tense
hatred; and the Tories, who are bitter and spiteful, and hate
them merely as Ministers and as occupants of the places they
covet, and not as men, are provoked to death at being baulked in
the occasion that seemed to present itself of putting them into a
difficulty. The Duke, whose thoughts are steadily directed to the
public good, and to that alone, will lend himself to no such
vexatious purposes; he looks at the position of the Government in
relation with foreign powers, and deals with it as a national and
not as a party question. It is in this spirit that he constantly
and inflexibly acts, though not failing to give Ministers a
pretty sharp lecture every now and then. His forbearance has
annoyed his own supporters to such a degree that they keep up a
continual under-growl, and are always lamenting the decay of his
faculties, and if they dared and knew how, they would gladly
substitute some other leader for him. The 'ardor prava jubentium'
has, however, no effect whatever on him: it neither ruffles his
serenity nor shakes his purpose. The Whigs laud him to the skies,
which provokes the Tories all the more, nor does their praise
spring in all probability from a purer or more unselfish source
than the complaints of their adversaries, for they are more
rejoiced at finding so often this plank of safety than struck
with admiration at his magnanimity. Wise, moderate, and impartial
men of all parties view the Duke's conduct in its true light, and
render him that justice the full measure of which it is reserved
for history and posterity to pay. No greater contrast can be
displayed than between the minds of the Duke of Wellington and
Brougham. It is a curious and an interesting study to examine and
compare their powers, faculties, attainments, the moral and
intellectual constitutions of the men, their respective careers,
their results, and the judgement of the world upon them.

Yesterday morning I met Macaulay,[16] and walked with him for
some time. He talked of the necessity of a coalition between the
Parliamentary leaders, which might be effected, provided they
would lay aside personal feelings and jealousies; that Lyndhurst
might be the greatest obstacle; he thought a strong Government
ought to be formed, one that should not live as this does from
hand to mouth, and by no means but by a coalition could this be
effected. The Radicals, he said, were clearly extinct, being
reduced, as far as he could learn, 'to Grote a