Palmerston, as our readers may recollect, was at that time ousted from the Russell cabinet for sundry alleged official indiscretions, and particularly for recognising the new government of the French Empire without first communicating with the Queen. Lord Granville's tenure of office as Secretary for Foreign Affairs lasted only a few weeks, from 26th December, 1851, to 21st February, 1852. The ministry of Lord John Russell having given place to the first Conservative government of Lord Derby, it was not until December following that he resumed office, and then as President of the Council in Lord Aberdeen's Coalition Cabinet. That post he occupied until the

In consequence of the adverse vote in the House of Commons upon the Conspiracy to Murder Bill, on the 20th of February, 1858, Lord Palmerston and his colleagues resigned. Then followed the second brief administration of Lord Derby, which was overthrown in June of the following year. In consequence of that event, Lord Granville was summoned to wait on her Majesty, when he received the royal command to form an administration. The rivalry of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell made it difficult for her Majesty at that time to show a preference for either of these renowned leaders, and it was conceived that if both would act under Lord

Granville-the one representing the more conservative, and the other the more liberal section of the Whig party-a government strong in ability and parliamentary influence would be formed. Lord Granville waited on Lord Palmerston with this end in view, and found that he was ready to co-operate, but Lord John Russell was impracticable. His lordship would serve under Lord Palmerston, but under no other premier. Lord Palmerston accordingly became First Minister, and having satisfied Lord John Russell with the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, continued in office until his death in October, 1865. Throughout the whole of that period of upwards of six years Earl Granville was Lord President of the Council; and this office he continued to hold under Lord John Russell, who succeeded Lord Palmerston in the premiership, until the defeat of the second Russell ministry in June, 1866.

The late Lord Derby, for the third time, after this event took office with a Conservative ministry, memorable chiefly from having carried the Reform Bill of 1867. On Lord Derby's retirement from ill health, Mr. Disraeli succeeded him as First Minister of the Crown. The result of the appeal to the country in 1868 on the great question of the Disestablishment of the Irish Church brought Mr. Disraeli's administration to an end, and placed in office Mr. Gladstone, and, with some exceptions, his present colleagues in the cabinet. Lord Granville, under Mr. Gladstone, accepted the post of Colonial Minister. Fault has been found with his management of the colonies on the ground that it tended to loosen yet further the tie, already too slight, which connected the various portions of the British dominions. The policy of the government was to throw upon the colonies the burden of their own defence, and to withdraw the imperial troops which had hitherto afforded protection. This policy, applied by Lord Granville to Canada and New Zealand, necessarily gave rise to some outcry and consequent unpopularity. In defence he urged in the House of Lords that the great bond between the mother-country and the colonies was not in the military protection afforded by the former, but lay rather in the loyalty of the colonies to the Crown, in mutual goodwill, and in a reciprocity of commercial advantages. It was one of the triumphs of Lord Granville that he successfully combated Earl Russell's motion for a Committee on Colonial Administration.

When the death of Lord Clarendon rendered vacant the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Granville was designated by public opinion as his fittest successor. A few days after he had undertaken the duties of the Foreign Office, with the assurance of Mr. Hammond, the permanent undersecretary of the department, that the world had never been so profoundly at peace, or the diplomatic atmosphere more serene, the sky became suddenly overcast, and the terrible war between France and Germany broke out. Lord Granville's diplomatic tact and ability were put to the test in the difficult part he had to sustain towards the belligerents. The angry complaints of Count Bernstorff as to the partiality of England in supplying France with coals, horses, and arms, will be remembered. In the correspondence which followed, the English statesman, it is allowed, had unmistakably the best of the argument. Lord Granville, it is to be said to his praise, successfully maintained the neutrality of

England, and resisted the ignorant outcry for intervention on behalf of France.

Without previous warning, at the end of October, 1870, and when France was prostrated, the Russian minister, Prince Gortschakoff, seized the opportunity and addressed a despatch to the European powers, stating that Russia no longer recognised the obligations of the treaty of 1856 respecting the neutrality of the Black Sea. This despatch called forth from Lord Granville a courteous but firm and decided reply, in which the obligatory character of the treaties was strongly insisted upon, and the assent of England to the demand of Russia absolutely refused. The English cabinet, however, on this subject consented to a conference. With France hors de combat and Turkey indifferent, the result might have been foreseen-Russia carried her point. This concession to the great northern power has not failed to afford a fruitful text to the opponents of Mr. Gladstone's Government.

