a manner so corresponding with the strains of
the amatory poet, and the voluptuous air with which the words had
been invested by the celebrated Purcel, that the men crowded around in
ecstasies, while most of the ladies thought it proper either to look
extremely indifferent to the words she sung, or to withdraw from
the circle as quietly as possible. To the song succeeded a concerto,
performed by a select band of most admirable musicians, which the King,
whose taste was indisputable, had himself selected.

At other tables in the apartment, the elder courtiers worshipped
Fortune, at the various fashionable games of ombre, quadrille, hazard,
and the like; while heaps of gold which lay before the players,
augmented or dwindled with every turn of a card or cast of a die. Many
a year's rent of fair estates was ventured upon the main or the odds;
which, spent in the old deserted manor-house, had repaired the
ravages of Cromwell upon its walls, and replaced the sources of good
housekeeping and hospitality, that, exhausted in the last age by fine
and sequestration, were now in a fair way of being annihilated by
careless prodigality. Elsewhere, under cover of observing the gamester,
or listening to the music, the gallantries of that all-licensed age were
practised among the gay and fair, closely watched the whilst by the ugly
or the old, who promised themselves at least the pleasure of observing,
and it may be that of proclaiming, intrigues in which they could not be
sharers.

From one table to another glided the merry Monarch, exchanging now a
glance with a Court beauty, now a jest with a Court wit, now beating
time to the music, and anon losing or winning a few pieces of gold on
the chance of the game to which he stood nearest;--the most amiable of
voluptuaries--the gayest and best-natured of companions--the man that
would, of all others, have best sustained his character, had life been a
continued banquet, and its only end to enjoy the passing hour, and send
it away as pleasantly as might be.

But Kings are least of all exempted from the ordinary lot of humanity;
and Seged of Ethiopia is, amongst monarchs, no solitary example of the
vanity of reckoning on a day or an hour of undisturbed serenity. An
attendant on the Court announced suddenly to their Majesties that a
lady, who would only announce herself as a Peeress of England, desired
to be admitted into the presence.

The Queen said, hastily, it was _impossible_. No pee