Maryland -- History -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Fiction
I would have gone to Arlington Street direct, but my friends had no
notion of letting me escape. They carried me off to Brooks's Club, where
a bowl of punch was brewed directly, and my health was drunk to three
times three. Mr. Storer commanded a turtle dinner in my honour. We were
not many, fortunately,--only Mr. Fox's little coterie. And it was none
other than Mr. Fox who made the speech of the evening. “May I be strung
as high as Haman,” said he, amid a tempest of laughter, “if ever I saw
half so edifying a sight as his Grace pitching into the Serpentine,
unless it were his Grace dragged out again. Mr. Carvel's advent has been
a Godsend to us narrow ignoramuses of this island, gentlemen. To the
Englishmen of our colonies, sirs, and that we may never underrate or
misunderstand them more!”
“Nay, Charles,” cried my Lord Comyn. “Where is our gallantry? I give you
first the Englishwomen of our colonies, and in particular the pride of
Maryland, who has brought back to the old country all the graces of the
new,--Miss Manners.”
His voice was drowned by a deafening shout, and we charged our glasses
to drain them brimming. And then we all went to Drury Lane to see Mrs.
Clive romp through 'The Wonder' in the spirit of the “immortal Peg.” She
spoke an epilogue that Mr. Walpole had writ especial for her, and
made some witty and sarcastic remarks directed at the gentlemen in our
stagebox. We topped off a very full day by a supper at the Bedford Arms,
where I must draw the certain.
The next morning I was abed at an hour which the sobriety of old age
makes me blush abed think of. Banks had just concluded a discreet
discourse upon my accomplishment of the day before, and had left for
my newspapers, when he came running back with the information that Miss
Manners would see my honour that day. There was no note. Between us
we made my toilet in a jiffy, and presently I was walking in at the
Manners's door in an amazing hurry, and scarcely waited for a direction.
But as I ran up the stairs, I heard the tinkle of the spinet, and the
notes of an old, familiar tune fell upon my ears. The words rose in my
head with the cadence.
“Love me little, love me long,
Is the burthen of my song,
Love that is too hot and strong
Runneth soon to waste.”
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account