294 Conversazione. QSept. 



something of every thing, and every thing piquante. There needs no 

 ghost to tell us who is the heroine of this morceau. (Reads.) 



" The present Lady B was formerly a Miss P , and a native 



of Ireland. Her personal attractions, and elegant accomplishments, 



procured for her the honour of becoming the chcrc cunie of a Mr. J , a 



man of fortune, but with little else than his fortune to recommend him. 



It was while she was under the protection of Mr. J , that Lord 



B first saw, and fell desperately in love with her ; so desperately, 



indeed, that he made direct overtures to the beautiful Mrs. J , as 



she was usually called. But his suit was unsuccessful. At length 



J ran throvigh his property, and then it was quite conune il faut 



that the passion of Lord B should be taken into consideration. 



The lady at this time lodged and boarded with a Mr. F , a jeweller, 



who lived not a hundred miles from PaU ]\Iall ; and she boasted to the 

 man of diamonds, that with proper means to spread her net, she would 



have Lord B — for her husband, within a month. She shewed Mr. 



F sundry letters from his lordship, such as could have been penned 



only by an inamorato who was deeply smitten. Pierced to the very 



heart, Mr. F looked at the business with a prudent eye, and after 



a little consideration, agreed to find the capital necessary for embarking 

 in this speculation. He furnished an elegant house for her, with a 

 splendid sideboard of plate, servants, a dashing carriage, and evCTy 

 thing to correspond, as the auctioneers say. The net was spread, and 



the bird was caught. Lord B married Mrs. J , and IMr. F 



supplied the wedding jewels, which did not cost less than 20,000/. It 

 Vas rumoured, a few years ago, that the inconstant fair one had a little 

 intrigue at Naples, with an Italian Count, and that Lord B dis- 

 covered one morning she had set out for IMilan, upon a journey where 

 he was not wanted. But I dare say the report was one of those scan- 

 dalous fabrications, which have so much the appearance of truth that 

 people are apt to believe them." 



The Hon. Mr. R — ds. Ha ! ha I ha ! That last remark is a neat piece 

 of persijiage. 



Omties. (A titter of contagious delight ; followed by a cataract of small 



talk, 171 the midst of which Lord L put thejirst sheet of his new work 



into his pocket, and slipped away to another part of the room. J 



Second Group. 



Mr. C — p. I don't agree with you, Dr. , I think it was a gross 



breach of propriety, for any gentleman to do such a thing. 



I>r. H — tt. Pooh — pooh — you are sore, because you cut no figure in 

 the report. 



Mr. C — p. I beg your pardon — I do cut a figure, and a very ridi- 

 culous figure; for I an. made to appear as if I thought nothing could 

 be good but what I said myself. 



Professor S — d. What is the matter ? 



Dr. H — tt. Our friend is complaining bitterly of th e JVIonthly Maga- 

 zine, which contained an article in its number for June, entitled " The 

 Conversazione," where 



Professor S — d. I saw it, and a very clever paper I thought it too. 

 It was quite delightful to find myself put in possession of all the good 

 things that were said in different parts of the room, as completely as 

 if I had had the faculty of ubiquity, and could have been in half a dozen 

 places at once. So far from quarrelling with it, I only wondered " how 

 the devil it got there." 



Mr. M — d. No. But I'll tell you what I saw, that the title was 

 seized upon by the Court Journal, which had its " Literary Conversazione, 



