his clear and
unbiassed judgment was satisfied) in Christianity; he evidently
dreaded and disliked the subject, and though he would have been
indignant had anybody hinted that he had doubts, his nervous
irritation at any religious discussion betokened a mind ill at
ease on the subject. I learnt one thing from Windham's diary
which I put into immediate practice, and that is, to write mine
on one side only, and leave the other for other matters connected
with the text; it is more convenient certainly.

September 16th, 1829 {p.233}

Went to Brighton on Saturday last to pay Lady Jersey a visit and
shoot at Firle. Jersey and I shot 376 rabbits, the greatest
number that had ever been killed on the hills. The scenery is
very fine--a range of downs looking on one side over the sea, and
on the other over a wide extent of rich flat country. It is said
that Firle is the oldest park in England. It belongs to Lord
Gage.

[Page Head: WELLINGTON AND THE 'MORNING JOURNAL.']

I heard at Brighton for the first time of the Duke of
Wellington's prosecution of the 'Morning Journal,' which was
announced by the paper itself in a paragraph quite as scurrilous
as those for which it is attacked. It seems that he has long made
up his mind to this measure, and that he thinks it is a duty
incumbent on him, which I do not see, and it appears to me to be
an act of great folly. He stands much too high, has performed too
great actions, and the attacks on him were too vulgar and vague
to be under the necessity of any such retaliatory measure as
this, and he lowers his dignity by entering into a conflict with
such an infamous paper, and appearing to care about its abuse. I
think the Chancellor was right, and that he is wrong. There is a
report that the King insists upon the Duke of Cumberland being
Commander-in-Chief, and it is extraordinary how many people think
that he will succeed in turning out the Duke. Lord Harrington
died while I was at Brighton, and it is supposed that the Duke of
Cumberland will try and get the Round Tower,[4] but probably the
King will not like to establish him so near himself. The King has
nearly lost his eyesight, and is to be couched as soon as his
eyes are in a proper state for the operation. He is in a great
fright with his father's fate before him, and indeed nothing is
more probable than that he will become blind and mad too; he is
already a little of both. It is now a question of appointing a
Private Secretary