got dry, the Duchess received the address, which was read by Lord
Exeter as Recorder. It talked of the Princess as 'destined to
mount the throne of these realms.' Conroy handed the answer, just
as the Prime Minister does to the King. They are splendidly
lodged, and great preparations have been made for their
reception.

London, September 27th, 1835 {p.315}

The dinner at Burghley was very handsome; hall well lit; and all
went off well, except that a pail of ice was landed in the
Duchess's lap, which made a great bustle. Three hundred people at
the ball, which was opened by Lord Exeter and the Princess, who,
after dancing one dance, went to bed. They appeared at breakfast
the next morning at nine o'clock, and at ten set off to Holkham.
Went to Newmarket on Tuesday and came to town on Wednesday; found
it very empty and no news. Lord Chatham died the day before
yesterday, which is of no other importance than that of giving
some honours and emoluments to Melbourne to distribute.

The papers are full of nothing but O'Connell's progress in
Scotland, where he is received with unbounded enthusiasm by
enormous crowds, but by no people of rank, property, or
character. It is a rabble triumph altogether, but it is made the
most of by all the Ministerial papers. The Opposition papers pour
torrents of invective upon him, and he in his speeches is not
behindhand with the most virulent and scurrilous of them; he is
exalted to the bad eminence at which he has arrived more by the
assaults of his enemies than by the efforts of his friends. It is
the Tories who are ever insisting upon the immensity of his
power, and whose excess of hatred and fear make him of such vast
account that 'he draws the rabble after him as a monster makes a
show.' However mean may be his audiences in Scotland, he has
numbers to boast of, and that will serve his purpose; he will no
doubt render this reception instrumental to the increase of his
authority in Ireland. He now avows that he has abandoned Repeal,
and all other projects, in order to devote himself to the great
task of reforming the House of Lords.

[Page Head: SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH.]

I have finished Mackintosh's Life with great delight, and many
painful sensations, together with wonder and amazement. His
account of his reading is utterly incomprehensible to me; he must
have been endowed with some superhuman faculty of transferring the
contents of books to his own mind. He talks in his journals