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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Letters from England, 1846-1849, by Elizabeth
+Davis Bancroft
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: Letters from England, 1846-1849
+
+
+Author: Elizabeth Davis Bancroft
+
+
+
+Release Date: April 5, 2015  [eBook #1936]
+[This file was first posted on March 3, 1999]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM ENGLAND, 1846-1849***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1904 Smith, Elder and Co. edition by Jane Duff and
+proofed by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+ [Picture: Elizabeth Davis Bancroft.  Probably taken at Brady’s National
+Gallery, New York, sometime after her return from England; from a picture
+                       owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss]
+
+
+
+
+
+                                 LETTERS
+                               FROM ENGLAND
+
+
+                                1846–1849
+
+                                    BY
+                         ELIZABETH DAVIS BANCROFT
+                          (MRS. GEORGE BANCROFT)
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                        _WITH PORTRAITS AND VIEWS_
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                            SMITH, ELDER & CO.
+                        LONDON : : : : : : : 1904
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+  Copyright, 1903, by Charles Scribner’s Sons, for Great Britain and the
+                        United States of America.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+     Printed by the Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company
+                            New York, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+ELIZABETH DAVIS BANCROFT, the writer of these letters, was the youngest
+child and only daughter of William and Rebecca Morton Davis, and was born
+at Plymouth, Mass., in October, 1803.  She often spoke in later times of
+what a good preparation for her life abroad were the years she spent at
+Miss Cushing’s school at Hingham, and of her visits to her uncles, Judge
+Davis and Mr. I. P. Davis of Boston.  In 1825 she married Alexander
+Bliss, a brilliant young lawyer and a junior partner of Daniel Webster.
+On his death a few years later, her father having died, her mother and
+brother formed a household with her and her two sons in Winthrop Place,
+Boston.  As a young girl in Plymouth she became a great friend of the
+future Mrs. Emerson and later of Mr. Emerson and of Mr. and Mrs. Ripley,
+and through them was much interested in Brook Farm.
+
+In 1838 she married George Bancroft, the historian and statesman, who was
+then Collector of the Port of Boston and a widower with three children.
+They continued to live in Winthrop Place till 1845, when for one year Mr.
+Bancroft was Secretary of the Navy in Polk’s cabinet.  While he was in
+that position the Naval Academy at Annapolis was established; and he
+played an important part in the earlier stages of the Mexican War.  In
+the fall of 1846 he became Minister to England.  It was then that the
+letters were written from which these extracts have been taken.  A number
+of passages not of general interest have been omitted, without any
+indications of such omission in the text, but in no case has any change
+in a sentence been made.  Most of the letters are in the form of a diary
+and were addressed to immediate relatives, and none of them were written
+for publication; but owing to the standing of Mr. Bancroft as a man of
+letters, as well as his official station, the writer saw London life
+under an unusual variety of interesting aspects.
+
+In 1849 Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft returned to this country, and Mr. Bancroft
+occupied himself with his history until 1868, when he was for seven years
+Minister to Prussia and the German Empire.  At the expiration of that
+time they took up their residence in Washington, where they lived during
+the remainder of their lives.
+
+
+
+
+PORTRAITS AND VIEWS
+
+Elizabeth Davis Bancroft                                _Frontispiece_
+
+  Probably taken at Brady’s National Gallery, New
+  York, sometime after her return from England;
+  from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss.
+Aston Hall (Bracebridge Hall)                                        8
+Henry Edward, fourth Lord Holland                                   14
+
+  From the portrait by C. R. Leslie, R. A., at
+  Holland House, by permission of the Earl of
+  Ilchester.
+Augusta, Lady Holland                                               20
+
+  From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., at
+  Holland House, by permission of the Earl of
+  Ilchester.
+Holland House                                                       26
+George Bancroft                                                     34
+
+  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+  possession of William J. A. Bliss.
+Elizabeth Davis Bancroft                                            40
+
+  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+  possession of William J. A. Bliss.
+The Duke of Wellington                                              70
+
+  From the portrait by Count Alfred D’Orsay;
+  photograph copyright by Walker & Cockerell,
+  London.
+Sir Stratford Canning                                               74
+
+  From the drawing by Richmond, make about 1848, by
+  permission of the Hon. Louisa Canning.
+Lord Ashburton                                                      84
+
+  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.
+Miss Berry, at the Age of 86                                        88
+
+  From a crayon drawing by J. R. Swinton (1850);
+  from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss.
+A. W. Kinglake (“Eothen”)                                           90
+
+  From a photograph.
+Samuel Rogers                                                       98
+
+  From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848);
+  photograph copyright by Walker & Cockerell,
+  London.
+Lady Byron                                                         106
+
+  From the portrait in the possession of Sir J.
+  Tollemache Sinclair, Bart.
+George Hudson, the “Railway King”                                  114
+
+  From the engraving after F. Grant.
+Lord Palmerston                                                    130
+
+  From the portrait by Partridge; photograph
+  copyright by Walker & Cockerell, London.
+Lady Palmerston                                                    136
+
+  From a painting, by permission of Sir Francis
+  Gore.
+Mrs. Dawson Damer                                                  154
+
+  From the miniature by Isabey, by permission of
+  Lady Constance Leslie.
+Mrs. Fitzherbert                                                   160
+
+  From the pastel by J. Russell.
+Richard Monckton Miles (Lord Houghton)                             170
+
+  From a drawing by Cousins, by permission of the
+  Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker.
+Lord George Bentinck                                               190
+
+  From a painting by Lane, by permission of the
+  Duke of Portland.
+Sir Robert Peel                                                    194
+
+  From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.
+Lady Peel                                                          198
+
+  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.; photograph
+  copyright by W. Mansell & Co., London.
+George Bancroft                                                    210
+
+  Probably taken at Brady’s National Gallery, New
+  York, sometime after his return from England;
+  from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss.
+
+
+
+
+Letters from England
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                              LIVERPOOL, October 26, 1846.
+
+MY DEAR SONS: Thank God with me that we are once more on _terra firma_.
+We arrived yesterday morning at ten o’clock, after a very rough voyage
+and after riding all night in the Channel in a tremendous gale, so bad
+that no pilot could reach us to bring us in on Saturday evening.  A
+record of a sea voyage will be only interesting to you who love me, but I
+must give it to you that you may know what to expect if you ever
+undertake it; but first, I must sum it all up by saying that of all
+horrors, of all physical miseries, tortures, and distresses, a sea voyage
+is the greatest . . . The Liverpool paper this morning, after announcing
+our arrival says: “The _Great Western_, notwithstanding she encountered
+throughout a series of most severe gales, accomplished the passage in
+sixteen days and twelve hours.”
+
+To begin at the moment I left New York: I was so absorbed by the pain of
+parting from you that I was in a state of complete apathy with regard to
+all about me.  I did not sentimentalize about “the receding shores of my
+country;” I hardly looked at them, indeed.  Friday I was awoke in the
+middle of the night by the roaring of the wind and sea and _such_ motion
+of the vessel.
+
+The gale lasted all Saturday and Sunday, strong from the North, and as we
+were in the region where the waters of the Bay of Fundy run out and meet
+those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, afterwards we had a strong cross sea.
+May you never experience a “cross sea.” . . . Oh how I wished it had
+pleased God to plant some little islands as resting-places in the great
+waste of waters, some resting station.  But no, we must keep on, on, with
+everything in motion that your eye could rest on.  Everything tumbling
+about . . . We lived through it, however, and the sun of Sunday morn rose
+clear and bright.  A pilot got on board about seven and at ten we were in
+Liverpool.
+
+We are at the Adelphi.  Before I had taken off my bonnet Mr. Richard
+Rathbone, one of the wealthiest merchants here, called to invite us to
+dine the next day . . . Mrs. Richard Rathbone has written that beautiful
+“Diary of Lady Willoughby,” and, what is more, they say it is a perfect
+reflect of her own lovely life and character.  When she published the
+book no one knew of it but her husband, not even her brothers and
+sisters, and, of course, she constantly heard speculations as to the
+authenticity of the book, and was often appealed to for her opinion.  She
+is very unpretending and sweet in her manners; talks little, and seems
+not at all like a literary lady.
+
+I like these people in Liverpool.  They seem to me to think less of
+fashion and more of substantial excellence than our wealthy people.  I am
+not sure but the existence of a higher class above them has a favorable
+effect, by limiting them in some ways.  There is much less show of
+furniture in the houses than with us, though their servants and equipages
+are in much better keeping.  I am not sorry to be detained here for a few
+days by my illness to become acquainted with them, and I think your
+father likes it also, and will find it useful to him.  Let me say, while
+I think of it, how much I was pleased with the _Great Western_.  That
+upper saloon with the air passing through it was a great comfort to me.
+The captain, the servants, the table, are all excellent.  Everything on
+board was as nice as in the best hotel, and my gruels and broths
+beautifully made.  One of the stewardesses did more for me than I ever
+had done by any servant of my own . . . Your father and Louisa {7} were
+ill but three or four days, and then your father read Tacitus and talked
+to the ladies, while Louisa played with the other children.
+
+The Adelphi, my first specimen of an English hotel, is perfectly
+comfortable, and though an immense establishment, is quiet as a private
+house.  There is none of the bustle of the Astor, and if I ring my
+bedroom bell it is answered by a woman who attends to me assiduously.
+The landlord pays us a visit every day to know if we have all we wish.
+
+                                               LONDON, Sunday, November 1.
+
+Here I am in the mighty heart, but before I say one word about it I will
+go on from Wednesday evening with my journal.  On Thursday, though still
+very feeble, I dined at Green Bank, the country-seat of Mr. William
+Rathbone.  I was unwilling to leave Liverpool without sharing with your
+father some of the hospitalities offered to us and made a great effort to
+go.  The place is very beautiful and the house full of comfortable
+elegance.
+
+                 [Picture: Aston Hall (Bracebridge Hall)]
+
+The next morning we started for Birmingham, ninety-seven miles from
+Liverpool, on our way to London, as I am unable to travel the whole way
+in a day.  On this railway I felt for the first time the superiority of
+England to our own country.  The cars are divided into first, second, and
+third classes.  We took a first-class car, which has all the comforts of
+a private carriage.
+
+Just as we entered Birmingham I observed the finest seat, surrounded by a
+park wall and with a very picturesque old church, that I had seen on the
+way.  On enquiring of young Mr. Van Wart, who came to see us in
+Birmingham (the nephew of Washington Irving), whose place it was, he said
+it was now called Aston Hall and was owned by Mr. Watt, but it was
+formerly owned by the Bracebridges, and was the veritable “Bracebridge
+Hall,” and that his uncle had passed his Christmas there.
+
+On arriving here we found our rooms all ready for us at Long’s Hotel,
+kept by Mr. Markwell, a wine merchant.  The house is in New Bond Street,
+in the very centre of movement at the West End, and Mr. Markwell full of
+personal assiduity, which we never see with us.  He comes to the carriage
+himself, gives me his arm to go upstairs, is so much obliged to us for
+honoring his house, ushers you in to dinner, at least on the first day,
+and seats you, etc., etc.
+
+Do not imagine us in fresh, new-looking rooms as we should be in New York
+or Philadelphia.  No, in London even new things look old, but almost
+everything _is_ old.  Our parlor has three windows down to the floor, but
+it is very dark.  The paint is maple color, and everything is dingy in
+appearance.  The window in my bedroom looks like a horn lantern, so thick
+is the smoke, and yet everything is scrupulously clean.  On our arrival,
+Boyd, the Secretary of Legation, soon came, and stayed to dine with us at
+six.  Our dinner was an excellent soup, the boiled cod garnished with
+fried smelts, the roast beef and a _fricandeau_ with sweet breads, then a
+pheasant, and afterwards, dessert.
+
+This morning Mr. Bates came very early to see us, and then Mr. Joseph
+Coolidge, who looks very young and handsome; then Mr. Colman, who also
+looks very well, Mr. Boyd and a Mr. Haight, of New York, and Mr. Gair,
+son of Mr. Gair of Liverpool, a pleasing young man.
+
+                                                           Monday Evening.
+
+This morning came Mr. Aspinwall, then Captain Wormeley, then Dr. Holland,
+then Mrs. Bates, then Mr. Joseph Jay and his sister, then Tom Appleton,
+Mrs. and Miss Wormeley, and Mrs. Franklin Dexter.  Dr. Holland came a
+second time to take me a drive, but Mrs. Bates being with me he took your
+father.  Mrs. Bates took me to do some shopping, and to see about some
+houses.  They are very desirous we should be in their neighborhood, in
+Portland Place, but I have a fancy myself for the new part of town.  I
+have been so used all my life to see things fresh and clean-looking, that
+I cannot get accustomed to the London dinge, and some of the finest
+houses look to me as though I would like to give them a good scouring.
+Tell Cousin M. never to come to England, she would be shocked every
+minute, with all the grandeur.  A new country is cleaner-looking, though
+it may not be so picturesque.
+
+I got your letters when I arrived here, and I wish this may give you but
+a little pleasure they gave me.  Pray never let a steamer come without a
+token from both of you . . . With love to Grandma and Uncle Thomas,
+believe me, with more love than ever before,
+
+                                                    ELIZABETH D. BANCROFT.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                 LONDON, November 3, 1846.
+
+. . . This day, at five, your father had his first interview with Lord
+Palmerston, who will acquaint the Queen with his arrival, and after she
+has received him we shall leave our cards upon all the ministers and
+_corps diplomatique_.
+
+                                                             November 4th.
+
+Your father had a most agreeable dinner at Lord Holland’s.  He met there
+Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lord Morpeth, Lord de Mauley, Mr. Harcourt, a
+son of the Archbishop of York, etc.  He took out Lady Holland and Lord
+Morpeth, Lady Palmerston, the only ladies present.  Holland House is
+surrounded by 200 acres in the midst of the western part of London, or
+rather Kensington.  Lord Holland has no children, and the family dies
+with him.  They dined in the room in which Addison died.
+
+ [Picture: Henry Edward, fourth Lord Holland.  From the portrait by C. R.
+ Leslie, R. A., at Holland House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester]
+
+To-day, to my surprise, came Lady Palmerston, which was a great courtesy,
+as it was my place to make the first visit.  She is the sister of Lord
+Melbourne.  Lord de Mauley has also been here. . . .  To-day I have been
+driving through some of the best streets in London, and my ideas of its
+extent and magnificence are rising fast.  The houses are more picturesque
+than ours, and some of them most noble.  The vastness of a great capital
+like this cannot burst upon one at once.  Its effect increases daily.
+The extent of the Park, surrounded by mansions which look, some of them,
+like a whole history in themselves, has to-day quite dazzled my
+imagination.
+
+                                                             November 5th.
+
+This morning, Thursday, came an invitation to dine with Lord and Lady
+Palmerston on Saturday.  Sir George Grey, another of the ministers, came
+to see us to-day and Lord Mahon.  Your father and I have been all the
+morning looking at houses, and have nearly concluded upon one in Eaton
+Square.  We find a hotel very expensive, and not very comfortable for us,
+as your father is very restive without his books about him.  Mr. Harcourt
+also came to see us to-day.  I mention as many of the names of our
+visitors as I can recollect, as it will give you some idea of the
+composition of English society . . .  This moment a large card in an
+envelope has been brought me, which runs thus: “The Lord Steward has
+received Her Majesty’s commands to invite Mr. Bancroft to dinner at
+Windsor Castle on Thursday, 12th November, to remain until Friday, 13th.”
+I am glad he will dine there before me, that he may tell me the order of
+performances.
+
+                                                     Friday, November 6th.
+
+. . . We had to-day a delightful visit from Rogers, the Poet, who is now
+quite old, but with a most interesting countenance.  He was full of
+cordiality, and, at parting, as he took my hand, said: “Our acquaintance
+must become friendship.”  Mr. Harcourt came again and sat an hour with
+us, and has introduced your father at the Traveller’s Club and the
+Athenæum Club.  To-night came my new lady’s maid, Russell.  She dresses
+hair beautifully, but is rather too great a person to suit my fancy.
+
+                                             Sunday Evening, November 8th.
+
+On Friday evening we met at Mrs. Wormeley’s a cosy little knot of
+Americans.  The Dexters were staying there and there were Mr. and Mrs.
+Atkinson and Miss Pratt, Mr. and Mrs. Aspinwall, Mr. and Miss Jay, Mr.
+and Mrs. Putnam, Mr. Colman, Mr. Pickering, etc.
+
+                                                        Wednesday Evening.
+
+On Monday we came to our _home_, preferring it to the hotel, though it is
+not yet in order for our reception, and we have not yet all our servants.
+Last evening we dined with Lord Morpeth at his father’s house.  His
+family are all out of town, but he remains because of his ministerial
+duties.  Lord Morpeth took me out and I sat between him and Sir George
+Grey.  Your father took out Lady Theresa Lewis, who is a sister of Lord
+Clarendon.  She was full of intelligence and I like her extremely.  Baron
+and Lady Parke (a distinguished judge), Lady Morgan, Mr. Mackintosh, Dr.
+and Mrs. Holland (Sidney Smith’s daughter), and Mr. and Mrs. Franklin
+Dexter, with several others were the party.
+
+During dinner one gentleman was so very agreeable that I wondered who he
+could be, but as Lord Palmerston had told me that Mr. Macaulay was in
+Edinburgh, I did not think of him.  After the ladies left the gentlemen,
+my first question to Mrs. Holland was the name of her next neighbor.
+“Why, Mr. Macaulay,” was her answer, and I was pleased not to have been
+disappointed in a person of whom I had heard so much.  When the gentlemen
+came in I was introduced to him and talked to him and heard him talk not
+a little.
+
+These persons all came the next day to see us, which gave rise to fresh
+invitations.
+
+This morning we have been driving round to leave cards on the _corps
+diplomatique_, and Mr. Harcourt has taken me all over the Athenæum
+Club-house, a superb establishment.  They have given your father an
+invitation to the Club, a privilege which is sometimes sought for years,
+Mr. Harcourt says. . . .  Have I not needed all my energies?  We have
+been here just a fortnight, and I came so ill that I could hardly walk.
+We are now at housekeeping, and I am in the full career in London
+society.  They told me I should see no one until spring, but you see we
+dine out or go out in the evening almost every day. . . .  For the
+gratification of S. D. or Aunt I., who may wonder how I get along in
+dress matters, going out as I did in my plain black dress, I will tell
+you that Mrs. Murray, the Queen’s dressmaker, made me, as soon as I found
+these calls and invitations pouring in, two dresses.  One of black
+velvet, very low, with short sleeves, and another of very rich black
+watered silk, with drapery of black tulle on the corsage and sleeves. . . .
+I have fitted myself with several pretty little head-dresses, some in
+silver, some with plumes, but all white, and I find my velvet and silk
+suit all occasions.  I do not like dining with bare arms and neck, but I
+must.
+
+  [Picture: Augusta, Lady Holland.  From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R.
+      A., at Holland House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester]
+
+                                                   Tuesday, November 17th.
+
+Last evening we passed at the Earl of Auckland’s, the head of the
+Admiralty.  The party was at the Admiralty, where there is a beautiful
+residence for the first lord. . . .  I had a long talk with Lord Morpeth
+last evening about Mr. Sumner, and told him of his nomination.  He has a
+strong regard for him. . . .  Not a moment have I had to a London “lion.”
+I have driven past Westminster, but have not been in it.  I have seen
+nothing of London but what came in my way in returning visits.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, November 17, 1846.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE: I cannot help refreshing the remembrance of me with you
+and dear Aunty by addressing a separate letter to you. . . .  Yesterday
+we hailed with delight our letters from home. . . .  One feels in a
+foreign land the absence of common sympathies and interests, which always
+surround us in any part of our own country.  And yet nothing can exceed
+the kindness with which we have been received here.
+
+Last evening I went to my first great English dinner and it was a most
+agreeable one. . . .  It seems a little odd to a republican woman to find
+herself in right of her country taking precedence of marchionesses, but
+one soon gets used to all things.  We sat down to dinner at eight and got
+through about ten.  When the ladies rose, I found I was expected to go
+first.  After dinner other guests were invited and to the first person
+who came in, about half-past ten, Lady Palmerston said: “Oh, thank you
+for coming so early.”  This was Lady Tankerville of the old French family
+of de Grammont and niece to Prince Polignac.  The next was Lady Emily de
+Burgh, the daughter of the Marchioness of Clanricarde, a beautiful girl
+of seventeen.  She is very lovely, wears a Grecian braid round her head
+like a coronet, and always sits by her mother, which would not suit our
+young girls.  Then came Lord and Lady Ashley, Lord Ebrington, and so many
+titled personages that I cannot remember half.
+
+The dinner is much the same as ours in all its modes of serving, but they
+have soles and turbot, instead of our fishes, and their pheasants are not
+our pheasants, or their partridges our partridges.  Neither have we so
+many footmen with liveries of all colours, or so much gold and silver
+plate. . . .  The next morning Mr. Bancroft breakfasted with Dr. Holland
+to meet the Marquis of Lansdowne alone.  [Thursday] he went down to
+Windsor to dine with the Queen.  He took out to dinner the Queen’s
+mother, the Duchess of Kent, the Queen going with the Prince of
+Saxe-Weimar, who was paying a visit at the Castle.  He talked German to
+the Duchess during dinner, which I suspect she liked, for the Queen spoke
+of it to him afterwards, and Lord Palmerston told me the Duchess said he
+spoke very pure German.  While he was dining at Windsor I went to a party
+all alone at the Countess Grey’s, which I thought required some courage.
