“Why--half of them have got F.R.S. to the end of their names!” ejaculated Frank Curtis: “what the deuce does that mean? And, by Jove!” he cried, now completely beside himself with astonishment,--“this is strange! Here’s the ‘_Secretary, Francis Curtis, Esq., F.R.S., M.A., M.S.L.S., &c. &c._’ My dear friend Styles----”
“Patience--patience, Frank,” said that gentleman, with bland complacency. “Those initials stand for various honorary distinctions which give respectability to the name. For instance, you are represented as being a _Fellow of the Royal Society_, a _Master of Arts_, and a _Member of Several Learned Societies_. God bless you, my dear fellow! even the very _et ceteras_ have their weight in a Railway Prospectus.”
“But I am nothing of all that you describe!” ejaculated Frank Curtis, surveying Mr. Styles with an expression of amazement that was quite ludicrous.
“I am well aware of that,” answered the City gentleman, coolly: “neither are half the Aldermen or Common-Councilmen F.R.S.’s or any thing else--unless it is A.S.S.’s. But no Railway scheme can be got up without this kind of _gammon_--for that is precisely the word; and an Alderman who would send a poor devil to the treadmill for obtaining goods under false pretences if he only represented himself as Jones instead of Noakes, will himself assume any honorary distinction that is calculated to gull the public. Look at Alderman Higgs Higgs, for example’s sake! Glance over the list of different Railway schemes--and amongst the Provisional Committee-men belonging to each you will see ‘_Higgs Higgs, Esq., Alderman, F.R.S., &c. &c._’ Even that consummate ass, Alderman Sun, has dubbed himself in a similar fashion;--and therefore I see no reason why Frank Curtis, Esq., or Captain Gorman O’Blunderbuss, should not be an F.R.S. likewise.”
This explanation was highly satisfactory to the two gentlemen last mentioned; and on the strength of it they drank bumpers to the success of the projected enterprise.
“I have duly registered the Company,” observed Mr. Styles; “and I have had an interview with Dummerley, the Engineer, this afternoon! Oh! I can assure you that I have not been idle. Dummerley is ready to swear that he has surveyed the whole line from the south of England to the north of Scotland----”