6th July.—Ld. H. is said to have made a most excellent speech on Thursday night on the Forfeiture Bill.[323] Last night he spoke on the Slave business, but the Limitation Bill was rejected. Add. came and dined. I bathed in ye evening; when I returned to the library after ye bath he made me some compliments upon my person, freshness, etc. Being previously resolved to say something upon the continuance of his love, I thought the opportunity these observations offered as good as any. I represented to him the impropriety of allowing himself to indulge an inclination that could only end in vexation and annoyance; that to him it had already been productive of unhappiness, by unsettling his plans and inducing him to shun his friends; that to me, in a worldly point of view, it was materially injurious, but that was a secondary consideration compared to the effect that might be produced upon Ld. H.’s mind, were any officious person to suggest to him that his visits did not proceed from friendship to him, but from love to me. I coloured as highly as I could the statement of the deplorable consequences that might ensue if Ld. H. should become suspicious of me—of me, I who owed him everything, more than a long life of tenderness and acquiescence can repay. I diminished the possibility of Ld. H.’s supposing it possible I could ever feel an abatement of love for him, but noted the uneasiness he would suffer, first, at finding his friend was acting ungenerously, and, 2ndly, at the possibility of the world’s supposing I could encourage it; for, idolising me as he does, he would think me incapable of deceiving him. He was agitated, and absented himself sulkily till yesterday.
On Saturday Ld. Morpeth dined. Tierney came in ye eve.; he asked to have a run for his horses, as the soil seemed likely to suit their feet. Drew looked comical, and whispered me that it would suit him for an excuse to come and see after them. On Sunday Ld. Digby dined and stayed till ¼ past 12. He is a man who has not yet been fairly judged by the world; he passes for a fool, but, if I have any discernment, bien s’en faut. He has sound good sense, great shrewdness in his understanding, tho’ downright in his manner, and I would as soon abide by his opinion of a character or event as by that of a more refined person. On Monday, yesterday, Add. dined; he is less annoyed, and begins to see the advice I gave him as just and reasonable; he goes the end of the week.
LORD DARNLEY
10th July.—Tuesday, 9th, Ld. Morpeth, G. Leveson, Digby, Canning dined. Ld. H. brought Ld. Darnley[324] from the H. of Lords. He had never been here before, tho’ I have known him for many years. His father fancied himself made of glass, and imagined a particular part of his person essential to sitting the most brittle; besides, he had various other fancies. Ld. D. has one great merit for a great man, excessive generosity; he has assisted with large sums, and even annuities, young men of promising abilities in mean circumstances, by which means they have got on in life, tho’ as yet he is too young to see the entire advantage of his benevolence. The Dean of Christ Church[325] has hurt him in his own judgment, and in that of the world, by most disproportionate praise; he is himself intoxicated with vanity, and the world, expecting much and finding but a modicum, have fallen into the common extreme, and deny him any ability whatever.
Canning asked me whether his suspicions had fallen rightly when he accused me of advising Add. to accept of the offer for Coventry. I declared the truth, that I had nothing to do with it, and had only heard him converse on the subject, but as it was one I felt little interest about I did not even know the result. Ld. D. told with some humour a remark of a Mr. W. Bootle or Boodle, who has written several pamphlets and poems, and said with great naïveté that whatever people might say of the profits of books, he knew better, as they did not clear the expense they incurred. His brother used to come a good deal last year; he had travelled into Arabia, Persia, etc. He looks like a wild Arab.
On Wednesday, Tierney, Sr. Lionel, Mr. Adderley, and those who are in the house. The news came on that day of Suwarrow’s victory over the French.[326] The citadel of Turin seems evidently to have been surrendered by treachery, as it was besieged but 3 days. If the skill of Vauban can do no more, a clay fence à l’abri d’un coup de main would be sufficient. One of the terms of the capitulation is a tacit acknowledgment of bribery; the Governor who surrenders requires a safeguard from the Austrians beyond the French posts, and he is to remain as a hostage—both circumstances that denote fear.
I had a long walk upon the terrace with Tierney. I was in an eloquent veine, and happily conveyed all I intended to express without the rigorous exterior of forbidding prudery. I think I convinced him his attentions offended and his hopes insulted me, that I was firmly attached at home, and tho’ I felt at present no resentment towards him, yet I should if his pretensions continued. On Thursday Ld. H. dined at the Tower; Ld. T. is confined by a fit of the gout. Sheridan was of their party; he is just come from ‘Peruvianising,’ that is from the country. He is so delighted with Pizarro that his allusions are taken from it in everything he says. He said ye 10th of July was so delicious, something in the temperature so bewitching and tempting to go astray and follow ye dictates of nature, that if he were to sit in judgment upon a cause of gallantry, if the indictment stated it as committed on ye 10th of July, he would go into the evidence, but instantly bring in Guilty, by the visitation of God.
COUNT RUMFORD
In ye eve. I, Drew, and Marsh went to Astley’s, Ld. B., Ly. E. Foster, and some of the girls; we had a very comfortable chat. Friday, Add. and Cornewall and ourselves in ye house. Saturday we were alone; reading Mr. Browne’s book, Travels into Africa. On Sunday Ct. Rumford, Ld. G. Leveson, Adderley, and ourselves in the house. The first was entertaining; he gave an account of some experiments going on in France upon ye tanning matter, by which it is ascertained that a larger quantity of it is contained in willow and some other aquatic plants than in oak bark, and that it is even better, as there is less of ye gallic acid, which consumes ye leather. His manner is soft and plausible; it rather excites distrust, and perhaps more than his intentions merit, but there is something suspicious in a kept-down manner. Ld. G. is going to his regiment at Winchester. He praised me for my behaviour to Add., approves of keeping friends, but checking the progress of an attachment. He laughs at women’s dexterity in letting a man in love down gently. He, Add., goes to Ireland immediately.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME