_14th Dec., 1809._--The Whig Corporation of Nottingham having done Ld. H. the honour of choosing him their Recorder, vacant by the death of the D. of Portland, it was necessary for him to go there and take the oaths. Accordingly we took the opportunity of making the journey in part with him, and of paying some visits on our way, for change of air for me after a confinement is indispensable to keep off a whole train of nervous disorders, and I did not much relish the notion of a trip to Nottingham to share his civic honours. On this day we went to _Panshanger_, on the _banks of the Mimram_, a very Asiatic sound! A pretty place of Lord Cowper’s in Hertfordshire. We took Tierney with us. Found besides the family, Lds. Essex, Erskine, and Mr. Giles Lewis. No news of the result of the election at Oxford,[336] but the Grenvilles began to despond. Drove out to see the new college at Haileybury, a large, ugly, mean-looking conventual building. In the eve, news came of Lord Grenville’s success at Oxford; carried it by a majority of 13. _15th._--Drove to Woolmers, a dismal, damp, ill-kept house, belonging to Ld. Stafford. It was too cold to walk to the spring, and, indeed, I am too lame to undertake any excursion on foot. _16th, Sunday._--We were to have gone away, but delayed our departure in order to see Ly. Melbourne, who was coming on the ensuing day. _17th._--Ly. Melbourne came. _18th, Tuesday._--Set off and resolved to go as far as we could, as Ld. H. was to be at Nottingham to a great dinner on Wednesday. The roads were in a very bad condition owing to the great fall of rain; however, we reached Stamford and slept. _19th._--Ld. H. set off alone to Nottingham. Mr. Allen, Charles, and I went to see Burleigh, a stately edifice, not improved by the bad taste of the last proprietor. A few good pictures, and several beautiful portraits of Mde. de la Vallière after her profession, in the dress of the Order. Ascertained that the story of Ld. Exeter having made a bonfire, in the courtyard, of Voltaire, Rousseau, &c., was true. This was done to edify the people at Stamford during the _alarm_, to teach them to shun the doctrines of those apostates from religion, morality, &c. From thence we went to Grantham, where I resolved to take up my abode till Ld. H. returned. _20th._--Went to see Belvoir, which is undergoing a thorough reparation and improvement by Wyatt. It commands a staring, ugly view of the Vale of Belvoir. The antique baronial costume of the castle is destroyed by the introduction of modern fortifications and of artillery mounted upon the walls. The collection of pictures is very good. The famous ‘Sacraments’ of _Poussin_, and a pretty _Murillo_ with three Virgins in white, exactly in the style of those in the famous ‘Transito de Santa Clara,’ in the convent at Seville. We sent for _novels_ to the circulating library, and sat up reading the trash it furnished half the night.