"You shall have a tutor, sir, who knows Greek."

"A knowledge of history and of geography is indispensable, as well as a smattering of physics; but I insist above everything that he knows his own tongue, and that he has experience of the world: he must have the appearance of a well-bred man, for he is to sit at my table." I will look out for one, sir."

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"Mathematics must not be unknown to him, as well as drawing, were it only to enable him to follow the lessons of the masters. A certificate to good character is of the first necessity, you will agree with me."

"Oh! it is essential."

"A pleasant disposition; polite, without any temper; a man who knows when to speak and when to keep silent; this is what is wanted.' "You are perfectly right."

"Then I won't be sorry, when a concert is given at my house, if he knows how to take up a violin, to play his part, so much the more that he will be able to overlook the musicmaster. You understand?"

"Yes, sir, perfectly."

"My son is to travel; it is, then, absolutely necessary that this tutor can teach him at least English, Italian, and German."

"Your son will go, then, to London, to Rome, to Vienna?"

"Certainly, sir, that is why I require that the tutor of my son knows how to ride in case of need, how to fence, and how to draw a little, that he may bring back from his journey (of which I will pay the expenses) some sketches of Swiss or of Italian scenery, and the principal monuments of the large towns.”

"I will endeavour to find one who possesses this talent."

“He will not want letters of recommendation; and since people, just now, are speaking a great deal about politics, it will be necessary, for his own advantage, that he is well informed upon the interests of the different Powers."

"You are right, sir; that will be a new kind of recreation for this young man.”

"I don't exactly wish to have a poet in my house, sir; I would like him to know how to write some verses for the birthday of my wife, an adorable woman."

“If he is amiable he will do it with pleasure.”

"I was forgetting to tell you, sir, that having remarked that tutors write very badly, I insist that the tutor of my son has a good style of writing, so that he may direct his from an early age. Arithmetic as a matter of course, since we have agreed that he should know algebra.”

"But what age would you like him to be to know all that?"

"Twenty-five years old, neither younger nor

older."

"To recognise, sir, the esteem that I will have for such a man, whom you honour by your choice, I will give him, besides his board, six hundred francs (£24) per annum."

At those words I rose, saying to him with the greatest coolness imaginable:

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I will look out, sir, for such a man; and if I find him, I will not fail to send him to you."

END OF PART SECOND.

PART III.

CXLVI.

SUGAR.

Dick, Lubin, Matty, and Nelly, at breakfast.

Dick.

Hollo! stop, Master Lubin; put down these sugar-tongs, if you please. You have had four lumps of sugar already, and if you go on at that rate you will grow as fat as a little porpoise! Lubin.

Why should I grow so fat?

Dick.

Because it is the property of sugar to fatten. It is said that the negroes, when employed in cutting sugar canes, live entirely on the produce for the time, and grow quite plump on the sweets!

Nelly.

I suppose that in the British Islands we use as much sugar as tea.

Dick.

More; a great deal more.

Matty.

Think of all the sugar used in preserves

Lubin.

Tarts, puddings, jellies, and hundreds of other things.

Dick.

It is said that we consume sugar at the rate of thirty-seven pounds weight a-head during the year; but I am sure, my good Lubin, that you have a hundred-weight at least for your share.

Nelly.

What a quantity must be eaten in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales!

Dick.

Enough, if packed in tea-chests, to make a row thirteen hundred and eighty-five miles long. That would nearly reach from Ireland to Newfoundland across the great Atlantic!

Nelly.

Where does all the sugar come from?

Dick.

A great deal comes from the West Indies, some from the continent of America, some from our own possessions in India.