ot be supposed that his
person is calculated to excite the tender passion; it must
therefore be to the idea of his having accumulated wealth,
that we are to attribute the following circumstance. A short
time since, Andrew began to think seriously of taking unto
himself a wife, and having looked round among his female
acquaint-ance for a desirable partner, he fixed his choice
on a Mrs. Marshall, the widow of a waterman, who follows the
trade of a retail dealer in fish, at the corner of Spiller's
public-house, on that side of the Surrey Road which he
usually frequents. This fair lady, who might perhaps have
been dead as a roach to his addresses, if he had possessed
nothing but his deformed person to offer, proved leaping
alive, ho! at the thought of Andrew's little hoard, of which
she hoped to become mistress. Several presents attested the
seriousness of the lover's proposals, and his charmer was
all compliance to his wishes, till he had actually sent the
money to pay for publishing the banns at Christ Church, when
the ridicule of all her acquaintance urged her to abandon
the design of so preposterous a match.

CHAPTER VII

Gae him strong drink until he wink,
That's sinking in despair;
And liquor guid to fire his bluid,
That's prest wi' grief and care;--
Then let him boose and deep carouse,
Wi' bumpers flowing o'er;
'Till he forgets his fears and debts,
And minds his ills no more.

~109~~ DASHALL, during a stroll with his relation round the
neighbourhood of Covent Garden, learning that several of his friends had
formed a select party to dine at the Shakespear that day, sent in the
names of himself and Coz, and they were received by the social and
convivial assemblage with acclamation.

The Dinner-party comprised Sir Felix O'Grady, an Irish baronet just
imported from the province of Munster; the honorable Frederick
Fitzroy, a luminary in the constellation of Fashion; Colonel Mc. Can,
a distinguished Scotch Officer; an amateur Poet; a member of the
Corps Dramatique; and our old friends Sparkle and Mortimer, with the
augmentation of Dashall and Tallyho, as already mentioned.

The viands were excellent, and the wines of the first quality.
Conviviality was the order of the evening, and its whimsicalities were
commenced during the repast, b