Macaulay writes to Lord
Mahon: "We are now strictly on duty. No furloughs even for a dinner
engagement, or a sight of Taglioni's legs, can be obtained. It is very
hard to keep forty members in the House. Sibthorpe and Leader are on the
watch to count us out; and from six till two we never venture further
than the smoking-room without apprehension. In spite of all our
exertions the end of the Session seems further and further off every
day. If you would do me the favour of inviting Sibthorpe to Chevening
Park you might be the means of saving my life, and that of thirty or
forty more of us who are forced to swallow the last dregs of the oratory
of this Parliament; and nauseous dregs they are."] On Saturday we
met,--for the last time, I hope, on business. When the House rose, I set
off for Holland House. We had a small party, but a very distinguished
one. Lord Grey, the Chancellor, Lord Palmerston, Luttrell, and myself
were the only guests. Allen was of course at the end of the table,
carving the dinner and sparring with my Lady. The dinner was not so
good as usual; for the French cook was ill; and her Ladyship kept up a
continued lamentation during the whole repast. I should never have found
out that everything was not as it should be but for her criticisms. The
soup was too salt; the cutlets were not exactly comme il faut; and the
pudding was hardly enough boiled. I was amused to hear from the splendid
mistress of such a house the same sort of apologies which--made when her
cook forgot the joint, and sent up too small a dinner to table. I told
Luttrell that it was a comfort to me to find that no rank was exempted
from these afflictions.

They talked about --'s marriage. Lady Holland vehemently defended the
match; and, when Allen said that--had caught a Tartar, she quite went
off into one of her tantrums: "She a Tartar! Such a charming girl a
Tartar! He is a very happy man, and your language is insufferable:
insufferable, Mr. Allen." Lord Grey had all the trouble in the world to
appease her. His influence, however, is very great. He prevailed on her
to receive Allen again into favour, and to let Lord Holland have a slice
of melon, for which he had been petitioning most piteously, but which
she had steadily refused on account of his gout. Lord Holland thanked
Lord Grey for his intercession.. "Ah, Lord Grey, I wish you were always
here. It is a fine thing to be Prime Minister." This tattle is worth
nothing, except to show