Note 1238 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 7)

Windham was scarcely a statesman as yet, though for a few months of the year before he had been Chief Secretary for Ireland (ante, p 200). He was in Parliament, but he had never spoken. His Diary shews that he had no 'important occupations.' On Dec. 12, for instance, he records (p. 30):—'Came down about ten; read reviews, wrote to Mrs. Siddons, and then went to the ice; came home only in time to dress and go to my mother's to dinner.' See ante, p. 356, for his interest in balloons.