12 o’clock.—­Here comes a letter from George for Lady C[arlisle], brought to me by a gardener of Mr. Raikes, under his cover.  Lord Deerhurst has sent a formal proposal of marriage by Lord Ligonier to Lady something Powis—­Lord Powis’s sister, who, to save appearance of repulse, has returned for answer that she will take three or four days to consider of it.  This I have from Williams.  He and his father have constant altercations upon this subject.  Lord Cov(entry) does not object to the plan of marriage, but says it is not practicable, on account of circumstances.  I shall hear nothing of the matter from the parties themselves.  Ce n’est pas mon affaire, et je ne m’en melerai pas, aux signes de perdre les bonne graces de ce belle-mere.  Lady M’Cartney has wrote to me to hire my house; but one thing I am resolved upon is, not to let it to an acquaintance.  I shall keep it in its present state till these things at Avignon are determined upon.

I dine to-day at the Bishop of Salisbury’s, and to-morrow at Lord Lisbourne’s.  I was to have gone for a day with Lady Fitzw[illiam] to Roehampton, if these damned spasmodic complaints ne m’etoient pas survenus.  However, Potts assures me that I shall be well again, but that I must take more care of myself.  Je le crois.  I have a great mind, as you may imagine, to see you again, and Lady C(arlisle) and Caroline, and all of you, and I have d’autres raisons qui m’attachent au monde, et je n’en suis pas degoute parce qu’il est comme il a toujours ete et comme il sera a toute eternite.  I am very angry with Emily, that he will not write to me; is he afraid that his style is not good, or of what? . . .  The play at Brooks’s is exorbitant, I hear; Grady and Sir Godfrey Whistler and the General and Admiral are at the head of it.  Charles looks wretchedly, I am told, but I have scarce seen him.  Richard is in high cash, and that is all I know of that infernal house.  Adieu; my respects to Lady Carlisle, and my most hearty love to the children.  My best compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Eden, and to Crowle, and pray rub Mr. Dean Emily’s ears till he writes to me.

It is not desirable that those who present a correspondence for perusal should play too much the part of a showman.  Letters speak for themselves.  Yet that which Selwyn wrote on April 14th may well be pointed to as giving, in a few lines, a reflection in miniature of the events grave and gay which were then interesting London society.  We see it vividly, how people were admiring Lady Crawford’s new chair, remarking parenthetically of bad news from across the Atlantic.  But society was less frivolous perhaps than it seemed; the distance from America, the length of time which elapsed between the happening of an event and the news of it in England, the meagreness of the intelligence when at length it arrived, prevented the public imagination from being aroused, and so public interest and opinion lay inert.