do

you think? or will you credit me when I assert what is really true? viz. that the peer "sits opposite to his wife at the breakfast-table with the Duchess of Ar-g-le's miniature-portrait reclining against the teacup, and he weeping over it.

The St. James's newspaper, I am told, has "cut the connexion" with ministers altogether. "When rogues quarrel," &c.

Caulaincourt arrived here incog. on Friday night. K-n-d being asked if he knew it said, "It is very likely, I expected him."

Sixty sail of transports are now employed from St. Helena to the Cape of Good Hope to supply the former with provisions. What part of this immense sum is paid by our allies?

The Antwerp paragraph was very interesting; am I at liberty to make use of it? Mr. K-rr will bring you letters together with Lord Kinnaird's pamphlet, and the Last Reign of Napoleon, by Hobhouse.

It is again reported that Prince Leopold is the new Viceroy to Hanover; it comes from Carlton House. În that case the princess will go

with him.

The discussion of the income tax comes on this evening, unless the ministers accede to the proposed delay suggested by Mr. Baring.

The arrangements, I hear, for the union of the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg are expected to be completed to-morrow. The military club now amounts to fifteen hundred, and every exertion is making to increase its numbers. To give it still greater influence, it has been proposed to form a junction with the naval club. Lord Lynedoch has written a letter to the Earl St. Vincent recommending this measure, and stating he was induced to do so in consequence of having heard that the sentiments of the noble Earl were favourable to it. The noble earl disclaimed the sentiments imputed to him, assuring his lordship that on the contrary, he disapproved of the system as tending to create a military influence in the country pregnant with danger to our civil rights and liberties.

London, the 27th of February, 1816.

Our court ladies are all so snug with their present lovers (since they have bought up the Morning Post and stopped the postscripts) that they seem resolved to keep them for the whole season. Monstrous! it is

enough to break a heart made of the toughest materials. Our Bourgeoises, alas, poor dames, are obliged by their inferior station in life to sin so privately, that were I Argus, with all his eyes open, I could not trace them to Cupid's bower. As to our courtezans, those once smart walking images, they continue in the vilest despair, in consequence of the introduction of certain clubs! and were it not for the influence of magnetism on the part of one female, and that an actress, the whole sisterhood would be in danger of sinking. You will laugh with me when I tell you that a Mrs. Mardyn, a new constellation in the theatrical hemisphere, who plays comedy in the Jordan style, has captivated all ranks. She is the Goddess of voluptuousness-has the finest black rolling eyes, with a clear complexion ever seen. Mrs. M. has been at the Pavilion. This is the "inexpressive she" who drove Lady B- out of her husband's house; she is the finest figure imaginable; I am absolutely captivated with her myself. When you again pay London a visit I will introduce you, that is if your "cara sposa" will permit me. But a truce with trifling. We will now proceed to business.

The city was thrown into confusion yesterday by the failure of two great houses. Alderman Ansley's, and a French house. Championette's, the first, was in the Cape trade. Rumour includes four or five others, and among them a banking-house is likely to stop in the course of the week. The failures in the commercial world are innumerable; those which are not already gone are going. All are sinking in the general vortex-"the game is played out.'

How will the noble Marquis (Wellesley) settle his complicated affairs. The Irish estates are all advertised for sale by the hammer, and there are perpetual executions in Apsley House. What a happiness it is that one branch of the family should be fortunate!

In my next I will send you some account of the political features in the coteries at S-House. 'Pon my word you may talk of French intrigue as much as you please, but with all your sagacity we'll beat you hollow. Our ministers to wit.

A few leaders in the opposition met at Devonshire House on Saturday night; there were those present that precluded conversation. This peer is such a zany that the party dare not trust him. At Lansdowne House there was a dinner-party on the same evening-a political meeting.

The Courier called Lord Castlereagh a great man! What a shocking misnomer! Whether our ancestors were better moral men than we are, is a question which I am not able to solve, but to their honour be it recorded there was something like a love of country, and character, which now seems wholly extinct in British statesmen.* Perhaps I may be told this opinion arises from "an injudicious manner of viewing things." The daily melodies of the Courier remind me of the "sweet warblings of the neighbouring shriek owls," the gardens of K- -n are in my rear.

