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106

Ranelagh Mafquerade.

RANELAGH MASQUERADE. | of fuch there were, in the prefent APRIL 30th. inftance, too liberal a fprinkling.

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O the credit of the conductors of this elegant place of amusement, we must fay, that there never appeared a more happy fociety than that which was made up of the mafques, dominos and undifguifed vifitors, who mingled in the festive scene of Wednesday night.

Before fupper, about 1500 had affembled; neither was this number much diminished till daylight.

Characters, as is too frequently the cafe in London, compared with the mass, were but few, and of those few, a very small part indeed deferved any notice for their ability, or even for their attempts, to entertain.

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The Wierd Sifters that of face. other witchery about them than

A Mercury was well dreffed and that was all, for (perhaps fenfible enough of his colloquial incapacity) he delivered a neatly printed Ode to May, which was unfortunately nonfenfe; however, to do him juftice, by the aid of the convivial glafs, he found, at a late hour, at which end of him bis wit really lay-id eft, in his heels; not Harlequin himself was a match for him.

To speak of character after thefe, were only to mention a throng of women difguftingly me. tamorphofed into male forms, and of men vice verfa; failors, Gazette-hawkers, &c. &c. as alfo chimney fweepers, fcullions, a few fools of the theatres.

The most entitled to notice was a Katterfelto and his Black Cat, who kept his head clear for the purposes of conjuration, as long as his auditors were fuf-very ficiently collected to relish his tricks.

A Charlotte Corde, rifen from the grave, was all night brandishing her fanguinary dagger in purfuit of Roberspierre, whom the vowed to Maratife in due time.

A Sleep-walker and Sleep-talker perambulated and muttered till it

was time for all the world to wake and speak to the purpose.

A tallbeggardeferves particular credit for being, while excellently well dreft in character, perfectly clean in his garb, which was evidently made up for the occafion according to the dictates of a moft picturefque tafte. We those who mean this as a hint to thquerades only become noticeable in proportion as our fenfes are offended by their external filth, and perfectly natural vulgarity of manners,

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Some of the fancy dreffes were very elegant-thefe were chiefly

Turkifh.

The fire-works in the garden were played off with unusually good fuccefs, in confequence of the drynefs and ferenity of the evening, and were very beautiful.

The fupper and wines were as good as we had a right to expect, and plentiful. Several perfons of fashion were in the round; but we did not fee the Prince among them : the rotunda was not cleared at feven o'clock.

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Manner of taking Turtle Doves.

107

ftars!" or by whatever appella- | of any man, to arraign his vera tion in the fublimity of your city where no cause of accufation phraseology you will permit my or fufpicion has arifen, (particu leader to be called) accidentally larly where nothing can be gained introduced me to a nocturnal af- by unqualified affertions), yet I femblage of the most celebrated cannot but recal to memory a re(Self-felected) fportfmen the king- mark I have fomewhere feen, dom has to boaft. POLITICS, that there are a clafs of people STOCKS, CAMPAIGNS, VICTO- who entertainingly fport false. RIES, MONARCHIES, ARISTOCRA-hoods till they believe them to CIES, REPUBLICS, and fuch dan- be FACTS. gerous topics conftituted no part of the converfation. The fports of the field-the best guns-shots -dogs-horfes, and the (imaginary) exploits of their mafters, totally abforbed every other confideration. WONDERS (abfolute impoffibilities) increafed with the circulation of the glafs, and amongst others, the following affertions were made with the moft folemn affurances of their veracity.

One had "killed Seventeen brace and a half of birds in one day from his own gun, without miffing a fingle Shot."-A fecond "had left his ftaunch old pointer ftanding at a jack Snipe, while he went home two miles for his gun, and returning, fprung the bird and killed it to his point."A third" had trotted his hackney twelve miles an hour, for three hours, without drawing bit, and

This being admitted, I must confefs it has made me warp very confiderably in my original idea of Shooting with the long bow, and of the public diftinction between TRUTH and falsehood; and I now fubmit it to your long experience and fuperior judgment, as some part of the world (from a palpable deficiency of intellect) were undoubtedly generated when the FATHERS were drunk, and the MOTHERS afleep, whether many of that defcription may not become habitually addicted to dreaming, and SPORT the effervefcence of their nocturnal lucubrations, without the neceffary precaution to obferve whether their

AUDITORS are awake.

Your's, &c.

