h a copper of chamomile-tea; and a cupper is
engaged to be in constant attendance till the guests depart.

"'Gentlemen, I once became a member of a fashionable dinner-club,
managed by a superintending committee, who purchased their own wine,
and engaged a culinary artist of established reputation. This club was a
diversified assemblage, consisting of some sprigs of the nobility and
a few old standards; several members of Parliament, who became very
troublesome by repeating the speeches that had been uttered in the
house, and were, besides, always attempting to reform the club. But this
was less offensive to me than others, as I make it a ~~426~~~ rule never
to attend to conversation unless it relates to improvements in cookery.
The remainder of our club was composed of a few hungry querulous
lawyers, two or three doctors, who had increased the means of gratifying
their appetites by destroying the digestive faculties of their patients.
There is nothing permanent in the world; therefore, in about two years,
the club dwindled away; a set of rascally economists complained of
expense; the cook, a very honest man and skilful professor, was
accused of peculation by the reformers, and turned adrift for modestly
demonstrating that he could not make turtle out of tripe, nor convert
sprats into red mullet. Several members moved off without paying
their arrears. The managing committee disposed of the premises, plate,
furniture, and wines, and pocketed the money; and thus the club was
dissolved.'

"It was on this occasion that the Doctor proposed his celebrated
'committee of taste,' with the proceedings of which I shall, perhaps,
have occasion, at some future time, to make you acquainted."

Gayfield's humorous epistle amused the party much, and Bob felt
complimented by the attention paid to the finish of his studies of
Metropolitan Life and Manners. The fine appearance of the morning
determined them on a stroll through the leading thoroughfares, as it
would afford Tallyho the opportunity of completing such purchases as
were necessary prior to his departure for the country. In passing
Covent Garden, their attention was attracted by a numerous and grotesque
assemblage, in which they soon mixed, and were highly diverted by the
following whimsical exhibition, displaying the astonishing sagacity and
feelings of the monkey species. An itinerant showman, who for some time
past exhibited two dancing monkeys about the town, had pitched his