play--the assembly--the sermon--marriages--deaths--christenings, and what
not; the whole of which he answered with surprising volubility. His tongue
was the only active part about him, going as glibly as if he were ten
stones, instead of thirty, and as if he were a _Tims_ in person as well as
in name. In a short time I found myself totally neglected. Julia ceased to
eye me, her aunt to address me, so completely were their thoughts occupied
with the Man-Mountain.

In about half an hour I began to feel confoundedly uncomfortable. I was a
mere cipher in the room; and what with the appalling bulk of Mr. Tims, the
attention the ladies bestowed upon him, and the neglect with which they
treated me, I sunk considerably in my own estimation. In proportion as
this feeling took possession of me, I experienced an involuntary respect
for the stranger. I admired his intimate knowledge of balls, dresses,
_faux pas_, marriages, and gossip of all sorts--and still more I admired
his bulk. I have an instinctive feeling of reverence towards "Stout
Gentlemen;" and, while contrasting my own puny form with his, I laboured
under a deep consciousness of personal insignificance. From being five
feet eight, I seemed to shrink to five feet one; from weighing ten stones,
I suddenly fell to seven and a half; while my portly rival sat opposite to
me, measuring at least a foot taller than myself, and weighing good thirty
stones, jockey weight. If any little fellow like me thinks of standing
well with his mistress, let him never appear in her presence with such a
gentleman as Mr. Tims. She will despise him to a certainty; nor, though
his soul be as large as Atlas or Teneriffe, will it compensate for the
paltry dimensions of his body.

What was to be done? With the ladies, it was plain, I _could_ do nothing:
with Mr. Tims, it was equally plain, I _ought_ to do nothing--seeing that,
however much he was the cause of my uneasiness, he was at least the