A gem-man who often comes down
with me says his father was a slopseller in Ratcliffe Highway, and
afterwards marrying the widow of Admiral Hughes, a rich old West India
nabob, he left this young gemman the bulk of his property, and a
very worthy fellow he is: but we've another rich fellow that's rather
notorious at Brighton, which we distinguish by the name of the _silver
Ball_, only he's a bit of a _screw_, and has lately ~285~~got himself
into a scrape about a pretty actress, from which circumstance they have
changed his name to the _Foote Ball_. I suppose you guess where I am
now," said coachee, tipping me one of his knowing winks. "Do you see
that machine before us, a sort of cabriolet, with two horses drove in
a curricle bar? that is another _swell_ who is very fond of Brighton,
a Jew gentleman of the name of Solomon, whom the wags have made a
Christian of by the new appellation of the _golden calf_; but his
godfathers were never more out in their lives, for in _splitting a bob_,
it's my opinion, he'd bother all Bevis Marks and the Stock Exchange
into the bargain." In this way we trotted along, gathering good air and
information at every step, until we were in sight of Brighton Downs, a
long chain of hills, which appear on either side; with their undulating
surfaces covered with the sweet herb wild thyme, and diversified by the
numerous flocks of South-down sheep grazing on their loftiest summits.
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