considerable fund of acquired knowledge, would have rendered him an agreeable companion, had he not affected singularity, and rendered himself accordingly singularly affected.  He was very near being a poet—­but a miss is as good as a mile, and he always fell short of the mark.  I knew him first, many years ago, when he was desirous of my acquaintance; but he was too poetical for me, or I was not poetical enough for him, so that we continued only ordinary acquaintance, with goodwill on either side, which R.P.G. really deserves, as a more friendly, generous creature never lived.  Lockhart hopes to get something done for him, being sincerely attached to him, but says he has no hopes till he is utterly ruined.  That point, I fear, is not far distant; but what Lockhart can do for him then I cannot guess.  His last effort failed, owing to a curious reason.  He had made some translations from the German, which he does extremely [well]—­for give him ideas and he never wants choice of good words—­and Lockhart had got Constable to offer some sort of terms for them.  R.P.G. has always, though possessing a beautiful power of handwriting, had some whim or other about imitating that of some other person, and has written for months in the imitation of one or other of his friends.  At present he has renounced this amusement, and chooses to write with a brush upon large cartridge paper, somewhat in the Chinese fashion,—­so when his work, which was only to extend to one or two volumes, arrived on the shoulders of two porters, in immense bales, our jolly bibliopolist backed out of the treaty, and would have nothing more to do with R.P.[54] He is a creature that is, or would be thought, of imagination all compact, and is influenced by strange whims.  But he is a kind, harmless, friendly soul, and I fear has been cruelly plundered of money, which he now wants sadly.

Dined with Lockhart’s friends, about fifty in number, who gave him a parting entertainment.  John Hope, Solicitor-General, in the chair, and Robert Dundas [of Arniston], croupier.  The company most highly respectable, and any man might be proud of such an indication of the interest they take in his progress in life.  Tory principles rather too violently upheld by some speakers.  I came home about ten; the party sat late.

December 4.—­Lockhart and Sophia, with his brother William, dined with us, and talked over our separation, and the mode of their settling in London, and other family topics.

December 5.—­This morning Lockhart and Sophia left us early, and without leave-taking; when I rose at eight o’clock they were gone.  This was very right.  I hate red eyes and blowing of noses. Agere et pati Romanum est.  Of all schools commend me to the Stoics.  We cannot indeed overcome our affections, nor ought we if we could, but we may repress them within due bounds, and avoid coaxing them to make fools of those who should be their masters.  I have lost some of the comforts to which I chiefly looked for enjoyment.  Well, I must make the more of such as remain—­God bless them.  And so “I will unto my holy work again,"[55] which at present is the description of that heilige Kleeblatt, that worshipful triumvirate, Danton, Robespierre, and Marat.