d have them
placed under the control of some salutary regulations, and humanized
under the dread of punishment."

The Squire coincided with his friend in opinion, and added, by way of
illustration, that it was only a few days since he witnessed a serious
accident occasioned by the scandalous conduct of a porter: the fellow
bore on his shoulders a chest of drawers, a corner of which, while he
forced his way along the pavement, struck a young lady a stunning blow
on the head, bringing her violently to the ground, and falling against a
shop window, one of her hands went through a pane of glass, by which she
was severely cut; thus sustaining a double injury, either of which might
have been attended with fatal consequences.

The three friends had now gained the fashionable lounge of Bond-street,
whence turning into Conduit-street, they entered Limmer's Coffee-house,
for the purpose of closing, by refreshment, the morning's excursion.

Here Dashall recognized an old acquaintance in the person of an
eminent physician, who, after an interchange of civilities, resumed his
attention to the daily journals.

In the same box with this gentleman, and directly opposite, sat another,
whose health was apparently on the decline, who finding that the
ingenious physician had occasionally dropped into this coffee-house, had
placed himself _vis-a-vis_ the doctor, and made many indirect efforts
to withdraw his attention from the newspaper to examine the index of his
(the invalid's) constitution. He at last ventured a bold push at once,
in the following terms: "Doctor," said he, "I have for a long time
been very far from being well, and as I belong to an office, where I am
obliged to attend everyday, the complaints I have prove very troublesome
to me, ~~236~~~ and I would be glad to remove them."--The doctor laid
down his paper, and regarded his patient with a steady eye, while he
proceeded. "I have but little appetite, and digest what I eat very
poorly; I have a strange swimming in my head," &c. In short, after
giving the doctor a full quarter of an hour's detail of all
his symptoms, he concluded the state of his case with a direct
question:--"Pray, doctor, what shall I take?" The doctor, in the act
of resuming the newspaper, gave him the following laconic
prescription:--"Take, why, take advice!"

This colloquy, and its ludicrous result, having been perfectly audible
to the company present, afforded considerable entertainment, of which