It was a bill hoisted in on the shoulders of the ministerial
bill, which very strangely does not come in play till 1857.
December u.
Mr. Hawthorne is dining in the suburbs of Liverpool this evening, with
a Mr. William Browne, M. P., to meet Baron Alderson. It is only the
second dinner he has been obliged to sacrifice himself to since we
have been in Southport. This Mr. Browne is a venerable gentleman, who
takes the trouble to go to the Consulate, and bend his white head in
entreaty, and he can no more be refused, all things considered, than
two and two can refuse to be four. So, at the present moment, there
sits my lord at the gorgeous board, shining like a galaxy with plate
and crystal. There was lately a banquet in honor of Mr. Browne,
which went off magnificently. All Liverpool and part of the county
shared in it; and the town was hung with banners from end to end, and
business was suspended. It was a superb day of bright sunshine and
perfectly dry streets, and the procession of the selected guests, and
then of subscribers, was immensely long. I believe fifteen hundred
collated at St. George's Hall; and on an elevated dais the twenty
invited guests sat. Mr. Hawthorne was one of these. He had received
notice that Monckton Milnes was to give him a toast, and a speech
would be expected. You may see by some papers that Mr. Milnes gave
"The United States;" but this is a mistake. It was "Nathaniel
Hawthorne." He was very cordial and complimentary; but he did not say,
as the reporter of the "Post" wrote, "that the 'Scarlet Letter' stuck
to the hearts of all who came in contact with it," as if it were a
kind of adhesive plaster; but that it "struck to the hearts of all who
read it.
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