| 524 | 525 | 526 | 527 | 528 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
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down that they reared a family; because any propagation of goodness
and benevolence is no small addition to the aristocracy of nature, and
no small subject of rejoicing for mankind at large.
The pony preserved his character for independence and principle
down to the last moment of his life; which was an unusually long one,
and caused him to be looked upon, indeed, as the very Old Parr of
ponies. He often went to and fro with the little phaeton between Mr
Garland's and his son's, and, as the old people and the young were
frequently together, had a stable of his own at the new establishment,
into which he would walk of himself with surprising dignity. He
condescended to play with the children, as they grew old enough to
cultivate his friendship, and would run up and down the little
paddock with them like a dog; but though he relaxed so far, and
allowed them such small freedoms as caresses, or even to look at his
shoes or hang on by his tail, he never permitted any one among them
to mount his back or drive him; thus showing that even their
familiarity must have its limits, and that there were points between
them far too serious for trifling.
He was not unsusceptible of warm attachments in his later life, for
when the good bachelor came to live with Mr Garland upon the
clergyman's decease, he conceived a great friendship for him, and
amiably submitted to be driven by his hands without the least
resistance. He did no work for two or three years before he died, but
lived in clover; and his last act (like a choleric old gentleman) was to
kick his doctor.
Mr Swiveller, recovering very slowly from his illness, and entering into
the receipt of his annuity, bought for the Marchioness a handsome
stock of clothes, and put her to school forthwith, in redemption of the
vow he had made upon his fevered bed. After casting about for some
time for a name which should be worthy of her, he decided in favour
of Sophronia Sphynx, as being euphonious and genteel, and
furthermore indicative of mystery. Under this title the Marchioness
repaired, in tears, to the school of his selection, from which, as she
soon distanced all competitors, she was removed before the lapse of
many quarters to one of a higher grade. It is but bare justice to Mr
Swiveller to say, that, although the expenses of her education kept
him in straitened circumstances for half a dozen years, he never
slackened in his zeal, and always held himself sufficiently repaid by
the accounts he heard (with great gravity) of her advancement, on his
monthly visits to the governess, who looked upon him as a literary
gentleman of eccentric habits, and of a most prodigious talent in
quotation.
In a word, Mr Swiveller kept the Marchioness at this establishment
until she was, at a moderate guess, full nineteen years of age - good-
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