THE DINNER. 97 



it was fine fun to me to see how eager some 

 were after the best cuts of the venison ; how 

 they kept calling " Waiter !" so eagerly, all 

 the while giving a glance at the joint as it 

 was shrinking away ; and then, when they 

 got a slice, how they turned it over, and 

 looked pleased or sour, just as it was a good 

 or poor one. Some seemed pretty much' 

 lookers on, and our squire was one ; there 

 he sat, as calm as a judge, hob-a-nobbing to 

 one and another, letting the champagne go 

 by, and always filling his glass out of a 

 black bottle by him. But, dear me, every 

 body liked him so much, and he had so 

 many healths to drink at dinner, that I felt 

 glad he had not to go home on horseback, 

 but in his carriage; for I thought he'd 

 never keep sober, and so I told the landlord. 

 " Never fear for him," says he ; " it's only 

 toast-and-water he's got, though 'tis in a 

 French bottle ;" and glad enough I was to 

 hear it. 



After the cloth was taken away, instead 

 of grace after meat, three London singers 

 got up and gave the company Non nobis 

 Domine, in a way that pleased the company 

 a deal more than it did God, I'll venture to 



