320 ' PROMISED LAND' AND ' DULCIBELLA ' 



1 Do you happen to know, sir, a person by the name 

 of Smith, a pettifogging lawyer, who hails from Exeter ? 

 He is a fat, low-bred-looking fellow, and an awful 

 scoundrel!' 



At this Smith's temper was uncontrollable, and he re- 

 plied in a sweltering rage : 



'I am Smith!' 



' And I,' said the other, ' am Home Tooke !' 



Strange to say, they afterwards became friendly, and 

 it is said that Smith voted for instead of against the 

 other. 



There is at present a family living in Devonshire which 

 I have very little doubt are descendants of this very 

 Smith, because they are noted for their swagger and 

 ability to steer clear of the truth in what they affirm ; 

 insomuch so that it is of a certain member of this family 

 that it has been so neatly observed that he ' was never 

 known to speak the truth except once by accident.' One 

 of them a man I knew well was a butcher not far 

 from Exeter, if he did not once keep a shop in that city. 

 For many years his bullocks were always better than 

 those of the preceding season, and naturally, in the 

 course of time, they attained a very high state of per- 

 fection indeed, until at last it passed into a proverb ; and 

 when anyone told a thumper more palpably outrageous 

 than usual, it was sufficiently understood when it was 

 said, ' That's like old Smith's bullocks.' I should add 

 that afterwards the butcher turned his attention to 

 horses, which in his hands (and mouth) became equally 

 noted as being of the same wonderful improving char- 

 acter ; like the monster elephant that the showman 

 assures his audience grows half an inch a day, and never 

 attains his full height, and that there are not weights 

 enough or scales sufficiently large to ascertain his stu- 



