on the Skew,[18]
On me she shed some trifling favours too.
Sure Granville's luck exceeds all other men's
Led through a sad variety of tens;[19]
The rest have sometimes eights and nines, but he
Is always followed by 'the jolly three;'[20]
But the great Skew some guardian sylph protects,
His judgment governs, and his hand directs
When to refrain, when boldly to put in
And catch with happy nine the wayward pin.[21]

The next morning Luttrell came down with, a whole paper full of
epigrams (I had been winning at macao, and had turned up five
nines in my deal):--

Why should we wonder if in Greville's verses
Each thought so brilliant and each line so terse is?
For surely he in poetry must shine
Who is, we know, so favoured by the nine.[22]

_THE JOLLY TENS._

Quoth Greville, 'The commandments are divine;
But as they're ten, I lay them on the shelf:
O could they change their number and be nine,
I'd keep them all, and keep them to myself!'

Thus we trifled life away.

[15] A clock tower.
[16] Lady Granville.
[17] E. Montagu.
[18] We gave him this nickname.
[19] Tens, ruinous at macao.
[20] Tens.
[21] The middle pin, a large gain.
[22] _Nines_ are the grand desiderata at macao.

1819.

[Page Head: LADY JERSEY.]

January 17th, 1819 {p.012}

I went to Burleigh on the 23rd of December; there was no one
there but Irby. The house disappointed me very much, but it is a
very fine showplace. I went away on the 27th to Middleton; there
were the Culling Smiths, Worcesters, Sir James Mackintosh,
Ossulstons, Nugent, &c.; it was very agreeable, and the house
extremely comfortable. Lady Jersey[23] is an extraordinary woman,
and has many good qualities; surrounded as she is by flatterers
and admirers, she is neither proud nor conceited. She is full of
vivacity, spirit, and good nature, but the wide range of her
sympathies and affections proves that she has more general
benevolence than particular sensibility in her character. She
performs all the ordinary duties of life with great correctness,
because her heart is naturally good; and she is, perhaps, from
her temperament exposed to fewer temptations than the generality
of her sex. She is deficie