Volume V Part 33 (2/2)
”Yes, my lady, I have notes for fifty and a hundred pounds”
”Then you e one of theland to pay in gold is a soleciser
Perhaps you noticed that the lady smiled?”
”Yes; who is she?”
”Lady Coventry, sister of the duchess of Haize?”
”Not at all, the offence is not one of those which require an apology
She must have been more surprised than offended, for she old”
I was vexed by this small mischance, for Lady Coventry was an exquisitely beautiful brunette I comforted myself, however, without much trouble
The same day I made the acquaintance of Lord Hervey, the nobleent person He had e was annulled This celebrated Miss Chudleigh was er of Wales, and afterwards becaston As her history is well known I shall say soh pleased withat home, and found lish dishes, he was acquainted with the French systeouts, and above all, the excellent French soup, which is one of the principal glories of France
My table and h for my happiness I was alone, and the reader will understand by this that Nature had not meant me for a hermit I had neither a mistress nor a friend, and at London one may invite a man to dinner at a tavern where he pays for himself, but not to one's own table One day I was invited by a younger son of the Duke of Bedford to eat oysters and drink a bottle of chane I accepted the invitation, and he ordered the oysters and the chane, but we drank two bottles, and he made me pay half the price of the second bottle
Such are hed in my face when I said that I did not care to dine at a tavern as I could not get any soup
”Are you ill?” they said, ”soup is only fit for invalids”
The Englishman is entirely carnivorous He eats very little bread, and calls himself economical because he spares himself the expense of soup and dessert, which circulish dinner is like eternity: it has no beginning and no end Soup is considered very extravagant, as the very servants refuse to eat the ive to dogs The salt beef which they use is certainly excellent I cannot say the same for their beer, which was so bitter that I could not drink it However, I could not be expected to like beer after the excellent French wines hich the wine merchant supplied me, certainly at a very heavy cost
I had been a week inMartinelli He ca, and I asked hio to the Museum, and my curiosity to see the faland made me accompany him It was there that I made the acquaintance of Dr Mati, of whom I shall speak in due course
At dinner Martinelli e of the English manners and custoet on I happened to speak of the i debt in gold instead of paper, and on this text he preachedthat the preference given to paper shews the confidence which is felt in the Bank, which may or may not be misplaced, but which is certainly a source of wealth This confidence e issue of paper money, and if that ever took place by reason of a protracted or unfortunate war, bankruptcy would be inevitable, and no one could calculate the final results
After a long discussion on politics, national manners, literature, in which subjects Martinelli shone, ent to Drury Lane Theatre, where I had a specih insular ive the piece that had been announced, and the audience were in a tumult Garrick, the celebrated actor as buried twenty years later in Westminster Abbey, caed to retire behind the curtain Then the king, the queen, and all the fashi+onables left the theatre, and in less than an hour the theatre was gutted, till nothing but the bare walls were left
After this destruction, which went on without any authority interposing, the in and beer In a fortnight the theatre was refitted and the piece announced again, and when Garrick appeared before the curtain to ience of the house, a voice from the pit shouted, ”On your knees” A thousand voices took up the cry ”On your knees,” and the English Roscius was obliged to kneel down and beg forgiveness Then ca was over Such are the English, and above all, the Londoners They hoot the king and the royal family when they appear in public, and the consequence is, that they are never seen, save on great occasions, when order is kept by hundreds of constables
One day, as I alking by ustus Hervey, whose acquaintance I had entleman, who to
”That's the brother of Earl Ferrers,” said he, ”as hanged a couple ofone of his people”
”And you speak to his brother?”
”Why shouldn't I?”