now echoing maybe to the sad cry of
"Muffins!"

Or sometimes of an evening, the lamp lighted, the remnants of the meat
tea cleared away, the flickering firelight cosifying the dingy rooms,
I go a-visiting. There is no need for me to ring the bell, to mount the
stairs. Through the thin transparent walls I can see you plainly,
old friends of mine, fashions a little changed, that is all. We wore
bell-shaped trousers; eight-and-six to measure, seven-and-six if from
stock; fastened our neckties in dashing style with a horseshoe pin. I
think in the matter of waistcoats we had the advantage of you; ours were
gayer, braver. Our cuffs and collars were of paper: sixpence-halfpenny
the dozen, three-halfpence the pair. On Sunday they were white and
glistening; on Monday less aggressively obvious; on Tuesday morning
decidedly dappled. But on Tuesday evening, when with natty cane, or
umbrella neatly rolled in patent leather case, we took our promenade
down Oxford Street--fashionable hour nine to ten p.m.--we could shoot
our arms and cock our chins with the best. Your india-rubber linen has
its advantages. Storm does not wither it; it braves better the heat and
turmoil of the day. The passing of a sponge! and your "Dicky" is itself
again. We had to use bread-crumbs, and so sacrifice the glaze. Yet I
cannot help thinking that for the first few hours, at all events, our
paper was more dazzling.

For the rest I see no change in you, old friends. I wave you greeting
from the misty street. God rest you, gallant gentlemen, lonely and
friendless and despised; making the best of joyless lives; keeping
yourselves genteel on twelve, fifteen, or eighteen (ah, but you are
plutocrats!) shillings a week; saving something even of that, maybe, to
help the old mother in the country, so proud of her "gentleman" son who
has book learning and who is "something in the City." May nothing you
dismay. Bullied, and badgered, and baited from nine to six though you
may be, from then till bedtime you are rorty young dogs. The half-guinea
topper, "as worn by the Prince of Wales" (ah, how many a meal has it not
cost!), warmed before the fire, brushed and polished and coaxed, shines
resplendent. The second pair of trousers are drawn from beneath the bed;
in the gaslight, with well-marked crease from top to toe, they will pass
for new. A pleasant evening to you! May your cheap necktie make all the
impression your soul can desire! May your penny cigar be mistaken f