m for a college of
spinning dervishes. One by one, an exhausted couple slunk away. Some
threw themselves on a sofa, some monopolized an easy-chair; but in
twenty minutes all the dancers had disappeared. At length Peacock
Piggott gave a groan, which denoted returning energy, and raised a
stretching leg in air, bringing up, though most unwittingly, on his foot
one of the Bird's sublime and beautiful caps.

"Halloo! Piggott, armed _cap au pied_, I see," said Lord Squib. This
joke was a signal for general resuscitation....

Here they lounged in different parties, 'talking on such subjects as
idlers ever fall upon; now and then plucking a flower--now and then
listening to the fountain--now and then lingering over the distant
music--and now and then strolling through a small apartment which opened
to their walks, and which bore the title of the Temple of Gnidus. Here
Canova's Venus breathed an atmosphere of perfume and of light--that
wonderful statue whose full-charged eye is not very classical, to be
sure--but then, how true!

Lord Squib proposed a visit to the theatre, which he had ordered to be
lit up. To the theatre they repaired. They rambled over every part of
the house, amused themselves, to the horror of Mr. Annesley, with a
visit to the gallery, and then collected behind the scenes. They were
excessively amused with the properties; and Lord Squib proposed they
should dress themselves. Enough champagne had been quaffed to render any
proposition palatable, and in a few minutes they were all in costume. A
crowd of queens and chambermaids, Jews and chimney-sweeps, lawyers and
charleys, Spanish dons and Irish officers, rushed upon the stage. The
little Spaniard was Almaviva, and fell into magnificent attitudes, with
her sword and plume. Lord Squib was the old woman of Brentford, and very
funny. Sir Lucius Grafton, Harlequin; and Darrell, Grimaldi. The prince
and the count, without knowing it, figured as watchmen. Squib whispered
Annesley that Sir Lucius O'Trigger might appear in character, but was
prudent enough to suppress the joke.

The band was summoned, and they danced quadrilles with infinite spirit,
and finished the night, at the suggestion of Lord Squib, by breakfasting
on the stage. By the time this meal was dispatched, the purple light of
morn had broken into the building, and the ladies proposed an immediate
departure. Mrs. Montfort and her sister were sent home in one of the
duke's carriages; and the foreig