tle;
and soon I was astonished to find myself launched upon the story of my
adventures, which they had besought me to tell them. When I had done,
they pledged me again, and, beginning to feel at home, I pledged them
handsomely in return. Then the conversation began. The like of it I
have never heard anywhere else in the world. There was a deal that might
not be written here, and a deal more that might, to make these pages
sparkle. They went through the meetings, of course, and thrashed over
the list of horses entered at Ipswich, and York, and Newmarket, and how
many were thought to be pulled. Then followed the recent gains and
losses of each and every individual of the company. After that there was
a roar of merriment over Mr. Storer cracking mottoes with a certain Lady
Jane; and how young Lord Stavordale, on a wager, tilted the candles and
set fire to the drawing-room at Lady Julia's drum, the day before. Mr.
Price told of the rage Topham Beauclerk had got Dr. Johnson into, by
setting down a mark for each oyster the sage had eaten, and showing him
the count. But Mr. Fox, who was the soul of the club, had the best array
of any. He related how he had gone post from Paris to Lyons, to order,
among other things, an embroidered canary waistcoat for George Selwyn
from Jabot. "' Et quel dessin, monsieur?' 'Beetles and frogs, in
green.' 'Escargots! grenouilles!' he cries, with a shriek; 'Et pour
Monsieur Selwyn! Monsieur Fox badine!' It came yesterday, by Crawford,
and I sent it to Chesterfield Street in time for George to wear to the
Duchess's. He has been twice to Piccadilly after me, and twice here, and
swears he will have my heart. And I believe he is now gone to Matson in
a funk."

After that they fell upon politics. I knew that Mr. Fox was already near
the head of the King's party, and that he had just received a substantial
reward at his Majesty's hands; and I went not far to guess that every one
of these easy-going, devil-may-care macaronies was a follower or
sympathizer with Lord North's policy. But what I heard was a revelation
indeed. I have dignified it by calling it politics. All was frankness
here amongst friends. There was no attempt made to gloss over ugly
transactions with a veneer of morality. For this much I honoured them.
But irresistibly there came into my mind the grand and simple characters
of our own public men in America, and it made me shudder to think that,
while they strove honestly for our rights,