Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/76

 Lady Hester was saying of herself that she was very fit for a diplomatic character. "Nobody can ever observe in me any changes in my countenance; and when I am sitting still under a tree, nobody that passes and sees me, I will venture to say, would ever suppose what was in me, or say that's a person of talent. Mr. Pitt's face was somewhat the same. In regarding him, I should have said that he had a sort of slovenly or negligent look: and the same when he was in a passion. His passion did not show itself by knitting his brows or pouting his mouth, nor were his words very sharp: but his eyes lighted up in a manner quite surprising. It was something that seemed to dart from within his head, and you might see sparks coming from them. At another time, his eyes had no colour at all.

"That Mr. Pitt got into debt is no wonder. How could a man, so circumstanced, find time to look into his affairs? And of course there were many things I could not attend to, whatever disposition I might have had to do so. The bills that were given in by the cook, by the valet, and such people, I looked over. Merely the post-chaises and four were enough to run away with a moderate income. Every now and then I fixed on some glaring overcharge, and made some inquiry about it, just to put a check upon them; and on such occasions I would say, 'Take care that does