“. . . A very large division of us have got to quiz the whole concern of dinner, so that we really have a very jolly time. King Jog himself still sits silent and involved in thought. . . . We are really very much indebted to these grandees for the damned fools they make of themselves. Let me present you with a few particulars. . . . The night before last, between 12 and 1, I being in the library where the same cold fowl always is with wine and water, Lambton came in out of the hazard room, and, finding no water, begun belabouring the bell in a way that I thought must inevitably have brought the whole concern down. No effect was produced, so he sallied forth, evidently boiling, and when he returned he said:—‘I don’t think I shall have to ring so long another time.’ This is all I know of my own knowledge; but, says Lady Augusta Milbank to me yesterday—‘Do you know what happened last night?’—‘Du tout,’ says I.—‘Why,’ says she, ‘Mr. Lambton rung the bell for water so long, that he went and rung the house bell, when his own man came; and upon saying something in his own justification which displeased the Monarch, he laid hold of a stick and struck him twice; upon which
* The 3rd Earl of Wilton, a renowned character in the chase and on the turf. |
| 1823-24.] | CAPTAIN FITZCLARENCE’S OPINIONS. | 83 |
“Lady —— has two maids here—one French and the other Italian, the latter of which presides over the bonnet department. [Follows a story about the Italian.] . . . So much for the Italian maid, and now for the French one. Mrs. William Lambton was going along a passage near her ladyship’s room between 12 and 1 this morning, when she found la petite on the floor crying bitterly, and upon enquiring the cause, she said my lady had beat her so: upon which Mrs. W. Lambton sent her maid to her with some sal volatile, and just as she was administering it, my lord —— came out and would not let her have it, saying she did not deserve it and that she was shamming. Now I should be glad to know if there was ever! You never saw any one enjoy these things more than Grey, except indeed Lady Wilton. What a good thing she will make of it all for little Derby and the Countess!”
