k for courage, as a
man might drink from thirst or fever, or for strength in a moment
of fainting debility. The wine was exquisite, and my heart beat more
forcibly, and I felt it.

I cannot follow very connectedly the course of events; I neither
know how the conversation glided into politics, nor what I said on
that subject. As to the steps by which I succeeded in obtaining his
Excellency's confidence, I know as little as a man does of the precise
moment in which he is wet through in a Scotch mist. I have a dim memory
of talking in a very dictatorial voice, and continually referring to
my "entrance into public life," with reference to what Peel "said," and
what the Duke "told me."

"What's the use of writing home?" said his Excellency, in a desponding
voice. "For the last five years I have called attention to what is going
on here; nobody minds, nobody heeds it. Open any blue-book you like, and
will you find one solitary despatch from Hesse-Kalbbratonstadt?"

"I cannot call one to mind."

"Of course you can't. Would you believe it, when the Zeringer party
went out, and the Schlaffdorfers came in, I was rebuked--actually
rebuked--for sending off a special messenger with the news? And then
came out a despatch in cipher, which being interpreted contained this
stupid doggerel:--

"'Strange that men difference should be
Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee.'

"I ask, sir, is it thus the affairs of a great country can be carried
on? The efforts of Russia here are incessant: a certain personage--I
will mention no names--loves caviare, he likes it fresh, there is a
special _estaffette_ established to bring it! I learned, by the most
insidious researches, his fondness for English cheese; I lost no time in
putting the fact before the cabinet I represented, that while timid men
looked tremblingly towards France, the thoughtful politician saw the
peril of Hesse-Kalbbratonstadt I urged them to lose no time:
'The Grand-Duchess has immense influence; countermine her,' said
I,--'countermine her with a Stilton;' and, would you believe it, sir,
they have not so much as sent out a Cheddar! What will the people of
England say one of these days when they learn, as learn they shall,
that at this mission here I am alone; that I have neither secretary nor
_attache_, paid or unpaid; that since the Crimean War the whole weight
of the legation has been thrown upon me: nor is this all; but that a
systematic course of treachery--I can