MISCELLANEOUS ESSAY.S. 935 



'• as fine, as stiff, and as anxious 

 *' to gain applause, as he felt when 

 *' he was going to mount the ros- 

 *' trum. 



" In this manner wc arrived at 

 *' the palace gate. You must go 

 *' in there, said the friendly lad, 

 *' pointing to it, and runnius back. 

 " Tiie enquiries of the centry who 

 " I was, and Avhat I wanted ? b;»- 

 *' fore he would allow rae to enter, 

 *' and the porter's interrogations 

 *' before I had time to desire him to 

 *' conduct me to my new friend, 

 *' confused me a good deal ; for 

 " immaterial as the questions they 

 *' asked were, and easily answered, 

 *' yet they flurried my spirits, and 

 " made mc feel the uncomforiable 

 " sensation of being out of my own 

 *' element, in which I could come 

 *' and go unquestioned, as every 

 " one knew who I was. I, thero- 

 " fore, when shewn into the sccre- 

 " tary's room, found myself less 

 " composed, and less eloquent, than 

 " I was an hour before, 



" The man was buried in papers, 

 " and informed me that some un- 

 " expected business, that he was 

 " obliged to dispatch immediatfly, 

 *' prevented his having the pleasure 

 '< of entertaining me till the duke 

 " could see me. but that he would 

 " conduct me io two noblemen, 

 " whose names he mentioned, that 

 " wished to be acquainted with me, 

 *' and that he had no doubt of my 

 *' spending my time vitj' agreca- 

 " biy with them, till the duke sent 

 " for me, which he believed would 

 " be in about an hour. He desired 

 " mc to follow him, without giving 

 *' me time to recover from the siir. 

 '* prise his unexpected recejition 

 " had thrown mc into, or even to 

 <' answer him, ran down stairs, 

 " opened a room door, mentioned 



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my name in a hasty manner, and 

 immediately disappeared. 

 " The magnificence of the apart- 

 ment, the beauty of the hangings 

 and cieling, the number of orna- 

 naments, and the richness of the 

 furniture, confused me, as I had 

 not time to regard i lem distinct- 

 ]y ; and my perplexity was in- 

 creased by the extreme civility of 

 the two strange genilemen (one 

 was old and the other young) 

 and their frequently saying the 

 politfst things at the same time, 

 to which I could only reply with 

 a humble, and, 1 believe, a clumsy 

 bow. Another vexatious cir- 

 cumstance was, that I had en- 

 tirely forgotten their names 

 and long titles ; and the fear of 

 their thinking me familiar or 

 impertinent, if I only said sir, 

 greatly increased my ridiculous 

 distress. 



" Oh! that those M'ho are placed 

 in the higher ranks of life pos- 

 t;essed humanity and perspicuity 

 enough not t'> judge too harshly 

 of their inferiors, who happen to 

 be thrown among them sometimes 

 for an hour or two, because they 

 apjjear a little awkward, unpo- 

 lished, and unentcrtaining ; or, 

 if the customs seem as strange to 

 them, as the etiquette that is ob- 

 served at the emperor of China's 

 court, would appear to the most 

 polislied courtier, if he was sud- 

 denly transplanted from a Ger- 

 man Prince's to that of Pekin ! 

 Something of this kind darted 

 confusedly through my head, 

 whilst the gentlemen were sur- 

 veying me with curious eyes ; 

 but that rcllection was far from 

 tranquillizing mc, for I, perhaps 

 unjustly, fancied that their want 

 of feeling would not suffer them 

 3 4 "to 



