Sketches of Young Gentlemen | Page 6

went on to observe, that, notwithstanding the coldness of the
weather, he had that morning seen in the paper an exceedingly curious
paragraph, to the effect, that there was now in the garden of Mr.
Wilkins of Chichester, a pumpkin, measuring four feet in height, and
eleven feet seven inches in circumference, which he looked upon as a
very extraordinary piece of intelligence. We ventured to remark, that
we had a dim recollection of having once or twice before observed a
similar paragraph in the public prints, upon which Mr. Mincin took us
confidentially by the button, and said, Exactly, exactly, to be sure, we
were very right, and he wondered what the editors meant by putting in

such things. Who the deuce, he should like to know, did they suppose
cared about them? that struck him as being the best of it.
The lady of the house appeared shortly afterwards, and Mr. Mincin's
friendliness, as will readily be supposed, suffered no diminution in
consequence; he exerted much strength and skill in wheeling a large
easy-chair up to the fire, and the lady being seated in it, carefully closed
the door, stirred the fire, and looked to the windows to see that they
admitted no air; having satisfied himself upon all these points, he
expressed himself quite easy in his mind, and begged to know how she
found herself to-day. Upon the lady's replying very well, Mr. Mincin
(who it appeared was a medical gentleman) offered some general
remarks upon the nature and treatment of colds in the head, which
occupied us agreeably until dinner-time. During the meal, he devoted
himself to complimenting everybody, not forgetting himself, so that we
were an uncommonly agreeable quartette.
'I'll tell you what, Capper,' said Mr. Mincin to our host, as he closed the
room door after the lady had retired, 'you have very great reason to be
fond of your wife. Sweet woman, Mrs. Capper, sir!' 'Nay, Mincin-I
beg,' interposed the host, as we were about to reply that Mrs. Capper
unquestionably was particularly sweet. 'Pray, Mincin, don't.' 'Why not?'
exclaimed Mr. Mincin, 'why not? Why should you feel any delicacy
before your old friend-OUR old friend, if I may be allowed to call you
so, sir; why should you, I ask?' We of course wished to know why he
should also, upon which our friend admitted that Mrs. Capper WAS a
very sweet woman, at which admission Mr. Mincin cried 'Bravo!' and
begged to propose Mrs. Capper with heartfelt enthusiasm, whereupon
our host said, 'Thank you, Mincin,' with deep feeling; and gave us, in a
low voice, to understand, that Mincin had saved Mrs. Capper's cousin's
life no less than fourteen times in a year and a half, which he
considered no common circumstance-an opinion to which we most
cordially subscribed.
Now that we three were left to entertain ourselves with conversation,
Mr. Mincin's extreme friendliness became every moment more
apparent; he was so amazingly friendly, indeed, that it was impossible
to talk about anything in which he had not the chief concern. We
happened to allude to some affairs in which our friend and we had been
mutually engaged nearly fourteen years before, when Mr. Mincin was

all at once reminded of a joke which our friend had made on that day
four years, which he positively must insist upon telling-and which he
did tell accordingly, with many pleasant recollections of what he said,
and what Mrs. Capper said, and how he well remembered that they had
been to the play with orders on the very night previous, and had seen
Romeo and Juliet, and the pantomime, and how Mrs. Capper being
faint had been led into the lobby, where she smiled, said it was nothing
after all, and went back again, with many other interesting and
absorbing particulars: after which the friendly young gentleman went
on to assure us, that our friend had experienced a marvellously
prophetic opinion of that same pantomime, which was of such an
admirable kind, that two morning papers took the same view next day:
to this our friend replied, with a little triumph, that in that instance he
had some reason to think he had been correct, which gave the friendly
young gentleman occasion to believe that our friend was always correct;
and so we went on, until our friend, filling a bumper, said he must
drink one glass to his dear friend Mincin, than whom he would say no
man saved the lives of his acquaintances more, or had a more friendly
heart. Finally, our friend having emptied his glass, said, 'God bless you,
Mincin,'-and Mr. Mincin and he shook hands across the table with
much affection and earnestness.
But great as the friendly young gentleman is, in a limited scene like this,
he plays the