COUNT D'ORSAY. 19 



the town. It was a fine slf^ht to see the assembhgc 

 seat themselves at dinner in the old Rochester Room at 

 the White Hart, more than half of them in scarlet dress 

 coats, the Count D'Orsay in a scarlet coat with a rather 

 large roll collar thrown very much back, showing a 

 broad expanse of white waistcoat, the coat lined and 

 faced with pale blue satin, and the skirts with rich 

 white watered silk. Dress was an art as well as 

 expense in the old times. Oftentimes after dinner the 

 conversation waxed fast and furious ; the party would 

 break up into twos and threes and recount the doings of 

 the day. Then the Count would take some sheets of 

 paper, and with a pen and ink sketch the portraits of 

 many of the club with the most perfect touch and 

 accuracy, and pass the sketches silently round the table, 

 from one to the other, till they arrived at the persons 

 represented, who would start with astonishment on 

 recognizing their own portraits. So little was thought 

 of these scraps of paper, that when the party broke up 

 the waiters, on clearing the tables, would throw these 

 fugitive pieces behind the fire with the debris from the 

 dessert plates, and burn what would now be gems of 

 value. 



