Wilfer proceeded, in a voice of increasing sternness and impressiveness, until she should force that skulker to give himself up. “Mamma would appear to have had an indefinable foreboding of what afterwards happened, for she would frequently urge upon me, ‘Not a little man. Promise me, my child, not a little man. Never, never, never, marry a little man!’ Papa also would remark to me (he possessed extraordinary humour), ‘that a family of whales must not ally themselves with sprats.’ His company was eagerly sought, as may be supposed, by the wits of the day, and our house was their continual resort. I have known as many as three copperplate engravers exchanging the most exquisite sallies and retorts there, at one time.” (Here Mr. Sampson delivered himself captive, and said, with an uneasy movement on his chair, that three was a large number, and it must have been highly entertaining.) “Among the most prominent members of that distinguished circle, was a gentleman measuring six feet four in height. He was not an engraver.” (Here