* Dr Fitzpatrick (on the authority of Mr Whiteside-- afterwards Lord Chief-Justice) makes the statement that Lord Derby exclaimed, “We must do something for Harry Lorrequer.” Also, that in offering him the appointment, Lord Derby said, “Here is £600 a-year for doing nothing; and you, Lever, are the very man to do it” It does not seem probable that Lever would have considered the somewhat cynical observations attributed to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs as being exceptionally polite or exceptionally courteous.--E. D. “Of course I am very glad to have some of the pressure of eternal authorship taken off my shoulders, for I can easily, by O’Dowd and such like discursive things, double my income without calling upon me for the effort of story-writing. “I might have had something higher and more remunerative if I had been disposed to go farther away, but my wife’s health and my own inclination to keep in this part of Europe (only eighteen hours by rail from where I am) decided me to take Trieste. “It is not, of course, without regret we leave the city we have lived twenty years in; and I believe I am not deceiving myself if I say that we shall be regretted here, for we have a large acquaintance, and are almost Florentine. Still, it would be madness to refuse such an offer and the security it gives that when my hand and head get more wearied I shall yet be able to live, and, like the princess in the fairy tale, only ‘kill mice’ for my amusement.” _To Mr John Blackwood._ “Villa Morelli, Florence, _March_ 6, 1867. “I send you the Fenians altered--and, I hope, for the better. As the Government _have_ called for the New Powers, there is no need to deplore their omitting to do so, and the paper will not read the worse that it does not censure them. “I have thought over what you suggested about Gladstone,--but it would be too personal, and I hate him too much to trust myself to speak of him individually. As for the charm of his manner--his fascination, &c,--I think it is about the most arrant humbug I know. Joseph Surface, with a strong Lancashire burr, is the impression he left upon me. “What a precious fiasco the Tories have made of their bill. Like the Chinese with the plum-pudding, they forgot to tie the bag, and all the ingredients have got loose in the pot. I see Lord Cranborne and Peel have left them. Both are losses, but it matters little how the crew is to muster when the ship is among the breakers.