The Merry Past 



which made a total of twenty-five thousand pounds, 

 which, multiplied by the number of Sundays in a 

 year, gave, as the annual consumption of that day of 

 rest, the immense sum of one million three hundred 

 thousand pounds. 



Of these two hundred thousand persons, a facetious 

 chronicler calculated that there would be : 



Sober 50,000 



In high glee 90,000 



Drunkish 30,000 



Staggering tipsy 10,000 



Muzzy iSjOOO 



Dead drunk 5,000 



200,000 



The estimate in question was, of course, more or 

 less a joke, but there is no doubt that temperance 

 was at a considerable discount during the holidays of 

 the past. 



In those days there was a good deal of rough humour 

 and fun to be observed in the streets of London, 

 which are now so decorous and staid. 



On one occasion two men, vendors and buyers of 

 " old clo," both with long beards, passing near Totten- 

 ham Court Road, were so much attracted by a couple 

 of jackets which hung on a stable door as not to be 

 able to resist adding them to their stock. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, for the patriarchs, the owners, 

 two postboys, who were drinking on the other side 

 of the road, observed the transaction. In a moment 



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