The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 342: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

4 308 THE COURT OF LONDON house after I left college; and although he exercised a species of parental espionage over me, as he was so much older than myself, yet I deemed it a duty to bestow as much of my time and attention upon him as possible. One day we received an invitation to a grand entertainment which was to take place at Devonshire House; and much as my brother disliked the bustle, brilliancy, and splendid confusion of such fétes, he nevertheless felt himself bound to be present at this one, inasmuch as her Grace of Devonshire is related to our family. Thither we accordingly repaired on the appointed evening; and the magnificent saloons were already crowded with the élite of fashion when we were announced. In a short time the heat of the rooms became overpowering, despite the vases of refreshing perfume which stood in the corners of the apartments, and the greenhouse plants and flowers which were profusely arranged around the landing- places and in the brilliantly lighted passages, for it was in the middle of winter that this entertainment was given. Toward midnight, my brother suffered so much from the intensity of the heat that he was compelled to return home the instant the carriage, which had been ordered to attend early, was announced; but he would not permit me to accompany him. On the contrary, he bade me remain and enjoy myself until the end; and he observed that although he should send back the carriage to wait for me, I need not be in any hurry on that account. I thanked him for his kind consideration, assisted him into the carriage, and then returned to the ballrooms, where I entered fully into the spirit of the scene. It was about two o’clock in the morning that the company began to break up; and then commenced in the adjacent streets all that confusion, noise, bustle, and din which invariably attend upon the vast muster of car- riages on such an occasion. The hall and the grand entrance of the ducal mansion were crowded with the guests waiting for the announcement of their respective equipages; the footmen were bawling out for the carriages which were in requisition, the link-boys repeated the cries, the coachmen responded from all directions, and these vociferations were mingled with the crashing sounds of wheels and the tramp- lings of horses’ hoofs. At that moment there could not have been less than five or six hundred carriages in the vicinage of Devonshire House; and the arrangements to marshal and GOnMGooOo (CO) im