who, in a low tone,
regrets his own inability to bet, in consequence of having unfortunately
left his purse at home, but strongly urges the stranger not to neglect
such a golden opportunity. The 'plant' is successful, the bet is made,
the stranger of course loses: and the gentleman with the thimbles
consoles him, as he pockets the money, with an assurance that it's 'all
the fortin of war! this time I vin, next time you vin: niver mind the
loss of two bob and a bender! Do it up in a small parcel, and break out
in a fresh place. Here's the sort o' game,' &c.--and the eloquent
harangue, with such variations as the speaker's exuberant fancy suggests,
is again repeated to the gaping crowd, reinforced by the accession of
several new-comers.

The chief place of resort in the daytime, after the public-houses, is the
park, in which the principal amusement is to drag young ladies up the
steep hill which leads to the Observatory, and then drag them down again,
at the very top of their speed, greatly to the derangement of their curls
and bonnet-caps, and much to the edification of lookers-on from below.
'Kiss in the Ring,' and 'Threading my Grandmother's Needle,' too, are
sports which receive their full share of patronage. Love-sick swains,
under the influence of gin-and-water, and the tender passion, become
violently affectionate: and the fair objects of their regard enhance the
value of stolen kisses, by a vast deal of struggling, and holding down of
heads, and cries of 'Oh! Ha' done, then, George--Oh, do tickle him for
me, Mary--Well, I never!' and similar Lucretian ejaculations. Little old
men and women, with a small basket under one arm, and a wine-glass,
without a foot, in the other hand, tender 'a drop o' the right sort' to
the different groups; and young ladies, who are persuaded to indulge in a
drop of the aforesaid right sort, display a pleasing degree of reluctance
to taste it, and cough afterwards with great propriety.

The old pensioners, who, for the moderate charge of a penny, exhibit the
mast-house, the Thames and shipping, the place where the men used to hang
in chains, and other interesting sights, through a telescope, are asked
questions about objects within the range of the glass, which it would
puzzle a Solomon to answer; and requested to find out particular houses
in particular streets, which it would have been a task of some difficulty
for Mr. Horner (not the young gentleman who ate mince-pies with his