HIS OPINION OF 'FATHER THAMES' 203 



corded as being a guest at them. Surely his grace 

 was latitudinarian in his company. 



Wilberforce, however, asserts that the party of 

 which he was a member was small and select, con- 

 sisting of Pitt, Lord and Lady Chatham, the Duchess 

 of Gordon, George Selwyn, and a few others. Dinner 

 was served early, to enable some of the party to 

 attend the opera. But, though he adds that the 

 dinner was sumptuous, he tells how the Duke looked 

 unconcernedly at the magnificent prospect from the 

 windows of the dining-room, and, upon some one 

 uttering an exclamation of delight at the beauty of 

 the view and river, said : ' What is there to make so 

 much of in the Thames ? I am quite tired of it ; 

 there it goes — flow, flow, flow, always the same.' To 

 one satiated with all the good and bad things of this 

 life, such comment would come naturally. 



Other tales are told, or hinted, of orgies indulged 

 in by his grace at Richmond. Whether these are 

 true or not is of small moment, as they would not 

 find admittance here. What does it concern us if 

 Queensberry enacted the part of Paris in his own 

 drawing-room, or thought of building a seraglio on 

 the Eastern plan as an adjunct to his Richmond 

 establishment ? Many of these statements may be 

 regarded as 'copy,' especially the last, although its 



