It has been the fashion to say that conversation died with Sydney Smith, Luttrell, Rogers and the men of that generation. Those who remember Lord Granville’s dinners must deny that. At his smaller parties there was no room for those political Tadpoles and Tapers who contrive to climb into Governments, and even, sometimes, into Cabinets, on the shoulders of bigger men. Talent there was in plenty, but it must be of the best. Till his death in 1865 Charles Greville, the Clerk of the Council and diarist—and his brother Henry, who, also, was the author of most amusing journals—were pretty frequent guests. Charles Greville indeed—“the Gruncher,” or, as Lord Granville used to call him, “the Lodger”—had rooms on the ground floor of Lord Granville’s house in Bruton Street. He was a cynic, but a most sagacious man, a patrician to his finger-tips, whose political knowledge was matchless, and there were few difficulties, whether social or public, in which he was not consulted. Indeed, his position as Clerk of the Council brought him into the most intimate relations with politicians of all shades of thought, and he often had to act as _amicus curiæ_ between opponents. For instance when changes of government took place he it was who was employed as go-between to carry on such negotiations as might be necessary for the conduct of public business. That he did not pass through this ordeal without making enemies is certain. Witness Lord Rosslyn’s lines upon his memoirs: “For forty years he listened at the door, He heard some secrets and invented more; These he wrote down, and Statesmen, Queens and Kings Were all degraded into common things. Many are gone, but others still remain To whom these memoirs give a needless pain. And though they laugh and say, ‘It’s only Greville,’ They wish his memoirs with him at the Devil.” Both Charles and Henry Greville were old friends of ours, and they were very kind to me. I, at least, never had any reason to be alarmed at either of them as so many men were, for they were both great social potentates.