So, _ætatis_ forty-five, he went into dock, dyed his hair and whiskers, purchased a new set of teeth, laid in a stock of patent leather boots, and ran down to Manchester to captivate an heiress. The respectable owner of the enlarged and embellished fourpence-halfpenny had, at that epoch, been about one year _under_ the turf which his future son-in-law had been _on_ for above twenty; and his orphan daughter, of sweet nineteen, was immediately smitten and wounded by the aristocratic appearance and distinguished manners of the broken-down titled blackleg who sought her... fortune. She, being then a simple-minded, honest girl, absurd as it may appear, loved the creature; and, despite the advice of several kind-hearted, strong-headed, fearfully vulgar old men, who were her trustees, guardians, legal advisers, &c. &c. (policemen, so to speak, appointed by the lamented deceased to prevent his developed fourpence-halfpenny being prematurely reduced to its pristine elements), this young lady vowed she would marry Sir Tattersall Trottemout--and did so. But, as the baronet’s talent for running through any amount of cash was rumoured even at Manchester, the ancient policemen tied up the fourpence-halfpenny so tightly that nobody could manufacture ducks and drakes with it--not even Sir Tat. Trott.: so, after a few abortive attempts, that ornament to his order gave up his evil courses, and settled down quietly on cigars, brandy and water, and whist with half-crown points--a notable example of the reformatory powers of matrimony. His lady-wife went through the usual agreeable process of awaking from “Love’s young dream,” and discovering that, after the manner of Caliban, she had, in her simplicity,-- “Made a wonder of a poor drunkard,”