ry of one Arthur Moore, "I told this the
other day to George Selwyn, whose passion is to see corpses and executions.
He replied, 'that Arthur Moore had his coffin chained to that of his
mistress.'

"Said I, 'How do you know?'

"'Why, I--I saw them the other day in a vault in St Giles's.'

"George was walking this week in Westminster Abbey, with Lord Abergavenny,
and met the man who shows the tombs. 'Oh, your servant, Mr Selwyn; I
expected to have seen you here the other day, when the old Duke of
Richmond's body was taken up.'" Walpole then mentions Selwyn's going to
see Cornberry, with Lord Abergavenny and a pretty Mrs Frere, who were in
some degree attached to each other.

"Do you know what you missed in the other room?" said Selwyn to the lady.
"Lord Holland's picture."

"Well, what is Lord Holland to me?"

"Why, do you know," said he, "my Lord Holland's body lies in the same
vault, in Kensington church, with my Lord Abergavenny's mother."

Walpole, speaking of the share which he had in capturing a house-breaker,
says, "I dispatched a courier to White's in search of George Selwyn. It
happened that the drawer who received my message had very lately been
robbed himself, and had the wound fresh in his memory. He stalked up into
the club-room, and with a hollow trembling voice, said, 'Mr Selwyn, Mr
Walpole's compliments to you, and he has got a house-breaker for you.'"

But some of his practical pleasantries were very amusing. Lady Townshend,
a woman of wit, but, in some points of character, a good deal scandalized,
was supposed to have taken refuge from her recollections in Popery. "On
Sunday last," says Walpole, "as George was strolling home to dinner, he
saw my Lady Townshend's coach stop at Caraccioli's chapel. He watched; saw
her go in; her footman laughed; he followed. She went up to the altar; a
woman brought her a cushion; she knelt, crossed her self, and prayed. He
stole up, and knelt by her. Conceive her face, if you can, when she turned
and found him close to her. In his demure voice, he said, 'Pray, ma'am,
how long has your ladyship left the pale of our church?' She looked furies,
and made no answer. Next day he went to see her, and she turned it off
upon curiosity. But is any thing more natural? No; she certainly means to
go armed with every viaticum: the Church of England in on hand, Methodism
in the other, and the Host in her mouth."

Every one knows that _bons-mots_ are apt to lose a great deal by