+
+Of all the persons I see here the Marquis of Lansdowne excites the most
+lively regard.  His countenance and manners are full of benevolence and I
+think he understands America better than anyone else of the high
+aristocracy.  I told him I was born at Plymouth and was as proud of my
+pure Anglo-Saxon Pilgrim descent as if it were traced from a line of
+Norman Conquerors.  Nearly all the ministers and their wives came to see
+us immediately, without waiting for us to make the first visit, which is
+the rule, and almost every person whom we have met in society, which
+certainly indicates an amiable feeling toward our country.  We could not
+well have received more courtesy than we have done, and it has been
+extended freely and immediately, without waiting for the forms of
+etiquette.  Pray say to Mr. Everett how often we hear persons speak of
+him, and with highest regard.  I feel as if we were reaping some of the
+fruits of his sowing.
+
+Mr. Bancroft sends you a pack of cards, one of the identical two packs
+with which the Queen played Patience the evening he was at Windsor.  They
+were the perquisite of a page who brought them to him.  He was much
+pleased with the Queen and thought her much prettier than any
+representation of her which we have seen, and with a very sweet
+expression.  Lady Holland had been staying two or three days at Windsor,
+and was to leave the next morning.  When the Queen took leave of her at
+night, she kissed her quite in my Virginia fashion.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+DEAR UNCLE: How much more your niece would have written if to-day were
+not packet day, I cannot say.  I shall send you some newspapers and a
+pack of cards which I saw in the Queen’s hands.  The American Minister
+and Mrs. Bancroft have since played a game of piquet with them.  The
+Queen’s hands were as clean as her smile was gracious.  Best regards to
+the Judge and Aunt Isaac.
+
+                                                         Yours most truly,
+                                                          GEORGE BANCROFT.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, November 29, 1846.
+
+After a long interval I find again a quiet Sunday evening to resume my
+journal to you.  On Monday we dined at Lord John Russell’s, and met many
+of the persons we have met before and the Duchess of Inverness, the widow
+of the Duke of Sussex.  On Tuesday we dined at Dr. Holland’s.  His wife
+and daughter are charming, and then we met, besides, Lady Charlotte
+Lindsay, the only surviving child of Lord North, Mr. and Mrs. Milman (the
+author of the “Fall of Jerusalem”), and Mr. Macaulay.  Yesterday I went
+to return the visit of the Milmans and found that the entrance to their
+house, he being a prebend of Westminster Abbey, was actually in the
+cloisters of the Abbey.  They were not at home, but I took my footman and
+wandered at leisure through the cloisters, treading at every step on the
+tomb of some old abbot with dates of 1160 and thereabouts.
+
+                         [Picture: Holland House]
+
+Nothing could be more delightful than London is now, if I had only a
+little more physical vigor to enjoy it.  We see everybody more
+frequently, and know them better than in the full season, and we have
+some of the best specimens of English society, too, here just now, as the
+Whig ministry brings a good deal of the ability of the aristocracy to its
+aid.  The subjects of conversation among women are more general than with
+us, and [they] are much more cultivated than our women as a body, not our
+blues.  They never sew, or attend, as we do, to domestic affairs, and so
+live for social life and understand it better.
+
+                                                 LONDON, December 2, 1846.
+
+MY DEAR MRS. POLK: {28} you told me when I parted from you at Washington
+that you would like to get from me occasionally some accounts of my
+experiences in English society.  I thought at that time that we should
+see very little of it until the spring, but contrary to my expectation we
+have been out almost every day since our arrival.  We made our _début_ in
+London on the first day of November (the suicidal month you know) in the
+midst of an orange-colored fog, in which you could not see your hand
+before you.  The prospect for the winter seemed, I must say, rather
+“triste,” but the next day the fog cleared off, people came constantly to
+see us, and we had agreeable invitations for every day, and London put on
+a new aspect.  Out first dinner was at Lord Palmerston’s, where we met
+what the newspapers call a distinguished circle.  The Marquis of
+Lansdowne, Lord and Lady John Russell, Marquis and Marchioness of
+Clanricarde (Canning’s daughter), Earl and Countess Grey, Sir George and
+Lady Grey, etc., etc.  I was taken out by Lord Palmerston, with Lord Grey
+on the other side, and found the whole thing very like one of our
+Washington dinners, and I was quite as much at my ease, and they seemed
+made of the same materials as our cabinet at home.  I have since dined at
+Lord Morpeth’s, Lord John Russell’s, Lord Mahon’s, Dr. Holland’s, Baron
+Parke’s, The Prussian Minister’s, and to-day we dine with the Duchess of
+Inverness, the widow of the Duke of Sussex; to-morrow with Mr. Milman, a
+prebend of Westminster and a distinguished man of letters.  We have been
+at a great many _soirées_, at Lady Palmerston’s, Lady Grey’s, Lord
+Auckland’s, Lady Lewis’s, etc., etc.
+
+And now, having given you some idea _whom_ we are seeing here, you will
+wish to know how I like them, and how they differ from our own people.
+At the smaller dinners and _soirées_ at this season I cannot, of course,
+receive a full impression of English society, but certainly those persons
+now in town are charming people.  Their manners are perfectly simple and
+I entirely forget, except when their historic names fall upon my ear,
+that I am with the proud aristocracy of England.  All the persons whose
+names I have mentioned to you give one a decided impression not only of
+ability and agreeable manners, but of excellence and the domestic
+virtues.  The furniture and houses, too, are less splendid and
+ostentatious, than those of our large cities, though [they] have more
+plate, and liveried servants.  The forms of society and the standard of
+dress, too, are very like ours, except that a duchess or a countess has
+more hereditary point lace and diamonds.  The general style of dress,
+perhaps, is not so tasteful, so simply elegant as ours.  Upon the whole I
+think more highly of our own country (I mean from a social point of view
+alone) than before I came abroad.  There is less superiority over us in
+manners and all the social arts than I could have believed possible in a
+country where a large and wealthy class have been set apart from time
+immemorial to create, as it were, a social standard of high refinement.
+The chief difference that I perceive is this: In our country the position
+of everybody is undefined and rests altogether upon public opinion.  This
+leads sometimes to a little assumption and pretension of manner, which
+the highest class here, whose claims are always allowed by all about
+them, are never tempted to put on.  From this results an extreme
+simplicity of manner, like that of a family circle among us.
+
+What I have said, however, applies less to the South than to the large
+cities of the North, with which I am most familiar at home.  I hope our
+memory will not be completely effaced in Washington, for we cling to our
+friends there with strong interest.  Present my respectful regards to the
+President, and my love to Mrs. Walker and Miss Rucker.  To the Masons
+also, and our old colleagues all, and pray lay your royal commands upon
+somebody to write me.  I long to know what is going on in Washington.
+The Pleasantons promised to do so, and Annie Payne, to whom and to Mrs.
+Madison give also my best love.  Believe me yours with the highest
+regard.
+
+                                                           E. D. BANCROFT.
+
+                                                               2 December.
+
+Yesterday we dined at the Prussian Minister’s, Chevalier Bunsen’s.  He
+met your father in Rome twenty years since, and has received us with
+great enthusiasm.  Yesterday at dinner he actually rose in his seat and
+made quite a speech welcoming him to England as historian, old friend,
+etc., and ended by offering his health, which your father replied to
+shortly, in a few words.  Imagine such an outbreak upon routine at a
+dinner in England!  Nobody could have done it but one of German blood,
+but I dare say the Everetts, who know him, could imagine it all.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, December 19, 1846.
+
+MY DEAR SONS: . . . Yesterday we dined at Macready’s and met quite a new,
+and to us, a most agreeable circle.  There was Carlyle, who talked all
+dinner-time in his broad Scotch, in the most inimitable way.  He is full
+of wit, and happened to get upon James I., upon which topic he was
+superb.  Then there was Babbage, the great mathematician, Fonblanc, the
+editor of the _Examiner_, etc., etc.  The day before we dined at Mr.
+Frederick Elliott’s with a small party of eight, of which Lady Morgan was
+one, and also a brother of Lord Normanby’s, whom I liked very much.  Lady
+Morgan, who had not hitherto much pleased me, came out in this small
+circle with all her Irish wit and humor, and gave me quite new notions of
+her talent.  She made me laugh till I cried.  On Saturday we dined at Sir
+Roderick Murchison’s, the President of the Geological Society, very great
+in the scientific way.
+
+   [Picture: George Bancroft.  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+                    possession of William J. A. Bliss]
+
+We have struck up a great friendship with Miss Murray, the Queen’s Maid
+of Honor, who paid me a visit of three hours to-day, in the midst of
+which came in Colonel Estcourt, whom I was delighted to see, as you may
+suppose.  Miss Murray is to me a very interesting person, though a great
+talker; a convenient fault to a stranger.  She is connected with half the
+noble families in England, is the grand-daughter of the Duchess of Athol,
+who governed the Isle of Man as a queen, and the descendant of Scott’s
+Countess of Derby.  Though sprung of such Tory blood, and a maid of
+honor, she thinks freely upon all subjects.  Religion, politics, and
+persons, she decides upon for herself, and has as many benevolent schemes
+as old Madam Jackson.
+
+I returned the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, the painter, this week, and
+saw the picture he is now painting for the Vice-Chancellor.  It is a
+sketch of children, a boy driving his two little sisters as horses.  One
+of the little girls is very like Susie, {37} her size, hair, and
+complexion.  How I longed to be rich enough to order a copy, but his
+pictures cost a fortune.  I paid also a visit this week to the Duchess of
+Inverness, whom I found in the prettiest, cosiest morning boudoir looking
+onto the gardens of the Palace.  In short, I do, or see, every hour,
+something that if I were a traveller only, I could make quite a story of.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                  LONDON, January 1, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR SONS: . . .  I wrote my last sheet on the 19th and your father
+went on that day to Cambridge to be present at the tri-centennial
+celebration of Trinity College . . . He went also the day after the
+anniversary, which was on our 22nd December, to Ely, with Peacock, the
+great mathematician, who is Dean of Ely, to see the great cathedral there
+. . . While he was at Cambridge I passed the evening of the 22nd at Lady
+Morgan’s, who happened to have a most agreeable set . . . Lady Morgan’s
+reunions are entertaining to me because they are collections of lions,
+but they are not strictly and exclusively fashionable.  They remind me in
+their composition from various circles of Mrs. Otis’s parties in Boston.
+We have in this respect an advantage over the English themselves, as in
+our position we see a great variety of cliques.
+
+For instance, last evening, the 31st, I took Louisa, at half-past seven,
+to the house of Mr. Hawes, an under Secretary of State, to see a
+beautiful children’s masque.  It was an impersonation of the “Old Year”
+dressed a little like _Lear_ with snowy hair and draperies.  _Old Year_
+played his part inimitably, at times with great pathos, and then
+introducing witty hits at all the doings of his reign, such as exploding
+cotton, the new planet, a subject which he put at rest as “_far beyond
+our reach_,” etc., etc.  He then introduced one by one the children of
+all ages as “Days” of the coming year.  There was _Twelfth Day_, crowned
+as Queen with her cake in her hands; there was _Christmas_, covered with
+holly and mistletoe; there was _April Fool’s Day_, dressed as Harlequin;
+there was, above all, _Shrove Tuesday_, with her frying-pan of pancakes,
+dressed as a little cook; there was a charming boy of fourteen or
+fifteen, as _St. Valentine’s Day_ with his packet of valentines addressed
+to the young ladies present; there was the _5th of November_, full of wit
+and fun, etc.; the longest day, an elder brother, of William’s height,
+with a cap of three or four feet high; and his little sister of five, as
+the shortest day.  This was all arranged to music and each made little
+speeches, introducing themselves.  The _Old Year_, after introducing his
+successors, and after much pathos, is “going, going—gone,” and falls
+covered with his drapery, upon removing which, instead of the lifeless
+body of the _Old Year_, is discovered a sweet little flower-crowned girl
+of five or six, as the _New Year_.  It was charming, and I was so pleased
+that, instead of taking Louisa away at nine o’clock as I intended, I left
+her to see “Sir Roger de Coverly,” in the dress of his time.
+
+[Picture: Elizabeth Davis Bancroft.  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in
+                  the possession of William J. A. Bliss]
+
+Last night at Mr. Putnam’s, I met William and Mary Howitt, and some of
+the lesser lights.  I have put down my pen to answer a note, just brought
+in, to dine next Thursday with the Dowager Countess of Charleville, where
+we were last week, in the evening.  She is eighty-four (tell this to
+Grandmamma) and likes still to surround herself with _beaux_ and _belles
+esprits_, and as her son and daughter reside with her, this is still easy
+. . . The old lady talks French as fast as possible, and troubles me
+somewhat by talking it to me, forgetting that a foreign minister’s wife
+can talk English . . . Your father likes to be here.  He has copying
+going on in the State Paper Office and British Museum, and his heart is
+full of manuscripts.  It is the first thought, I believe, whoever he
+sees, what papers are in their family.  He makes great interest with even
+the ladies sometimes for this purpose.  Upon the whole, I love my own
+country better than ever, but whether I shall not miss, upon my return,
+some things to which I am gradually getting accustomed, I have yet to
+learn.  The gratification of mixing constantly with those foremost in the
+world for rank, science, literature, or all which adorns society is
+great, but there is a certain yearning toward those whose habits,
+education, and modes of thought are the same as our own, which I never
+can get over.  In the full tide of conversation I often stop and think,
+“I may unconsciously be jarring the prejudices or preconceived notions of
+these people upon a thousand points; for how differently have I been
+trained from these women of high rank, and men, too, with whom I am now
+thrown.”  Upon all topics we are accustomed to think, perhaps, with more
+latitude, religion, politics, morals, everything.  I like the English
+extremely, even more than I expected, and yet happy am I to think that
+our own best portions of society can bear a comparison with theirs.  When
+I see you I can explain to you the differences, but I think we need not
+be ashamed of ourselves.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                  LONDON, January 2, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE: . . . I refer you to my letters to my boys, for all the
+new persons and places we may have seen lately, while I give you for
+Aunty’s amusement a minute account of my visit into the country at Mr.
+Bates’s, where things are managed in a scrupulously English manner, so
+that it will give her the same idea of country life here, as if it were a
+nobleman’s castle.  Our invitation was to arrive on Thursday, the day
+before Christmas, to dine, and to remain until the following Tuesday
+morning.  His place is at East _Sheen_, which receives its name from the
+Anglo-Saxon word for _beauty_.  It adjoins Richmond Park, beyond which is
+the celebrated Richmond Hill, Twickenham, Kew, etc., etc. . . . We
+arrived at East Sheen at half-past five; but I ought first to mention the
+_preparations_ for a country excursion.  Our own carriage has, of course,
+no dickey for my maid, or conveniences for luggage, so we take a
+travelling carriage.  The imperials (which are large, flat boxes,
+covering the whole top of the carriage, _capital_ for velvet dresses, and
+smaller ones fitting into all the seats _in_ the carriage, and _before_
+and _behind_) are brought to you the day before.  I am merely asked what
+dresses I wish taken, and that is all I know of the matter, so thoroughly
+does an English maid understand her business.  We were shown on our
+arrival into a charming room, semi-library.
+
+In a few minutes a servant came to show me to my apartment, which was
+very superb, with a comfortable dressing-room and fire for Mr. Bancroft,
+where the faithful Keats unpacked his dressing materials, while I was in
+a few moments seated at the toilet to undergo my hair-dressing,
+surrounded by all my apparatus, and a blazing fire to welcome me with a
+hissing tea-kettle of hot water and every comfort.  How well the English
+understand it, I learn more and more every day.  My maid had a large room
+above me, also with a fire; indeed, a “lady’s” maid is a _very great_
+character _indeed_, and would be much more unwilling to take her tea
+with, or speak familiarly to, a footman or a housemaid than I should.  My
+greatest mistakes in England have been committed toward those high
+dignitaries, my own maid and the butler, whose grandeur I entirely
+misappreciated and invaded, as in my ignorance I placed them, as we do,
+on the same level with other servants.  She has her fire made for her,
+and _loaf_ sugar in her tea, which she and Cates sip in solitary majesty.
+However, she is most conscientious and worthy, as well as dignified, and
+thoroughly accomplished in her business.  As all these things are
+pictures of English life, I mention them to amuse Aunty, who likes to
+know how these matters are managed.
+
+After I am dressed, I join the circle in the library, where I am
+introduced to Mr. and Madam Van de Weyer, and Louis Buonaparte, the son
+of Louis, the ex-King of Holland, and of Hortense, Josephine’s daughter.
+He was a long time imprisoned in the fortress of Ham, and has not long
+been free.  There was also Napoleon, son of Jerome Buonaparte, and the
+Princess of Wurtemberg.  They were most agreeable, intelligent, and
+amiable young men, and I was glad to meet them.  Lord and Lady Langdale
+(who have a place in the neighborhood) were invited to dine with us.  He
+is Master of the Rolls and was elevated to the peerage from great
+distinction at the bar.  Lady Langdale is a sensible and excellent
+person.  At dinner I sat between Mr. Bates and Lord Langdale, whom I
+liked very much.
+
+The next morning we assembled at ten for breakfast, which was at a round
+table, with a sort of circular tray, which turns at the least touch in
+the centre, leaving only a rim round the table for plates and cups.  This
+was covered also with a white cloth and on it were placed all the
+breakfast viands, with butter, sugar, cream, bread, toast-rack and
+preserves.  You need no servants, but turn it round and help yourself.  I
+believe the Van de Weyers introduced it, from a visit in Wales.  Tea and
+coffee are served from a side-table always, here.  Let me tell Aunty that
+our simple breakfast _dress_ is unknown in England.  You come down in the
+morning dressed for the day, until six or seven in the evening, when your
+dress is low neck and short sleeves for dinner.  At this season the
+morning dress is a rich silk or velvet, high body quite close in the
+throat with handsome collar and cuffs, and _always_ a cap.  Madam Van de
+Weyer wore every day a different dress, all very rich, but I adhered to a
+black watered silk with the same simple cap I wore at home.
+
+I took a drive through Richmond Park (where Henry the Eighth watched to
+see a signal on the Tower when Anne Boleyn’s head fell, and galloped off
+to marry Jane Seymour) to Richmond Terrace, which is ravishingly
+beautiful even at this season. . . . The next day the gentleman all went
+to town, and Madam Van de Weyer and I passed the day _tête-à-tête_, very
+pleasantly, as her experience in diplomatic life is very useful to me. . . .
+Her manners are very pleasing and entirely unaffected.  She has
+great tact and quickness of perception, great intelligence and amiability
+and is altogether extremely well-fitted for the _rôle_ she plays in life.
+Her husband is charming. . . . They have three children, very lovely.
+The eldest, Victor, a fine boy of seven years old, Victoria, a girl of
+four, for whom the Queen was sponsor, and Albert, to whom Prince Albert
+performed the same office.  This was, of course, voluntary in the royal
+parties, as it was not a favor to be asked. . . .  Madam Van de Weyer is
+not spoiled, certainly, by the prominent part she was called to play in
+this great centre of the world at so early an age, and makes an excellent
+courtier.  I could not help pitying her, however, for looking forward to
+going through, year after year, the same round of ceremonies, forms, and
+society.  For us, it is a new study, and invaluable for a short time; but
+I could not bear it for life, as these European diplomatists.  Besides,
+we Americans really enjoy a kind of society, and a much nearer
+intercourse than other foreigners, in the literary, scientific, and even
+social circles.
+
+On Saturday evening Lord William Fitzroy and daughter joined our party
+with Sir William Hooker and Lady Hooker. . . . Sir William Hooker is one
+of the most interesting persons I have seen in England.  He is a great
+naturalist and has the charge of the great Botanical Gardens at Kew.  He
+devoted a morning to us there, and it was the most delightful one I have
+passed.  There are twenty-eight different conservatories filled with the
+vegetable wonders of the whole world.  Length of time and regal wealth
+have conspired to make the Kew gardens beyond our conceptions entirely. . . .
+Sir William pointed out to us all that was very rare or curious,
+which added much to my pleasure. . . . He showed us a drawing of the
+largest _flower_ ever known on earth, which Sir Stamford Raffles
+discovered in Sumatra.  It was a parasite without leaves or stem, and the
+flower weighed fifteen pounds.  Lady Raffles furnished him the materials
+for the drawing.  I dined in company with her not long ago, and regret
+now that I did not make her tell me about the wonders of that region.  At
+the same dinner you may meet so many people, each having their peculiar
+gift, that one cannot avail oneself of the opportunity of extracting from
+each what is precious.  I always wish I could sit by everybody at the
+same time, and I could often employ a dozen heads, if I had them, instead
+of my poor, miserable one.  From Sir William Hooker _I_ learned as much
+about the _vegetable_ world, as Mr. Bancroft did from the Dean of Ely on
+_architecture_, when he expounded to him the cathedral of Ely; pointing
+out the successive styles of the Gothic, and the different periods in
+which the different parts were built.  Books are dull teachers compared
+with these gifted men giving you a lecture upon subjects before your
+eyes.
+
+On Sunday we dined with out own party; on Monday some diplomatic people,
+the Lisboas and one of Mr. Bates’s partners, and on Tuesday we came home.
