"Softly, softly, messieurs," said the president, recovering all his
constitutional gayety, yet blending it with a certain negligent command,
--"respect for the chair, if you please! 'T is the way with all
assemblies where the public purse is a matter of deferential interest!"

"Hear him!" cried Tomlinson.

"What, my old friend Bags!" said the president; "you have not come empty-
handed, I will swear; your honest face is like the table of contents to
the good things in your pockets!"

"Ah, Captain Clifford," said the veteran, groaning, and shaking his
reverend head, "I have seen the day when there was not a lad in England
forked so largely, so comprehensively-like, as I did. But, as King Lear
says at Common Garden, 'I be's old now!'"

"But your zeal is as youthful as ever, my fine fellow," said the captain,
soothingly; "and if you do not clean out the public as thoroughly as
heretofore, it is not the fault of your inclinations."

"No, that it is not!" cried the "tax-collectors" unanimously.

"And if ever a pocket is to be picked neatly, quietly, and effectually,"
added the complimentary Clifford, "I do not know to this day, throughout
the three kingdoms, a neater, quieter, and more effective set of fingers
than Old Bags's!"

The veteran bowed disclaimingly, and took his seat among the heartfelt
good wishes of the whole assemblage.