Last night the House of Commons was called over, which took up so much of the afternoon that the debate on the army estimates did not commence till a very late hour. Mr Charles Yorke stood forth as the principal champion of the ministry. He described himself, however, as a volunteer in their service, and of course professed independence. To his long and elaborate statement of figures Mr. Brougham replied. Lord Palmerston followed, and entered into a minute statement of the amount and distribution of the proposed peace establishment, which was a repetition of Lord Liverpool's speech in the House of Lords upon the discussion of Lord Grenville's motion for a copy of the army estimates. About one o'clock the debate was adjourned until this day, upon the motion of Mr. Ponsonby.

American papers to the 28th ult. mention that a serious misunderstanding exists between Spain and the United States relative to South America.

Lord K. I cannot yet learn whether he has seen the Duke of O"Leopold is arrived," said a friend the other day. "He is," replied K, "I have been with him."

Four o'clock, p. m. I have just received your letter enclosing a communication for P, and shall not fail to deliver it personally.

What would the writer have said of the New Poor Laws, the Income-tax, grants of railroad monopolies for innumerable millions, and the hypocritical cant of free trade-denied in fact ?-ED.

I find it a more difficult task than you may suppose, to get at all the movements of Orleans, however I have set an engine at work which may procure something in a day or two. As to K., his vanity will induce him to disclose all he knows.

Three other leading characters from your side of the water came in this morning; one is incog. at the Bath Hotel.

Castlereagh went to a French play at the Argyle Rooms, on Thursday night, muffled up; he stayed late there. This must have been a political manœuvre, as he is not in the habit of frequenting such places.

Your suspicions about ministers, Orleans and Napoleon, are not unlikely to prove true-hints have been thrown out here.

London, the 1st of March, 1816.

The little incidents, serious or comic, that happen in this metropolis, are within my province, and although you may say with all the haughtiness of a Roman prætor "de minimis non curo," I am not so proudly nice. If I have occasion to laugh at any droll adventures, I like to hear my friends join in them, or fancy I do so. This is my plea for recording the following anecdote. It might furnish the grounds of a little farce, had we not a scene something similar in "The Cozeners."

My Lord C invited a party consisting of thirty-six members of the House of Commons, to partake of a sumptuous banquet a few days since. Whilst the wine was briskly circulating, the noble lord, in his usual modest way, abruptly introduced the subject pending in the House (the income-tax), and asked them to support the measure. Fourteen, without hesitation said they would, but lamentable to relate, twenty-two arose from table, bowed to the munificent Macœnas, and then retired without uttering a syllable.

The ministers will be minus in the question of Income; the 121 minority will be followed by a still greater division. The seceders are actuated by hopes and fears-they dread the increasing military influence; the failure, however, on this point, will not prevent the measure being carried into effect-the Sinking Fund will be the dernier ressort. John Bull at last begins to open his eyes, and express his opinion upon the projected alliance. The courtiers are in a frenzy, the effect of rage and disappointment; they actually say that her rh ought to receive a sound whipping, for her rebellious conduct in refusing slender Billy, and, with the most significant gestures, express their contempt for the substitute provided.

Baron Jacobi has received a mandatory letter from his master the King of Prussia, directing him to apply to the Prince Regent relative to the marked neglect manifested by the court of Great Britain towards the Duchess of C. It has produced' an effect! The queen intends holding a drawing-room at B-House, when her highness will be introduced. The Duke of Cambridge has written home repeatedly, expressing his wish to return; he is said to have greatly enriched himself since he assumed the reins of government. The rumour still prevails that Prince Leopold will be his successor.

The ministers have received a great accession of strength by the ratting of the Duke of Northumberland and the Marquis of Stafford, but all will not do. The Austrian ambassador has taken Chandos House,

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and laid in a prodigious stock of wine-I am told ten thousand dozenThe Prince Regent, say the dependents, is mending; he has fixed no time for returning to town. A physician was asked, yesterday, how his highness was; the reply, "He is going to Heaven." "In what way?" added the querist. By water." It was not without reason Socrates called intemperance and folly the inseparable companions of wealth. In the House, on Wednesday last, there was a complete row, in consequence of the report on the deficiency of the Civil List for the last year: I am told they exceed 150,000l., although the regent is allowed 75,000l. extra, to meet the high price in the necessary articles of life, which then existed, i. e., when the grant was made, two years since. Poor Sheridan is going; he is confined to his room—“ "caries" in the bones of the right leg, for which amputation is recommended; but he told Heaviside, the other day, that he was a sufficient judge of anatomy to know that nine times out of ten the operation is fatal when performed on a bon vivant. The Marquis d'O- continues at Grillion's Hotel. I have not been yet able to learn whether he has seen the Duke of OYour communication to Planta I personally delivered-his reply, "I will immediately submit it to the inspection of Lord L--." Hunter, the messenger, was sent off to the Prince Regent, about an hour subsequent, and I conjectured upon the same subject.

