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Article LONDON PLATITUDES. ← Page 8 of 13 →
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London Platitudes.
going , if not gone out of town . And whither does your excellency think of bending your steps ?" I replied with a groan , for , till I am fairly afloat , I suffer the torments of that gentle place devoted , to speak the mildest of it , to the correction of offenders . " My dearest lady" I answered " professedla champion of
, , y Chance , to which blind deity , on these occasions , I invariably commit myself , I have now nearly as distinct an idea of where I shall be to be found this day week , as the admiral of the Spanish armada had , what should become of him , when he set sail from his Hispanian port . To revert from the Spanish armada to the bloody-minded duke of Alva is no unnatiiral
transition , and as Alva and the Low-Country towns are bound , on his side , by a tie of infamy , suppose if I bring you back , some three weeks hence , some specimens of the finest Brussels , and some magnificent Mechlin and a real Dutch skillet . " " Oh , I perceive , " the lady rejoined . " There would be little trouble in guessing from what part of the world you
came , m that case . If you are bound for Holland , I will compound for the tiniest , prettiest brass kettle , such as might have served Queen Titania ' s own tea-table under a dock-leaf . " Those few dull minutes before dinner being consumed , we descended the stairs . The party at dinner was small ,
but pleasant ; the viands were excellent of their kind ; the service was zealous , though somewhat fierce . I noticed my corsair of the servants ' -hall , and accorded him a forgivingnod , as , awed by my manner , he somewhat tamed his impetuosity to hand me a plate of partridge . It seemed that the rage of reception had partially abated by the
dinnertable service-time . I noticed more quiet ; and was almost pleased by an insouciant lassitude that I thought I caught in the face of the gentleman in jrrivate clothes . On the whole there was but little to find fault with : the dinner was excellent , the claret cold , and there were two men to wait , the night and the day of social life , both a livery and a dark suit .
Amongst the jingling of glasses and the rattle of plates , there was yet time for some improving though not vivacious converse . I heard the name of the new Turkish ambassador , and the quantity of barrels of gunpowder that were stored near Liverpool . I learned that Sir Bencher Lincoln was stopped on circuit by a vertigo , and that the marchioness of Blaze had lost her diamonds . A uniform sort of hum , in VOL . III . 8 M
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
London Platitudes.
going , if not gone out of town . And whither does your excellency think of bending your steps ?" I replied with a groan , for , till I am fairly afloat , I suffer the torments of that gentle place devoted , to speak the mildest of it , to the correction of offenders . " My dearest lady" I answered " professedla champion of
, , y Chance , to which blind deity , on these occasions , I invariably commit myself , I have now nearly as distinct an idea of where I shall be to be found this day week , as the admiral of the Spanish armada had , what should become of him , when he set sail from his Hispanian port . To revert from the Spanish armada to the bloody-minded duke of Alva is no unnatiiral
transition , and as Alva and the Low-Country towns are bound , on his side , by a tie of infamy , suppose if I bring you back , some three weeks hence , some specimens of the finest Brussels , and some magnificent Mechlin and a real Dutch skillet . " " Oh , I perceive , " the lady rejoined . " There would be little trouble in guessing from what part of the world you
came , m that case . If you are bound for Holland , I will compound for the tiniest , prettiest brass kettle , such as might have served Queen Titania ' s own tea-table under a dock-leaf . " Those few dull minutes before dinner being consumed , we descended the stairs . The party at dinner was small ,
but pleasant ; the viands were excellent of their kind ; the service was zealous , though somewhat fierce . I noticed my corsair of the servants ' -hall , and accorded him a forgivingnod , as , awed by my manner , he somewhat tamed his impetuosity to hand me a plate of partridge . It seemed that the rage of reception had partially abated by the
dinnertable service-time . I noticed more quiet ; and was almost pleased by an insouciant lassitude that I thought I caught in the face of the gentleman in jrrivate clothes . On the whole there was but little to find fault with : the dinner was excellent , the claret cold , and there were two men to wait , the night and the day of social life , both a livery and a dark suit .
Amongst the jingling of glasses and the rattle of plates , there was yet time for some improving though not vivacious converse . I heard the name of the new Turkish ambassador , and the quantity of barrels of gunpowder that were stored near Liverpool . I learned that Sir Bencher Lincoln was stopped on circuit by a vertigo , and that the marchioness of Blaze had lost her diamonds . A uniform sort of hum , in VOL . III . 8 M