SNORE 'EM!

at the conclufion of his journey, Manner of taking TURTLE DOVES

coming over Finchley Common in the dusk of the evening, being attacked by a highwayman, he ftruck down his piftol, fuck Spurs to his horfe, and beat him at a

between GNATIA and TARANTO. From Swinburne's Travels in the Two Sicilies.

canter."-All these things, Gen-GNATIA was the laft ftage

tlemen, do very well for the box of a buck's eating-houfe, particularly when decorated with the exhilarating glafs, and the enlivening fumes of tobacco; but in the more ferene moments of re

flection, permit me to obferve, that although I have too great a refpect for the fuppofed integrity

but one of Horace's jour ney to Brundufium, and now called Terre d'Aanazzo. Little remains, except part of the ramparts which, near the fea, are entire as high up as the bottom of the battlements. The town feems to have been fquare, and its principal streets drawn in ftraight lines. The view to

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wards

108

Manner of taking Turtle Doves.

wards Monopoli is extremely | were now to be had tolerably beautiful.

Want of water caufed the deftruction of Gnatia; a fcarcity I had an opportunity of being made fenfible of, and which naturally explains Horace's phrafe

of

"Gnatia lymphis

Iratis extruita."

As we were trotting along the burning fands, one of the fervants, (already half-dead with heat and fatigue) had the additional ill fortune of being frightened almost out of his wits; he on a fudden gave a loud fhriek, and threw himself from his horfe, a dead crying out that he was man; for either a fcorpion, a tarantula, or a ferpent had ftung him on the inftep. On pulling off his boot, I found that his terrors and pains were caufed by the rays of the fun, which had penetrated through a hole in the upper-leather, and raifed a blifter

on the skin.

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Soon after we arrived at fmall fingle houfe, confifting of a kitchen, loft, and ftable, lately erected for the convenience of travellers, by the agents of the Order of Malta, to which the land belongs. The kitchen was too hot for me to breathe in, and the other two apartments as full of fleas as Shakespeare's inn at Rochefter; fo that my only refuge was the narrow fhade of the house, which was contracted every minute more and more, as the fun advanced towards the meridian. Behind the house then I fat down. to dine upon the fare we had brought in our wallet. Unluckily I had not thought of wine and water; neither of which

drinkable; fo that I was obliged to content myself with the water of a ciftern full of tadpoles, and qualify it with a large quantity of wine that refembled treacle more than the juice of the grape. When I held the pitcher to my lips, I formed a dam 'with a knife, to prevent the little frogs from flipping down my throat. Till that day I had but an imperfect idea of thirst.

As foon as we had recruited our strength and fpirits, we left the inn, and retired gradually from the fea, drawing up towards the hills, through olivegroves that afforded us a very welcome fhade. Flocks of turtledoves fkimmed across the road; but though they frequently fluttered near me, I refpected the virtues afcribed to them by the poets too much to think of shooting at them. Young ones are efteemed a great dainty.

round the

The mode of killing them is very fingular: when the funt is vertical, and the fky clear, a couple of fportfmen drive into the olive-grounds in an open chaife, and move flowly, but continually trees, till they spy a dove fitThe ting upon the boughs. poor bird, ftruck with the unufual fight, or giddy with the rotation of the wheels, fixes its eyes upon them, and whirls its head round in imitation of their motion.

When the eye of the turtle is thus fafcinated, one of the fowlers flips out of the carriage, and fires his piece. Little ftone bafons full of water, are also frequently placed for the doves to drink at, while the fhooter lies in ambufcade behind buth.

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Account of the Games and Diverfions of the Spaniards. 109

TH

as a prelude to the tertulias: but, on great occafions, when a wedding, chriftening, or the birthday of the head of a family is to be celebrated, the refresco becomes an important and very expenfive affair. All the family ac

ACCOUNT of the GAMES and DI-, whom vifits are received, and are VERSIONS of the SPANIARDS. (Concluded from page 24. ). HE Spanish nation has a decided tafte for dancing, and the greatest aptitude to excel in the art. The Seguidilla, as well as the Fandango, is a dance pecu-quaintance are invited; and, in liar to the Spaniards: the figure proportion as they arrive, the is formed by eight perfons; at men feparate from the women. each corner the four couple re- The latter take their feats in a trace, though but momentarily, particular chamber, and etiquette the principal movements of the requires they fhould remain alone Fandango. A fpanish female, till all the company be affembled, dancing the Seguidilla, dreffed or at leaft till the men ftand up in character, accompanying the without approaching them. The inftrument with caftanets, and lady of the house waits for them marking the measure with her under a canopy, in a place fet heel with uncommon precifion, is apart in the hall, which in ancient certainly one of the most feducing manners, not yet entirely abolishobjects which love can employed, was called the eftrado, over to extend his empire.

