ed. A quarrel afterwards took place
between him and Sir Edward Codrington, and Dickinson
was tried by court-martial for not making proper use of
the springs ordered by the Admiral to be placed on the
anchors, the consequence of which was that her
broadside was not directed against the enemy, but fired
into the 'Albion.' Captain Dickinson was honourably
acquitted of all the charges, and it was proved that
Sir Edward Codrington's recollection of what had passed
was inaccurate in some particulars.]

The whole press has risen up in arms against the Duke's
prosecution of the 'Morning Journal,' which appears to me, though
many people think he is right, a great act of weakness and
passion. How can such a man suffer by the attacks of such a
paper, and by such attacks, the sublime of the ridiculous?--'that
he is aiming at the Crown, but _we_ shall take care that he does
not succeed in this.' The idea of the Duke of Wellington seeking
to make himself King, and his ambition successfully resisted by
the editor of a newspaper, 'flogs' any scene in the 'Rehearsal.'
I saw the Duke yesterday morning; he was just come from
Doncaster, where he told me he had been very well received. He
was with Chesterfield, who was to have had a large party.
Afterwards I rode with him, and he took me to see his house,
which is now excellent. He told me that both the King's eyes were
affected, the left the most, and that he would have the operation
performed when they were fit for it; he said that the King never
evinced any fear upon these occasions, that he was always
perfectly cool, and neither feared operations or their possible
consequences; that he remembered when he had a very painful and
dangerous operation performed some time ago upon his head, that
he was not the least nervous about it, nor at all afraid of
dying, for they told him that he would very likely not recover. I
said, 'Then, after all, perhaps he who has the reputation of
being a coward would prove a very brave man if circumstances
occasioned his showing what he is.' He said, 'Very likely;' that
he seemed to have but one fear, that of ridicule: he cannot bear
the society of clever men, for fear of ridicule; he cannot bear
to show himself in public, because he is afraid of the jokes that
may be cut on his person.

In the evening I met Matuscewitz, who is all glorious at the
Russian successes.