iate his merits at any rate, for Ma says he shall be
asked to every future dinner-party, if it's only to talk to people
between the courses, and distract their attention when there's any
unexpected delay in the kitchen.

At supper, Mr. Tupple shows to still greater advantage than he has done
throughout the evening, and when Pa requests every one to fill their
glasses for the purpose of drinking happiness throughout the year, Mr.
Tupple is _so_ droll: insisting on all the young ladies having their
glasses filled, notwithstanding their repeated assurances that they never
can, by any possibility, think of emptying them and subsequently begging
permission to say a few words on the sentiment which has just been
uttered by Pa--when he makes one of the most brilliant and poetical
speeches that can possibly be imagined, about the old year and the new
one. After the toast has been drunk, and when the ladies have retired,
Mr. Tupple requests that every gentleman will do him the favour of
filling his glass, for he has a toast to propose: on which all the
gentlemen cry 'Hear! hear!' and pass the decanters accordingly: and Mr.
Tupple being informed by the master of the house that they are all
charged, and waiting for his toast, rises, and begs to remind the
gentlemen present, how much they have been delighted by the dazzling
array of elegance and beauty which the drawing-room has exhibited that
night, and how their senses have been charmed, and their hearts
captivated, by the bewitching concentration of female loveliness which
that very room has so recently displayed. (Loud cries of 'Hear!') Much
as he (Tupple) would be disposed to deplore the absence of the ladies, on
other grounds, he cannot but derive some consolation from the reflection
that the very circumstance of their not being present, enables him to
propose a toast, which he would have otherwise been prevented from
giving--that toast he begs to say is--'The Ladies!' (Great applause.)
The Ladies! among whom the fascinating daughters of their excellent host,
are alike conspicuous for their beauty, their accomplishments, and their
elegance. He begs them to drain a bumper to 'The Ladies, and a happy new
year to them!' (Prolonged approbation; above which the noise of the
ladies dancing the Spanish dance among themselves, overhead, is
distinctly audible.)

The applause consequent on this toast, has scarcely subsided, when a
young gentleman in a pink under-waistcoat, sitti