Another matter. What do you think of Matthew Arnold as a possible member of The Club? He is a good fellow and his literary reputation is very considerable. I think we could do with him if he would attend. _From M. B. St.-Hilaire_ _November 22nd_.--You know how little value I set on my office; I only accepted it from a sense of duty, and quit it to-day, not only without regret but with great pleasure. I am glad to receive your congratulations because you correctly estimate the person to whom they are addressed. Like yourself, I am not without anxiety for the future. In placing matters in the hands of M. Gambetta, I said all I possibly could on the affairs of Europe and our relations with Germany; but I will not swear that more attention will be paid to my advice than to that of many others. The Journal has:-- _December 10th_.--To Timsbury; 13th to Foxholes. The Mintos were living at Bournemouth. Lunched with them on the 31st. 1882, _January 1st_.--At Foxholes. Sir A. Lyall came. _9th_.--Returned to London. A few dinners. _From Mr. E. Cheney_ _Badger Hall, January 19th_.--I have been reading the political articles in the last number of the 'Edinburgh' with great interest and pleasure. The one on 'The Bonapartes,' though not strictly political, amused me much, as at one time of my life I knew Hortense and Louis Bonaparte intimately. Hortense was an agreeable woman, very French, but lively and full of anecdote. She had been and was _tres galante_, but with decency. When I knew her at Rome she was near fifty, and though not handsome, had still the appearance of once having been a desirable woman.... Her son was then with her--a youth of my own age, with whom I was intimate without liking him. He was cold, disagreeable, and full of pretension, silent and reserved in his own family, and anxious for distinction, which no one seemed willing to accord him. I believe--contrary to the usual opinion--that he was the son of Louis Bonaparte; he was like him. He was short, not ill-made, but ungraceful; his face was plain, his skin bad, complexion muddy; small pig's eyes, a coarse nose and mouth, lank hair, with little expression, and what he had far from good. Neither I, nor any that then knew him, thought him at all clever. I remember he got into a ludicrous scrape by intruding, in female attire, into the apartments of the mistress of the Spanish ambassador, from whence he was kicked out with every circumstance of ignominy.