Mr. Swiveller's quotations are largely connected with his love-passages with Sophy Wackles, and they are so carefully and delicately graded that they practically cover the whole ground in the rise and decline of his affections. He begins by suggesting that ‘she's all my fancy painted her.’
From this he passes to
She's like the red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
She's also like a melody,
That's sweetly played in tune.
then
When the heart of a man is depressed with fears,
The mist is dispelled when Miss Wackles appears,
which is his own variant of
If the heart of a man is depressed with care,
The mist is dispelled when a woman appears.
But at the party given by the Wackleses Dick finds he is cut out by Mr. Cheggs, and so makes his escape saying, as he goes—
My boat is on the shore, and my bark is on the sea; but before I pass this door, I will say farewell to thee,
and he subsequently adds—