robbers' door did to her colleague, Ali Baba (Hornbuckle), in the
operatic piece in which she was so famous.

Beer was Mr. Crump's beverage, diversified by a little gin, in the
evenings; and little need be said of this gentleman, except that he
discharged his duties honourably, and filled the president's chair
at the club as completely as it could possibly be filled; for he
could not even sit in it in his greatcoat, so accurately was the
seat adapted to him. His wife and daughter, perhaps, thought
somewhat slightingly of him, for he had no literary tastes, and had
never been at a theatre since he took his bride from one. He was
valet to Lord Slapper at the time, and certain it is that his
lordship set him up in the "Bootjack," and that stories HAD been
told. But what are such to you or me? Let bygones be bygones; Mrs.
Crump was quite as honest as her neighbours, and Miss had five
hundred pounds to be paid down on the day of her wedding.

Those who know the habits of the British tradesman are aware that he
has gregarious propensities like any lord in the land; that he loves
a joke, that he is not averse to a glass; that after the day's toil
he is happy to consort with men of his degree; and that as society
is not so far advanced among us as to allow him to enjoy the
comforts of splendid club-houses, which are open to many persons
with not a tenth part of his pecuniary means, he meets his friends
in the cosy tavern parlour, where a neat sanded floor, a large
Windsor chair, and a glass of hot something and water, make him as
happy as any of the clubmen in their magnificent saloons.

At the "Bootjack" was, as we have said, a very genteel and select
society, called the "Kidney Club," from the fact that on Saturday