The father was a cripple; he and his wife occupied themselves in the picking of rags--of course at home--and I can assure you that the atmosphere of their abode was worthy of its aspect.

Mr.Hope drank, but not desperately.

His forte was the use of language so peculiarly violent that even in Shooter's Gardens it gained him a proud reputation.

On the slightest excuse he would threaten to brain one of his children, to disembowel another, to gouge out the eyes of the third.

He showed much ingenuity in varying the forms of menaced punishment.