520 Right Hon. Viscount Esher [March 5, 



in the Dark.' Addison ; Lord Melbourne admires his ' Spectator,' 

 his ' Cato ' he also admires, but says it's not like a Roman tragedy ; 

 ' there is so much love in it.' Addison died at Holland House ; he 

 disagreed very much with his wife. Lady Warwick. Holland House 

 was built, he said, by Rich, Lord Holland, in the reign of Charles 1st. 

 Madame de Stael ; whose print he thought very like ; ' She had good 

 eyes, she was very vain of her arms.' She was over here in '15 and 

 died in '17, aged 51 ; she disliked dying very much ; Lord Melbourne 

 also knew her daughter the Duchesse de Broghe ; he said ' Louis 

 Philippe dislikes her as much as Napoleon did her Mother.' Lord 

 Melbourne saw Madame de Broglie for a moment when he was at 

 Paris for the last time in 1825. He read from the book, and with 

 great emphasis, the following passage, what Napoleon said of Madame 

 de Stael : ' They pretend that she neither talks politics nor mentions 

 me ; but I know not how it happens that people seem to like me less 

 after visiting her.' Queen Elizaheth ; spoke of her, and that her 

 Mother must have been very handsome ; etc. 



" Spoke of pictures ; Lord Melbourne does not admire Murillo 

 much, nor Rubens ; he so greatly prefers the Italian Masters to any 

 others ; spoke of subjects for painting ; of the Holy Family being 

 constantly painted. ' After all,' he said, ' a woman and a child is 

 the most beautiful subject one can have.' " 



Then she adds : — 



" It was a most delightful evening." 



A Ride of Twenty-Two Miles. 



There is nothing very remarkable in these utterances of Lord 

 Melbourne. The interesting aspect of them is the circumstances in 

 which they were delivered. The normal evenings were spent in this 

 fashion, following after mornings consumed in reading despatches 

 and in signing her name, to be succeeded by afternoons occupied in 

 riding through the streets and through the crowds that waited daily 

 at Hyde Park Corner to see the Queen : — 



" At ^ past 12, 1 rode out with Lord Conyngham, Lord Uxbridge, 

 Lord Byi'on, Lady Mary, dearest Lehzen, Miss Cavendish, Miss 

 Quentain, Sir F. Stovin and Col. Cavendish, and came home at \ p. 3, 

 having ridden twenty-two miles. . . . We rode very hard and Tartar 

 went most deJightfidJij, never was there such a dear horse. We rode 

 to Richmond, through part of the Richmond Park, out at Robin Hood 

 Gate, and home over Wimbledon Common and Yauxhall Bridge. It 

 was as hot as summer, and f/oing I thought I should have melted ; 

 coming over Wimbledon Common there was some delicious air. It 

 was a heavenly day. At 6 m. p. 4 came Lord Melbourne and stayed 

 with me till 20 m. to 5. He seemed weU. Spoke a good deal of my 

 ride." 



