ugh to imply a doubt whether,
under any circumstances, the dues of men should be considered before
those of her sex, and then struck her hands together with enthusiasm for
my father, who was, she observed--critical in millinery in the height
of her ecstasy--the most majestic, charming, handsome Henri III.
imaginable, the pride and glory of the assembly, only one degree too
rosy at night for the tone of the lavender, needing a touch of French
hands, and the merest trifle in want of compression about the waistband.
She related that a certain Prince Henri d'Angleterre had buzzed at his
ear annoyingly. 'Et Gascoigne, ou est-il?' called the King, and the
Judge stepped forth to correct the obstreperous youth. The Judge was
Jennings, clearly prepared by my father to foil the Prince--no other
than Edbury. It was incomprehensible to me that my father should
tolerate the tatter's pranks; unless, indeed, he borrowed his name to
bonds of which I heard nothing.

Mademoiselle Chassediane vowed that her own dress was ravishing.
She went attired as a boudoir-shepherdess or demurely-coquettish
Sevres-china Ninette, such of whom Louis Quinze would chuck the chin
down the deadly introductory walks of Versailles. The reason of her
desiring to go was the fatal sin of curiosity, and, therefore, her sex's
burden, not hers. Jorian was a Mousquetaire, with plumes and ruffles
prodigious, and a hen's heart beneath his cock's feathers. 'Pourtant
j'y allai. I saw your great ladies, how they carry themselves when they
would amuse themselves, and, mon Dieu! Paris has done its utmost to
grace their persons, and the length of their robes did the part
of Providence in bestowing height upon them, parceque, vous savez,
Monsieur, c'est extraordinaire comme ils ont les jambes courtes, ces
Anglaises!' Our aristocracy, however, was not so bad in that respect
as our bourgeoisie; yet it was easy to perceive that our female
aristocracy, though they could ride, had never been drilled to walk: 'de
belles femmes, oui; seulement, tenez, je n'admire ni les yeux de vache,
ni de souris, ni mime ceux de verre comme ornement feminin. Avec de
l'embonpoint elles font de l'effet, mais maigre il n'y a aucune illusion
possible.'

This vindictive critic smarted, with cause, at the recollection of her
walk out of her rooms. Jorian's audacity or infatuation quitted him
immediately after he had gratified her whim. The stout Mousquetaire
placed her in a corner, and enveloped her