Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/110

 speak to that one, and, when you thought she must tread on the toes of a third, turn round like a teetotum, and utter a few words so amiable, that everybody was charmed with her. As for the Duchess of D ********* it was all a 'fu, fu, fuh,' and 'What shall I do?—Oh, dear me! I am quite in a fright!'—and so much affectation, that it could not be called high breeding; although she knew very well how to lay her traps for some young man whom she wanted to inveigle into her parties, and all that. Then there were some, with highly polished manners, who would pass along like oil over water, smooth and swimming about: but good breeding is very charming, doctor, isn’t it?

"The last time I saw Lady Liverpool was at Lord Mulgrave’s. The dinner was waiting: Mr. Pitt and I had got there; but Lord Liverpool, being long in dressing, was still behind. Everybody was looking at the door or the window. At last his carriage was seen, and dinner was ordered. If you had been present when Lady Liverpool entered the room, and had marked the grace with which, whilst we were standing, she slipped in and out among the guests, like an eel, when she turned her back, turning her head round, speaking to this person and to that, and all with such seasonable courtesies and compliments, it was really wonderful. But Lady Liverpool was a Hervey, and