us posters; and then the Jewish hero,
the tailor himself, came among them, and astonished their minds by
the ease and volubility of his speeches. He did not pronounce his
words with any of those soft slushy Judaic utterances by which they
had been taught to believe he would disgrace himself. His nose was
not hookey, with any especial hook, nor was it thicker at the bridge
than was becoming. He was a dapper little man, with bright eyes,
quick motion, ready tongue, and a very new hat. It seemed that
he knew well how to canvass. He had a smile and a good word for
all,--enemies as well as friends. The task of abusing the Cornbury
party he left to his committee and backers. He spent a great deal of
money,--throwing it away in every direction in which he could do so,
without laying himself open to the watchful suspicion of the other
side. He ate and drank like a Christian, and only laughed aloud when
some true defender of the Protestant faith attempted to scare him
away out of the streets by carrying a gammon of bacon up on high.
Perhaps his strength as a popular candidate was best shown by his
drinking a pint of Tappitt's beer in the little parlour behind the
bar at the Dragon.

"He beats me there," said Butler Cornbury, when he heard of that
feat.

But the action was a wise one. The question as to Tappitt's brewery
and Tappitt's beer was running high at Baslehurst, and in no stronger
way could Mr. Hart have bound to him the Tappitt faction than by
swallowing in public that pint of beer. "Let me have a small glass of
brandy at once," said Mr. Hart to his servant, having retired to his
room immediately after the performance of the feat. His constitution
was good, and I may as well at once declare that before half an hour
had passed over his head he was again himself, and at his work.

The question of Tappitt's beer and Tappitt's brewery was running
high in Baslehurst, and had gotten itself involved in the mouths of
the people of Baslehurst, not only with the loves and sorrows of
poor Rachel Ray, but with the affairs of this election. We know how
Tappitt had been driven to declare himself a stanch supporter of the
Jew. He had become very stanch,--stanch beyond the promising of his
own vote,--stanch even to a final sitting on the Jew's committee,
and an active canvasser on the Jew's behalf. His wife, whose
passions were less strong than his own and her prudence greater, had
remonstrated with him on the matter. "You can vote