when, perhaps, a few old men, the last survivors of
our generation, will in vain seek, amidst new streets,
and squares, and railway stations, for the site of
that dwelling which was in their youth the favourite
resort of wits and beauties, of painters and poets,
of scholars, philosophers, and statesmen. They
will then remember, with strange tenderness, many
objects once familiar to them, the avenue and the
terrace, the busts and the paintings, the carving,
the grotesque gilding, and the enigmatical mottoes.
With peculiar fondness they will recall that venerable
chamber, in which all the antique gravity of a college
library was so singularly blended with all that female
grace and wit could devise to embellish a drawing-room.
They will recollect, not unmoved, those shelves loaded
with the varied learning of many lands and many ages,
and those portraits in which were preserved the features
of the best and wisest Englishmen of two generations.
They will recollect how many men who have guided the
politics of Europe, who have moved great assemblies
by reason and eloquence, who have put life into bronze
and canvas, or who have left to posterity things so
written as it shall not willingly let them die, were
there mixed with all that was loveliest and gayest
in the society of the most splendid of capitals.
They will remember the peculiar character which belonged
to that circle, in which every talent and accomplishment,
every art and science, had its place. They will
remember how the last debate was discussed in one corner,
and the last comedy of Scribe in another; while Wilkie
gazed with modest admiration on Sir Joshua’s
Baretti; while Mackintosh turned over Thomas Aquinas
to verify a quotation; while Talleyrand related his
conversations with Barras at the Luxembourg, or his
ride with Lannes over the field of Austerlitz.
They will remember, above all, the grace, and the kindness,
far more admirable than grace, with which the princely
hospitality of that ancient mansion was dispensed.
They will remember the venerable and benignant countenance
and the cordial voice of him who bade them welcome.
They will remember that temper which years of pain,
of sickness, of lameness, of confinement, seemed only
to make sweeter and sweeter, and that frank politeness,
which at once relieved all the embarrassment of the
youngest and most timid writer or artist, who found
himself for the first time among Ambassadors and Earls.
They will remember that constant flow of conversation,
so natural, so animated, so various, so rich with
observation and anecdote; that wit which never gave
a wound; that exquisite mimicry which ennobled, instead
of degrading; that goodness of heart which appeared
in every look and accent, and gave additional value
to every talent and acquirement. They will remember,
too, that he whose name they hold in reverence was
not less distinguished by the inflexible uprightness
of his political conduct than by his loving disposition
and his winning manners. They will remember that,
in the last lines which he traced, he expressed his
joy that he had done nothing unworthy of the friend
of Fox and Grey; and they will have reason to feel
similar joy, if, in looking back on many troubled
years, they cannot accuse themselves of having done
anything unworthy of men who were distinguished by
the friendship of Lord Holland.