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Leader (1850-1860), 13th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 380

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      We should dp our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages iteelf ,-

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      THE UNSEEN WITNESS . ( LEAVES FROM A JOURNAL KEPT BY No . 3 IN OUB , STREET . ) By CATHERINE CROWE , AUTHOR OF " SUSAN HOPI-EY , " " I-ILY DAWSON , " " NIGHTSIDB OP NATURE , " &C .

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      I remember it was early in the month of October , 1846 , when the new tenants arrived . They came in a hackney coach , with a trunk , and a bonnetbox , and a portmanteau , and looked like travellers . The lady was a pretty , fair creature , with light hair and blue eyes , and appeared to be scarcely twenty . The gentleman was young and fair too ; tall and stoutly made , with rather full features ; but not ill-looking either . He handed her very tenderly out of the coach , and I soon learnt that they were lately married , and had just returned from their wedding trip .

      There had been for some weeks previously an amazing influx of mops , and brooms , and scrubbing-brushes , followed by an irruption of carpenters , locksmiths , and upholsterers , so that I was as neat and clean as a new pin ; and , with the tea-things on the table , and a bright fire in the parlour grate , everything looked as comfortable and cheering as heart could desire ; and my mistress seemed to think so . She said she should have a great deal to do , however , at first , to get things into order ; and very busy she was for some days , unpacking several boxes which had arrived before , arranging their contents in the drawers , looking over the house-linen , writing inventories , and giving directions to her two maids . It was pleasant to see her , she went so earnestly about it , and had evidently taken such a grave view of the

      importance of her new duties . " This will be a happier family than my last inhabitants , " thought I , and I looked to see matters run so smoothly that I should have little to record , especially as I heard Mr . Joddrell announce his determination that they should be very happy indeed . 15 th . When everything was arranged , Mrs . Joddrell took her husband over the house to show him how orderly and convenient it was ; and then , having nothing more to do , she sat down to enjoy herself , and net a purse of scarlet silk , varying her occupation occasionally with a sonata on the pianoforte .

      Now she is twirling round the room to the sound of her own voice . Merry creature ! And now she ' a watching at the window for her husband ' s return . How glad she looks when she sees him turn the corner , and with what a light foot she runs down stairs to meet him ! He throws his arm round her waist , and accompanies her to the drawing-room , and she sits upon his knee and asks him what he has been doing . " At the office all

      day , " he says ; sad arrears of work from his month ' s holiday—must labour hard to bring them up—fears he will not be able to get an hour to walk out and show her a little of London before Sunday , poor thing ! That ' s a pity He says she ' s too young and pretty to walk the streets alone ; besides , being a stranger , she'd lose herself , and , if she asked anybody her way , Heaven knows into what perils they might lead her . She asked if she might not walk in the Parks ; but he says that would be worse still .

      After dinner she sits upon his knee again , with her arm round his neck , whilst he sips his glass of sherry , and they talk over their marriage trip . How ill he was on boad the packet , and how hungry she was at Calais How nice the bouilli was at Dessin ' s , and how pleasant it was in the coupe * of the diligence ! And , then , those delightful Tuilleries gardens , and the dinner in the Palais Royal , and the ice at Tortoni ' s ! What fun it all was ! And the Tivoli gardens too ! That was delightful to be sure ! Pity people are not so merry and

      fond of dancing in England ! But Mr . Joddrell shakes his head and says that that sort of thing wouldn't do in this country . She asks why ? and he says , because it wouldn ' t suit the people ; whereupon she asks why it wouldn ' t suit them ? and he answers , because it ' s contrary to their habits . Mrs . Joddrell says , she is very sorry for it , and that it would suit her habits extremely well ; but in default of Tivoli , she must content herself with going up stairs to make tea , and leaves the room after giving him a kiss , and warning him not to go to sleep , but make haste and follow her .

      After tea he asks her to play him a tune—she plays Pleyell ' s Sonata dedicated to the Queen—but Mr . Joddrell , tired with his day ' s work , falls asleep before she has finished it , and professes a desire to go early to bed—which they do—pleasant dreams to them ! 18 th . Mrs . Joddrell said at breakfast this morning , that she wished people would begin to call j probably they think it too soon ; " but I ' m sure they

      might come , for we are quite as settled as ever we shall oe ; " Mr . Joddrell assented ; he ' s certainly rather a heavy young man ; by no means so lively as she is . The purse being finished , Mrs . Joddrell spends the greatest part of the morning in surveying her trousseau , and trying effects before the looking-glass . She is certainly pretty , and seems to have decided that she looks best in ringlets . I think she does . She wishes very much to go to the play , and Mr . Joddrell assents ; they are to go to-morrow evening . 19 th . Very cheerful to-day in anticipation of the play—dressed by four o ' clock—blue gros de Naples and pink roses in her hair ; extremely pretty ,

