COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 53 



" On Monday I went with Aunt Charles to 

 Lord Fitz-William's ball, which was very beauti- 

 ful, and I liked it. I saw more people than I 

 expected to know, and had some dancing. I saw 

 John Balfour who had heard from Tina. I danced 

 (as I suppose Louisa likes particulars) with Captain 

 Grey and Frederic Romily and Edmund Elliot's 

 brother, and a German attach^ of Prince Putey- 

 buss. The Elliots and Listers were there. In 

 short, it was much better fun than I expected ; 

 there were thousands of foreigners, which makes a 

 ball more amusing. Soult was there and the Due 

 de Nemours, who is very good-looking, and is 

 supposed to wish to be King of England. I 

 was introduced to the Due de Vicennes, who has 

 brought over his own hairdresser and his ami, 

 Count Pralin, and the Baron von Gottsch, the 

 German. 



" On Tuesday we went to a party at Lady 

 Minto's. Uncle Fred went also (very pleasant I 

 thought, though that is a disputed point) ; and after 

 it we went to the Highland Ball (not Uncle Fred), 

 but Ann and William Elphinstone joined us. It was 

 capital, such numbers of Scotch people. Lady Keith 

 and Emily in a very pretty fancy dress, the Hume 

 Drummonds, Mrs. Pitcairne, the Randolphs, Jane 

 Dalyell, Alexander Carmichael, Augustus Hamilton, 

 Mr. Gibson Craig, the Montgomeries, Lord Elibank 

 and brothers in short, plenty of people we knew. 

 I forgot to say that the Duchess of Gloucester was 

 at Lord Fitz-William's. He gave the ball because 



