But is there not room enough in our respective
regions? Go on--it will soon be my turn to forgive. To-day I dine with
Mackintosh and Mrs. _Stale_--as John Bull may be pleased to denominate
Corinne--whom I saw last night, at Covent Garden, yawning over the
humour of Falstaff.
The reputation of "gloom," if one's friends are not included in the
_reputants_, is of great service; as it saves one from a legion of
impertinents, in the shape of common-place acquaintance. But thou
know'st I can be a right merry and conceited fellow, and rarely
_larmoyant_. Murray shall reinstate your line forthwith. [3]
I believe the blunder in the motto was mine;--and yet I have, in
general, a memory for you, and am sure it was rightly printed at first.
I do "blush" very often, if I may believe Ladies H. and M.;--but
luckily, at present, no one sees me. Adieu.
[Footnote 1: Rogers ('Table-Talk, etc'., p. 161) regretted "that so
little of Curran's brilliant talk has been preserved." John Philpot
Curran (1750-1817), after accepting the Mastership of the Rolls in
Ireland (1806), spent much of his time in England. He retired from the
Bench, where he never shone, in 1814.
In Byron's 'Detached Thoughts' (1821) occurs the following passage:
"I was much struck with the simplicity of Grattan's manners in private
life. They were odd, but they were natural. Curran used to take him
off, bowing to the very ground, and 'thanking God that he had no
peculiarities of gesture or appearance,' in a way irresistibly
ludicrous.
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