Excerpt from Godolphin, Vol. 2 of 2Two nights before their departure, Lady Erpingham gave a farewell party to her more intimate acquaint ance. Saville, who always contrived to be well with every one who was worth the trouble it cost him, was of course among the guests. Years had somewhat scathed him since he last appeared on our stage. Women had ceased to possess much attraction for his jaded eyes: gaming and speculation had gradually spread over the tastes once directed to other pursuits. His vivacity had deserted him in great measure, as years and infirmity began to stagnate and knot up the current of his veins, but conversation still possessed for and derived from him its wonted attraction. The sparkling jeu d'espri't had only sobered down into the quiet sarcasm: and if his wit ¿owed not from the exhilaration of the present moment, it was yet more exquisitely edged from his experience of the past knowledge of the world is the true source of conver sational wit.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.