t unpleasant--and went in the evening to Lady Harrowby;
Lord Harrowby gone to his brothers'. Melbourne had told me that
he had spoken to Haddington, and I found Haddington had given a
report of what he said such as I am sure Melbourne did not mean
to convey; the upshot of which was that there was only one man in
the Cabinet who wished to make Peers, that there was no immediate
danger, and that it would do more harm than good if they declared
themselves without a good number of adherents. Called this
morning on Lady C., who said that Melbourne was in fact very much
annoyed at his position, wanted _caractere_, was wretched at
having been led so far, and tossed backwards and forwards between
opposite sentiments and feelings; that he thought the Government
very weak, and that they would not stand, and in fact that he did
not desire they should remain in, but the contrary. And this is
Frederick's opinion too, who has great influence over him, while
at the same time he is rather jealous of Frederick.

February 6th, 1832 {p.245}

[Page Head: MACAULAY AT HOLLAND HOUSE.]

Dined yesterday with Lord Holland; came very late, and found a
vacant place between Sir George Robinson and a common-looking man
in black. As soon as I had time to look at my neighbour, I began
to speculate (as one usually does) as to who he might be, and as
he did not for some time open his lips except to eat, I settled
that he was some obscure man of letters or of medicine, perhaps a
cholera doctor. In a short time the conversation turned upon early
and late education, and Lord Holland said he had always remarked
that self-educated men were peculiarly conceited and arrogant, and
apt to look down upon the generality of mankind, from their being
ignorant of how much other people knew; not having been at public
schools, they are uninformed of the course of general education.
My neighbour observed that he thought the most remarkable example
of self-education was that of Alfieri, who had reached the age of
thirty without having acquired any accomplishment save that of
driving, and who was so ignorant of his own language that he had
to learn it like a child, beginning with elementary books. Lord
Holland quoted Julius Caesar and Scaliger as examples of late
education, said that the latter had been wounded, and that he had
been married and commenced learning Greek the same day, when my
neighbour remarked 'that he supposed his learning Greek was not an
instanta