^ ^cnili'ar 33tmg. 109 



It suits the public, poor gullable souls — answers 

 the requirements of the publishers, and pays me, 

 whose conscience, moreover, is probably as free 

 from stain as that of most other "Special" knights 

 of the quill. For does not our licence exceed that 

 even of the Poets ? 



" Do you only hunt," I think I hear you ask, 

 "when seated in your easy chair at Brixton ? " 



Not I, forsooth ; would hunting alone provide a 

 family man, like myself, with even the ordinary 

 everyday necessities of life, let alone such little 

 luxuries and creature comforts as I desire ? 



"What else do you do then?" is probably your 

 next question, and I will hasten truthfully to reply 

 to it. " What else ! why ' puff,' of course, you inno- 

 cent old scanner of newspapers." Puffing is the 

 privilege of correspondents — the image of imposition 

 without its liabilities, as, too, without a particle of 

 its other dangers. 



Don't confuse "puffing," my poor simple one, with 

 the confectionery trade — the puffing I allude to is of 

 a far more lucrative, though scarcely less "flowery" 

 nature. Here is an instance of it : 



" The day was, as a matter of fact, a cold one, and 

 the wind North-East ; but thanks to one of those 

 excellent respirators, which can alone be obtained 

 for IS. 8d. from Messrs. Mufflemen, of Slum Street, 



