stranger is agreeable!" At which words the old gentleman took him
by the hand, and led him to the parlour; crying as he opened the
door, "Here is Mr. Grig, the favourite of the planets!"

'I will not attempt a description of female beauty, gentlemen, for
every one of us has a model of his own that suits his own taste
best. In this parlour that I'm speaking of, there were two young
ladies; and if every gentleman present, will imagine two models of
his own in their places, and will be kind enough to polish 'em up
to the very highest pitch of perfection, he will then have a faint
conception of their uncommon radiance.

'Besides these two young ladies, there was their waiting-woman,
that under any other circumstances Tom would have looked upon as a
Venus; and besides her, there was a tall, thin, dismal-faced young
gentleman, half man and half boy, dressed in a childish suit of
clothes very much too short in the legs and arms; and looking,
according to Tom's comparison, like one of the wax juveniles from a
tailor's door, grown up and run to seed. Now, this youngster
stamped his foot upon the ground and looked very fierce at Tom, and
Tom looked fierce at him - for to tell the truth, gentlemen, Tom
more than half suspected that when they entered the room he was
kissing one of the young ladies; and for anything Tom knew, you
observe, it might be HIS young lady - which was not pleasant.

'"Sir," says Tom, "before we proceed any further, will you have the
goodness to inform me who this young Salamander" - Tom called him
that for aggravation, you perceive, gentlemen - "who this young
Salamander may be?"