's debts, and the bailey's broken
head ware chuck'd into the bargain.

_Dennis._ And what did he pay?

_Dan._ Guess now.

_Dennis._ A hundred pounds?

_Dan._ Six thousand, by gum!

_Dennis._ What! on the nail?

_Dan._ Na; on the counter.

_Dennis._ Whew!--six thousand pou----! Oh, by the powers, this man
must be the philosopher's stone! Dan----

_Dan._ Hush! here he be.

_Enter PEREGRINE, from the House._

_Per._ [_To DAN._] So, friend, you have brought provision, I
perceive.

_Dan._ Ees, sir;--three boil'd fowls, three roast, two chicken
pies, and a capon.

_Per._ You have considered abundance, more than variety. And the
wine?

_Dan._ A dozen o' capital red port, sir: I ax'd for the newest they
had i' the cellar.

_Dennis._ [_To himself._] Six thousand pounds upon a counter!

_Per._ [_To DAN._] Carry the hamper in doors; then return to me
instantly. You must accompany me in another excursion.

_Dan._ What, now?

_Per._ Yes; to Sir Simon Rochdale's. You are not tired, my honest
fellow?

_Dan._ Na, not a walking wi' you;--but, dang me, when you die, if
all the shoemakers shouldn't go into mourning.
[_DAN takes the Hamper into the House._

_Dennis._ [_Ruminating._] Six thousand pounds! by St. Patrick, it's
a sum!

_Per._ How many miles from here to the Manor house?

_Dennis._ Six thousand!

_Per._ Six thousand!--yards you mean, I suppose, friend.

_Dennis._ Sir!--Eh? Yes, sir, I--I mean yards--all upon a counter!

_Per._ Six thousand yards upon a counter! Mine host, here, seems a
little bewildered;--but he has been anxious, I find, for poor Mary,
and 'tis national in him to blend eccentricity with kindness. John
Bull exhibits a plain, undecorated dish of solid benevolence; but
Pat has a gay garnish of whim around his good nature; and if, now
and then, 'tis sprinkled in a little confusion, they must have
vitiated stomachs, who are not pleased with the embellishment.

_Enter DAN, booted._

_Dan._ Now, sir, you and I'll stump it.

_Per._ Is the way we are to go now, so much worse, that you have
cased yourself in those boots?

_Dan._ Quite clean--that's why I put 'em on: I should ha' dirted 'em
in t' other job.

_Per._ Set forward, then.

_Dan._ Na, sir, axing your pardon; I be but the guide, and 'tisn't
for I to go first.

_Per._ Ha! ha! Then we must march abreast, boy, like lusty soldiers,
and I shall be side by side with honesty: 'tis the