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stop : at this point the muzzle must positively be put on ; 

 for would you have me fill my man with Finnon haddocks 

 and all the trashy and unprofitable varieties of marmalade : 

 red, green, and orange ? What a proposition ! Oh, no ; I 

 say again in no manner, and by no means, will I permit 

 him to exceed. After very slender fare he will bound 

 along like a Grimaldi ; and let me see a hearty eater that 

 has the least chance with him. 



Can a man replete with good things dash up Ben Derig ? 

 Vain hope ! he would sink down gently in the first bog ; 

 nought, save his head appearing above the surface; and 

 the raven would feed upon his scalp, as Ugolino did upon 

 the cruel archbishop's. 



Ye who eat long like your mothers, and fast like your 

 fathers ye, believe me, had much better remain at home 

 with your household gods, and cultivate decisive apo- 

 plexies. Every body will tell you how well you look ; so 

 let out your waistcoats and your waistbands most amply, 

 my much cherished friends, eat, drink, and be happy ; or 

 if the god of sport be warm within you, if so great such 

 an inextinguishable ardour burns in your bosoms, arrange 

 yourselves, I pray you, in an ample punt on a domestic 

 fish-pond, with a rod, a line, and that admirable contrivance 

 the float ; but let not your obese fingers aspire to dally with 

 a rifle. 



Tell me now, could you hit any given acre of land at 

 fifty paces ? I should rather think not. As for a rifle, 

 then, have nothing to do with it, I beseech you, my 

 good fellows, lest it should go off unadvisedly. We are 

 ready to give you every possible credit for your private 

 and domestic virtues; you are good fathers, the best of 



