The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-03 00:00:00

" JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY.

" ' In this Life the Thoughts of God and a future
State often offer themselves to us. They often
spring up in our minds, and when expelled recur
again.'—Calamy.

" One meaning of ' Recur' is ' to have Recourse
to,' and it is perfectly good English to say 'I have
Recourse to you again.'

" Etymologically, 'to recur' is to run back,' and
one may with Propriety say I run back, or come
back, to you again.
" The Queen recurs or comes back to her Parlia-
ment at the end of every Recess, and she does again
that which she has done before." . . .

" He was as much at home in Italian as in Eng-
lish ; and some amusement was caused in the House
of Commons by his correction of his accomplished
friend, Mr. Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), who
unluckily said Cagliari instead of Cagliai. . . .

His company hours were materially curtailed by
business, but, from the moment he joined the circle
till he left it, he was always ready to amuse and be
amused ; he was never out of temper or out of spirits,
never inattentive, absent, or pre-occupied the dis-
tinctive good breeding of working statesmen, as
punctuality is the good breeding of kings. He
listened as well as he talked; he thoroughly enjoyed
good conversation ; and he liked it the better for
being enlivened with fancy and fun. lie told a
story capitally, frequently with an apropos, which
brought its application within Barrow's somewhat
large and elastic description of wit.
" If (says Sydney Smith) I say a good thing to-
day, and repeat it again to-morrow in another com-
pany, the flash of to-day is as much the flash of to-
morrow as the flash of one musket is the flash of
another ; but if I tell a humorous story there are a
thousand little diversities in my voice, manner, lan-
guage, and gestures whichindicate a rather different
thing from what it was before, and infuse a tinge of
novelty into the repeated narrative." Thus was it
with Lord Palmerston, and his best anecdotes, when
he cpuld be coaxed into repeating them, had always
a fresh zest. His play of mind was equally effective
in catching and improving any passing drollery or
humorous thought.
When Lord Derby's translation of the Iliad was first
announced, a gaest at Broadlands told him he must
keep pace with his great rival by translating the
zEneid. " Stop till I am out of office, and theparallel
will be complete."
He laughingly quoted the authority of an emi-
nent physician, that continuance in office, with the
resulting employment, Is as good for the health.
" Would not active opposition dO as well ?"
" No, no ; that stirs up the bile and creates acidity.
Ask Disraeli if it does not."

Nothing, by the way, created acidity in him ; he
never said or sanctioned an ill-natured remark on
anybody. On being told that a clever assailant
aegretted a personal attack, he said, " Tell him I am
not the least offended—the more particularly because
I think I had the best of it."
It was mentioned to him that his Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Sir George Lewis, had been writing
letters to Notes and Queries on " The Wakefulness
of Geese." " The wakefulness of geese Why the
Opposition will think he means them ; and (what is
worse) they may say they are the geese that saved
the Capitol."
A couple were censured for going to country
houses without an invitation. " Don't be hard on
them," was his suggestion, " for if they waited to
be invited, they might go nowhere."

On its being stated as a good sign that Lady -
was only attended by a popular physician, who shall
be nameless, he said, " Ah, very true, when you
trust yourself to Dr. - you should have a super-
fluous stock of health for him to work upon."
When at Broadlands, he was a regular attendant
at Romsey church, but was occasionally late.
Once, when he did not appear till towards the end
of the second lesson, the sermon was more than
ordinarily long, which a guest attributed to the
complacent consideration of the clergyman, who
was determined that his lordship should gain in one
way what he lost in- another. " I never saw it in
that light before. I will take good care not to tax
his kindness again."