A Public Dinner. 37 



" Waiter/" said a young- man in green spectacles, and a mouth 

 drawn round like a bow, " Waitar ! you call this a pigeon-pie?" 

 " Yes, Sir." " Well then, bring me some beef-steak pie, perhaps 

 I shall find some pigeon in that." 



In another part of the room, a loud voice enquired, " Is there any 

 gentleman here of the name of O" 1 Shaughnessy ? " 



A pause ensued. " Who is it wants the jontleman ? " at last en- 

 quired a voice sweetened with a rich brogue. 



"A middle-aged lady and three small children." 



" Oh there is no such jontleman here, I assure you," said the 

 same voice, " and ye may tell her I say so." 



" What name shall I give as my authority, Sir," enquired the 

 waiter, amidst the laughter of the assembly. 



" Why, by St. Patrick, who should it be even but Carrick O'Shaugh 

 botheration get out with ye, Mr. Waitre ! " the rest of the dialogue, 

 if any, was drowned in the roars of the table. 



When the cloth was cleared, four gentlemen opposite to us the 

 vocalists had the goodness to sing grace for the company in a Latin 

 hymn. 



" Gen'maii CHARGE y'r GLASSES ! " shouted the toastmaster in a 

 voice which paled the cheek of our little chairman, and made the 

 chandeliers quiver and the candles gutter. Then came " THE 

 KING ! " and then three-times-three, attended with fresh quivering 

 and guttering. Then was sung our national hymn, the first verse by 

 a little boy standing on a chair, with curly hair and fat cheeks, and 

 shouting and shrieking,' and looking^ like a cherub in a jacket and 

 frill. 



" And what are you going to give us now, gentlemen ? " enquired 

 Thompson of the singers, after the health of the Queen had been 

 drank. But the singers did not condescend to reply, except by an 

 expressive hint to him to be quiet, and, after pitching their voices, the 

 whole party struck up the glee, "Sleep, gentle lady!" but what 

 affinity the song had to the preceding toast, we could not divine for 

 what man would be bold enough or blind enough to serenade our 

 Gracious Queen ? 



Mr. Dulcet, the gentleman who led in the foregoing u chant," as 

 Thompson called it, was a man of some five-and-forty years, with a 

 good-tempered face, closed eye, and his hair gathered up in a point 

 over the centre of his forehead. Dulcet, as he informed us, had 

 dined>t two o'clock with Mrs. D. and the children off boiled mutton ; 

 consequently he had had nothing to do during dinner but to look on 

 and talk. The presence of fatty Thompson, who appeared to be an 

 old chum of his, seemed to recall some gloomy thoughts to the 

 mind of Mr. Dulcet; and there was the curious spectacle of a man, 

 whose occupation it was to amuse, sentimentalizing over his wine, 

 with a face as long and mirth-inspiring as a tomb-stone. His theme 

 was the flight of time : he could not away with the thought that he 

 had known the fat man with the red face and semi-bald head when 

 he wore pinafores. As we looked on and laughed, Dulcet in turn 

 gratified us with the observation that " our turn would come round." 

 This gentleman's songs partook of the temper of his mind; especially 



