, in dark stuff gown, and snow white apron clad, with simple cap closely plaited over hair of almost equal whiteness, a silver headed walking stick, and, pendant from her side, a huge bunch of keys indicative of her vocation, she walks with hurried yet cautious step from room to room,- -—now giving orders to the busy menials that surround her, and now casting an eager, anxious look on every side to see that all is right; for great is the responsibility of the Housekeeper-from the little room in the topmost turret to the lowest department of the servants offices, all is under her surveillance, and to her every domestic in the establishment is expected to yield obedience; even that highest of all high functionaries, the butler, touches his hat, doubtless out of respect to her sex, as he passes her in the hall; while footmen and housemaids, they of the laundry-the scullery-and the stillroom, look up to her with mingled awe and envy.

Be it, however, here remarked, that our venerable friend differs very materially from the Housekeeper of modern days, whom the artist has selected to hand down to posterity, among the "HEADS OF THE PEOPLE:" the two may, indeed, be classed as individual species of the same genus; but the characteristics that constituted them such, have, in the march of innovation, been nearly lost. Raised through the various gradations of under nurse, upper nurse, and lady's maid, to the important post of "femme de charge," and venturing at every remove to assume something more of the dress and manners of her superiors, she, who holds sway in the mansion of the modern great, can only be distinguished from her mistress by a cap half an inch lower, and a gown half a shade darker; and this outward adornment of her comely person, joined to the comparative usefulness of her appearance, and a certain assumption of superiority founded on their advantages, often exposes her to the charge of being "an upstart," "a nobody," from Housekeepers of the old school. Lively, bustling, and good tempered, except on those days so peculiarly English, when a sunless sky, and a heavy atmosphere, combine to make every one cross, and to cause everything to go wrong, she too may sometimes be an object of envy, but we mistake if she is not entirely defunct in the qualities necessary to inspire any living creature with awe.

But to return to our Housekeeper; for we prefer adhering to our sketch of the species that is, as we fear, rapidly becoming extinct. She, to be seen in the zenith of her glory, should be peeped at to get to speak to her on such an occasion would be out of the question when a large party of noble guests are feasting at her

master's board, for she is a very Caleb Balderstone where the honour of the family is concerned; and who knows not how much that honour, in the present day, depends on the well serving of a dinner-the right arrangement of a table? An air of bustling importance mingled, indeed, with a slight shade of anxiety, is upon her, and she betrays an unusual degree of impatience if her orders are not instantly executed; an expression of self gratulation, however, escapes her as she passes each well ordered dish into the hands of the liveried footmen who wait around, while reiterated directions are given to place the peaches steeped in brandy close to his Grace of for whom they were especially prepared, and to let the glittering and many-coloured orange shavings be set in a strong light. The Housekeeper's room is always a favourite resort with the juvenile visitors at the castle; nor must it be supposed that the fruits and sweetmeats, the cakes and comfits, which its mistress so liberally dispenses, form the only, or even the principal attraction. No, indeed; for there they listen to many a pleasant tale, of which the childhood of their respective parents forms the theme; and many a sincere, if not very devout prayer is breathed, that "the little lords and ladies, God bless 'em, may turn out as good, as great-aye, and as beautiful, too, as their papas and mammas." The worthy old woman, be it observed, is sceptical as to the possibility of their attaining any greater degree of excellence than this. Nor is the Housekeeper's popularity by any means confined to the more youthful among her lord's acquaintance: visitors, of all ranks and ages, frequently look in upon her; and we have actually known a flirtation which commenced in Mrs. Tartlet's room, over a pan of strawberries and cream, to terminate in a lawyer's office, over marriage settlements.

An amicable compact generally exists between the Housekeeper, and the Diner-Out-the latter well knows how and when to pour into willing ears the welcome incense of flattery, and the former is seldom proof against it. The Diner-Out often snatches five minutes before his entrance into the drawing-room to visit the Housekeeper in her own apartment, sometimes merely to enquire after her health, but more frequently to request that she will oblige his cook with a receipt for the manufacture of some favourite dish which he never meets with so good elsewhere: this is, of course, a mere subterfuge, for the Diner-Out, as is well known, keeps no cook.

The Old Housekeeper knows no other world than that which is comprised within the precincts of her Lord's domain-there all her