But suppose we change the conversation: first, because the subject is so meagre, that we might easily wear it out, and secondly, because such jests may come home.

I am not very corpulent myself." "Bah!" said Vincent, "but at least you have bones and muscles.

If you were to pound the poor secretary in a mortar, you might take him all up in a pinch of snuff." "Pray, Vincent," said I, after a short pause, "did you ever meet with a Mr.Thornton, at Paris ?" "Thornton, Thornton," said Vincent, musingly; "what, Tom Thornton ?" "I should think, very likely," I replied; "just the sort of man who would be Tom Thornton--has a broad face, with a colour, and wears a spotted neckcloth; Tom--what could his name be but Tom ?" "Is he about five-and-thirty ?" asked Vincent, "rather short, and with reddish coloured hair and whiskers ?" "Precisely," said I; "are not all Toms alike ?" "Ah," said Vincent, "I know him well: he is a clever, shrewd fellow, but a most unmitigated rascal.

He is the son of a steward in Lancashire, and received an attorney's education; but being a humorous, noisy fellow, he became a great favourite with his father's employer, who was a sort of Mecaenas to cudgel players, boxers, and horse jockies.

At his house, Thornton met many persons of rank, but of a taste similar to their host's: and they, mistaking his vulgar coarseness for honesty, and his quaint proverbs for wit, admitted him into their society.