472 POLITICS. [1809. 



for which my excuse must be that I have had, as I 

 now have, little or nothing to say after having thanked 

 you for them. 



" I am delighted at your having undertaken the 

 review of Moore's book, as, without a compliment, I 

 know no person in every way so well qualified to do 

 full justice to this discussion. Nothing occurred to 

 me on this subject that I thought likely to be over- 

 looked by you, or I would have written immediately. 

 I take it for granted the infamous article in the ' Quar- 

 terly Review ' will not escape you. 



" Sydney Smith passed ten days here, and enli- 

 vened us extremely. I am only afraid that he found 

 us extremely dull. He talks of writing something in 

 the spring, and I hope he will not be too idle to keep 

 his resolution. 



" No previous speculation could have hit upon any- 

 thing like the combination of the present ministry, 

 yet I am not one of those who are so confident in the 

 impossibility of its standing. As far as I can judge, 

 the public feeling is not much attacked by it. It is 

 true, people in conversation lament the present state 

 of affairs, and speak of the ministers as entitled neither 

 to respect nor confidence. But there it ends, and we 

 gradually accustom ourselves to things when they 

 have taken place, which at a distance we should have 

 declared it impossible to submit to. The disasters 

 of Spain and AValcheren are now talked of with the 

 calmness of history ; and if, at the meeting of Parlia- 

 ment, it shall be found that the business of the country 



