warmth and cordiality of
manner which beget friends and retain partisans, and without which no
minister can count on constant supporters.

It is a curious circumstance, that the political party to which Lord
Lansdowne is opposed can boast a man among those most likely to hold
the reins of government, to whom all that I have said of Lord Lansdowne
might, with little modification, be applied. I refer to Sir Robert
Peel, whose acquaintance I enjoyed in England; and who is much younger,
and perhaps bolder, than Lord Lansdowne.

Happy, in my opinion, is the country which possesses such men; though
the friends and admirers of each would probably feel little disposed to
admit any comparison to be instituted between them, and would deride,
if not assail, any one for making it.

Sir Francis Burdell dined here yesterday, and we had the Count
Alexandra de Laborde and Count Charles de Mornay, to meet him. Several
people came in the evening. I have lent a pile of books to Sir F. B.,
who continues to read as much as formerly, and forgets nothing that he
peruses. His information is, consequently, very extensive, and renders
his conversation very interesting. His thirst for knowledge is
insatiable, and leads him to every scientific resort where it may be
gratified.

Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there, the Princesse
Castelcicala and her daughter, Lady Drummond, Mr. T. Steuart, and
various others--among them, a daughter of the Marquess of Ailesbury,
who has married a French nobleman, and resides in Paris.

Lady Drummond talked to me a good deal of Sir William, and evinced much
respect for his memory. She is proud, and she may well be so, of having
been the wife of such a man; though there was but little sympathy
between their tastes and pursuits, and his death can produce so little
change in her habits of life, that she can scarcely be said to miss
him.

He passed his days and the greater portion of his nights in reading or
writing, living in a suite of rooms literally filled with books; the
tables, chairs, sofas, and even the floors, being encumbered with them,
going out only for a short time in a carriage to get a little air, or
occasionally to dine out.

He seldom saw Lady Drummond, except at dinner, surrounded by a large
party. She passed, as she still passes her time, in the duties of an
elaborate toilette, paying or receiving visits, giving or going to
_fetes_, and playing with her lap-dog. A strange wife f