394 LADY MORGAN. surrounded by his children and grandchildren and other members of his family." The grandchildren were twelve in number ; yet during the whole time she was there, Lady Morgan mentions that she never heard the cry of a child, nor observed any symptoms of a dispute. Besides this large family there were several visitors at the castle. Two American gentle- men were there ; and Carbonel, who composed the music for Beranger's songs ; and Scheffer, then a rising yoiing artist, who painted Lady Morgan's picture. At dinner, where there were seldom fewer than from twenty to thirty guests, Lafayette was always placed at the center of the table between his two youngest grandchildren. In fine weather they spent much of the day out of doors, wander- ing about the beautiful grounds, lying upon the grass, or fishing in the pools. In the evening, every one gathered about a huge wood fire, roaring upon the cavernous stone hearth, and listened to Lafayette's anecdotes of historic personages, or Lady Morgan's Irish stories, or Carbonel's music. Sometimes, in one of Beranger's spirited songs — La Sainte Alliance was a great favorite — the whole company would join in the chorus, till the roof rang. Sunday, Lady Morgan tells us, was always a peculiarly joyous day at La Grange. " On Sunday," she writes to her sister Olivia, r" there was a village festival, and we all walked down to the village to join it. It was completely such a scene as one sees at the opera. The villages here are very straggling, and resemble English hamlets rather than towns ; but the scene of action was principally in a little square before the gates of a little nunnery, where all the nuns were assembled in their habits, in the midst of the fun. . . . The beaux had their hair powdered as white as snow, with immense queues, and dimity jackets and trousers : the
