quis, to which
many ascribed the prevailing melancholy of his character; but they who
remembered him as a schoolboy said he was always shy and reserved,
and saw nothing strange in his bearing as a man. The breakfast-table,
covered with all that could stimulate appetite, and yet withal untasted,
was not a bad emblem of one who, with many a gift to win an upward way,
yet lived on in all the tawdry insignificance of a court aide-de-camp.
A very weak glass of claret and water, with a piece of dry toast, formed
his meal; and even these stood on the corner of a writing-table, at
which he sat, rising sometimes to look out of the window, or pace the
room with slow, uncertain steps. Before him lay an unfinished letter,
which, to judge from the slow progress it made, and the frequent
interruptions to its course, seemed to occasion some difficulty in the
composition; and yet the same epistle began "My dear Sydney," and was
addressed to his brother. Here it is:--

My dear Sydney,--I suppose, from not hearing from you some
weeks back, that my last, which I addressed to the
Clarendon, has never reached you, nor is it of any
consequence. It would be too late now to ask you about
Scott's horses. Cobham told us how you stood yourself, and
that was enough to guide the poor devils here with their
ponies and fifties. We all got a squeeze on the "mare." I
hear you won seven thousand besides the stakes. I hope the
report may be true. Is Raucus in training for the Spring
Meeting, or not? If so, let me have some trifle on him in
your own book.

I perceive you voted on Brougham's amendment against our
people; I conclude you were right, but it will make them
very stubborn with me about the exchange. N------has
already remarked upon what he calls the "intolerable
independence of some noble lords." I wish I knew the clew to
your proceeding: are you at liberty to give it? I did not
answer the question in your last letter.--Of course I am
tired of Ireland; but as the alternatives are a "compound
in Calcutta, or the Government House, Quebec," I may as well
remain where I am. I don't know that a staff-officer, like
Madeira, improves by a sea-voyage.

You say nothing of Georgina, so that I hope her chest is
better, and that Nice may not be necessary. I believe, if
climate were needed, you would find Lisbon, or rather