We found only Mr. Hoare with Ld. Digby, a brother of Sr. R. Hoare,[13] the owner of Stourhead, a handsome, gentlemanlike young man. The next day Ld. Westmoreland[14] came. He is coarse in mind, manners, and language. The first is overbearing and sanguinary; he appears to be one who thinks strong measures indicate a strong mind, and that vigour denotes intrepidity, whereas in my opinion the reverse is proved, for genuine fortitude inculcates clemency. His manners are those that spring from power engrafted upon a low education, and his language is a symbol of both. I do not wonder he is accused of having sowed the seeds of the late rebellion in Ireland; he seems of a character calculated to irritate wavering loyalty into rebellion. He spoke so brutally of some of the wretched prisoners who had escaped his fury, that my heart beat high with indignation, and even _I_ for a moment felt a movement in behalf of a nation I never liked. There have been a few newcomers every day; Mr. Newbolt came over to see us. Yesterday Mr. Wingfield,[15] who married Ld. Digby’s sister, arrived. He is like Archibald Hamilton, who, by-the-bye, is now become Ld. A. H.,[16] in person, and unfortunately, in manner resembles Mr. Chaplin,[17] the same precise, deliberate way of speaking. Since I have been here I have read a _Life of Voltaire_, written, I believe, by Condorcet. It proves what I was not at all aware of--that Voltaire was really persecuted for his freedom of opinions, and that a timely escape and concealment was necessary to save his liberty at different periods. Absurd and unjust as most of the attacks are against _philosophy_, as it is called, one must admit that those free principles and the spirit of investigation which pervades all Voltaire’s writings, tended very much to induce people to attempt eradicating prejudices and making reforms before they had well examined into the abuses or prepared a remedy against them. It is without an example in the records of mankind that a single man, unaided by the fanaticism of religious superstition, should have produced such a change in the sentiments of a large bulk of Europe as Voltaire did: one can scarcely say it has been for the better when the devastation of France is now before our eyes. Whatever mischief may have arisen from the freedom of discussion, I think many now living will outlive the practice, as there is an anti-conspiracy to that of which the philosophers are accused now making among the rich and powerful--one that, if pursued with the ardour I see many enter into it with, will inevitably be the ruin of all taste, literature, and civil liberty. The young men of fashion and birth are bit with a military mania; they all aim at attaining a martial air, and a reputation for strictness in their Militia discipline. Without reflecting much, they are persuaded a military force is necessary to keep the people down, and that as religion is co-existent with the State, so it is wise to support