I hear from my dear Webby frequently. The others I know are well, but poor Harriet is placed in a cheap school, and will be educated among people and with ideas that certainly are not adapted to her way of life I hope and trust in future. _17th April, 1800._--Abbé de Lille to-day shone. He aimed not at proving himself a political prophet: he contented himself with being a pleasant companion and a poet unique. In conversation he was very amusing; he told several stories about Voltaire, with whom he had been intimate in the early part of his life. The Collège de Montaigne was remarkable for its filthiness; the _régent_ of it, when the _écoliers_ were to act a play, was puzzled at their choice. It was _Mérope_. The female name offended him, and he altered it to _Méropus_: upon which Voltaire said it was in compliment of the place to call it _Mère au puce_, it being the _foyer_ of dirt. Necker’s conduct in France, he said, was exactly like that of a _Curé_, who at a jovial dinner heard the bell ringing to Vespers, upon which he immediately chanted the Psalm of _Deus in adjutorium meum intende_, etc.; the people made the response _Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto_; a man next to the _Curé_ gave him a _soufflet_, saying if he had not begun the people would not have sung. The application to Necker was that he first sounded the alarm and roused the people of France. At the beginning of the Revolution, when things that now seem insignificant were looked upon as of great importance, two men were overheard talking of the calamities of the country in the Thuileries. One said, ‘Ah! bon Dieu, c’est la fin du monde.’ ‘Bah! bah!’ replied the other, ‘Comment donc, Monsr., il y a des exemples?’ He recited his translation of the fourth book of the _Aeneid_; the tender passages prove his ignorance of the sentiment he expresses. The famous tirade is admirably rendered. [Sidenote: LORD ABERCORN’S MARRIAGE] Lord Abercorn’s singular union has at length taken place contrary to every plausible speculation. A few days before it was declared he confided to a friend his intended marriage, without naming the lady. ‘The world will be surprised, do not contradict the report, nor deny it.’ As soon as the event was public the Queen sent Ly. Ely to Miss Copley[88] to desire her to come to Buckingham House. ‘I hear that in consequence of this business, that you intend quitting Ld. A.’s house; remember, Miss Copley, that the worse the affair is, the stronger is the necessity of continuing with your nieces, and remember you have my advice and sanction.’ This maternal, majestic speech had its effect. Sir Lionel Copley told me both of these anecdotes.