Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar00900
Lady B . Well , let me recollect . I go every other Sunday , in the : early part of the evening , to au old aunt , who lives at the antipodes of the fashionable part of the town , and there I retail to her the historic scandal of the fortnig ht ; . and then she reads to me , through her green spectacles , out of a folio , a sermon ofthe last century . Lord Mel . I hope , Sir Pepper , you will give Lady Bellair some
credit for that . Lady B . Then I go once in the winter to the Ancient Music . Sir P . Plin . That , I suppose , is a concert performed by the decayed musicians . Lady B . Not exactly so ; it is , however , a very edifying concert , and composed of those hoary , venerable notes , that in days of yore
delig hted the ears of Harry the Eighth and Anne Bullen , and is now a very suitable recreation for old bachelors , old maids , and emigrant nuns ! But to continue the narrative of my mortified inclination : my carriage every morning makes one of the long procession of coaches that besiege the circulating library in Bond-street . SirP . Plin . That denotes your ladyship ' s fondness for literature .
Lady B . I beg your pardon , Sir Pepper ,, literature is my aversion : I never look into a book , but 1 cannot avoid calling every morning at the library ; it is a kind of literary tavern , where the waiters are in perpetual demand . A dish of elegant sonnets for Miss Simper ; satires with a poignant sauce for Mrs . Grumble ; a sirloin of history for lady Sleepless ; a broil'd devil of private anecdote , highly peppered Sir
with scandal , for Lady Angelica Worthless . It would amuse you , Pepper , to see these female Academics enter the porch of Hookham college , their cheeks , paled by study , a little relieved by a thin stratum of morninc rouge . Then you would wonder at the method the learned professors adopt of supplying the impatience of their pupils ; for example—one lady receives the first volume of an author , of which she' will never enquire for the second ; at the same time she receives the second volume of another author , of which she has not yet an idea of the first .
; Sir P . Plin . Give me leave to observe , this vague method of reading must create a kind of chaos , without consistency . Lady B . Consistency is a vulgar word we do not admit into our vocabulary ; and as for the chaos j-ou disapprove of , I really think there is to be found the whole merit ; for this miscellaneous , variegated , unconnected reading , forms the beautiful dove-tailed , mosaic
literature of the female mind . Sir P . Plin . I hope you will allow Lady Plinlimmon to be a brilliant exception to your general description . Lady B . Most undoubtedly ; I have a long list of exceptions . — But not to interrupt the narrative of my own memoirs—I am sometime ' s obliged to mingle with the elegant mob at a sale of pictures .
Sir P . Plin . A sale of p ictures must be very improving . Yon there frequently meet with works of old masters . Lady B . The ladies-of fashion do not go to auctions for the sake of ihe old masters ; do they , lord Melcourt ?
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar00900
Lady B . Well , let me recollect . I go every other Sunday , in the : early part of the evening , to au old aunt , who lives at the antipodes of the fashionable part of the town , and there I retail to her the historic scandal of the fortnig ht ; . and then she reads to me , through her green spectacles , out of a folio , a sermon ofthe last century . Lord Mel . I hope , Sir Pepper , you will give Lady Bellair some
credit for that . Lady B . Then I go once in the winter to the Ancient Music . Sir P . Plin . That , I suppose , is a concert performed by the decayed musicians . Lady B . Not exactly so ; it is , however , a very edifying concert , and composed of those hoary , venerable notes , that in days of yore
delig hted the ears of Harry the Eighth and Anne Bullen , and is now a very suitable recreation for old bachelors , old maids , and emigrant nuns ! But to continue the narrative of my mortified inclination : my carriage every morning makes one of the long procession of coaches that besiege the circulating library in Bond-street . SirP . Plin . That denotes your ladyship ' s fondness for literature .
Lady B . I beg your pardon , Sir Pepper ,, literature is my aversion : I never look into a book , but 1 cannot avoid calling every morning at the library ; it is a kind of literary tavern , where the waiters are in perpetual demand . A dish of elegant sonnets for Miss Simper ; satires with a poignant sauce for Mrs . Grumble ; a sirloin of history for lady Sleepless ; a broil'd devil of private anecdote , highly peppered Sir
with scandal , for Lady Angelica Worthless . It would amuse you , Pepper , to see these female Academics enter the porch of Hookham college , their cheeks , paled by study , a little relieved by a thin stratum of morninc rouge . Then you would wonder at the method the learned professors adopt of supplying the impatience of their pupils ; for example—one lady receives the first volume of an author , of which she' will never enquire for the second ; at the same time she receives the second volume of another author , of which she has not yet an idea of the first .
; Sir P . Plin . Give me leave to observe , this vague method of reading must create a kind of chaos , without consistency . Lady B . Consistency is a vulgar word we do not admit into our vocabulary ; and as for the chaos j-ou disapprove of , I really think there is to be found the whole merit ; for this miscellaneous , variegated , unconnected reading , forms the beautiful dove-tailed , mosaic
literature of the female mind . Sir P . Plin . I hope you will allow Lady Plinlimmon to be a brilliant exception to your general description . Lady B . Most undoubtedly ; I have a long list of exceptions . — But not to interrupt the narrative of my own memoirs—I am sometime ' s obliged to mingle with the elegant mob at a sale of pictures .
Sir P . Plin . A sale of p ictures must be very improving . Yon there frequently meet with works of old masters . Lady B . The ladies-of fashion do not go to auctions for the sake of ihe old masters ; do they , lord Melcourt ?