Another of those perplexing and delicate questions which fell into the hands of Lord Granville to deal with was that of the celebrated Alabama claims. Whatever may be thought of the conduct of the negotiations, it is certainly a matter of congratulation that by means of arbitration the serious grounds of misunderstanding between this country and the United States have been removed.

As leader of the House of Lords, on behalf of the present Liberal Government Lord Granville has had to introduce and defend in that assembly the recent great measures which have been carried out into Acts of Parliament. In party struggles he has had besides to withstand the attacks of the able Conservative peers politically opposed to him. Such a task in an assembly in which his party are confessedly in a minority requires certain rare qualities of mind, temper, and manner, which happily he possesses.

Lord Granville will always be remembered for the services he rendered in connection with the two Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. He was a royal commissioner from the first for the Exhibition of 1851, so zealously promoted by the late Prince Consort, and he was also chairman of the executive committee. In this last capacity his amiability and excellent management were productive of the utmost benefit, and contributed largely to the satisfaction and cordiality which prevailed. When the commissioners and others were invited to Paris in return for similar courtesies shown in London, Lord Granville accompanied them, and delighted the nobles and municipality of Paris assembled in the Hôtel de Ville by thanking them in a speech in their own language, which was perfect in allusion, in accent, and in idiom. So also as to the last Great Exhibition of 1862. It was to the personal qualities and untiring exertions of Earl Granville that it owed much of its success. In connection with the opening ceremony we may notice the interesting circumstance that before his lordship left his residence to tako part in that day's proceedings, the following telegram came to his hands, which with delight he communicated to his colleagues: "Berlin Palace, 1st May, 9 A.M. From Victoria Crown Princess of Prussia to the Earl Granville. My best wishes for the success of to-day's ceremony, and of the whole undertaking. Princess Royal." When the Duke of Cambridge, and other special commissioners deputed by her Majesty to open the Exhibition, had taken their places, Lord Granville advanced, and after a speech,

brief but full of fine feeling, placed in the hands of his Royal Highness an address to her Majesty, in which the origin, objects, progress, and completion of the Exhibition of 1862 were narrated at length.

Many stories might be told to illustrate Lord Granville's irrepressible good-nature, and his freedom from all pride of birth and place. In connection with the last Great Exhibition the following anecdote is quite in place. "On May 1st, 1862, Lord Granville was beheld, broom in hand, sweeping up the scattered refuse which lay about the daïs under the dome of the Exhibition building, half an hour before the time fixed for the opening ceremony. He swept then with a vigour which said as much for his undiminished physical powers as for his carelessness of the restraints of mere etiquette."

Another anecdote will illustrate his kindly nature. "One Easter Monday, two or three years ago, Lord Granville was seen wandering in the crowd gathered upon the steps of the Spur Battery at Dover, laden with loaves of bread, raised pies, and piles of sandwiches the remnants of the luncheon of which his party had just partaken,-and distributing these good things with careful impartiality amongst the ragged boys and women, of whom too many were to be seen, attending the volunteer review then being held."

The scene on the Spur Battery at Dover has its antithesis in one of quite another character, in which Lord Granville bore a conspicuous part, in the month of September, 1856. This was the coronation of Alexander II, Emperor of all the Russias.

We have seen that Lord Granville's father was in 1804 Ambassador Extraordinary at the Russian Court. It fell to the lot of the son to act in the same capacity on the occasion we have referred to. This was shortly after the Crimean War. In the ancient cathedral of Moscow, amid the pomp and circumstance of the imposing ceremony, Lord Granville, as representative of England, occupied a prominent position among the corps diplomatique. The Graziani Palace, in which the Ambassador Extraordinary and the Countess Granville resided, was one of the best in Moscow, furnished with richness and good taste, and yet with an air of English comfort. Here Lord Granville gave his receptions, and the Countess her balls. The first reception was especially brilliant, comprising the members of the diplomatic body and a great many of the Russian nobility. The English ambassador and his suite were duly presented to the Emperor; and on another day, according to Russian custom, they were presented to the Empress mother. Than Lord Granville no more courtly and qualified representative of Queen Victoria could have been selected for this high post. Among the honours which have been conferred on Earl Granville is that of Knight of the Garter. He is a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1865 he was made a D.C.L. of the University of Oxford; and on the death of Lord Palmerston he succeeded him in the office of Constable of her Majesty's Castle at Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports.

