Page:Angelo's Pic Nic.djvu/92

 MORE BEEFSTEAKS of the regiment, and a strong fencer, was not without pecu liarities, as well as the son. Often when attending my schools, at the time he resided at Knightsbridge, I have seen him walking to town followed by four dogs, his attachment to one having originated in saving his life, when attacked by a mid- night assassin; and, strange as it may appear, I have heard that, at his decease, he left 40l. per annum for their main- tenance. MoRE BEEESTEAKS. During the short interval that Louis XVIII. returned to France, I passed a few days at Brighton. Dining one day in the coffee room, facing where the packet from Dieppe anchored, four Englishmen entered, who had just landed from the vessel, after damning the French parlez-vous and their country, saying that they had been starved; impatient for their dinners, first calling for pots of porter, desired to have plenty of beef steaks; this was about seven in the evening. Having dined, and drank my coffee previous to taking my walk, I was pleased to listen to their uncouth remarks of what they had seen, and waited till their beefsteaks appeared; when on the table, I left them silent, no longer abusing the mounseers and their damned maigre soups, their voracious appetites " eager for the fray." It appeared the excursion they had made did not exceed Dieppe, remaining there only till the packet returned. Leaving them to take my evening promenade, at my return, an hour after, I found them still calling out, "Are the beef- steaks coming?" Travelling often may create an appetite, but not to be compared with such complaining John Bulls, "as if increase of appetite had grown on what it fed on"- 30