38 A Public Dinner. 



to enliven us, he sang " John Anderson my Jo," and beautifully he 

 sang it, with that true Scotch accent, more rare even than precious 



" John Ainderson, my Jo Jin 

 Whan we were first aquint," etc. 



The gentleman seated next to Dulcet was Mr. Fitzgorge, a handsome 

 but wild-looking man, with a throat like Taurus, and an organ of 

 extraordinary powers. He was not the man who had lost his voice 

 " a-singing of anthems." It was pleasant to see the bon-hommie 

 with which Fitz knocked down every speaker in turn, with the little 

 silver snuff-box which he seemed to carry for the purpose of saving 

 his knuckles. It was pleasant, too, to see the unaffected admiration 

 with which he listened to the beautiful ballad-singing of his rival 

 Dulcet, and the pains he took to keep the waiters quiet while the 

 singing was going on. By the influence of his eye he transfixed one 

 individual in the centre of the room, still as Lot's wife, from the 

 beginning of a song to its close, and even frowned into peace an 

 unhappy old gentleman who was too loudly discussing a knotty ques- 

 tion with a dry biscuit. But this anxiety to keep " order for the 

 vocalists" was a virtue which he had participated in with others ; all 

 liked to have fair play for their exhibitions ; but it must be owned 

 that they allowed us all to talk as much as we liked best, during the 

 speeches, and, indeed, they not only permitted the indulgence, but 

 were good enough to talk and laugh themselves, solely to encourage 

 others. 



About half an hour after dinner, dessert was put upon the table ; 

 that is, to every eight persons, a dish of six yellow olives, ditto of 

 four biscuits, half-a-dozen oranges, and " a miscellaneous lot' y of figs, 

 prunes, almonds, and raisins ; the figs looking like a composition of 

 dirty sugar and soft soap, and the prunes being certainly cut out of 

 leather. Be that as it may, five minutes saw the total discomfiture 

 of the dessert, such as it was, soft soap, hard leather, and the whole 

 six briny olives included. 



The health of the chairman having been drank, Mr. Chairman 



fot on his legs (it was yet early in the evening), and emphatically 

 eclared, in a very small voice, that this was the happiest day of his 

 life. At the same time he must declare himself the most unhappy 

 man alive at being unable to return thanks in a manner worthy of 

 the high honour they had done him. fle could assure them that the 

 remembrance of that evening would never be wiped off, expunged, 

 he would say from the tablet of his memory. He should think of it 

 again and again, he should tell it to his children ; and his children, if 

 they liked, might tell it to theirs ; and thus would it be handed down, 

 encased and casketed, like a precious gem, in the bosoms of his pos- 

 terity's posterity (loud cries of Hear I reiterated raps of the silver 

 snuff-box). He would dis-bosom himself, he would tell them the 

 fact! he had lost much in the service of their Society much (but he 

 would not boast) and above all, he had sacrificed his precious health ; 

 but while he could meet them and hear their animated greetings, 

 their good wishes for his prosperity and health, he should not regret 



