midnight would depute a servant to watch in a neighbouring apartment till
his lordship composed himself to sleep, a precaution which was invariably
adopted by Mrs Stanhope when he paid his annual visit to Cannon Hall.

However, despite such minor failings, Lord Alvanley enjoyed a popularity
seldom surpassed. To his other recommendations was added that of being a
celebrated _gourmet_, and the excellence was proverbial of the little
dinners which he gave in his house in Park Street, St James's, to which
never more than eight friends were bidden, and at which there was an
apricot tart on the sideboard all the year round. Moreover, although like
Brummell and Sheridan, many a _bon mot_ was fathered upon him to which he
had never given utterance, yet his reputation as a wit was well deserved,
and at a date when both the dandies and the fine ladies prided themselves
upon their undisguised insolence, Lord Alvanley remained a shining example
of good-nature, so that, save, perhaps, in one instance recorded in this
book, his wit never offended. Likewise, only once, it is said, did he
exhibit reluctance in consenting to oblige anyone who requested from him a
favour, on which occasion he conveyed his refusal in a singularly
characteristic manner. Some friends were anxious to get up a
representation of _Ivanhoe_, and begged Lord Alvanley to take the part of
Isaac. "That I fear is impossible," he replied. "Why so?" urged his
friends, "since you are so clever at doing different characters." "Ah,
but--" objected Lord Alvanley, "in all my life I have never been able to
_do_ a Jew!"

In truth, with the House of Israel his extravagance had made him painfully
familiar; nevertheless, as mentioned by Lord Broughton, on one occasion he
made his peccadilloes in this respect the subject of another jest. "Is
there any chance," he asked with assumed pathos, "of the ten tribes of
Israel being recovered? For I have exhausted the other two!"