age whom she accompanied. She naturally expected some
recompense--half-a-crown perhaps--perhaps, since he was so great a man,
five shillings. But he lingered over the books, and asked a thousand
questions about the fate of his old school-fellows; and as he talked her
expectation rose--half-a-guinea--a guinea--nay, possibly (since she had
been so long connected with the school in which the great man took so
deep an interest) some little annuity! He wished her good-bye kindly,
called her a good woman, and slipped a piece of money into her hand--it
was a sixpence!

"Lord Stowell," says Mr. Surtees, "was a great eater. As Lord Eldon had
for his favourite dish liver and bacon, so his brother had a favourite
quite as homely, with which his intimate friends, when he dined with
them, would treat him. It was a rich pie, compounded of beef steaks and
layers of oysters. Yet the feats which Lord Stowell performed with the
knife and fork were eclipsed by those which he would afterwards display
with the bottle, and two bottles of port formed with him no uncommon
potation. By wine, however, he was never, in advanced life at any rate,
seen to be affected. His mode of living suited and improved his
constitution, and his strength long increased with his years."

At the western end of Holborn there was a room generally let for
exhibitions. At the entrance Lord Stowell presented himself, eager to
see the "green monster serpent," which had lately issued cards of
invitation to the public. As he was pulling out his purse to pay for his
admission, a sharp but honest north-country lad, whose business it was
to take the money, recognised him as an old customer, and, knowing his
name, thus addressed him: "We can't take your shilling, my lord; 'tis t'
old serpent, which you have seen six times before, in other colours; but
ye can go in and see her." He entered, saved his money, and enjoyed his
seventh visit to the "real original old sea-sarpint."

Of Lord Stowell it has been said by Lord Brougham that "his vast
superiority was apparent when, as from an eminence, he was called to
survey the whole field of dispute, and to unravel the variegated facts,
disentangle the intricate mazes, and array the conflicting reasons,
which were calculated to distract or suspend men's judgment." And
Brougham adds that "if ever the praise of being luminous could be
bestowed upon human compositions, it was upon his."

It would be impossible with the space at our co