CHAPTER XIII.
"UP AND DOWN IN LONDON TOWN."
The young gentlemen proceeded the same afternoon to Maidenhead, and passed the night as guests of Pennyston Powney, Esquire, a friend of Lord George's, at his fine seat south of that place. The next day they proceeded slowly, in order to enjoy the beautiful prospects along the Thames; Dick marking his progress Londonward by each milestone, beginning at Maidenhead Bridge with the twenty-fifth.
In Buckinghamshire the road became more and more alive with coaches. At Slough, Dick would have liked to turn southward to Windsor Castle and Eton College, of which edifices he had enjoyed the splendid view from Salt Hill; or northward to Stoke Pogis churchyard, where Gray composed his Elegy and was buried; but his lordship desired to arrive in London that evening. So Dick was content with what glimpses he got of the high white Castle, along a good part of the road. Into Middlesex rolled the chaise, crossing Hounslow Heath and passing there many sheep but no highwaymen; on by noble parks and residences, to Brentford, Dick feasting his eyes on what he could see of distant Richmond with its hill and terrace, and of Kew with its royal gardens and its favorite palace of George III., then reigning.
The numerous carriages, the stage-coaches with passengers inside and on top, and the other signs of nearness to a great city, increased as they bowled through Turnham Green and Hammersmith, whence there were houses on both sides all the way to Kensington. A great smoky mass ahead had now resolved itself distinctly into towers, domes, and spires, and, for watching each feature as it separately disclosed itself, Dick well nigh missed the verdant charms of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, on the left. At last they were rattling along Piccadilly, passing Green Park on the right, and getting a partial view of St. James's and the other ordinary-looking palaces in that direction. And presently, as Lord George wished his arrival in London to be for a day unknown, and as his house in Berkeley Square was occupied by his uncle's family, they turned through the Haymarket to Charing Cross, and thence into the Strand, where they were finally set down at the White Hart Inn, near the new church of St. Mary-le-Strand and the site of the bygone May-pole.
After supper, while his lordship kept indoors, Dick went out sightseeing; strode blithely up the lamp-lit Strand, with its countless shops lettered all over with tradesmen's signs; through Temple Bar, and along Fleet Street, with its taverns, coffee-houses, courts, and tributary streets; up Ludgate Hill to St. Paul's, which he walked around; returning over his route, and then making a shorter excursion, to see the theatres of Drury Lane and Covent Garden; all this with no adventure that need here be related.
The next day, his lordship took fine lodgings in Bond Street, near Hanover Square, and insisted that Dick remain his guest until the latter should hear from Cumberland,—Dick allowing his lordship to remain under the belief that the Cumberland from which he came was of England, and that he had been a great loser of valuables and money by the supposed defection of his servant at the time he was left for dead in the road.
Dick's second evening in London was passed at Covent Garden Theatre, where he saw, and was dazzled by, "The Duenna," that brilliant comic opera of serenading lovers in Seville, by the clever young Mr. Sheridan, which, first brought out in the previous November, was still the most popular piece in the company's list. The next day, Sunday, going for that purpose to the church of St. Clement Danes, Dick saw the great and bulky Doctor Johnson himself, and was duly impressed.
On Monday he took what he had left of his Bath winnings to a tailor's shop, and spent the greater part of them for a new black suit for full dress; and that evening he went with Lord George to a ridotto, in the vicinity of St. James's, Lord George having previously got tickets.
Not choosing to venture in a minuet, Dick imitated many of the impudent young beaux of the splendid company, walking through the gaily decorated room, and staring unreservedly at whatever lady's face, beneath its cushioned tower of powdered hair, attracted him. By the time the country-dances had begun, he had made up his mind which one of all the faces most rivalled the blazing candle-lights themselves. Its possessor was young, tall, well filled out, and of a dashing and frivolous countenance. Having learned by observation that the custom in London differed not from that in Bath, Dick went confidently up and begged to have the honor of dancing with her.