George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[147] gentleman, who was not very much sought, though his position is now so high; Poulett Thompson talked very well, but looked too foppish; Lady Holland was very gracious, or intended to be so; and Lord Holland was truly kind and agreeable. . . . . We, of course, were obliged to stay late, and I was willing to do so, for I had a great deal of pleasant talk. But though we did not leave the party till nearly one o'clock, several persons were announced as arriving while we were waiting for our carriage.

March 29.—. . . . We were out at Seniors—a mile beyond Hyde Park Corner—to breakfast, by half past 10 o'clock. Chadwick was there, the Secretary of the Poor Laws Commission, and said to know more than any man in England about the great subjects of pauperism and popular education. Lord Shelburne, too, was of the party, and two or three other persons. The talk was a good deal political in its tone, including such subjects as Rowland Hill's plan for a post-office reform, the state of the manufacturing population, etc. Chadwick seemed very acute, and I had a long talk with him, because we brought him home with us. From what he said, and from what I have seen and heard elsewhere, I am persuaded that the nature, the wants, and the means of popular education are little understood here, in practice at least.

Among some other places I went to afterwards was John Murray's, —the publishers,—where I fell in with Lockhart, with whom I have exchanged cards this week, but whom I had not seen. He is the same man he always was and always will be, with the coldest and most disagreeable manners I have ever seen. I wanted to talk with him about Prescott's ‘Ferdinand and Isabella,’ and by a sort of violence done to myself, as well as to him, I did so. He said he had seen it, but had heard no opinion about it. I gave him one with little ceremony, which I dare say he thought was not worth a button; but I did it in a sort of tone of defiance, to which Lockhart's manners irresistibly impelled me, and which I dare say was as judicious with him as any other tone, though I am sure it quite astonished Murray, who looked . . . . as if he did not quite comprehend what I was saying.

We dined at Mrs. Villiers',¹ and had a very delightful little party; . . . . we were only nine in all, just Horace Walpole's number for a dinner . . . . Lord Jeffrey talked all the time, and extremely well. He admires Mrs. Lister very much for her vivacity, talent, and beauty, and made himself as agreeable as he could to her; and certainly