CHAPTER VII.

IN WHICH IS RELATED HOW PLEASANTLY THE MAJOR TOOK HIS MISFORTUNES.





"AFTER these cunning scribblers had exhausted their ingenuity in
moulding for me a character so scurvy, that the man who holds up
buildings at street corners could not be got to pick it up, and had
laid at my door charges that would have brought tears into the eyes
of all my ancestors, they wheeled suddenly about, took back all they
had said, threw glory at my feet, and, to the end of doing mankind a
benefit, held me up as a model major. They were all ready to make me
any number of promises, to render me any reasonable service, and to
follow me to battle. Had I offered them a consideration, no doubt it
would have been refused with splendid contempt.

"Mine host of the Astor, who was a shrewd fellow, thought the
character of his house damaged, and must needs consult his honor,
the Mayor. That high functionary, knowing the agility with which
such heroes as Fopp exercised their heels, gave out no encouragement
of catching the rascal. Had it been a scamp, who by his winning
manners deceives inconsolable widows, seduces artless damsels, and
otherwise exercises his skill in the art of fascinating females, his
Honor had been after him with all the courage of his police force.
But as it was merely taking in a stranger, the matter, his Honor