PROVINCIAL BOOKSELLERS. 443 parents bade him come back to Dublin, and what made his departure grievous ? " I scarce knew, how- ever, through respect of Mrs. Alice Guy . . . Indeed I was not very forward in love or desire of matrimony till I knew the world better, and consequently should be more able to provide such a handsome mainte- nance as I confess I had ambition enough to desire. . . . However, I told her (because my irresolution should not anticipate her advancement) that I should respect her as one of the dearest of friends ; and re- ceiving a little dog from her, as a companion on the road, I had the honour to be accompanied as far as Bramham Moor by my rival" (his master's grandson). At Dublin he was soon threatened with seizure for having broken his apprenticeship, and though his friends offered to buy his freedom, he had received a letter from his dearest at York, saying he was ex- pected there, and he could not resist the opportunity of meeting her again. His friends were much con- cerned at parting with him so soon, " but my unlucky whelp that had torn my new hat to pieces seemed no wise affected by my taking boat ; so I let the rascal stay with my dear parents, who were fond of him for my sake, as he was of them for his own." After a stay of a few months at York, he came to London, resolved to scrape and save money enough to warrant him offering a home to "Mrs. Alice Guy," and in 1817 he became free of the City of London, and set to work in grim earnest, " many times from five in the morning till twelve at night, and frequently without food from breakfast till five or six in the evening, through hurry with hawkers ;" for at times he was in a ballad-house, now toiling at case, now writing "last words and confessions," now reporting 282
