DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 31 ) dress. Certainly we indulge in less show of polite- ness, and we must deplore the rough-and-ready ways which it is now the fashion to assume. But these, it may be said in palliation, arise from the press of business common to every one, which pre- cludes us from devoting the time and attention necessary to outward appearances. Nevertheless, rough as we may be, public opinion would no longer tolerate the peculiarities—a very mild word—of the manners for which the worthies of the past have not been considered anything the worse. Queen Elizabeth, when she presided at her councils, generally took good care to have a young and handsome minister at her feet, with whose locks she played and whose face she stroked as the business progressed. Sir Christopher Hatton, whose chief recommenda- tion to her Majesty’s notice was the fairness of his complexion and the gracefulness of his danc- ing, was made Lord Chancellor, and often had to take off his robes and dance before his Sovereign. Queen Elizabeth boxed and pinched the ears of her Jadies-in-waiting, and on one occasion spat in the face of her handsome favourite, Sir Matthew Arundel, with whose remarks she was displeased. When George IV. was Prince of Wales, he and Sheridan — whom I have already mentioned —and Lord Surrey, were intimate friends. One of their amusements was to meet at alow tavern called the