142 SIR ROBERT THOMAS AVILSON 



It was winter, and he travelled inside, therefore I had 

 but half an hour in his company ; but this half hour was 

 sujBBcient for me to observe a peculiar gravity in his 

 aspect that surprised me, though intelligence and 

 determination were sufficiently developed in his — what a 

 casual observer would call — placid features. 



His manners to me were simple and unassuming ; 

 while to his equals, I sliould judge, they would be 

 attractive and confiding. His voice was soft and pleasing 

 — very unlike one used to command — and altogether his 

 easy carriage enhanced the good opinion I had formed of 

 a man of known capacity and eminence. 



It was not long after two or three of these meetings — 

 when a demise of the Crown took place — that I exulted 

 in the first act of King William the Fourth, which 

 restored to rank, honours, and emoluments one who had 

 deserved so well of his country as Sir Robert Thomas 

 Wilson. 



Another anecdote I must relate of' my kind friend, the 

 member for Coventry. When speaking of game, I once 

 inadvertently stated, about grouse-shooting time, that I 

 had not, from living so much in the south, ever tasted 

 this bird — he, after assuring me that I should not be long 

 A\^ithout doing so, on the following day forwarded two 

 brace, with his initials on the direction. 



About this time a very questionable production made 

 its appearance, purporting to be the memoirs of a 

 " celebrated courtesan," which at the time made a great 

 noise beyond the mere literary world. The publisher of 

 this shameless exjjose of the weakness of our common 

 nature ^vas Avell known ; and the gentleman who had the 



