THE STEAM EXCURSION. 363 



chambers on the ensuiug Wednesday evening at eight o'clock, and 

 the visitors departed. 



Wednesday evening arrived ; eight o'clock came, and eight mem- 

 bers of the committee were punctual in their attendance. Mr. Log- 

 gins, the solicitor, of Boswell-court, sent an excuse, and Mr. Samuel 

 Briggs, the ditto of Furnival's Inn, sent his brother, much to his 

 (the brother's) satisfaction, and greatly to the discomfiture of Mr. 

 Percy Noakes. Between the Briggs's and the Tauntons there 

 existed a degree of implacable hatred, quite unprecedented. The 

 animosity between the Montagues and Capulets was nothing to that 

 which prevailed between these two illustrious houses. Mrs. Briggs 

 was a widow, with three daughters and two sons ; Mr. Samuel, the 

 eldest, was an attorney, and Mr. Alexander, the youngest, was under 

 definite articles to his brother. They resided in Portland-street, 

 Oxford-street, and moved in the same orbit as the Tauntons hence 

 their mutual dislike. If the Miss Briggs's appeared in smart bon- 

 nets, the Miss Tauntons eclipsed them with smarter. If Mrs. 

 Taunton appeared in a cap of all the hues of the rainbow, Mrs. Briggs 

 forthwith mounted a toque, with all the patterns of a kaleidescope. 

 If Miss Sophia Taunton learnt a new song, two of the Miss Briggs's 

 came out with a new duet'. The Tauntons had once gained a tem- 

 porary triumph with the assistance of a harp, but the Briggs's brought 

 three guitars into the field, and effectually routed the enemy. In 

 short, there was no end to the rivalry between them. 



Now, as Mr. Samuel Briggs was a mere machine, a sort of self- 

 acting legal walking-stick ; and as the party was known to have ori- 

 ginated, however remotely, with Mrs. Taunton, the female branches 

 of the Briggs's family had arranged that Mr. Alexander should attend 

 instead of his brother ; and as the said Mr. Alexander was deservedly 

 celebrated for possessing all the pertinacity of a bankruptcy -court 

 attorney, combined with the obstinacy of that pleasing animal which 

 brouzes upon the thistle he required but little tuition. He was 

 especially enjoined to make himself as disagreeable as possible ; and, 

 above all, to blackball the Tauntons at every hazard. 



The proceedings of the evening were opened by Mr. Percy Noakes. 

 After successfully urging upon the gentlemen present the propriety 

 of their mixing some brandy-and- water, he briefly stated the objects 

 of the meeting, and concluded by observing that the first step must 

 be the selection of a chairman, necessarily possessing some arbitrary 

 he trusted not unconstitutional powers, to whom the personal 

 direction of the whole of the arrangements (subject to the approval 

 of the committee) should be confided. A pale young gentleman, in 

 a green stock, and spectacles of the same, a member of the honour- 

 able society of the Inner Temple, immediately rose for the purpose 

 of proposing Mr. Percy Noakes. He had known him long, and this 

 he would say, that a more honourable, a more excellent, or a better 

 hearted fellow, never existed (hear, hear). The young gentleman, 

 who was a member of a debating society, took this opportunity of 

 entering into an examination of the state of the English law, from 

 the days of William the Conqueror down to the present period ; he 

 briefly adverted to the code established by the ancient Druids ; 



