One gammon of bacon. Prior compared a passage from Goldsmith’s _Animated Nature_, 1774, iii. 9, _à propos_ of a similar practice in Germany, Poland, and Switzerland. ‘A piece of beef,’ he says, ‘hung up there, is considered as an elegant piece of furniture, which, though seldom touched, at least argues the possessor’s opulence and ease.’ a bounce, i.e. a braggart falsehood. Steele, in No. 16 of _The Lover_, 1715, p. 110, says of a manifest piece of brag, ‘But this is supposed to be only a _Bounce_.’ Mr. Byrne, spelled ‘Burn’ in the earlier editions, was a relative of Lord Clare. M—r—’s. MONROE’s in the first version. ‘Dorothy Monroe,’ says Bolton Corney, ‘whose various charms are celebrated in verse by Lord Townshend.’ There’s H—d, and C—y, and H—rth, and H—ff. In the first version— ‘There’s COLEY, and WILLIAMS, and HOWARD, and HIFF.’—Hiff was Paul Hiffernan, M.B., 1719–77, a Grub Street author and practitioner. Bolton Corney hazards some conjectures as to the others; but Cunningham wisely passes them over. H—gg—ns. Perhaps, suggests Bolton Corney, this was the Captain Higgins who assisted at Goldsmith’s absurd ‘fracas’ with Evans the bookseller, upon the occasion of Kenrick’s letter in _The London Packet_ for March 24, 1773. Other accounts, however, state that his companion was Captain Horneck (Prior, _Life_, 1837, ii. 411–12). This couplet is not in the first version. Such dainties to them, etc. The first version reads:— Such dainties to them! It _would_ look like a flirt, Like sending ’em Ruffles when wanting a Shirt.