hire, in July. In August he went
for a few months to France, partly for the benefit of Lady Cochrane's
health, partly, as it would seem, in the hope of introducing into
that country the lamps which he had lately invented, and from which he
hoped to derive considerable profit.

To this matter, and to his efforts to obtain some share, at any rate,
of his rights from the English Government, the letters written by
him from France chiefly refer. But there are in them some notes and
illustrations of more general interest. "I am quite astonished at the
state of Boulogne," he wrote thence on the 14th of August. "Neither
the town nor the heights are fortified; so great was Napoleon's
confidence in the terror of his name and the knowledge he possessed
of the stupidity and ignorance of our Government." In a letter from
Paris, dated the 23rd of August, we read: "Everything is looking much
more settled than when I was formerly here, and I do really think that
the Government, from the conciliatory measures wisely adopted, will
stand their ground against the adherents of Buonaparte. We are to have
a great rejoicing to-morrow. All Paris will be dancing, fiddling, and
singing. They are a light-hearted people. I wish I could join in their
fun. I was hopeful that I should; but the cursed recollection of the
injustice that has been done to me is never out of my mind; so that
all my pleasures are blasted, from whatever source they might be
expected to arise."

That last sentence fairly indicates the state of Lord Cochrane's mind
during these painful years. Weighed down by troubles heavy enough to
break the heart of an ordinary man, he fought nobly for the thorough
justification of his character and for the protection of others from
such persecution as had befallen him. In both objects, altogether
praise-worthy in themselves, he may have sometimes been intemperate;
but ample excuse for far greater intemperance would be found in the
troubles that oppressed him. "The cursed recollection of the injustice
that has been done to me is never out of my mind; all my pleasures are
blasted!"

In the same temper, after a lapse of nine months, about which it is
only necessary to say that, like their forerunners, they were
employed in private cares, and, especially after the reassembling of
Parliament, in zealous action for the public good, he made his last
speech in the House of Commons on the 2nd of June, 1818. The occasion
was a debate upon a secon