resignation of Lord Mansfield, who lived nearly five years afterwards, and the words which Lord Holland must have repeated, if he adopted the authentic version, were these:

'I hesitated long between the corruption of Buller and the intemperance of Kenyon. Not but what there was a damned deal of intemperance in Buller's corruption and a damned deal of corruption in Kenyon's intemperance.'

In reference to the dispute between Sir John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, and the Judges of the Supreme Court, Mr. Reeve states:

'Lord Ellenborough took Malcolm's part with great eagerness, and said of the Chief Justice, Sir J. D. Grant, that "he would be like a wild elephant between two tame ones." This expression was long remembered as a joke against Lord Ellenborough.'

The joke must be unintelligible to those who do not know that Lord Ellenborough had just been sending out two new Judges when he wrote, Sir John Grant will be like a wild elephant led away between two tame ones.'

In a note on Sir Robert Adair, Mr. Reeve says: 'It was he whom Canning once called Bobadare-a-dool-fowla.' It was he who was ridiculed in a celebrated jeu d'esprit of the Antijacobin, entitled, Translation of a Letter (in Oriental characters) from Bawba-dara-Adul-Phoola (Bob Adair, a dull fool) to Neek-awlAretchid-Kooez (Nicholl, a wretched Goose).'

Note on Paul, the first Lord Methuen :

'Paul Methuen, Esq., M.P. for Wiltshire. It was to him that O'Connell made the memorable, but somewhat profane retort," Paul, Paul, why persecutest thou me?"

The House was in Committee, and in a half-sleepy state, when Kearsley, Tory member for Wigan, a coarse humourist, flustered with drink, began a rollicking speech, setting all rules of decorum at defiance. Methuen, who had also the appearance of having dined, rose repeatedly to call him to order, till Kearsley, who was short-sighted, put his glass to his eye, shook his head with mock solemnity, stretched out his arm to its full length, and spoke the words in a hollow sonorous One of the most extraordinary scenes ever witnessed ensued during several minutes the House was so convulsed with laughter that all serious business was at a standstill; Sir Robert Inglis, shocked by the profanity, being the only member who looked grave. What added to the effect was the contrast. Some one said Kearsley, short and rotund, looked like a retired tallow-chandler, which he turned out to be. Methuen was a fine gentleman of the Regency, with a shade of pomposity. Such a

tone.

:

retort

retort from O'Connell, who, moreover, sat on the same side of the House as Methuen, would have excited a very different feeling from laughter.

Greville (January 12th, 1831) happening to set down that an envoy had been sent here from the Poles, Mr. Reeve appends this note:

'This Envoy was Count Alexander Walewski, a natural son of the Emperor Napoleon, who afterwards played a considerable part in the affairs of France and of Europe, especially under the Second Empire. During his residence in London in 1831 he married Lady Caroline Montagu, a daughter of the Earl of Sandwich, but she did not live long. I remember calling upon him in St. James' Place, and seeing cards of invitation for Lady Grey's assemblies stuck in his glass. The fact is he was wonderfully handsome and agreeable, and soon became popular in London society.'

Would it not have been more to the purpose to state simply that the envoy was Count Walewski, afterwards French Ambassador at the British Court.

6

Greville having mentioned the Cateatonenses,' Mr. Reeve has this note :

"The "Muse Cateatonenses," a burlesque narrative of a supposed expedition of Mr. George Legge to Cateaton Street in search of a Swiss Chapel. Nothing can be more droll. The only copy I have seen is still at Saltram. This jeu d'esprit (which fills a volume) was composed by Canning and his friends, one Easter recess they spent at Ashbourne.'

If this jeu d'esprit fills a volume, why is that volume called 'Musa Cateatonenses?' Because, in addition to the narrative, it contains from twenty to thirty sets of verses on the expedition, which was undertaken by Lord Boringdon (the first Earl of Morley) and the Hon. and Rev. A. G. Legge, in search of a Swiss preacher; Canning having mystified them by saying that they would find one in Cateaton Street. The expedition was real, although the narrative was supposititious; and the whole point turns on its being joint.

In explanation of Serjeant Spankie's repartee to the elector of Finsbury, Mr. Reeve says:

Wakley's house was burnt, and he brought an action against the insurance office, which declined to pay his policy. I forget what was the result of the trial, but that of the evidence was a conviction of his instrumentality.'

The action was tried on the 21st June, 1821, before Lord Tenterden and a special jury, and the result was a verdict for the plaintiff for the full amount claimed, which was paid by the

office with costs. On the 14th July, 1844, Mr. Wakley made so effective a reply to the imputation in the House of Commons, that the late Sir Robert Peel pronounced a decided opinion of its groundlessness. The charge having been revived in a medical journal, Mr. Wakley brought an action for libel, which (June, 1854) ended in a verdict, by consent, for the plaintiff and an apology.

'Note.-Hon. Frederick Byng, formerly of the Foreign Office, universally known at this time (1829) as "The Poodle," probably because he once kept a fine animal of that breed.'

Universally known to this hour under that name, notoriously because, when tilburys were the fashion, he used to drive one with a poodle seated by his side. A different but erroneous solution has gained currency from a comic French epitaph, in which he is mentioned as surnommé Poodle à cause de sa chevelure et sa fidélité.'

Speculating (June, 1829) on the causes which had kept Lord Palmerston back for twenty years, Greville says:

'The office he held was one of dull detail, and he never travelled out of it. He probably stood in awe of Canning and others, and was never in the Cabinet; but having lately held higher situations, and having acquired more confidence, he has launched forth, and with astonishing success.'

