such a nice table, too;
besides, I want to play myself"; and then I would say to the bonnet,
"Thank you, my lord, them that finds, wins"; and then the bonnet plays,
and I lets the bonnet win.'

'In a word,' said I, 'the bonnet means the man who covers you, even as
the real bonnet covers the head.'

'Just so,' said the man; 'I see you are awake, and would soon make a
first-rate bonnet.'

'Bonnet,' said I, musingly; 'bonnet; it is metaphorical.'

'Is it?' said the man.

'Yes,' said I, 'like the cant words--'

'Bonnet is cant,' said the man; 'we of the thimble, as well as all
cly-fakers and the like, understand cant, as, of course, must every
bonnet; so, if you are employed by me, you had better learn it as soon as
you can, that we may discourse together without being understood by every
one. Besides covering his principal, a bonnet must have his eyes about
him, for the trade of the pea, though a strictly honest one, is not
altogether lawful; so it is the duty of the bonnet, if he sees the
constable coming, to say, The gorgio's welling.'

'That is not cant,' said I, 'that is the language of the Rommany Chals.'

'Do you know those people?' said the man.

'Perfectly,' said I, 'and their language too.'

'I wish I did,' said the man; 'I would give ten pounds and more to know
the language of the Rommany Chals. There's some of it in the language of
the pea and thimble; how it came there I don't know, but so it is. I
wish I knew it, but it is difficult. You'll make a capital bonnet; shall
we close?'

'What would the wages be?' I demanded.

'Why, to a first-rate bonnet, as I think you would prove, I could afford
to give from forty to fifty shillings a week.'

'Is it possible?' said I.

'Good wages, ain't they?' said the man.

'First-rate,' said I; 'bonneting is more profitable than reviewing.'

'Anan?' said the man.

'Or translating; I don't think the Armenian would have paid me at that
rate for translating his Esop.'

'Who is he?' said the man.

'Esop?'

'No, I know what that is, Esop's cant for a hunchback; but t'other?'

'You should know,' said I.

'Never saw the man in all my life.'

'Yes, you have,' said I, 'and felt him too; don't you remember the
individual from whom you took the pocket-book?'

'Oh, that was he; well, the less said about that matter the better; I
have left off that trade, and taken to this, which is a much better.
Between ourselves, I am not sorry that I did not carry off