168 Pre-Railway Life in London. 



but must bring a friend. The offer was gladly accepted, 

 and arrangements were made that the beau should bring a 

 friend also. A boon companion readily agreed to share the 

 dinner and the expense, and a private room was engaged at 

 the Star and Garter, and a banquet, regardless of cost, was 

 ordered, with bouquets for the ladies. The two amorous 

 swains arrived and heard that the ladies were before them. 

 With rapture the founder of the feast beheld his fair partner, 

 wearing a charming bonnet which he had sent her, waiting 

 for him in the garden, and accompanied her into the hotel 

 for the purpose of introducing his brother Lothario to the 

 other lady. On entering the room the young lady intro- 

 duced a stout, middle-aged woman with a squint (who in 

 private life kept a greengrocer's shop), temporarily occupied 

 pending the dinner hour with a glass of rum and water, 

 strongly flavoured with sugar and lemon, as '^ her mamma." 

 And before the hour of departure arrived that middle-aged 

 lady, who displayed a wonderful power of digestion and 

 thirst, somewhat sharply wanted to know the young man's 

 intentions towards her " darter," whom she took home under 

 her own wing. 



As regards the sports of the period they were quieter 

 than those of the present day. The Oxford and Cambridge 

 boat race which was rowed before the days of outriggers 

 from Westminster to Putney attracted a few thousand 

 spectators who were interested in rowing or belonged to 

 either university, and there was plenty of room for all to 

 see or for equestrians to ride along the banks. The Public 

 School matches at Lord's — which were stopped through the 

 pig-headed obstinacy of a few dons — attracted a goodly 

 assemblage of relatives and friends of the boys, without any 

 extravagant crowds. Lord's was then, as now, the head 

 centre of cricket, and crowds such as are seen now never 

 assembled, except when Kent v. England, or Gentleman v. 



