270 THE HISTORY OF 



a shower, anyhow,' — I say, notwithstanding this opinion 

 of the gentleman, who is represented as having been a ' very 

 expert swimmer,' everything was destroyed. 



" Ham was one of 'em — he was ! He ' knew sufficient 

 ti get out of the rain,' albeit he wasn't thought very 

 witty. He took passage with the rest, however, and thus 

 did away with the necessity of a life-preserver. From Ham 

 I trace my pedigree 'directly down through all the grades, 

 to King Solomon, without any difficulty, who, by the way, 

 was reported to have been a little loose in his habits, and 

 was very fond of the ladies and Manzanilla Sherry. He 

 used to sing songs, too, of which ' the least said the soonest 

 mended.' Bat, on the whole, Sol was a very clever, jolly- 

 good fellow, and on several occasions gave evidence of pos- 

 sessing his share of the cunning natural to our family. 

 Some thought him ' wise ; ' but, although I have no dispo- 

 sition to abuse any of my ancestors, I think the Queen of 

 Sheba (a very nice young woman she Tras, too) rather 

 ' come it ' over the old fellow ! 



"By a continuous chain, I trace my relationship thence 

 through a rather tortuous line, from generation to genera- 

 tion, down to Mr. Matthew, — not the comedian, but to 

 Matthew, the Collector (of Galilee, I think), who 'sat at 

 the receipt of customs.' To this connection I was, un- 

 doubtedly, indebted for an appointment in the Boston Cus- 

 tom-house. Matthew lived in the goad, old 'high tariff' 



