Turf Smoked.

invariably clad in black . He , as I have indicated , Avore more rings on his fat fingers than any man I ever saw . He Avas a Freemason . Of Avhat Lodge ? I know not , but I do knoAV that he Avas a Past Master of the craft . He talked so loudly and talked so much that one Avould have thought it impossible to fail to detect his avocation . He wasn't connected Avitb the establishment . That information I obtained by bribing one of the elderly Avaiters ; but that was the sum total of the intelligence I could extract . My mentor not only did notcould notor would not communicate his professionbut

, , , professed that he didn't eA'en know his name . "He has sat there everyday and all clay long for more than forty year . He has a power of money , and the RE-OAX-EIAES he smokes -Well—there !" Once be—not the uncommunicative Avaiter , but HE—displayed in my hearing such consummate acquaintance Avitb the " price current" of tbe day in tbe matter of saltpetre , Bengal chutnee , Bologna sausage , Calcutta curry , and Westphalian hams ,

that I at once set him doAvn for a drysalter ; but , the next time I saw him , bis fingers were deep iu a piece of dirty Avhitey-brown paper , containing say a sterling million ' s worth of glittering crystals , Avith half a dozen very black and curly polls , and a dozen heady , greedy eyes , and six highly developed beards clustering around him—all tbe heads together in a centre as they stooped over him , the seedily clad limbs and bodies radiating . They reminded one of certain of the passengers on board the good ship " Iberia " in Thackeray ' s capital description of the White Squall , where they'd

" a hundred Jews to larboard , Unwashed , uncombed , unbarbered , Jews black , and brown , and grey ; " and also resembling those unsavoury Hebrews , " Each man moaned and jabbered in His filthy Jewish gaberdine "—

ancl then I set him doAvn for a diamond merchant . Happening once to mention some transactions in Pernambucos in Avhich I Avas temporarily interested , he let off a Avhole Stock Exchange calendar of information , illustrated by a perfect menagerie of bulls , and bears , and stags , ancl ducks , lame ancl otherwise , and then I changed my mind , and made sure he Avas a stockjobber ; but I soon afterwards had reason to think , from Avhat he let fallthat he Avas a heavy speculator in hops . On one occasion he displayed such

, a number of gold watches and chains from different receptacles about his person that I began to feel perhaps it Avould be as well to fi ght shy of him , ancl had suspicions that he might be a dealer in stolen goods . I know he ' Avas a Conseiwative , for he denounced briar root pipes as revolutionary , ancl induced the then proprietor of Louey ' s to refuse

them permission to be enjoyed in the apartment . I suspect that he Avas more than a Conservative—I Avould say a Tory , only Mr . Gladstone has recently familiarised us AA'ith the employment of that title as a term of reproach , and I don't like to be rude . I remember that he vehemently protested against the supply at the establishment of pale brandy . This Avas about tbe year ' 48 , the Revolution year , and he predicted , from the abandonment of broAAn brandy as a beverage , the imminent overthroAV of the monarch y ,

and tbe speedy doAvnfall of the Church of England . He protested in vain though , —the straAV-coloured innovation ivas provided , although I am bound to admit that it never , in the estimation of the regular customers Avho " used " the " Anchor " ( and Louey ' s , be it remembered , encouraged a parlour trade , although transacted in an apartment AA'ith a bar crossing one end of it , as the " Garland , " on the contrary , rigidly restricted itself to bar practice ) superseded the broAvn Nantz to Avhich he of course stuck till the last

, . Till tbe last ! Ah ! the end of my tale approaches . I rather think he was killed b y A ppolinaris and Bellthal Avaters . Almost the last discourse I heard from him Avas an account of a more or less logical association in bis mind of tbe introduction of those li quors Avith 'the outrages of the Commune . He had a " seizure" Avhen they were first provided at Louey ' s . He lingered on—in protest as it were . He mildly shook bis A'enerable head as rash youth qualified their potations from the fizzing bottles on the