10 LORD LILFORD 



curious account of the chamber of justice in the 

 gothic Castle of Luxemburg. ' In this room a 

 circular table is placed: in the centre of the 

 table is an aperture large enough to admit a 

 man's head; immediately below this chamber 

 is the donjon, and it was the custom to raise 

 the unhappy prisoner by means of machinery 

 to the aperture in the centre of the table, 

 and present him suddenly in the midst of his 

 judges.' 



At Weimar in June 1826 my father writes : 

 ' We sent our names and a letter of introduction 

 from Lady Davy to Madame de Goethe, the 

 daughter-in-law of the poet, and received an 

 invitation to tea in the evening. Our hostess 

 received us at her tea-table in the garden at 

 half-past six, without form or ceremony, yet 

 with perfect politeness. Her conversation was 

 lively and entertaining, entirely void of affec- 

 tation, and easy and natural. She seemed 

 intimately acquainted with English literature, 

 and spoke in raptures of Lord Byron's poetry. 

 Goethe himself soon afterwards joined us, and 

 we were presented to him. In appearance he is 

 tall, and for a man of 75 remarkably upright. 



