Page:The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music & Romance 1832.pdf/88

Rh hought he, "I'm not the worst-looking fellow inthe world, and this is not such a bad house neither, and three hundred pounds, and the bake-house, is no trifle." Johnny capered round the room in great glee, and one of his companions coming in at this moment, he embraced him, and said, " Don't you wish me joy?"

"For what?" inquired his friend.

"O I'm so happy!"

"Is it your father's death that pleases you so much?"

"O no! I'm going to be married."

"Indeed ! Who to!"

" Ah, that's a secret ; I han't told her about it yet, but I know she'll have no objection." The next morning found our hero at a neighbouring shop, purchasing a variety of trinkets and clothing, for the decoration of his person. A purple watch-ribbon, a pink silk neck-cloth, and a huge breast-pin which struck him as peculiarly tasty and appropriate, were borne off in triumph ; and these, together with a scarlet velvet waistcoat, of the proper goods and chattels of the late Andrew Anson deceased, which came to the hands of the said John to be administered, were severally arranged in their respective stations ; and the worthy amateur, adorned with a dazzling elegance, to which he had until that time been a stranger, placed his fiddle triumphantly under his arm, and marched boldly to the dwelling of the widow Atherton. It is necessary to explain in this place, that in calling our hero a fiddler, we have never meant to insinuate that he played for money. He was as much above such mercenary considerations, as any other lover of the fine arts. He was an amateur. That delicate discrimination of sound, which enables its happy possessor to arrange the vibrations of coarse strings and fine ones into harmony, and that love of melodious tones and skilful combinations, which distinguish the musician, and ofwhich the writer of this history has not the faintest conception, all belonged to Johnny. He was a welcome visiter at all the parties in the village, because he played cotillions and contra-dances with " accuracy and despatch," and moreover not only rendered such services gratuitously, but with the utmost good humour. Whoever else was omitted, on any such occasion, Mr. Anson was sure to receive a formal card, or a hearty invitation, as the case might require. Of course he was received as an equal in every circle, and had access to the best society in the village ; a privilege which he seldom used, but