r assembly he conceives himself quite at home, satisfied
that he is the admiration of the whole of the company present; and were
he to give an account of himself, it would most likely be in substance
nearly as follows:

"When I enter the room, what a whisp'ring is heard; My rivals,
astonish'd, scarce utter a word; "How charming! (cry all; ) how
enchanting a fellow! How neat are those small-clothes, how killingly
yellow. Not for worlds would I honour these plebs with a smile, Tho'
bursting with pride and delight all the while; So I turn to my cronies
(a much honour'd few,); Crying, "S--z--m, how goes it?--Ah, Duchess,
how do? Ton my life, yonder's B--uf, and Br--ke, and A--g--le, S-ff--d,
W--tm--1--d, L--n, and old codger C--ri--le." Now tho', from this style
of address, it appears That these folks I have known for at least fifty
years, The fact is, my friends, that I scarcely know one, A mere "facon
de parler," the way of the ton. What tho' they dislike it, I answer my
ends, Country gentlemen stare, and suppose them my friends.

But my beautiful taste (as indeed you will guess) Is manifest most in my
toilet and dress; My neckcloth of course forms my principal care, For
by that we criterions of elegance swear, And costs me each morning some
hours of flurry, To make it appear to be tied in a hurry. My boot-tops,
those unerring marks of a blade, With Champagne are polish'd, and peach
marmalade; And a violet coat, closely copied from B--ng, With a
cluster of seals, and a large diamond ring; And troisiemes of buckskin,
bewitchingly large, Give the finishing stroke to the "_parfait
ouvrage_."

During this animated description of the gay personage alluded to, Bob
had listened with the most undeviating attention, keeping his eye all
the time on this extravagant piece of elegance and fashion, but could
not help bursting into an immoderate fit of laughter at its conclusion.
In the mean time the crowd of visitors had continued to increase; all
appeared to be bustle and confusion; small parties were seen in groups
communicating together in different places, and every face appeared
to be animated by hopes or fears. Dashall was exchanging familiar
~174~~nods and winks with those whom lie knew; but as their object was
not to buy, they paid but little attention to the sales of the day,
rather contenting themselves with a view of the human cattle by which
they were surrounded, when they were pleasingly surprised to observe
their frie