Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/618

 BEAUTY 59^ wrote, " He din'd here, and does not shine quite so much in eating as in conversation, for he eat much and nastily." Her letters abound in little sketches of people she met. Here is a pretty little incident : " Miss Mary Walpole is one of the gravest girls 1 ever saw. and when she does speak, which is seldom, it is in the sharpest, shril'est voice those days of strong speech, that " she is devilish ugly." It was a free age, not only in speech, but in manners, and getting drunk was the favourite occupation of the men. Here is the account of her first ball. It is extraordinary to our notions to see how calmly the young girl of seventeen takes some of its features : Gcorgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, at Hardwicke Hall. This beautiful, high-spirited girl was popularly known as "Fox's Duchess, from her warm championship of his cause in politics From a painttHs: in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire I ever heard. However, I took a resolution to get the better of her gravity, and I so effectually fastened myself on her that before the end of the evening we were great friends, and she even condescended to laugh." Of a French lady we read the emphatic statement, not, perhaps, so emphatic in "I was Drest in a demi-saison silk, very like one I brought from abroad and wore at Bath, Pink trim'd with Gauze and Green Ribbon. We met F. on the stairs extremely Drunk, and I stood up with young Mr. Coke for almost ten Minutes in the middle of the Room before they could wake the Musick to play a minuet, and when they did they all