He began his
talk by telling me of a dead body which he had lately discovered in a
house in Liverpool, where it had been kept about a fortnight by the
relatives, partly from want of funds for the burial, and partly in
expectation of the arrival of some friends from Glasgow. There was a
plate of glass in the coffin-lid, through which the Inspector of
Nuisances, as he told me, had looked and seen the dead man's face in an
ugly state of decay, which he minutely described. However, his
conversation was not altogether of this quality; for he spoke about
larks, and how abundant they are just now, and what a good pie they make,
only they must be skinned, else they will have a bitter taste. We have
since had a lark-pie ourselves, and I believe it was very good in itself;
only the recollection of the Nuisance-man's talk was not a very agreeable
flavor. A very racy and peculiarly English character might be made out
of a man like this, having his life-concern wholly with the disagreeables
of a great city. He seemed to be a good and kindly person, too, but
earthy,--even as if his frame had been moulded of clay impregnated with
the draining of slaughter-houses.
December 21st.--On Thursday evening I dined for the first time with the
new Mayor at the Town Hall. I wish to preserve all the characteristic
traits of such banquets, because, being peculiar to England, these
municipal feasts may do well to picture in a novel. There was a big old
silver tobacco-box, nearly or quite as large round as an ordinary plate,
out of which the dignitaries of Liverpool used to fill their pipes, while
sitting in council or after their dinners.
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