them out at full
length; some by cramping them under their chairs: while some, taking
refuge in a mental effort, forgot them, a process to be recommended
if it did not involve occasional pangs of consciousness to the legs of
their neighbours. We see in our cousins West of the great water, who are
said to exaggerate our peculiarities, beings labouring under the same
difficulty, and intent on its solution. As to the second problem: that
of drinking without discomposure to the subservient limbs: the company
present worked out this republican principle ingeniously, but in a
manner beneath the attention of the Muse. Let Clio record that mugs
and glasses, tobacco and pipes, were strewn upon the table. But if the
guests had arrived at that stage when to reach the arm, or arrange the
person, for a sip of good stuff, causes moral debates, and presents to
the mind impediments equal to what would be raised in active men by
the prospect of a great excursion, it is not to be wondered at that the
presence of a stranger produced no immediate commotion. Two or three
heads were half turned; such as faced him imperceptibly lifted their
eyelids.

'Good evening, sir,' said one who sat as chairman, with a decisive nod.

'Good night, ain't it?' a jolly-looking old fellow queried of the
speaker, in an under-voice.

'Gad, you don't expect me to be wishing the gentleman good-bye, do you?'
retorted the former.

'Ha! ha! No, to be sure,' answered the old boy; and the remark was
variously uttered, that 'Good night,' by a caprice of our language, did
sound like it.

'Good evening's "How d' ye do?"--"How are ye?" Good night's "Be off, and
be blowed to you,"' observed an interpreter with a positive mind; and
another, whose intelligence was not so clear, but whose perceptions had
seized the point, exclaimed: 'I never says it when I hails a chap; but,
dash my buttons, if I mightn't 'a done, one day or another! Queer!'

The chairman, warmed by his joke, added, with a sharp wink: 'Ay; it
would be queer, if you hailed "Good night" in the middle of the day!'
and this among a company soaked in ripe ale, could not fail to run the
electric circle, and persuaded several to change their positions; in
the rumble of which, Evan's reply, if he had made any, was lost. Few,
however, were there who could think of him, and ponder on that glimpse
of fun, at the same time; and he would have been passed over, had not
the chairman said: 'Take a seat, sir; make your