sustain.  The bottom of all these feuds, though not named, is Blackwood’s Magazine; all the squibs of which, which have sometimes exploded among the Lakers, Lockhart is rendered accountable for.  He must now exert himself at once with spirit and prudence.[46] He has good backing—­Canning, Bishop Blomfield, Gifford, Wright, Croker, Will Rose,—­and is there not besides the Douglas?[47] An excellent plot, excellent friends, and full of preparations?  It was no plot of my making, I am sure, yet men will say and believe that [it was], though I never heard a word of the matter till first a hint from Wright, and then the formal proposal of Murray to Lockhart announced.  I believe Canning and Charles Ellis were the prime movers.  I’ll puzzle my brains no more about it.

Dined at Justice-Clerk’s—­the President—­Captain Smollett, etc.,—­our new Commander-in-chief, Hon. Sir Robert O’Callaghan, brother to Earl of Lismore, a fine soldierly-looking man, with orders and badges;—­his brother, an agreeable man, whom I met at Lowther Castle this season.  He composes his own music and sings his own poetry—­has much humour, enhanced by a strong touch of national dialect, which is always a rich sauce to an Irishman’s good things.  Dandyish, but not offensively, and seems to have a warm feeling for the credit of his country—­rather inconsistent with the trifling and selfish quietude of a mere man of society.

November 30.—­I am come to the time when those who look out of the windows shall be darkened.  I must now wear spectacles constantly in reading and writing, though till this winter I have made a shift by using only their occasional assistance.  Although my health cannot be better, I feel my lameness becomes sometimes painful, and often inconvenient.  Walking on the pavement or causeway gives me trouble, and I am glad when I have accomplished my return on foot from the Parliament House to Castle Street, though I can (taking a competent time, as old Braxie[48] said on another occasion) walk five or six miles in the country with pleasure.  Well—­such things must come, and be received with cheerful submission.  My early lameness considered, it was impossible for a man labouring under a bodily impediment to have been stronger or more active than I have been, and that for twenty or thirty years.  Seams will slit, and elbows will out, quoth the tailor; and as I was fifty-four on 15th August last, my mortal vestments are none of the newest.  Then Walter, Charles, and Lockhart are as active and handsome young fellows as you can see; and while they enjoy strength and activity I can hardly be said to want it.  I have perhaps all my life set an undue value on these gifts.  Yet it does appear to me that high and independent feelings are naturally, though not uniformly or inseparably, connected with bodily advantages.  Strong men are usually good-humoured, and active men often display the same elasticity of mind as of body.  These are superiorities, however, that are often misused.  But even for these things God shall call us to judgment.