EARL JFITZ WILLIAM. 161 



sporting old visage, and a joyful twinkle in 

 his eye, knowing that he was about to 

 partake of it. 



Though much their senior in age, I 

 cannot say but that I delighted very much 

 in the society of these young men ; for, 

 while enlivened by mirth and wit, their 

 conversation and demeanour was always 

 such as became gentlemen, and I never 

 witnessed any tendency to excess. One of 

 them in particular, I remember, the nephew 

 of an Earl well known for his great popu- 

 larity, and the high respect universally 

 entertained for him,* possessed a vein of 

 drollery in his conversation and manner 

 that would sometimes keep us in a roar 

 of laughter. 



Dining once with this gentleman in his 

 rooms at Christ's College, when others of 

 his acquaintance had assembled, I was 

 much surprised at an exploit that I never 

 before saw equalled. The cloth being re- 



* The late Earl Fitzwilliam. 

 VOL. III. M 



