And you shine bright as I do—marry, shall ye
Freely consult my revelation Molly;
Nor shall one jealous thought create a huff,
For she has taught me manners long enough.
Don Saltero.
Chelsea Knackatory.
Several frolicsome gentlemen hired a hackney-coach in 1724, to which they affixed six horses; the coachman and postillion they habited as kennel-sweepers or scavengers; and they placed as many shoe-boys as could cling to the vehicle behind as footmen, with their stools on their heads and baskets of implements by their sides. Thus equipped they drove to the Ring in Hyde-park, and there entertained the company with this species of eccentricity.
There is a certain degree of whim in some of the wagers we find recorded in the newspapers, that, however absurd the bettors may appear, a smile is excited perforce.
In the above year two gentlemen, full of money and destitute of wit, had a dispute respecting the quantity that might be eaten at one meal. This ended in a bet of 5l. proposed by one of them, that himself and another would eat a bushel of tripe, and drink four bottles of wine, within an hour. The parties met at Islington, where the tripe was produced and the wine displayed; nothing remained but the introduction of the another; that another, gentle reader, proved a sharp-set
Bear, who fully justified his friend's prognostick with the tripe diluted by three bottles of wine poured into it.