i 4 2 MEN OF PAST DAYS. 



of the ridiculous, and, I may add, a smaller regard for 

 the morality of their anecdotes, it may be imagined 

 that the exhibition was a unique one in its way. On 

 another occasion they were, for a trifling sum, pitted 

 together to try which of them could sing the greater 

 number of songs with the fewest verbal mistakes in 

 the shortest time ; and Mr. Craven was declared the 

 winner at his 120th song, his opponent having only 

 reached No. 110. At this memorable scene I was 

 not present, and therefore ' only tell the tale as it was 

 told to me.' The only story, and that a fable, which 

 I call to mind as closely resembling this, was of a 

 Frenchman and a Yankee, who were pitted to talk 

 against time and one another, no matter on what sub- 

 ject, so long as the jargon was continuous. After 

 talking the umpire and witnesses to sleep, they went 

 on with unabated ardour until the Frenchman, 

 from sheer exhaustion, fell lifeless from his chair ; 

 the Yankee continuing, being found by the umpire, 

 on the latter's returning to consciousness, whispering 

 in the dead man's ear, ' Truth appears stranger than 

 fiction.' I may, perhaps, add, as I have stated in my 

 former work, when referring to these two worthies, 

 that they both ended their days as reformed characters, 

 in great rectitude and as severe disciplinarians. Mr. 

 Ramsay became a Methodist preacher and teetotaler ; 

 and Mr. Craven, abandoning his former habits, led a 

 strictly religious life. 



I have referred to another curious character, Mr. 



