Berkeley Square Page #4

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I suppose we shall .. you see

our forefathers .. I mean "we".

We have brought forth on

this .. uh that, continent ..

A new nation .. conceived in liberty.

And dedicated to the proposition

that all men are created equal.

All men are created equal?

But sir, that proposition is absurd.

Yes, it does seem a little

cockeyed, doesn't it.

"Cock .. eyed" ..?

That's an American word, Kate.

You see .. we've invented a

new language over there.

You must instruct me.

Oh I .. I can paint no more today.

What is it Sir Joshua?

Something .. something

in his face .. eludes me.

Why, have I not an ordinary face?

A face beyond all my

experience of human nature.

But what expression in any

face can elude the artist ..

Who painted for instance, Mrs Siddons?

The mistress of all expressions.

As the tragic muse.

Tragic muse?

Sir .. you make sport of me.

Make sport of you? But why? How?

But you talked with Mrs Siddons?

No. I've never spoken to Mrs Siddons in

my life. I say only what everyone knows.

Surely .. surely the tragic

muse is painted?

One sitting .. that is all.

I told her nothing .. not even my name,

for the portrait .. which no-one knows.

But you .. and your servant, sir.

I'm sorry I mentioned

it .. before it happened.

Good day, Sir Joshua.

Helen, are you afraid of me too?

How can I be afraid of

somebody I'm .. sorry for?

Why are you sorry for me?

Because you're unhappy with us.

You feel so strange here.

Yes I do.

I can't imagine what America is like.

But I suppose everything is different.

And the people too ..

Yes, yes that's it.

Everything is so different.

You know, they all liked

me at first, your people.

And then I say something wrong.

I see it in their eyes .. fear.

It is because you look through us.

You seem to know what we think.

Even what we are going to do next.

I don't understand you.

I wish I could help you.

But you do, just by your sympathy.

Even though you can't possibly

know how much I need it.

Do you?

The days are alright .. I go

about your old London.

That's the most marvellous experience

that ever came to a living man.

But when I lie in bed and

think .. it all seems a nightmare.

Until I remember you.

You're not like the others,

you're .. you're real.

I'm Kate's sister.

Kate, this is unlike you.

Our cousin does take the air with

Helen, to which no-one can object.

Since all the town knows

he is promised to you.

Can you think me jealous

Ma'am? It is not that.

When I'm with him, he makes me afraid.

And when she is with

him .. I'm afraid for her.

I'm afraid I am disgracing myself.

I've had only three lessons.

Do they not still dance the

minuet in America, cousin?

Well, we have forgotten

your polite measures.

Our dances are modelled

on those of the ..

The Red Indians ..

Oh by gad, look at him!

Now that the dance has stopped,

they all crowd around him.

We're holding the living. The big cad ..

This life ..

Yes, it is rather amusing, isn't it.

And what impresses you most

about London, Mr Standish?

Well, I don't know .. I

think your sedan chairs.

Do not the quality of New York

use sedan chairs?

Oh no, no. No, we ride in ..

In .. coaches ..

Most amazing, most amazing fellow.

Why, every morning two maids have

to carry buckets of hot water ..

Up three flights of stairs for

Master Colonial to wash himself.

Wash himself all over?

Every morning.

Washes himself all over?

Every morning?

What's all this talk of baths?

You took but one bath

on the General Wolfe.

And you talked about that

for a week beforehand.

I can't stand salt water.

Besides, bathing hasn't always

been an eccentricity you know.

You admire the Romans.

The Romans bathed.

Only excessively sir, when

they became degenerate.

The virile fathers of the republic ..

Were as dirty as you are.

Yes, I suppose you are right.

Kate!

We haven't danced yet.

Do you suppose you could

bear my clumsy steps?

Forgive me .. I promised this

dance to .. Major Clinton.

Mr Standish, Doctor Johnson informed

me you waited upon him this afternoon.

Oh yes .. yes.

I trust sir that you were amused?

Yes, he thundered out a few platitudes.

Well sir, you can at least sympathize

with the feelings of Englishmen ..

Who have been obliged

to sign away a continent.

But do not grudge us Americans our

poor stretches of wilderness My Lord.

You, upon whose Empire,

the sun never sets ..

Sir .. that is the most magnificent

compliment ever paid to Great Britain.

Yes, it is rather a

good phrase isn't it.

But I expect you'd find it hackneyed

if you'd heard it a 100 times before.

After all, why did we bother?

We would have eased the

tax on tea, to end fighting.

What made you go on with the war?

Well I ..

Just to make the world

safe for democracy.

Democracy?

Peter .. the Duchess has

asked me to present you.

Sir.

Duchess, Mr Peter Standish.

The Duchess of Devonshire.

My other guests.

May I have the honour Duchess?

If you are to take my scalp,

it must be by your wit.

Which they say is much

better than your dancing.

Sir .. let me congratulate you.

Miss Pettigrew will make

you a devoted wife.

There is nothing like the

devotion of a married woman.

It's a thing no married man

knows anything about.

Sir .. such views of matrimony ..

Are commonly entertained by

that most ignoble work of God ..

A faithless husband!

Fidelity is a strange thing Duchess.

When we are young, we try

to be faithful and cannot.

When we are old we try to be faithless.

And cannot.

Oh, a delightful aphorism, sir.

Be seated.

If Helen is coy and shy, it is

that she would tease you, sir.

But I will speak with her.

Your American pyrotechnics make me feel

as stupid as a girl at her first ball.

I can scarcely believe that

I am .. well .. who I am.

Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire.

You rolled it out as though you

were announcing me at court.

All the charm of the period

seems to centre in that name.

Flatterer! Admit that in America

you've never even heard of me.

But what barbarian has not

heard of the fifth Duchess?

Your name in English history is the

finest flower of the age of elegance.

We know your face from Gainsebor ..

Er .. Gainsborough has

painted you, hasn't he?

Yes.

All the legend and beauty of

the age cling about you.

As powerful in politics,

as irresistible in love.

What can the 18th Century

offer that can compare with ..

Compare with ..

You speak of me so strangely.

I find your overwhelming

compliments a little disturbing.

You were talking of me as we two

might talk of Madame de Maintenon.

In the past tense.

Oh no, Duchess .. I never

once used the past tense.

But you were thinking of

me in the past tense.

Now I know what it is.

You have been talking

about me as though ..

As though I were already .. dead.

I .. I have tried so hard

to make an impression.

Sir .. you have made .. an

indescribable .. impression.

Your arm, Sir Joshua.

Your self-assurance sir, is magnificent.

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