And growing portly in his sober garments.

“Is that a swan that rides upon the water?

Oh no! it is that other gentle bird,

Which is the patron of our noble calling.

I well remember, in my early years,

When these young hands first closed upon a goose;

I have a scar upon my thimble-finger,

Which chronicles the hour of young ambition.

My father was a tailor, and his father,

And my sire’s grandsire,—all of them were tailors;