XVI PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



residence, tete-a-tete with its noble owner. I 

 have drunk half-and-half with Tom Crib in his 

 parlour. I have dined in noble halls where aris- 

 tocracy, beauty, and brilliancy, dazzled the sight 

 and charmed the senses. I have dined at farmers' 

 clubs where drink dubbed every man " a right 

 good fellow," which stentorian lungs declared 

 " nobody could deny." I have danced in princely 

 drawing-rooms, and so " faith I have " at Donny- 

 brook Fair. I have been presented at more than 

 one court ; so I have at the racket-court at the 

 Fleet and Queen's Bench prisons. I have also 

 gone to very recherche dinners in the latter place, 

 where two honourables, a noble lord, one of the 

 most fascinating women living, myself, and one 

 whose name we frequently see mentioned as about 

 our present court, formed the party. So have I 

 (when I had a farm on my hands) dined in a field 

 on cold bacon on a lump of bread. I have had a 

 stable full of hunters of my own, so have I stabled 

 a hundred horses belonging to other persons. I 

 have given tradesmen a cheque for their bill for 

 follies that now I wonder at. I have received 

 one of another sort when in business for sending 

 in my own. I have sold many of my own horses 

 when it was a matter of indifference to me whether 

 I sold one. I have been twice — once for six and 



