, who has just launched a beautiful little boat
called the Queen Mab, with whom he means to bewitch the Don Giovanni of
London." "Who is that interesting female leaning over the railings in
front of the Gothic house, attended by a dark pensive-looking swain,
with a very intelligent countenance? Methinks there is an air of style
about the pair that speaks nobility; and yet I have observed ~164~~they
appear too fond of each other's society to be fashionables." "That is
the delightful Lady F. L. Gower and her lord: I thought you would have
recognised that star instantly, from the splendid picture of her by
Lawrence, which hangs in the Stafford Gallery at Cleveland-house. The
elegant group pacing the lawn in front of the castellated mansion, on
this side of Lord Gower, is the amiable Countess of Craven and her
family: the earl, that generous and once merry-hearted soul, I lament to
hear, is a victim to the gout; but it is hoped a few trips on board the
May-fly will restore him to health, and the enjoyment of his favourite
pursuit." "By my soul, Horace," said I, "here comes a splendid creature,
a very divinity, my boy: I' faith just such a woman as might melt the
heart of a corsair." "By my honour you have hit the mark exactly,"
replied Eglantine, "for she is already the corsair's bride, and Corbett
feels, as he ought to do, not a little proud of his good fortune. The
raven-haired Graces accompanying that true son of Neptune, Sir
George Thomas, are daughters of the baronet, and, report says, very
accomplished girls. Now by all that's fascinating and charming, hither
comes the beautiful Miss Seymour, Mrs. Fitzherbert's _protege_, and his
Majesty's little pet--an appellation I have often heard him salute
her by. The magnificent-looking belle by her side is a relation, the
charming Mrs. Seymour, acknowledged to be a star of the first magnitude
in female attractions. The three portly-looking gentlemen whose
grog-blossomed visages speak their love of the good things of this
world are the Admirals Scott and Hope, and that facetious of all funny
senators, Sir Isaac Coffin. If you are an admirer of the soft and the
sentimental, of the love-enkindling eye, and Madonna-like expression
of countenance, observe that band of Arcadian shepherdesses in speckled
dresses yonder--Bristol diamonds of the first and purest ~165~~water,
I assure you; and their respected father, the wealthy proprietor of
Miles's-court, Bristol, may well be delighted