French fiction -- Translations into English; Garrick, David, 1717-1779 -- Fiction
A little farther away, following the circular rank of columns, sit the
inseparable trio, Lady Archer, Lady Buckinghamshire and Mrs. Hobart, the
three wild faro-players whom the Lord Chief Justice menaced with the
pillory, and whom the caricaturist Gillray nailed there for all time.
Lady Vereker has also come to applaud her little friend. In the second
tier of boxes is enthroned Mrs. Robinson, fresh from teaching the Prince
of Wales his first lesson in love. That man, whose fund of small-talk
seems inexhaustible and insolent, but whose intelligent face catches
every eye, is Sheridan, who has become director of Drury Lane by buying
up Garrick's share. At his side lounges the exquisitely languid figure
of a young woman, of late Miss Linley, the singer, now Mrs. Sheridan;
for he has acquired her, thanks to his audacity, having run away with
her in the face and eyes of her family and no end of suitors, while upon
the adventure he has founded a comedy, the success of which is his
wife's dowry.
In the gallery are seen more _beaux_ than women, the _élégantes_ and
coxcombs, who are still termed _macaronis_, although the word is
beginning to pass out of vogue. Rings, frills, and ruffles, the cut of
coat and waistcoat, the latest suggestion in breeches,--all is with them
a matter of profound meditation, from the buckle upon their shoes to the
tip of their curled heads. Their hair is a mass of snow, conical in
shape, about which floats the odor of iris and bergamot. Sellwyn,
forever dreaming of his little marchioness, sits beside Reynolds, who
holds his silver ear-trumpet towards the stage. Near them is Burgoyne,
who consoles himself for his great military disaster at Saratoga by
writing comedies. He has chosen the better part of the vanquished, which
is to cry louder than anybody else and accuse everybody. For the one
hundredth time he is explaining to Capt. Vancouver that the true author
of the capitulation in America was not he, Burgoyne, who signed it, but
that infernal Lord North, who gave the commands to the Liberal officers
at Westminster in order to be rid of them, and then laughed in his
sleeve at their reverses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account