It seems to be rather
the model kind of thing than otherwise now that if you get 100
pounds you are to spend 40 pounds in management; and if you get
1000 pounds, of course you may spend 400 pounds in giving the rest
away. Now, in case there should be any ill-conditioned people here
who may ask what occasion there can be for all this expenditure, I
will give you my experience. I went last year to a highly
respectable place of resort, Willis's Rooms, in St. James's, to a
meeting of this fund. My original intention was to hear all I
could, and say as little as possible. Allowing for the absence of
the younger and fairer portion of the creation, the general
appearance of the place was something like Almack's in the morning.
A number of stately old dowagers sat in a row on one side, and old
gentlemen on the other. The ball was opened with due solemnity by
a real marquis, who walked a minuet with the secretary, at which
the audience were much affected. Then another party advanced, who,
I am sorry to say, was only a member of the House of Commons, and
he took possession of the floor. To him, however, succeeded a
lord, then a bishop, then the son of a distinguished lord, then one
or two celebrities from the City and Stock Exchange, and at last a
gentleman, who made a fortune by the success of "Candide,"
sustained the part of Pangloss, and spoke much of what he evidently
believed to be the very best management of this best of all
possible funds.
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