text: " If they accept an invitation from Lord Northampton to go to one of his _soirees_ which they sometimes do for a "lark " their antics are vastly amusing; they put on grave philosophic faces and mimic the _savans_ to the life; if the noble president thinking he is doing the polite thing points out to them a poet for example or a professor they have a knack of elevating the shoulders looking at the man with a pitying air and whispering the words "_poor beast_ " with a tone and manner quite inimitable