The weather continues very mild and springlike. I was engaged as usual until near two o’clock when Henry accompanied me to the show of fat cattle at Baker Street. There were oxen and sheep and hogs, all so fat they could hardly stand. The North Devons were the best, though in my belief this business is much overdone. The sheep pleased me the best of all. A great crowd present, but very orderly. After my return home I again went out to call on Mr Weed, and to accompany him to see Lord Lyndhurst. He was quite alive to the American question, though professing to be convinced that we are wrong. He asked us many questions, and seemed to be better informed of the movements her than I am. I see no escape from the alternative of the surrender of the men but a collision, and yet I do not see the way to that surrender. Evening quiet at home. I continued the Diary of Lord Malmesbury , which gives a pretty picture of the interior of the Russian court in 1776.309