THE MASTER AT COTTONWOOL'S 15 



ferred ; " We won't go home till morning ; " more port 

 — two bottles this time. — Observations. Party merry ; 

 Pigskin half-cocked; Sam Bore'em nodding; host 

 speaking thick. 



Nine o'clock. — " Chair ! chair ! " Host proposes 

 " Master's health " again, assuring him that Fleecy Hall 

 covers shall never be drawn blank ; amendment by 

 Pigskin, " That the toast be drunk with three times 

 three ; " carried nem. con. ; drunk ; moved by Tom 

 Lax, and "one cheer more" given; port and claret 

 — 2 and 1. — Observations. Party noisy; room hot; 

 gentlemen's waistcoats loose. 



Quarter-past Nine. — Master returns thanks 

 again ; proposes a bumper toast ; no heel-taps ; 

 " The Ladies ! " three times three, and one, etc. — 

 Observations. Very merry; Pigskin three parts 

 drunk ; Master half-cocked ; Sam Bore'em asleep. 



Let us now suppose it half-past nine, and that 

 Mrs. Cottonwool and daughters, having got them- 

 selves cooled, have lit their " Brecknell and Turners'," 

 shaken out their feathers, and taken positions best 

 calculated for capturing their respective prey as they 

 enter the drawing-room. And here we may pay the 

 " deferred " annuity of information we promised our 

 fair friends, as they left the dining-room. It is this : — 

 A man is much easier come over when half-mellow, 

 than when half-fed. We observed, with sorrow, not 

 altogether unmingled with anger, that you pestered 

 your next door neighbours with your pleasantries 

 when they had their mouths full. Nay, we caught 

 Robertina interrupting hers in the middle of a glass 

 of champagne ! All this is very wrong. Our 

 Master will tell you that he never speaks to his 

 hounds so long as they will hunt. So you, on your 

 parts, should never speak to a foxhunter so long as 

 he will feed. It is all very well for you ladies who 

 dine at luncheon time to trifle with the golden 



