Tuesday 12 September: 'Lytton drove off an hour ago; I have been sitting here, unable to read or collect myself -- such is the wreckage dealt by 4 days of conversation [...] I told Lytton I should try to write down his talk -- which sprang from a conversation about Boswell [...] Lytton had of course read Mrs Thrale [...] One night he gave us a complete account of the prison system, based on reports which he has been reading -- thoroughly, with mastery, & a kind of political ability which impresses me.'