asked the old showman , after a moment 's silence . `` All of us here can get our bread in some creditable way . Every honest man should have his livelihood . You , sir , as I take it , are a mere strolling gentleman . '' I proceeded to inform the company that when Nature gave me a propensity to their way of life she had not left me altogether destitute of qualifications for it , though I could not deny that my talent was less respectable , and might be less profitable , than the meanest of theirs . My design , in short , was to imitate the story-tellers of whom Oriental travellers have told us , and become an itinerant novelist , reciting my own extemporaneous fictions to such audiences as I could collect . `` Either this , '' said I , `` is my vocation , or I have been born in vain . '' The fortune-teller , with a sly wink to the company , proposed to take me as an apprentice to one or other of his professions , either of which undoubtedly would have given full scope to whatever inventive talent I might possess . The bibliopolist spoke a few words in opposition to my plan -- influenced partly , I suspect , by the jealousy of authorship , and partly by an apprehension that the vivâ-voce practice would become general among novelists , to the infinite detriment of the book trade . Dreading a rejection , I solicited the interest of the merry damsel . '' ` Mirth , ' '' cried I , most aptly appropriating the words of L'Allegro , '' ` to thee I sue ! Mirth , admit me of thy crew ! ' '' `` Let us indulge the poor youth , '' said Mirth , with a kindness which made me love her dearly , though I was no such coxcomb as to misinterpret her motives . `` I have espied much promise in him . True , a shadow sometimes flits across his brow , but the sunshine is sure to follow in a moment . He is never guilty of a sad thought but a merry one is twin-born with it . We will take him with us , and you shall see that he will set us all a-laughing before we reach the camp-meeting at Stamford . '' Her voice silenced the scruples of the rest and gained me admittance into the league ; according to the terms of which , without a community of goods or profits , we were to lend each other all the aid and avert all the harm that might be in our power . This affair settled , a marvellous jollity entered into the whole tribe of us , manifesting itself characteristically in each individual . The old showman , sitting down to his barrel-organ , stirred up the souls of the pigmy people with one of the quickest tunes in the music-book ; tailors , blacksmiths , gentlemen and ladies all seemed to share in the spirit of the occasion , and the Merry Andrew played his part more facetiously than ever , nodding and winking particularly at me .
The young foreigner flourished his fiddle-bow with a master 's hand , and gave an inspiring echo XXXXX the showman 's melody .
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