His display of domestic virtues reminded me of a saying of Saint-Foix, who, talking of Lord A. said he was a crafty, hypocritical man, with _mœurs_ in his mouth and sin in his heart, and that his whole system was artificial, that his wife was the same, and that even ‘les petits enfants jouent aussi leurs rôles.’ His wife is a sprightly, prating, gossiping woman, with a large share of vanity and a moderate one of sense. She is the only woman I ever saw that Ld. H. absolutely cannot endure. The French made a lively sort of epigram against Santerre,[171] the infamous brewer, who became General, and attended Louis XVI. to the scaffold. The sting of it turns upon their popular liquor, ‘La bonne bierre de Mars’:-- Ci-gît le Général Santerre, Qui n’a de Mars que sa bierre. The secession of Mr. Fox from his duty in Parliament is a subject of great discontent to the Ministry, a strong proof that it has in part the effect intended. It is believed that if he would attend, this vexatious scheme for Assessed Taxes would be relinquished. [Sidenote: BOBUS SMITH’S MARRIAGE] A family event is upon the point of taking place, which surprised us all when we heard of it, a union with Mr. S.[172] and Miss V.[173] In a worldly point of view it is bad, as they will be excessively poor, but the worst part is the great disparity of age; he is twenty-seven, she is thirty-nine, twelve years upon the wrong side. I shall dwell upon his character some time or other; and perhaps hers, though it has few features beyond that of being good-hearted and well disposed. I am most unusually dull! I heard a _bon mot_ of Mr. Erskine’s that I think is good. He was at dinner sitting between (May 17,’97) Mr. Adam and Mr. Crewe. He was attacking Mr. A. for his constant opposition to Parliamentary reform when in Parliament, and soliciting Mr. C. for his vote for the reform which was then coming on. ‘What company I am in!’ exclaimed Erskine, ‘a _Crewe_ in mutiny, and an _Adam_ with original sin.’ The fleet was in mutiny at the Nore. About the same time it was decided in a court of justice that an affidavit must have a title. Erskine, while his adversary was pleading for the necessity of the title, wrote in court these lines:-- In times like these when ’tis the vogue To title every fool and rogue, Up starts a perjured affidavit And swears that he must also have it. Lord Lauderdale dined here and mentioned having just left Ld. Thurlow,[174] whose opinion he had asked about these Triple Assessments;[175] he answered in his usual style of vehemence and imprecation, ‘D--n seize the whole set of them; _I_ look for Bonaparte, and expect redress from him in London at the head of 100,000 men.’