e that my mare Lady Emily had beat Clotilde
at Newmarket, which I attribute entirely to my _ex voto_ of a
silver horse-shoe, which I vowed, before I went to Naples, to the
Virgin of the Pantheon in case I won the match; and, as I am
resolved to be as good as my word, I have ordered the horse-shoe,
which is to be sent on Monday, and as soon as it arrives it shall
be suspended amongst all the arms, and legs, and broken gigs, and
heads, and silver hearts, and locks of hair.

Everybody here is in great alarm about the King (George IV.), who
I have no doubt is very ill. I am afraid he will die before I get
home, and I should like to be in at the death and see all the
proceedings of a new reign; but, now I am here, I must stay out
my time, let what will happen. I shall probably never see Rome
again, and 'according to the law of probability, so true in
general, so false in particular,' I have a good chance of seeing
at least one more King leave us.

May 15th, 1830 {p.368}

I rode with Lord Haddington to the Villa Mellini last evening on
a confounded high-going old hunter of Lord Lynedoch's, which he
gave to William Russell. On my return found Henry de Ros just
arrived, having been stopped at Aquapendente and Viterbo for want
of a _lascia passare._

This morning I have been dragging him about the town till he was
half dead. The three last days have been the hottest to which
Rome is subject--not much sun, no wind, but an air like an oven.
The only cool place is St. Peter's, that is delicious. It is the
coolest place in summer and the warmest in winter. We went to St.
Peter's, Coliseum, gallery of the Vatican, Villa Albani, and
Villa Borghese. The Villa Albani I had not seen before; it is a
good specimen of a Roman villa, full of fine things (the finest
of which is the Antinous), but very ill kept up. The Cardinal has
not set his foot in it for a year and a half; there is one walk
of ilexes perfectly shady, but all the rest is exposed to the
sun. The post brought very bad accounts of the King, who is
certainly dying. I have no notion that he will live till I get
home, but they tell me there will be no changes. Gagarin told me
last night that Lieven is to be governor to the Emperor of
Russia's eldest son, that for the present he will retain the
title of Ambassador, and that Matuscewitz will be Charge
d'Affaires in London.

[Page Head: APPROACHING COUP D'ETAT IN FRANCE]

May 18th, 1830 {p.368}

Again dragging Henry