willingly taken the Seal from Lord Lyndhurst, and
he now had great pleasure in restoring it to him. He was all King
to-day--talked of having 'commanded the ex-Ministers to retire;'
'desired Lord Brougham to give up the Seal,' which is true, for
the Duke wrote to him for it, and instead of surrendering it in
person Brougham sent it to Sir Henry Taylor. The King compared
this crisis with that which befell his father in 1784, when he
had placed the government in the hands of the Marquis of
Rockingham; he said that the present was only a provisional
arrangement, but that there was this difference, that the country
was now in a state of excitement and disquiet, which it was free
from then, but that he had full reliance on the great firmness of
the Duke (here the Duke bowed); that the Administration which was
then formed had lasted seventeen years (of course he meant that
of Pitt, which succeeded the coalition), and he hoped that this
which was about to be formed would last as long, although at his
time of life if it did he could not expect to see the end of it.

November 22nd, 1834 {p.157}

I read Brougham's speech on quitting the Court of Chancery this
morning, and admirable it is--not a syllable about himself, but
with reference to the appointment of Pepys, brief, dignified, and
appropriate. _Si sic omnia_, what a man he would be.

November 23rd, 1834 {p.157}

This morning I received a note from Henry de Ros enclosing one
from Barnes, who was evidently much nettled at not having received
any specific answer to his note stating the terms on which he
would support the Duke. Henry was disconcerted also, and entreated
me to have an explanation with Lyndhurst. I accordingly went to
the Court of Exchequer, where he was sitting, and waited till he
came out, when I gave him these notes to read. He took me away
with him, and stopped at the Home Office to see the Duke and talk
to him on the subject, for he was evidently a little alarmed, so
great and dangerous a potentate is the wielder of the thunders of
the press. After a long conference he came out and gave me a note
the Duke had written, saying he could not pledge himself nor Sir
Robert Peel (who was to be the Minister) before he arrived, and
eventually I agreed to draw up a paper explanatory of the position
of the Duke, and his expectations and views with regard to the
'Times' and its support. This I sent to him, and he is to return
it to me with such corrections as h