him such assistance as enabled him to quit Paris, and return home, where he afterwards led a more sober life.
A Dinner at Sir James Bland Burges's, in Lower Brook Street; Autumn; 1815.—I was once invited to dinner by Sir James Burges, father of my friend, Captain Burges, of the Guards: it was towards the end of the season 1815. I there met, to my great delight. Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott; and amongst the rest of the company were Lord Caledon, and Croker, the Secretary to the Admiralty. Sir James had been private secretary to Pitt at the time of the French Revolution, and had a fund of curious anecdotes about everything and everybody of note at the end of the last century. I remember his telling us the now generally received story of Pitt dictating a King's speech off-hand—then a more difficult task than at the present day—without the slightest hesitation; this speech being adopted by his colleagues nearly word for word as it was written down.
Walter Scott was quite delightful; he appeared full of fire and animation, and told some interesting anecdotes connected with his early life in
