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THE FLOWING BOWL
ticularly well, especially dear old Mrs. Jarley,
whose consideration for her own comforts was
fully equalled by her desire for the worldly welfare
of others.
In Bleak House allusions to the bowl are
infrequent. The rag-shop " Lord Chancellor "
cremated himself with the aid of gin, and Mr.
Tulkinghorn had a weakness for old port. Mr.
Bucket favoured brown sherry, and Harold
Skimpole would nibble a peach and sip claret, with
an execution in his house.
This is one of the
best characters drawn by Dickens ; and although
the type is not a familiar one, I have met him in
the flesh.
Dombey and Son is by no means a " thirsty "
work ; though Joey Bagstock was a votary of
the bowl, like old Mrs. Brown. The rest of the
company put together (I except "the Chicken")
would not have enabled a publican to pay his
rent, and one of the most melancholy parts of the
book is the mention made therein of only one
bottle of the old Madeira remaining in the cellar
of Sol Gills, at a time when most of the other
characters in the book—male and female—are
making use of his house.
Next to my Pickwick I love my Great Ex
pectations. Brandy-and-tar-water, imbibed by
Pumblechook, in mistake, at the Christmas
dinner, should properly come under the heading
of " Strange Swallows" ; but the capacity ot
those two bottles of port and sherry, which he
brought as a present on that occasion, has always
been a puzzle to me. Joe, probably, would not
be allowed more than a glass, and, naturally.