rable aptitude for business; between spending and
speculating, buying property in one place, selling in another,
and declining to sell in a third, he has half ruined a noble
estate.

Just before I got there a murder had been committed close to his
house under very curious circumstances, of which some notice
appeared in the newspapers. A soldier in the Artillery got a
legacy of L500, with which he bought his discharge, went down to
the village near Runton, and took a very pretty girl of
indifferent character to live with him. He gave her shawls and
trinkets, and spent a good deal of money on her. Having addicted
himself immoderately to drink, he soon spent all his money, and,
to supply himself with the means of getting drunk, he began
robbing his mistress of the articles he had given her. It
happened that about this time somebody in the village who had
been robbed consulted a cunning man of great repute in the
neighbourhood, and so alarmed was the thief at the bare idea of
what this oracle might utter, that the stolen property was
secretly restored. The girl upon hearing of this restitution
resolved to have recourse to the cunning man, and invited her
lover to escort her to his abode. After endeavouring in vain to
dissuade her they set out together, but he was so overcome with
terror as he went along that he stopped short in the road and
refused to proceed. On this the girl said that it was easy to see
who was the thief, and that the reason he would not face the
conjuror was that he was conscious of his own guilt. Upon this
they fell to high words, then to blows, and he finished by
murdering her. He did not attempt to escape, but repaired to a
public-house, where he was soon after taken into custody. He
acknowledged the crime, and said he was weary of life, and
deserved to be hanged. Here is an example of the miserable
effects of good fortune upon a man who was unfit to use it, and
of the strange superstition of the common people. The murderer
will be tried at the next assizes.

[Page Head: CHARACTER OF LORD HARROWBY.]

I stayed at Runton till Sunday, 19th, when I came here,[7] where
there was nobody but the family and Ralph Sneyd. The place is
exceedingly beautiful, and arranged with excellent taste. It has
been very agreeable. Lady Harrowby is superior to all the women I
have ever known; 'her talk is so crisp,' as Luttrell once said of
her. She has no imagination, no invention, no eloquence, no deep
reading or r