mention it, and I wish he had not. He is a good
fellow, and I obliged myself ten times more by being of use than I did
him,--and there's an end on 't.

"Baldwin is boring me to present their King's Bench petition. I
presented Cartwright's last year; and Stanhope and I stood against the
whole House, and mouthed it valiantly--and had some fun and a little
abuse for our opposition. But 'I am not i' th' vein' for this business.
Now, had * * been here, she would have _made_ me do it. _There_ is a
woman, who, amid all her fascination, always urged a man to usefulness
or glory. Had she remained, she had been my tutelar genius.

"Baldwin is very importunate--but, poor fellow, 'I can't get out, I
can't get out--said the starling.' Ah, I am as bad as that dog Sterne,
who preferred whining over 'a dead ass to relieving a living
mother'--villain--hypocrite--slave--sycophant! but _I_ am no better.
Here I cannot stimulate myself to a speech for the sake of these
unfortunates, and three words and half a smile of * * had she been here
to urge it, (and urge it she infallibly would--at least she always
pressed me on senatorial duties, and particularly in the cause of
weakness,) would have made me an advocate, if not an orator. Curse on
Rochefoucault for being always right! In him a lie were virtue,--or, at
least, a comfort to his readers.

"George Byron has not called to-day; I hope he will be an admiral, and,
perhaps, Lord Byron into the bargain. If he would but marry, I would
engage never to marry myself, or cut him out of the heirship. He would
be happier, and I should like nephews better than sons.

"I shall soon be six-and-twenty (January 22d, 1814). Is there any thing
in the future that can possibly console us for not being always
_twenty-five_?

"Oh Gioventu!
Oh Primavera! gioventu dell' anno.
Oh Gioventu! primavera della vita.

[Footnote 99: Two or three words are here scratched out in the
manuscript, but the import of the sentence evidently is that Mr. Hodgson
(to whom the passage refers) had been revealing to some friends the
secret of Lord Byron's kindness to him.]

"Sunday, December 5.

"Dallas's nephew (son to the American Attorney-general) is arrived in
this country, and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular in the
United States. These are the first tidings that have ever sounded like
_Fame_ to my ears--to be redde on the banks of the Ohio! The greatest
pleasure I ever derived,