+I must not omit a visit while we were there from Mr. Taylor (Van
+Artevelde), who is son-in-law of Lord Monteagle, and lives in the
+neighborhood.  He has a fine countenance and still finer voice, and is
+altogether one of those literary persons who do not disappoint you, but
+whose whole being is equal to their works.  I hope to see more of him, as
+they spoke of “_cultivating_” us, and Mr. Taylor was quite a _protégé_ of
+our kind and dear friend, Dr. Holland, and dedicated his last poem to
+him.  This expression, “I shall _cultivate_ you,” we hear constantly, and
+it strikes me as oddly as our Western “_being raised_.”  Indeed, I hear
+improper Anglicisms constantly, and they have nearly as many as we have.
+The upper classes, here, however, do _speak_ English so roundly and
+fully, giving every _letter_ its due, that it pleases my ear amazingly.
+
+On Wednesday I go for the first time to Westminster Abbey, on Epiphany,
+to hear the Athanasian Creed chanted.  I have as yet had no time for
+sight-seeing, as the days are so short that necessary visits take all my
+time.  No one goes out in a carriage till after two, as the servants dine
+at one, and in the morning early the footman is employed in the house.  A
+coachman never leaves his box here, and a footman is indispensable on all
+occasions.  No visit can be paid till three; and this gives me very
+little time in these short days.  Everything here is inflexible as the
+laws of the Medes and Persians, and though I am called “Mistress” even by
+old Cates with his grey hair and black coat, I cannot make one of them do
+anything, except _by_ the person and _at_ the time which English custom
+prescribes.  They are brought up to fill certain situations, and fill
+them perfectly, but cannot or will not vary.
+
+I am frequently asked by the ladies here if I have formed a household to
+please me and I am obliged to confess that I have a very nice household,
+but that I am the only refractory member of it.  I am always asking the
+wrong person for coals, etc., etc.  The division of labor, or rather
+ceremonies, between the butler and footman, I have now mastered I believe
+in some degree, but that between the _upper_ and _under_ house-maid is
+still a profound mystery to me, though the upper has explained to me for
+the twentieth time that she did only “the top of the work.”  My cook
+comes up to me every morning for orders, and always drops the deepest
+curtsey, but then I doubt if her hands are ever profaned by touching a
+poker, and she _never_ washes a dish.  She is cook and _housekeeper_, and
+presides over the housekeeper’s room; which has a Brussels carpet and
+centre table, with one side entirely occupied by the linen presses, of
+which my maid (my vice-regent, only _much_ greater than me) keeps the key
+and dispenses every towel, even for the kitchen.  She keeps lists of
+everything and would feel bound to replace anything missing.  I shall
+make you laugh and Mrs. Goodwin stare, by some of my housekeeping
+stories, the next evening I pass in your little pleasant parlor (a word
+unknown here).
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                 LONDON, January 10, 1847.
+
+MY VERY DEAR CHILDREN: . . . Yesterday we dined at Lady Charleville’s,
+the old lady of eighty-four, at whose house I mentioned an evening visit
+in my last, and I must tell you all about it to entertain dear Grandma.
+I will be minute for once, and give you the _little_ details of a London
+dinner, and they are all precisely alike.  We arrived at Cavendish Square
+a quarter before seven (very early) and were shown into a semi-library on
+the same floor with the dining-room.  The servants take your cloak, etc.,
+in the passage, and I am never shown into a room with a mirror as with
+us, and never into a chamber or bedroom.
+
+We found Lady Charleville and her daughter with one young gentleman with
+whom I chatted till dinner, and who, I found, was Sir William Burdette,
+son of Sir Francis and brother of Miss Angelina Coutts.  I happened to
+have on the corsage of my black velvet a white moss rose and buds, which
+I thought rather youthful for _me_, but the old lady had [them] on her
+cap.  She is full of intelligence, and has always been in the habit of
+drawing a great deal. . . . Very soon came in Lord Aylmer, [who] was
+formerly Governor of Canada, and Lady Colchester, daughter of Lord
+Ellenborough, a very pretty woman of thirty-five, I should think; Sir
+William and Lady Chatterton and Mr. Algernon Greville, whose grandmother
+wrote the beautiful “Prayer for Indifference,” an old favorite of mine,
+and Mr. MacGregor, the political economist.  Lord Aylmer took me out and
+I found him a nice old peer, and discovered that ever since the death of
+his uncle, Lord Whitworth, whose title is extinct, he had borne the arms
+of both Aylmer and Whitworth.  Mr. Bancroft took out Lady Colchester, and
+the old lady was wheeled out precisely as Grandma is.
+
+At table she helped to the fish (cod, garnished round with smelts) and
+insisted on carving the turkey herself, which she did extremely well.  By
+the way, I observe they never carve the breast of a turkey
+_longitudinally_, as we do, but in short slices, a little diagonally from
+the centre.  This makes many more slices, and quite large enough where
+there are so many other dishes.  The four _entrée_ dishes are always
+placed on the table when we sit down, according to our old fashion, and
+not one by one.  They have [them] warmed with hot water, so that they
+keep hot while the soup and fish are eaten.  Turkey, even _boiled_
+turkey, is brought on _after_ the _entrées_, mutton (a saddle always) or
+venison, with a pheasant or partridges.  With the roast is always put on
+the _sweets_, as they are called, as the term dessert seems restricted to
+the last course of fruits.  During the dinner there are always long
+strips of damask all round the table which are removed before the dessert
+is put on, and there is no brushing of crumbs.  You may not care for all
+this, but the housekeepers may.  I had Mr. Greville the other side of me,
+who seemed much surprised that I, an American, should know the “Prayer
+for Indifference,” which he doubted if twenty persons in England read in
+these modern days.
+
+It is a great mystery to me yet how people get to know each other in
+London.  Persons talk to you whom you do not know, for no one is
+introduced, as a general rule.  I have sometimes quite an acquaintance
+with a person, and exchange visits, and yet do not succeed for a long
+time in putting their name and the person together. . . . It is a great
+puzzle to a stranger, but has its conveniences for the English
+themselves.  We are endeavoring to become acquainted with the English
+mind, not only through society, but through its products in other ways.
+Natural science is the department into which they seem to have thrown
+their intellect most effectively for the last ten or fifteen years.  We
+are reading Whewell’s “History of the Inductive Sciences,” which gives
+one a summary of what has been accomplished in that way, not only in past
+ages, but in the present.  Every moment here is precious to me and I am
+anxious to make the best use of it, but I have immense demands on my time
+in every way.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                          Tuesday night, January 19, 1847.
+
+To-day we have been present at the opening of Parliament, but how can I
+picture to you the interest and magnificence of the scene.  I will begin
+quite back, and give you all the preparations for a “Court Day.”  Ten
+days before, a note was written to Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, informing
+him of my intention to attend, that a seat might be reserved for me, and
+also soliciting several tickets for American ladies and gentlemen. . . .
+I cannot take them with me, however, as the seat assigned to the ladies
+of Foreign Ministers is very near the throne.  This morning when I awoke
+the fog was thicker than I ever knew it, even here.  The air was one
+dense orange-colored mass.  What a pity the English cannot borrow our
+bright blue skies in which to exhibit their royal pageants!
+
+Mr. Bancroft’s court dress had not been sent home, our servants’ liveries
+had not made their appearance, and our carriage only arrived last night,
+and I had not passed judgment upon it.  Fogs and tradesmen! these are the
+torments of London.  Very soon came the tailor with embroidered dress,
+sword, and chapeau, but, alas! Mr. Isidore, who was to have dressed my
+hair at half-past ten was not forthcoming, and to complete my perplexity,
+he had my head-dress in his possession.  At last, just as Russell had
+resumed her office at the toilet, came Isidore, a little before twelve,
+coiffure and all, which was so pretty that I quire forgave him all his
+sins.  It was of green leaves and white _fleur-de-lis_, with a white
+ostrich feather drooping on one side.  I wear my hair now plain in front,
+and the wreath was very flat and classical in its style.  My dress was
+black velvet with a very rich bertha.  A bouquet on the front of
+_fleur-de-lis_, like the coiffure, and a Cashmere shawl, completed my
+array.  I have had the diamond pin and earrings which you father gave me,
+reset, and made into a magnificent brooch, and so arranged that I can
+also wear it as a necklace or bracelet.  On this occasion it was my
+necklace.
+
+Miss Murray came to go with me, as she wished to be by my side to point
+out everybody, and her badge as Maid of Honor would take her to any part
+of the house.  At half-past twelve she and I set out, and after leaving
+us the carriage returned for your father and Mr. Brodhead.  But first let
+me tell you something of our equipage.  It is a _chariot_, not a coach;
+that is, it has but one seat, but the whole front being glass makes it
+much more agreeable to such persons as have not large families.  The
+color is maroon, with a silver moulding, and has the American arms on the
+panel.  The liveries are blue and red; on Court Days they have blue plush
+breeches, and white silk stockings, with buckles on their shoes.  Your
+father leaves all these matters to me, and they have given me no little
+plague.  When I thought I had arranged everything necessary, the
+coachman, good old Brooks, solicited an audience a day or two ago, and
+began, “Mistress, did you tell them to send the pads and the fronts and
+the hand-pieces?”  “Heavens and earth! what are all these things?” said
+I.  “Why, ma’am, we always has pads under the saddle on Court Days,
+trimmed round with the colors of the livery, and we has fronts made of
+ribbin for the horses’ heads, and we has white hand-pieces for the
+reins.”  This is a specimen of the little troubles of court life, but it
+has its compensations.  To go back to Miss Murray and myself, who are
+driving through the park between files of people, thousands and thousands
+all awaiting with patient, loyal faces the passage of the Queen and of
+the State carriages.  The Queen’s was drawn by eight cream-colored
+horses, and the servants flaming with scarlet and gold.  This part of the
+park, near the palace, is only accessible to the carriages of the foreign
+ministers, ministers, and officers of the household.
+
+We arrive at the Parliament House, move through the long corridor and
+give up our tickets at the door of the chamber.  It is a very long,
+narrow room.  At the upper end is the throne, on the right is the seat of
+the ambassadors, on the left, of their ladies.  Just in front of the
+throne is the wool-sack of the Lord Chancellor, looking like a
+drawing-room divan, covered with crimson velvet.  Below this are rows of
+seats for the judges, who are all in their wigs and scarlet robes; the
+bishops and the peers, all in robes of scarlet and ermine.  Opposite the
+throne at the lower end is the Bar of the Commons.  On the right of the
+Queen’s chair is a vacant one, on which is carved the three plumes, the
+insignia of the Prince of Wales, who will occupy it when he is seven or
+nine years old; on the left Prince Albert sits.
+
+The seat assigned me was in the front row, and quite open, like a sofa,
+so that I could talk with any gentleman whom I knew.  Madam Van de Weyer
+was on one side of me and the Princess Callimachi on the other, and Miss
+Murray just behind me.  She insisted on introducing to me all her noble
+relatives.  Her cousin, the young Duke of Athol; the Duke of Buccleuch;
+her nephew the Marquis of Camden; her brother the Bishop of Rochester.
+There were many whom I had seen before, so that the hour passed very
+agreeably.  Very soon came in the Duke of Cambridge, at which everybody
+rose, he being a royal duke.  He was dressed in the scarlet kingly robe,
+trimmed with ermine, and with his white hair and whiskers (he is an old
+man) was most picturesque and scenic, reminding me of King Lear and other
+stage kings.  He requested to be introduced to me, upon which I rose, of
+course.  He soon said, “Be seated,” and we went on with the conversation.
+I told him how much I liked Kew Garden, where he has a favorite place.
+
+When I first entered I was greeted very cordially by a personage in a
+black gown and wig, whom I did not know.  He laughed and said: “I am Mr.
+Senior, whom you saw only Saturday evening, but you do not know me in my
+wig.”  It is, indeed, an entire transformation, for it reaches down on
+the shoulders.  He is a master in chancery.  He stood by me nearly all
+the time and pointed out many of the judges, and some persons not in Miss
+Murray’s line.
+
+But the trumpets sound! the Queen approaches!  The trumpet continues, and
+first enter at a side door close at my elbow the college of heralds
+richly dressed, slowly, two and two; then the great officers of the
+household, then the Lord Chancellor bearing the purse, seal, and speech
+of the Queen, with the macebearers before him.  Then Lord Lansdowne with
+the crown, the Earl of Zetland, with the cap of maintenance, and the Duke
+off Wellington, with the sword of State.  Then Prince Albert, leading the
+Queen, followed by the Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes, and
+the Marchioness of Douro, daughter-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, who
+is one of the ladies in waiting.  The Queen and Prince sit down, while
+everybody else remains standing.  The Queen then says in a voice most
+clear and sweet: “My lords (rolling the r), be seated.”  Upon which the
+peers sit down, except those who enter with the Queen, who group
+themselves about the throne in the most picturesque manner.  The Queen
+had a crown of diamonds, with splendid necklace and stomacher of the
+same.  The Duchess of Sutherland close by her side with her ducal coronet
+of diamonds, and a little back, Lady Douro, also, with her coronet.  On
+the right of the throne stood the Lord Chancellor, with scarlet robe and
+flowing wig, holding the speech, surrounded by the emblems of his office;
+a little farther, one step lower down, Lord Lansdowne, holding the crown
+on a crimson velvet cushion, and on the left the Duke of Wellington,
+brandishing the sword of State in the air, with the Earl of Zetland by
+his side.  The Queen’s train of royal purple, or rather deep crimson, was
+borne by many train-bearers.  The whole scene seemed to me like a dream
+or a vision.  After a few minutes the Lord Chancellor came forward and
+presented the speech to the Queen.  She read it sitting and most
+exquisitely.  Her voice is flute-like and her whole emphasis decided and
+intelligent.  Very soon after the speech is finished she leaves the
+House, and we all follow, as soon as we can get our carriages.
+
+   [Picture: The Duke of Wellington.  From the portrait by Count Alfred
+       D’Orsay; photograph copyright by Walker & Cockerell, London]
+
+Lord Lansdowne told me before she came in that the speech would be longer
+than usual, “but not so long as your President’s speeches.”  It has been
+a day of high pleasure and more like a romance than a reality to me, and
+being in the very midst of it as I was, made it more striking than if I
+had looked on from a distant gallery.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                 LONDON, February 7, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR SONS: . . . On Friday we dined with two bachelors, Mr. Peabody
+and Mr. Coates, who are American bankers.  Mr. Peabody is a friend of Mr.
+Corcoran and was formerly a partner of Mr. Riggs in Baltimore.  Mr.
+Coates is of Boston. . . . They mustered up all the Americans that could
+be found, and we dined with twenty-six of our countrymen.
+
+                                                           Monday Morning.
+
+Last evening we were at home to see any Americans who might chance to
+come. . . . I make tea in the drawing-room, on a little table with a
+white cloth, which would not be esteemed _comme il faut_ with us.  There
+is none of the parade of eating in the largest evening party here.  I see
+nothing but tea, and sometimes find an informal refreshment table in the
+room where we put on our cloaks.
+
+I got a note yesterday from the O’Connor Don, enclosing an order to admit
+me to the House of Commons on Monday. . . . You will be curious to know
+who is “The O’Connor Don.”  He is Dennis O’Connor, Esq., but is of the
+oldest family in Ireland, and the representative of the last kings of
+Connaught.  He is called altogether the O’Connor Don, and begins his note
+to me with that title.  You remember Campbell’s poem of “O’Connor’s
+Child”?
+
+                                                    Sunday, 14th February.
+
+. . . Yesterday morning was my breakfast at Sir Robert Inglis’s.  The
+hour was halfpast nine, and as his house is two miles off I had to be up
+wondrous early for me.  The weather has been very cold for this climate
+for the last few days, though we should think it moderate.  They know
+nothing of extreme cold here.  But, to return to or breakfast, where,
+notwithstanding the cold, the guests were punctually assembled: The
+Marquis of Northampton and his sisters, the Bishop of London with his
+black apron, Sir Stratford Canning, Mr. Rutherford, Lord Advocate for
+Scotland, the Solicitor-General and one or two others.  The conversation
+was very agreeable and I enjoyed my first specimen of an English
+breakfast exceedingly. . . . Our invitations jostle each other, now
+Parliament has begun, for everybody invites on Wednesday, Saturday, or
+Sunday, when there are no debates.  We had three dinner invitations for
+next Wednesday, from Mr. Harcourt, Marquis of Anglesey, and Mrs.
+Mansfield.  We go to the former.  The Queen held a levée on Friday, for
+gentlemen only.  Your father went, of course.
+
+   [Picture: Sir Stratford Canning.  From the drawing by Richmond, make
+          about 1848, by permission of the Hon. Louisa Canning]
+
+                                                    Sunday, February 21st.
+
+I left off on Sunday, on which day I got a note from Lady Morgan, saying
+that she wished us to come and meet some agreeables at her house. . . .
+There I met Sir William and Lady Molesworth, Sir Benjamin Hall, etc., and
+had a long talk with “Eōthen,” who is a quiet, unobtrusive person in
+manner, though his book is quite an effervescence. . . . On Wednesday we
+dined with Mr. Harcourt, and met there Lord Brougham, who did the talking
+chiefly, Lord and Lady Mahon, Mr. Labouchere, etc.  It was a most
+agreeable party, and we were very glad to meet Lord Brougham, whom we had
+not before seen.
+
+Lord Brougham is entertaining, and very much listened to.  Indeed, the
+English habit seems to be to suffer a few people to do up a great part of
+the talking, such as Macaulay, Brougham, and Sydney Smith and Mackintosh
+in their day. . . . On Saturday evening, at ten o’clock, we went to a
+little party at Lady Stratheden’s.  After staying there three-quarters of
+an hour we went to Lady Palmerston’s, where were all the _great_ London
+world, the Duchess of Sutherland among the number.  She is most noble,
+and at the same time lovely. . . . We had an autograph note from Sir
+Robert Peel, inviting us to dine next Saturday, and were engaged.  I hope
+they will ask us again, for I know few things better than to see him, as
+we should in dining there.  I have the same interest in seeing the really
+distinguished men of England, that I should have in the pictures and
+statues of Rome, and indeed, much greater.  I wish I was better prepared
+for my life here by a more extensive culture; mere fine ladyism will not
+do, or prosy bluism, but one needs for a thorough enjoyment of society, a
+healthy, practical, and extensive culture, and a use of the modern
+languages in our position would be convenient.  I do not know how a
+gentleman can get on without it here, and I find it so desirable that I
+devote a good deal of time to speaking French with Louisa’s governess.
+Your father uses French a great deal with his colleagues, who, many of
+them, speak English with great difficulty, and some not at all. . . .
+Lady Charlotte Lindsay came one day this week to engage us to dine with
+her on Wednesday, but yesterday she came to say that she wanted Lord
+Brougham to meet us, and he could not come till Friday.  Fortunately we
+had no dinner engagement on that day, and we are to meet also the Miss
+Berrys; Horace Walpole’s Miss Berrys, who with Lady Charlotte herself,
+are the last remnants of the old school here.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                            February 21st.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE: . . . I wrote [J. D.] a week or two before I heard of his
+death, but was unable to tell him anything of Lord North, as I had not
+met Lady Charlotte Lindsay.  I have seen her twice this week at Baron
+Parke’s and at Lord Campbell’s, and told her how much I had wished to do
+so before, and on what account.  She says her father heard reading with
+great pleasure, and that one of her sisters could read the classics:
+Latin and, I think, Greek, which he enjoyed to the last.  She says that
+he never complained of losing his sight, but that her mother has told her
+that it worried him in his old age that he remained Minister during our
+troubles at a period when he wished, himself, to resign.  He sometimes
+talked of it in the solitude of sleepless nights, her mother has told
+her.
+
+On Tuesday morning we were invited by Dr. Buckland, the Dean of
+Westminster, to go to his house, and from thence to the Abbey, to witness
+the funeral of the Duke of Northumberland.  The Dean, who has control of
+everything in the Abbey, issued tickets to several hundred persons to go
+and witness the funeral, but only Lord Northampton’s family, the Bunsens
+(the Prussian Minister), and ourselves, went to his house, and into the
+Dean’s little gallery.
+
+After the ceremony there were a crowd of visitors at the Dean’s, and I
+met many old acquaintances, and made many new ones, among whom were Lady
+Chantrey, a nice person.  After the crowd cleared off, we sat down to a
+long table at lunch, always an important meal here, and afterward the
+Dean took me on his arm and showed me everything within the Abbey
+precincts.  He took us first to the Percy Chapel to see the vault of the
+Percys. . . . From thence the Dean took us to the Jerusalem chamber where
+Henry IV died, then all over the Westminster school.  We first went to
+the hall where the young men were eating their dinner. . . . We then went
+to the school-room, where every inch of the wall and benches is covered
+with names, some of them most illustrious, as Dryden’s.  There were two
+bunches of rods, which the Dean assured me were not mere symbols of
+power, but were daily used, as, indeed, the broken twigs scattered upon
+the floor plainly showed.  Our ferules are thought rather barbarous, but
+a gentle touch from a slender twig not at all so.  These young men looked
+to me as old as our collegians.  We then went to their study-rooms,
+play-rooms, and sleeping-rooms.  The whole forty sleep in one long and
+well-ventilated room, the walls of which were also covered with names.
+At the foot of each bed was a large chest covered with leather, as
+mouldering and time-worn as the Abbey itself.  Here are educated the sons
+of some of the noblest families, and the Archbishop of York has had six
+sons here, and all of them were in succession the Captain of the school. . . .
