ough to scent it. Most
of our Worcester acquaintance will however understand what is meant by
this allusion to one of the pleasantest fellows that ever commanded the
uncivil customers in the Castle, since the time of the civil wars.
The city is perhaps as quiet a dull place as may be found within
his majesty's dominions, where a cannon-ball might be fired down the
principal street at noon-day without killing more than the ruby-nosed
incumbent of a fat benefice, a superannuated tradesman, or a
manufacturer of crockery-ware. No stranger should, however, pass through
the place without visiting the extensive China works of Messrs. Flight
and Barr, to which the greatest facility is given by the proprietors;
and the visit must amply repay any admirer of the arts. A jovial
evening, spent with our old friend of the Castle, had ended with a kind
invitation from him to partake of a spread at his hotel on the following
morning; but such was the apprehensions of Transit at the idea of
entering this mansion of the desolate, from being troubled with certain
qualmish remembrances of the previous night's debauch, that not all my
intreaties, nor the repeated messages of the worthy commander of the
Castle, could bring our friend Transit to book.

~335~~To those who know my friend John, and there are few of any
respectability who do not both know and admire him, his facetious talent
will require but little introduction. Lavender is what a man of the
world, whose business it has been to watch over the interests of
society, should be, superior in education and in mind, to any one I ever
met with filling a similar situation: the governor of the Castle is
a companion for a lord, or to suit the purposes of justice, instantly
metamorphosed into an out and outer, a regular knowing cove, whose
knowledge of flash and the cant and slang used by the dissolute is
considered to be superior to that of any public officer. A specimen
of this will be found in the following note, which a huge fellow of a
turnkey brought to my bedside, and then apologised for disturbing me, by
pleading the governor's instructions.

"QUEER COVES,

"I hope you have left your dabs,{1}
and nobs,{2} all right: perhaps prime legs{3} is queer in
the oration-box{4} from a too frequent use of the
steamer{5} last darky.{6} I make this fakement{7} to let
you know I and morning spread are waiting.

Steel-hotel,