His lordship married first the widow of the late Sir Frederick Acton, who died in 1860; and in 1865 he married, secondly, Castalia Rosalind, the youngest daughter of Walter Campbell, Esq., of Islay. Of this union there was born to him first a daughter. When addressing the members of the University of London, of which he is Chancellor, he referred to this event by saying that he now felt a personal interest in the question of education such as

he had never felt before. A second daughter was afterwards born, and on the 4th March, 1872, a son-Lord Leveson, heir-apparent to the title and

estates.

Lord Granville has been a frequent speaker at gatherings other than political. Some of his pleasant appearances at the Royal Academy banquets, and on other festive occasions, will be remembered. In 1871 he presided at the opening of the New Reform Club at Manchester, and made, says a contemporary, "just the sort of speech which might be expected of him-a blithe, genial, conciliatory discourse, as far removed from controversy as possible." This is an apt description of all Lord Granville's speeches. Seldom, indeed, does party strife or excited debate lend a tone of asperity to the prevailing cordiality of his nature. In every Liberal administration from the time of Lord Melbourne's premiership to that of Mr. Gladstone, Lord Granville has borne a part; and if his prolonged official career has not been marked by exceptional brilliancy, it has at least been distinguished by caution and usefulness. Among living statesmen there is certainly no one more remarkable for patriotic feeling and good sense joined to courtier-like urbanity, and to that unfailing tact and good temper so requisite in a great party leader.

NOTES ON BOOKS.

BY JOHN TIMBS.

GIBBON'S "DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.” T has been stated that Gibbon received sixty I thousand pounds for the copyright of his great work. For the labour of a whole life, with the additional expense of an outlay for a library of considerable extent, this was no great reward.

Gibbon writes:-"After the perilous adventure had been declined by my friend Mr. Elmsley, I agreed upon easy terms with Mr. Thomas Cadell, a reputable bookseller, and Mr. William Strahan, an eminent printer, and they undertook the care and risk of the publication, which derived more credit from the name of the shop than from that of the author. The last revisal of the proofs was submitted to my vigilance, and many blemishes of style, which had been invisible in the manuscript, were discovered and corrected in the printed sheet. So moderate were our hopes, that the original impression had been stinted to five hundred, till the number was doubled by the prophetic taste of Mr. Strahan. The first impression was exhausted in a few days, a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to the demand. My book was on every table, and almost on every toilet, nor was the general voice disturbed by the barking of any profane critic."

Horace Walpole tells this droll story of Gibbon. One of those booksellers in Paternoster Row who publish things in numbers went to Gibbon's lodgings in St. James's Street, sent up his name, and was admitted. "Sir," said he, "I am now publishing a History of England, done by several good hands; I understand you have a knack at them there things, and should be glad to give you every reasonable encouragement.' As soon as Gibbon recovered the use of his legs and tongue, which were petrified with surprise, he ran to the bell, and desired his servant to show the encourager of learning downstairs.

In the sale of Fox's library, a copy of the first

volume brought a large price under these circumstances, described in Walpole's manuscript notes, quoted in Earl Russell's "Life of Fox":"1731, June 20.-Sold by auction, the library of Charles Fox, which had been taken in execution. Amongst the books was Mr. Gibbon's first volume of 'Roman History,' which appeared by the title-page to have been given by the author to Mr. Fox, who had written in it the following anecdote: The author at Brookes's said there was no salvation for the country till six heads of the principal persons in the administration were laid on the table. Eleven days later the same gentleman accepted the place of Lord of Trade under those very ministers, and has acted with them ever since!' Such was the avidity of bidders for the smallest production of so wonderful a genius, that by the addition of this little record the book sold for three guineas."

THE ALMANACH DES GOURMANDS.