+
+On Wednesday evening we went first to our friends, the Bunsens, where we
+were invited to meet the Duchess of Sutherland with a few other persons.
+Bunsen is very popular here.  He is learned and accomplished, and was so
+much praised in the Biography of Dr. Arnold, the late historian of Rome,
+that he has great reputation in the world of letters. . . . Although we
+have great pleasure in the society of Chevalier and Madam Bunsen, and in
+those whom we meet at their house.  On this occasion we only stayed half
+an hour, which I passed in talking with the Bishop of Norwich and his
+wife, Mrs. Stanley, and went to Lady Morgan’s without waiting till the
+Duchess of Sutherland came.  There we found her little rooms full of
+agreeable people. . . . The next day, Thursday, there was a grand opera
+for the benefit of the Irish, and all the Diplomatic Corps were obliged
+to take boxes.  Lady Palmerston, who was one of the three patronesses,
+secured a very good box for us, directly opposite the Queen, and only
+three from the stage.
+
+We took with us Mrs. Milman and W. T. Davis, to whom it gave a grand
+opportunity of seeing the Queen and the assembled aristocracy, at least
+all who are now in London.  “God save the Queen,” sung with the whole
+audience standing, was a noble sight.  The Queen also stood, and at the
+end gave three curtsies.  On Friday Captain and Mrs. Wormeley, with Miss
+Wormeley, dined with us, with Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle, Miss Murray, the Maid
+of Honor, Mr. and Mrs. Pell of New York, with William T. and Mr.
+Brodhead.  William was very glad to see Carlyle, who showed himself off
+to perfection, uttering his paradoxes in broad Scotch.
+
+Last evening we dined at Mr. Thomas Baring’s, and a most agreeable dinner
+it was.  The company consisted of twelve persons, Lord and Lady
+Ashburton, etc.  I like Lady Ashburton extremely.  She is full of
+intelligence, reads everything, talks most agreeably, and still loves
+America.  She is by no means one of those who abjure their country.  I
+have seen few persons in England whom I should esteem a more delightful
+friend or companion than Lady Ashburton, and I do not know why, but I had
+received a different impression of her.  Lord Ashburton, by whom I sat at
+dinner, struck me as still one of the wisest men I have seen in England.
+Lady Ashburton, who was sitting by Mr. Bancroft, leant forward and said
+to her husband, “_We_ can bring bushels of corn this year to England.”
+“Who do you mean by _we_?” said he.  “Why, we Americans, to be sure.”
+
+         [Picture: Lord Ashburton.  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.]
+
+                                                           Monday Evening.
+
+Yesterday we dined at Count St. Aulair’s, the French Ambassador, who is a
+charming old man of the old French school, at a sort of amicable dinner
+given to Lord and Lady Palmerston.  Lord John Russell was of the party,
+with the Russian Ambassador and lady, Mr. and Madam Van de Weyer, the
+Prussian and Turkish Ministers.  The house of the French Embassy is fine,
+but these formal grand dinners are not so charming as the small ones.
+The present state of feeling between Lord Palmerston and the French
+Government gave it a kind of interest, however, and it certainly went off
+in a much better spirit than Lady Normanby’s famous party, which Guizot
+would not attend.  It seems very odd to me to be in the midst of these
+European affairs, which I have all my life looked upon from so great a
+distance.
+
+
+
+_To Mrs. W. W. Story_
+
+
+                                                   LONDON, March 23, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR MRS. STORY: I should have thanked you by the last steamer for
+your note and the charming volume which accompanied it, but my thoughts
+and feelings were so much occupied by the sad tidings I heard from my own
+family that I wrote to no one out of it.  The poems, which would at all
+times have given me great pleasure, gave me still more here than they
+would if I were with you on the other side of the Atlantic.  I am not
+cosmopolitan enough to love any nature so well as our American nature,
+and in addition to the charm of its poetry, every piece brought up to me
+the scenes amidst which it had been written. . . . How dear these
+associations are your husband will soon know when he too is separated
+from his native shores and from those he loves. . . . I shall look
+forward with great pleasure to seeing him here, and only wish you were to
+accompany him, for your own sake, for his, and for ours.  His various
+culture will enable him to enjoy most fully all that Europe can yield him
+in every department.  My own regret ever since I have been here has been
+that the seed has not “fallen upon better ground,” for though I thought
+myself not ignorant wholly, I certainly lose much that I might enjoy more
+keenly if I were better prepared for it.  I envy the pleasure which Mr.
+Story will receive from music, painting, and sculpture in Europe, even if
+he were destitute of the creative inspiration which he will take with
+him.  For ourselves, we have everything to make us happy here, and I
+should be quite so, if I could forget that I had a country and children
+with very dear friends 3,000 miles away. . . . There are certain
+sympathies of country which one cannot overcome.  On the other hand I
+certainly enjoy pleasures of the highest kind, and am every day floated
+like one in a dream into the midst of persons and scenes that make my
+life seem more like a drama than a reality.  Nothing is more unreal than
+the actual presence of persons of whom one has heard much, and long
+wished to see.  One day I find myself at dinner by the side of Sir Robert
+Peel, another by Lord John Russell, or at Lord Lansdowne’s table, with
+Mrs. Norton, or at a charming breakfast with Mr. Rogers, surrounded by
+pictures and marbles, or with tall feathers and a long train, making
+curtsies to a queen.
+
+ [Picture: Miss Berry, at the age of 86.  From a crayon drawing by J. R.
+       Swinton (1850); from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss]
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                   LONDON, April 2 [1847].
+
+Here it is the day before the despatches leave and I have not written a
+single line to you. . . . On Friday we dined at Lady Charlotte Lindsay’s,
+where were Lord Brougham and Lady Mallet, Mr. Rogers and the Bishop of
+Norwich and his wife.  In the evening Miss Agnes Berry, who never goes
+out now, came on purpose to appoint an evening to go and see her sister,
+who is the one that Horace Walpole wished to marry, and to whom so many
+of his later letters are addressed.  She is eighty-four, her sister a few
+years younger, and Lady Charlotte not much their junior.
+
+These remnants of the _belles-esprits_ of the last age are charming to
+me.  They have a vast and long experience of the best social circles,
+with native wit, and constant practice in the conversation of society. . . .
+On Wednesday, we dined at Sir Robert Peel’s, with whom I was more
+charmed than with anybody I have seen yet.  I sat between him and the
+Speaker of the House of Commons.  I was told that he was stiff and
+stately in his manners, but did not think him so, and am inclined to
+imagine that free from the burden of the Premiership, he unbends more.
+He talked constantly with me, and in speaking of a certain picture said,
+“When you come to Drayton Manor I shall show it to you.”  I should like
+to go there, but to see himself even more than his pictures.  Lady Peel
+is still a very handsome woman.
+
+The next morning we breakfasted with Mr. Rogers.  He lives, as you
+probably know, in [a] beautiful house, though small, whose rooms look
+upon the Green Park, and filled with pictures and marbles.  We stayed an
+hour or more after the other guests, listening to his stores of literary
+anecdote and pleasant talk.  In the evening we went to the Miss Berrys’,
+where we found Lord Morpeth, who is much attached to them.  Miss Berry
+put her hand on his head, which is getting a little gray, and said: “Ah,
+George, and I remember the day you were born, your grandmother brought
+you and put you in my arms.”  Now this grandmother of Lord Morpeth’s was
+the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, who electioneered for Fox, and he
+led her to tell me all about her.  “Eothen” was also there, Lady Lewis
+and many of my friends. . . . Aunty wishes to know who is “Eothen.”  She
+has probably read his book, “Eothen, or Traces of Travel,” which was very
+popular two or three years since.  He is a young lawyer, Mr. Kinglake,
+the most modest, unassuming person in his manners, very shy and
+altogether very unlike the dashing, spirited young Englishman I figured
+to myself, whom nothing could daunt from the Arab even to the plague,
+which he defied.
+
+         [Picture: A. W. Kinglake (“Eothen”).  From a photograph]
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: On Thursday [the 25th] we were invited to Sir John
+Pakington’s, whose wife is the Bishop of Rochester’s daughter, but were
+engaged to Mr. Senior, who had asked us to meet the Archbishop of Dublin,
+the celebrated Dr. Whately.  He had come over from Ireland to make a
+speech in the House of Lords upon the Irish Poor Law.  He is full of
+learning [and] simplicity, and with most genial hearty manners.  Rogers
+was also there and said more fine things than I have heard him say before
+at dinner, as he is now so deaf that he does not hear general
+conversation, and cannot tell where to send his shaft, which is always
+pointed.  He retains all his sarcasm and epigrammatic point, but he
+shines now especially at breakfast, where he has his audience to himself.
+
+We went from Mr. Senior’s to Mr. Milman’s, but nearly all the guests
+there were departed or departing, though one or two returned with us to
+the drawing-room to stay the few minutes we did.  Among the lingerers we
+found Sir William and Lady Duff Gordon, the two Warburtons, “Hochelaga”
+and “Crescent and Cross,” and “Eothen.”  Mrs. Milman I really love, and
+we see much of them.
+
+On Saturday was the dreaded Drawing-Room, on which occasion I was to be
+presented to the Queen. . . . Mr. Bancroft and I left home at a quarter
+past one.  On our arrival we passed through one or two corridors, lined
+by attendants with battle-axes and picturesque costumes, looking very
+much like the supernumeraries on the stage, and were ushered into the
+ante-room, a large and splendid room, where only the Ministers and Privy
+Councillors, with their families, are allowed to go with the Diplomatic
+Corps.  Here we found Lady Palmerston, who showed me a list she had got
+Sir Edward Cust, the master of ceremonies, to make out of the order of
+precedence of the Diplomatic Corps, and when the turn would come for us
+who were to be newly presented.  The room soon filled up and it was like
+a pleasant party, only more amusing, as the costumes of both gentlemen
+and ladies were so splendid.  I got a seat in the window with Madam Van
+de Weyer and saw the Queen’s train drive up.  At the end of this room are
+two doors: at the left hand everybody enters the next apartment where the
+Queen and her suite stand, and after going round the circle, come out at
+the right-hand door.  After those who are privileged to go _first_ into
+the _ante-room_ leave it, the general circle pass in, and they also go in
+and out the same doors.  But to go back.  The left-hand door opens and
+Sir Edward Cust leads in the Countess Dietrichstein, who is the eldest
+Ambassadress, as the Countess St. Aulair is in Paris.  As she enters she
+drops her train and the gentlemen ushers open it out like a peacock’s
+tail.  Then Madam Van de Weyer, who comes next, follows close upon the
+train of the former, then Baroness Brunnow, the Madam Bunsen, then Madam
+Lisboa, then Lady Palmerston, who, as the wife of the Minister for
+Foreign Affairs, is to introduce the Princess Callimachi, Baroness de
+Beust, and myself.  She stations herself by the side of the Queen and
+names us as we pass.  The Queen spoke to none of us, but gave me a very
+gracious smile, and when Mr. Bancroft came by, she said: “I am very glad
+to have had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Bancroft to-day.”  I was not [at]
+all frightened and gathered up my train with as much self-possession as
+if I were alone.  I found it very entertaining afterward to watch the
+reception of the others.  The Diplomatic Corps remain through the whole,
+the ladies standing on the left of the Queen and the gentlemen in the
+centre, but all others pass out immediately. . . . On Sunday evening Mr.
+Bancroft set off for Paris to pass the Easter recess of Parliament. . . .
+I got a very interesting letter yesterday from Mr. Bancroft.  It seems
+that the Countess Circourt, whose husband has reviewed his book and
+Prescott’s, is a most charming person, and makes her house one of the
+most brilliant and attractive in Paris.  Since he left, a note came from
+Mr. Hallam, the contents of which pleased me as they will you.  It
+announced that Mr. Bancroft was chosen an Honorary Member of the Society
+of Antiquaries, of which Lord Mahon is president, Hallam, vice-president.
+Hallam says the society is very old and that he is the first citizen of
+the United States upon whom it has been conferred, but that he will not
+long possess it exclusively, as his “highly distinguished countryman, Mr.
+Prescott, has also been proposed.”
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                                  Tuesday.
+
+MY DEAR SONS: . . . On Monday morning came the dear Miss Berrys, to beg
+me to come that evening to join their circle.  They have always the best
+people in London about them, young as well as old.
+
+The old and the middle-aged are more attended to here than with us, where
+the young are all in all.  As Hayward said to me the other evening, “it
+takes time to make _people_, like cathedrals,” and Mr. Rogers and Miss
+Berry could not have been what they are now, forty years ago.  A long
+life of experience in the midst constantly of the highest and most
+cultivated circles, and with several generations of distinguished men
+gives what can be acquired in no other way.  Mr. Rogers said to me one
+day: “I have learnt more from men that from _books_, and when I used to
+be in the society of Fox and other great men of that period, and they
+would sometimes say ‘I have always thought so and so,’ then I have opened
+my ears and listened, for I said to myself, now I shall get at the
+treasured results of the experience of these great men.”  This little
+saying of Mr. Rogers expresses precisely my own feelings in the society
+of the venerable and distinguished here.  With us society is left more to
+the crudities of the young than in England.  The young may be interesting
+and promise much, but they are still _crude_.  The elements, however
+fine, are not yet completely assimilated and brought to that more perfect
+tone which comes later in life.
+
+    [Picture: Samuel Rogers.  From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848);
+           photograph copyright by Walker & Cockerell, London]
+
+                                                       Monday, April 12th.
+
+. . . On Saturday I went with Sir William and Lady Molesworth to their
+box in the new Covent Garden opera, which has been opened for the first
+time this week.  There I saw Grisi and Alboni and Tamburini in the
+“Semiramide.”  It was a new world of delight to me.  Grisi, so statuesque
+and so graceful, delights the eye, the ear, and the soul.  She is
+sculpture, poetry, and music at the same time. . . . Mr. Bancroft has
+been received with great cordiality in Paris.  He has been three times
+invited to the Palace, and Guizot and Mignet give him access to all that
+he wants in the archives, and he passes his evenings with all the eminent
+men and beautiful women of Paris.  Guizot, Thiers, Lamartine, Cousin,
+Salvandi, Thierry, he sees, and enjoys all.  They take him to the salons,
+too, of the Faubourg St. Germain, among the old French aristocracy, and
+to innumerable receptions.
+
+                                                                Wednesday.
+
+To-morrow I go to the Drawing-Room alone, and to complete the climax, the
+Queen has sent us an invitation to dine at the Palace to-morrow, and I
+must go _alone_ for the _first time_.  If I live through it, I will tell
+you all about it; but is it not awkward in the extreme?
+
+                                                           Friday Morning.
+
+At eight o’clock in the evening I drove to the Palace.  My dress was my
+currant-colored or grosseille velvet with a wreath of white Arum lilies
+woven into a kind of turban, with green leave and bouquet to match, on
+the bertha of Brussels lace.  I was received by a servant, who escorted
+me through a long narrow corridor the length of Winthrop Place and
+consigned me to another who escorted me in his turn, through another
+wider corridor to the foot of a flight of stairs which I ascended and
+found another servant, who took my cloak and showed me into the grand
+corridor or picture gallery; a noble apartment of interminable length;
+and surrounded by pictures of the best masters.  General Bowles, the
+Master of the Household, came forward to meet me, and Lord Byron, who is
+one of the Lords in Waiting.  I found Madam Lisboa already arrived, and
+soon came in Lord and Lady Palmerston, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis
+and Marchioness of Exeter, Lord and Lady Dalhousie, Lord Charles
+Wellesley, son of the Duke of Wellington, Lady Byron, and Mr. Hallam.  We
+sat and talked as at any other place, when at last the Queen was
+announced.  The gentlemen ranged themselves on one side, and we on the
+other, and the Queen and Prince passed through, she bowing, and we
+profoundly curtseying.  As soon as she passed the Marquis of Exeter came
+over and took Madam Lisboa, and Lord Dalhousie came and took me.  The
+Queen and Prince sat in the middle of a long table, and I was just
+opposite the Prince, between Lord Exeter and Lord Dalhousie, who is the
+son of the former Governor of Nova Scotia, was in the last ministry, and
+a most agreeable person.  I talked to my neighbors as at any other
+dinner, but the Queen spoke to no one but Prince Albert, with a word or
+two to the Duke of Norfolk, who was on her right, and is the first peer
+of the realm.
+
+The dinner was rather quickly despatched, and when the Queen rose we
+followed her back into the corridor.  She walked to the fire and stood
+some minutes, and then advanced to me and enquired about Mr. Bancroft,
+his visit to Paris, if he had been there before, etc.  I expressed, of
+course, the regret he would feel at losing the honor of dining with Her
+Majesty, etc.  She then had a talk with Lady Palmerston, who stood by my
+side, then with all the other ladies in succession, until at last Prince
+Albert came out, soon followed by the other gentlemen.  The Prince then
+spoke to all the ladies, as she had done, while she went in succession to
+all the gentlemen guests.  This took some time and we were obliged to
+stand all the while.
+
+At last the Queen, accompanied by her Lady in Waiting, Lady Mount
+Edgcumbe, went to a sofa at the other end of the corridor in front of
+which was a round table surrounded by arm-chairs.  When the Queen was
+seated Lady Mount Edgcumbe came to us and requested us to take our seats
+round the table.  This was a little prim, for I did not know exactly how
+much I might talk to others in the immediate presence of the Queen, and
+everybody seemed a little constrained.  She spoke to us all, and very
+soon such of the gentlemen as were allowed by their rank, joined us at
+the round table.  Lord Dalhousie came again to my side and I had as
+pleasant a conversation with him, rather _sotto voce_, however, as I
+could have had at a private house.  At half-past ten the Queen rose and
+shook hands with each lady; we curtsied profoundly, and she and the
+Prince departed.  We then bade each other good-night, and found our
+carriages as soon as we chose.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                     LONDON, May 16, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR SONS: My letters by this steamer will have very little interest
+for you, as, from being in complete retirement, I have no new things to
+related to you. . . . We have taken advantage of our leisure to drive a
+little into the country, and on Tuesday I had a pleasure of the highest
+order in driving down to Esher and passing a quiet day with Lady Byron,
+the widow of the poet.  She is an intimate friend of Miss Murray, who has
+long wished us to see her and desired her to name the day for our visit.
+
+   [Picture: Lady Byron.  From the portrait in the possession of Sir J.
+                       Tollemache Sinclair, Bart.]
+
+Esher is a little village about sixteen miles from London, and Lady Byron
+has selected it as her residence, though her estates are in
+Leicestershire, because it is near Lord and Lady Lovelace, her only
+child, the “_Ada_” of poetry.  We went in our own carriage, taking Miss
+Murray with us, and as the country is now radiant with blossoms and
+glowing green, the drive itself was very agreeable.  We arrived at two
+o’clock, and found only Lady Byron, with the second boy of Lady Lovelace
+and his tutor.  Lady Byron is now about fifty-five, and with the remains
+of an attractive, if not brilliant beauty.  She has extremely delicate
+features, and very pale and finely delicate skin.  A tone of voice and
+manner of the most trembling refinement, with a culture and strong
+intellect, almost masculine, but which betrays itself under such sweet
+and gentle and unobtrusive forms that one is only led to perceive it by
+slow degrees.  She is the most modest and unostentatious person one can
+well conceive.  She lives simply, and the chief of her large income (you
+know she was the rich Miss Milbank) she devotes to others.  After lunch
+she wished me to see a little of the country round Esher and ordered her
+ponies and small carriage for herself and me, while Mr. Bancroft and Miss
+Murray walked.  We went first to the royal seat, Claremont, where the
+Princess Charlotte lived so happily with Leopold, and where she died.
+Its park adjoins Lady Byron’s, and the Queen allows her a private key
+that she may enjoy its exquisite grounds.  Here we left the pedestrians,
+while Lady Byron took me a more extensive drive, as she wished to show me
+some of the heaths in the neighborhood, which are covered with furze, now
+one mass of yellow bloom.
+
+Every object is seen in full relief against the sky, and a figure on
+horseback is peculiarly striking.  I am always reminded of the beginning
+of one of James’s novels, which is usually, you know, after this manner:
+“It was toward the close of a dull autumn day that two horsemen were
+seen,” etc., etc.  Lady Byron took me to the estate of a neighboring
+gentleman, to show me a fine old tower covered with ivy, where Wolsey
+took refuge from his persecutors, with his faithful follower, Cromwell.
+
+Upon our return we found the last of the old harpers, blind, and with a
+genuine old Irish harp, and after hearing his national melodies for half
+an hour, taking a cup of coffee, and enjoying a little more of Lady
+Byron’s conversation, we departed, having had a day heaped up with the
+richest and best enjoyments.  I could not help thinking, as I was walking
+up and down the beautiful paths of Claremont Park, with the fresh spring
+air blowing about me, the primroses, daisies, and wild bluebells under my
+feet, and Lady Byron at my side, that it was more like a page out of a
+poem than a reality.
+
+On Sunday night any Americans who are here come to see us. . . . Mr.
+Harding brought with him a gentleman, whom he introduced as Mr. Alison.
+Mr. Bancroft asked him if he were related to Archdeacon Alison, who wrote
+the “Essay on Taste.”  “I am his son,” said he.  “Ah, then, you are the
+brother of the historian?” said Mr. Bancroft.  “I am the historian,” was
+the reply. . . . An evening visitor is a thing unheard of, and therefore
+my life is very lonely, now I do not go into society.  I see no one
+except Sunday evenings, and, occasionally, a friend before dinner.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B. and A. B._
+
+
+                                                   LONDON, May 24, [1847].