I had a conversation very recently, upon the subject of Napoleon's return, with a friend of the Regent's, who said, "I will bet you a rump and a dozen that, should Napoleon ever return from St. Helena to France, he will first dine at Carlton House." This is the only strong hint that has been given me.

I have so far arranged matters that I shall probably have something to communicate respecting O-next week. The opposition are at present fully occupied in opposing the income tax; I cannot learn that they have any motion coming on. The question respecting the new regency is delayed, the prince having experienced a renovation of health. As to the ministers, their hands are full. Amid all this, the improvements at the Pavilion are going on. Crase, the house-painter, has received instructions to build two new rooms. one sixty-five feet long.

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Ministerial changes. It is said to be settled that Mr. Canning, on his arrival, will be appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, and that Lord Melville will go to the Board of Control. "The devil's in the wind," say the party, Mr. Canning will never arrive." Huskisson will not move without him-only a dead vote. The Wellesleys, rumour states, are coming in-Liverpool and the Sidmouths to go out. In the midst of all this Castlereagh is taken ill-politically indisposed; he goes to the Upper House. Castlereagh is called the "Humbug," Liverpool the "Humdrum." The Prince of Cobourg has gone down to Gloucester Lodge, Weymouth, where he is to reside for some time, probably during the honeymoon. Is there any truth in the report that Lucien Buonaparte has sailed for America? Give me your opinion of Hobhouse's book. Can I execute any other commissions for you? The turkey was excellent. The ladies say that Mechlin lace would have been the best stuffing for it.

London, March 4, 1816, Monday.

"Better late than never.”—I have at last ascertained that K

immediately after his arrival, had an interview with the Duke of O. since that period he has been frequently with him. I set R-y on the scent. He (K.) is now wholly occupied in getting ready a copy of his pamphlet in French, to which he is adding an appendix, containing the correspondence between himself and the Duke de Richelieu.

"He cares not," he says, "for maintaining the idiom; the more it appears like a version from the English the better."

R- is to have five hundred ready to send off to-morrow evening to France and Holland. The pamphlet has sold well; four editions have been published already; five hundred in each.

The Marquis d'O- continues to reside at Grillion's Hotel in Albemarle-street, wherein he sees a vast number of persons, almost entirely foreigners, and is constantly occupied; his secretary is writing from morning till night, and at present is wholly inaccessible. The marquis dines out frequently, but they are all public dinners, mostly those at which the Austrian archdukes are present; removes in a few days to Mortimer-street, Cavendish-square, having taken the Earl of St. Vincent's town house.

The French general, Šebastiani, has been some time on a visit to the Russells, at Woburn. He is called here Bony's man of all work. On Tuesday last he was introduced into the Senate House of Cambridge, whilst the "caputs" were conferring degrees, and afterwards was invited to dine in the hall of Trinity College, to the astonishment of nine-tenths of that assembly, whether graduated or undergraduates. He is said to have owed this extraordinary introduction to a British university to the classical taste of his friend Lord L

I know not whether your hint, or other information relative to the movements of Alexander has had the effect, but I can tell you from authority that government issued a contract for ten sail of the line. On Saturday a friend of mine, largely dealing in plate-glass, received an order for glass for cabin-windows, &c., and so urgent were the agents for the completion, that the men are now actually unsilvering glass, not having found in the market a sufficient supply for the intended purposes. The royal nuptials-A complete fracas at the Pavilion. Dramatis persona. R -t. The Q- P. C. His serene highness, the princesses, and the Duke of Clarence. An interesting discussion. "No personal attachment shall supersede the love I bear for my country. Give me the pledge that I shall not be sent out of the kingdom, and I will marry any body."-Vide Princess Charlotte's reply.

Astonishment seized the whole group-they were petrified for the moment. The prince, it is said, gave way to his feelings! The question will be submitted to the House this evening. A provision will be moved for the lives of those illustrious personages and their issue, in the event of his royal highness not coming to the throne of these realms. And the bill will contain a provision that she shall not go beyond seas without her own consent, and that of the king or prince regent and privy council.

The number of ships which compose the British navy at the present time is seven hundred and twenty-four, which is four hundred and fifty-eight less than there were at the conclusion of the war; the reduction has been made by ships sold or broken up.

The cabinet ministers assembled yesterday at Lord C--'s house to discuss the expediency of abandoning the renewal of the income tax.