when every house upon the beach was a grog-shop,
are past, vanished, or hanging like pirates in tatters; the sound of a
fiddle never reaches their ears; and the parlour-floors, where we used
to dance and sing till all was blue, are now as smooth and as clean as
the decks of Lord Nelson's flag ship, the Victory, which lies moored in
our harbour, like a Greenwich pensioner, anchored in quiet, to drop to
pieces with old age. You may fire a nine-pounder up the principal street
at noon-day now and not hurt any body; and if the peace lasts much
longer, horses may graze in their roads, and persons receive pensions
for inhabiting the vacant houses." The period within which I had
promised to join Horace Eglantine had now elapsed. It was no easy task
to separate myself from my nautical friends, and the amusement they had
afforded me demanded some acknowledgment in return; calling, therefore,
for a full bowl of punch, we drank success to the British navy, toasted
wives and sweethearts, honoured our gracious king, shook ~191~~hands at
parting, like old friends, and having promised to renew my acquaintance
before I left Portsmouth, I bade adieu to jolly Jem Buntline and what
remained of his noble messmate, the lion-hearted Tom Tackle.

[Illustration: page 191]

EVENING, AND IN HIGH SPIRITS.

A SCENE AT LONG'S HOTEL.

~192~~

Sketches of Character--Fashionable Notorieties--Modern
Philosophy--The Man of Genius and the Buck--"A short Life
and a merry one "--A Short Essay on--John Longs--Long Corks
--Long Bills--Long Credits--Long-winded Customers--The
Ancients and the Moderns, a Contrast by Old Crony.

Ye bucks who in manners, dress, fashion, and shiny,
So often have hail'd me as lord of your gang--
"O lend me your ears!" whilst I deign to relate
The cause of my splendour, the way to be great;
My own chequered life condescend to unfold,
And give a receipt of more value than gold;
Reveal t' ye the spot where the graces all dwell,
And point out the path like myself to excel.
--Pursuits of Fashion.

Only contrive to obtain the character of an eccentric, and you may ride
the _free horse_ round the circle of your acquaintance for the remainder
of your life. If my readers are not by this time fully satisfied of my
peculiar claims to the appellation of an _oddity_, I have no hopes of
obtaining pardon for the past