iper was a character well known at the time, as a constant
frequenter of all races, fairs, regattas, ship-launches, bull-baits, and
prize-fights, all of which he attended, and to which he transported
himself with an expedition little less remarkable than that of Turpin.
You met him at Epsom, at Ascot, at Newmarket, at Doncaster, at the
Roodee of Chester, at the Curragh of Kildare. The most remote as well as
the most adjacent meeting attracted him. The cock-pit was his constant
haunt, and in more senses than one was he a _leg_. No opera-dancer could
be more agile, more nimble; scarcely, indeed, more graceful, than was
Jerry, with his shoeless and stockingless feet; and the manner in which
he executed a pirouette, or a pas, before a line of carriages, seldom
failed to procure him "golden opinions from all sorts of dames." With
the ladies, it must be owned, Jerry was rather upon too easy terms; but
then, perhaps, the ladies were upon too easy terms with Jerry; and if a
bright-eyed fair one condescended to jest with him, what marvel if he
should sometimes slightly transgress the laws of decorum. These
aberrations, however, were trifling; altogether he was so well known,
and knew everybody else so well, that he seldom committed himself; and,
singular to say, could on occasions even be serious. In addition to his
other faculties, no one cut a sly joke, or trolled a merry ditty, better
than Jerry. His peculiarities, in short, were on the pleasant side, and
he was a general favorite in consequence.

No sooner did Jerry perceive that he was recognized, than, after kissing
his hand, with the air of a _petit-maitre_, to the highwayman, he strove
to edge his way through the crowd. All his efforts were fruitless; and,
tired of a situation in the rear rank, so inconsistent, he conceived,
with his own importance, he had recourse to an expedient often practised
with success in harlequinades, and not unfrequently in real life, where
a flying leap is occasionally taken over our heads. He ran back a few
yards to give himself an impetus, returned, and, placing his hands upon
the shoulders of a stalwart vagabond near to him, threw a summerset upon
the broad cap of a palliard, who was so jammed in the midst that he
could not have stirred to avoid the shock; thence, without pausing, he
vaulted forwards, and dropped lightly upon the ground in front of
Zoroaster, and immediately before the highwayman.

Dick laughed immoderately at Jerry's man[o