ther dinner
to-morrow, and are going to the play and Opera. After Easter I trust
I shall make ample amends for all this solitariness. I hope to begin
singing with Lablache shortly after Easter. But to return to last
Saturday's dinner. We had the Archbishop of Dublin,[18] a clever but
singular man, and his lady; Lord Palmerston, with whom I had much
pleasant and amusing conversation after dinner--you know how agreeable
he is; then Lady Cadogan,[19] who enquired much after you and Aunt
Louise; Lord and Lady Rosebery,[20] Mr and Mrs E. Stanley,[21] Lord
Morpeth,[22] Lord Templetown,[23] Sir John Cam Hobhouse,[24] Dr
Lushington,[25] and Mr Woulfe,[26] the Solicitor-General for Ireland,
a Roman Catholic and a very clever man. Lady Cadogan, who is not long
come back from Paris, says that the Duke of Orleans has been going out
very little and is remarkably well. I saw a report in the papers that
he and the Duc de Nemours were coming over here, which I fear is not
true; I wish it was....

There is one thing in your former letter which I must answer, or,
rather, more advert to. You said to me, that if it was not for me, you
would regret Greece very much. Now, I assure you, dearest Uncle, you
ought not to regret it, though there is not a doubt that _Greece_
would be much happier were you there. But I have heard from various
people who have been staying in Greece that they very soon got to like
the Turks much better than the Greeks, who are very untrue, and are
quite banditti-like; then, again, the country, though undoubtedly fine
in parts, is a rocky and barren country, and also you are constantly
exposed to the effects of the Plague, that most dreadful of all evils;
and then, lastly, how very, very far you would be, how cut off from
all those who are dear to you, and how exposed to dangers of all
kinds!

I much grieve that they are quarrelling so much in the French
Chambers.[27] I must now conclude.

[Footnote 18: Richard Whateley, formerly Principal of St Alban
Hall, and Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford.]

[Footnote 19: Louisa Honoria, wife of the third Earl, and
sister of Joseph, first Lord Wallscourt.]

[Footnote 20: Archibald, fourth Earl of Rosebery, and Anne
Margaret, his second wife, daughter of the first Viscount
Anson.]

[Footnote 21: Edward Stanley, afterwards fourteenth Earl of
Derby, thrice Prime Minister.]

[Footnote 22: Chief Secretary for Ireland.]