_Pot_. No; I have heard him speaking in Hyde Park and saying much the
same thing, and calling Mr. Justice Nupkins a damned old fool!

_J. N_. (_writing_). "A damned old fool!" Anything else?

_Pot_. A blasted old cheat!

_J. N_. (_writing_). "A blasted old cheat!" (_Cheerfully_) Go on.

_Pot_. Another time he was talking in a public-house with two men whom I
understood to be members of the Fabian League. He was having words with
them, and one of them said, "Ah, but you forget the rent of ability"; and
he said, "Damn the rent of ability, I will smash their rents of
abilities."

_Mr. H_. Did you know what that meant?

_Pot_. No; not then.

_Mr. H_. But you do now?

_Pot_. Yes; for I got into conversation with one of them, who told me
that it meant the brain, the skull.

_J. N_. (_writing_). "The rent of ability is a cant phrase in use among
these people signifying the head."

_Mr. H_. Well?

_Pot_. Well, then they laughed and said, Well, as far as he is