I overheard the following colloquy between two swarthy looking gentlemen, who had called for the purposes of refreshment. "Well, Monsieur Noyaux," said one of them, "I think you must acknowledge, that this is as good as any of Monsieur Verigo's potage." "Bon, bon !" was the reply of the other, who would not allow himself time to say more, till the soup had vanished from his sight; when he thus began: "It is not de first time I taste it.--When I came from West Indies to this country, I wish to see de novelty, de curiosity of de place. I learned de English language at Martinique--speak, as you hear, like de natif . In de first morning I go to de grand spectacle militaire: evolutions exact--General, I suppose, give de word of command. I ask, Who is dat Officier?--'Monsieur Poplar' they say.
" Ver well! Impatient to see more--peep in at de libraire --take up a pamphlet on political economy--read one, two, tree page .-- Ah, tres bien ! excellent!--Who is de author? They say, 'Monsieur Poplar.'
" Ver well! I stroll into de street--Ludgate hill--Cheapside--move on to de Poultry--then to Cornhill-- Ma foi! I stand still--hold my breath--sniff, sniff-- de smell delicieuse ! Stop at dis place--come in--taste de beer, excellent!--try de puff, superlatif ! Ah, le carosse ! de chariot drive furiously up to de door! Un gentilhomme step out--go up de stair. When I say, Who is dat ? They tell me, 'Monsieur Poplar.'
" Ver well. I take de glass limonade --pay for my puff,--Pray, who is de master of dis shop? They say, 'Monsieur Poplar.'
" Ver well! Lounge about some time--Look in at de Guilt-hall -- Von man in de scarlet robe and gold chain--give good advice to tree bad men that stand before him. Say I, " How you call that Justice on de bench? ' An Alderman. ' " Ah ! but how you call his name? They say, 'Monsieur Poplar.'
" Ver well! I go to my dinnere --after, I go to L'Assemblee Nationale , de House of Common .--Orator speaking much to de purpose all about avantage of de debt national. Ask again, "Who is that member on his leg? They say, 'Monsieur Poplar.'
" Ver well! I stop von , two half-hour --I go away--drop in at de Teatre --too late for de Comedie --enquire, "What is de Farce?" The Adopted Child . Ah ! but who is its father?. Who is de writer?" They tell me, 'Monsieur Poplar.'
" O mon Dieu ! I could stand it no longer.--Here, and there, and every where--from morning till night--nothing but Monsieur Poplar! General--Economy--Soup--Shariot--Alderman--Justice--Member of Parliament--and Father of the Adopted Child ! Ha, ha, ha!--It was too much!

I had scarcely ceased speaking before this Lady of the Bedchamber , without being at all put out of countenance, turned to me with the affected grace of a French elegante, placing her hand upon my arm with the ease and familiarity of an old acquaintance, and, peering with her little grey eyes full in my face, lisped out, " Pardonnez moi, Monsieur , but don't you think she is rather too petite , too littelle ?"
"No, Mademoiselle, I consider her as the master-piece of nature."
"The chef-d'oeuvre of art, you mean."
"The most artless creature on earth. Her features pourtray every feeling of her mind!"
" O ciel! That's too much for a mere statue."
"A STATUE! She has all the softness of feminine delicacy, blended with the fire of animation!"
"If cold marble can express so much."
"She, cold marble --She has a heart warm and tender as the turtle dove; and, give me leave to tell you, Ma'am, that you have a strange vitiated taste.
" Tout au contraire, Monsieur . Every body of taste agrees with me."
"Pshaw, nonsense! you are no judge."
"No Judge, Sir! I know that the best judges in the world give the preference to my Apollo"
"Your Apollo! and pray who is he?"
"Why, Sir, every body allows that the Venus de Medicis is not so perfect as the Apollo Belvidere ."
"What is it the Apollo Belvidere , then, that you have been talking about all this time?"
"To be sure it is, and were you not speaking of the Venus de Medicis ?"
"Not I, upon my honour! I never had the felicity of seeing her goddess-ship."
" Oh barbare ! Then you know nothing. You have never been at Paris, at least when it was worth while to be there."
"My dear little soubrette, I am more satisfied with the sight of your divine mistress, than I should be with all the goddesses in heaven or earth."
[some dialogue omitted]
This was drawled out, with a vulgar imitation of a true Parisian accent; and I was highly diverted with the little Frenchified amphibious Abigail.

Though unable to write or spell two words of English with correctness, he can speak French and Italian fluently enough to converse with foreigners at the gaming-table .

