anybody else.
The death of Lord Spencer really did create an enormous
embarrassment, which Melbourne felt much more than any of his
colleagues; and though he told the King 'that he was ready to go
on with the Government if such was his pleasure,' he felt no
desire to be taken at his word, and no confidence or expectation
that the arrangements he proposed would be palatable to the King
or of a permanent nature. He seems to have been candid and
straightforward in all that he said, and to have contemplated his
dismissal as a very probable result of his correspondence and
conversations with his Majesty. The Irish Church has evidently
caused _the split_; the intended reforms in it and the elevation
of Lord John Russell to the post of leader were more than the
King could digest. I wish I had seen the papers, for the sake of
knowing what it is they proposed to the King, and how far he was
disposed to go.

November 29th, 1834 {p.165}

[Page Head: LORD STANLEY'S POSITION.]

I told the Duke yesterday what I had learnt from George Bentinck
(and he from the Duke of Richmond) of Lord Stanley's[4]
disposition. He is not at all desirous to be mixed up in the new
concern, but has no objection to take office under Peel, and he
is ready to _listen_ to any proposition that may be made to him;
but he is very much afraid of being accused of dereliction of
principle by his old colleagues and friends. It is clear,
therefore, that he would reject any overture unless it included
an agreement that the Government should be conducted upon Liberal
principles, and unless his friends were invited to join the
Government with him. The Duke took very little notice of this.

[4] [Edward, 12th Earl of Derby, died on October 21, 1834,
from which date his grandson, afterwards 14th Earl of
Derby, assumed the courtesy title of Lord Stanley.]

December 1st, 1834 {p.166}

Went to St. Paul's yesterday evening, to hear Sydney Smith preach.
He is very good; manner impressive, voice sonorous and agreeable,
_rather_ familiar, but not offensively so, language simple and
unadorned, sermon clever and illustrative. The service is
exceedingly grand, performed with all the pomp of a cathedral and
chanted with beautiful voices; the lamps scattered few and far
between throughout the vast space under the dome, making darkness
visible, and dimly revealing the immensity of the building, were
exceedingly striking. The Cathedral service th