CONDITIONS OF SOCIAL ENJOYMENT. 103 



flusL, and eyes sparkle. The witty grow brilliant, and even 

 the dull are excited into saying good things. There is an 

 overflow of topics ; and the right thought, and the right 

 words to put it in, spring up unsought. Grave alternates 

 with gay ; now serious converse, and now jokes, anecdotes, 

 and playful raillery. Everyone's best nature is shown 

 everyone's best feelings are in pleasurable activity; and, 

 for the time, life seems well worth having. 



Go now and dress for some half-past eight dinner, or 

 some ten o'clock " at home ; " and present yourself in spot- 

 less attire, with every hair arranged to perfection. How 

 great the difference ! The enjoyment seems in the inverse 

 ratio of the preparation. These figures, got up with such 

 finish and precision, appear but half alive. They have fro- 

 zen each other by their primness ; and your faculties feel 

 the numbing effects of the atmosphere the moment you 

 enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and so apt awhile 

 since, have disa^jpeared — have suddenly acquired a preter- 

 natural power of eluding you. If you venture a remark to 

 your neighbour, there comes a trite rejainder, and there it 

 ends. No subject you can hit upon outlives half a dozen 

 sentences. Nothing that is said excites any real interest in 

 you ; and you feel that all you say is listened to with apathy. 

 By some strange magic, things that usually give pleasure 

 seem to have lost all charm. 



You have a taste for art. Weary of frivolous talk, you 

 turn to the table, and find that the book of engravings and 

 the portfolio of photographs are as flat as the conversation. 

 You are fond of music. Yet the singing, good as it is, you 

 hear with utter indifference ; and say " Thank you" with a 

 sense of being a profound hypocrite. Wholly at ease 

 though you could be, for your own part, you find that your 

 eympathies will not let you. You see young gentlemen 

 feeling whether their ties are properly adjusted, looking 

 vacantly round, and considering what they shall do next. 



