36 MR. 



for four or five pairs of boots, the only difference being, that in all 

 probability the money would be down before the boots. Then, 

 with money in the funds, a man keeps up his credit to the far end — 

 the last thousand telling no more tales than the first, and making 

 just as good a show. 



"We are almost afraid to say what Mr. Waffles' means were, but 

 we really believe, at the time he came of age, that he had 100,000Z. 

 in the funds, which were nearly at " par " — a term expressive of each 

 hundred being worth a hundred, and not eight} T -nine or ninety pounds 

 as is now the case, which makes a considerable difference in the melt- 

 ing. Now a real bona fide 100,000Z. always counts as three in com- 

 mon parlance, which latter sum would yield a larger income than 

 gilds the horizon of the most mercenary mother's mind, say ten 

 thousand a-year, which we believe is generally allowed to be " v — a — 

 a — ry handsome." 



No wonder, then, that Mr. Waffles was such a hero. Another 

 great recommendation about him was, that he had not had time to be 

 much plucked. Many of the young men of fortune that appear upon 

 town have lost half their feathers on the race-course or the gaming 

 table before the ladies get a chance at them ; but here was a nice fresh- 

 coloured youth, with all his downy verdure full upon him. It takes a 

 vast of clothes, even at Oxford prices, to come to a thousand pounds, 

 and if we allow four or five thousand for other extravagancies, he 

 could not have done much harm to a hundred thousand. 



Our friend, soon finding that he was " cock of the walk," had no 

 notion of exchanging his greatness for the nothingness of London, 

 and, save going up occasionally to see about opening the flood-gates 

 of his fortune, he spent nearly the whole summer at Laverick Wells. 

 A fine season it was, too — the finest season the Wells had ever known. 

 When at length the long London season closed, there was a rush of 

 rank and fashion to the English watering-places, quite unparalleled in 

 the " recollection of the oldest inhabitants." There were blooming 

 widows in every stage of grief and woe, from the becoming cap to 

 the fashionable corset and ball flounce — widows who would never 

 forget the dear deceased, or think of any other man — unless he had 

 at least five thousand a year. Lovely girls, who didn't care a 

 farthing if the man was " only handsome ; " and smiling mammas 

 " egging them on," who would look very different when they came to 

 the horrid £. s. d. And this mercantile expression leads us to the 

 observation that we know nothing so dissimilar as a trading town and 

 a watering-place. In the one, all is bustle, hurry, and activity ; in 

 the other, people don't seem to know what to do to get through the 

 day. The city and west-end present somewhat of the contrast, but 

 not to the extent of manufacturing or sea-port towns and watering- 

 places. Bathing-places are a shade better than watering-places in 

 the way of occupation, for people can sit staring at the sea, count- 



