prefer Holyrood House with a view of Arthur's seat, to Paris with the range of all Europe." Have at last made up my mind, and shall go with him to Paris. Bessy, too, thinks this best. Called upon Sheddon, by advice of the Longmans, to see whether he is likely to help me out of the difficulties brought on me by his nephew. Took Longman with me. Found him more warm in the cause than I expected. After shopping about with Bessy, and going (she and I) with Rogers to see some panoramas, dined at home. In the evening walked about, and took her place in the coach for to-morrow morning. Wrote to Lord John to say I shall accompany him. 3rd. Up at six and saw my darling girl off in the coach. God send I may meet her again in health and in happiness a nobler hearted creature never breathed! Called upon Lord John, and settled to be off to-morrow morning at seven. Arranged my money supplies with the Longmans, who are guarantees for me to Hammersley for a letter of credit to the amount of 4007. Lord John gave me a message from the Duke that he will be happy to take me across in his packet on Sunday morning. Took a warm bath at the Hummums, and dined there. Went to Power's, and arranged some things for him for the second number of "National Airs," which he is unluckily resolved to bring out in its present state. Saturday 4th. Set off with Lord John in his carriage at seven; breakfasted, and arrived at Dover to dinner at seven o'clock; the journey very agreeable. Lord John mild and sensible; took off Talma very well. Mentioned Buonaparte having instructed Talma in the part of Nero; correcting him for being in such a bustle in giving his orders, and telling him that they ought to be given calmly, as coming from a person used to sovereignty. Told me an epigram of Lord Holland's, on one of the two candidates for Bedfordshire saying in his address, that the memory of his struggle would exist to the end of time: did "When this earth to the work of destruction shall bend, And the seasons be ceasing to roll, How surprised will old Time be to see, at his end, The state of the Bedfordshire poll!' We mentioned several jeux d'esprit of this kind: "Why you kick me downstairs?" Dr. Johnson's "Come, my lad, and drink some beer;" and I quoted the following on Cæsar Colclough's taking boat at Luggelaw to follow the hounds: "Cæsarem vehis et fortunas." "When meaner souls the tempest struck with awe, Talked a good deal of politics. Lord John much more moderate in his opposition than the Duke and Lord Tavistock. The Duke and Duchess arrived about an hour or two after us: drank tea with them. 5th. Breakfasted with the Duke and Duchess, and sailed at ten: rough but quick passage. Got to Calais at Woolriche, who goes as the Duke's physician, made one of the party. All dined together at Quillac's, and in the evening Woolriche and I went to the Spectacle. one. 6th. Breakfasted with the Duke and Duchess, and took leave of them: they are going for the Rhine. Woolriche very sorry I was not going on with them; and Lord John told me afterwards that the Duchess said she "wished they had some one with them, like Mr. Moore, to be agreeable when they got to their inn in the evening." A good deal of conversation on the way. By the bye, the Duke mentioned at breakfast a good story Sheridan used to tell of one of his constituents (I believe) saying to him "Oh sir! things cannot go on in this way; there must be a reform; we, poor electors, are not paid properly at all." Lord John mentioned Mr. Fox's speech on the Scrutiny as full of legal knowledge and argument. A good mot (of Madame de Coigny's, I believe) about some woman who had red hair and all its attendant ill consequences, and of whom some one said that she was very virtuous: Oui, elle est comme Samson, elle a toutes ses forces dans ses cheveux. Madame de Coigny has a very bad voice; she said once, Je n'ai qu'une voix contre moi — c'est la mienne. Lunched at Breteuil, where were two very pretty girls: got on to Abbeville, where we slept. 