Lord Palmerston had been in three Cabinets-Canning's, Lord Goderich's, and the Duke's; and retained the same office, the Secretaryship of War, the only office he ever held prior to 1830, under each.

Mr. Reeve gives lists of five Cabinets, or Administrations, as he indiscriminately calls them; and four of his lists are wrong. His list of Canning's omits Lord Palmerston and includes Tierney; of the Duke's (as originally constituted) omits Lord Palmerston; of Lord Grey's (as originally constituted) includes Lord John (Earl) Russell and the late Lord Derby, and omits Lords Holland and Carlisle; of Lord Melbourne's (1834) includes Edward Ellice. We should like to know where Mr. Reeve gets his lists. We are content with the Annual Register. The strangest of Mr. Reeve's notes is the one relating to Madame du Cayla, which we cannot allow to grow into an authority, since we believe it to be uncharitable and unjust. Greville has told all that required to be told of this lady; her birth, her introduction to Louis XVIII., and the nature of their connection, saying expressly that there was no sexual question in the matter, as what the King wanted was merely some one to whom he could tell everything, consult with on occasions, and

with whom he could bandy literary trifles.'* But this does not satisfy Mr. Reeve, whose note begins:

'Madame du Cayla had been the soi-disant mistress of Louis XVIII., or rather the favourite of his declining years. Il fallait une Esther, to use her own expression, à cet Assuérus.'

If she compared herself to Esther, the purest of the pure, how could she be the soi-disant (self-styled) mistress of the King? Mr. Reeve must mean so-called.' Then, after recapitulating the biographical details stated by Greville :

'The King was touched by her grace and beauty, and she became indispensable to his happiness. His happiness was said to consist in inhaling a pinch of snuff from her shoulders, which were remarkably broad and fair.'

We know of no better authority for this bit of prurient gossip than a scandalous caricature. Then come three verses of Béranger, supposed to be addressed to the lady under the name of Octavie. One will suffice:

'Peins-nous ces feux, qu'en secret tu redoutes,
Quand sur ton sein il cuve son nectar,

Ces feux dont s'indignaient les voûtes,

Où plane encore l'aigle du grand César.'

The second line is printed in italics by Mr. Reeve. We have not a notion what it means; but the feux of the gouty old epicure could hardly have 'alarmed the lady or scandalised the arches. The note ends with what is meant for a philosophical reflection:

'It is curious that in 1829, the last mistress of a King of France should have visited London under the reign of the last mistress of a King of England.'

It is not usual, nor in accordance with the convenances, to apply this term to ladies who retain their position in society. Madame du Cayla came to England with the Duchesse d'Escars, and was received in all the best houses. It was not (as we have seen) Lady C. alone, but the whole C. family (husband, son, and daughter) that were domesticated in her royal friend's palaces.

To point a story against George IV., Greville calls Lord Bathurst stoneblind,' knowing very well that he was only shortsighted. Twice over (uncorrected by Mr. Reeve) he calls Louis Philippe the descendant of Louis XIV.

May 29th, 1829.-The day before yesterday there was a review for the Duke of Orleans; and the Marquis of Anglesey, who was

there at the head of his regiment, contrived to get a tumble, but was not hurt. Last night at the ball the King said to Lord Anglesey, "Why, Paget, what's this I hear? they say you rolled off your horse at the review yesterday." The Duke as he left the ground was immensely cheered, and the people thronged about his horse and would shake hands with him.'

It was the Duke of Wellington who got the tumble. He was riding at the head of his regiment, the Grenadier Guards, wearing the bearskin cap, which embarrassed him and led to the accident. At the next levée, the King, who was not sorry to have a hit at the Duke, addressed Lord Anglesey loud enough for everyone to hear: Anglesey, you are not the man to fall off at the head of your regiment.' The incident obtained great notoriety, and was long remembered. When, in 1847, Lord Ponsonby presented his credentials to Ferdinand I. of Austria, the Emperor said to him: 'Vous savez que je suis tombé de cheval, mais la même chose est arrivée à votre fameux Duc de Wellington.'

The career of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, culminating in the Peerage and the Garter, is one of the most distinguished in the annals of diplomacy; and the refusal of the Russian Court to receive him as resident Ambassador in 1833 was really a compliment to his well-known firmness and sagacity. A similar compliment had been paid to Lord Macartney after a special mission to Russia, during which he was not found so pliable as could have been wished. The Emperor Nicholas distinctly stated that he had no personal objection to Lord Stratford, and the difficulty notoriously originated with Count Nesselrode and Madame de Lieven. This lady was, after all, the principal sufferer from the intrigue, being obliged to leave England whilst the Russian embassy was withdrawn. A story against Lord Stratford, told by her on the authority of a third person and dressed up by Greville, will hardly command implicit assent, and the great Elchee has no recollection of the dramatic colloquy with M. Dedel of which the scene is laid in the ante-room of the Foreign Office. It was a rule with Lord Palmerston, from which he never deviated, to admit visitors in the order of arrival, without regard to rank, and it is not unlikely that this was explained by Lord Stratford to M. Dedel.

We have the authority of another eminent diplomatist for denying what Greville has set down regarding him:

'September 23rd, 1834.-He (Lord Melbourne) told me, what I did not know before, that the King of Prussia had desired to have Lord Clanwilliam recalled from Berlin.'

Lord Clanwilliam was, and is, under the impression that he

was