To such a
community, therefore, or at least to the female part of it, the
accession of a gay, dashing young beau was a matter of some importance.
The old ladies eyed me with complacency through their spectacles, and
the young ladies pronounced me divine. Everybody received me favorably,
excepting the gentleman who had written the Latin verses on the
belle.--Not that he was jealous of my success with the lady, for he had
no pretensions to her; but he heard my verses praised wherever he went,
and he could not endure a rival with the muse.
I was thus carrying every thing before me. I was the Adonis of the
Cathedral circle; when one evening there was a public ball which was
attended likewise by the gentry of the neighborhood. I took great pains
with my toilet on the occasion, and I had never looked better. I had
determined that night to make my grand assault on the heart of the
young lady, to batter it with all my forces, and the next morning to
demand a surrender in due form.
I entered the ball-room amidst a buzz and flutter, which generally took
place among the young ladies on my appearance. I was in fine spirits;
for to tell the truth, I had exhilarated myself by a cheerful glass of
wine on the occasion. I talked, and rattled, and said a thousand silly
things, slap-dash, with all the confidence of a man sure of his
auditors; and every thing had its effect.
In the midst of my triumph I observed a little knot gathering together
in the upper part of the room.
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