nk by Mr. Hayes;
and seasoned by many songs from the recueil of Mr. Thomas d'Urfey and
others. The chief part of the talk and merriment was on Hayes's part;
as, indeed, was natural,--for, while he drank bottle after bottle of
wine, the other two gentlemen confined themselves to small beer,--both
pleading illness as an excuse for their sobriety.

And now might we depict, with much accuracy, the course of Mr. Hayes's
intoxication, as it rose from the merriment of the three-bottle point
to the madness of the four--from the uproarious quarrelsomeness of the
sixth bottle to the sickly stupidity of the seventh; but we are
desirous of bringing this tale to a conclusion, and must pretermit
all consideration of a subject so curious, so instructive, and so
delightful. Suffice it to say, as a matter of history, that Mr. Hayes
did actually drink seven bottles of mountain-wine; and that Mr. Thomas
Billings went to the "Braund's Head," in Bond Street, and purchased
another, which Hayes likewise drank.

"That'll do," said Mr. Wood to young Billings; and they led Hayes up to
bed, whither, in truth, he was unable to walk himself.

*****

Mrs. Springatt, the lodger, came down to ask what the noise was. "'Tis
only Tom Billings making merry with some friends from the country,"
answered Mrs. Hayes; whereupon Springatt retired, and the house was
quiet.

*****

Some scuffling and stamping was heard about eleven o'clock.

*****

After they had seen Mr. Hayes to bed, Billings remembered that he had a
parcel to carry to some person in the neighbourhood of the Strand;
and, as the night was remarkably fine, he and Mr. Wood agreed to walk
together, and set forth accordingly.

(Here follows a description of the THAMES AT MIDNIGHT, in a fine
historical style; with an account of Lambeth, Westminster, the Savoy,
Baynard's Castle, Arundel House, the Temple; of Old London Bridge,
with its twenty arches, "on which be houses builded, so that it seemeth
rather a continuall street than a bridge;"--of Bankside, and the "Globe"
and the "Fortune" Theatres; of the ferries across the river, and of the
pirates who infest the same--namely, tinklermen, petermen, hebbermen,
trawlermen; of the fleet of barges that lay at the Savoy steps; and of
the long lines of slim wherries sleeping on the river banks and basking
and shining in the moonbeams. A combat on the river is described,
that takes place