406 
18th. Dined at No. 9 in Milsom Street with Mrs. and 
Miss Molineux. 
Bath is not alive, he wrote, even to scandal. 
tgth. Dined alone at the lodgings. Lady Conyngham 
had a grand rout. These routs bid fair to ruin Bath as 
a public place. 
He was fairly right in his opinion on this new departure, for it 
meant a private rather than a public party, one set selected and 
separated, contrary to Nash’s policy. 
Writing on this event to his daughter he records that the 
beautiful waistcoat which she brought from France was dis- 
played and much admired. 
We sometimes wonder at and sometimes consider picturesque, 
the costume of this time, but we can see here, as on a previously 
noticed occasion, how much it was valued, how much pride was 
associated with it. It is recorded in Rogers’ Table Talk that Fox 
and lord Carlisle once travelled from Paris to Lyons for the 
express purpose of buying waistcoats, and during the whole of the 
journey they talked of nothing else. This looks rather small at 
first but there is a lesson perhaps for us, as such a costume, which 
filled the wearer with so much personal respect or self conscious- 
ness, had to be properly worn and lived up to, just as the too 
often careless one of to-day produces the contrary result, the 
wearer being mannerless, or worse. 
zoth. Dined at colonel Barré’s in the Grove with colonel 
Barré, major Goodenough and two welsh ladies. 
21st. Dined alone at the lodgings. 
22nd. Dined at Bowood near Calne with the marquis and 
marchioness of Lansdowne, Colonel Barré, &c. Had 
a most flattering reception. Dined at five, returned to 
Bath at eight, sleeping half the way in the post chaise. 
23rd, 24th, 25th. Dined alone at the lodgings on the 
South Parade. 
