94 PERCH FISHING CLUB. 



there was a sideboard covered with a profusion of 

 fine old plate. Two unusually tall footmen, in rich 

 liveries, waited with napkins over their thumbs, a 

 custom not much then in vogue, and the dinner 

 was well dressed and rather recherche. The party 

 consisted of two respectable farmers in the neigh- 

 bourhood, a lawyer of the name of Dawson, and 

 tlu- wife of our host, a melancholy subdued looking 

 woman, who never spoke, and who left the room 

 as soon as dinner was over. Farmer Tibbalt then 

 was in all his glory. His best port wine was pro- 

 duced, and with it certain old fashioned glasses, 

 having long stalks which were curiously figured, 

 and on the top of them appeared small circular 

 globes intended to hold the wine, and which were 

 decorated with vine leaves and bunches of grapes, 

 with the motto, * dum vivimus bibamus,' round 

 each rim. They did not, to be sure, hold much, 

 but then our host insisted that they should be filled 

 to the very brim on every circulation of the bottle, 

 which performed its duty with no little celerity. 

 Those of the party who had been in the habit of 

 dining with our worthy landlord, seemed fully 

 aware of the custom of the house, and offered no 

 objections to the frequency of the required libations. 

 The conversation was about pigs, greyhounds, 

 sheep and oxen, except that now and then, when 

 something called it forth, our host showed that he 

 was well acquainted with elegant literature, and 



