EXPERIENCES & REMINISCENCES. 123 



head on you the next morning?" "Never," Mr. Drayman 

 replies, " my 'eds allus clear and never aches." And all that 

 Mr. Hopper has to say is that Mr. Drayman looked a 

 magnificent specimen of an Englishman. But this record was 

 broken on Mr. Hopper's return from GKimsby last Tuesday. 

 A man of about 60 with Herculean shoulders entered the 

 carriage at Brocklesby station, and had already had more than 

 one pint. He had come from Hull, and admitted to 15 pints 

 before leaving that sea port. Questioned further by Mr. 

 Hopper respecting his " capacity " he said he could do 26 pints 

 a day well when working hard. Mr. Hopper asked him 

 whether the first or twenty-sixth was freshest to his taste. He 

 replied, " it was hard to tell, there was so little difference, but 

 probably the first had it by a bit. There was, however, 

 scarcely any difference in any of the twenty-six." Mr. 

 Hopper thinks this man would die if Local Option came into 

 his district. 



This is not exactly angling talk, but Mr. Hopper feels that 

 the readers of his notes will excuse him for giving the few 

 "beery" experiences which have come under his notice this 

 Trent-side visit. Before closing with the subject, however, 

 Mr. Hopper cannot refrain from giving from a popular London 

 paper the following extract : Orator : " It's in the wonnerful 

 insight inter human nature that Dickens gets'h the pull over 

 Thackeray; but, on t'other hand, it's the brilliant shafts o' 

 humor, t'gether with a gen'r'l flow of satire, that Thackins 

 get'sh the pull over Dickery. It'sh jush thish Thickery is the 

 humorist, and Dackins is th' satirist, But, after all, it'sh 

 'bsurd to instoot any comparison between Dackery an' 

 Thickens." How many pints Mr. Orator had imbibed is 

 unknown to Mr. Hopper. 



Before finishing this number of his notes Mr. Hopper has 

 to place on record therein the loss of yet one more of his 

 angling companions. Friend Brown, as he has been known in 

 these notes, is no more. A few weeks ago he met with a 

 violent death on the railway about three miles away, a Great 

 Northern engine running over him whilst on the line and 



