st; but this is
all in God's hand.

Here are the Argylls, Lady Blantyre and a heap of young. We have
been busy reading translations of Homer this morning, including
some of mine, which are approved. Tennyson has written most noble
lines on the Prince. Lord Palmerston is reported well.

_Jan. 18._--I lifted Hayward last night back from dinner. He is
full of the doctrine that Lord Palmerston is not to last another
year. Johnny is then to succeed, and I to lead (as he says by the
universal admission of the whigs) in the H. of C. It is rather
hard before the death thus to divide the inheritance. But that we
may not be too vain, it is attended with this further
announcement, that when that event occurs, the government is
shortly to break down.

_Cabinet Room, Feb. 1._--The cabinet has gone well.(73) It is
rather amusing. I am driving the screw; Lewis yields point by
point. I think in substance the question is ruled in my favour.
Thank God for the prospect of peace; but it will not positively be
settled till Monday. Lewis's last dying speech, 'Well, we will see
what can be done.'

_Bowden, Wilts., Feb. 19._--The funeral is over [the wife of his
brother]. Nothing could be better ordered in point of taste and
feeling. It was one of the most touching, I think the most
touching, scene I ever witnessed, when the six daughters weeping
profusely knelt around the grave, and amidst their sobs and tears
just faltered out the petitions of the Lord's Prayer in the
service. John, sensible of his duty of supporting others, went
through it all with great fortitude. On the whole, I must say I
can wish no more for any family, than that when the stroke of
bereavement comes, they meet it as it has been met here.

_Nov. 18._--I have sat an hour with Lord Lyndhurst. He is much
_older_ than when I saw him last, but still has pith and life in
him, as well as that astonishing freshness of mind which gives him
a charm in its way quite unrivalled. He was very kind, and what is
more, he showed, I think, a seriousness of tone which has been
missed before.

Last night I saw "Lord Dundreary." I think it--the part and the
player, not the play--quite admirable. It is a thoroughly refined
piece of acting, such as we hardly ever see in England; and it
combines with refinement intense fun. My face b