was so thickly covered with diamonds, that the substratum of
material could scarcely be seen; and nothing could be more splendid than
the effect; but the diamonds glittered all round the dress, behind and
before, and at the side; and so long as her ladyship paraded the
magnificent suite of her apartments, all was well, and all shone
brilliantly; but lo and behold, when her ladyship threw herself
gracefully on her mimic throne, she found that she might as well be
sitting in her _robe de chambre_ on a pebbly pavement, or a heap of
flints just prepared for Macadamization. Stones, though precious, are
still stones, and the jump the Marchioness gave when she first felt the
full effect of her jewels, is described as something prodigious. So
handsome a person, however, might easily dispense with such ornaments. A
queen of hearts may always look down upon a mere queen of diamonds.

"And what are we to say of other representations? What a sensation (at
any other period how much greater would it have been!) Mr. Sheridan
Knowles' Hunchback has made: why Mr. Sheridan Knowles made his hero a
Hunchback I cannot imagine. The play is an admirable play; and what is
as strange a part of the affair as any, is the acting of the author. To
say it is finished, or fine, would be to talk nonsense; but it is plain,
straightforward, common-scene acting, which very much surprised us, more
especially from an author, still more from an Irish author; and more
still from an author, who in private life is a perfect enthusiast, and a
fine phrenzied-eye orator. Fanny Kemble never appeared to greater
advantage in public--in private, her charming conduct with regard to her
brother, the young soldier, speaks volumes for her. They say she is
going to marry a son of Keppell Craven's, Lord Craven's uncle. They met
first, I believe, at the acting of Lord Leveson Gower's play of Hernani,
at Bridgewater House, when Mr. Craven reaped much histrionic fame as an
amateur. Of one thing we are quite sure, Miss Kemble will act well
wherever she may be placed in the world.

"One of the best conundrums I have heard for a long time, is attributed
to that excellent and agreeable fellow, Yates, who is amongst those who
do credit to the stage. Whether it is his own, or not, is a question to
rest upon his veracity. It is this--'When does an alderman look like a
ghost?' Answer. 'When he's a _gobbling_.' This is surely a _jeu
d'esprit_. By the way, Rogers begins to whistle now;