rcourse with his employer, Mr. Boffin, is a frequent
cause of his dropping into poetry, and most of his efforts
are adaptations of popular songs. His character is not one
that arouses any sympathetic enthusiasm, and probably no one
is sorry when towards the end of the story Sloppy seizes hold
of the mean little creature, carries him out of the house, and
deposits him in a scavenger's cart 'with a prodigious splash.'

The following are Wegg's poetical effusions, with their sources
and original forms.

Book I, Ch. 5.

'Beside that cottage door, Mr. Boffin,' from 'The Soldier's Tear'

_Alexander Lee_

Beside that cottage porch
A girl was on her knees;
She held aloft a snowy scarf
Which fluttered in the breeze.
She breath'd a prayer for him,
A prayer he could not hear;
But he paused to bless her as she knelt,
And wip'd away a tear.

Book I, Ch. 15.

The gay, the gay and festive scene,
I'll tell thee how the maiden wept, Mrs. Boffin.

From 'The Light Guitar.' (See Index of Songs.)

Book I, Ch. 15.

'Thrown on the wide world, doomed to wander and roam.' From
'The Peasant Boy'

_J. Parry_

Thrown on the wide world, doom'd to wander and roam,
Bereft of his parents, bereft of his home,
A stranger to pleasure, to comfort and joy,
Behold little Edmund, the poor Peasant Boy.

Book I, Ch. 15.

'Weep for the hour.' From 'Eveleen's Bower' _T. Moore_

Oh! weep for the hour
When to Eveleen's bower
The lord of the valley with false vows came.

Book I, Ch 15.

'Then farewell, my trim-built wherry.' From 'The Waterman'

_C. Dibdin_

Book II, Ch. 7.

'Helm a-weather, now lay her close.' From 'The Tar for all
Weathers'

_Unknown_

Book III, Ch. 6.

'No malice to dread, sir.' From verse 3 of 'My Ain Fireside.'

Words by _Mrs. E. Hamilton_

Nae falsehood to dread, nae malice to fear,
But truth to delight me, and kindness to cheer;
O' a' roads to pleasure that ever were tried,
There's nane half so sure as one's own fireside.
My ain fireside, my ain fireside,
Oh sweet is the blink o' my ain fireside.

Book III, Ch. 6.

And you needn't, Mr.