Behind them
are seen the heroes Scroggins and Turner; and at the opposite end of the
table, a Wake-ful one, but a grosser man than either, and something of
the _levanter_: the bald-headed stag on his right goes by the quaint
cognomen of the _Japan oracle_, from the retentive memory he possesses
on all sporting and pugilistic events. The old waiter is a picture every
frequenter will recognise, and the smoking a dozer no unusual bit of a
spree. Here, my dear Bernard, you have before you a true portrait of the
celebrated Daffy{2} Club, done from the life by our
2 The great lexicographer of the fancy gives the following
definition of the word Daffy. The phrase was coined at
the mint of the Fancy, and has since passed current without
ever being overhauled as queer. The Colossus of
Literature, after all his nous and acute researches to
explain the synonyms of the English language, does not
appear to have been down to the interpretation of Daffy; nor
indeed does Bailey or Sheridan seem at all fly to it; and
even slang Grose has no touch of its extensive
signification. The squeamish Fair One who takes it on the
sly, merely to cure the vapours, politely names it to her
friends as White Wine. The Swell chaffs it as Blue Ruin,
to elevate his notions.
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