Little Britain.

neighbours would gather together , and go on a gipsy party to Epping Forest . It would have done any man ' s heart good to see the merriment that took place here , as we banqueted on the grass under the trees . How we made the woods ring with bursts of laughter at the songs of little Wagstaff and the merry undertaker ! After dinner , too , the young folks would play at blind-man ' sbuff and hide-and-seek ; and it was amusing to see them tangled among the

briars , and to hear a fine romping girl now and then squeak from among the bushes . The elder folks would gather round the cheesemonger and the apothecary , to hear them talk politics ; for they generally brought out a newspaper in their pockets , to pass away time in the country . They would now and then , to be sure , get a little warm in argument ; but their disputes were always adjusted by reference to a worthold umbrella-maker in a double chin

y , who , never exactly comprehending the subject , managed , somehow or other , to decide in favour of both parties . All empires , however , says some philosopher or historian , are doomed to changes and revolutions . Luxury and innovation creep in ; factions arise ; and families now and then spring up whose ambition and intrigues throw the whole system into confusion . Thus in latter days has the tranquillity of

Little Britain been greviously disturbed , and its golden simplicity of manners threatened with total subversion , by the aspiring family of a retired butcher . The famil y of the Lambs had long been among the most thriving and popular in the neighbourhood . The Miss Lambs were the belles of ' Little Britain , ancl everybody was pleased when old Lamb had made money enough to shut up shopand put his name on a brass late on his door . In an evil

, p hour , however , one of the Miss Lambs had the honour of being a lady in attendance on the Lacl y Mayoress at her grand annual ball , on which occasion she wore three towering ostrich feathers on her head . The family never got over it ; they were immediatel y smitten with a passion for high life ; set up

a one-horse carriage , put a bit of gold lace round the errand-boy ' s hat , and have been the talk and detestation of the whole nei ghbourhood ever since . They could no longer be induced to play at Pope-Joan or blind-man ' s-buff ; they could endure no dances but quadrilles , which nobody had ever heard of in Little Britain ; and they took to reading novels , talking bad French , and playing upon the piano . Their brother , too , who had been articled to an

attorney , set up for a dandy and a critic , characters hitherto unknown in these parts ; and he confounded the worth y folks exceedingly by talking about . Kean , the Opera , and the Edinbro' Review . What was still worse , the Lambs gave a grand ball , to which they neglected to invite any of their old neighbours ; but they had a great deal of genteel company from Theobald's Road , Red Lion Square , ancl other parts towards

the west . There were several beaux of their brother ' s acquaintance from Gray ' s Inn Lane and Hatton Garden ; and not less than three Aldermens ' ladies with their daughters . This was not to be forgotten or forgiven . All Little Britain was in an uproar with the smacking of whips , the lashing of miserable horses , ancl the rattling ancl jingling of hackney coaches . The gossips of the neighbourhood might be seen popping their night-caps out at

every window , watching the crazy vehicles rumble by ; and there was a knot of virulent old cronies that kept a look-out from a house just opposite the retired butcher ' s , and scanned and criticized every one that knocked at the door . This dance was a cause of almost open war , and the whole neighbourhood declared they would have nothing more to say to the Lambs . It is true that Mrs . Lambwhen she had no engagements with her qualitacquaintance

, y , would give little humdrum tea junketings to some of her old cronies , "quite , " as she would say , " in a friendly way ; " and it is equally true that her invitations were always accepted , in spite of all previous vows to the contrary . Nay , the good ladies would sit and be delighted with the music of the Miss Lambs , who would condescend to thrum an Irish melody for them on the