| CHAPTER I |
| CHAPTER II |
| CHAPTER III |
Among the many fatalities attending the bloom of young desire, that of blindlytaking to the confectionery line has not, perhaps, been sufficientlyconsidered. How is the son of a British yeoman, who has been fed principally onsalt pork and yeast dumplings, to know that there is satiety for the humanstomach even in a paradise of glass jars full of sugared almonds and pinklozenges, and that the tedium of life can reach a pitch where plum-buns atdiscretion cease to offer the slightest excitement? Or how, at the tender agewhen a confectioner seems to him a very prince whom all the world mustenvy—who breakfasts on macaroons, dines on meringues, sups ontwelfth-cake, and fills up the intermediate hours with sugar-candy orpeppermint—how is he to foresee the day of sad wisdom, when he willdiscern that the confectioner’s calling is not socially influential, orfavourable to a soaring ambition? I have known a man who turned out to have ametaphysical genius, incautiously, in the period of youthful buoyancy, commencehis career as a dancing-master; and you may imagine the use that was made ofthis initial mistake by opponents who felt themselves bound to warn the publicagainst his doctrine of the Inconceivable. He could not give up hisdancing-lessons, because he made his bread by them, and metaphysics would nothave found him in so much as salt to his bread. It was really the same with Mr.David Faux and the confectionery business. His uncle, the butler at the greathouse close by Brigford, had made a pet of him in his early boyhood, and it wason a visit to this uncle that the confectioners’ shops in that brillianttown had, on a single day, fired his tender imagination. He carried home thepleasing illusion that a confectioner must be at once the happiest and theforemost of men, since the things he made were not only the most beautiful tobehold, but the very best eating, and such as the Lord Mayor must always orderlargely for his private recreation; so that when his father declared he must beput to a trade, David chose his line without a moment’s hesitation; and,with a rashness inspired by a sweet tooth, wedded himself irrevocably toconfectionery. Soon, however, the tooth lost its relish and fell into blankindifference; and all the while, his mind expanded, his ambition took newshapes, which could hardly be satisfied within the sphere his youthful ardourhad chosen. But what was he to do? He was a young man of much mental activity,and, above all, gifted with a spirit of contrivance; but then, his facultieswould not tell with great effect in any other medium than that of candiedsugars, conserves, and pastry. Say what you will about the identity of thereasoning process in all branches of thought, or about the advantage of comingto subjects with a fresh mind, the adjustment of butter to flour, and of heatto pastry, is not the best preparation for the office of prime minister;besides, in the present imperfectly-organized state of society, there aresocial barriers. David could invent delightful things in the way of drop-cakes,and he had the widest views of the sugar department; but in other directions hecertainly felt hampered by the want of knowledge and practical skill; and theworld is so inconveniently constituted, that the vague consciousness of being afine fellow is no guarantee of success in any line of business.
This difficulty pressed with some severity on Mr. Davi