" Lauk , Ma'am ! he is a fine helegant man of fashion."
"Do as you are bid, girl, and don't exhibit any of your Tower-street vulgarity here! "
" Wulgarity , vell , I likes that," --said this highly offended lady's maid, when she bounced indignantly out of the room.

"For Heaven's sake, Master Clincher," cried the voice of the applicant from below, "make haste down, and light a fire, and get something warm and comfortable like; here be Jack Simmons and I ha found a poor wretch in Hawkins' Wood, almost covered with the snow, and mortal stiff to be sure ; Jack be run across to the cottage at the wood-side, to get somebody to help bring un here, and I ha started off afore , to give ye notice, and get things ready like ; so jump about , wool ye , that's a good soul, and bring down the brandy bottle; it is tedious cold, and I should like a sup o' brandy mysel ."
Masterly and elaborate as this harangue undoubtedly was, like many other elaborate harangues, it contained in itself the seeds of its own discomfiture: by a singular infelicity, the two words which operated most forcibly on the sensorium of the auditor, were precisely those least calculated to produce an impression favourable to the petition of the orator . The term, "poor wretch," was, perhaps, of all others in the language, the one to which Mr. Clincher had the most decided and insuperable aversion; and it is probable that the angry ejaculation, fast rising to his lips, would have been succeeded by the immediate replacing of the fork, and utter occlusion both of the advocate and his protégé

Protruding a lamp in our face, the closer to examine the stragglers, this Presbyterian (for such his appearance bespoke him), with a shrill voice, and in the cant of the day, then said – "If ye be vipers of the court, approach not this dwelling ; but if ye be of the elect , who seek the Lord, ye are welcome to tarry in the house of the righteous -- yea , we will pour oil and wine into your wounds."
How to reconcile these words, and the whole appearance of this grotesque figure, with the recent expression of the woman, I felt quite at a loss, and was meditating a reply which might smooth, if possible, the rugged way, that seemed to lie between my wants and the inclination of this arch hypocrite, to supply them, when the woman hurried down stairs after her husband, and, out of breath, both with the haste she had made, and the petulance of her humour, exclaimed -- " Mercy upon me , husband! will you never learn a little forbearance and moderation? Suppose now these soldiers should be royalists, what a pretty plight we should be in truly! Well, for my part, the good Samaritan shall always be my model. Besides, how do you know but they may take offence, and cut your throat and mine? Believe me, if you are in such a hurry to go to Heaven, I am not equally so. Give me the light, I say."
At these words, she snatched the lamp out of her husband's hand, hunched him aside, and addressing us, said -- "Gentlemen, for such your appearance bespeaks you, I asks no questions as to your principles."

Greatly dismayed at the ill success of my search, I was despondently reclining on an orosmane in the corner of one of the lesser rooms, revolving in my mind this whimsically provoking incident, when a mask, in the character of an African slave, squeezing himself upon the orosmane, took his seat close to me. There being scarcely room for two persons, on account of the posture in which I was reclined, his intrusion appeared rather unmannered. However, withdrawing a little on one side, I made way for him. Using the accent of blacks, he now entered into conversation with me; and presently, to my surprise, asked if I had succeeded in meeting with the Chinese, of whom, he said, I and all the company, more or less, seemed in search.
" Pray what did the poor Mandarin do to make Lord N. and the King so angry?" asked the talkative mask.
I said that he had obtruded himself most impudently into the royal presence.
"Had he done nothing else?" said my swarthy neighbour, adding -- "Why, at Anamabou, we visit our good king Onoonoonoonoonoonoonomacou whenever we please. But did not the Chinese offend you personally?"
I remained silent.
" Ah! Massa, Massa !" he added, motioning significantly with his finger, " you no know me -- but I know you."

Mrs. Belmont was proud of having a titled lady her guest. "Absolutely, my dear," she said, when writing to Lady Wilmot, "her ladyship is an inmate of our house, and is as quiet and easy as if it was yourself; who certainly are a lady too, but your husband is no lord, as her's was' and she is to have another lord for her husband, and is, besides, the mother of a lord; but as I was saying, she is quiet and easy but not so her woman, who is as troublesome a wench as ever entered a house. "Oh! mem ," said she to me, on their first coming, " I always has a fire in my room, and I'se cannot bear the windor open; as I have the rheumatis in my harm , and the hair always brings it on ." Thus she goes on, like all folks on the other side of the water, clipping the king's English; and then she has such blarney to her lady -- her lady the countess that is to be. "