Before we ascend the staircase, however, we must request you to pause in front of this little bar-place with the sash-windows; and beg your particular attention to the steady, honest-looking old fellow in black, who is its sole occupant.

Nicholas (we do not mind mentioning the old fellow's name, for if Nicholas be not a public man, who is ?--and public men's names are public property)--Nicholas is the butler of Bellamy's, and has held the same place, dressed exactly in the same manner, and said precisely the same things, ever since the oldest of its present visitors can remember.

An excellent servant Nicholas is--an unrivalled compounder of salad-dressing--an admirable preparer of soda-water and lemon--a special mixer of cold grog and punch--and, above all, an unequalled judge of cheese.

If the old man have such a thing as vanity in his composition, this is certainly his pride; and if it be possible to imagine that anything in this world could disturb his impenetrable calmness, we should say it would be the doubting his judgment on this important point.
We needn't tell you all this, however, for if you have an atom of observation, one glance at his sleek, knowing-looking head and face--his prim white neckerchief, with the wooden tie into which it has been regularly folded for twenty years past, merging by imperceptible degrees into a small-plaited shirt-frill--and his comfortable-looking form encased in a well-brushed suit of black--would give you a better idea of his real character than a column of our poor description could convey.
Nicholas is rather out of his element now; he cannot see the kitchen as he used to in the old House; there, one window of his glass-case opened into the room, and then, for the edification and behoof of more juvenile questioners, he would stand for an hour together, answering deferential questions about Sheridan, and Percival, and Castlereagh, and Heaven knows who beside, with manifest delight, always inserting a 'Mister' before every commoner's name.
Nicholas, like all men of his age and standing, has a great idea of the degeneracy of the times.

He seldom expresses any political opinions, but we managed to ascertain, just before the passing of the Reform Bill, that Nicholas was a thorough Reformer.