which I
thought might be disagreeable, lest he should impute it to what is
called 'taking advantage of a man's situation.'

"As to friendship, it is a propensity in which my genius is very
limited. I do not know the _male_ human being, except Lord Clare, the
friend of my infancy, for whom I feel any thing that deserves the
name. All my others are men-of-the-world friendships. I did not even
feel it for Shelley, however much I admired and esteemed him, so that
you see not even vanity could bribe me into it, for, of all men,
Shelley thought highest of my talents,--and, perhaps, of my
disposition.

"I will do my duty by my intimates, upon the principle of doing as
you would be done by. I have done so, I trust, in most instances. I
may be pleased with their conversation--rejoice in their success--be
glad to do them service, or to receive their counsel and assistance
in return. But as for friends and friendship, I have (as I already
said) named the only remaining male for whom I feel any thing of the
kind, excepting, perhaps, Thomas Moore. I have had, and may have
still, a thousand friends, as they are called, in _life_, who are
like one's partners in the waltz of this world--not much remembered
when the ball is over, though very pleasant for the time. Habit,
business, and companionship in pleasure or in pain, are links of a
similar kind, and the same faith in politics is another." * * *

LETTER 510. TO LADY ----.

"Genoa, March 28. 1823.

"Mr. Hill is here: I dined with him on Saturday before last; and on
leaving his house at S. P. d'Arena, my carriage broke down. I walked
home, about three miles,--no very great feat of pedestrianism; but
either the coming out of hot rooms into a bleak wind chilled me, or
the walking up-hill to Albaro heated me, or something or other set me
wrong, and next day I had an inflammatory attack in the face, to
which I have been subject this winter for the first time, and I
suffered a good deal of pain, but no peril. My health is now much as
usual. Mr. Hill is, I believe, occupied with his diplomacy. I shall
give him your message when I see him again.

"My name, I see in the papers, has been dragged into the unhappy
Portsmouth business, of which all that I know is very succinct. Mr.
H---- is my solicitor. I found him so when I was ten years old--at my
uncle's death--and he was continued in the management of my legal
business. He asked me, by a civil epistle, as an old acquaintance of
h