my eyes, I knowed as how it vou'd be all right enough, I never gets in
no rows whatever without getting myself out again--come, _ould chap,{2}
vet your vistle, and tip it us rum--go it my kiddy, that are's just vat
I likes_."

"Vat's the reason I an't to have a pipe?" said Mother Mapps.

"Lord bless your heart," said the Donkey-driver, "if I did'nt forget
you, never trust me--here, Landlord, a pipe for this here Lady."

"Which way did the bull run?" said the Irishman.

"Bl----st me if I know," replied Limping Billy, "for I was a
looking out for my own ass--let's have the Sprig of Shelalah, _ould
Blackymoor_--come, tune up."

The old woman being supplied with a pipe, and the fiddler having rosined
his nerves with a glass of _blue ruin_{3} to it they went, some singing,
some whistling, and others drumming with their hands upon the table;
while Tom, Bob, and Sparkle, taking a seat at the other side of
the room, ordered a glass of brandy and water each, and enjoyed the
merriment of the scene before them, perhaps more than those actually
engaged in it. Bob was alive to every movement and every character, for
it was new, and truly interesting: and kept growing more so, for in a
few minutes Limping Billy and Mother Mapps joined the Slaughterman in
the dance, when nothing could be more grotesque and amusing. Their pipes
in their mouths--clapping of hands and snapping of fingers, formed a
curious accompaniment to the squeaking of the fiddle--the broad grin of
the Dustman, and the preposterous laugh of the

1 White Tape--Also a common term for gin, particularly among
the Ladies.

2 Ould Chap, or Ould Boy--Familiar terms of address among
flash lads, being a sort of contraction of old acquaintance,
or old friend.

3 Blue Ruin--Gin.

~120~~Irishman at the reelers in the centre, heightened the picture--more
gin--more music, and more tobacco, soon ad a visible effect upon the
party, and reeling became unavoidable. The young man reading the paper,
found it impossible to understand what he was perusing, and having
finished his pipe and his pint, made his exit, appearing to have no
relish for the entertainment, and perhaps heartily cursing both the
cause and the effect. Still, however, the party was not reduced in
number, for as one went out another came in.

This new customer was a young-looking man, bearing a large board on a
high pole, announcing the residence of a Bug-destroyer in the Strand