Before this numerous and miscellaneous party was placed a dinner,
consisting, not indeed of the delicacies of the season, as the
newspapers express it, but of viands, ample, solid, and sumptuous, under
which the very board groaned. But the mirth was not in proportion to the
good cheer. The lower end of the table were, for some time, chilled by
constraint and respect on finding themselves members of so august an
assembly; and those who were placed around it had those feelings of awe
with which P. P., clerk of the parish, describes himself oppressed,
when he first uplifted the psalm in presence of those persons of high
worship, the wise Mr. Justice Freeman, the good Lady Jones, and the
great Sir Thomas Truby. This ceremonious frost, however, soon gave way
before the incentives to merriment, which were liberally supplied,
and as liberally consumed by the guests of the lower description. They
became talkative, loud, and even clamorous in their mirth.
But it was not in the power of wine or brandy to elevate the spirits of
those who held the higher places at the banquet.
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