Lord Wycombe has never passed the threshold of our doors since the day he saw his father drive into the gates, whilst he was in the porch. Whether he imagined the _rencontre_ was the effect of design or that he chooses to have the air of appearing to think so, I cannot guess; but the effect, from some cause or other, has been his absence. The campaign does not advance as swimmingly as was expected by the allies. Melas, when he took the Bocchetta, expected Genoa could not hold out long after the loss of that important pass, but Masséna is determined to maintain himself till the last gasp, and now he is certain of being relieved, as Bonaparte has taken the command in person of the army of Italy.[106] _30th May._--The last date of his dispatch was ye 18th of May at Martigny, but Berthier with the advanced division has crossed the Mt. of St. Bernard, and has reached Aost. The French have a _pied-à-terre_ only at Genoa and Savona; Mantua, Milan, etc., are at present in the possession of the Austrians. Melas has taken Nice, but must quit it immediately to meet Bonaparte in Piedmont. Moreau has advanced to within a short distance of Ulm. Knay, the Austrian commander, is very obstinate, and strongly addicted to the old system of carrying on war by _posts_. The Emperor Paul is grown quite mad. The French have made a caricature of him with _order_ in one hand, _counter-order_ in the other, and on his head _dis_order. Sir Charles Whitworth will feel happy when fairly off his territory, as he is capable of proceeding to personal violence against those with whom he is incensed. The English who inhabit Petersburg are detained as hostages for his 15,000 men in Jersey and Guernsey. Woronzow,[107] the Russian Minister, who has resided in this country many years, is suddenly recalled, as his dispatches have not been sufficiently abusive of this Government to please the Imperial taste; he is quite wretched, for besides breaking up all his old habits, he is not without apprehension of some punishment being inflicted upon him when he returns. Parr says of the Bishop of Rochester’s sermon, which was quoted so ludicrously and well by the Duke of Clarence, that it contains ‘the precepts of the Koran, conveyed in the language of the Stews.’[108] The sermon was preached at the Magdalen, and Mr. Grey assured me without any joke that the doctrine and the language are both so extraordinary that no modest woman would read it, or own to having done so. [Sidenote: LADY GEORGINA CAVENDISH]