“Ay, where are they?” echoed the company with indignant derision.

“Gentlemen,” returned the Master, solemnly, “it is a question easily answered—­they are NOWHERE!  Had they hanged the bailiffs, the bailiffs would not have hanged them.  We ourselves have been similarly circumstanced.  Attacked by an infamous and unconstitutional statute, passed in the reign of the late usurper, William of Orange, (for I may remark that, if the right king had been upon the throne, that illegal enactment would never have received the royal assent—­the Stuarts—­Heaven preserve ’em!—­always siding with the debtors); attacked in this outrageous manner, I repeat, it has been all but ‘up’ with US!  But the vigorous resistance offered on that memorable occasion by the patriotic inhabitants of Bermuda to the aggressions of arbitrary power, secured and established their privileges on a firmer basis than heretofore; and, while their pusillanimous allies were crushed and annihilated, they became more prosperous than ever.  Gentlemen, I am proud to say that I originated—­that I directed those measures.  I hope to see the day, when not Southwark alone, but London itself shall become one Mint,—­when all men shall be debtors, and none creditors,—­when imprisonment for debt shall be utterly abolished,—­when highway-robbery shall be accounted a pleasant pastime, and forgery an accomplishment,—­when Tyburn and its gibbets shall be overthrown,—­capital punishments discontinued,—­Newgate, Ludgate, the Gatehouse, and the Compters razed to the ground,—­Bridewell and Clerkenwell destroyed,—­the Fleet, the King’s Bench, and the Marshalsea remembered only by name!  But, in the mean time, as that day may possibly be farther off than I anticipate, we are bound to make the most of the present.  Take care of yourselves, gentlemen, and your governor will take care of you.  Before I sit down, I have a toast to propose, which I am sure will be received, as it deserves to be, with enthusiasm.  It is the health of a stranger,—­of Mr. John Sheppard.  His father was one of my old customers, and I am happy to find his son treading in his steps.  He couldn’t be in better hands than those in which he has placed himself.  Gentlemen,—­Mr. Sheppard’s good health, and success to him!”

Baptist’s toast was received with loud applause, and, as he sat down amid the cheers of the company, and a universal clatter of mugs and glasses, the widow’s view was no longer obstructed.  Her eye wandered quickly over that riotous and disorderly assemblage, until it settled upon one group more riotous and disorderly than the rest, of which her son formed the principal figure.  The agonized mother could scarcely repress a scream at the spectacle that met her gaze.  There sat Jack, evidently in the last stage of intoxication, with his collar opened, his dress disarranged, a pipe in his mouth, a bowl of punch and a half-emptied rummer before him,—­there he sat, receiving and returning, or rather attempting to return,—­for he was almost past consciousness,—­the blandishments of a couple of females, one of whom had passed her arm round his neck, while the other leaned over the back of his chair and appeared from her gestures to be whispering soft nonsense into his ear.