70 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1881 



policeman, for whom, as he marched up the room, all made 

 way, supj)osmg he was on a matter of duty. This was 

 perhaps the best disguise of the evening, as the Chief 

 Constable * discovered when, ordering him to do some com- 

 mission, he found he was his brother Chief Constable of 

 the Borough ! f Great amusement was caused by the 

 various costumes, one of the best being a Parsee, whom 

 some of the gentlemen of the Yeomanry might have 

 recognized. It was very funny to see the cardinal of 

 historic name J tuck up vestment, and valse with a peasant 

 girl from Normandy. Equally remarkable was it to notice 

 the calm way in which a lady consigned herself to the 

 arms of Mephistopheles, who, by-the-by, had made himself 

 uglier 'than he is painted.' The dresses were, on the 

 whole, handsome, fresh, and admirably represented the 

 characters they were intended to portray. It would be 

 impossible to mention all, but we cannot resist alluding to 

 the 'Incroyable' and ' I'lnconnu.' . . . The gipsies were 

 numerous and effective ; they would have been dangerous 

 as fortune-tellers. It was a happy thought, prettily 

 carried out, that a daughter should be ' pearl ' and a mother 

 ' mother of pearl.' " 



* Captain Parry. f Colonel Delacombe. 



% The Kev. W. Chandos-Pole. 



