FRIENDSHIP WITH LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. 373 



Commenting upon this letter, which Sir Wil- 

 liam sent to me on January 12, 1892, he writes 

 thus : — 



"3 St George's Place, 



Hyde Park Corner, S.W. 



" I was looking over some stray papers here 

 lately, and found the enclosed from Lord George 

 Bentinck. It is one of the earliest of his letters 

 to me, and refers to the Dublin election of 1842. 

 Before long- we became intimate and attached 

 friends. In those days I was constantly at Har- 

 court House, and, I may say, enjoyed Lord 

 George's entire confidence, which was of course 

 broken up by the repeal of the Corn Laws, when 

 I followed Sir Robert Peel. Mark the old-fash- 

 ioned spelling of Lord George's letter — just like 

 that of Dr Johnson and Mr Pitt — e.g., 'publick,' 

 ' compleat,' ' tallents,' &c. He used always to 

 speak of ' a dish of tea,' and pronounced Rome 

 'Room,' wonder ' woonder,' and golden 'goulden.' 



" The allusion to ' the tipsy boy from the 

 Curragh ' was quoted from a Dublin paper, and 

 referred to a gi^eat dinner at which I and my 

 supporters had as much on board as we could 

 carry, but did nothing untoward. At that time 

 I had never seen the Curragh in my life." 



It will readily be understood that the political 

 harmony between Lord George and Sir William 

 Gregory was cemented and intensified by their 



