ghbour, affording an elegant contrast to the somewhat gross
unction with which Lord Castlefyshe, whose very soul seemed wrapped up
in his occupation, occasionally expressed himself.

'Will you take some wine, Captain Armine?' said the Count Mirabel, with
a winning smile. 'You have recently returned here?'

'Very recently,' said Ferdinand.

'And you are glad?'

'As it may be; I hardly know whether to rejoice or not.'

'Then, by all means rejoice,' said the Count; 'for, if you are in doubt,
it surely must be best to decide upon being pleased.'

'I think this is the most infernal country there ever was,' said Lord
Catchimwhocan.

'My dear Catch!' said the Count Mirabel, 'you think so, do you? You make
a mistake, you think no such thing, my dear Catch. Why is it the most
infernal? Is it because the women are the handsomest, or because the
horses are the best? Is it because it is the only country where you can
get a good dinner, or because it is the only country where there are
fine wines? Or is it because it is the only place where you can get a
coat made, or where you can play without being cheated, or where you
can listen to an opera without your ears being destroyed? Now, my dear
Catch, you pass your life in dressing and in playing hazard, in eating
good dinners, in drinking good wines, in making love, in going to the
opera, and in riding fine horses. Of what, then, have you to complain?'

'Oh! the damned climate!'

'On the contrary, it is the only good climate there is. In England you
can go out every day, and at all hours; and then, to those who love
variety, like myself, you are not sure of seeing the same sky every
morning you rise, which, for my part, I think the greatest of all
existing sources of ennui.'

'You reconcile me to my country, Count,' said Ferdinand, smiling.

'Ah! you are a sensible man; but that dear Catch is always repeating
nonsense which he hears from somebody else. To-morrow,' he added, in a
low voice, 'he will be for the climate.'

The conversation of men, when they congregate together, is generally
dedicated to one of two subjects: politics or women. In the present
instance the party was not political; and it was the fair sex, and
particularly the most charming portion of it, in the good metropolis
of England, that were subject to the poignant criticism or the profound
speculation of these practical philosophers. There was scarcely a
celebrated beauty in London, from the proud peer