ame breath, with an emphatic
_nothing!_--a man of wealth _was_ a man of worth! We know not if Mr.
Brown thought this logic or no;--but he, Captain de Camp, knew it, and
intended to let his friends know it also; for next season he would give
a grand entertainment, get Spread and Co. to throw a marquee over the
lawn, and see if Major Cant would come--the Captain rather thought _he_
would; or the Hon. Sam. Dummy--the coxcomb, who, when asked to dine with
Alderman Fig, in Bloomsbury Square, said _his_ horses never crossed
Tottenham Court Road--Stinkomalee and the Brutish Museum savouring too
much of the "people" for the exquisite;--but the Captain winked, and
said he knew how the Dummy would get out of the fix--he would come along
the New Road, as the Captain said he once knew him do, when in search of
an asthmatic poodle that had been stolen, and was at a dog-fancier's on
Pentonville Hill. Then should we have the lane filled with carriages,
like at a Chiswick fete; I would introduce my friend to the world, and
be at rest;--for we are a couple of old boys, willing to make sacrifices
for our dear children.

Having delivered himself of these lofty sentiments as the bells were
ringing out the old year--stopping to strike its knell;--the Captain
also stopped, to seize a glass and the hand of Brown--wishing him the
merriest, maniest, and happiest of New Years;--drinking eternal unity to
the B.'s and De C.'s--at the same time shedding a very visible tear,
that dropped into his brandy and water, like the pearl of Cleopatra,
to be sacrificed to self--to a very affectionate man--so _very_
affectionate, that he loved himself, we do believe.

The spirits and sentiment so overcame Brown, that he buried his emotion
in the bolster--a state of mind the Captain did not fail to observe, and
take advantage of; for--"he supposed Mr. Brown could _not_ spare L8,
until Saturday?"--An affirmation that gentleman repudiated; for he
granted the small favour with pleasure--presenting the leaf of an oblong
book, and his autograph, to the Captain; who retired with the same--by
an ingenious plan to render it of ten times the value--adding to the
_eight_ a letter _y_, making it eight_y_, and the figure to keep company
with a naught--L80.

The events of this day are chronicled in the Diary of Brown--all
_couleur de rose_,--the literal purport of which it would be tedious to
repeat; suffice it to say, the aphorisms on the demise of the year ran
foul of