TWO CURIOUS WORTHIES. i 4I 



prefix nor suffix to his name. He was addicted to 

 dissipation in its wildest forms ; was never married, I 

 believe, and was fond of gay company socially beneath 

 him. Every day, when the races were over, he would 

 be found in such company, amusing himself and 

 everyone else by his jesting and buffoonery — not of 

 a very refined nature. His extravagant anecdotes, 

 effectively told with the gravity of a Munchausen, 

 would elicit from his audience roars of laughter, 

 repeated again and again; until, satiated with the end- 

 less variety of the bon mots, recitations, and songs that 

 he would pour forth, they would retire to rest with 

 aching sides, or overpowered with the reeking fumes 

 of tobacco and too potent libations. 



His special boon companion in these debauches was 

 Mr. John Ramsay, formerly an inspector of police, 

 who for many years resided at Abingdon. In mad- 

 cap freaks he was as thoughtless as Jack Mytton. 

 Indeed, on one occasion he helped that worthy, when 

 passing up Melsom Street, Bath, to throw a stranger, 

 whom they happened to find ' very jolly,' through 

 an adjacent shop- window. At the annual race- 

 meeting at Abingdon, on one occasion, our two 

 loquacious acquaintances, Messrs. Craven and Ramsay, 

 met at the Lamb Inn, for the express purpose of 

 seeing which of the two could clothe the greater 

 number of untruths in the pleasing semblance of 

 reality. As few men could have had more retentive 

 memories than the pair possessed, or a greater sense 



