receptions is that given by Lady Morgan in her now forgotten "Book of the Boudoir." It was during her early fame as an authoress, she had only recently arrived from Ireland, and she says that her sensations at approaching the noted salons were those of her countryman, Maurice Quill, who, in the heat of the battle of Vittoria, exclaimed,
"By ! I wish some of my greatest enemies were kicking me down Dame Street."
The account goes on to say—
"Lady Cork met me at the door of the suite of apartments, which opens with a brilliant boudoir.
"'What, no harp, Glorvina?' said her ladyship.
"'Oh, Lady Cork!'
"'Oh, Lady Fiddlestick! You are a fool, child; you don't know your own interests. Here James, William, Thomas, send one of the chairmen to Stanhope Street, for Miss Owenson's harp.'
"Led on by Dr. Johnson's celebrated 'little dunce,' I was at once merged in that crowd of elegants and elegantes, amongst which was a strikingly sullen-looking, handsome creature, the soon-to-be-celebrated Lord Byron. I found myself pounced down upon a sort of rustic seat by Lady Cork. . . So there I sat, the lioness of the evening, exhibited and shown like the hyena that never was tamed, looking about as wild, and feeling quite as savage. . . . Lady Cork
