Madame de Protocoli, Lady Aphrodite Grafton, the Duchess of
Shropshire, and Lady Fitz-pompey, shared the honours of the pavilion,
and some might be excused for envying a party so brilliant and a
situation so distinguished. Yet Lady Aphrodite was an unwilling member
of it; and nothing but the personal solicitation of Sir Lucius would
have induced her to consent to the wish of their host.
A pink _carte_ succeeded to the satin play-bill. Vi-tellius might have
been pleased with the banquet. Ah, how shall we describe those soups,
which surely must have been the magical elixir! How paint those ortolans
dressed by the inimitable artist, a la St. James, for the occasion, and
which look so beautiful in death that they must surely have preferred
such an euthanasia even to flying in the perfumed air of an Auso-nian
heaven!
Sweet bird! though thou hast lost thy plumage, thou shalt fly to my
mistress! Is it not better to be nibbled by her than mumbled by a
cardinal? I, too, will feed on thy delicate beauty. Sweet bird! thy
companion has fled to my mistress; and now thou shalt thrill the nerves
of her master! Oh! doff, then, thy waistcoat of wine-leaves, pretty
rover! and show me that bosom more delicious even than woman's.
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