est friend the
chief mate, and there the matter might have ended: but I am sorry to say
Mr. Binnie now thought it necessary to rise and deliver himself of
some remarks regarding the King's service, coupled with the name of
Major-General Sir Thomas de Boots, K.C.B., etc.--the receipt of which
that gallant officer was obliged to acknowledge in a confusion amounting
almost to apoplexy. The glasses went whack whack upon the hospitable
board; the evening set in for public speaking. Encouraged by his last
effort, Mr. Binnie now proposed Sir Brian Newcome's health; and that
Baronet rose and uttered an exceedingly lengthy speech, delivered with
his wine-glass on his bosom.

Then that sad rogue Bayham must get up, and call earnestly and
respectfully for silence and the chairman's hearty sympathy, for the few
observations which he had to propose. "Our armies had been drunk
with proper enthusiasm--such men as he beheld around him deserved the
applause of all honest hearts, and merited the cheers with which
their names had been received. ('Hear, hear!' from Barnes Newcome
sarcastically. 'Hear, hear, HEAR!' fiercely from Clive.) But whilst we
applauded our army, should we forget a profession still more exalted?
Yes, still more exalted, I say in the face of the gallant General
opposite; and that profession, I need not say, is the Church.
(Applause.) Gentlemen, we have among us one who, while partaking largely
of the dainties on this festive board, drinking freely of the sparkling
wine-cup which our gallant hospitality administers to us, sanctifies
by his presence the feast of which he partakes, inaugurates with
appropriate benedictions, and graces it, I may say, both before and
after meat. Gentlemen, Charles Honeyman was the friend of my childhood,
his father the instructor of my early days. If Frederick Bayham's latter
life has been chequered by misfortune, it may be that I have forgotten
the precepts which the venerable parent of Charles Honeyman poured into
an inattentive ear. He too, as a child, was not exempt from faults; as a
young man, I am told, not quite free from youthful indiscretions. But in
this present Anno Domini, we hail Charles Honeyman as a precept and an
example, as a decus fidei and a lumen ecclesiae (as I told him in the
confidence of the private circle this morning, and ere I ever thought to
publish my opinion in this distinguished company). Colonel Newcome and
Mr. Binnie! I drink to the health of the Reverend C