This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ETHEL CHURCHILL.
259

there is the getting up early, which I, who should not know seven o'clock in the morning if I were to see it, think a most dreadful way of beginning the day. Then comes the imperative necessity of eating smoked Westphalian ham for breakfast: this is on the principle that imitation is the most delicate flattery. Then to horse—life and limb risked on hired hacks, and over hedge and ditch: the neck in comparative, the complexion in certain, danger. Home, then, they come in the middle of the day; blushing, not "celestial rosy red," but a good positive scarlet, with the heat; and also with a crimson mark on the forehead, from the pressure of the hat. Then they have to dress in a hurry, put on pleine toilette and smiles for the princess's circle, where they stand, simper, and catch cold, till dinner. So much for attendance at court.

In the mean time, Mrs. Howard has found leisure for divers other adorateurs. Lord Bathurst even excited the royal jealousy; for the prince intimated to the lady, that all supplies would be cut off, to use a national figure