. The choice works of Thomas Hood, in prose and verse. of war ; and,schooled by the past, had the presence of mind to conceal my name,and to adopt the English one of Grundy. Under this noni de s^iicrre,but really a name of peace, I enjoyed comparative quiet, interrupt<donly by the pertinacious attendance of an unconscious countryman, who, noticing my very retiredhabits, endeavour by daily lec-tures from my own work, tomake me a convert to my ownprinciples. In short, he sowore me out, that at last, to getrid of his importunities, I toldhim in confidence that I wasthe author himself. But ther
. The choice works of Thomas Hood, in prose and verse. of war ; and,schooled by the past, had the presence of mind to conceal my name,and to adopt the English one of Grundy. Under this noni de s^iicrre,but really a name of peace, I enjoyed comparative quiet, interrupt<donly by the pertinacious attendance of an unconscious countryman, who, noticing my very retiredhabits, endeavour by daily lec-tures from my own work, tomake me a convert to my ownprinciples. In short, he sowore me out, that at last, to getrid of his importunities, I toldhim in confidence that I wasthe author himself. But theresult was anything but what1 expected ; and here I mustblush for the inconsis-tency of human nature. WhileWinkells knew me only asGrundy, he pninlcd nothing butthe charms of Solitude, and ex-horted me to detach myselffrom society ; but no sooncidid he learn that I was Zim-mermann, he insisted on my going to Lady C s rout and his own conversatione. In fact, he wanted to nnkome, instead of a Lion of the Desert, a Lion of the Menagerie. How. Sare, I am at where?—Well, I know you be ! THE COMPASS, WITH VARIATIONS. 543 I rc^ented such a proposition may be supposed, as well as his offerto procure for me the first vacancy that happened in the situation of Hermit at Lord P ^s Hermitage ; being, as he was pleased to say, not only able to bear solitude, but well-bred and well-informed, and htto receive company. The effect of this unfortunate disclosure was tomake me leave England, for fear of meeting with the fate of a manor an ox that ventures to quit the common herd. I should immedi-ately have been declared mid, and mobbed into lunacy, and then putinio solitary confinement, with a keeper always with me, as a personbeside himself, and not fit to be left alone for a moment. As such afate would have been worse to me than , I immediately leftLondon, and am now living anonymously in an uninhabited house,—prudence forbids me to say where. / THE COMPASS, WITH VARIATIONS
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