, and declare,
upon the honour of a gentleman and the veracity of a scholar, that Pope
never understood Greek, nor translated Homer with tolerable justice.
He considers it a high privilege to meet a celebrated pugilist at an
appointed place, to floor him for a quid,{1} a fall, and a high delight
to talk of it afterwards for the edification of his friends--to pick
up a Cyprian at mid-day--to stare modest women out of countenance--to
bluster at a hackney-coachman--or to upset a waterman in the river, in
order to gain the fame of a Leander, and prove himself a Hero.

"He rejects all his father's proposed arrangements for his domestic
comforts and matrimonial alliance. He wanders in his own capricious
fancy, like a fly in summer, over the fields of feminine beauty and
loveliness; yet he declares there is so much versatility and instability
about the fair sex, that they are unworthy his professions of regard;
and, perhaps, in his whole composition, there is nothing deserving of
serious notice but his good-nature. Thus you have a short sketch of a
young Citizen."

"Upon my word, friend Sparkle, you are an admirable delineator of
Society," said Dashall.

"My drawings are made from nature," continued Sparkle.

"Aye, and very naturally executed too," replied Tom. Having kept walking
on towards St. Paul's, they were by this time near the end of Shoe Lane,
at the corner of which sat an elderly woman with a basket of mackerel
for sale; and as they approached they saw several persons rush from
thence into the main street in evident alarm.

"Come up, d----n your eyes," said an ill-favoured fellow with an
immense cudgel in his fist, driving an ass laden

1 Quid--A. Guinea.

115~~with brick-dust, with which he was belabouring him most
unmercifully. The poor beast, with an endeavour to escape if possible
the cudgelling which awaited him, made a sudden turn round the post,
rubbing his side against it as he went along, and thereby relieving
himself of his load, which he safely deposited, with a cloud of
brick-dust that almost blinded the old woman and those who were near
her, in the basket of fish. Neddy then made the best of his way towards
Fleet-market, and an over-drove bullock, which had terrified many
persons, issued almost at the same moment from Shoe Lane, and took the
direction for Temple-bar. The whistling, the hooting, the hallooing,
and the running of the drovers in pursuit--men, women, and children,
scampering to