Most
wise is the institution, (and your lordship will observe that I am not
now deviating into the regions of fable) which is common to all the
Eastern courts, of having these offices filled by persons, who, upon
peril of their life, may not, in any circumstances whatsoever, utter a
word. But unfortunately in the western climates in which we reside, the
thing is otherwise. The institution of mutes is unknown to us. The lips
of our pages have never been inured to the wholesome discipline of the
padlock. They are as loquacious, and blab as much as other men. You
know, my lord, that I am fond of illustrating the principles I lay down
by the recital of facts. The last, and indeed the only time that I ever
entered the metropolis, I remember, as my barber was removing the hair
from my nether lip:--My barber had all that impertinent
communicativeness that is incident to the gentlemen of his profession;
he assured me, that he had seen that morning one of the pages of the
back-stairs, who declared to him, upon the word of a man of honour, that
he had that moment admitted a certain nobleman by a private door to the
presence of his master; that the face of the noble lord was perfectly
familiar to him, and that he had let him in some fifty times in the
course of the past six months.
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