Orkney has the reputation of being very clever: I do not see much proof in a letter that she wrote to Mrs. Howard, on the occasion of the late fête at Clifden. It began thus:—"Madam, I give you this trouble out of the anguish of my mind." This anguish consists in some stools being placed instead of chairs, and Lord Grantham's directing that there should be two table-clothes instead of one; "which innovation," as she pathetically observes, "turned all the servants' heads." Moreover, "they kept back the dinner too long for her majesty after it was dished, and it was set before the fire." She winds up by saying,—"I thought I had turned my mind in a philosophical way of having done with the world; but I find I have deceived myself." Poor Lady Orkney! it is just what we all do. However, I confess, the fête appeared to me most splendid; and the royal guests as much pleased as the rest of the company.
The last jeu d'ésprit circulating among us, is "A Characteristic Catalogue of Pictures." Characteristic enough some of them certainly
