to, as I suppose,
by placing their subject upon a high stage and looking upwards to them,
which must foreshorten the face. The Chief Baron and Chief Commissioner
had the goodness to sit with me.

Dressed and went with Anne to dine at Pinkie House, where I met the
President,[125] Lady Charlotte, etc.; above all, Mrs. Scott of Gala,
whom I had not seen for some time. We had much fun, and I was, as Sir
Andrew Aguecheek says, in good fooling.[126] A lively French girl, a
governess I think, but very pretty and animated, seemed much amused with
the old gentleman. Home at eleven o'clock.

By the by, Sir John Hope had found a Roman eagle on his estate in Fife
with sundry of those pots and coffeepots, so to speak, which are so
common: but the eagle was mislaid, so I did not see it.

_February_ 3.--I corrected proofs and wrote this morning,--but slowly,
heavily, lazily. There was a mist on my mind which my exertions could
not dispel. I did not get two pages finished, but I corrected proofs and
commentated.

_February_ 4.--Wrote a little and was obliged to correct the Moliere
affair for R.P.G. I think his plan cannot go on much longer with so much
weakness at the helm. A clever fellow would make it take the field with
a vengeance, but poor G. will run in debt with the booksellers and let
all go to the devil. I sent a long letter to Lockhart, received from
Horace Smith, very gentlemanlike and well-written, complaining that Mr.
Leigh Hunt had mixed him up, in his Life of Byron, with Shelley as if he
had shared his irreligious opinions. Leigh Hunt afterwards at the
request of Smith published a swaggering contradiction of the inference
to be derived from the way in which he has named them together. Horatio
Smith seems not to have relied upon his disclamation, as he has
requested me to mention the thing to John Lockhart, and to some one
influential about Ebony, which I have done accordingly.

_February_ 5.--Concluded the first volume before breakfast. I am but
indifferently pleased; either the kind of thing is worn out, or I am
worn out myself, or, lastly, I am stupid for the time. The book must be
finished, however. Cadell is greatly pleased with annotations intended
for the new edition of the Waverley series. I believe that work must be
soon sent to press, which would put a powerful wheel in motion to clear
the ship. I went to the Parliament House, and in return strolled into
Cadell's, being rather anxious to prolong my walk, fo