and deducted the
discount, thus at once exercising his benevolence and his
avarice.

Another story Taylor told (we were talking of the negroes and
savages) of a girl (in North America) who had been brought up for
the purpose of being eaten on the day her master's son was
married or attained a certain age. She was proud of being the
_plat_ for the occasion, for when she was accosted by a
missionary, who wanted to convert her to Christianity and
withdraw her from her fate, she said she had no objection to be a
Christian, but she must stay to be eaten, that she had been
fattened for the purpose and must fulfil her destiny.

When I came home I found a note to say my unfortunate colleague
Buller[16] was dead. He had had an operation performed on his lip,
after which he caught cold, got an inflammation in the windpipe,
and died in two or three days. He was a very honourable, obliging,
and stupid man, and a great loss to me, for I shall hardly find a
more accommodating colleague.

[16] [James Buller, Esq., senior Clerk of the Council.]

In the evening I dined with Lord Sefton to meet Talleyrand and
Madame de Dino. There were Brougham and Denman, the latter
brought by the former to show Talleyrand to him. After dinner
Talleyrand held a circle and discoursed, but I did not come in
for his talk. They were all delighted, but long experience has
proved to me that people are easily delighted with whatever is in
vogue. Brougham is very proud of his French, which is execrable,
and took the opportunity of holding forth in a most barbarous
jargon, which he fancied was the real accent and phraseology. He
told me he should have 250 votes on his motion. I said to him,
'They think they shall have a majority of 150.' He said, 'Then
there must be 650 to divide, for at the lowest computation I
shall have 250.' But at night Henry told me that the Duke, though
he put a good face on it, was in fact very low, and that, from
what Gosh [Arbuthnot] had said, he would certainly resign unless
he carried the question by a large majority. In the morning I
called on Lady Granville, who told me, as a great secret, that
the Duke, notwithstanding his speech, was prepared to offer a
compromise, and her story was this:--She had dined at Ludolf's a
few days ago to meet the Duchesse de Berri. All the great people
dined there, among others the Chancellor and Lady Lyndhurst, and
after dinner Lady Lyndhurst came up to her bursting with
indignation, and