by his uncle, 'If that bird
was rampant, you would see your own arms, Marquis.'" And Mel replied,
quietly for him to hear, 'And as that bird is couchant, Mr. George,
you had better look to your sauce.' Couchant means squatting, you know.
That's heraldry! Well, that wasn't bad sparring of Mel's. But, bless
you! he was never taken aback, and the gentlefolks was glad enough to
get him to sit down amongst 'em. So, says Mr. George, "I know you're
a fire-eater, Marquis," and his dander was up, for he began marquising
Mel, and doing the mock polite at such a rate, that, by-and-by, one of
the ladies who didn't know Mel called him "my lord" and "his lordship."
"And," says Mel, "I merely bowed to her, and took no notice." So that
passed off: and there sits Mel telling his anecdotes, as grand as a
king. And, by and-by, young Mr. George, who hadn't forgiven Mel, and had
been pulling at the bottle pretty well, he sings out, "It 's Michaelmas!
the death of the goose! and I should like to drink the Marquis's
health!" and he drank it solemn. But, as far as I can make out, the
women part of the company was a little in the dark. So Mel waited till
there was a sort of a pause, and then speaks rather loud to the Admiral,
"By the way, Sir Jackson, may I ask you, has the title of Marquis
anything to do with tailoring?" Now Mel was a great favourite with the
Admiral, and with his lady, too, they say--and the Admiral played into
his hands, you see, and, says he, "I 'm not aware that it has, Mr.
Harrington." And he begged for to know why he asked the question--called
him, "Mister," you understand. So Mel said, and I can see him now, right
out from his chest he spoke, with his head up "When I was a younger man,
I had the good taste to be fond of good society, and the bad taste to
wish to appear different from what I was in it": that's Mel speaking;
everybody was listening; so he goes on: "I was in the habit of going
to Bath in the season, and consorting with the gentlemen I met there on
terms of equality; and for some reason that I am quite guiltless of,"
says Mel, "the hotel people gave out that I was a Marquis in disguise;
and, upon my honour, ladies and gentlemen--I was young then, and a
fool--I could not help imagining I looked the thing. At all events,
I took upon myself to act the part, and with some success, and
considerable gratification; for, in my opinion," says Mel, "no real
Marquis ever enjoyed his title so much as I did. One day I was