smooth his pillow, and Lucy to prepare that mixture; but then Mauleverer
had an excellent valet, who hoped to play the part enacted by Gil Blas
towards the honest Licentiate, and to nurse a legacy while he was nursing
his master. And the earl, who was tolerably good-tempered, was forced to
confess that it would be scarcely possible for any one "to know his ways
better than Smoothson." Thus, during his illness, the fair form of his
intended bride little troubled the peace of the noble adorer. And it was
not till he found himself able to eat three good dinners consecutively,
with a tolerable appetite, that Mauleverer recollected that he was
violently in love. As soon as this idea was fully reinstated in his
memory, and he had been permitted by his doctor to allow himself
"a little cheerful society," Mauleverer resolved to go to the rooms for
an hour or two.

It may be observed that most great personages have some favourite place,
some cherished Baiae, at which they love to throw off their state, and to
play the amiable instead of the splendid; and Bath at that time, from its
gayety, its ease, the variety of character to be found in its haunts, and
the obliging manner in which such characters exposed themselves to
ridicule, was exactly the place calculated to please a man like
Mauleverer, who loved at once to be admired and to satirize. He was
therefore an idolized person at the city of Bladud; and as he entered the
rooms he was surrounded by a whole band of imitators and sycophants,
delighted to find his lordship looking so much better and declaring
himself so convalescent. As soon as the earl had bowed and smiled, and
shaken hands sufficiently to sustain his reputation, he sauntered towards
the dancers in search of Lucy. He found her not only exactly in the same
spot in which he had last beheld her, but dancing with exactly the same
partner who had before provoked all the gallant nobleman's jealousy and
wrath. Mauleverer, though not by any means addicted to preparing his