Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/256

 other good things, to meet the wants of her expected guest, the Baroness de Fériat. who was coming from the United States. It was sad enough that Lady Hester herself, with abundance of choice provisions and wines, was unable to partake of any. However, when samples of them were brought in, as the cases were opened one after another, to be shown her, her usual (what shall I call it?) greediness of manner manifested itself. She tasted everything, and swallowed a great deal: the natural consequence of which was that she threw herself back in her bed, gasping for breath, and suffering horribly. On these occasions, her favourite plan was to relieve the succession of momentary symptoms by a host of palliatives, never leaving her stomach empty or her digestive organs at rest, and always fancying that it was want of nourishment that generated uneasiness or caused the oppression on her chest, from both of which she never was free; nor would she listen to any arguments that tended to show she was in error.

February 4, Sunday.—This morning it was discovered in my house that a silver spoon had been lost. I had a man-servant and a boy, the former a Greek, the latter a Mahometan. The Greek had one of the most sinister countenances I ever beheld: he was the same man who had accompanied Mr. Moore and Mr.