ladies showered
their sugarplums, and who, in return, offered them tobacco. But it
was not true that the giant sported stilts, or that the dwarf was a
sucking-babe. Some people are so suspicious. Then a bell rang, and
assembled them in the concert-room; and the Bird of Paradise who to-day
was consigned to the cavaliership of Peacock Piggott, condescended to
favour them with a new song, which no one had ever heard, and which,
consequently, made them feel more intensely all the sublimity of
exclusiveness. Shall we forget the panniers of shoes which Melnotte had
placed in every quarter of the gardens? We will say nothing of
Maradan's cases of caps, because, for this incident, Lord Bagshot is our
authority.

On a sudden, it seemed that a thousand bugles broke the blue air,
and they were summoned to a dejeuner in four crimson tents worthy of
Sardanapalus.

Over each waved the scutcheon of the president. Glittering were the
glories of the hundred quarterings of the house of Darrell. '_Si non e
vero e ben trovato_,' was the motto. Lord Darrell's grandfather had been
a successful lawyer. Lord Squib's emblazonry was a satire on its owner.
'_Holdfast_' was the motto of a man who had let loose. Annesley's
simple shield spoke of the Conquest; but all paled before the banner of
the house of Hauteville, for it indicated an alliance with royalty. The
attendants of each pavilion wore the livery of its lord.

Shall we attempt to describe the delicacy of this banquet, where
imagination had been racked for novel luxury? Through the centre of each
table ran a rivulet of rose-water, and gold and silver fish glanced in
its unrivalled course. The bouquets were exchanged every half-hour, and
music soft and subdued, but constant and thrilling, wound them up by
exquisite gradations to that pitch of refined excitement which is so
strange a union of delicacy and voluptuousness, when the soul, as it
were, becomes sensual, and the body, as it were, dissolves into spirit.
And in this choice assembly, where all was youth, and elegance, and
beauty, was it not right that every sound should be melody, every sight
a sight of loveliness, and every thought a thought of pleasure?

They arose and re-assembled on the lawn, where they found, to their
surprise, had arisen in their absence a Dutch Fair. Numerous were the
booths, innumerable were the contents. The first artists had arranged
the picture and the costumes; the first artists had made the trinkets