ed him with the belief that he was
telling a polite falsehood in order to secure him other customers.
Little did he think that he was drinking his own wine, and that it was
not, and probably never would be, paid for!

In like manner, when he wanted a particular Burgundy an innkeeper at
Richmond, who declined to supply it till his bill was paid, he sent for
the man, and had no sooner seen him safe in the house than he drove off
to Richmond, saw his wife, told her he had just had a conversation with
mine host, settled everything, and would, to save them trouble, take the
wine with him in his carriage. The condescension overpowered the good
woman, who ordered it at once to be produced, and Sheridan drove home
about the time that her husband was returning to Richmond, weary of
waiting for his absent debtor. But this kind of trickery could not
always succeed without some knowledge of his creditor's character. In
the case of Holloway, the lawyer, Sheridan took advantage of his
well-known vanity of his judgment of horse-flesh. Kelly gives the
anecdote as authentic. He was walking one day with Sheridan, close to
the churchyard of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, when, as ill-luck would
have it, up comes Holloway on horseback, and in a furious rage,
complains that he has called on Mr. Sheridan time and again in Hertford
Street, and can never gain admittance. He proceeds to violent threats,
and slangs his debtor roundly. Sheridan, cool as a whole bed of
cucumbers, takes no notice of these attacks, but quietly exclaims: 'What
a beautiful creature you're riding, Holloway!' The lawyer's weak point
was touched.

'You were speaking to me the other day about a horse for Mrs. Sheridan;
now this would be a treasure for a lady.'

'Does he canter well?' asks Sheridan, with a look of business.

'Like Pegasus himself.'

'If that's the case, I shouldn't mind, Holloway, stretching a point for
him. Do you mind showing me his paces?'

'Not at all,' replies the lawyer, only too happy to show off his own:
and touching up the horse, put him to a quiet canter. The moment is not
to be lost; the churchyard gate is at hand; Sheridan slips in, knowing
that his mounted tormentor cannot follow him, and there bursts into a
roar of laughter, which is joined in by Kelly, but not by the returning
Holloway.

[Illustration: "A TREASURE FOR A LADY"--SHERIDAN AND THE LAWYER.]

But if he escaped an importunate lawyer once in a way like this, he
Required more i