in her
house again, which she did not hear, as after delivering herself
of her speech she flounced back again to her seat, mighty proud
of the exploit. It arose out of his saying that he should make
Lady Durham demand an audience of the Queen to contradict the
things Lady Jersey had said of her and the other Whig ladies.

I saw Lady Jersey last night and had a long conversation with her
about her squabbles. She declares solemnly (and I believe it)
that she never said a syllable to the Queen against her quondam
friends, owns she abused Sefton to other people, cried, and
talked, and the end was that I am to try to put an end to these
_tracasseries_. She was mighty glorious about her _sortie_ upon
Lambton, whom she dislikes, but she is vexed at the hornets' nest
she has brought round her head. All this comes of talking. The
wisest man mentioned in history was the vagrant in the Tuileries
Gardens some years ago, who walked about with a gag on, and when
taken up by the police and questioned why he went about in that
guise, he said he was imprudent, and that he might not say
anything to get himself into jeopardy he had adopted this
precaution. I wonder what Lambton would say now about appointing
others instead of Palmerston and Co. if they should go out, which
he talked of as such an easy and indifferent matter. What
arrogance and folly there is in the world! I don't know how long
this will last, but it must end in Peel's being Prime Minister.
What a foolish proverb that is that 'honesty is the best policy!'

I am just come home from breakfasting with Henry Taylor to meet
Wordsworth; the same party as when he had Southey--Mill, Elliot,
Charles Villiers. Wordsworth may be bordering on sixty;
hard-featured, brown, wrinkled, with prominent teeth and a few
scattered grey hairs, but nevertheless not a disagreeable
countenance; and very cheerful, merry, courteous, and talkative,
much more so than I should have expected from the grave and
didactic character of his writings. He held forth on poetry,
painting, politics, and metaphysics, and with a great deal of
eloquence; he is more conversible and with a greater flow of
animal spirits than Southey. He mentioned that he never wrote
down as he composed, but composed walking, riding, or in bed, and
wrote down after; that Southey always composes at his desk. He
talked a great deal of Brougham, whose talents and domestic
virtues he greatly admires; that he was very generous and
affe