as she observes the animation with which Clarence converses, and the
grace with which his partner moves; and, having thus left our two
principal personages occupied and engaged, let us turn for a moment to
a room which we have not entered.

This is a forlorn, deserted chamber, destined to cards, which are
never played in this temple of Terpsichore. At the far end of this
room, opposite to the fireplace, are seated four men, engaged in
earnest conversation.

The tallest of these was Lord Quintown, a nobleman remarkable at that
day for his personal advantages, his good fortune with the beau sexe,
his attempts at parliamentary eloquence, in which he was lamentably
unsuccessful, and his adherence to Lord North. Next to him sat Mr.
St. George, the younger brother of Lord St. George, a gentleman to
whom power and place seemed married without hope of divorce; for,
whatever had been the changes of ministry for the last twelve years,
he, secure in a lucrative though subordinate situation, had "smiled at
the whirlwind and defied the storm," and, while all things shifted and
vanished round him, like clouds and vapours, had remained fixed and
stationary as a star. "Solid St. George," was his appellative by his
friends, and his enemies did not grudge him the title. The third was
the minister for ----; and the fourth was Clarence's friend, Lord
Aspeden. Now this nobleman, blessed with a benevolent, smooth, calm
countenance, valued himself especially upon his diplomatic elegance in
turning a compliment.

Having a great taste for literature as well as diplomacy, this
respected and respectable peer also possessed a curious felicity for
applying quotation; and nothing rejoiced him so much as when, in the