193 



fell to singing and dancing again with as much 

 violence as if they had been a pack of French furies 

 at the Opera. The favourite song of the night was, 



" Since massa come, we very well off;" 



which words they repeated in chorus, without 

 intermission (dancing all the time), for hours to- 

 gether ; till, at half-past three, neither my eyes nor 

 my brain could endure it any longer, and I was 

 obliged to send them word that I wanted to go to 

 bed, and could not sleep till the noise should cease. 

 The idea of my going to bed seemed never to have 

 occurred to them till that moment. Fortunately, 

 like Johnson's definition of wit, " the idea, although 

 novel, was immediately acknowledged to be just." 

 So instantly the drums and gumbies left off beat- 

 ing ; the children left off singing ; the women and 

 men left off dancing ; and they all with one accord 

 fell to kicking, and pulling, and thumping about 

 two dozen of their companions, who were lying 

 fast asleep upon the floor. Some were roused, 

 some resisted, some began righting, some got up 

 and lay down again ; but at length, by dint of 

 their leading some, carrying others, and rolling 

 the remainder down the steps, I got my house 

 clear of my black guests about four in the morning. 



Another of their popular songs this evening 

 was — 



" All the stories them telling you are lies, oh ! " 

 o 



