g Lord Great
Chamberlain. It was the last Coronation at which the procession was
formed in Westminster Hall and moved across to the Abbey. Young
Russell, by mischievousness or carelessness, contrived to tear
his master's train from the ermine cape which surmounted it; and
the procession was delayed till a seamstress could be found to
repair the damage. "I contrived to keep that old rascal George
IV. off the throne for half an hour," was Lord Charles-Russell's
boast in maturer age.[*]

[Footnote *: J, W. Croker, recording the events of the day, says:
"The King had to wait full half an hour for the Great Chamberlain,
Lord Gwydyr, who, it seems, had torn his robes, and was obliged
to wait to have them mended. I daresay the public lays the blame
of the delay on to the King, who was ready long before anyone
else,"--_The Croker Papers_, vol. i., p. 195.]

From Westminster Lord Charles passed to the University of Edinburgh,
where his brother John had preceded him. He boarded with Professor
Pillans, whom Byron gibbeted as "paltry"[*] in "English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers," and enjoyed the society of the literary circle
which in those days made Edinburgh famous. The authorship of the
Waverley Novels was not yet revealed, and young Russell had the
pleasure of discussing with Sir Walter Scott the dramatic qualities
of _The Bride of Lammermoor_. He was, perhaps, less unfitted for such
high converse than most lads would be, because, as Lord Holland's
godson, he had been from his schooldays a frequenter of Holland
House in its days of glory.[**]

[Footnote *: Why?]

[Footnote **: On his first visit Lord Holland told him that he
might order his own dinner. He declared for a roast duck with green
peas, and an apricot tart; whereupon the old Amphitryon said: "Decide
as wisely on every question in life, and you will never go far
wrong."]

On leaving Edinburgh, Lord Charles Russell joined the Blues, then
commanded by Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover;
and he was able to confirm, by personal knowledge, the strange
tales of designs which the Duke entertained for placing himself or
his son upon the throne of England.[*] He subsequently exchanged
into the 52nd Light Infantry, from which he retired, with the rank
of Lieutenant-Colonel, in order to enter Parliament. In December,
1832, he was returned at the head of the poll for Bedfordshire,
and on Christmas Eve a young lady (who in 1834 became his wife)
wrote thu