THE ROUT OF THE THIMBLE-MEN 117 



dealing, and yet she was infatuated about her ability to 

 spot the pea under the thimble. 



Tom Buncombe, the one time Radical Member for 

 Finsbury and cher ami of Madame Vestris — " the last of 

 the Radical gentlemen," as James Hannay mournfully 

 called him — was another godsend to the thimble-men, 

 and on the day of Cedric's Derby he risked guinea after 

 guinea at guessing under which thimble the pea was, 

 until he had lost no less than a hundred and fifty. Yet 

 * Tommy ' was no fool ; indeed, he was generally reputed 

 to be about the cleverest Member of the House of 

 Commons. The late Serjeant Ballantine tells the following 

 story of him : — 



There was a certain individual, a collector of some portion 

 of His Majesty's revenue, who was also the collector of 

 certain " leetle bills " bearing the signature of Thomas 

 Slingsby Buncombe, signed by that gentleman before he 

 was elected for Finsbury. After that occurrence, which 

 exempted him from arrest for debt, it was found very 

 difficult to induce Mr Buncombe to take up these promises. 

 Having exhausted every fair means to get his money back, 

 Mr Taxman, in a fit of resentment, hit upon a foul one. 

 One afternoon, as Tommy was making his way towards the 

 Houses of Parliament, he was encountered by some half- 

 dozen sandwich-men advertising the fact that the possessor 

 of certain documents bearing the signature of Thomas 

 Slingsby Buncombe was willing to dispose of them to the 

 highest bidder. The Honourable Member had too much 

 experience of the ways of angry duns to be much dis- 

 turbed by this public expose^ and, knowing something too 

 of his creditor's private affairs, had a rod in pickle for him 

 besides. So, calmly proceeding to the House of Commons, 

 he took the first opportunity of making a motion, impelled, 

 as he said, by the interest which he took in the disposal of 

 the people's money, for a return of such of the King's 

 taxes as had not yet been paid over by the collectors. 

 The motion was duly seconded, carried, and put into effect. 

 This sudden call proved to be so inconvenient to Tommy's 

 creditor that he had to seek change of air across the ocean. 

 And thus did our patriotic Member fulfil a public duty, 



