Page:Monthly scrap book, for May.pdf/13

SCRAP BOOK. 13 their egress, laid about them lustily. Several dogs were in the room, who, more sagacious than their masters, had hitherto preserved a placid disposition; but, amidst the din of arms, some one trode on the paw of a mastiff, with no gentle pressure; he growled resentment-it was echoed by another, and a canine battle commenced. Those who lay on the floor still kept up the row: they kicked, pinched, scratched, pulled hair, bit noses, and boxed at random: clothes were torn, hats tossed on the fire; execrations were uttered, or rather bellowed; dogs howled, and every moment produced confusion worse confounded.' A sly old fellow, an excise officer, who sat in a corner, and had hitherto taken no part, thinking it wrong to be idle when every one was so actively employed, and recollecting the proverb, that 'water separates dogs,' snatched the kettle from the side of the fire, and, guessing from the uproar, where the crowd were sprawling thickest, discharged its contents among them. The passage out was now clear, some ran, others walked, and not a few crawled out upon all fours. The landlord, hitherto afraid to enter, cause with lights hats, bonnets, wigs, shoes, &c. were wanting, some torn, some burnt; decanters, bottles, glasses, &c. strewed the floor: black eyes, bloody-noses, and wounded cheeks, bespoke the valour of the combatants. One had a dislocated thumb, and another had left a couple of his fore-teeth on the field of battle.

They had just concluded a truce, when Fame, having already spread the report of the battle from one end of the village to the other, men, women,