ndulged himself in an
apparently inexhaustible succession of handsome embroidered waistcoats,
which he used to regard with much complacency."

Among the first places to which the new lion was invited was of course
the famous resort of celebrities, Holland House; and in his letters to
his two younger sisters,--to whom he was always the most devoted of
brothers,--he frequently narrates his experiences there. Let us glance
at a few of these pictures:--

"Well, my dear, I have been to Holland House. I took a glass coach,
and arrived, through a fine avenue of elms, at the great entrance
about seven o'clock. The house is delightful, the very perfection
of the old Elizabethan style,--a considerable number of very large
and very comfortable rooms, rich with antique carving and gilding,
but carpeted and furnished with all the skill of the best modern
upholsterers. Lady Holland is certainly a woman of considerable
talent and great acquirements. To me she was excessively courteous;
yet there was a haughtiness in her courtesy which, even after all
that I had heard of her, surprised me. The centurion did not keep
his soldiers in better order than she keeps her guests. It is to
one, 'Go,' and he goeth; and to another, 'Do this,' and it is done.
'Ring the bell, Mr. Macaulay.' 'Lay down that screen, Lord Russell;
you will spoil it.' 'Mr. Allen, take a candle and show Mr. Cradock
the picture of Bonaparte.' Her ladyship used me as well, I believe,
as it is her way to use anybody. . . .

"I had a good deal of pleasant conversation with Rogers. He was
telling me of the curiosity and interest which attached to the
persons of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron. When Scott dined at a
gentleman's house in London not long ago, all the servant-maids in
the house asked leave to stand in the passage and see him pass. He
was, as you may conceive, greatly flattered. About Lord Byron, whom
he knew well, he told me some curious anecdotes. When Byron passed
through Florence, Rogers was there. The inn had fifty windows in
front. All were crowded with women, mostly Englishwomen, to catch a
glimpse of their favorite poet. Among them were some at whose
houses he had been in England oftentimes, and with whom he had
lived on friendly terms. He would not notice them or return their
salutations. Rogers was the only per