conditions of Brougham's accession to office, and to appease
the wrath which had been stirred up in his mind by the offer of
being made Attorney-General. His addiction to politics had,
however, very little influence on his habits, except to extend
and diversify the sphere of his occupations and amusements. His
Parliamentary attendance never abridged the hours or nights which
were devoted to Crockford's, and his friendships with Brougham,
Lord Grey and Lord Holland, Talleyrand, and all the most
distinguished people in the country, did not alienate him from
the company of the idle, gay, and dissolute frequenters of clubs
and race-courses, congenial spirits from whom he extracted their
several contributions of entertainment. The one thing needful to
him was excitement, and so fixed and rooted was his habit of
seeking it, that there was a sort of regularity in the very
irregularities of his existence. In regard to his moral
attributes he was governed by an intense selfishness, but of that
liberal and enlightened character which throws a partial veil
over the vice itself and leaves the superficial observer
unconscious of its existence. He was a devoted husband, a kind
and affectionate father, a despot (though it was a beneficent
despotism) in his own family, a courteous, cordial, and obliging
host; he cared for money only as a means of enjoyment, but it
formed no part of his scheme of happiness to employ it in
promoting the pleasures, or relieving the necessities of others,
except in so far as such pleasures were connected with his own
gratification. He was absolutely devoid of religious belief or
opinions, but he left to all others the unquestioned liberty of
rendering that homage to religion from which he gave himself a
plenary dispensation. His general conduct was stained with no
gross immorality, and as he was placed far above the necessity of
committing dishonourable actions, his mind was habitually imbued
with principles of integrity. They sat, however, lightly and
easily upon him as regarded the conduct of others, not so much
from indifference as from indulgence in those particular cases
where a rigid and severe application of high principle would have
interfered with his own convenience or enjoyment. Such was
Sefton, a man who acted too conspicuous a part on the stage of
the world to be passed over without notice, whom I knew too well
to delineate in more flattering terms, but to whom I must
acknowledge a debt of