Having seen all that is remarkable in this spacious concern, the two
associates turned into Oxford Street, where their attention was directed
to a gay female in an elegant equipage, pair in hand, dashing along, in
the manner of royal celerity.

"Observe that lady," said Dashall, "She is the celebrated Mrs. C*r*y,
the favourite sultana of a certain Commander in Chief, and I shall give
you her history in a few words."

~107~~ "Sutherland, a bombadier at Woolwich, obtained a commission, but
was less successful in securing the fidelity of his wife, who eloped
with an officer to Gibraltar; the produce of this intercourse was the
amoroso whom we observed _en passant_; in process of time she married
C*r*y, an officer in a veteran battalion, but shortly afterwards getting
tired of the connection, she adopted the laudable example set by her
respectable mamma, deserted her husband and came to England, under the
protection of a surgeon in the army, whose embraces she relinquished for
those of her present illustrious possessor. How long she may keep him in
captivation, is a surmise of rather equivocal import; however ardent
at present, his attachment, Mrs. C*r*y must be aware of the versatile
propensities of his R*y*l H*ghn*ss of Y**k, and sans doubt like her
predecessor, Mary Ann C***ke, will make the most of a favourable
opportunity."

"London exhibits Real Life in all its forms and gradations, from the
hireling of royalty in a curricle, to the passive spouse of all the
town, on the pavement; from the splendour of affluence to the miseries
of penury; even Mendicity itself has its shades of variety, its success
being less frequently derived from the acuteness of distress than the
caprice of Nature, in having gifted the mendicant with some peculiar
eccentricity of person or character, to attract attention and sympathy.
He who is without these endowments passes unnoticed; but the diminutive
and deformed creature, seated on a child's cart, who with the help
of crutches shoves himself along the street, and whose whole height,
including his machine, does not exceed two feet; this minikin, _ecce
homo_, is gazed at by the casual passenger as a prodigy, and seldom
fails to benefit by the excitation of curiosity."--

Approaching the tiny personage alluded to,--"Well, Mr. Andrew Whiston,"
said Dashall, "what important business brings you so far westward? I
thought that your migrations from Bankside had never extended beyond the
preci