of accompanying him, because nobody else would), his expertness at small plays, and the unalterable good humour with which he stood the brunt of the frequent practical jokes played off at his expense, rendered him most welcome in all the circles which he frequented, in the pauses of his arduous avocations.

I had then no acquaintance with European politics; but I was a furious little Irish woman; and Lord Castlereagh used frequently to say, "no one cares for Ireland, but Miss O. and I." I took this for sober earnest; and, in the pride of my ignorance and credulity, would repeat poor Louis the Sixteenth's "il n'y a que moi et Monsieur Turgot qui aime le peuple!"

It is the recollection of that liberal and urbane spirit, which brought men of the most opposite opinions in public life, thus to mingle in the harmony of social confidence,-men who, in the high and courteous breeding of their elevated station,

thus armed for discord, had encircled us; and they added a general chorus of inextinguishable laughter, ad libitum, to the instrumental accompaniment they volunteered to Lord C.'s vocal performances. At the head of the band was Lady Castlereagh herself.

never suffered the acrimony of party to shed its venom on the graces of the private circle,-it is this recollection that has so often made me turn in disgust from the vulgar and brutal party feeling, which has prevailed among the ascendancy faction in Ireland, making political differences the ground for anti-social insolence, and carrying into the club and the drawing-room, the virulence and uncharitableness of public hostility.

Between social complaisance and political compliance there is no necessary connexion; and a stern adherence to principle is not incompatible with a good-humoured forbearance to opponents. Lord A- as I have said, was a warm, and a sincere politician: and, much as he lived with both parties, he would have been the last to forgive or tolerate an act of baseness in his own. On the morning of the day which decided the turn of affairs, on the Prince's assumption of the Regency, I remember his saying to me," Lord Castlereagh dines with us to-day; if he goes with the tide, if he rats, it will be for the last time-there is an end of our friendship for ever." Lord Castlereagh,

however, did not rat, and we enjoyed his society

at frequent intervals through the rest of the season, with that of his always joyous, pleasure-stirring Lady.

The last time I saw Lord Castlereagh was at Paris, in the year 1818, at the opening of the session by Louis the Eighteenth-a memorable epoch, and a most striking scene! I shall never forget the impression made on that occasion by the appearance of General La Fayette ;-it was at the moment when the king, seated on his throne, (the princes of his family on either side, and his "beloved peers" and faithful commons around him,). received the oath of fidelity from all. Each individual, in his turn, on being called out by name, stretched forth his hand and pronounced " Je jure." The emphasis, the petulance (so peculiar to French people in speaking), with which many eagerly and anxiously called out "Je jure," who had made the same vow to every form of power which had successively followed, was finely contrasted by the calm, and dignified air, and slowly articulated enunciation of La Fayette,-who, of all that vast assemblage, was the one who had never uttered his

"Je jure," nor pledged himself to the power that was not based in the rights of the people.

The moment his name was announced, and he stood forth, the type of all that was purest and best in the greatest revolution that had ever shaken the empires of the earth, a simultaneous murmur burst forth from all parties-proceeding, indeed, from various emotions, but all indicative of the intense interest his striking and venerable appearance excited. As he stood face to face with the king, and, stretching forth his hand, pronounced his vow of fealty to the first constitutional monarch France had ever seen upon the throne, what a sweep of recollections passed over the minds of the spectators! It was at this moment, I perceived the fine head, and pale, impassable countenance of Lord Castlereagh, bearing forward from the diplomatic tribune, in deep observation of the scene. In the scale of humanity, never was there a more striking contrast, than was at this moment exhibited in the persons of the founders of the National Army of France, and the perpetrator of the Union in Ireland.

MEDDLERS.

L'ABBE GAGLIANI says "that mankind are born with a disposition to meddle with other people's affairs; and that liberty consists in nothing else but the power of indulging the propensity." As a sneer against popular governments, this may be an excellent joke, but it is directly the contrary of truth. The propensity to which men are really predisposed, is that of enjoying the fruits of other men's industry, and of directing the actions of the public towards their own private advantage. The utility of liberty is, that it puts some restraint upon the indulgence of this inclination. The affairs of the nation are the affairs of every one of its members; and tyrants and oligarchs are the real interlopers in their gestion, whose interference is impossible, when the guarantees of liberty are perfect.

It is, however, quite true, that in free states the