t is too public and noisy for
pleasure, but necessity is without law. The ceremony of presentation,
upon one week to the King, and the next to the Queen, was to take place,
after which I was to prepare for mine. It is customary, upon
presentation, to receive visits from all the foreign ministers; so that
we could not exchange our lodgings for more private ones, as we might
and should, had we been only in a private character. The foreign
ministers and several English lords and earls have paid their
compliments here, and all hitherto is civil and polite. I was a
fortnight, all the time I could get, looking at different houses, but
could not find any one fit to inhabit under L200, beside the taxes,
which mount up to L50 or L60. At last my good genius carried me to one
in Grosvenor Square, which was not let, because the person who had the
care of it could let it only for the remaining lease, which was one year
and three-quarters. The price, which is not quite two hundred pounds,
the situation, and all together, induced us to close the bargain, and I
have prevailed upon the person who lets it to paint two rooms, which
will put it into decent order; so that, as soon as our furniture comes,
I shall again commence housekeeping. Living at a hotel is, I think, more
expensive than housekeeping, in proportion to what one has for his
money. We have never had more than two dishes at a time upon our table,
and have not pretended to ask any company, and yet we live at a greater
expense than twenty-five guineas per week. The wages of servants, horse
hire, house rent, and provisions are much dearer here than in France.
Servants of various sorts, and for different departments, are to be
procured; their characters are to be inquired into, and this I take upon
me, even to the coachman, You can hardly form an idea how much I miss my
son on this, as well as on many other accounts; but I cannot bear to
trouble Mr. Adams with anything of a domestic kind, who, from morning
until evening, has sufficient to occupy all his time. You can have no
idea of the petitions, letters, and private applications for assistance,
which crowd our doors. Every person represents his case as dismal. Some
may really be objects of compassion, and some we assist; but one must
have an inexhaustible purse to supply them all. Besides, there are so
many gross impositions practiced, as we have found in more instances
than one, that it would take the whole of a person's time t