The Italian Scribe. An out-of-doors Amanuensis.—A similar subject to that represented in the Letters from Italy, republished as Naples and the Campagna Felice (1809–13). (See [The Letter Writer], 1815.)
Love in a Box.—A Hebrew gentleman, evidently a Shylock, is gravely trudging along the ways of some Continental city—it may be Venice—with a bunch of keys in his hand; three picturesque and Masaniello-like looking porters are in his train, one is bearing a trunk, and two are carrying, suspended on a pole, a large square receptacle, the contents of which are implied to be of a romantic nature.
The Pleasures of Solitude.—An old gourmand is solacing his solitary state of dining by an excess of creature-comforts; his servants are bringing in fresh courses to add to a selection of dishes already amply sufficient for the needs of an individual, and his butler is supplying him with wine on an excessive scale.
Rich and Poor.—A pensioner, minus a leg, and otherwise under the 'slings of adverse fortune,' has called to solicit some trifling assistance from a wealthy sybarite; the poor man's exertions in the representation of his case seem thrown away, as the person solicited is so deaf to his eloquence that, even with the assistance of a trumpet, he fails to hear the appeal of the suitor.
Village Politicians.—The wiseheads of the hamlet are portentously discussing the contents of a news sheet in the vicinity of the sign of the 'Bugle Horn.'
A Disciplinarian.—A Zantippe of a wife, with a flood of invective, is driving her cowed husband before her, whose advance is further accelerated by the liberal exercise of a stout cudgel, which is raining strokes on the bent back of the unmanned and overawed victim.
An Admirer.—A comely maiden, standing with her pitcher beside a pump, is asking assistance to raise her load of an idiotic rustic dandy, who is staring and grinning his imbecile admiration with a face marvellously well fitted to fill a horse-collar, but who does not otherwise respond to the girl's request.
The Cow Doctor.—A consultation over the condition of a suffering cow.
Taking a Horse to Water.—In this case, it rather seems, the steeds are taking their riders there and leaving them—soused in the brook.