The dinner was held in the large room of the "Blue Posts
Hotel." General BANNATYNE, an old Indian, who is the President of the
Club, was in the chair, having CHUBSON on his right, and me on his
left. Old CHUBSON, to whom I was introduced, seems not half a bad old
fellow, but he can't speak a bit. The dinner was awful, everything
as tough as leather, and the Cabinet Pudding more beastly than any
Cabinet Pudding I ever tasted--which is saying a good deal. CHUBSON
proposed, "Prosperity to the Billsbury C.C." "Politics," he said,
"are like Cricket. We spend our time in bowling overs." At this point
a young Conservative, who had drunk too much, shouted, "Ah, and you
mostly change sides, too"--an allusion to the fact that CHUBSON is
believed to have started in politics as a Tory. Somebody removed
the interrupter, and CHUBSON finished his speech all right, but
the incident must have annoyed him. I proposed "The Town and Trade
of Billsbury," and started by saying what pleasure it gave anybody
occupied in politics to take a part in a non-political celebration
like this. "My friend, Sir THOMAS CHUBSON," I said, "and I have not
met before, and I congratulate myself, therefore, on having been
introduced to him to-day.
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