Of changing shapes: the young, the fair, the proud,
Came thronging in.
Midnight brought with it all the world to Lord Norbourne's—at least that portion of it which calls itself the world, to the exclusion of all the rest. His usual good fortune attended him; and the management of a fête requires as much good fortune as any thing else. How many were in that glittering crowd whose names are still familiar to us! There was the Duchess of Queensberry, who had not as yet cut the king and queen, looking strangely beautiful, and half tempting one to believe in the doctrine of transmigration; namely, that the soul of the Duchess of Newcastle had transmigrated into the body of the modern peeress. There she was, doing rude things, and saying ruder, which every body bore with the best grace in the world: then, as now, it was perfectly astonishing what people in general will submit to in the way of insolence, provided the said insolence be attended by rank and riches. Near her was the young and beautiful Duchess of Marlborough, wearing
