:--he has been telling that I------[3] I am sure, at least,
_I_ did not mention it, and I wish he had not. He is a good fellow, and
I obliged myself ten times more by being of use than I did him,--and
there's an end on't.
Baldwin [4] is boring me to present their King's Bench petition. I
presented Cartwright's last year; and Stanhope and I stood against the
whole House, and mouthed it valiantly--and had some fun and a little
abuse for our opposition. But "I am not i' th' vein" [5] for this
business. Now, had----been here, she would have _made_ me do it.
_There_ is a woman, who, amid all her fascination, always urged a man to
usefulness or glory. Had she remained, she had been my tutelar genius.
Baldwin is very importunate--but, poor fellow, "I can't get out, I can't
get out--said the starling." [6] Ah, I am as bad as that dog Sterne, who
preferred whining over "a dead ass to relieving a living mother"
[7]--villain--hypocrite--slave--sycophant! but _I_ am no better. Here I
cannot stimulate myself to a speech for the sake of these unfortunates,
and three words and half a smile of----had she been here to urge it
(and urge it she infallibly would--at least she always pressed me on
senatorial duties, and particularly in the cause of weakness) would have
made me an advocate, if not an orator. Curse on Rochefoucault for being
always right! In him a lie were virtue,--or, at least, a comfort to his
readers.
George Byron has not called to-day; I hope he will be an admiral, and,
perhaps, Lord Byron into the bargain.
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