At the time whereof we are writing, though the Great George was on the

throne and ladies wore gigots and large combs like tortoise-shell

shovels in their hair, instead of the simple sleeves and lovely wreaths

which are actually in fashion, the manners of the very polite world

were not, I take it, essentially different from those of the present

day: and their amusements pretty similar. To us, from the outside,

gazing over the policeman's shoulders at the bewildering beauties as

they pass into Court or ball, they may seem beings of unearthly

splendour and in the enjoyment of an exquisite happiness by us

unattainable. It is to console some of these dissatisfied beings that

we are narrating our dear Becky's struggles, and triumphs, and

disappointments, of all of which, indeed, as is the case with all

persons of merit, she had her share.

At this time the amiable amusement of acting charades had come among us

from France, and was considerably in vogue in this country, enabling

the many ladies amongst us who had beauty to display their charms, and

the fewer number who had cleverness to exhibit their wit. My Lord

Steyne was incited by Becky, who perhaps believed herself endowed with

both the above qualifications, to give an entertainment at Gaunt House,

which should include some of these little dramas--and we must take

leave to introduce the reader to this brilliant reunion, and, with a

melancholy welcome too, for it will be among the very last of the

fashionable entertainments to which it will be our fortune to conduct

him.

A portion of that splendid room, the picture gallery of Gaunt House,

was arranged as the charade theatre. It had been so used when George

III was king; and a picture of the Marquis of Gaunt is still extant,

with his hair in powder and a pink ribbon, in a Roman shape, as it was

called, enacting the part of Cato in Mr. Addison's tragedy of that

name, performed before their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the

Bishop of Osnaburgh, and Prince William Henry, then children like the

actor. One or two of the old properties were drawn out of the garrets,

where they had lain ever since, and furbished up anew for the present

festivities.

Young Bedwin Sands, then an elegant dandy and Eastern traveller, was

manager of the revels. An Eastern traveller was somebody in those

days, and the adventurous Bedwin, who had published his quarto and

passed some months under the tents in the desert, was a personage of no

small importance. In his volume there were several pictures of Sands

in various oriental costumes; and he travelled about with a black

attendant of most unprepossessing appearance, just like another Brian

de Bois Guilbert. Bedwin, his costumes, and black man, were hailed at

Gaunt House as very valuable acquisitions.




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