Page:Paul Clifford Vol 2.djvu/114

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106
PAUL CLIFFORD.

points on which I have dwelt, however necessary to my honour, would prove but little for my merits; they might be worthy notice in your comrade, you demand more subtle duties in your chief. Gentlemen! has it ever been said of Paul Lovett that he sent out brave men on forlorn hopes? that he hazarded your own heads by rash attempts in acquiring pictures of King George's? that zeal, in short, was greater in him than caution? or that his love of a quid[1] ever made him neglectful of your just aversion to a quod?[2]—(Unanimous cheering.)

"Gentlemen, since I have had the honour to preside over your welfare, Fortune, which favours the bold, has not been unmerciful to you! But three of our companions have been missed from our peaceful festivities. One, Gentlemen, I myself expelled from our corps for ungentlemanlike practices: he picked pockets of fogles[3]—it was a vulgar employment. Some of you, Gentlemen, have done the same for amusement—Jack Little-

  1. Quid,—a guinea.
  2. Quod,—a prison.
  3. Handkerchiefs