+
+MY DEAR SONS: . . . On Friday we both went to see the Palace of Hampton
+Court with my dear, good, Miss Murray, Mr. Winthrop and son, and Louise.
+. . . On our arrival, we found, to our great vexation, that Friday was
+the only day in the week in which visitors were not admitted, and that we
+must content ourselves with seeing the grounds and go back without a
+glimpse of its noble galleries of pictures.  Fortunately for us, Miss
+Murray had several friends among the persons to whom the Queen has
+assigned apartments in the vast edifice, and they willingly yielded their
+approbation of our admission if she could possibly win over Mrs. Grundy,
+the housekeeper.  This name sounded rather inauspicious, but Mr. Winthrop
+suggested that there might be a “Felix” to qualify it, and so in this
+case it turned out.  Mrs. Grundy asserted that such a thing had never
+been done, that it was a very dangerous precedent, etc., but in the end
+the weight of a Maid of Honor and a Foreign Minister prevailed, and we
+saw everything to much greater advantage than if we had 150 persons
+following on, as Mr. Winthrop says he had the other day at Windsor
+Castle. . . . On our way [home] we met Lady Byron with her pretty little
+carriage and ponies.  She alighted and we did the same, and had quite a
+pleasant little interview in the dusty road.
+
+                                                         Sunday, May 30th.
+
+Your father left town on Monday. . . . He did not return until the 27th,
+the morning of the Queen’s Birthday Drawing-Room.  On that occasion I
+went dressed in white mourning. . . . It was a petticoat of white crape
+flounced to the waist with the edges notched.  A train of white glacé
+trimmed with a ruche of white crape.  A wreath and bouquet of white
+lilacs, without any green, as green is not used in mourning.  The array
+of diamonds on this occasion was magnificent in the highest degree, and
+everybody was in their most splendid array.  The next evening there was a
+concert at the Palace, at which Jenny Lind, Grisi, Alboni, Mario, and
+Tamburini sang.  I went dressed in [a] deep black dress and enjoyed the
+music highly.  Seats were placed in rows in the concert-room and one sat
+quietly as if in church.  At the end of the first part, the royal family
+with their royal guests, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, and the
+Grand Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar went to the grand dining-room and
+supped by themselves, with their suites, while another elegant
+refreshment table was spread in another apartment for the other guests. . . .
+Jenny Lind a little disappointed me, I must confess, but they tell me
+that her songs were not adapted on that evening to the display of her
+voice.
+
+On Sunday evening your father dined with Baron Brunnow, the Russian
+Minister, to meet the Grand Duke Constantine.  It so happened that the
+Grand Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar appointed an audience to Baron and
+Baroness Brunnow at seven, and they had not returned at half-past seven,
+when the Grand Duke and their other guests arrived.  The Baroness
+immediately advanced to the Grand Duke and sunk on her knees before him,
+asking pardon in Russian.  He begged her to rise, but she remained in the
+attitude of deep humiliation, until the Grand Duke sunk also on _his_
+knees and gently raised her, and then kissed her on the cheek, a
+privilege, you know, of royalty.
+
+. . . On Monday evening we both went to a concert at Mr. Hudson’s, the
+great railway “king,” who has just made an immense fortune from railway
+stocks, and is now desirous to get into society.  These things are
+managed in a curious way here.  A _nouveau riche_ gets several ladies of
+fashion to patronize their entertainment and invite all the guests.  Our
+invitation was from Lady Parke, who wrote me two notes about it, saying
+that she would be happy to meet me at Mrs. Hudson’s splendid mansion,
+where would be the best music and society of London; and, true enough,
+there was the Duke of Wellington and all the world.  Lady Parke stood at
+the entrance of the splendid suite of rooms to receive the guests and
+introduce them to their host and hostess.  On Tuesday morning I got a
+note from Mr. Eliot Warburton (brother of “Hochelaga”) to come to his
+room at two o’clock and look at some drawings.  To our surprise we found
+quite a party seated at lunch, and a collection of many agreeable persons
+and some lions and lionesses.  There was Lord Ross, the great astronomer;
+Baroness Rothschild, a lovely Jewess; Miss Strickland, the authoress of
+the “Queens of England”; “Eōthen,” and many more.  Mr. Polk, _Chargé_ at
+Naples, and brother of the President, dined with us, and Miss Murray, and
+in the evening came Mr. and Mrs. McLean, he a son of Judge McLean, of
+Ohio.
+
+[Picture: George Hudson, the “Railway King”.  From the engraving after F.
+                                  Grant]
+
+                                                                June 17th.
+
+On Friday evening we went to the Queen’s Ball, and for the first time saw
+Her Majesty dance, which she does very well, and so does the Duchess of
+Sutherland, grandmother though she be.
+
+On Monday evening we went to a concert given to the Queen by the Duke of
+Wellington at Apsley House.  This was an occasion not to be forgotten,
+but I cannot describe it.  On Tuesday I went for the first time to hear a
+debate upon the Portugal interference in the House of Lords.  It brought
+out all the leaders, and I was so fortunate as to hear a most powerful
+speech from Lord Stanley, one from Lord Lansdowne in defence of the
+Ministry and one from the Duke of Wellington, who, on this occasion,
+sided with the Ministers.  On Wednesday was the great _fête_ given by the
+Duchess of Sutherland to the Queen.  It was like a chapter of a fairy
+tale.  Persons from all the courts of Europe who were there told us that
+nowhere in Europe was there anything as fine as the hall and grand
+staircase where the Duchess received her guests.  It exceeded my utmost
+conceptions of magnificence and beauty.  The vast size of the apartment,
+the vaulted ceilings, the arabesque ornaments, the fine pictures, the
+profusion of flowers, the music, the flourish of trumpets, as the Queen
+passed backward and forward, the superb dresses and diamonds of the
+women, the parti-colored full dress of the gentlemen all contributed to
+make up a scene not to be forgotten.  The Queen’s Ball was not to be
+compared to it, so much more effective is Stafford House than Buckingham
+Palace. . . . We were fortunate to be present there, for Stafford House
+is not opened in this way but once in a year or two, and the Duke’s
+health is now so very uncertain, that it may be many years before it
+happens again.  He was not present the other evening.
+
+
+
+_To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                    LONDON, June 20, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: On the 19th, Saturday, we breakfasted with Lady
+Byron and my friend, Miss Murray, at Mr. Rogers’.  He and Lady Byron had
+not met for many, many years, and their renewal of old friendship was
+very interesting to witness.  Mr. Rogers told me that he first introduced
+her to Lord Byron.  After breakfast he had been repeating some lines of
+poetry which he thought fine, when he suddenly exclaimed: “But there is a
+bit of American _prose_, which, I think, had more poetry in it than
+almost any modern verse.”  He then repeated, I should think, more than a
+page from Dana’s “Two Years Before the Mast,” describing the falling
+overboard of one of the crew, and the effect it produced, not only at the
+moment, but for some time afterward.  I wondered at his memory, which
+enabled him to recite so beautifully a long prose passage, so much more
+difficult than verse.  Several of those present with whom the book was a
+favorite, were so glad to hear from me that it was as _true_ as
+interesting, for they had regarded it as partly a work of imagination.
+Lady Byron had told Mr. Rogers when she came in that Lady Lovelace, her
+daughter (Ada) wished also to pay him a visit, and would come after
+breakfast to join us for half an hour.  She also had not seen Rogers, I
+_believe_, ever.  Lady Lovelace joined us soon after breakfast, and as we
+were speaking of the enchantment of Stafford House on Wednesday evening,
+Mr. Rogers proposed to go over it and see its fine pictures by daylight.
+He immediately went himself by a short back passage through the park to
+ask permission and returned with all the eagerness and gallantry of a
+young man to say that he had obtained it.  We had thus an opportunity of
+seeing, in the most leisurely way and in the most delightful society, the
+fine pictures and noble apartments of Stafford House again.
+
+. . . On Tuesday Mr. Hallam took us to the British Museum, and being a
+director, he could enter on a private day, when we were not annoyed by a
+crowd, and, moreover, we had the advantage of the best interpreters and
+guides.  We did not even enter the library, which requires a day by
+itself, but confined ourselves to the Antiquity rooms. . . . As I entered
+the room devoted to the Elgin marbles, the works of the “divine Phidias,”
+I stepped with awe, as if entering a temple, and the Secretary, who was
+by my side, observing it, told me that the Grand Duke Constantine, when
+he came a few days before, made, as he entered, a most profound and
+reverential bow.  This was one of my most delightful mornings, and I left
+the Antiquities with a stronger desire to see them again than before I
+had seen them at all.
+
+                                                        Sunday, June 27th.
+
+. . . I went on Wednesday to dine at Lord Monteagle’s to meet Father
+Mathew, and the Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Whately) also dined there.
+Father Mathew spoke with great interest of America and of American
+liberality, and is very anxious to go to our country.  He saw Mr. Forbes
+at Cork and spoke of him with great regard. . . . On [Saturday] Mr.
+Bancroft went to the palace to see the King of the Belgians, with the
+rest of the Diplomatic Corps.  After his return we went to Westminster
+Hall to see the prize pictures, as Lord Lansdowne had sent us tickets for
+the private view.  The Commission of Fine Arts have offered prizes for
+the best historical pictures that may serve to adorn the new Houses of
+Parliament, and the pictures of this collection were all painted with
+that view.  One of those which have received a prize is John Robinson
+bestowing his farewell blessing upon the Pilgrims at Leyden, which is
+very pleasing.  It was to me like a friend in a strange country, and I
+lingered over it the longest.
+
+                                                                  July 2d.
+
+Wednesday [evening] we went to Lady Duff Gordon’s, who is the daughter of
+Mrs. Austin, where was a most agreeable party, and among others,
+Andersen, the Danish poet-author of the “Improvisatore.”  He has a most
+striking poetical physiognomy, but as he talked only German or bad
+French, I left him to Mr. Bancroft in the conversation way.
+
+The next morning before nine o’clock we were told that Mr. Rogers, the
+poet, was downstairs.  I could not imagine what had brought him out so
+early, but found that Moore, the poet, had come to town and would stay
+but a day, and we must go that very morning and breakfast with him at ten
+o’clock.  We went and found a delightful circle.  I sat between Moore and
+Rogers, who was in his very best humor.  Moore is but a wreck, but most a
+interesting one.
+
+
+
+_To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D._
+
+
+                                              NUNEHAM PARK, July 27, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: . . . I must go back to the day when my last
+letters were despatched, as my life since has been full of interest.  On
+Monday evening, the 19th, we went to the French play, to see Rachel in
+“Phèdre.”  She far surpassed my imagination in the expression of all the
+powerful passions. . . . On Tuesday Mr. Bancroft went down to hear Lord
+John make a speech to his constituents in the city, while I went to see
+Miss Burdett-Coutts lay the corner-stone of the church which “the Bishop
+of London has permitted her to build,” to use her own expression in her
+note to me.  In the evening we dined there with many of the clergy, and
+Lord Brougham, Lord Dundonald, etc.  I went down with the Dean of
+Westminster, who was very agreeable and instructive.  He and Dr. Whately
+have the simplicity of children, with an immense deal of knowledge, which
+they impart in the most pleasant way.  Saturday, the 24th, we were to
+leave town for our first country excursion.  We were invited by Dr.
+Hawtrey, the Head Master of Eton, to be present at the ceremonies
+accompanying the annual election of such boys on the Foundation as are
+selected to go up to King’s College, Cambridge, where they are also
+placed on a Foundation.  From reading Dr. Arnold’s life you will have
+learned that the head master of one of these very great schools is no
+unimportant personage.  Dr. Hawtrey has an income of six or seven
+thousand pounds.  He is unmarried, but has two single sisters who live
+with him, and his establishment in one of the old college houses is full
+of elegance and comfort.  We took an open travelling carriage with
+imperials, and drove down to Eton with our own horses, arriving about one
+o’clock.  At two, precisely, the Provost of King’s College, Cambridge,
+was to arrive, and to be received under the old gateway of the cloister
+by the Captain of the school with a Latin speech.  After dinner there is
+a regatta among the boys, which is one of the characteristic and pleasing
+old customs.  All the fashionables of London who have sons at Eton come
+down to witness their happiness, and the river bank is full of gayety.
+The evening finished with the most beautiful fireworks I ever saw, which
+lighted up the Castle behind and were reflected in the Thames below,
+while the glancing oars of the young boatmen, and the music of their band
+with a merry chime of bells from St. George’s Chapel, above, all combined
+to give gayety and interest to the scene.  The next morning (Sunday),
+after an agreeable breakfast in the long, low-walled breakfast-room,
+which opens upon the flower garden, we went to Windsor to worship in St.
+George’s Chapel.  The Queen’s stall is rather larger than the others, and
+one is left vacant for the Prince of Wales.
+
+                                                        LONDON, July 29th.
+
+And now with a new sheet I must begin my account of Nuneham. . . . The
+Archbishop of York is the second son of Lord Vernon, but his uncle, Earl
+Harcourt, dying without children, left him all his estate, upon which he
+took the name of Harcourt.  We arrived about four o’clock. . . . The
+dinner was at half-past seven, and when I went down I found the Duchess
+of Sutherland, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, Lord Kildare, and several of
+the sons and daughters of the Archbishop.  The dinner and evening passed
+off very agreeably.  The Duchess is a most high-bred person, and
+thoroughly courteous.  As we were going in or out of a room instead of
+preceding me, which was her right, she always made me take her arm, which
+was a delicate way of getting over her precedence. . . . At half-past
+nine the [next morning] we met in the drawing-room, when the Archbishop
+led the way down to prayers.  This was a beautiful scene, for he is now
+ninety, and to hear him read the prayers with a firm, clear voice, while
+his family and dependents knelt about him was a pleasure never to be
+forgotten. . . . At five I was to drive round the park with the
+Archbishop himself in his open carriage.  This drive was most charming.
+He explained everything, told me when such trees would be felled, and
+when certain tracts of underwood would be fit for cutting, how old the
+different-sized deer were—in short, the whole economy of an English park.
+Every pretty point of view, too, he made me see, and was as active and
+wide-awake as if he were thirty, rather than ninety. . . . The next
+morning, after prayers and breakfast, I took my leave.
+
+
+
+_To A. H._
+
+
+                                     BISHOP’S PALACE, NORWICH, August 1st.
+
+MY DEAR ANN: How I wish I could transport you to the spot where I am
+writing, but if I could summon it before your actual vision you would
+take it for a dream or a romance, so different is everything within the
+walls which enclose the precincts of an English Cathedral from anything
+we can conceive on our side of the water. . . . Some of the learned
+people and noblemen have formed an Archæological Society for the study
+and preservation [of] the interesting architectural antiquities of the
+kingdom, and [it] is upon the occasion of the annual meeting of this
+society for a week at Norwich that the Bishop has invited us to stay a
+few days at the palace and join them in their agreeable antiquarian
+excursions.  We arrived on Friday at five o’clock after a long dull
+journey of five hours on the railway. . . . Staying in the house are our
+friends, Mr. and Mrs. Milman, Lord Northampton and his son, Lord Alwyne
+Compton, and the Bishop’s family, consisting of Mrs. Stanley, and of two
+Miss Stanleys, agreeable and highly cultivated girls, and Mr. Arthur
+Stanley, the writer of Dr. Arnold’s Biography.
+
+  [Picture: Lord Palmerston.  From the portrait by Partridge; photograph
+                 copyright by Walker & Cockerell, London]
+
+After dinner company soon arrived.  Among them were Mrs. Opie, who
+resides here.  She is a pleasing, lively old lady, in full Quaker dress.
+The most curious feature of the evening was a visit which the company
+paid to the cellar and kitchen, which were lighted up for the occasion.
+They were build by the old Norman bishops of the twelfth century, and had
+vaulted stone roofs as beautifully carved and ribbed as a church.
+
+The next day, Saturday, the antiquarians made a long excursion to hunt up
+some ruins, while the Milmans, Mr. Stanley, and ourselves, went to visit
+the place of Lady Suffield, about twelve miles distant, and which is the
+most perfect specimen of the Elizabethan style.  Lady Suffield herself is
+as Elizabethan as her establishment; she is of one [of] the oldest high
+Tory families and so opposed to innovations of all sorts that though her
+letters, which used to arrive at two, before the opening of the railway
+two years ago, now arrive at seven in the morning, they are never allowed
+to be brought till the old hour. . . . This morning Mr. Bancroft and the
+rest are gone on an excursion to Yarmouth to see some ruins, while I
+remain here to witness the chairing of two new members of Parliament, who
+have just been elected, of whom Lord Douro, son of the Duke of
+Wellington, is one.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                             AUDLEY END, October 14, 1847.
+
+DEAR UNCLE: We are staying for a few days at Lord Braybrooke’s place, one
+of the most magnificent in England; but before I say a word about it I
+must tell you of A.’s safe arrival and how happy I have been made by
+having him with me again. . . . On Saturday the 9th we had the honor of
+dining with the _Lord Mayor_ to meet the Duke of Cambridge, a _fête_ so
+unlike anything else and accompanied by so many old and peculiar customs
+that I must describe it to you at full length.  The Mansion House is in
+the heart of the _City_, and is very magnificent and spacious, the
+Egyptian Hall, as the dining-room is called, being one of the noblest
+apartments I have seen.  The guests were about 250 in number and were
+received by the Lady Mayoress _sitting_.  When dinner was announced, the
+Lord Mayor went out first, preceded by the sword-bearer and mace-bearer
+and all the insignia of office.  Then came the Duke of Cambridge and the
+Lady Mayoress, then Mr. Bancroft and I together, which is the custom at
+these great civic feasts.  We marched through the long gallery by the
+music of the band to the Egyptian Hall, where two raised seats like
+thrones were provided for the Lord Mayor and Mayoress at the head of the
+hall.  On the right hand of the Lord Mayor sat the Duke of Cambridge in a
+_common chair_, for royalty yields entirely to the Mayor, on his own
+ground.  On the right of the Duke of Cambridge sat the Mayoress-elect
+(for the present dignitaries go out of office on the 1st of November).
+On the left hand of the present Lady Mayoress sat the Lord Mayor-_elect_,
+then I came with my husband on my left hand in very conjugal style.
+
+There were three tables the whole length of the hall, and that at which
+we were placed went across at the head.  When we are placed, the herald
+stands behind the Lord Mayor and cries: “My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen,
+pray silence, for grace.”  Then the chaplain in his gown, goes behind the
+Lord Mayor and says grace.  After the second course two large gold cups,
+nearly two feet high, are placed before the Mayor and Mayoress.  The
+herald then cries with a loud voice: “His Royal Highness the Duke of
+Cambridge, the American Minister, the Lord Chief Baron,” etc., etc.
+(enumerating about a dozen of the most distinguished guests), “and ladies
+and gentlemen all, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress do bid you most
+heartily welcome and invite you to drink in a loving cup.”  Whereupon the
+Mayor and Mayoress rise and each turn to their next neighbor, who take
+off the cover while they drink.  After my right-hand neighbor, the Lord
+Mayor-elect, had put on the cover, he turns to me and says, “Please take
+off the cover,” which I do and hold it while he drinks; then I replace
+the cover and turn round to Mr. Bancroft, who rises and performs the same
+office for me while I drink; then he turns to his next neighbor, who
+takes off the cover for him.  I have not felt so solemn since I stood up
+to be married as when Mr. Bancroft and I were standing up alone together,
+the rest of the company looking on, I with this great heavy gold cup in
+my hand, so heavy that I could scarcely lift it to my mouth with both
+hands, and he with the cover before me, with rather a mischievous
+expression in his face.  Then came two immense gold platters filled with
+rose water, which were also passed round.  These gold vessels were only
+used by the persons at the head table; the other guests were served with
+silver cups.  When the dessert and the wine are placed on the table, the
+herald says, “My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, please to charge your
+glasses.”  After we duly charge our glasses the herald cries: “Lords,
+Ladies, and Gentlemen, pray silence for the Lord Mayor.”  He then rises
+and proposes the first toast, which is, of course, always “The Queen.”
+After a time came the “American Minister,” who was obliged to rise up at
+my elbow and respond.  We got home just after twelve.
+
+[Picture: Lady Palmerston.  From a painting, by permission of Sir Francis
+                                  Gore]
+
+And now let me try to give you some faint idea of Audley End, which is by
+far the most magnificent house I have seen yet.  It was built by the Earl
+of Suffolk, son of the Duke of Norfolk who was beheaded in Elizabeth’s
+reign for high treason, upon the site of an abbey, the lands of which had
+been granted by the crown to that powerful family.  One of the Earls of
+Suffolk dying without sons, the _Earldom_ passed into another branch and
+the _Barony_ and _estate_ of Howard de Walden came into the female line.
+In course of time, a Lord Howard de Walden dying without a son, his title
+also passed into another family, but his estate went to his nephew, Lord
+Braybrooke, the father of the present Lord.  Lady Braybrooke is the
+daughter of the Marquis of Cornwallis, and granddaughter of our American
+Lord Cornwallis.
