no trifle. Dancing commenced at
eleven; and, although my vanity allured me to think that the favorable
glances of more than one would-be partner were directed towards me,
I felt no inclination to sport a toe in the absence of Lady L. M.
By-the-by, Count C------ told me, with a profusion of foreign compliment,
that I and the 'observed of all observers,' Lord E------h, were the best
drest male personages at the rout.

Thanks to the magical operation of the Schneider, who makes or mars a
man.

"The _coup d'oil_ of the scene was charming. _Cetoit un
vrai delice_--that atmosphere of light, of fragrance, and of
music--gratifying all the senses at once. Oh! what bosoms, arms, and
necks were thronging round me! Phidias, had he attempted to copy them,
would have forgotten his work to gaze and admire. Description fails in
picturing the _tout ensemble_,--the dazzling chandeliers blazing
like constellations--the richly draperied _meubles_--the magnificent
dresses--and then so many eyes, like stars glittering round one; like
'Heaven,' as Ossian says, 'beaming with all its fires.'

"In the midst of my admiration, I was accosted by Caustic, and expressed
my surprise at finding him in such a scene--'A rout,' he replied, 'is
just one of those singular incoherences which supply me with laughter
for a month. Was there ever such a tissue of inconsistencies assembled
as in these pleasure hunts? On stepping from your carriage, you run the
gauntlet through two lines of quizzing spectators, who make great eyes,
as the French term it, at you, and some of whom look as if they took a
fancy to your knee buckles. A double row of gaudy footmen receive you in
the blazing hall, and make your name echo up the stairs, as you ascend,
in a voice of thunder. Your _tete s'exalte_, and when you expect to be
ushered into the Temple of Fame, you find yourself embedded (pardon the
metaphor) in a _parterre_ of female beauty.'

~~405~~~ "As for me," I replied, interrupting the satirist, "I delight
in such things. I believe that fashion, like kings, can do no wrong."

"And so you would rather have your ribs beat in, than your name left
out. But look round you, in God's name! what is the whole scene but &
fashionable mob met together to tread on each other's heels and tear
each other's dresses? Positively, you cannot approach the mistress of
the mansion to pay those common courtesies which politeness in all other
cases exacts. And how so many delicate young c