not a stranger;"

and wonder how people can be content to dwell whole years in so
circumscribed, however useful, a circle.

Those who live much in London seem to me to have tasted the lotus
which, according to the fable of old, induced forgetfulness of the
past, so wholly are they engrossed by the present, and by the vortex in
which they find themselves plunged.

Much as I like England, and few love it more dearly, I should not like
to pass all the rest of my life in it. _All, all_: it is thus we ever
count on futurity, reckoning as if our lives were certain of being
prolonged, when we know not that the _all_ on which we so boldly
calculate may not be terminated in a day, nay, even in an hour. Who is
there that can boast an English birth, that would not wish to die at
home and rest in an English grave?

Sir Francis Burdett has arrived, and means to stay some time here. He
called on us yesterday with Colonel Leicester Stanhope, and is as
agreeable and good-natured as ever. He is much _feted_ at Paris, and
receives great attention from the Duc d'Orleans, who has offered him
his boxes at the theatres, and shews him all manner of civilities.

Colonel Leicester Stanhope gave me some interesting details of poor
Byron's last days in Greece, and seems to have duly appreciated his
many fine qualities, in spite of the errors that shrouded but could not
eclipse them. The fine temper and good breeding that seem to be
characteristic of the Stanhope family, have not degenerated in this
branch of it; and his manner, as well as his voice and accent, remind
me very forcibly of my dear old friend his father, who is one of the
most amiable, as well as agreeable men I ever knew, and who I look
forward with pleasure to meeting on my return home.

The Marquise Palavicini from Genoa, her daughter-in-law the Princesse
Doria, sir Francis Burdett, and Colonel Leicester Stanhope, dined with
us yesterday. The marquise Palavicini is a very sensible and agreeable
woman, and the Princesse Doria is very pretty and amiable. Like most of
her countrywomen, this young and attractive person is wholly free from
that affectation which deteriorates from so many of the women of other
countries; and the simplicity of her manner, which is as remote from
_gaucherie_ as it is from affectation, invests her with a peculiar
charm.

We talked over Genoa, where we have spent so many pleasant days, and
the beautiful gardens of the villa Palavicini, the possessio