"May 4. 1814.
"Last night we supp'd at R----fe's board, &c.[30]
"I wish people would not shirk their _dinners_--ought it not to
have been a dinner?[31]--and that d----d anchovy sandwich!
"That plaguy voice of yours made me sentimental, and almost fall in
love with a girl who was recommending herself, during your song, by
_hating_ music. But the song is past, and my passion can wait, till
the _pucelle_ is more harmonious.
"Do you go to Lady Jersey's to-night? It is a large party, and you
won't be bored into 'softening rocks,' and all that. Othello is
to-morrow and Saturday too. Which day shall we go? when shall I see
you? If you call, let it be after three, and as near four as you
please.
"Ever," &c.
[Footnote 30: An epigram here followed, which, as founded on a
scriptural allusion, I thought it better to omit.]
[Footnote 31: We had been invited by Lord R. to dine _after_ the
play,--an arrangement which, from its novelty, delighted Lord Byron
exceedingly. The dinner, however, afterwards dwindled into a mere
supper, and this change was long a subject of jocular resentment with
him.]
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