The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 73: what you’re looking at

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

54 REYNOLDS’ WORKS from the vague but painful apprehensions which haunted him in respect to the Princess Indora. In respect to the queen and Prince Albert, the newspapers of the following day assured their readers that her Majesty never appeared in better spirits, and that her illustrious consort was observed to be in the enjoyment of admirable health, which piece of intelligence no doubt afforded the highest satisfaction at all the breakfast-tables where the journals aforesaid were perused on the morning after this grand entertainment. But for the masked ball itself. All those who wore fancy costume were bound to maintain their ancognito until two o’clock in the morning, so that there might be no relaxation of the merriment and gaiety until such time as all the wit and humour of the masked unknowns might be exhausted. Even this length of time that was thus prescribed was founded on the calculation that the wit and humour of the aristocratic assemblage would last for several hours; so that when the average dulness of the aristocratic intellect is taken into account, it becomes quite clear that the patrician orders possess an enviable facility of amusing themselves. Now, it must be understood that the Grand Duke of Maxe-Stolburg-Quotha had come over to England with precisely the same retinue—the illustrious Raggidbak excepted — that he had brought with him on the previous occasion, but upon some private understanding to which he had come with his relative the prince, the grand duke had introduced none of his precious horde at the masked ball of which we are writing. Therefore Count Wronki, the lord steward, the Chevalier Gumbinnen, the lord chamberlain, General Himmelspinken, the master of the horse, Herr Hombogh, the lord privy seal, the Chevalier Kadger, chief equerry, Count Frumpenhausen, the gold stick, and Baron Farthenless, the privy purse, had all been left at Mivart’s Hotel to play at dominoes for halfpence, or to rack their brains for the means of procuring some more substantial recreation. Deeply indignant were these great men at what they conceived to be the slight put upon them, and they presently took counsel together to see whether they could possibly indemnify themselves for their exclusion from the gilded saloons of British royalty. All of a sudden a luminous idea struck the Chevalier Kadger, and having communicated it to his worthy compeers, it was unani- ECORNIClIOOKS (E(0)