Befides the dances peculiar to the nation, the Spaniards have adopted those of other countries, without excepting the minuet; but the noble, decent, and eafy graces of this dance escape them. It appears, however, to have many attractions in the eyes of the Spaniards, and makes an effential part of their education.

But balls and concerts are not the only entertainments at which the Spaniards affemble. They have alfo their tertulias and refrescos. The tertulias are af. femblies very fimilar to thofe of France. Perhaps more liberty reigns in the former, but languor fometimes eftablishes its throne there, as well as in the midst of the French circles.

We are told, by the Chevalier de Bourgoanne, that their refrecos, the invention of luxury and greedinefs, contribute no lefs than the tertulias to facilitate the intercourse of the two fexes. Thefe, in general, are only light repafts, prepared for perfons from

which is ufually fufpended an image of the Virgin. The appearance of the refrefco, at length enlivens every countenance, and infufes joy into every heart: converfation becomes animated, and the fexes approach each other. The company are first presented with large glaffes of water, in which little fugar-loaves, (called azucar efponjado, or rofado) fquare," and of a very fpongy fubftance, are diffolved: these are fucceeded by chocolate, the favourite refreshment twice a day of the Spaniards, and which is believed to be fo nourishing, or at least fo innocent, that it is not refused to perfons dangerously ill. After the chocolate come all forts of confectionary. It is hardly poffible to conceal the profufion with which all thefe delicacies are diftributed. People are not only cloyed with them in the house of feftivity, but they put quantities of them into paper, and even into their hats and handkerchiefs; and the fervants are speedily dif patched home with the precious

favings,

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Extraordinary Fox Chace.

favings, which ferve to cover the table of more than one mifer for feveral days. Though fuch entertainments weigh heavily on the economy of individuals, it has, like all other abufes, become facred by length of time, and no perfon has fufficient courage to be the first to fhake off the yoke. Bourgoanne's Tr. 194.

A ball or card-tables generally fucceed the refrefco; but it very feldom happens that the entertainment is concluded with a fupper. This is always a very frugal repaft with the Spaniards, and at which they rarely affemble.

but have a good heart, and eafily yield to reafon, when it is poffible to induce them to liften to it. The fpanish women in general, have eyes fo lively, expreffive, and intelligent, that, had they no other charms, they would be thought handfome. Bourgoanne's Travels, III. 356.

Though Mr. Swinburne, in his general picture of the Spanish women, exhibits a likeness, it is by no means a flattering one: he fays, the Spanish are, in general, little and thin, but almost all have fparkling black eyes, full of expreffion. It is not the fashion here, as in France, to heighten their eclat with paint. They are endowed, by nature, with a great deal of wit and lively repartee; but, for want of the polish and fuccours of education, their wit remains obfcured by the rudest ignorance, and most ridiculous prejudices. Not one talent do they poffefs; nor do they ever work, read, write, or touch any mufical inftrument: their cortejo, or gallant, feems their only plaything. Swinburne's Tr. II. 217.

The Chevalier de Bourgoanne draws the following voluptuous portrait of the young ladies. Nothing, (fays he) is more engaging than a young female Spaniard, of fifteen years of age: a face perfectly oval; hair of a fine clear auburn, equally divided on the forehead, and only bound by a filk net; large black eyes; a mouth full of graces; an attitude always modeft; a fimple habit of neat black ferge, exactly fitting the body, and gently preffing the wrift; a little hand perfectly proportioned: in fine, every thing charms in these youth-it ful virgins. They recal to our recollection the foftnefs, beauty, drefs, and fimplicity of the young Grecian females, of whom antiquity has left fuch elegant models: the angels in Spanish comedy, are always reprefented by young girls. Bourgoanne's Tr. The fame intelligent traveller alfo gives us his fentiments on the Spanish ladies in general; he I up the room which may be fays, the countenance of the fo much better appropriated, Spanish women is extremely with another account of this finfenfible, and full of vivacity.gular chace, it having been alThey exprefs themfelves with ready fully defcribed in page rapidity, and have a feducing 285 of Volume III. we fhall only volubility of fpeech: they are therefore, make this fhort addihafty, opinionated, and paffionate; tion, by way of introducing the

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The Spanish theatre is nearly what it was in the last century: is full of defects, incidents, unreasonably fucceed each other, and are without probability; inequa lities are numerous, and every thing is confounded.

Extraordinary Fox CHASE by the

DUKE of BEAUFORT'S HOUNDS at CASTLE COOMBE. TT is unneceffary for us to take

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