108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



we stopped to dine, he came laughing into 

 the room, stating that there was a female 

 in the coach, who had told him she was 

 about to write a book her own autobio- 

 graphy and hoped he would put his name 

 down as a subscriber. 



" Do you know her ? " said he. 



" Perfectly well," I replied. 



" Not a little assurance, I think, to ask 

 me to appear in print." 



" Better there," I rejoined, " than in the 

 pages of another female author I could 

 name/' 



A loud laugh, and " Well said," was all 

 my imprudent sally elicited. 



Apropos of this lady, for she was such, 

 both by birth and education, who thus im- 

 portuned my Right Honourable friend: 

 she was not a " blue " but an eccentric cer- 

 tainly, and, for the proper acceptation of 

 that term, I must refer my reader to the 

 page of the great lexicographer ; though he 

 applies it in the masculine gender only. 



