NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 305 



— ^the lethalis arundo, as my Scotch tutor would term 

 it, was deep within my bosom — I swore I would never 

 lucubrate again ; never again perpetuate a stanza ; 

 and, like Mr. Daniel O'ConnelFs, I presume, that my 

 vow was duly registered in heaven. 



" This sunny portion of my life was, alas ! but tran- 

 sitory. Mine, sir, is a tragic tale. I date the origin of my 

 misfortunes on board a Margate steamer, and this melan- 

 choly epoch I shudder to recall. Was there no tutelary 

 sprite, no suspicious spinster, to whisper a cautionary 

 advice } No ; without a single fear I embarked in the 

 Nereid steamer ; afid, as the papers stated, * left the 

 Tower stairs with a select party, and a band of music, 



on Friday, the of June, 182 — .* 



" I must here observe, that my blue-stocking aunt, 

 who had actually come out in Leadenhall Street with 

 one small and admired volume, called ' Pedrilla, a Tale 

 of Passion,' had been latterly urgent with me to enter 

 into matrimony. * Something told her,' she would 

 say, * that the name of Dawkins was not doomed to be 

 forgotten, like that of Wood, and Birch, and Bagster. 

 Men of tarts and turpentine might perish, while — 

 .could I but procure a talented companion ; could I 

 but unite myself to a congenial soul, God knows what the 

 result would prove ! — a gifted progeny might honour 

 me with their paternity ; little Popes and diminutive 

 Landons would thus be given to the world, fated to be 

 glorious in their maturity, and lisping in numbers from 

 their very cots.' 



" The company on board the Nereid were generally 

 known to me. They were exclusively Eastern ; and there 

 were beauties from the Minories, and nice men from 

 Bishopsgate Within and Without. I was no swain, 

 and as Anti-gallican in my dancing as Bob Acres. The 



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