190 THE LAST OF THE PIG-TAILS. 



of hair and he had now become the grand patron of the town, nothing 

 of consequence could be carried on without consulting him, and 

 taking his advice upon it ; and whenever and wherever he patronized 

 it was sure to prosper: all the cry was " Go to Dicky Sagg, and 

 hear what he has to say about it." 



Every man in this good town now tried to imitate him, but there 

 was a degree of elegance and gentility in the style of his queue 

 which none could attain to ; and here his profound knowledge had 

 taught him, not merely to study their history, but also their appear- 

 ance, and the origin of the name ; and great was the pleasure when 

 Richard made the discovery, that discovery, which always rendered 

 him most valuable in the estimation of the Antiquarian Society, that 

 pig-tails or queues had received their name from being formed and 

 fixed on the head like the tail of the capital letter Q ; and that they 

 ought, and must of necessity appear most graceful, if placed on the 

 head at an angle, like the tail of a Q. Richard made this dicovery 

 in bed, as appears from his diary, which he regularly kept, and from 

 which we shall faithfully copy an extract, in order to settle a dispute 

 which has agitated the fashionable world for some time, as to what 

 person has the priority of discovery ; and, it will be seen, that the 

 merit alone rests with Richard, as he made the discovery just one 

 second before any other person. His diary says — Rose from my 

 bed — brilliant ideas in my head — lighted a taper — looked at my 

 watch — just one second to twelve — soon be to-morrow — asked myself 

 the question why is a pig-tail a pig-tail ? The answer as quickly on 

 my mind, in good Cantab logic — a pig-tail is a pig-tail, because it is 

 like a pig-tail, and, therefore, can be nothing but a pig-tail ; and a 

 queue is a queue, because it is a queue, fixed like the tail of a Q — 

 and the more its like a Q's tail the more it is a queue, and the more 

 it looks like a Q the more it must be a queue ; looked atjmyself in 

 the glass, saw my queue had, by the force of imagination alone, 

 (query mesmerism) assumed the very form that my dreaming fancy 

 had pointed out to me to be so elegant. — No more sleep this night — 

 up soon in the morning, and sent for Tidpole to dress my hair. 



Tidpole was one of those who never difiered from Richard ; 

 regularly every morning he took his cue from his patron, and retailed 

 it ; but if, on the morrow, Richard, iij his wisdom, found it necessary 

 to alter his opinion, why then Tidpole as regularly altered his, and 



