He was a complete family chronicle, being versed in
the genealogy, history, and intermarriages of the whole house of
Bracebridge, which made him a great favourite with the old folks; he was
a beau of all the elder ladies and superannuated spinsters, among whom
he was habitually considered rather a young fellow, and he was a master
of the revels among the children; so that there was not a more popular
being in the sphere in which he moved than Mr. Simon Bracebridge. Of
late years he had resided almost entirely with the Squire, to whom he
had become a factotum, and whom he particularly delighted by jumping
with his humour in respect to old times, and by having a scrap of an
old song to suit every occasion. We had presently a specimen of his last
mentioned talent; for no sooner was supper removed, and spiced wines and
other beverages peculiar to the season introduced, than Master Simon
was called on for a good old Christmas song. He bethought himself for a
moment, and then, with a sparkle of the eye, and a voice that was by no
means bad, excepting that it ran occasionally into a falsetto, like the
notes of a split reed, he quavered forth a quaint old ditty:
"Now Christmas is come,
Let us beat up the drum,
And call all our neighbours together;
And when they appear,
Let us make them such cheer
As will keep out the wind and the weather,"
etc.
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