It strikes a person unacquainted with the circumstances as though Dicky, with true Aldermanic foresight, intending to enlarge his paunch with Turtle, etc., etc., etc., and conceiving that he would soon be incapable of passing thro' the narrow door, had thus provided for his increase of latitude. It puts me in mind of an epigram by Jekyll. [4] A canal was cut here at great expense (at the time when everybody was embarking their fortunes in that kind of speculation); it ran parallel with the great river. Everybody contributed to it, and bought shares in it. They did not perceive the folly of the undertaking till the Canal was finished. In short, it was never used, and everybody was bitten. The epigram ran thus:-- Southampton's wise sons thought their river so large Tho' 'twould carry a ship, 'twould not carry a barge; So they wisely determined to cut by its side A stinking canal where small vessels might glide; Like the man who contriving a hole in his wall, To admit his two cats, one great and one small, When a great hole was cut for the first to go through Would a little hole have for the little cat too! */ I have learnt to take snuff among other fashionable acquirements, a custom which, of course, you have learnt and will be able to keep me in countenance.... I must tell you an anecdote of Philip which I think will amuse you. At one of the Levées being left alone--(that is a bull tho')--with the Prince, the Duke of York and Lord Yarmouth, they wished to have some fun with him, and among other things asked him how he liked being at Court. But he, not being yet used to address Royalty, was at a loss in the selection of his words, till at last two very applicable terms presented themselves to him. But then he was again at a loss which was the most _genteelerest_. Finally he decided in favour of both-- _Toll-Loll_ and _Pretty Bobbish_, and so replied to the Royal inquiry--of course it set them in a roar! [Illustration: SIR RICHARD CARR GLYN, BT.] Southampton, whence this letter was written, owed its fame, as Charles Stanhope explains subsequently, to the fact of its being then a resort for all persons who had been bitten by mad dogs. The salt water was supposed to assist in warding off an attack of hydrophobia, and doubtless many suffering from terror of this complaint were saved by such a belief. But the very circumstances which rendered the town popular, contributed to make it expensive, and Charles gives an illustration of this. Once, when his sister Frances was staying there, she required some slight medical attendance for a cold. "She sent," he mentions, "for Dr Middleton, who is a very gentle, insinuating old gentleman. He has been here three times since Tuesday, _three guineas a time_, so it is rather dear being ill in this place."