Nothing was ever more judicious than your advice of getting my
writings out of the Old Fox's den. The difficulty he gives me shews
the necessity of it. I have not yet been able either to get a word
or a line from him; and Mr. Porten, whose time is more taken up than
ever, strongly dissuades me from leaving town till they are in my
power. Pray give my compliments to Mrs. Williams, and try to convince
her that business not pleasure, Writings not Ridottos[136] detain
me here. One comfort for her is, that the Manor Court was fixed for
the 6th of February, and that I suppose it will be necessary for
me to be on the spot, two or three days at least before that most
unpleasant meeting.
I should be much obliged to you, if you would send me by Saturday's
Machine, the papers of Lenborough. I think it would be right to send
up Lord Halifax's bill in order to have it accepted.
I am, Dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. G.
My compliments to the Calf.
[136] The _Ridotto al fresco_ was introduced at Vauxhall in
1732. The word is said to be derived from the Latin _reductus_,
and to mean "music reduced to a full score." It came to mean an
entertainment of music and dancing, and was used as a synonym for
masquerades. Bramston, in _The Man of Taste_, speaks of the way
in which the use of a foreign word sanctioned things which in
plain English would have seemed objectionable--
"In Lent, if masquerades displease the town,
Call 'em ridottos, and they still go down."
The word survived in the _Redoutensaal_ of Vienna and the
_Redoutentänze_ of famous composers. Other authorities derive the
use of the word from the sense in which it is employed by Dante,
_i.e._ a "shelter," or "place of refuge." Hence it came to mean
a "place of convivial meeting." In Udino's Italian-French-German
Dictionary (Frankfurt, 1674) the German equivalent is given
as _Spielhaus_. The transition from this to "ball-room" is
not difficult. Byron in _Beppo_ correctly defines the popular
meanings of the word--
"They went to the Ridotto--'tis a hall
Where people dance and sup, and dance again;
Its proper name, perhaps, were a masked ball,
But that's of no importance to my strain."
95.
_To his Stepmother._
January the 29th, 1771.