226 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



I were perpetually seeking fresh fields for the 

 exercise of our taJents. It was not always easy 

 to devise entirely new schemes for the successful 

 stimulation of healthy human laughter, but 

 George was no great stickler for originality, and 

 would unblushingly adopt methods invented 

 by other members of the Society that had been 

 reported favourably upon when employed by 

 their creators. Thus, on one occasion he dis- 

 guised himself as an honest British artisan, and, 

 armed ^^ith pick and shovel, excavated so vast 

 a portion of the wood pavement outside the 

 Ritz Hotel that the whole traffic of Piccadilly 

 was held up for several hours at the very height 

 of the London season; and it was his frequent 

 habit to ring the bells of houses in Berkeley 

 Square and solicit the loan of a little piece of 

 groundsel for an ailing bird that existed only in 

 his imagination. 



But when he undertook to carr}" sunshine into 

 the gloomy portals of our national post office, 

 George Biffin showed himself to be a more than 

 usually hardened and confirmed plagiarist. One 

 of London's leading actor-managers, for many 

 years a respected member of our S.P.H.G., had 

 already covered the ground here very thoroughly, 

 but this notorious fact did not deter my cousin 

 from an attempt to emulate the master's achieve- 

 ments. 



