and set
off, and there we found a regular "swarry," instead of something to
eat and drink, and a chair to sit upon in peace and quiet. There
was a room full of all the fine folks in London; very few chairs,
no peace and quiet, and heaps of acquaintance to talk to.... All
the London world that is in London. Lord and Lady Francis took
their success very composedly. I don't think they would have cared
much if the play had failed. Henry Greville seemed to be much more
interested for them than they for themselves, and discussed it all
for a long time with me. I liked him very much.... At long last I
got home, and had some supper, but what with fatigue and
nervousness, and _it_--_i.e._, the supper--so late, I had a most
wretched night, and kept dreaming I was out in my part and jumping
up in bed, and all sorts of agonies. What a life! I don't steal my
money, I'm sure.

_Thursday, 19th._-- ... Henry and I rode in the park, and though
the day was detestable, it did me good. As we were walking the
horses round by Kensington Gardens, Lord John Russell, peering out
of voluminous wrappers, joined us. Certainly that small,
sharp-visaged gentleman does not give much outward and visible sign
of the inward and spiritual power he possesses and wields over this
realm of England just now. His bodily presence might almost be
described as St. Paul's. This turner inside out and upside down of
our body, social and political, this hero of reform, one of the
ablest men in England--I suppose in Europe--he rode with us for a
long time, and I thought how H---- would have envied me this
conversation with her idol.... In the evening, at the theater,
though I had gone over my part before going there, for the first
time in my play-house experience I was _out_ on the stage. I
stopped short in the middle of one of my speeches, thinking I had
finished it, whereas I had not given Mr. Warde the cue he was to
reply to. How disgraceful!... After the play, my mother called for
us in the carriage, and we went to Lady Dacre's, and had a pleasant
party enough.... C---- G---- was there, with her mother (the clever
and accomplished authoress of several so-called fashionable novels,
which had great popularity in their day). Miss G----, now Lady
E---- T----, used to be called by us "la Dam