Monument, and as withered as Belzoni's Piccadilly mummy, had yet
the needful, sir--had abundance of the wherewithal--crops of yellow
shiners--lots of the real--sported a gig, and kept on board wages a
young shaver of all work, with a buff jacket, turned up with sky-blue
facings. Only think, sir--only ponder for a moment what a formidable
rival I had!"

"I hope you beat him off, however," said I. "The greater danger the more
honour you know, Mr. Tims."

"Of that anon, sir.--Lucy, on her part, angelic creature, professed that
she could not dream of being undutiful towards kind old Pa; and that,
unless desperate measures were resorted to, _quamprimum_, in the
twinkling of a bed-post she would be under the disagreeable necessity to
bundle and go with the disabled man of war to the temple of Hymen.
Sacrilegious thought! I could not permit it to enter my bosom, and
(pardon me for a moment, sir) when I looked down, and caught a glance of
my own natty-looking, tight little leg, and dapper Hessians, I
recommended her strongly to act on the principle of the Drury-lane
play-bill, which says, 'All for Love, or the World well lost.'

"Well, sir, hark ye, just to show how things come about. Shortly after
this, on the anniversary of my honoured old master, Zachariah Pigtail's
birth, when we were allowed to strike work at noon, I determined, as
a _dernier resort_, as a clincher, sir, to act the genteel, and
invite Miss Lucy, in her furs and falderals, to accompany me to the
Exhibition of Pictures. Heavens, sir, how I dressed on that day! The
Day and Martin of my boots reflected on the shady side of the street.
I took half an hour in tying and retying my neckcloth _en mode_.
My handkerchief smelt of lavender, and my hair of oil of thyme--my