Possessing such and so many various modes of thriving, Dame Ursley was
nevertheless so poor, that she might probably have mended her own
circumstances, as well as her husband's, if she had renounced them
all, and set herself quietly down to the care of her own household,
and to assist Benjamin in the concerns of his trade. But Ursula was
luxurious and genial in her habits, and could no more have endured the
stinted economy of Benjamin's board, than she could have reconciled
herself to the bald chat of his conversation.
It was on the evening of the day on which Lord Nigel Olifaunt dined
with the wealthy goldsmith, that we must introduce Ursula Suddlechop
upon the stage. She had that morning made a long tour to Westminster,
was fatigued, and had assumed a certain large elbow-chair, rendered
smooth by frequent use, placed on one side of her chimney, in which
there was lit a small but bright fire. Here she observed, betwixt
sleeping and waking, the simmering of a pot of well-spiced ale, on the
brown surface of which bobbed a small crab-apple, sufficiently
roasted, while a little mulatto girl watched, still more attentively,
the process of dressing a veal sweetbread, in a silver stewpan which
occupied the other side of the chimney. With these viands, doubtless,
Dame Ursula proposed concluding the well spent day, of which she
reckoned the labour over, and the rest at her own command.
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