“I dare say, my lord, that you find many amusing things here in the Colonies,” remarked Mrs. Adams.
“Indeed I do. Yesterday, as I was smoking my pipe in the tap-room of the Admiral Vernon, a countryman stepped up to me, and said, ‘Mister, may I ax for a little pig-tail?’ I told him I didn’t keep little pigs and hadn’t any tails. I presumed he would find plenty of ’em in the market.”
Lord Upperton was at a loss to know the meaning of the shout of laughter given by the company.
“The bumpkin replied if I hadn’t any pig-tail, a bit of plug would do just as well for a chaw.”
Again the laughter.
“I expect I must have made a big bull, but, ’pon my soul, I can’t make out where the fun comes in.”
“He was asking you first for pig-tail tobacco for his pipe, and then for a bit of plug tobacco for chewing,” Mrs. Adams explained.
“Oh ho! then that is it! What a stupid donkey I was,” responded Lord Upperton, laughing heartily. “He wasn’t at all bashful,” he continued, “but was well behaved; asked me where I was from. I told him I was from London. ‘Sho! is that so? Haow’s King George and his wife?’ he asked. I told him they were well. ‘When you go hum,’ said he, ‘jes give ’em the ’spec’s of Peter Bushwick, and tell George that Yankee Doodle ain’t goin’ to pay no tax on tea.’” Lord Upperton laughed heartily. “I rather like Peter Bushwick,” he said. “I’d give a two-pound note to have him at Almack’s for an evening. He’d set the table in a roar.”
“My lord, shall I give you some cranberries?” Miss Newville asked, as she dished the sauce.