' The
Sage, aware of human vicissitudes, gently checked me: 'Don't you be too
sure of that.' He made two or three peculiar observations; as when shewn
the botanical garden, 'Is not EVERY garden a botanical garden?' When
told that there was a shrubbery to the extent of several miles: 'That is
making a very foolish use of the ground; a little of it is very well.'
When it was proposed that we should walk on the pleasure-ground; 'Don't
let us fatigue ourselves. Why should we walk there? Here's a fine
tree, let's get to the top of it.' But upon the whole, he was very much
pleased. He said, 'This is one of the places I do not regret having come
to see. It is a very stately place, indeed; in the house magnificence
is not sacrificed to convenience, nor convenience to magnificence. The
library is very splendid: the dignity of the rooms is very great; and
the quantity of pictures is beyond expectation, beyond hope.'
It happened without any previous concert, that we visited the seat of
Lord Bute upon the King's birthday; we dined and drank his Majesty's
health at an inn, in the village of Luton.
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