A DINNER AT POPLAR WALK. 



MR. MINNS was a bachelor of about forty, as he said of about 

 eight and forty, as his friends said. He was always exceedingly 

 clean, precise, and tidy, perhaps somewhat priggish, and the most " re- 

 tiring man in the world." He usually wore a brown frock-coat with- 

 out a wrinkle, light inexplicables without a spot, a neat neckerchief 

 with a remarkably neat tie, and boots without a fault ; moreover, he 

 always carried a brown silk umbrella with an ivory handle. He was 

 a clerk in Somerset House,, or, as he said, he held " a responsible 

 situation under Government." He had a good and increasing salary, 

 in addition to some 10,000/. of his own (invested in the funds), and 

 he occupied a first floor in Tavistock-street, Covent Garden, where he 

 had resided for twenty years, having been in the habit of quarrelling 

 with his landlord the whole time, regularly giving notice of his in- 

 tention to quit on the first day of every quarter, and as regularly 

 countermanding it on the second. He had but two particular hor- 

 rors in the world, and those were dogs and children. His prejudice 

 arose from no unamiability of disposition, but that the habits of the 

 animals were continually at variance with his love of order, which 

 might be said to be equally as powerful as his love of life. Mr. Au- 

 gustus Minns had no relation in or near London, with the exception 

 of his cousin, Mr. Octavius Bagshaw, to whose son, whom he had 

 never seen (for he disliked the father), he had consented to become 

 godfather by proxy. Mr. Bagshaw having realized a moderate for- 

 tune by exercising " the trade or calling" of a corn-chandler, and 

 having a great predilection for the country, had purchased a cottage 

 in the vicinity of Stamford Hill, whither he retired with the wife of 

 his bosom and his only son, Master Alexander Augustus Bagshaw. 

 One evening, as Mr. and Mrs. B. were admiring their son, discussing 

 his various merits, talking over his education, and disputing whether 

 the classics should be made an essential part thereof, the lady pressed 

 so strongly upon her husband the propriety of cultivating the friend- 

 ship of Mr. Minns in behalf of their son, that Mr. Bagshaw at last 

 made up his mind that it should not be his fault if he and his cousin 

 were not in future more intimate. 



" I'll break the ice, my love," said Mr. Bagshaw, stirring up the 

 sugar at the bottom of his glass of brandy-ahd-water, and casting a 

 sidelong look at his spouse to see the effect of the annoucement of his 

 determination " by asking Minns down to dine with us on Sunday." 



" Then, pray, Bagshaw, write to your cousin at once," replied his 

 spouse ; " who knows, if we could only get him down here, but that 

 he might take a fancy to our Alexander, and leave him his property ? 

 Alick, my dear, take your legs off the rail of the chair." 



" Very true," said Mr. Bagshaw, musing ; " very true indeed, my 

 love." 



On the following morning, as Mr. Minns was sitting at his break- 

 fast table, alternately biting his dry toast and casting a look upon the 

 columns of the Times, which he always read from the title to the 



M.M. No. 96. 4K 



