Yesterday morning at two o'clock I called on Thiers by appointment, found him in a very pretty apartment full of beautiful drawings, copies of Italian frescoes, pictures, bronzes, books and _cahiers_ of MS., the sheets (much corrected and interlined I could see) of his work. These he told me were his 'seul dÈlassement,' and that politics never interrupted his literary labour. We then talked about the present state of affairs, and very amusing he was, sparing nobody and talking with his usual abundance and openness. He said he had read the notes that had passed between Palmerston and Guizot; that his own opinion was that Guizot would break down on the _procÈdÈs_, but that at all events it was a quarrel _‡ outrance_; that each accused the other of bad faith, and could only justify himself by fixing that imputation on his antagonist; that moderation became impossible when such charges were bandied, and he had read with astonishment the strong things contained in these notes; that if Guizot had the worst of this encounter he would fall, not however by the desertion of the majority, not by this Chamber, but through the King. 'You must not,' he said, 'believe what you hear of the strength of the Government and of its security; don't believe all Madame de Lieven tells you; c'est une bavarde, une menteuse, et une sotte; vous l'avez beaucoup connue, vous avez ÈtÈ son amant, n'est-ce pas?' I defended myself from the imputation, and assured him that though she had had lovers when first she came to England I never had had the honour of being one of them. He then said he would tell me what would happen: the King _se faisait illusion_ that the Whig Government could not stand; but when he found out that this was an error _il aurait peur_; and if we continued to refuse to be reconciled, he would get rid of Guizot. The present Chamber would not overthrow him, but the King would. 'Savez-vous ce que c'est que le Roi? Le mot est grossier, mais vous le comprendrez. Eh bien, c'est un poltron.'[6] I said I was surprised to hear this, for we thought he was _un homme de coeur_, and had given proofs of his courage very often. 'Non, non, je vous dis qu'il est poltron, et quand il se trouvera dÈfinitivement mal avec vous il aura peur; alors il suscitera des embarras ‡ Guizot; il y a quarante ou cinquante hommes dans la Chambre, je les connais, qui tourneront contre lui, et de cette maniËre il tombera, pas par la Chambre, encore moins par vous.' He said the accusations had been so strong that each Minister was bound to prove his own case and the _mauvaise foi_ of his adversary, and Guizot would stand or fall by the result of the explanations. 'Vous pouvez Ítre s˚r que ce que je vous dis est la vÈritÈ, d'autant plus que ce n'est pas moi qui lui succÈderai, c'est MolÈ. Cependant je vous parle franchement, et je vous avoue que je serais enchantÈ de sa chute; d'abord parce que je le dÈteste, et aprËs, parce que l'alliance anglaise est impossible avec