Master Simon, too, is a little of the chameleon, and takes a different
hue with every different companion: he is very attentive and
officious, and somewhat sentimental, with Lady Lillycraft; copies out
little namby-pamby ditties and love-songs for her, and draws quivers,
and doves, and darts, and Cupids, to be worked on the corners of her
pocket-handkerchiefs. He indulges, however, in very considerable
latitude with the other married ladies of the family; and has many sly
pleasantries to whisper to them, that provoke an equivocal laugh and a
tap of the fan. But when he gets among young company, such as Frank
Bracebridge, the Oxonian, and the general, he is apt to put on the mad
wag, and to talk in a very bachelor-like strain about the sex.
In this he has been encouraged by the example of the general, whom he
looks up to as a man who has seen the world. The general, in fact,
tells shocking stories after dinner, when the ladies have retired,
which he gives as some of the choice things that are served up at the
Mulligatawney club; a knot of boon companions in London. He also
repeats the fat jokes of old Major Pendergast, the wit of the club,
and which, though the general can hardly repeat them for laughing,
always make Mr.
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