"How silly is all this!" added the page; "and how glad should I be",
licking his lips, "that it were but an opera girl or a countess! And yet
my mistress is the very best mistress that ever I see!" _Oh this was
poor, and showed a pitiful ambition__ in the man that did it!_ I will
swear, my lord, that the nobleman who could thus have been betrayed,
must have been a thick-headed fellow, and fit for no one public office,
not even for that of _turnspit of his majesty's kitchen_![A]
[Footnote A: Vide Burke's Speech upon Oeconomy. ]
My lord, if you would escape that rock, upon which this statesman
terminated his political career, ever while you live make use of
bribery. Let the pages finger your cash, let them drink your health in a
glass of honest claret, and let them chuckle over the effects of your
lordship's munificence. I know that you will pour forth many a pathetic
complaint over the money that is drawn off by this copious receiver, but
believe the wisest man that now exists, when he assures you, that it is
well bestowed. Your lordship's bounty to myself has sometimes amounted
to near ten pounds in the course of a twelvemonth. That drain, my lord,
is stopped. I shall receive from you no more. Let then the expence,
which you once incurred for my sake, be henceforth diverted to this
valuable purpose.
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