Page:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.djvu/200

184 The Duke was habitually an economist of time. One day I was going homeward in a cab to dress for a dinner engagement, when I thought I observed him riding down St. James's Street towards the House of Lords. On reaching the house of the fiend with whom I was to dine, I found that the Duke of Wellington was expected at dinner. He arrived punctually. In the course of the evening I took an opportunity of asking him whether I was mistaken in supposing I had seen him a short time before dinner riding down St. James's Street. I then expressed my surprise at the rapidity of his movements in getting back to Apsley House in time to dress and be punctual to his engagement. He said, "No, I did not do that; I had ordered my carriage to meet me at the House of Lords, and I changed my dress whilst it was bringing me here."

The most interesting conversations generally occurred when only a few of his intimate friends met together.

On one of these occasions, at a very small dinner-party, the characters of the French marshals became the subject of conversation. The Duke, being appealed to, pointed out freely their various qualities, and assigned to each his peculiar excellence.

One question, the most highly interesting of all, naturally presented itself to our minds. I was speculating how I could, without impropriety, suggest it, when, to my great relief, one of the party, addressing the Duke, said—

"Well, sir, how was it that, with such various great qualities, you licked them all, one after another?"

The Duke was evidently taken by surprise. He paused for a moment or two, and then said—

"Well, I don't know exactly how it was; but I think that if any unexpected circumstance occurred in the midst of a