+
+The house is of the Elizabethan period and is one of the best preserved
+specimens of that style, but of its vast extent and magnificence I can
+give you no idea.  We arrived about five o’clock, and were ushered
+through an immense hall of carved oak hung with banners up a fine
+staircase to the grand saloon, where we were received by the host and
+hostess.  Now of this grand saloon I must try to give you a conception.
+It was, I should think, from seventy-five to one hundred feet in length.
+The ceiling overhead was very rich with hanging corbels, like
+stalactites, and the entire walls were panelled, with a full-length
+family portrait in each panel, which was arched at the top, so that the
+whole wall was composed of these round-topped pictures with rich gilding
+between.  Notwithstanding its vast size, the sofas and tables were so
+disposed all over the apartment as to give it the most friendly, warm,
+and social aspect.
+
+Lady Braybrooke herself ushered me to my apartments, which were the state
+rooms.  First came Mr. Bancroft’s dressing-room, where was a blazing
+fire.  Then came the bedroom, with the state bed of blue and gold,
+covered with embroidery, and with the arms and coronet of Howard de
+Walden.  The walls were hung with crimson and white damask, and the sofas
+and chairs also, and it was surrounded by pictures, among others a full
+length of Queen Charlotte, just opposite the foot of the bed, always
+saluted me every morning when I awoke, with her fan, her hoop, and her
+deep ruffles.
+
+My dressing-room, which was on the opposite side from Mr. Bancroft’s, was
+a perfect gem.  It was painted by the famous Rebecco who came over from
+Italy to ornament so many of the great English houses at one time.  The
+whole ceiling and walls were covered with beautiful designs and with
+gilding, and a beautiful recess for a couch was supported by fluted
+gilded columns; the architraves and mouldings of the doors were gilt, and
+the panels of the doors were filled with Rebecco’s beautiful designs.
+The chairs were of light blue embroidered with thick, heavy gold, and all
+this bearing the stamp of antiquity was a thousand times more interesting
+than mere modern splendor.  In the centre of the room was a toilet of
+white muslin (universal here), and on it a gilt dressing-glass, which
+gave pretty effect to the whole.
+
+I sat at dinner between Lord Braybrooke and Sir John Boileau, and found
+them both very agreeable.  The dining-room is as magnificent as the other
+apartments.  The ceiling is in the Elizabethan style, covered with
+figures, and the walls white and gold panelling hung with full-length
+family portraits not set into the wall like the saloon, but in frames.
+In the evening the young people had a round game at cards and the elder
+ones seemed to prefer talking to a game at whist.  The ladies brought
+down their embroidery or netting.  At eleven a tray with wine and water
+is brought in and a quantity of bed candlesticks, and everybody retires
+when they like.  The next morning the guests assembled at half-past nine
+in the great gallery which leads to the chapel to go in together to
+prayers.  The chapel is really a beautiful little piece of architecture,
+with a vaulted roof and windows of painted glass.  On one side is the
+original cast of the large monument to Lord Cornwallis (our lord) which
+is in Westminster Abbey.  After breakfast we passed a couple of hours in
+going all over the house, which is in perfect keeping in every part.
+
+We returned to the library, a room as splendid as the saloon, only
+instead of pictured panels it was surrounded by books in beautiful gilt
+bindings.  In the immense bay window was a large Louis Quatorze table,
+round which the ladies all placed themselves at their embroidery, though
+I preferred looking over curious illuminated missals, etc., etc.
+
+The next day was the meeting of the County Agricultural Society. . . . At
+the hour appointed we all repaired to the ground where the prizes were to
+be given out. . . . Lord Braybrooke made first a most paternal and
+interesting address, which showed me in the most favorable view the
+relation between the noble and the lower class in England, a relation
+which must depend much on the personal character of the lord of the
+manor. . . . First came prizes to ploughmen, then the plough boys, then
+the shepherds, then to such peasants as had reared many children without
+aid, then to women who had been many years in the same farmer’s service,
+etc., etc.  A clock was awarded to a poor man and his wife who had reared
+six children and buried seven without aid from the parish.  The rapture
+with which Mr. and Mrs. Flitton and the whole six children gazed on this
+clock, an immense treasure for a peasant’s cottage, was both comic and
+affecting. . . . The next morning we made our adieus to our kind host and
+hostess, and set off for London, accompanied by Sir John Tyrrell, Major
+Beresford, and young Mr. Boileau.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                 LONDON, November 4, 1847.
+
+DEAR W.: . . . Mr. Bancroft and I dined on Friday, the 22d, with Mr. and
+Mrs. Hawes, under-Secretary of State, to meet Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of
+Sarawak, who is a great lion in London just now.  He is an English
+gentleman of large fortune who has done much to Christianize Borneo, and
+to open its trade to the English.  I sat between him and Mr. Ward,
+formerly Minister to Mexico before Mr. Pakenham.  He wrote a very nice
+book on Mexico, and is an agreeable and intelligent person. . . . On
+Wednesday A. and I went together to the National Gallery, and just as we
+were setting out Mr. Butler of New York came in and I invited him to join
+us. . . . While we were seated before a charming Claude who should come
+in but Mr. R. W. Emerson and we had quite a joyful greeting.  Just then
+came in Mr. Rogers with two ladies, one on each arm.  He renewed his
+request that I would bring my son to breakfast with him, and appointed
+Friday morning, and then added if those gentlemen who are with you are
+your friends and countrymen, perhaps they will accompany you.  They very
+gladly acceded, and I was thankful Mr. Emerson had chanced to be with me
+at that moment as it procured him a high pleasure.
+
+Yesterday your father and I dined with Sir George Grey. . . . About four
+o’clock came on such a fog as I have not seen in London, and the
+newspapers of this morning speak of it as greater than has been known for
+many years.  Sir George Grey lives in Eaton Place, which is parallel and
+just behind Eaton Square.  In going that little distance, though there is
+a brilliant gas light at every door, the coachman was completely
+bewildered, and lost himself entirely.  We could only walk the horses,
+the footman exploring ahead.  When the guests by degrees arrived, there
+was the same rejoicing as if we had met on Mont St. Bernard after a
+contest with an Alpine snow-storm. . . . Lady Grey told me she was dining
+with the Queen once in one of these tremendous fogs, and that many of the
+guests did not arrive till dinner was half through, which was horrible at
+a royal dinner; but the elements care little for royalty.
+
+                                                            November 14th.
+
+On Saturday we dined at the Duc de Broglie’s.  He married the daughter of
+Madam de Staël, but she is not now living.  I was very agreeably placed
+with Mr. Macaulay on one side of me, so that I found it more pleasant
+than diplomatic dinners usually.  At the English tables we meet people
+who know each other well, and have a common culture and tastes and habits
+of familiarity, and a fund of pleasant stories, but of course, at foreign
+tables, they neither know each other or the English so well as to give
+the same easy flow to conversation.  I am afraid we are the greatest
+diners-out in London, but we are brought into contact a great deal with
+the literary and Parliamentary people, which our colleagues know little
+about, as also with the clergy and the judges.  I should not be willing
+to make it the habit of my life, but it is time not misspent during the
+years of our abode here. . . . The good old Archbishop of York is dead,
+and I am glad I paid my visit to him when I did.  Mr. Rogers has paid me
+a long visit to-day and gave me all the particulars of his death.  It was
+a subject I should not have introduced, for of that knot of intimate
+friends, Mr. Grenville, the Archbishop, and himself, he is now all that
+remains.
+
+                                                            November 28th.
+
+. . . On Monday evening I went without Mr. Bancroft to a little party at
+Mrs. Lyell’s, where I was introduced to Mrs. Somerville.  She has resided
+for the last nine years abroad, chiefly at Venice, but has now come to
+London and taken a house very near us. . . . Her daughter told me that
+nothing could exceed the ease and simplicity with which her literary
+occupations were carried on.  She is just publishing a book upon Natural
+Geography without regard to political boundaries.  She writes principally
+before she rises in the morning on a little piece of board, with her
+inkstand on a table by her side.  After she leaves her room she is as
+much at leisure as other people, but if an idea strikes her she takes her
+little board into a corner or window and writes quietly for a short time
+and returns to join the circle.
+
+Dr. Somerville told me that his wife did not discover her genius for
+mathematics till she was about sixteen.  Her brother, who has no talent
+for it, was receiving a mathematical lesson from a master while she was
+hemming and stitching in the room.  In this way she first heard the
+problems of Euclid stated and was ravished.  When the lesson was over,
+she carried off the book to her room and devoured it.  For a long time
+she pursued her studies secretly, as she had scaled heights of science
+which were not considered feminine by those about her.
+
+                                                              December 2d.
+
+I put down my pen yesterday when the carriage came to the door for my
+drive.  It was a day bright, beaming, and exhilarating as one of our own
+winter days.  I was so busy enjoying the unusual beams of the unclouded
+sun that I did not perceive for some time that I had left my muff, and
+was obliged to drive home again to get it.  While I was waiting in the
+carriage for the footman to get it, two of the most agreeable old-lady
+faces in the world presented themselves at the window.  They were the
+Miss Berrys.  They had driven up behind me and got out to have a little
+talk on the sidewalk.  I took them into Mr. Bancroft’s room and was
+thankful that my muff had sent me back to receive a visit which at their
+age is rarely paid. . . . I found them full of delight at Mr. Brooke, the
+Rajah of Sarawak, with whose nobleness of soul they would have great
+sympathy.  He is just now the lion of London, and like all other lions is
+run after by most people because he is one, and by the few because he
+deserves to be one.  Now, lest you should know nothing about him, let me
+tell you that at his own expense he fitted out a vessel, and established
+himself at Borneo, where he soon acquired so great [an] ascendancy over
+the native Rajah, that he insisted on resigning to him the government of
+his province of Sarawak.  Here, with only three European companions, by
+moral and intellectual force alone, he succeeded in suppressing piracy
+and civil war among the natives and opened a trade with the interior of
+Borneo which promises great advantages to England. . . . Everybody here
+has the _Influenza_—a right-down influenza, that sends people to their
+beds.  Those who have triumphed at their exemption in the evening, wake
+up perhaps in the morning full of aches in every limb, and scoff no
+longer. . . . Dinner parties are sometimes quite broken up by the excuses
+that come pouring in at the last moment.  Lady John Russell had seven
+last week at a small dinner of twelve; 1,200 policemen at one time were
+taken off duty, so that the thieves might have had their own way, but
+they were probably as badly off themselves.
+
+
+
+_To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, December 16, 1847.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: . . . On Saturday Mr. Hallam wrote us that Sir
+Robert Peel had promised to breakfast with him on Monday morning and he
+thought we should like to meet him in that quiet way.  So we presented
+ourselves at ten o’clock, and were joined by Sir Robert, Lord Mahon,
+Macaulay, and Milman, who with Hallam himself, formed a circle that could
+not be exceeded in the wide world.  I was the only lady, except Miss
+Hallam; but I am especially favored in the breakfast line.  I would cross
+the Atlantic only for the pleasure I had that morning in hearing such men
+talk for two or three hours in an entirely easy unceremonious breakfast
+way.  Sir Robert was full of stories, and showed himself as much the
+scholar as the statesman.  Macaulay was overflowing as usual, and Lord
+Mahon and Milman are full of learning and accomplishments.  The classical
+scholarship of these men is very perfect and sometimes one catches a
+glimpse of awfully deep abysses of learning.  But then it is _only_ a
+glimpse, for their learning has no cumbrous and dull pedantry about it.
+They are all men of society and men of the world, who keep up with it
+everywhere.  There is many a pleasant story and many a good joke, and
+everything discussed but politics, which, as Sir Robert and Macaulay
+belong to opposite dynasties, might be dangerous ground.
+
+After dinner we went a little before ten to Lady Charlotte Lindsay’s.
+She came last week to say that she was to have a little dinner on Monday
+and wished us to come in afterwards.  This is universal here, and is the
+easiest and most agreeable form of society.  She had Lord Brougham and
+Colonel and Mrs. Dawson-Damer, etc., to dine. . . . Mrs. Damer wished us
+to come the next evening to her in the same way, just to get our cup of
+tea.  These nice little teas are what you need in Boston.  There is no
+supper, no expense, nothing but society.  Mrs. Damer is the granddaughter
+of the beautiful Lady Waldegrave, the niece of Horace Walpole, who
+married the Duke of Gloucester.  She was left an orphan at a year old and
+was confided by her mother to the care of Mrs. Fitzherbert.  She lived
+with her until her marriage and was a great pet of George IV, and tells a
+great many interesting stories of him and Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was five
+years older than he.
+
+[Picture: Mrs. Dawson Damer.  From the miniature by Isabey, by permission
+                        of Lady Constance Leslie]
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, December 30, 1847.
+
+DEAR W.: Your father left me on the 18th to go to Paris.  This is the
+best of all seasons for him to be there, for the Ministers are all out of
+town at Christmas, and in Paris everything is at its height.  My friends
+are very kind to me—those who remain in town. . . . One day I dined at
+Sir Francis Simpkinson’s and found a pleasant party.  Lady Simpkinson is
+a sister of Lady Franklin, whom I was very glad to meet, as she has been
+in America and knows many Americans, Mrs. Kirkland for one. . . . Then I
+have passed one evening for the first time at Mr. Tagent’s, the Unitarian
+clergyman, where I met many of the literary people who are out of the
+great world, and yet very desirable to see.
+
+There, too, I met the Misses Cushman, Charlotte and Susan, who attend his
+church.  I was very much pleased with both of them.  I have never seen
+them play, but they will send me a list of their parts at their next
+engagement and I shall certainly go to hear them.  They are of Old Colony
+descent (from Elder Cushman), and have very much of the New England
+character, culture, and good sense.  On Monday I dined at Sir Edward
+Codrington’s, the hero of Navarino, with the Marquis and Marchioness of
+Queensberry, and a party of admirals and navy officers.  On Tuesday I
+dined at Lady Braye’s, where were Mr. Rogers, Dr. Holland, Sir Augustus
+and Lady Albinia Foster, formerly British Minister to the United States.
+He could describe _our Court_, as he called it, in the time of Madison
+and Monroe.
+
+                                                          January 1, 1848.
+
+This evening, in addition to my usual morning letter from your father, I
+have another; a new postal arrangement beginning to-day with the New
+Year.  He gives me a most interesting conversation he has just been
+having with Baron von Humboldt, who is now in Paris.  He says he poured
+out a delicious stream of remarks, anecdotes, narratives, opinion.  He
+feels great interest in our Mexican affairs, as he has been much there,
+and is a Mexican by adoption.
+
+His letter, dated the 31st December, says: “Madam Adelaide died at three
+this morning.”  This death astonished me, for he saw her only a few
+evenings since at the Palace.  She was a woman of strong intellect and
+character, and her brother, the King, was very much attached to her as a
+counsellor and friend. . . . There were more than 100 Americans to be
+presented on New Year’s Day at Paris, and, as Madam Adelaide’s death took
+place without a day’s warning, you can imagine the embroidered coats and
+finery which were laid on the shelf.
+
+                                                    Saturday, January 7th.
+
+Yesterday, my dear son, I had a delightful dinner at the dear Miss
+Berrys.  They drove to the door on Thursday and left a little note to
+say, “Can you forgive a poor sick soul for not coming to you before, when
+you were all alone,” and begging me to come the next day at seven, to
+dine.  There was Lady Charlotte and Lady Stuart de Rothesay, who was many
+years ambassadress at Paris, and very agreeable.  Then there was Dr.
+Holland and Mr. Stanley, the under-Secretary of State, etc.  In the
+evening came quite an additional party, and I passed it most pleasantly.
+. . . Your father writes that on Friday he dined at Thiers’ with Mignet,
+Cousin, Pontois, and Lord Normanby.  He says such a dinner is “unique in
+a man’s life.”  “Mignet is delightful, frank, open, gay, full of
+intelligence, and of that grace which makes society charming.” . . . Your
+father to-day gives me some account of Thiers.  He is now fifty: he rises
+at five o’clock every morning, toils till twelve, breakfasts, makes
+researches, and then goes to the Chambers.  In the evening he always
+receives his friends except Wednesdays and Thursdays, when he attends his
+wife to the opera and to the Académie.
+
+
+
+_To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D._
+
+
+                                               LONDON, January 28th, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: . . . Last Monday I received [this] note from
+George Sumner, which I thought might interest you: “My dear Mrs.
+Bancroft: I hasten to congratulate you upon an event most honorable to
+Mr. Bancroft and to our country.  The highest honor which can be bestowed
+in France upon a foreigner has just been conferred on him.  He was chosen
+this afternoon a Corresponding Member of the Institute.  Five names were
+presented for the vacant chair of History.  Every vote but one was in
+favor of Mr. Bancroft (that one for Mr. Grote of London, author of the
+‘History of Greece’).  A gratifying fact in regard to this election is
+that it comes without the knowledge of Mr. Bancroft, and without any of
+those preliminary visits on his part, and those appeals to academicians
+whose votes are desired, that are so common with candidates for vacancies
+at the Institute.  The honor acquires double value for being unsought,
+and I have heard with no small satisfaction several Members of the
+Academy contrast the modest reserve of Mr. Bancroft with the restless
+manoeuvres to which they have been accustomed.  Prescott, you know, is
+already a member, and I think America may be satisfied with two out of
+seven of a class of History which is selected from the world.”
+
+       [Picture: Mrs. Fitzherbert.  From the pastel by J. Russell]
+
+
+
+_To T. D._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, February 24, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR BROTHER: . . . Great excitement exists in London to-day at the
+reception of the news from France.  Guizot is overthrown, and Count Molé
+is made Prime Minister.  The National Guards have sided with the people,
+and would not fire upon them, and that secret of the weakness of the army
+being revealed, I do not see why the Liberal party cannot obtain all they
+want in the end.  Louis Philippe has sacrificed the happiness of France
+for the advancement of his own family, but nations in the nineteenth
+[century] have learned that they were not made to be the slaves of a
+dynasty.  Mr. Bancroft dines with the French Minister to-day, not with a
+party, but quite _en famille_, and he will learn there what the hopes and
+fears of the Government are.
+
+                                                            February 25th.
+
+The news this morning is only from Amiens, which has risen in support of
+France.  The railways are torn up all round Paris, to prevent the passage
+of troops, and the roads and barriers are all in possession of the
+people.  All France will follow the lead of Paris, and what will be the
+result Heaven only knows.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, February 26, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE: . . . On Thursday Mr. Bancroft dined with Count Jarnac,
+the Minister in the Duc de Broglie’s absence, and he little dreamed of
+the blow awaiting him.  The fortifications and the army seemed to make
+the King quite secure.  On Friday Mr. Bancroft went to dine with Kenyon,
+and I drove there with him for a little air.  On my return Cates, the
+butler, saluted me with the wondrous news of the deposition and flight of
+the royal family, which Mr. Brodhead had rushed up from his club to
+impart to us.  I was engaged to a little party at Mr. Hallam’s, where I
+found everybody in great excitement.
+
+                                                              Sunday Noon.
+
+To-day we were to have dined with Baron de Rothschild, but this morning I
+got a note from the beautiful baroness, saying that her sister-in-law and
+her mother with three children, had just arrived from Paris at her house
+in the greatest distress, without a change of clothes, and in deep
+anxiety about the Baron, who had stayed behind.
+
+Our colleagues all look bewildered and perplexed beyond measure. . . .
+The English aristocracy have no love for Louis Philippe, but much less
+for a republic, so near at hand, and everybody seemed perplexed and
+uneasy.
+
+                                                                  Tuesday.
+
+On Sunday the Duc de Nemours arrived at the French Embassy, and Monday
+the poor Duchess de Montpensier, the innocent cause of all the trouble.
+No one knows where the Duchess de Nemours and her young children are, and
+the King and Queen are entirely missing.  At one moment it is reported
+that he is drowned, and then, again, at Brussels.
+
+                                                                Wednesday.
+
+To-day the French Embassy have received despatches announcing the new
+government, and Count Jarnac has immediately resigned.  This made it
+impossible for the Duc de Nemours and the Duchess de Montpensier to
+remain at the Embassy, and they fell by inheritance to Mr. Van de Weyer,
+whose Queen is Louis Philippe’s daughter.  The Queen has taken Louis
+Philippe’s daughter, Princess Clementine, who married Prince Auguste de
+Saxe-Coburg to the Palace, but for State Policy’s sake she can do nothing
+about the others.  Mr. Van de Weyer offered Mr. Bates’s place of East
+Sheen, which was most gratefully accepted.
+
+                                                                   Friday.
+
+This morning came Thackeray, who is the soul of _Punch_, and showed me a
+piece he had written for the next number.
+
+                                                                 Saturday.
+
+The King has arrived.  What a crossing of the Channel, pea-jacket,
+woollen comforter, and all!  The flight is a perfect comedy, and if
+_Punch_ had tried to invent anything more ludicrous, it would have
+failed.  Panic, despotism, and cowardice.
+
+These things are much more exciting here than across the water.  We are
+so near the scene of action and everybody has a more personal interest
+here in all these matters.  The whole week has been like a long play, and
+now, on Saturday night, I want nothing but repose.  What a dream it must
+be to the chief actors!  The Queen, who is always good and noble, was
+averse to such ignominious flight; she preferred staying and taking what
+came, and if Madam Adelaide had lived, they would never have made such a
+[word undecipherable] figure.  Her pride and courage would have inspired
+them.  With her seemed to fly Louis Philippe’s star, as Napoleon’s with
+Josephine. . . . Mr. Emerson has just come to London and we give him a
+dinner on Tuesday, the 14th.  Several persons wish much to see him, and
+Monckton Milnes reviewed him in _Blackwood_.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                   LONDON, March 11, 1848.
