230 Devon Notes a$id Queries. a servant whom he had discharged, applied to him for a character, he proposed to give him a Latin testimonial. Greenslade wanted a recommendation to show to a gentleman in the neighbourhood who was in need of a servant, and Mr. Yarde is reported to have said that he would not only give him a suitable character, but that it should be written in a language worthy alike of the occasion, its purport, and him- self. He well knew, so he said, the gentleman in question, and he was convinced that a character composed in the Latin language would have far more effect upon a man of such classical attainments as his friend, than he could hope to produce by means of any common testimonial written in the ordinary and vulgar vernacular tongue. Greenslade, who was a boastful, conceited person, ex- pressed himself delighted when this was said to him, and his master, who had many excellent reasons for dismissing him, wrote to the effect (for I have never been fortunate enough to see a copy of the character) that the bearer was a bragging, idle, worthless fellow, and this any one who was so ill-advised as to engage his services would quickly discover to his cost. Greenslade, who was a native of the neighbouring hamlet of Luton, carried this elegant, classical condemnation of him- self to his expected employer, without a suspicion of the truth. He was, indeed, greatly elated with a new feeling of importance, and an added sense of dignity, and he conducted himself accordingly. Great, therefore, was his disappointment when the gentleman, whose service he desired to obtain, told him, with a somewhat peculiar smile, that he was afraid he would not suit him, but that he regretted not to be able to engage his services. His suspicions aroused, Greenslade now never rested until he had induced somebody competent to do so to translate Mr. Yarde's Latin character, and to inform him of its meaning. Then he vowed vengeance, but returned, nevertheless, to sleep that night at Whiteway. Early on the following morning Mr. Yarde's attention was aroused by the loud, persistent crowing of a cock. He thought that he had never heard a cock crow so strangely and defiantly before — there was something surely peculiar, moreover, in the note of the bird. He, therefore, went out into his poultry yard to investigate the phenomenon, and (not
