licting parties; when the bull-dogs and the constables,
headed by marshal Holliday and old Jack Smith, united their forces,
and following the vehicle, opened a passage into the very centre of the
battle, where they had for some time to sustain the perilous attacks
of oaths, and blows, and kicks from both parties, until having fairly
wedged themselves between the combatants, they succeeded by threats and
entreaties, and seizing a few of the ringleaders on ~256~~both sides, to
cause a dispersion, and restore by degrees the peace of the city.

It was, however, some hours before the struggle had completely subsided,
a running fight being kept up by the various straggling parties in their
retreat; and at intervals the fearful cry of Town and Gown would resound
from some plebeian alley or murky lane as an unfortunate wight of the
adverse faction was discovered stealing homewards, covered with mud and
scars. Of my college friends and merry companions in the fray, Tom Echo
alone remained visible, and he had (in his own phraseology) _dropped his
sash_: according to Hudibras, he looked

"As men of inward light are wont
To turn their opticks in upon't;"

or, in plain English, had an _invisible_ eye. The "_disjecta fragmenta_"
of his academical robe presented a most pitiful appearance; it was of
the ragged sort, like the _mendicula impluviata_ of Plautus, and his
under habiliments bore evident marks of his having bitten the dust
(i.e. mud) beneath the ponderous arm of some heroic blacksmith or bargee;
but yet he was lively, and what with blows and exertion, perfectly
sobered. "What, Blackmantle? and alive, old fellow? Well clone, my
hearty; I saw you set to with that fresh water devil from Charwell, the
old Bargee, and a pretty milling you gave him. I had intended to have
seconded you, but just as I was making up, a son of Vulcan let fly his
sledge-hammer slap at my _smeller_, and stopped up one of my _oculars_,
so I was obliged to turn to and finish him off; and when I had completed
the job, you had bolted; not, however, without leaving your marks behind
you. But where's Eglantine? where's Transit? where's the Honourable? By
my soul the _roue_ can handle his _mauleys_ well; I saw him floor one
of the raff in very prime style. But come along, my hearty; we must
walk over the ~257~~field of battle and look after the wounded: I am
desperately afraid that Eglantine is _booked inside_--saw him surrounded
by the _b