two voices: "It lasted for two hours, and instead
of being pathetic was eminently dull, until at last I rejoiced when
'_the two women had left the sepulchre_.'"

Shortly after this he tells of rumors of the attachment of George
John, Lord Althorp, brother of Georgiana of Devonshire, to "that sweet
creature" Lavinia. At dinner at Lord Lucan's, Lord Althorp sat at a
side table with the girls and a Miss Shipley. "Pray, Lady Spencer,"
said Walpole, "is it owned that Lord Althorp is to marry--Miss
Shipley?" His next reference to the Lucans is in regard to the wedding
ode printed on the Strawberry Hill press. The poet therein invokes
blessings in this wise:--

"Shine forth, ye silver eyes of night,
And gaze on virtues crowned with treasures of delight.

* * * * *

"Flow smoothly, circling hours,--
And o'er their heads unblended pleasure pour;
Nor let your fleeting round
Their mortal transports bound,
But fill their cup of bliss, eternal powers,
Till time himself shall cease, and suns shall blaze no more."

He essays to eulogize the bride:--

"Each morn reclined on many a rose,
Lavinia's pencil shall disclose
New forms of dignity and grace,
The expressive air, the impassioned face,
The curled smile, the bubbling tear,
The bloom of hope, the snow of fear,
To some poetic tale fresh beauty give,
And bid the starting tablet rise and live;
Or with swift fingers shall she touch the strings,
Notes of such wondrous texture weave
As lifts the soul on seraph wings."

He then proceeds to encourage Althorp to lead a strong, noble life,
devoting his great abilities to the state, though he laments the small
chances for genuine sterling worth to achieve eminence.

"In this voluptuous, this abandoned age,"

when the leaders of the country are

"Slaves of vice and slaves of gold."

There was much fitness in this poet essaying a homily for the groom's
benefit, for he had been the young man's tutor some years before. When
the first Earl--a man of most fascinating manners--placed his son in
the tutor's charge, he said, "Make him, if you can, like yourself and
I shall be satisfied." Johnson said of Sir William Jones, "The most
enlightened of the sons of men." He became a great Indian and Persian
scholar, and was ever an honored friend of his former pupil.

Previous to his marriage, Lord Althorp had entered Parliament, and, as
a Whig,