nd plaid; and
an old woman, or rather a woman,--for through her disguise it was
impossible to ascertain her age,--in the absurdest costume of the last
century. These good people soon began their quadrilles and galopades,
and were enlivened by all the noise that twelve fiddlers could make for
their lives.

You must not suppose the company was made up of these mummers. There was
Dr. Lardner, and Long, the Greek Professor in the London University, and
Sheil, and Strutt, and Romilly, and Owen the philanthropist. Owen laid
bold on Sheil, and gave him a lecture on Co-operation which lasted
for half an hour. At last Sheil made his escape. Then Owen seized Mrs.
Sheil,--a good Catholic, and a very agreeable woman,--and began to prove
to her that there could be no such thing as moral responsibility. I had
fled at the first sound of his discourse, and was talking with Strutt
and Romilly, when behold! I saw Owen leave Mrs. Sheil and come towards
us. So I cried out "Sauve qui peut!" and we ran off. But before we had
got five feet from where we were standing, who should meet us face to
face but Old Basil Montagu? "Nay, then," said I, "the game is up. The
Prussians are on our rear. If we are to be bored to death there is no
help for it." Basil seized Romilly; Owen took possession of Strutt; and
I was blessing myself on my escape, when the only human being worthy to
make a third with such a pair, J--, caught me by the arm, and begged to
have a quarter of an hour's conversation with me. While I was suffering
under J--, a smart impudent-looking young dog, dressed like a sailor in
a blue jacket and check shirt, marched up, and asked a Jewish-looking
damsel near me to dance with him. I thought that I had seen the fellow
before; and, after a little looking, I perceived that it was Charles;
and most knowingly, I assure you, did he perform a quadrille with Miss
Hilpah Manasses.

If I were to tell you all that I saw I should exceed my ounce. There
was Martin the painter, and Proctor, alias Barry Cornwall, the poet or
poetaster. I did not see one Peer, or one star, except a foreign order
or two, which I generally consider as an intimation to look to my
pockets. A German knight is a dangerous neighbour in a crowd. [Macaulay
ended by being a German knight himself.] After seeing a galopade very
prettily danced by the Israelitish women, I went downstairs, reclaimed
my hat, and walked into the dining-room. There, with some difficulty,
I squeezed m