DIARY

OF THE

TIMES OF GEORGE THE FOURTH.

SECTION I.

COURTS are strange, mysterious places :-those who pretend most to despise them seek to gain admittance within their precincts; those who once obtain an entrance there generally lament their fate, and yet, somehow or other, cannot break their chains. I believe, also, that it makes little difference whether those circles of society, which stand apart from the rest of the world, exist under one form of government, or under another; whether under Emperors, Kings, Protectors or Consuls. They may vary as to modes and designations; but courts are courts still, and have been so from the earliest times. In

VOL. I.

B