ALPHA~}.

_Saturday, Dec. 26._--Once more a noble day. We started in a couple of
carriages for the Negress station, a couple of miles away or more, I with
the G.'s. Occasion produced the Greek epitaph of the nameless drowned
sailor (M167) who wished for others kinder seas.(291) Mr. G. felt its
pathos and its noble charm--so direct and simple, such benignity, such a
good lesson to men to forget their own misdeeds and mischance, and to pray
for the passer-by a happier star. He repaid me by two epigrams of a
different vein, and one admirable translation into Greek, of Tennyson on
Sir John Franklin, which I do not carry in my mind; another on a
boisterous Eton fellow--

Didactic, dry, declamatory, dull,
The bursar ---- bellows like a bull.

Just in the tone of Greek epigram, a sort of point, but not too much
point.

_Parliamentary Wit._--Thought Disraeli had never been surpassed, nor even
equalled, in this line. He had a contest with General Grey, who stood upon
the general merits of the whig government, after both Lord Grey and
Stanley had left it. D. drew a picture of a circus man who advertised his
show with its incomparable team of six grey horses. One died, he replaced
it by a mule. Another died, and he put in a donkey, still he went on
advertising his team of greys all the same. Canning's wit not to be found
conspicuously in his speeches, but highly agreeable pleasantries, though
many of them in a vein which would jar horribly on modern taste.

Some English redcoats and a pack of hounds passed us as we neared the
station. They saluted Mr. G. with a politeness that astonished him, but
was pleasant. Took the train for Irun, the fields and mountain slopes
delightful in the sun, and the sea on our right a superb blue such as we
never see in English waters. At Irun we found carriages waiting to take us
on to Fuentarabia. From the balcony of the church had a beautiful view
over the scene of Wellington's operations when he crossed the Bidassoa, in
the presence of the astonished Soult. A lovely picture, made none the
worse by this excellent historic association. The alcalde was extremely
polite and intelligent. The consul who was with us showed a board on the
old tower, in which _v_ in some words was _b_, and I noted that the
alcalde spoke of Viarritz. I reminded Mr. G. of Scaliger's epigram--

Haud temere antiquas mutat Vasconia voces,
Cui nihil est alind vivere quam bibere.

Pretty cold driv