Which of the frail sisterhood has not had a ride in
G---- L----'s worn out in the service 1 and which in its day might be
said to roll mechanically from C----L----to C----s-s--t, with almost
instinctive precision. But his days of poesy and nights of folly are now
past!

Honest C----has taken the hint from nature, and retired, at once,
from the republics of Venus and of letters. A kind, a generous, and a
susceptible heart like his must long ere this have found, in the arms
of an amiable wife, those unfading and honourable joys which, reflection
must convince him, were not to be extracted from those foul and polluted
sources from whence he sought and drew a short-lived pleasure."

You know Crony's affection for a good dinner, and will not therefore be
surprised that I had the honour of his company this day; but i'faith
he deserved his reward for the cheerfulness and amusement with which he
contrived to kill time.

3 Lady B----e.

4 Mrs. H----y.

5 Louisa V----e.

6 Mrs. S--d--s.

7 Mrs. S--mm--ns.

~320~~In the evening it was proposed to visit the libraries; but as
these places of public resort are not always eligible for the appearance
of a star, Crony and myself were despatched first to reconnoitre
and report to the Countess our opinions of the assembled group. The
association of society has perhaps undergone a greater change in
England within the last thirty years than any other of our peculiar
characteristics; at least, I should guess so from Crony's descriptions
of the persons who formerly honoured the libraries with their presence;
but whose names (if they now condescend to subscribe) are entered in
a separate book, that they may not be defiled by appearing in the same
column with the plebeian host of the three nations who form the united
family of Great Britain. "Ay, sir," said Crony, with a sigh that bespoke
the bitterness of reflection, "I remember when this spot (Luccombe's
library) was the resort of all the beauty and brilliancy that once
illumined the hemisphere of Calton palace,--the satellites of the
heir apparent, the brave, the witty, and the gay,--the soul-inspiring,
mirthful band, whose talents gave a splendid lustre to the orb of
royalty, far surpassing the most costly jewel in his princely coronet.
But they are gone, struck to the earth by the desolating hand of the
avenger Death, and have left no traces of their genius upon the minds of
their successors."

Of the