There is a contrivance that has occurred to me, which, if it were not
accompanied with a circumstance somewhat out of date, appears to me in
the highest degree admirable. Suppose you were to treat the lords of the
bedchamber with a sight of St. Paul's cathedral? There is a certain part
of it of a circular form, commonly called the whispering gallery. You
have probably heard, that by the uncommon echo of this place, the
weakest sound that can possibly be articulated, is increased by that
time it has gone half round, into a sound, audible and strong. Your
lordship, with your flock of geese about you, would probably be frolic
and gamesome. You may easily contrive to scatter them through the whole
circumference of this apartment. Of a sudden, you will please to turn
your face to the wall, and utter in a solemn tone the royal opinion.
Every body will be at a loss from whence the mandate proceeds. Some of
your companions, more goose-like than the rest, will probably imagine it
a voice from heaven. The sentence must be two or three times repeated at
proper intervals, before you can contrive to have each of the lords in
turn at the required distance. This will demand a considerable degree of
alertness and agility. But alertness and agility are qualities by which
your lordship is so eminently distinguished, that I should have very few
apprehensions about your success. Meanwhile it will be proper to have a
select number of footmen stationed at the door of the gallery, armed
with smelling-bottles. Some of your friends, I suspect, would be so much
alarmed at this celestial and ghost-like phenomenon, as to render this
part of the plan of singular service.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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