It now only remained that Mr Slum's compositions should be

judiciously distributed; that the pathetic effusions should find their

way to all private houses and tradespeople; and that the parody

commencing 'If I know'd a donkey,' should be confined to the taverns,

and circulated only among the lawyers' clerks and choice spirits of the

place. When this had been done, and Mrs Jarley had waited upon the

boarding-schools in person, with a handbill composed expressly for

them, in which it was distinctly proved that wax-work refined the

mind, cultivated the taste, and enlarged the sphere of the human

understanding, that indefatigable lady sat down to dinner, and drank

out of the suspicious bottle to a flourishing campaign.

The Old Curiosity Shop