As the Lord Mayor has invited me to his great dinner, I rode into the city this morning to call on him: this is rather a perilous enterprise, with a fidgetty horse. Once I got so entangled in the crowd, that I was absolutely forced to turn my horse on the 'trottoir.' This the people regarded as an invasion of their rights; and not observing that necessity drove me thither, began to abuse me, and some to strike my horse: a huge gigantic carter held up his fist and challenged me to box with him: as however I felt no inclination to make this practical application of the lessons I have taken in the 'noble art of self-defence,' I pressed forward to a small gap which happily offered itself, and made my escape. I dined with Count Munster, a noble representative of Germany, who has endeavoured as far as possible to preserve German simplicity in his household. Everybody knows his distinguished qualities as a statesman: he is not less remarkable for his agreeable manners and talents in social and domestic life. Since his residence in England, he has designed and painted the decorations for his castle in the Harz, with great taste and skill; and his wife's paintings on glass are very beautiful: in a few years all the windows of the castle chapel will be adorned with her own works. The German housewife however is no mere modern bel-esprit, or artist, but, like one of the knightly dames who are the subjects of her pencil, she takes care to have excellent beer brewed in her own house:--she gave me some, which I drank with all the gratitude of a guest in the hall of Valhalla. In the evening a great fête at Lord Hertford's, with concert, ball, French-play, &c., assembled the fashionable and half-fashionable world[52] in a magnificent and tastefully furnished house. The singularity in it is, that all the rooms are decorated in the same manner,--flesh-coloured stucco and gold, with black bronze, very large looking-glasses, and curtains of crimson and white silk. This uniformity produces a very 'grandiose' effect. One room alone (of extraordinary size for London) is white and gold, carpeted with scarlet cloth, and with furniture and curtains of the same colour. The company, 'c'est a dire la foule,' was not more vivacious than usual, and the whole affair 'magnifiquement ennuyex.' Another house worth seeing is that of the great banker ----, especially on account of the fine collection of pictures. Here is also that triumph of modern sculpture, Thorwaldson's Jason, and some valuable antiques. On a sort of terrace on part of the house are hanging-gardens; and though the shrubs have only three feet of earth, they grow very luxuriantly. The lady of the gardens is however no Semiramis; 'il s'en faut,' whatever she may think * * * * * * * *