At this moment the Comtesse Leinsengen was announced, and then followed Lord and Lady Boileau, Lady Hamlet Vernon, Mr. Spencer Newcombe, and Lord Gascoigne, each received with that portion and kind of welcome which marked a well-studied knowledge of Debrett on the part of Sir William Temple, who felt himself the deity of the day, and who, complimentary, facetious, pompous, _affairé_, and familiar by turns, according to the _calibre_ of the person he addressed, moved about the apartments like some presiding Joss or Amsterdam Cupid. The whole party were at length assembled, the dinner announced, and the company withdrew to enjoy the very best _artiste's_ best efforts, put forth on an occasion so replete with honour and distinction to his _employé_. Lord Baskerville contrived to place himself next to the Comtesse Leinsengen, whose hand, in her _qualité d'ambassadrice_, the master of the feast had shewn his skill in precedence by soliciting, as he led the way to the dining-room; a circumstance, by the way, fortunate for him on his _début_, for although Lord Baskerville's arm would have been far more agreeable, yet the Comtesse would never have pardoned such a neglect of her grade in favour of her dear friend Lady Tilney. Of the other arrangements of the party it would be unnecessary to speak, and equally useless to catalogue the dinner itself. It is known to all that in London, after the first few weeks of the season, every one's table who gives a dinner is covered in exactly the same way--there may be degrees of excellence in the flavour and science of the dishes; but the things themselves are, as the Geneva traveller said of travelling, "_toujours la même chose, toutes les villes sont les mêmes, vous avez des maisons à droite et des maisons à gauche--et la rue au milieu--c'est toujours la même chose_."