RELAYS OF FIDDLERS. 223 



the most dolorous of the dolefuls, and then breaking 

 off suddenly to ask me for a quid of tobacco. On my 

 answering that I had none, he inflicted a couple of 

 rough strokes on his poor instrument, expressed, in 

 coarse language, a most disagreeable wish respecting 

 the eyes of all the company, on account of the dryness 

 of his throat, which had only had the contents of two 

 bottles of whiskey down it, looked wildly round, began 

 to cry, and fell sobbing on the neck of the thin man in 

 the blue coat, burying his head in the large cravat. 

 He was seized by the arms and legs, and unceremo- 

 niously carried out. 



Dancing, of course, ceased during this little inter- 

 mezzo, and one of the party oifered to find a sober 

 fiddler ; but as the amusement would have been inter- 

 rupted too long by waiting for him, a tall lad placed 

 himself in front of the chimney, turned up his sleeves 

 with the utmost gravity, bent his knees a little, and 

 began slapping them in time with the palms of his 

 hands ; in two minutes all was going on with as much 

 spirit as before. 



At length the promised musician arrived, not how- 

 ever in the promised condition ; but a connoisseur near 

 me remarked that he would do till twelve o'clock. 



To my astonishment, I observed several of the young 

 ladies m white dresses, whom I was almost sure I had 

 seen before in dark dresses ; but, as I never paid much 

 attention to such things, I thought I must have been 

 mistaken. An American, however, told me that I 

 was quite right, and that most of them had already 

 changed their dresses three times ; and, if I kept a look- 

 out, he continued, I should see that some of them 



