Note 3 — Chapter IV

Now I feared that this Shawlman would drop in unexpectedly, and again have something to tell me. I was now very sorry that I went that evening through the Kapelsteeg, and now felt the impropriety of passing through unfashionable streets. Of course, if he had come he would have asked me for some money, and would have spoken of his parcel. I should perhaps have given him something, and if he had sent me the following day the mass of MSS., it would have been my legal property. Then I should have separated the wheat from the chaff; I should have singled out what I wanted for my book, and should have burned, or thrown into the waste-basket, all the rest. This I could not do now; for if he returned, I should have to produce his property, and he, seeing that I was interested in a couple of treatises of his, would very soon have been induced to ask too high a price;—for nothing gives more ascendency to the seller than the discovery that the buyer stands in need of his wares. Such a position is therefore avoided as much as possible by a merchant who understands his business. I have another idea, previously mentioned, which may prove how a person who frequents the Exchange may yet be open to humane impressions;—it was this: Bastianus, that is the third clerk, who is becoming so old and stupid, has not of late been at the office more than twenty-five days out of the thirty; and when he does come, he often does his work very badly. As an honest man, I am obliged to consult the interests of the firm—Last and Co. since the Meyers have retired—to see that every one does his work; for I may not throw away out of mistaken pity, or excess of sensibility, the money of the firm. This is my principle. I would rather give that Bastianus three guilders3 out of my own pocket, than continue to pay him every year seven hundred guilders which he does not deserve. I have calculated that this man has drawn during the thirty-four years of his service—as well from Last and Co., as formerly from Last and Meyer, but the Meyers have left—the sum of nearly fifteen thousand guilders (£1250), and that, for a man in his station, is a large sum; which but few can command. He has no right to complain. I came to this calculation through the treatise of Shawlman on multiplication. That Shawlman writes a good hand, I thought he looked very poor, he did not know what o’clock it was—how would it do, I thought, to give him the situation of Bastianus? I should tell him in that case, that it would be his duty to “SIR” me. That he would know without telling, I hope; for a servant cannot call his superior by name, or he would catch it. He could commence with four or five hundred guilders a year.4 Bastianus had to work many years before he got seven hundred,5 and I shall then have performed a good deed. Yes, with three hundred guilders he could very well commence, for from his inexperience he would, of course, consider the first year as an apprenticeship, which would be quite right; for he cannot be equal to old hands; I am quite sure that he will be content with two hundred guilders.