7th. Breakfasted at a wretched house at Picquigny : arrived at Chantilly before eight in the evening, where we dined. Lord John talks of staying a fortnight at Paris, having to consult Barillon's papers for a second edition of his "Life of Lord Russell." Hauterive, who has the care of these papers, was very uncivil to him on a former occasion when he applied for a sight of them. The same person refused to let Mackintosh see some papers for his history, and afterwards boasted to the Duke of Wellington of his having done so. Upon the Duke replying that he thought Mackintosh might have been allowed to see them, this fellow said, Mais, milord, il va écrire une histoire Whig, et moi je suis Monarchique, et vous aussi. Lord John will, after a fortnight's stay, take me over the Alps; but he goes by Mont Cenis, on his way to Genoa, so that I shall lose the sight of the Simplon, which will be impassable on my return. Slept at Chantilly. 8th. Arrived at Paris between two and three o'clock: went to the Hotel Breteuil, and took the same rooms Rogers and I were in two years ago, with the addition of another bedroom, for which, between us, we pay eight napoleons a week. Dined at Beauvilliers', and went in the evening to the Opera; "Fernando Cortez," by Spontini: admirable music. The ballet, "La Servante Justifiée." Had met in walking before dinner Lord Rancliffe, Lord Auckland, Ward, Lady Granard, and some other acquaintances. Ward walked for some time with us in the Tuileries, and pumped up some clever things, but the effort was too visible. Eat ice at the Mille Colonnes after the opera. 9th. Heard the Lansdownes arrived yesterday. Made some calls, on Lady Charlotte Fitzgerald, &c. &c. Dined at Massinot's, and went to the Variétés; the "Comédie Grivoise" of Dorat et Vadé, which has some humour in it; and "Werther,” which is an admirable burlesque. Lord John went afterwards to Mad. de Flahault's, where I was asked, but did not go, preferring an ice at the Mille Colonnes. 10th. Saw Lord Lansdowne: drove about in Lord John's calèche. Went to the church of St. Sulpice; the organ very beautiful. Dined with Macdonald, who has just married Lord Albemarle's daughter, Lady Sophia. Company: the Lansdownes, Lord Auckland, Lord John, and myself. Went to the Théâtre Francais to see Mdlle. Mars in the "Misanthrope" and "Les Étourdis," but got squeezed down nearly under the stage, and saw only a scene or two, but those were admirable. The scandal scene, where they all sit to cut up characters, which certainly, one would think, had given the hint to Sheridan, and Celimene's retort upon Arsinoé (I think), the Mrs. Candour of the piece. Not able to stand the pressure: went off to the Opera, to a box which Lord Auckland had, and sat by a pretty little girl, Miss Herbert: the pieces, my old friends "Anacreon chez Polycrète" and "Flore et Zephyre." Lord Lansdowne mentioned at dinner the practice which they have in Ava of annually squirting water at each other,king, court, and all. Eat ice at Tortoni's afterwards. Lord John to-day mentioned that Sydney Smith told him he had had an intention once of writing a book of maxims, but never got further than the following: "That generally towards the age of forty, women get tired of being virtuous, and men of being honest." 11th. Went to see the Exposition of the year at the Louvre. The pictures strike me as not very good, but I yield to the opinion of others. William Locke (who, though an ultra-Fuseli in his taste, knows a good deal of the art) says the French artists are making great progress ; and Comerford, the painter, whom I met to-day at the Louvre, praises their historical pictures most warmly. Called afterwards at Galignani's: had already purchased, for forty francs, his complete edition of my works, in six volumes. Cruel kindness this, to rake up all the rubbish I have ever written in my life-good, bad, and indifferent; it makes me ill to look at it. Went to Lafitte's for money, and found a long-wished-for letter from my darling Bessy. Dined with the Rancliffes, Lady Adelaide Forbes, Lord John, and Mrs. Villiers. The fashion now, it seems, among Frenchwomen is politics: they talk of passing the greater part of the morning at the Chambre des Députés, instead of at a milliner's, &c. &c. Went afterwards to the Feydeau; " Richard Cœur de Lion," which I had seen before. Wrote to Gallois to put him off a dinner we had fixed with him, on account of a fête at St. Cloud to morrow. |