THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT: Comprising _Three Sets Of Tales_, West Country, Irish, And Legal, And A Melange By Anonymous With Fifty Illustrations By GEORGE CRUIKSHANK 1867. “Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table.” _As you like it._ INDUCTION. The purveyor of the ensuing apology for a “feast of reason,” takes leave to greet his guests with a hearty, but respectful, welcome. It would be in bad taste for him to dilate at his threshold upon what he has provided for their entertainment: his brief bill of fare will presently be laid before them. He ventures to indulge a hope, that his repast will prove obnoxious to none, and, in some degree, gratifying to many; that those who may discover nothing to their taste in one course, will meet with something piquant in another; that no one “Will drag, at each remove, a lengthening chain;” and, that even if the _dishes_ be disliked, the _plates_, at least, will please: but he feels bound to state, that whatever faults the decorations may be chargeable with, on the score of invention, he, alone, is to blame, and not Mr. George Cruikshank; to whom he is deeply indebted for having embellished his rude sketches in their transfer to wood, and translated them into a proper pictorial state, to make their appearance in public. They have necessarily acquired a value, which they did not intrinsically possess, in passing through the hands of that distinguished artist; of whom it may truly, and on this occasion especially, be said, _Quod tetigit, ornavit_. Having thus, perhaps rashly, presented himself at the bar of public opinion, conscious as he feels of his own demerits, he can only throw himself on the liberality of his judges, and plead for a lenient sentence. BILL OF FARE. FIRST COURSE:-WEST COUNTRY CHRONICLES. Introduction...........11 Sir Mathew Ale....................13 The Counterpart Cousins........17 Caddy Cuddle....................37 The Braintrees ;.......63 The Sham Fight.........103 The Bachelor's Darling.........120 Habakkuk Bullwrinkle........159 SECOND COURSE:-NEIGHBOURS OF AN OLD IRISH BOT. Introduction...........177 Jimmy Fitzgerald.........178 The Native and the Odd Fish.......185 Timberleg Toe-trap.........198 Bat Boroo ..........206 The Witch's Switch.........214 The Weed Witness.........225 The Flying Dutchman........233 The Nest Egg..........239 Under the Thumb.........245 Our Tommy...........252 The Dentist;.....257 The Mushroom.......... 262 The Dülosk Girl.........278 THIRD COURSE:--MY COUSIN'S CLIENTS. Introduction...........301 Adam Burdock.......... 303 The Mathematician.........305 The Little Black Porter........347 THE DESSERT. Introduction...........387 The Deaf Postilion.........389 Conjugating a Verb.........393 Posthumous Praise.........396 The Dos-a-dos Tête-a-tête...... 398 A Toad in a Hole 400 The Pair of Pumps......... 410 Wanted a Partner..........414