      indeed . Mr . Joddrell brings a friend home to supper , Mr . Mortimer Leslie , a very nice young man ; good looking , with a great many amusing anecdotes about London life , the theatres , &c . Very merry till one o ' clock , when Mr . Leslie takes his leave , and Mr . and Mrs . Joddrell go to bed in high spirits . 20 th . At dinner to-day Mrs . Joddrell laments very much that her husband has no time to walk with her , and that in London she cannot walk out alone ; which he insists would be decidedly improper at her age , and with her pretty face . She yawns a good deal in the evening , probably fatigued by the amusement of the preceding one . Mr . Joddrell falls asleep over the " Hours of Idleness , " and proposes that they should go early to bed , which they

      do . 21 st . This is Sunday , and my mistress is evidently animated by the pleasure of putting on her new white silk bonnet and lavender pelisse . They go to church , and afterwards take a walk in the park . Mr . Joddrell brings Mortimer Leslie home to dinner , and the evening passes pleasantly enough . The evenings certainly are more pleasant when Mr . Leslie is here , he is so lively . 27 th . Several visitors during the week ; but as they all made the same inquiries and observations the conversations are not worth recording . Mrs Joddrell remarked at dinner that she was getting quite tired of answering them . I really do not wonder at it .

      28 th . Sunday . Church and Hyde-park as before . Mrs . Joddrell remarked at dinner that she wondered they had not met Mr . Leslie . Once she thought she saw him on horseback , but she was not sure . Mr . Joddrell said if he had seen him he would have asked him to come home with them and take pot luck . 30 th . An invitation for a dinner party at the Page ' s on the 9 th ; Mrs . Joddrell pleased , and looks over her wardrobe in order to decide what she shall wear .

      2 nd . More invitations . Mr . Leslie called . He had spent the preceding Sunday at Richmond . Regretted that it was getting too late in the season for excursions , but hoped they might enjoy some together when summer came round again . His visits certainly make my mistress more cheerful ; no wonder ! He ' s so lively and entertaining , and he does not say exactly the same thing that every body else says . 4 th . Sunday . They meet Mr . Leslie and bring him home to dinner .

      10 th . Great complaints of the party ; such dull people—so formal . Mr . Page took the bride down to dinner , and almost made her sick with his fade compliments about her beauty . Such a bore of a man to be sure ! Then when she was with the ladies after dinner she thought she should have dislocated her jaw with yawning ; such tiresome twaddle about their acquaintance , and their servants , and their children . She hopes all the parties won ' t be like that . Mr . Joddrell saw nothing to find fault with in the party ; he thought it went off very well for his part . The dinner was very good , and the port was capital . I observe my master does not care the least for Pleyell ' s Sonata to the Queen , which is a pity .

      13 th . Dinner at Mrs . Whitefoot ' s . Mrs . Joddrell expects it will be very tiresome , for she is Mrs . Page ' s sister , and there will be just the same party over again . Goes up late to dress , and is not ready when the coach comes . Mr . J . complains . 14 th . Delightful party after all . Handed down to dinner by Mr . Leslie , who was invited ii Vimproviste , in order to fill the place of somebody who was taken ill . Page certainly a stupid man ; but his compliments were diverting after all ; it was impossible to help laughing at them . Mrs . Joddrell observes to her husband that they will be obliged to give a party themselves soon . Mr . J . assents .

      16 th . To-day Mrs . Joddrell finished a green purse and begins a blue one . She proposes to work a hearthrug by way of change , if her husband will escort her some day to buy the worsted ; but Mr . J . objects that , all the hearthrugs in the house being new , it would be a useless expense . His wife answers that she must do something to pass the time . ( It occurs to me that this newness of every thing , as well as the completeness of Mrs . J . ' s wardrobe , is rather a thing to be lamented than otherwise—it leaves nothing to be done that there is any necessity for doing . Stockings yawning to be mended , or an indispensable set of frilled chemises would be a real blessing to my mistress , I ' m sure . )

      These few jottinga from my journal may suffice to give an idea of the first eight months of Mrs . Joddrell ' s married life . When the month of May arrived , the diary was varied by an occasional excursion into the country on a Sunday—little parties made by Mr . Leslie , for the purpose of showing Mrs . Joddrell something of the environs of London—events which stood out from the even tenor of her life in pleasing relief , and which were anticipated and reverted to with great pleasure—so was Mr . Joddrell ' s holiday looked forward to ; he was to have the month of August , and it was to be spent at Margate . Mr . Leslie much regretted that he could not go with them ; but , being in the same office , he had to do Joddrell ' s work during his absence .

      July 2 Cth . A most unfortunate circumstance ! My mistress running hastily down stairs to say she was not at home to Mrs . Page , whom she had descried from the window , caught her foot in one of the rods of the stair carpet that had got loose , and , slipping clown , broke the small bone of her leg . Poor thing ! The doctor says she will have to lie on a sofa with her leg up for five or six weeks probably , and must not think of going to Margate with Mr . Joddrell . She has been crying like a child about it . It is a sad disappointment , to be sure E

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 380, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/20/