Journal.
The fashionable part of my life in
London was so laboriously dull in itself that I will not describe it. . . . . But there was one place where I went several times, which was so unlike the others that it should not be mentioned with them,—I mean
Mr. Wilberforce's. He lives at
Kensington. . . . Everything in his house seemed to speak of quiet and peace. . . . . He is about sixty years old, small, and altogether an ordinary man in his personal appearance.
His voice has a whine in it, and his conversation is broken and desultory.
In general, he talks most and is most attentive to those who talk most to him,. . . . for his benevolence has so long been his governing principle, that he lends his ear mechanically to all who address him. Yet now and then he starts a subject of conversation, and pursues it with earnestness, quotes Horace and Virgil, and almost rattles with a gay good-humor and vivacity, which strongly and uniformly mark his character.
But, in general, he leaves himself much in the hands of those about him, or, if he attempts to direct the conversation, it is only by making inquiries to gratify his curiosity. . . . .
In general, the persons I met at
Mr. Wilberforce's were pleasant people; and
Sismondi, whom I carried there one evening, was as much delighted as I was, so that I do not think I was deceived by my prejudices or carried away by the mere quiet of a house, which seemed to me a kind of refuge from the wearisome gayety of the town. . . . . . I always came away with regret, because I felt that I had been in the midst of influences which ought to have made me better.
I felt no such regret, however, when at last, on the 26th April, I left
London.
As I bade
Mr. Williams farewell,
1 whose kindness had followed me all over
Europe, and turned from his door, I was assured that my face was now finally set to go home. . . . . My journey to
Liverpool was as rapid as I could make it,. . . . and I arrived there on the morning of the 28th. . . . . I desired to see nobody but
Mr. Roscoe, and with him I had the pleasure of passing an evening, and finally