I was quite a brilliant
acquisition to the young ladies of the cathedral circle, who were glad
to have a beau that was not in a black coat and clerical wig.
You must know that there was a vast distinction between the classes of
society of the town. As it was a place of some trade, there were many
wealthy inhabitants among the commercial and manufacturing classes, who
lived in style and gave many entertainments. Nothing of trade, however,
was admitted into the cathedral circle - faugh! the thing could not be
thought of. The cathedral circle, therefore, was apt to be very select,
very dignified, and very dull. They had evening parties, at which the
old ladies played cards with the prebends, and the young ladies sat and
looked on, and shifted from one chair to another about the room, until
it was time to go home.
It was difficult to get up a ball, from the want of partners, the
Cathedral circle being very deficient in dancers; and on those
occasions, there was an occasional drafting among the dancing men of
the other circle, who, however, were generally regarded with great
reserve and condescension by the gentlemen in powdered wigs. Several of
the young ladies assured me, in confidence, that they had often looked
with a wistful eye at the gayety of the other circle, where there was
such plenty of young beaux, and where they all seemed to enjoy
themselves so merrily; but that it would be degradation to think of
descending from their sphere.
I admired the degree of old-fashioned ceremony and superannuated
courtesy that prevailed in this little place. The bowings and
courtseyings that would take place about the cathedral porch after
morning service, where knots of old gentlemen and ladies would collect
together to ask after each other's health, and settle the card party
for the evening. The little presents of fruits and delicacies, and the
thousand petty messages that would pass from house to house; for in a
tranquil community like this, living entirely at ease, and having
little to do, little duties and little civilities and little
amusements, fill up the day. I have smiled, as I looked from my window
on a quiet street near the cathedral, in the middle of a warm summer
day, to see a corpulent powdered footman in rich livery, carrying a
small tart on a large silver salver. A dainty titbit, sent, no doubt,
by some worthy old dowager, to top off the dinner of her favorite
prebend.
Nothing could be more delectable, also, than the breaking up of one of
their evening card parties. Such shaking of hands such mobbing up in
cloaks and tippets! There were two or three old sedan chairs that did
the duty of the whole place; though the greater part made their exit in
clogs and pattens, with a footman or waiting-maid carrying a lanthorn
in advance; and at a certain hour of the night the clank of pattens and
the gleam of these jack lanthorns, here and there, about the quiet
little town, gave notice that the cathedral card party had dissolved,
and the luminaries were severally seeking their homes. To such a
community, therefore, or at least to the female part of it, the
accession of a gay, dashing young beau was a matter of some importance.
The old ladies eyed me with complacency through their spectacles, and
the young ladies pronounced me divine. Everybody received me favorably,
excepting the gentleman who had written the Latin verses on the
belle. - Not that he was jealous of my success with the lady, for he had
no pretensions to her; but he heard my verses praised wherever he went,
and he could not endure a rival with the muse.
I was thus carrying every thing before me. I was the Adonis of the
Cathedral circle; when one evening there was a public ball which was
attended likewise by the gentry of the neighborhood. I took great pains
with my toilet on the occasion, and I had never looked better. I had
determined that night to make my grand assault on the heart of the
young lady, to batter it with all my forces, and the next morning to
demand a surrender in due form.
I entered the ball-room amidst a buzz and flutter, which generally took
place among the young ladies on my appearance. I was in fine spirits;
for to tell the truth, I had exhilarated myself by a cheerful glass of
wine on the occasion. I talked, and rattled, and said a thousand silly
things, slap-dash, with all the confidence of a man sure of his
auditors; and every thing had its effect.
In the midst of my triumph I observed a little knot gathering together
in the upper part of the room. By degrees it increased. A tittering
broke out there; and glances were cast round at me, and then there
would be fresh tittering. Some of the young ladies would hurry away to
distant parts of the room, and whisper to their friends; wherever they
went there was still this tittering and glancing at me. I did not know
what to make of all this. I looked at myself from head to foot; and
peeped at my back in a glass, to see if any thing was odd about my
person; any awkward exposure; any whimsical tag hanging out - no - every
thing was right. I was a perfect picture.
I determined that it must be some choice saying of mine, that was
handled about in this knot of merry beauties, and I determined to enjoy
one of my good things in the rebound.
