A DINNER AT POPLAR WALK. 621 



to a gentleman of a certain age when too late for dinner. After the 

 lapse of a few minutes, Mr. Minns found himself opposite a yellow 

 brick house, with a green door, brass knocker, and door-plate, green 

 window- frames, and ditto railings, with " a garden" in front, that is 

 to say, a small, loose bit of gravelled ground, with one round and 

 two scalene triangular beds, containing a fir-tree, twenty or thirty 

 bulbc, and an unlimited number of marigolds. The taste of Mr. or 

 Mrs. Bagshaw were further displayed by the appearance of a Cupid 

 on each side of the door, perched upon a heap of large chalk flints, 

 variegated with pink cone-shells. His knock at the door was an- 

 swered by a stumpy boy, in drab-livery with a parsley-and-butter 

 border, cotton stockings and high-lows, who, after hanging his hat 

 on one of the dozen brass-pegs which ornamented the passage, deno- 

 minated by courtesy ' The Hall,' ushered him into a front drawing- 

 room, commanding a very extensive view of the backs of the neigh- 

 bouring houses. The usual ceremony of introduction, and so forth, 

 over, Mr. Minns took his seat, not a little agitated at feeling that he 

 was the last comer, and, somehow or other, the Lion of a dozen 

 people, sitting together in a small drawing-room, getting rid of that 

 most tedious of all time, the time preceding dinner. 



" Well, Brogson," said Bagshaw, addressing an elderly gentleman 

 in a black coat, drab knee-breeches, and long gaiters, who, under 

 pretence of inspecting the prints in an Annual, had heen engaged in 

 satisfying himself upon the subject of Minns' general appearance, by 

 looking at 1 him over the top of the leaves " well, Brogson, what 

 do ministers mean to do ? Will they go out, or what?" 



" Oh why really, you know, I'm the last person in the world to 

 ask for news. Your cousin, from his situation, is the most likely 

 person to answer the question." 



Mr. Minns having assured the last speaker, that, although he was 

 in Somerset House, he possessed no official communication relative 

 to the projects of his Majesty's Ministers. His remark was evidently 

 received incredulously; and no further conjectures being hazarded on 

 the subject, a long pause ensued, during which the company occu- 

 pied themselves in coughing and blowing their noses, until the en- 

 trance of Mrs. Bagshaw caused a general rise. 



The ceremony of introduction being over, dinner was announced, 

 and down stairs the party proceeded accordingly : Mr. Minns es- 

 corting Mrs. Bagshaw as far as the drawing-room door, but being 

 prevented, by the narrowness of the stair-case, from extending his 

 gallantry any further. The dinner passed off as such dinners usually 

 do. Ever and anon, amidst the clatter of knives and forks, and the 

 hum of conversation, Mr. Bagshaw's voice might be heard asking a 

 friend to take wine, and assuring him he was glad to see him ; and a 

 good deal of by-play took place between Mrs. Bagshaw and the ser- 

 vants respecting the removal of the dishes, during which her counte- 

 nance assumed the variations of a weather-glass, sometimes " stormy" 

 and occasionally te set fair." Upon the dessert and wine being placed 

 on the table, the servant, in compliance with a significant look from 

 Mrs. Bagshaw, brought down- " Master Alexander," habited in a sky- 

 blue suit with silver buttons, and with hair of nearly the same colour 



