The
enormous expense of this act of folly has been estimated at upwards
of two thousand pounds; and many are the dupes who have been named as
bearing proportions of the same, from a royal duke to a Hebrew star of
some magnitude in the city; but truth will out, and the ingenuity of
her ladyship in raising the wind has never been disputed, if it has
ever been equalled, by any of her fair associates. The honour of the
arrangement and a good portion of the expense were, undoubtedly, borne
by a broad-shouldered Milesian commissary-general, who has since figured
among the ton under the quaint cognomen of General Trinket, from his
penchant for filling his pockets with a variety of cheap baubles, for
the purpose of making presents to his numerous Dulcineas; a trifling
extravagance, which joined to his attachment to _rouge et noir_ has
since consigned him to durance vile. The general is, however, certainly
a fellow of some address, and, as a master of the ceremonies, deserves
due credit for the superior genius he on that occasion displayed.
During dinner, Crony had been telling us a curious anecdote of the
great Earl of Chesterfield and Miss Debouchette, the grandmother of
the celebrated courtezans, Harriette Wilson and sisters. "At one of the
places of public entertainment at the Hague, a very beautiful girl of
the name of Debouchette, who ~37~~acted as _limonadiere_, had attracted
the notice of a party of English noblemen, who were all equally anxious
to obtain so fair a prize.
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