as full of force and substance, and arose naturally from the
complexion of the conversation or the circumstance of the moment. But
when alone with his sisters, and, in after years, with his nieces,
he was fond of setting himself deliberately to manufacture conceits
resembling those on the heroes of the Trojan War which have been thought
worthy of publication in the collected works of Swift. When walking in
London he would undertake to give some droll turn to the name of every
shopkeeper in the street, and, when travelling, to the name of every
station along the line. At home he would run through the countries of
Europe, the States of the Union, the chief cities of our Indian Empire,
the provinces of France, the Prime Ministers of England, or the chief
writers and artists of any given century; striking off puns, admirable,
endurable, and execrable, but all irresistibly laughable, which followed
each other in showers like sparks from flint. Capping verses was a game
of which he never tired. "In the spring of 1829," says his cousin Mrs.
Conybeare, "we were staying in Ormond Street. My chief recollection of
your uncle during that visit is on the evenings when we capped verses.
All the family were quick at it, but his astounding memory made him
supereminent. When the time came for him to be off to bed at his
chambers, he would rush out of the room after uttering some long-sought
line, and would be pursued to the top of the stairs by one of the others
who had contrived to recall a verse which served the purpose, in order
that he might not leave the house victorious; but he, with the hall-door
open in his hand, would shriek back a crowning effort, and go off
triumphant."

Nothing of all this can be traced in his letters before the year 1830.
Up to that period he corresponded regularly with no one but his father,
between whom and himself there existed a strong regard, but scanty
sympathy or similarity of pursuits. It was not until he poured out his
mind almost daily to those who approached him more nearly in age, and in
tastes, that the lighter side of his nature began to display itself on
paper. Most of what he addressed to his parents between the time when he
left Cambridge, and the time when he entered the House of Commons, may
be characterised as belonging to the type of duty-letters, treating of
politics, legal gossip, personal adventures, and domestic incidents,
with some reticence and little warmth or ease of expression,