Note 14 — Chapter IX · A Celebrated Social Event

Nevertheless, the chronicler named in rapid succession as among Mrs. Clay’s attendants, Lord Napier, Sir William Gore Ouseley, K.C.B., and many prominent figures in the capital. “Mrs. Senator Clay,” he added in prose, “with knitting in hand, snuff-box in pocket, and ‘Ike the Inevitable’ by her side, acted out her difficult character so as to win the unanimous verdict that her personation of the loquacious malapropos dame was the leading feature of the evening’s entertainment. Go where she would through the spacious halls, a crowd of eager listeners followed her footsteps, drinking in her instant repartees, which were really superior in wit and appositeness, and, indeed, in the vein of the famous dame’s cacoëthes, even to the original contribution of Shillaber to the nonsensical literature of the day.” A. S.