Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/403

 10 s. XL APRIL -24, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

331

Mrs. Crewe, Lady Almeria Carpenter. Ballad Singers ; sang ; encored several times.

Mr. Meadows. Cherokee Chief.

Sir William Wrottesley. Cyrus.

Duke of Grafton, Duke of Bedford, Lord Camden, Lord Beaulieu In dominos.

Mrs. Ligonier. Minerva.

Lady Harrington, Lady Warren. Fancy Masques.

Mr. Dundas. Greek Male Slave.

Miss Thomas. Maramout Girl with a Hurdy- Gurdy.

Lady Barrymore. Flora.

Sir F. B. Delaval. Arcadian Shepherd.

Besides the above, several characters are given without the names of the imperso- nators :

" A political Bedlamite run mad for Wilkee and Liberty ; he was covered with an old tattered blanket, with No. 45 on his shoulder, a whisp of straw in his hand, and his continual cry was Wilkes and Liberty."

No. 45 refers to Wilkes's No. 45 of The North Briton, which was burnt by the com- mon hangman 3 Dec., 1763, or rather partially burnt.

" Chimney-Sweeper." " Quack Doctor." "Friar." " Quaker."

" An officer of the Prussian Regiment of Death with this motto in his cap, ' Je suis le mort.' "

" A waggoner in a white sattin frock with a whip and half -boots. The whisper ran round the room for some time that this masque was a Great Personage."

" Cordelier." " Abb6." " Nuns in abundance."

" A great number of the masques visited Sir William Mayne and Lady ; and above three hundred paid their compliments to Lady Shel- burne before they went to the ball. H.B.H. the Princess Amelia was at Lady Shelburne's to see the masques."

Although the tickets mentioned " No Gentlemen to be admitted in dominos," it appears that the rule was not enforced.

According to The Gentleman's Magazine, most of the foreign ministers were at the

" It is however certain, when the Ambassador of a certain neighbouring rival power read this interdiction, he vehemently exclaimed, ' then he would refrain going to the ball at all, rather than make a monkey of himself ; for that a domino was the only dress a gentleman could go in.' "

.^Although Mrs. Comely (Cornelys, Cor- nelis) is accused of having been sparing as to supper, she was the opposite in other respects. There were three to four thousand wax-lights, and about a hundred musicians were dispersed in various places.

The fact that the Earl of Carlisle then aged twenty-one bore on his front the words " Tuesday Night's Club " may imply that he was a prominent member, perhaps president, of that association.

In the same number of The Gentleman's Magazine, p. 136, is a [humorous [poem

about this ball : ' To Lady Bab Evergreen, at Bath, from Miss Vizard on the Mas- querade.' It begins :

Since you long to be told of our sweet Masquerade, Of the jests that we pass'd, and the tricks we all play'd.

When we enter'd this paradise, judge, my dear

Madam, With what pleasure we met our first ancestor

Adam. Good God ! 'twas so awful to see whence we

sprung. For his dress to his body most prettily clung.

What numbers of Dervices, Druids, and Priests, Grave Pilgrims and ^Ethiops, monks and wild beasts.

For Peasants and Gypsies sat swilling Champaigne, With old British heroes, and proud dons of Spain, Rich Nabobs and Sultans shook hands with torn

rags, Apollo and Mars danc'd with Bedlams and hags.

Whole groups were attentive while Lane talk'd

so clever, And Wald'grave's fair widow look'd buxom as

ever ;

Full many a lover who long'd to accost her, Was kept at a distance by Humphrey of Glo'ster.

While Lev'son attracted a just admiration, Decripid old Hermits scarce stood the temptation ; 'Twixt Coburne, and Abingdon, Granard, and

Craven,

Fair Pembroke, with others so fam'd on the Aron, And Pallas whose eyes were too black for a raven, But a tight smiling Milk-maid in dowlass and

pattens, Eclips'd all our tinsels, our silks, and our sattms.

It appears, according to Malcolm, that " about two o'clock the company began to depart " ; if, however, " Miss Vizard " is to be trusted, the ball was kept up to a much later hour. The people in the streets appear to have treated the ballgoers somewhat roughly ; besides making them let down the windows of their carriages and chairs, they chalked on most of the carriages " Wilkes and Liberty."

The alleged parsimony of Madame Cornells is referred to elsewhere by Malcolm (vol. ii. p. 299) :

" At half after ten the Rotunda was opened for supper, which discovered three circular tables, of different elevations^ elegantly set out, though not profusely covered."

" Mrs. Comely had the sole management of the decorations and supper, for which she was allowed 700 guineas ; the supper > was but in- different, and the wine very scarce.' This supper was at Ranelagh Gardens after a great regatta on or about 23 June, 1775. In W. Toone's ' Chronological Historian,' 1826, the regatta is described as " an enter-