140 



MR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. 



gentlemen who shall be nameless," said he, looking at Sponge and 

 Puffington as he thought, but in reality showing nothing but the 

 whites of his eyes. 



" 1 told you so," said Puffington, jerking his head towards Jack, 

 as Sponge and he turned their horses' heads to ride away ; " I told 

 you so," repeated he ; " that's a specimen of their style : " adding, 

 " they are the greatest set of ruffians under the sun." 



The new acquaintances then jogged on together as far as the 

 cross roads at Stewley, when Puffington, having bound Sponge in 

 his own recognisance to come to him when he left Jawleyford 

 Court, pointed him out his way, and with a most hearty shake of 

 the hands the new-made friends parted. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



LORD SCAMPERDALE AT HOME. 



E fear our fair friends 

 will expect something 

 gay from the above 

 heading — lamps and 

 flambeaux outside, 

 fiddlers, feathers, and 

 farters in. Nothing of 

 the sort, fair ladies — 

 nothing of the sort. 

 Lord Scamperdale "at 

 home," simply means 

 that his lordship was 

 not out hunting, that 

 he had got his dirty 

 boots and breeches off*, 

 and dry tweeds and 

 tartans on. 



Lord Scamperdale 

 was the eighth earl ; and, according to the usual alternating 

 course of great English families — one generation living and the 

 next starving — it was his lordship's turn to live ; but the seventh 

 earl having been rather unreasonable in the length of his lease, 

 the present earl, who during the lifetime of his father was Lord 

 Hardup, had contracted such parsimonious habits, that when he 

 came into possession he could not shake them off ; and but for the 

 fortunate friendship of Abraham Brown, the village blacksmith, 





f.v^ft 



A- 



?w 



ILVER-MOUNTED SPECTACLES. 





