The style of Count Alfred de Vigny merits the eulogium passed by Lord Shaftesbury on that of an author in his time, of which he wrote, “It is free from that affected obscurity and laboured pomp of language aiming at a false sublime, with crowded simile and mixed metaphor (the hobby-horse and rattle of the Muses.”)

——­ dined with us yesterday, and, clever as I admit him to be, he often displeases me by his severe strictures on mankind.  I told him that he exposed himself to the suspicion of censuring it only because he had studied a bad specimen of it (self) more attentively than the good that fell in his way:  a reproof that turned the current of his conversation into a more agreeable channel, though he did not seem to like the hint.

It is the fashion for people now-a-days to affect this cynicism, and to expend their wit at the expense of poor human nature, which is abused en masse for the sins of those who abuse it from judging of all others by self.  How different is ——­, who thinks so well of his species, that, like our English laws, he disbelieves the existence of guilt until it is absolutely proved,—­a charity originating in a superior nature, and a judgment formed from an involuntary consciousness of it!

——­ suspects evil on all sides, and passes his time in guarding against it.  He dares not indulge friendship, because he doubts the possibility of its being disinterested, and feels no little self-complacency when the conduct of those with whom he comes in contact justifies his suspicions. ——­, on the contrary, if sometimes deceived, feels no bitterness, because he believes that the instance may be a solitary one, and finds consolation in those whose truth he has yet had no room to question.  His is the best philosophy, for though it cannot preclude occasional disappointment, it ensures much happiness, as the indulgence of good feelings invariably does, and he often creates the good qualities he gives credit for, as few persons are so bad as not to wish to justify the favourable opinion entertained of them, as few are so good as to resist the demoralising influence of unfounded suspicions.

A letter from Lord B——­, announcing a majority of 105 on the bill of the Catholic question.  Lord Grey made an admirable speech, with a happy allusion to the fact of Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded the English fleet in the reign of Elizabeth, having, though a Roman Catholic, destroyed the Armada under the anointed banner of the Pope.  What a triumphant refutation of the notion that Roman Catholics dared not oppose the Pope!  Lord B——­ writes, that the brilliant and justly merited eulogium pronounced by Lord Grey on the Duke of Wellington was rapturously received by the House.  How honourable to both was the praise!  I feel delighted that Lord Grey should have distinguished himself on this occasion, for he is one of the friends in England whom I most esteem.

——­ dined here to-day.  He reminds me of the larva, which is the first state of animal existence in the caterpillar, for his appetite is voracious, and, as a French naturalist states in describing that insect, “Tout est estomac dans un larve.” ——­ is of the opinion of Aretaeus, that the stomach is the great source of pleasurable affections, and that as Nature “abhors a vacuum,” the more filled it is the better.