+
+DEAR W.: . . . Yesterday we dined at Lord Lansdowne’s.  Among the guests
+were M. and Madam Van de Weyer, and Mrs. Austin, the translatress, who
+has been driven over here from Paris, where she has resided for several
+years.  She is a vehement friend of Guizot’s, though a bitter accuser of
+Louis Philippe, but how can they be separated?  She interests herself
+strongly now in all his arrangements, and is assisting his daughters to
+form their humble establishment.  He and his daughters together have
+about eight hundred pounds a year, and that in London is poverty.  They
+have taken a small house in Brompton Square, a little out of town, and
+one of those suburban, unfashionable regions where the most
+accommodations can be had at the least price.  What a change for those
+who have witnessed their almost regal receptions in Paris!  The young
+ladies bear very sweetly all their reverses. . . . Guizot, himself, I
+hear, is as _fier_ as ever, and almost gay.  Princess de Lieven is here
+at the “Clarendon,” and their friendship is as great as ever.
+
+                                                               March 15th.
+
+Yesterday we had an agreeable dinner at our own house.  Macaulay, Milman,
+Lord Morpeth and Monckton Milnes were all most charming, and we ladies
+listened with eager ears.  Conversation was never more interesting than
+just now, in this great crisis of the world’s affairs.  Mr. Emerson was
+here and seemed to enjoy [it] much.
+
+                                                       Friday, March 17th.
+
+Things look rather darker in France, but we ought not to expect a
+republic to be established without some difficulties. . . . You cannot
+judge of the state of France, however, through the medium of the English
+newspapers, for, of course, English sympathies are all entirely against
+it.  They never like France, and a republic of any kind still less.  A
+peaceful and prosperous republic in the heart of Europe would be more
+deprecated than a state of anarchy.  The discussion of French matters
+reveals to me every moment the deep repugnance of the English to
+republican institutions.  It lets in a world of light upon opinions and
+feelings, which, otherwise, would not have been discovered by me.
+
+  [Picture: Richard Monckton Miles, (Lord Houghton).  From a drawing by
+         Cousins, by permission of the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker]
+
+                                                       Sunday, March 19th.
+
+Yesterday we breakfasted at Mrs. Milman’s.  I was the only lady, but
+there were Macaulay, Hallam, Lord Morpeth, and, above all, Charles
+Austin, whom I had not seen before, as he never dines out, but who is the
+most striking talker in England.  He has made a fortune by the law in the
+last few years, which gives him an income of £8,000.  He has the great
+railroad cases which come before the House of Lords. . . . On Tuesday
+came a flying report of a revolution in Berlin, but no one believed it.
+We concluded it rather a speculation of the newsmen, who are hawking
+revolutions after every mail in second and third editions.  We were going
+that evening to a _soirée_ at Bunsen’s, whom we found cheerful as ever
+and fearing no evil.  On Monday the news of the revolution in Austria
+produced a greater sensation even than France, for it was the very pivot
+of conservatism. . . . On Thursday I received the letter from A. at eight
+A.M., which I enclose to you.  It gives an account of the revolution in
+Berlin.
+
+
+
+_To T. D._
+
+
+                                                                 March 31.
+
+The old world is undergoing a complete reorganization, and is unfolding a
+rapid series of events more astonishing than anything in history.  Where
+it will stop, and what will be its results, nobody can tell.  Royalty has
+certainly not added to its respectability by its conduct in its time of
+trial.  Since the last steamer went, Italy has shaken off the Austrian
+yoke, Denmark has lost her German provinces, Poland has risen, or is
+about to rise, which will bring Russia thundering down upon Liberal
+Europe. . . . Our whole Diplomatic Corps are certainly “in a fix,” and we
+are really the only members of it who have any reason to be quite at
+ease.  Two or three have been called home to be Ministers of Foreign
+Affairs, as they have learned something of constitutional liberty in
+England.  England is, as yet, all quiet, and I hope will keep so, but the
+Chartists are at work and Ireland is full of inflammable matter.  But
+England does love her institutions, and is justly proud of their
+comparative freedom, and long may she enjoy them. . . . On Sunday Mr.
+Emerson dined with us with Lady Morgan and Mrs. Jameson—the authoress.
+On Monday I took him to a little party at Lady Morgan’s.  His works are a
+good deal known here.  I have great pleasure in seeing so old a friend so
+far from home. . . . I think we shall have very few of our countrymen out
+this spring, as travelling Europe is so uncertain, with everything in
+commotion.  Those who are passing the winter in Italy are quite shut in
+at present, and if war begins, no one knows where it will spread.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                    LONDON, April 7, 1848.
+
+. . . On Wednesday we had an agreeable dinner at Mrs. Milner Gibson’s.
+Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli, Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan (brother of Mrs. Norton),
+etc., were among the guests.  After dinner I had a very long talk with
+Disraeli.  He is, you know, of the ultra Tory party here, and looks at
+the Continental movements from the darkest point of view.  He cannot
+admit as a possibility the renovation of European society upon more
+liberal principles, and considers it as the complete dissolution of
+European civilization which will, like Asia, soon present but the ashes
+of a burnt-out flame.  This is most atheistic, godless, and un-christian
+doctrine, and he cannot himself believe it.  The art of printing and the
+rapid dissemination of thought changes all these things in our days.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                                 April 10.
+
+This is the day of the “Great Chartist Meeting,” which has terrified all
+London to the last degree, I think most needlessly.  The city and town is
+at this moment stiller than I have ever known it, for not a carriage
+dares to be out.  Nothing is to be seen but a “special constable” (every
+gentleman in London is sworn into that office), occasionally some on
+foot, some on horseback, scouring the streets.  I took a drive early this
+morning with Mr. Bancroft, and nothing could be less like the eve of a
+revolution.  This evening, when the petition is to be presented, may
+bring some disturbance, not from the Chartists themselves, but from the
+disorderly persons who may avail themselves of the occasion.  The Queen
+left town on Saturday for the Isle of Wight, as she had so lately been
+confined it was feared her health might suffer from any agitation. . . .
+I passed a long train of artillery on Saturday evening coming into town,
+which was the most earnest looking thing I have seen. . . . To-day we
+were to have dined at Mrs. Mansfield’s, but her dinner was postponed from
+the great alarm about the Chartists.  There is not the slightest danger
+of a revolution in England.  The upper middle-class, which on the
+continent is entirely with the people, the professional and mercantile
+class, is here entirely conservative, and without that class no great
+changes can ever be made.  The Duc de Montebello said of France, that he
+“knew there were lava streams below, but he did not know the crust was so
+thin.”  Here, on the contrary, the crust is very thick.  And yet I can
+see in the most conservative circles that a feeling is gaining ground
+that some concessions must be made.  An enlargement of the suffrage one
+hears now often discussed as, perhaps, an approaching necessity.
+
+                                                         Friday, April 14.
+
+The day of the Chartists passed off with most ridiculous quiet, and the
+government is stronger than ever. . . . If the Alien Bill passes, our
+American friends must mind their p’s and q’s, for if they praise the
+“model republic” too loudly, they may be packed off at any time,
+particularly if they have “long beards,” for it seems to be an axiom here
+that beards, mustaches, and barricades are cousins-german at least. . . .
+Mr. Bancroft goes to Paris on Monday, the 17th, to pass the Easter
+holidays.  He will go on with his manuscripts, and at the same time
+witness the elections and meeting of the Convention.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                   LONDON, April 19, 1848.
+
+DEAR W.: . . . To-day I have driven down to Richmond to lunch with Mrs.
+Drummond, who is passing Easter holidays there.  On coming home I found a
+letter from Mr. Bancroft from which I will make some extracts, as he has
+the best sources of knowledge in Paris.  “Then I went to Mignet, who, you
+know, is politically the friend of Thiers.  He pointed out to me the
+condition of France, and drew for me a picture of what it was and of the
+change.  I begin to see the difference between France and us.  Here they
+are accustomed to _be_ governed.  _We_ are accustomed to _govern_.
+_Here_ power may be seized and exercised, if exercised in a satisfactory
+manner; with us the foundation of power, its constitutionality and the
+legality of its acts are canvassed and analyzed.  Here an unpopularity is
+made away with by a revolution, and you know how _we_ deal with it.
+Thus, power, if in favor, may dare anything, and if out of favor is
+little likely to be forgiven.” . . . “Our fathers had to unite the
+thirteen States; here they have unity enough and run no risk but from the
+excess of it.  My hopes are not less than they were, but all that France
+needs may not come at once.  We were fourteen years in changing our
+confederation into a union, perhaps France cannot be expected to jump at
+once into perfect legislation or perfect forms.  Crude ideas are afloat,
+but as to Communism, it is already exploded, or will be brushed away from
+legislative power as soon as the National Assembly meets, though the
+question of ameliorating the condition of the laboring class is more and
+more engaging the public mind.” . . . “I spent an hour with Cousin, the
+Minister of a morning.  He gave me sketches of many of the leading men of
+these times, and I made him detail to me he scene of Louis Philippe’s
+abdication, which took place in a manner quite different from what I had
+heard in London.” . . . “Cousin, by the way, says that the Duc de Nemours
+throughout, behaved exceedingly well.  Thence to the Club de la Nouvelle
+Republique.  Did not think much of the speaking which I heard.  From the
+club I went to Thiers, where I found Cousin and Mignet and one or two
+more.  Some change since I met him.  A leader of opposition, then a prime
+minister, and now left aground by the shifting tide.” . . . “Everybody
+has given up Louis Philippe, everybody considers the nonsense of Louis
+Blanc as drawing to its close.  The delegates from Paris will full half
+be _universally_ acceptable.  Three-fourths of the provincial delegates
+will be _moderate_ republicans.  The people are not in a passion.  They
+go quietly enough about their business of constructing new institutions.
+Ledru-Rollin, Louis Blanc, and Flocon tried to lead the way to ill, but
+Lamartine, whose heroism passes belief and activity passes human power,
+won the victory over them, found himself on Sunday, and again yesterday,
+sustained by all Paris, and has not only conquered but _conciliated_
+them, and everybody is now firmly of opinion that the Republic will be
+established quietly.” . . . “But while there are no difficulties from the
+disorderly but what can easily be overcome, the want of republican and
+political experience, combined with vanity and self-reliance and
+idealism, may throw impediments in the way of what the wisest wish,
+_viz._, two elected chambers and a president.”
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                      LONDON, May 5, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR W.: . . . Last evening, Thursday, we went to see Jenny Lind, on
+her first appearance this year.  She was received with enthusiasm, and
+the Queen still more so.  It was the first time the Queen had been at the
+opera since the birth of her child, and since the republican spirit was
+abroad, and loyalty burst out in full force.  Now loyalty is very novel,
+and pleasant to witness, to us who have never known it.
+
+                                                     LONDON, May 31, 1848.
+
+. . . Now for my journal, which has gone lamely on since the 24th of
+February.  The Queen’s Ball was to take place the evening on which I
+closed my last letter.  My dress was a white crêpe over white satin, with
+flounces of Honiton lace looped up with pink tuberoses.  A wreath of
+tuberoses and bouquet for the corsage.  We had tickets sent us to go
+through the garden and set down at a private door, which saves waiting in
+the long line of carriages for your turn.  The Diplomatic Corps arrange
+themselves in a line near the door at which the Queen enters the suite of
+rooms, which was at ten precisely.  She passes through, curtseying and
+bowing very gracefully, until she reaches the throne in the next room,
+where she and the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and
+her daughters, who are here on a visit, etc., sit down, while Prince
+Albert, the Prince of Prussia and other sprigs of royalty stand near.
+The dancing soon began in front of the canopy, but the Queen herself did
+not dance on account of her mourning for Prince Albert’s grandmother.
+There was another band and dancing in other rooms at the same time.
+After seeing several dances here the Queen and her suite move by the
+flourish of trumpets to another room, the guests forming a lane as she
+passes, bowing and smiling.  Afterward she made a similar progress to
+supper, her household officers moving backwards before her, and her
+ladies and royal relatives and friends following.  At half-past one Her
+Majesty retired and the guests departed, such as did not have to wait two
+hours for their carriages.  On Saturday we went at two to the _fête_ of
+flowers at Chiswick, and at half-past seven dined at Lord Monteagle’s to
+meet Monsieur and Mademoiselle Guizot.  He has the finest head in the
+world, but his person is short and insignificant.
+
+On Wednesday we dined at Lady Chantrey’s to meet a charming party.
+Afterward we went to a magnificent ball at the Duke of Devonshire’s, with
+all the great world.  On Friday we went to Faraday’s lecture at the Royal
+Institution.  We went in with the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, and
+I sat by her during the lecture.  On Saturday was the Queen’s Birthday
+Drawing-Room. . . . Mr. Bancroft dined at Lord Palmerston’s with all the
+diplomats, and I went in the evening with a small party of ladies.  On
+coming home we drove round to see the brilliant birthday illuminations.
+The first piece of intelligence I heard at Lady Palmerston’s was the
+death of the Princess Sophia, an event which is a happy release for her,
+for she was blind and a great sufferer.  It has overturned all court
+festivities, of course, for the present, and puts us all in deep
+mourning, which is not very convenient just now, in the brilliant season,
+and when we had all our dress arrangements made.  The Queen was to have a
+concert to-night, a drawing-room next Friday, and a ball on the 16th,
+which are all deferred. . . . I forgot to say that I got a note from Miss
+Coutts on Sunday, asking me to go with her the next day to see the
+Chinese junk, so at three the next day we repaired to her house.  Her
+sisters (Miss Burdetts) and Mr. Rogers were all the party.  At the junk
+for the first time I saw Metternich and the Princess, his wife.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                    LONDON, June 29, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR W.: . . . When I last left off I was going to dine at Miss
+Coutts’s to meet the Duchess of Cambridge.  The party was brilliant,
+including the Duke of Wellington, Lord and Lady Douro, Lady Jersey and
+the beautiful Lady Clementina Villiers, her daughter, etc.  When royal
+people arrive everybody rises and remains standing while they stand, and
+if they approach you or look at you, you must perform the lowest of
+“curtsies.”  The courtesy made to royalty is very like the one I was
+taught to make when a little girl at Miss Tuft’s school in Plymouth.  One
+sinks down instead of stepping back in dancing-school fashion.  After
+dinner the Duchess was pleased to stand until the gentlemen rejoined us;
+of course, we must all stand. . . . The next day we dined at the Lord
+Mayor’s to meet the Ministers.  This was a most interesting affair.  We
+had all the peculiar ceremonies which I described to you last autumn, but
+in addition the party was most distinguished, and we had speeches from
+Lord Lansdowne, Lord Palmerston, Lord John, Lord Auckland, Sir George
+Grey, etc.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                                    LONDON, July 21, 1848.
+
+I was truly grieved that the last steamer should go to Boston without a
+line from me, but I was in Yorkshire and you must forgive me. . . . I
+left off with the 26th of June. . . . The next evening was the Queen’s
+Concert, which was most charming.  I sat very near the Duke of
+Wellington, who often spoke to me between the songs. . . . The next day
+we went with Miss Coutts to her bank, lunched there, and went all over
+the building.  Then we went to the Tower and the Tunnel together, she
+never having seen either.  So ignorant are the West End people of city
+lions. . . . And now comes my pleasant Yorkshire excursion.  We left
+London, at half-past three, at distance of 180 miles.  This was Saturday,
+July 8.  At York we found Mr. Hudson ready to receive us and conduct us
+to a special train which took us eighteen miles on the way to Newby Park,
+and there we found carriages to take us four miles to our destination.
+We met at dinner and found our party to consist of the Duke of Richmond,
+Lord Lonsdale, Lord George Bentinck, Lord Ingestre, Lord John Beresford,
+Lady Webster, whose husband, now dead, was the son of Lady Holland, two
+or three agreeable talkers to fill in, and ourselves.
+
+ [Picture: Lord George Bentinck.  From a painting by Lane, by permission
+                         of the Duke of Portland]
+
+                                                                  Tuesday.
+
+Lady Webster, Mr. Bancroft, and myself, went to Castle Howard, as Lord
+Morpeth had written to his mother that we were to be there and would
+lunch with her.  Castle Howard is twenty-five miles the other side of
+York, which is itself twenty-five miles from Newby.  But what is fifty
+miles when one is under the wing of the Railway King and can have a
+special engine at one’s disposal.  On arriving at the Castle Howard
+station we found Lord Carlisle’s carriage with four horses and most
+venerable coachman waiting to receive us.  We enter the Park almost
+immediately, but it is about four miles to the Castle, through many
+gates, which we had mounted footmen open for us.  Lady Carlisle received
+us in the most delightful manner. . . . I was delighted to see Lord
+Morpeth’s home and his mother, who seldom now goes to London.  She was
+the daughter of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, and took me into her
+own dressing-room to show me her picture. . . . On Wednesday we went into
+York to witness the reception of Prince Albert, to see the ruins of St.
+Mary’s Abbey, the Flower Show, to lunch with the Lord Mayor, and above
+all, to attend prayers in the Minister and hear a noble anthem.  The
+Cathedral was crowded with strangers and a great many from London.  The
+next day was the day of the great dinner, and I send you the _Post_
+containing Mr. Bancroft’s speech.  It was warmly admired by all who heard
+it.
+
+At ten at night we ladies set out for York to go [to] the Lord Mayor’s
+Ball, where the gentlemen were to meet us from the dinner.  Everybody
+flocked round to congratulate me upon your father’s speech.  Even Prince
+Albert, when I was led up to make my curtsey, offered me his hand, which
+is a great courtesy in royalty, and spoke of the great beauty and
+eloquence of Mr. B.’s speech.  The Prince soon went away: the Lord Mayor
+took me down to supper and I sat between him and the Duke of Richmond at
+the high table which went across the head of the hall.  Guildhall is a
+beautiful old room with a fine old traceried window, and the scene, with
+five tables going the length of the hall and the upper one across the
+head, was very gay and brilliant.  There were a few toasts, and your
+father again made a little speech, short and pleasant.  We did not get
+home till half-past three in the morning. . . . On Friday morning [July
+14th] many of the guests, the Duke of Richmond, etc., took their
+departure and Mr. Hudson had to escort Prince Albert to town, but
+returned the same evening. . . . The next day we all went to pay a visit
+to an estate of Mr. Hudson’s [name of estate indecipherable] for which he
+paid five hundred thousand pounds to the Duke of Devonshire. . . . It is
+nobly situated in the Yorkshire wolds, a fine range of hills, and
+overlooking the valley of the Humber, which was interesting to me, as it
+was the river which our Pilgrim fathers sailed down and lay in the Wash
+at its mouth, awaiting their passage to Holland.  They came, our Plymouth
+fathers, mostly from Lincolnshire and the region which lay below us.  I
+thought of them, and the scene of their sufferings was more ennobled in
+my eyes, from their remembrance than from the noble mansions and rich
+estates which feast the eye.
+
+ [Picture: Sir Robert Peel.  From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R.
+                                   A.]
+
+On Monday morning we left Newby for York on our way home.  It so happened
+that the judges were to open the court that very morning, on which
+occasion they always breakfast with the Lord Mayor in their scarlet robes
+and wigs, the Lord Mayor and aldermen are also in their furred scarlet
+robes and the Lady Mayoress presents the judges with enormous bouquets of
+the richest flowers.  We were invited to this breakfast, and I found it
+very entertaining.  I was next the High Sheriff, who was very desirous
+that we should stay a few hours and go to the castle and see the court
+opened and listen to a case or two.  The High Sheriff of a county is a
+great character and has a carriage and liveries as grand as the Queen’s.
+After breakfast we bade adieu to our York friends, and set off with our
+big bouquets (for the distribution was extended to us) for home.
+
+
+
+_To T. D._
+
+
+                                                   LONDON, August 9, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR BROTHER: . . . On Saturday we set off for Nuneham, the
+magnificent seat of the late Archbishop of York, now in possession of his
+eldest son, Mr. Granville Harcourt. . . . The guests besides ourselves
+were Sir Robert and Lady Peel, Lord and Lady Villiers, Lord and Lady
+Norreys, Lord Harry Vane, etc.  We considered it a great privilege to be
+staying in the same house with Sir Robert Peel, and I had also the
+pleasure of sitting by him at dinner all the three days we were there.
+He was full of conversation of the best kind.  Mr. Denison and Lady
+Charlotte, his wife, were also of our party.  She was the daughter of the
+Duke of Portland and sister of Lord George Bentinck, Sir Robert’s great
+antagonist in the House.
+
+On Sunday morning we attended the pretty little church on the estate
+which with its parsonage is a pleasing object on the grounds.  The next
+day the whole party were taken to Blenheim, the seat of the famous Duke
+of Marlborough, built at the expense of the country.  The grounds are
+exquisite, but I was most charmed by the collection of pictures.  Here
+were the finest Vandykes, Rubens, and Sir Joshua Reynolds which I have
+seen.  Sir Robert Peel is a great connoisseur in art and seemed highly to
+enjoy them.  Altogether it was a truly delightful day: the drive of
+fifteen miles in open carriages, and through Oxford, being of itself a
+high pleasure.  Yesterday we returned to London, and on Thursday we set
+out for Scotland.
