[Then follows a quantity of details about the party politics of the day.  And then he continues:—­]

“Such a contested election with us costs about 2,000_l._ to 3,000_l._ I must say I never spent money with more regret than this; but I had to maintain the party interest and my family influence in my electoral district.  I have there a fine old castle and a splendid park, but I rarely go to the country, since I have jumped, as you know, once more into the whirlpool of politics, and can’t get out again.  An agrarian communistic agitation has been initiated, I do not know whether with or without the sanction of S——­, but certainly it has spread rapidly over a great portion of the country, and I doubt whether Government has the energy for putting that agitation down.  It is a very serious question, especially as it finds us engaged in many other questions of the highest interest.

[Then he gives an outline of the position of Hungary in relation to other States, and then he continues:—­]

“We remain still in opposition with the Wallachians, or, as they now like to call themselves, Rumanes, and we try to maintain the peace with Prussia.  And now when we should concentrate all our forces to meet the changes which threaten us, a stupid and wicked Opposition divides the nation into two hostile camps [how very singular and unexampled!].  We fight one another to the great pleasure of Russia and Prussia, who enjoy our fratricidal feuds as the Romans in the amphitheatre enjoyed the fights of the barbarians in the arena.

“I must beg your pardon, dear Mrs. Trollope, that I grow so pathetic!  You know it is not my custom when I am with ladies.  But you must know likewise that I live now outside of female society.  I do not exactly know whether it is my fault or that of the ladies of Pesth; so much is certain that only at Vienna, where I go from time to time, I call upon ladies.  As to my children, Augustus, whom you scarcely know, is a volunteer in the army according to our law of universal conscription.  Charles you may have seen at Florence.  I sent him thither to visit his grandmother.” [Madame Walter, the mother of Madame Pulszky; the lady who had received us with such pleasant hospitality at Vienna, and who had come to reside at Florence, where she lived to a great age much liked and respected.] “Polixena gets handsome and clever; little Garibaldi is to go to school in September next.  I grow old, discontented, insupportable;” [we found him at Pesth many years afterwards no one of the three!]; “a journey to Greece and Italy would certainly do me immense good; but I fear I must give up that plan for the present year, since after a contested election it is a serious thing to spend money for amusement.  In June I shall leave my present lodging and go to the Museum, which stands in a handsome square opposite to the House of Parliament.  Excuse me for my long, long talk; and do not forget your faithful friend, in partibus infidelium,