ave been cast down from a state
of affluence to that of penury. An illustration of this proposition was
afforded in the family of Mr. Wheelwright. It appeared that after the
change recorded in the last chapter, from a condition of the most
abject misery, to that of comparative comfort, the Doctor's lady,
elated by her prosperity, began to take airs upon herself, and her
carriage was such as to excite the jealousy of her neighbors up stairs.
The consequences were a speedy and open rupture, so that occasional
hostilities were waged between them; and the civil dudgeon ran so high
that all attempts of poor Wheelwright to keep the peace were abortive.
At last, on the night of my friend's arrest, one of the ladies from
above, remarkable for the dimensions of her facial organ, descended to
his apartment in a tempest, and insulted his wife. Like a true Amazon
as she was, the latter repelled the invader, pursued her in her flight,
and like Scipio carried the war into Africa. The tenants above made
common cause with Mistress Judy Pettit, and the gentle lady of Mr.
Wheelwright was in turn discomfitted, and compelled to descend headlong
down stairs, in rather too quick time for her comfort, with a cataract
of Irish women tumbling after her. Wheelwright ran to the rescue of his
help-meet, and pulling her through the door, endeavored to shut it on
the instant, to keep out the foe; in doing which the proboscis of
Mistress Pettit, which was truly of the Strasburgh order, was unhappily
and literally caught in the door crack, and beyond all question
somewhat injured thereby. In the language of the trumpeter's wife in
Tristram Shandy, it was truly "a noble nose," and the pinch it endured,
though transient, it must be confessed, was rather severe and biting.
Its fair possessor therefore ran into the street, smarting from the
pain, and vociferating alternately for the "watch," and "Och murther!
I'm kilt, I'm kilt," so pertinaciously and so obstreperously withal, as
to wake up several of the guardians of the night, who made a rally, and
carried the whole party to the watch-house, including an Irishman who
happened to be on a visit up stairs, by the name of Timothy Martin.

From all account, the morning examination before the sitting magistrate
must have afforded one of the most amusing scenes for the fancy that
have recently occurred this side of Bow-street. It was difficult to say
which of the ladies was the most clamorous, Mistress Pettit,