“He is too clever and clear sighted not to know too well what he is about and what his own motions are. It is my belief however that he could not now be quiet if he would he has such a Mob-omania upon him.
“We are quiet enough here—as yet.”
“The Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
“17 Upper Mount Street, Dublin.
From Miss Maria Edgeworth.
A proverb goes—(I love it well)
Of “Give an inch and take an ell”
’Tis lady’s law—and, to be brief
Now must be mine, my dear Lord Chief
“The case is this—
“May I beg your Lordship not to shake your head irrevocably before you have heard me out—
“Suppose.... I only modestly say suppose ... which leaves the matter just as it was, in case your Lordship is determined to oppose—SUPPOSE now, in short, you could contrive to come down to us a day—a day or TWO—(pray dont start off!) or if you could possibly bear 3—days before the assizes? You could get—say here—without hurry to dinner at 7—or—name your hour—and you should have coffee comfortably without being obliged to enter an appearance in the drawing room, and should retire to rest at whatever hour you like—and I do humbly concieve that your bed and all concerns, might be as comfortably arranged here as at Mullingar Hotel—(though I wd not disparage sd Hotel)—But double bedded or single room and room for friend and servant adjoining—and a whole apartment with backstairs of its own shut out from the rest of the house is at your Lordship’s disposal—And as to invalid habits unless you have the habit of walking in your sleep all over the house I don’t see how they could incommode or be incommoded.
“If you mean that you like to lie in bed in the morning late— Lie as late as ever you please.
“No questions asked. No breakfast waiting for you below, or thought of your appearance till you please to shine upon us. Breakfast waiting your bell’s touch, in your bed, or out of it at any hour you please—And no worry of Company at dinner (unless you bespeak the world and his wife—But if you did we should not know where to find them for you).