mended.
These three I ran over hastily, but though they may contain
matter that would be useful to the historian of that period (from
1728 to about 1732), there was little in any way attractive, as
they consisted wholly of diplomatic letters to Lord Chesterfield
during his Embassy at the Hague. As this correspondence occupied
twenty volumes (for the three I found were the second, third, and
twentieth), I fear the others may not contain anything of greater
general interest.

I was desirous of seeing the Duke to hear what he says to the
Portfolio,[6] which makes so much noise here. Peel told me that
the Duke was not at all annoyed by it, and that he did not see
why Matuscewitz need be either; that Matuscewitz wrote what he
thought and believed at the time, as he was bound to do, and long
before his intimacy with the Duke began. He said that the letters
are certainly authentic, though possibly there may be some
omissions. But the Duke's women endeavour to stir up his
resentment, and to make him think himself ill-used, though he is
disposed to treat the matter with great good-humour and
indifference. Of politics I have heard little, and learnt
nothing; the Tory houses I have successively been at are all on
the alert, and fancy they are to do great things this next
session, but I expect it will all end in smoke.

[6] [A collection of diplomatic papers and correspondence
between the Russian Government and its agents,
published about this time by Mr. Urquhart, which was
supposed to throw light on the secret policy of the
Cabinet of St. Petersburg. They were, in fact, copies
of the original documents which had been sent to Warsaw
for the information of the Grand Duke Constantine when
Viceroy of Poland, and they fell into the hands of the
insurgents at the time of the Polish Revolution of
1830. Prince Adam Czartoryski brought them to England,
where the publication of them excited great attention.]

The law appointments of Pepys[7] and Bickersteth are reckoned
very good, and they have certainly been made with especial
reference to the fitness of the men to preside over their
respective Courts. Pepys's is perhaps one of the most curious
instances of elevation that ever occurred: a good sound lawyer,
in leading practice at the Bar, never heard of in politics, no
orator, a plain undistinguished man, to whom expectation ne