A rare epoch in the history of Cookery was the publication of the first number of the "Almanach des Gourmands," which appeared in the beginning of the year 1805, and which the late Duke of York called the most delightful book that was ever printed. The sale of this work was prodigious: 22,000 copies of the first four years were speedily disposed of, and the work subsequently went through new editions. The book is everywhere very scarce, and not to be found in England. Each volume contained an almanack for the year, and a kind of nutritive itinerary of the different traiteurs, rôtisseurs, restaurateurs, porkmen, poulterers, butchers, bakers, provision, sauce, and spice shops; milkmen, oilmen, etc. Nor were the cafés, limonadiers, ice-shops, nor wine and liqueur merchants neglected, for ample and amusing accounts of all the principal magasins de comestibles are given. The author and editor was Grimod de la Reniere. His father, a fermier général, was choked in 1754 by a slice of a páté de foie gras. The son inherited the hereditary passion for the pleasures of the table, joined to a sprightly yet quaint humour, which rendered him a general favourite; and while he inspired a taste for cookery, he ennobled its language. Gastronomy became the fashion of the day; the object of life, according at least to our simple notions, became reversed; people in England ate to live, in France they appeared to live only to eat. This was in consonance with French character and practice.

In the volume published in 1808, the author says that, at a place in Auvergne, there was an innkeeper named Simon, who had a special talent for dressing frogs. "What proves the goodness of the dish, and the impossibility of counterfeiting it," says Grimod, "is that the author has gained 200,000 francs at this art, though he gives you for twenty-four sous a dish containing three dozen of frogs." In the same volume we read of three 66 'frères Provençeaux,' renowned for their ragouts; and the veal of Pontoise was then, as now, fed on cream or biscuits, and conveyed to Paris in carriages made expressly for the purpose. In this year died the celebrated gourmand Dr. Gastaldy, who having at a grand dinner eaten three times of the under part of the salmon, died of the effects of this invincible gluttony. In another volume is a long chapter on the opening of oysters, concluding thus: "It is not until the oyster is detached from the shell that it ceases to live. The real lovers of oysters won't allow the oyster-women to

open their fish, reserving to themselves the important privilege of performing this operation on their own plate, in order that they may have the pleasure of swallowing the interesting fish alive!" It is in this volume that the important secret is disclosed that the flesh of beasts, fowls, and game killed by electricity is much more tender than if killed in the usual manner! (Abridged from "Host and Guest," by A. V. Kirwan.)

LEGAL BOOKMAKING.

Lord Brougham, in the "Edinburgh Review," No. 159, denounces the art of legal bookmaking, as well as a less creditable practice, namely, the advertising of a quasi work to show that its author has attended most to one branch of the law, although such work never appears. But none of these advertisements are anonymous. The names of the learned authors are affixed in very large characters, very books, which are wont volitare per ora of legal men. legibly, on the blue covers of the reports, and other Some men have lived awhile on such compositions, their whole authorship being confined to writing four lines of an advertisement, or to the payment of a few pounds for the printing of treatises, of which the conciseness is more remarkable than the honesty.

SELDEN'S LIBRARY.

Selden had once intended to give his library to the University of Oxford, and had left it so by his will; but having occasion for a manuscript which belonged to their library, they asked of him the customary bond of £1,000 for its restitution. This he took so ill at their hands, that he struck out that part of the will by which he had given them his library, and with some passion declared that they should never have it. The executors (of whom Sir Matthew Hale was one) stuck at this a little, but having considered better of it, came to this resolution, that they were to be executors of Mr. Selden's will, and not of his passion; so they made good what he had intended in cold blood, and passed over what his passion had suggested to him. This collection of books, at the time, was valued at one thousand pounds, and now forms part of the magnificent Bodleian library at Oxford.

THE LIFE OF LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY.

This strange book was reprinted by Horace Walpole at the Strawberry Hill Press; only 200 copies were worked, of which number Walpole retained half. In a letter to Mr. Montagu he gives the following amusing account of the work: "I found it a year ago at Lady Hertford's, to whom Lady Powis had lent it. I took it up, and soon threw it down again, as the dullest thing I ever saw. She persuaded me to take it home. My Lady Waldegrave was here in all her grief. Gray and I read it to amuse her. We could not get on for laughing and screaming. I begged to have it to print; Lord Powis, sensible of the extravagance, refused. I insisted, he resisted. I told my Lady Hertford it was no matter, I would print it, I was determined. I sat down and wrote a flattering dedication to Lord Powis, which I knew he would swallow; he did, and gave up his ancestor. But this was not enough; I was resolved the world should not think I admired it seriously, though there are really fine passages in it, and good sense too;