submit  to  any  alteration  of  their  plans,  at  least  not
to  such  as  Mr.  Dickens  had  proposed ;  that,  in  short,
things  must  remain  as  they  were  to  the  possible  detri-
ment of  the  whole  affair.
In  such  a  vast  hall,  and  in  the  presence  of  such
beautiful  decorations  as  had  been  devised,  it  would  not
have  done  to  resort  to  the  carpet  and  baize  trick  as  we
should  have  done  in  a  small  country  town,  "  for  one
night  only."

This  idea  being  proposed  to  the  honorary  secretary
(Mr.  Clarke  Aspinall),  he  sent  at  once  to  the  guard-
ship  (the  Donegal)  lying  in  the  river  for  the  loan  of
such  of  the  ship's  flags  as  might  be  necessary  to  correct
the  acoustic  defects  of  the  hall.  The  captain,  with  a
ready  courtesy,  not  only  granted  this  request,  but  sent
a  boat's  crew  of  man-of-wars  men  to  hang  and  drape
the  flags  in  the  places  assigned  for  them  by  Mr.  Dickens,
who  personally  superintended  the  whole  matter.
The  leading  men  of  Liverpool  and  the  whole  sur-
rounding district  were  present,  Manchester  paying  Mr.
Dickens  the  compliment  of  sending  its  Mayor.
With  the  exception  perhaps  that  the  proceedings  were
too  long,  the  banquet  was  a  great  success.  The  Mayor
of  Liverpool  was  nominally  the  chairman  of  the  even-
ing, but  being  in  ill-health,  and  not  a  great  speaker,  he
handed  the  toast  of  the  evening  over  to  Lord  Duiferin
(at  that  time  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster).
