SAMUEL WHEELER 169 



in tlie most simple, at the same time elegant and hospit- 

 able manner. Though a bachelor, there Avas no absence 

 of politeness or want of attention to females, however his 

 outward appearance contrasted with that of his more 

 accomplished sister, who boasted of having sat upon gold 

 embroidered ottomans, and fancied herself a Begum. 



Joy beamed from his laughing eye, as his knife 

 entered the smoking and well-commended joint ; a heart- 

 felt gratification lent an additional glow to his smiling 

 face, as he looked round and severally helped his 

 welcome and favoured guests ; while the raciness of his 

 conversatiou, interlarded with apt quotations from some 

 of the most h amorous characters depicted by our im- 

 mortal bard, would excite the risible muscles of my 

 brother whip as well as myself — for he had an intellectual 

 capacity, and a classic taste for the enjoyment of such 

 thino-s. AVithout induloino; in anv excess, such treats, 

 not to be witnessed elsewhere in the town, would keep 

 us to a very late hour. 



I cannot give the reader a better idea of the estimation 

 in which I held this singular character, than by tran- 

 scribing a little effusion I attached to his obituary, in 

 a paper whose columns were always open to my pen. 

 After recapitulating his oddities, "Farewell, Sam," ^ I 

 wrote — " many an hour — not unintellectual — not to be 

 regretted — not to be forgotten — have we spent together; 

 and as the tear with which Sterne's recording angel 

 blotted out a good man's breach of the divine law, — 

 so may the unhallowed, but heart-born effusion that 

 follows this pen aid in blotting out all your frailties ; 



^ Samuel Wheeler. 



