sionally interrupted by the head clerk, with his attempt to make
rhymes. The new clerk came, I expected my release, but I was
disappointed. Mr Drummond discovered him to be so awkward, and the
head clerk declared that the time was so busy, that he could not spare
me. This was true; Mr Drummond had just come to a final arrangement,
which had been some time pending, by which he purchased a wharf and
large warehouses, with a house adjoining, in Lower Thames Street--a very
large concern, for which he had paid a considerable sum of money. What
with the valuations, winding up of the Brentford concern on the old
account, etcetera, there was much to do, and I toiled at the desk until
the removal took place; and when the family were removed, I was still
detained, as there was no warehouseman to superintend the unloading and
hoisting up of goods. Mr Tomkins, the head clerk, who had been many
years a faithful servant to Mr Drummond, was admitted a partner, and
had charge of the Brentford wharf, a species of promotion which he and
his wife resolved to celebrate with a party. After a long debate, it
was resolved that they should give a ball, and Mrs Tomkins exerted all
her taste and ingenuity on the occasion. My friend Tomkins lived at a
short distance from the premises, in a small house, surrounded with half
an acre of garden, chiefly filled with gooseberry-bushes, and
perambulated by means of four straight gravel walks. Mr and Mrs
Drummond were invited, and accepted the invitation, which was considered
by the Tomkinses as a great mark of condescension. As a specimen of Mr
Tomkins's poetical talents, I shall give his invitation to Mr Drummond,
written in the very best German text:--

"Mr and Mrs T---
Sincerely hope to see
Mr and Mrs Drum-
Mond, to a very hum-
Ble party that they in-
Tend to ask their kin
To, on the Saturday
Of the week ensuing:
When fiddles they will play,
And other things be doing."

_Belle Vue House_.

To which _jeu d'esprit_ Mr Drummond answered with a pencil on a card--

"Mr and Mrs Drum-
Mond intend to come."

"Here, give Tomkins that, Jacob; it will please him better than any
formal acceptation." Mr and Mrs Turnbull were also asked; the former
accepted, but the latter indignantly refused.

When I arrived with Mr and Mrs Drummond many of the company were
there; the garden was what they called illuminated, that is, every
gooseberry-bush had one variegated lamp su