 | The works of Washington Irving |  |
THE BUSY MAN.
A decayed gentleman, who lives most upon his
own mirth and my master's means, and much good
do him with it. He does hold my master up with
his stories, and songs, and catches, and such tricks
and jigs, you would admire—he is with him now.
Jovial Crew.
By no one has my return to the Hall
been more heartily greeted than by Mr.
Simon Bracebridge, or Master Simon, as
the squire most commonly calls him.
I encountered him just as I entered the
park, where he was breaking a pointer,
and he received me with all the hospitable
cordiality with which a man welcomes
a friend to another one's house.
I have already introduced him to the
reader as a brisk old-bachelor-looking
little man; the wit and supernnuated
beau of a large family connexion, and
the squire's factotum. I found him, as
usual, full of bustle; with a thousand
petty things to do, and persons to attend
to, and in chirping good humour; for
there are few happier beings than a busy
idler; that is to say, a man who is eternally
busy about nothing.
I visited him, the morning after my
arrival, in his chamber, which is in a
remote corner of the mansion, as he says
he likes to be to himself, and out of the
way. He has fitte