sit still and say nothing without bidding me be merry. When the
gentlemen of the country come to see him, he only shews me at a
distance: As I have been walking in his fields, I have observed them
stealing a sight of me over an hedge, and have heard the Knight desiring
them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at.

I am the more at ease in Sir ROGER'S family, because it consists of
sober and staid persons; for, as the Knight is the best master in the
world, he seldom changes his servants; and as he is beloved by all about
him, his servants never care for leaving him; by this means his
domesticks are all in years, and grown old with their master. You would
take his valet de chambre for his brother, his butler is gray-headed,
his groom is one of the gravest men that I have ever seen, and his
coachman has the looks of a privy-counsellor. You see the goodness of
the master even in the old house-dog, and in a gray pad that is kept in
the stable with great care and tenderness, out of regard to his past
services, though he has been useless for several years.

I could not but observe, with a great deal of pleasure, the joy that
appeared in the countenance of these ancient domesticks upon my friend's
arrival at his country-seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears
at the sight of their old master; every one of them pressed forward to
do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not employed.
At the same time the good old Knight, with a mixture of the father and
the master of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own affairs
with several kind questions relating to themselves. This humanity and
good-nature engages every body to him, so that when he is pleasant upon
any of them, all his family are in good humour, and none so much as the
person whom he diverts himself with: On the contrary, if he coughs, or
betrays any infirmity of old age, it is easy for a stander-by to observe