The next step I took was to disband that legion of supernumerary
domestics, who had preyed so long upon the vitals of my friend:,
a parcel of idle drones, so intolerably insolent, that they even
treated their own master with the most contemptuous neglect. They
had been generally hired by his wife, according to the
recommendation of her woman, and these were the only patrons to
whom they payed the least deference. I had therefore uncommon
satisfaction in clearing the house of these vermin. The woman of
the deceased, and a chambermaid, a valet de chambre, a butler, a
French cook, a master gardener, two footmen and a coachman, I
payed off, and turned out of the house immediately, paying to
each a month's wages in lieu of warning. Those whom I retained,
consisted of the female cook, who had been assistant to the
Frenchman, a house maid, an old lacquey, a postilion, and
under-gardener. Thus I removed at once a huge mountain of expence and
care from the shoulders of my friend, who could hardly believe
the evidence of his own senses, when he found himself so suddenly
and so effectually relieved. His heart, however, was still
subject to vibrations of tenderness, which returned at certain
intervals, extorting sighs, and tears, and exclamations of grief
and impatience: but these fits grew every day less violent and
less frequent, 'till at length his reason obtained a complete
victory over the infirmities of his nature.
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