t a groan from Indus
to the Pole!

The reading of Miss Macgilligan, like her ideas, was rather on a
contracted scale. She suspected, however, that her nephew had aimed
against her the shafts of ridicule, and was preparing her resentment
accordingly; when the Baronet deprecating her wrath, assured her, that
he had recited the lines exactly as originally written, and that in the
present clay they had no personal application, having been composed by
a little cynical fellow many years before Miss Macgilligan came into
existence.--The lady gave credence to the assertion, and the impending
storm was happily averted.

The residence of royalty being within the precinct of St. James's, the
bells of the neighbouring church sounded a merry peal in the ears of
the party; and were responded to by those of St, Martin-in-the-Fields,
a parish of which it is remarkable that his Majesty George II. was once
church-warden, serving the office, of course, by deputy. The steeple
of this church, as well as those of many others in the metropolis,
displayed, throughout the day, the royal standard, a manifestation of
loyalty which likewise extended itself to the liquid element of old
father Thames, where many of the vessels commemorated the anniversary by
frequent salutes of artillery, under the decorative and splendid canopy
formed by the colours of all nations.

~~276~~~ The carriages of the foreign ambassadors, and those of the
friends of government, were again in requisition, and rattled along the
streets towards the several mansions of the members of administration,
who each, in conformity with ancient usage, gave a grand dinner on the
birth-day, at least on that appointed for its celebration.

"At these dinners," said Dashall, "politics and etiquette are both laid
aside; conviviality is the order of the day; the glass, the joke,
the repartee and the 'retort courteous,' circulate freely, and all is
harmony and good humour."

"With sometimes a sprinkling of alloy," said the Squire, "I have heard
that during the administration of Mr. Pitt, he and the Lord Chancellor
Thurlow were frequently at variance on subjects having no reference to
politics, and even under the exhilirating influence of the grape."

The party were all attention, and the Squire proceeded--"At a cabinet
dinner a discussion took place between the Premier and Lord Chancellor,
as to the comparative merits of the Latin and English languages. Mr.
Pitt gave the preference to