are a deal higher in spirits; the film of the wing is seldom
discernible in such mahogany-coloured wine as this." "Sir, I blush like
rose wood at your impertinence." "Ay, sir, and you'll soon be as red
as logwood, or as black as ebony, if you will but do justice to the
bottle," was the reply. "There is no being cross-grained with you," said
the timber-merchant. "Not unless you cut me," retorted Blackstrap, "and
you are not sap enough for that." "Gentlemen," continued the facetious
wine-merchant, "if we do not get a little fruit, I shall think we have
not met with our dessert; and although there may be some among us
whose principals are worth a plum, there are very few of their
representatives, I suspect, who will offer any objections to my
reasons." Thus pleasantly apostrophised, the fruit made its appearance,
and with it a fresh supply of the genuine Oporto, which our merry
companion, Blackstrap, called "his _old particular_." One of his
stories, relative to a joke played off upon the Bolton trotters, by
his friend Sable, the travelling undertaker, is too good to be lost. In
Lancashire the custom of hoaxing is called ~255~~_trotting_, and in
many instances, particularly at Bolton, is still continued, and has
frequently been played off upon strangers with a ruinous success. Sable
had, it would appear, taken up his quarters at a commercial inn, and,
as is usual with travellers, joined the tradesmen in the smoking room at
night to enjoy his pipe, and profit, perhaps, by introduction in the
way of business. The pursuit of the undertaker and dealer in coffin
furniture was no sooner made generally known, than it was unanimously
agreed to trot him, by giving him various orders for articles in his
line, which none of the parties had any serious intention of paying for
or receiving. With this view, one ordered a splendid coffin for himself,
and another one for his wife; a third gave instructions for an engraved
plate and gilt ornaments; and a fourth chose to order an elegant suite
of silver ornaments to decorate the last abode of frail mortality: in
this way the company were much amused with the apparent unsuspecting
manner of Sable, who carefully noted down all their orders, and pledged
himself to execute them faithfully. The Bolton people did not fail
to circulate this good joke, as they then thought it, among their
neighbours, and having given fictitious names, expected to have had
additional cause for exultation when the art