+
+
+
+_To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D._
+
+
+                                               EDINBURGH, August 16, 1848.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: . . . Of Edinburgh I cannot say enough to express
+my admiration.  The Castle Rock, Arthur’s Seat, Salisbury Craigs and
+Calton Hill are all separate and fine mountains and, with the Frith of
+Forth, the ocean and the old picturesque town, make an assemblage of fine
+objects that I have seen nowhere else.  Mr. Rutherford, the Lord
+Advocate, who is of the Ministry, had written to his friends that we were
+coming, and several gentlemen came by breakfast time the next morning.
+Mr. Gordon, his nephew, married the daughter of Prof. Wilson, and invited
+us to dine that day to meet the professor, etc. . . . We drove out after
+breakfast into the country to Hawthornden, formerly the residence of
+Drummond the poet, and to Lord Roslin’s grounds, where are the ruins of
+Roslin Castle and above all, of the Roslin Chapel. . . . After lingering
+and admiring long we returned to Edinburgh just in season for dinner at
+Mr. Gordon’s, where we found Prof. Wilson, and another daughter and son,
+Mrs. Rutherford, wife of the Lord Advocate, and Capt. Rutherford, his
+brother, with his wife.  We had a very agreeable evening and engaged to
+dine there again quite _en famille_, with only the professor, whose
+conversation is delightful.
+
+ [Picture: Lady Peel.  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.; photograph copyright
+                       by W. Mansell & Co., London]
+
+The next morning we went out to Craigcrook, Lord Jeffrey’s country seat,
+to see and lunch with him.  He was confined to his couch. . . . He is
+seventy-three or seventy-four, but looks not a minute older than fifty.
+He has a fine head and forehead, and most agreeable and courteous
+manners, rather of the old school.  As he could not rise to receive me he
+kissed my hand.  Mrs. Jeffrey is an intelligent and agreeable woman but
+has been much out of health the last year.  She was Miss Wilkes of New
+York, you know.  The house was an old castellated and fortified house,
+and with modern additions is a most beautiful residence.  Capt.
+Rutherford told me that when he received the Lord Advocate’s letter
+announcing that we were coming, he went to see Lord Jeffrey to know if he
+would be well enough to see us, and he expressed the strongest admiration
+for Mr. Bancroft’s work.
+
+This may have disposed them to receive us with the cordiality which made
+our visit so agreeable.  Mr. Empson, his son-in-law and the president
+editor of the Edinburgh Review, was staying there, and after talking two
+hours with Lord and Mrs. Jeffrey we took with him a walk in the grounds
+from which are delightful and commanding views of the whole environs, and
+never were environs so beautiful.
+
+
+
+_To W. D. B._
+
+
+                                   TARBET ON LOCH LOMOND, August 28, 1848.
+
+DEAR W. . . . Being detained here by rain this morning I devote it to you
+and to my journal. . . . The next day was Sunday but the weather being
+fine we concluded to continue our journey, and followed the Tay seeing
+Birnam Wood and Dunsinane on our way up to Dunkeld, near to which is the
+fine seat of the Duke of Athol.  We took a delightful walk in the
+beautiful grounds, and went on to Blair Athol to sleep.  This is the
+chief residence of the Duke of Athol and he has here another house and
+grounds very pretty though not as extensive as those at Dunkeld. . . .
+When the innkeeper found who we were he insisted on sending a message to
+the Duke who sent down an order to us to drive up Glen Tilt and met us
+there himself.  We entered through the Park and followed up the Tilt.
+Nothing could be more wild than this narrow winding pass which we
+followed for eight miles till we came to the Duke’s forest lodge.  Here
+were waiting for us a most picturesque group in full Highland dress: the
+head stalker, the head shepherd, the kennel keepers with their dogs in
+leashes, the piper, etc., etc.  They told us that the Duke had sent up
+word that we were coming and he would soon be there himself.
+
+In a few moments he appeared also in full Highland costume with bare
+knees, kilt, philibeg, etc.  He told us he had then on these mountains
+15,000 head of dear, and thought we might like to see a _start_, as it is
+called.  The head stalker told him, however, that the wind had changed
+which affects the scent, and that nothing could be done that day.  The
+Duke tried to make us amends by making some of his people sing us Gaelic
+songs and show us some of the athletic Highland games.  The little lodge
+he also went over with us, and said that the Duchess came there and lived
+six or seven weeks in the autumn, and that the Duke and Duchess of
+Buccleuch rented it for many years while he was a minor.  If you could
+see the tiny little rooms, you would be astonished to find what the love
+of sport can do for these people who possess actual palaces.
+
+After dining again upon salmon and grouse at the pretty little inn, we
+took a post chaise to go on to Taymouth, a little village adjoining Lord
+Breadalbane’s place.  We did not arrive at the inn till after eight and
+found it completely full. . . . We were sent to the schoolmaster’s to
+sleep in the smallest of little rooms, with a great clock which ticked
+and struck so loud that we were obliged to silence it, to the great
+bewilderment, I dare say, of the scholars the next day.  Before we were
+in bed, there was a knock at the door, which proved to be from Lord
+Breadalbane’s butler, to say that he had been commissioned to enquire
+whenever we arrived at the inn, as his Lordship had heard that we were in
+Scotland and wished us to make them a visit.
+
+Next morning before we were up came a note from Lord Breadalbane urging
+us to come immediately to the Castle. . . . Taymouth Castle, though not
+more than fifty years old, has the air of an old feudal castle. . . . As
+we were ushered up the magnificent staircase through first a large
+antechamber, then through a superb hall with lofty ceiling glowing with
+armorial bearings, and with the most light and delicate carving on every
+part of the oaken panelling, then through a long gallery, of heavier
+carving filled with fine old cabinets, into the library, it seemed to me
+that the whole Castle was one of those magical delusions that one reads
+of in Fairy Tales, so strange did it seem to find such princely
+magnificence all alone amid such wild and solitary scenes.  I had always
+the feeling that it would suddenly vanish, at some wave of an enchanter’s
+wand, as it must have arisen also.  The library is by far the finest room
+I ever saw.  Its windows and arches and doorways are all of a fine carved
+Gothic open work as light as gossamer.  One door which he lately added
+cost a thousand pounds, the door alone, not the doorway, so you can judge
+of the exquisite workmanship.  Here Lady Breadalbane joined us, whom I
+had never before met. . . . During dinner the piper in full costume was
+playing the pibroch in a gallery outside the window, and after he had
+done a band, also in full Highland dress, played some of the Italian,
+German as well as Scotch music, at just an agreeable distance.  I have
+seen nothing in England which compares in splendor with the state which
+is kept up here.
+
+We passed Wednesday and Thursday here most agreeably, and we rode or
+walked during the whole days.  Lord Breadalbane, by the way, has just
+been appointed Lord High Chamberlain to the Queen in place of Lord
+Spencer.  I am glad of this because we are brought often in contact with
+the Lord Chamberlain, but it is very strange to me that a man who lives
+like a king, and through whose dominions we travelled a hundred miles
+from the German Ocean to the Atlantic, can be Chamberlain to any Queen.
+These feudal subordinations we republicans cannot understand. . . . We
+stopped at the little town of Oban.  After reading our letters and
+getting a dinner, we went out just before sunset for a walk.
+
+We wished much to see the ruins of Dunolly.  We passed the porter’s lodge
+and found ourselves directly in the most picturesque grounds on the very
+shore of the ocean and with the Western Islands lying before us.  Mr.
+Bancroft sent in his card, which brought out instantly the key to the old
+castle, and in a few moments Capt. MacDougal and Mr. Phipps, a brother of
+Lord Normanby’s, joined us.  They pointed out the interesting points in
+the landscape, the Castle of Ardtornish, the scene of Lord of the Isles,
+etc., in addition to the fine old ruin we came to see.  We lingered till
+the lighthouses had begun to glow, and I was reminded very much of the
+scenery at Wood’s Hole, which I used to enjoy so much, only that could
+not boast the association with poetry and feudal romance.  We then went
+into the house, and found a charming domestic circle in full evening
+dress with short sleeves, so that my gray travelling cloak and straw
+bonnet were rather out of place.  Here were Mrs. Phipps, and Miss
+Campbell, her sister, daughters of Sir Colin Campbell, and to my great
+delight, Captain MacDougal brought out the great brooch of Lorn, which
+his ancestor won from Bruce and the story of which you will find in the
+Lord of the Isles.  It fastened the Scotch Plaid, and is larger than a
+teacup.  He described to me the reverential way in which Scott took it in
+both hands when he showed it to him.  The whole evening was pleasant and
+the more so from being unexpected. . . . One little thing which adds
+always to the charm of Scotch scenery is the dress of the peasantry.  One
+never sees the real Highland costume, but every shepherd has his plaid
+slung over one shoulder, making the most graceful drapery.  This, with
+the universal Glengarry bonnet, is very pretty.
+
+At Glasgow we intended to pay a visit of a day to the historian Alison,
+but found letters announcing Governor Davis’s arrival in London with Mr.
+Corcoran and immediately turned our faces homeward.  We were to have
+passed a week on our return amidst the lakes, and I protested against
+going back to London without one look at least.  So we stopped at Kendal
+on Saturday, took a little carriage over to Windermere and Ambleside and
+passed the whole evening with the poet and Mrs. Wordsworth, at their own
+exquisite home on Rydal Mount.  At ten o’clock we went from there to Miss
+Martineau, who has built the prettiest of houses in this valley near to
+Mrs. Arnold at Fox Howe.  As we had only one day we made an arrangement
+with Miss Martineau to go with us and be our guide, and set out the next
+day at six o’clock and went over to Keswick to breakfast.  From thence we
+went to Borrowdale, by the side of Derwentwater, and afterward to
+Ulswater and home by the fine pass of Kirkstone.  On my return, I found
+the Duke and Duchess of Argyle had been to see us.
+
+The time of closing the despatch bag has come and I must hurry over my
+delight at the scenery of the lakes.  I could have spent a month there,
+much to my mind.  We arrived home on Monday and early next morning came
+Mr. Davis and Mr. Corcoran.  They went to see the Parliament prorogued in
+person by the Queen.
+
+ [Picture: George Bancroft.  Probably taken at Brady’s National Gallery,
+New York, sometime after his return from England; from a picture owned by
+                           Elizabeth B. Bliss]
+
+
+
+_To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                LONDON, December 14, 1848.
+
+DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT: On Friday we dined at Mr. Tufnell’s, who married
+last spring the daughter of Lord Rosebery, Lady Anne Primrose, a very
+“nice person,” to use the favorite English term of praise. . . . Sir John
+Hobhouse was of our party and he told us so much of Byron, who was his
+intimate friend, as you will remember from his Life, that we stayed much
+longer than usual at dinner. . . . On Tuesday we were invited to dine
+with Miss Coutts, but were engaged to Mr. Gurney, an immensely rich
+Quaker banker, brother of Mrs. Fry.  His daughter is married to Ernest
+Bunsen, the second son of our friend.  We were delighted with the whole
+family scene, which was quite unlike anything we have seen in England.
+They live at Upton Park, a pretty country seat about eight miles from us,
+and are surrounded by their children and grandchildren.  Their costume
+and language are strictly Quaker, which was most becoming to Mrs.
+Gurney’s sweet, placid face. . . . Louis Napoleon’s election seems fixed,
+and is to me one of the most astounding things of the age.  When we
+passed several days with him at Mr. Bates’s, I would not have given two
+straws for his chance of a future career.  To-night Mendelssohn’s
+“Elijah” is to be performed, and Jenny Lind sings.  We had not been able
+to get tickets, which have been sold for five guineas apiece the last few
+days.  To my great joy Miss Coutts has this moment written me that she
+has two for our use, and asks us to take an early dinner at five with her
+and accompany her.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                     LONDON, June 8, 1849.
+
+I thank you, my dear Uncle, for your pleasant letter, which contained as
+usual much that was interesting to me.  And so Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are
+to be our successors. . . . Happy as we have been here, I have a great
+satisfaction that we are setting rather than rising; that we have done
+our work, instead of having it to do.  Like all our pleasures, those here
+are earned by fatigue and effort, and I would not willingly live the last
+three years over again, or three years like them, though they have
+contained high and lasting gratifications.  We have constantly the
+strongest expressions of regret at our approaching departure, and in many
+cases it is, I know, most genuine.  My relations here have been most
+agreeable, and particularly in that intellectual circle whose high
+character and culture have made their regard most precious to me.  The
+manifestations of this kindness increase as the time approaches for our
+going and we are inundated with invitations of all kinds.
+
+Young Prescott is here.  I wish Prescott could have seen his reception at
+Lady Lovelace’s the other evening when there happened to be a collection
+of genius and literature.  What a blessing it is _sometimes_ to a son to
+have a father.
+
+To-morrow we dine with Lord John Russell down at Pembroke Lodge in
+Richmond Park.  On Monday we breakfast with Macaulay.  We met him at
+dinner this week at Lady Waldegrave’s, and he said: “Would you be willing
+to breakfast with me some morning, if I asked one or two other ladies?”
+“Willing!” I said, “I should be delighted beyond measure.”  So he sent us
+a note for Monday next.  I depend upon seeing his bachelor establishment,
+his library, and mode of life.  On Wednesday we go to a ball at the
+Palace.  But it is useless to go on, for every day is filled in this way,
+and gives you an idea of London in the season.
+
+
+
+_To I. P. D._
+
+
+                                                    LONDON, June 22, 1849.
+
+MY DEAR UNCLE: Yesterday I passed one of the most agreeable days I have
+had in England at Oxford, where I went with a party to see Mr. Bancroft
+take his degree. . . . Nothing could have gone off better than the whole
+thing.  Mr. Bancroft went up the day before, but Mrs. Stuart Mackenzie
+and her daughter, with Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave, Louisa, and myself went
+up yesterday morning and returned at night.  We lunched at the
+Vice-Chancellor’s (where Mr. B. made a pleasant little informal speech)
+and were treated with great kindness by everybody.  I wish you could have
+seen Mr. Bancroft walking round all day with his scarlet gown and round
+velvet cap, such as you see in old Venetian pictures.  From this time
+forward we shall have the pain of bidding adieu, one by one, to our
+friends, as they leave town not to return till we are gone.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES.
+
+
+{7}  Mr. Bancroft’s daughter.
+
+{28}  Wife of President Polk.
+
+{37}  Only child of Mrs. Bancroft’s second marriage, who had died at the
+age of seven.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM ENGLAND, 1846-1849***
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+<title>Letters from England, 1846-1849, by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft</title>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Letters from England, 1846-1849, by Elizabeth
+Davis Bancroft
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: Letters from England, 1846-1849
+
+
+Author: Elizabeth Davis Bancroft
+
+
+
+Release Date: April 5, 2015  [eBook #1936]
+[This file was first posted on March 3, 1999]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM ENGLAND, 1846-1849***
+</pre>
+<p>Transcribed from the 1904 Smith, Elder and Co. edition by Jane
+Duff and proofed by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/fpb.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Elizabeth Davis Bancroft.  Probably taken at Brady&rsquo;s
+National Gallery, New York, sometime after her return from
+England; from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss"
+title=
+"Elizabeth Davis Bancroft.  Probably taken at Brady&rsquo;s
+National Gallery, New York, sometime after her return from
+England; from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss"
+ src="images/fps.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h1>LETTERS<br />
+FROM ENGLAND</h1>
+<p style="text-align: center">1846&ndash;1849</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">BY<br />
+ELIZABETH DAVIS BANCROFT<br />
+(<span class="smcap">Mrs</span>. GEORGE BANCROFT)</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><i>WITH
+PORTRAITS AND VIEWS</i></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center">SMITH, ELDER &amp; CO.<br />
+LONDON : : : : : : : 1904</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">Copyright,
+1903, by Charles Scribner&rsquo;s Sons, for Great Britain and
+the</span><br />
+<span class="GutSmall">United States of America.</span></p>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">Printed by
+the Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company</span><br />
+<span class="GutSmall">New York, U. S. A.</span></p>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+<p><span class="smcap">Elizabeth Davis Bancroft</span>, the
+writer of these letters, was the youngest child and only daughter
+of William and Rebecca Morton Davis, and was born at Plymouth,
+Mass., in October, 1803.&nbsp; She often spoke in later times of
+what a good preparation for her life abroad were the years she
+spent at Miss Cushing&rsquo;s school at Hingham, and of her
+visits to her uncles, Judge Davis and Mr. I. P. Davis of
+Boston.&nbsp; In 1825 she married Alexander Bliss, a brilliant
+young lawyer and a junior partner of Daniel Webster.&nbsp; On his
+death a few years later, her father having died, her mother and
+brother formed a household with her and her two sons in Winthrop
+Place, Boston.&nbsp; As a young girl in Plymouth she became a
+great friend of the future Mrs. Emerson and later of Mr. Emerson
+and of Mr. and Mrs. Ripley, and through them was much interested
+in Brook Farm.</p>
+<p>In 1838 she married George Bancroft, the historian and
+statesman, who was then Collector of the Port of Boston and a
+widower with three children.&nbsp; They continued to live in
+Winthrop Place till 1845, when for one year Mr. Bancroft was
+Secretary of the Navy in Polk&rsquo;s cabinet.&nbsp; While he was
+in that position the Naval Academy at Annapolis was established;
+and he played an important part in the earlier stages of the
+Mexican War.&nbsp; In the fall of 1846 he became Minister to
+England.&nbsp; It was then that the letters were written from
+which these extracts have been taken.&nbsp; A number of passages
+not of general interest have been omitted, without any
+indications of such omission in the text, but in no case has any
+change in a sentence been made.&nbsp; Most of the letters are in
+the form of a diary and were addressed to immediate relatives,
+and none of them were written for publication; but owing to the
+standing of Mr. Bancroft as a man of letters, as well as his
+official station, the writer saw London life under an unusual
+variety of interesting aspects.</p>
+<p>In 1849 Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft returned to this country, and
+Mr. Bancroft occupied himself with his history until 1868, when
+he was for seven years Minister to Prussia and the German
+Empire.&nbsp; At the expiration of that time they took up their
+residence in Washington, where they lived during the remainder of
+their lives.</p>
+<h2>PORTRAITS AND VIEWS</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Elizabeth Davis Bancroft</p>
+<p class="gutindent">Probably taken at Brady&rsquo;s National
+Gallery, New York, sometime after her return from England; from a
+picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Frontispiece</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Aston Hall (Bracebridge Hall)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image8">8</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Henry Edward, fourth Lord Holland</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the portrait by C. R. Leslie, R. A., at
+Holland House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image14">14</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Augusta, Lady Holland</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., at
+Holland House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image20">20</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Holland House</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image26">26</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Bancroft</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+possession of William J. A. Bliss.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image34">34</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Elizabeth Davis Bancroft</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+possession of William J. A. Bliss.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image40">40</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Duke of Wellington</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the portrait by Count Alfred
+D&rsquo;Orsay; photograph copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell,
+London.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image70">70</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sir Stratford Canning</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the drawing by Richmond, make about
+1848, by permission of the Hon. Louisa Canning.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image74">74</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lord Ashburton</p>
+<p class="gutindent">After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image84">84</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Miss Berry, at the Age of 86</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From a crayon drawing by J. R. Swinton
+(1850); from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image88">88</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>A. W. Kinglake (&ldquo;Eothen&rdquo;)</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From a photograph.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image90">90</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Samuel Rogers</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848);
+photograph copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell, London.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image98">98</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lady Byron</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the portrait in the possession of Sir
+J. Tollemache Sinclair, Bart.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image106">106</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Hudson, the &ldquo;Railway King&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the engraving after F. Grant.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image114">114</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lord Palmerston</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the portrait by Partridge; photograph
+copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell, London.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image130">130</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lady Palmerston</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From a painting, by permission of Sir
+Francis Gore.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image136">136</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Mrs. Dawson Damer</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the miniature by Isabey, by permission
+of Lady Constance Leslie.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image154">154</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Mrs. Fitzherbert</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the pastel by J. Russell.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image160">160</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Richard Monckton Miles (Lord Houghton)</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From a drawing by Cousins, by permission of
+the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image170">170</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lord George Bentinck</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From a painting by Lane, by permission of
+the Duke of Portland.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image190">190</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sir Robert Peel</p>
+<p class="gutindent">From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R.
+A.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image194">194</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lady Peel</p>
+<p class="gutindent">After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.; photograph
+copyright by W. Mansell &amp; Co., London.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image198">198</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Bancroft</p>
+<p class="gutindent">Probably taken at Brady&rsquo;s National
+Gallery, New York, sometime after his return from England; from a
+picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image210">210</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h2>Letters from England</h2>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span
+class="smcap">Liverpool</span>, October 26, 1846.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: Thank God with me
+that we are once more on <i>terra firma</i>.&nbsp; We arrived
+yesterday morning at ten o&rsquo;clock, after a very rough voyage
+and after riding all night in the Channel in a tremendous gale,
+so bad that no pilot could reach us to bring us in on Saturday
+evening.&nbsp; A record of a sea voyage will be only interesting
+to you who love me, but I must give it to you that you may know
+what to expect if you ever undertake it; but first, I must sum it
+all up by saying that of all horrors, of all physical miseries,
+tortures, and distresses, a sea voyage is the greatest . . . The
+Liverpool paper this morning, after announcing our arrival says:
+&ldquo;The <i>Great Western</i>, notwithstanding she encountered
+throughout a series of most severe gales, accomplished the
+passage in sixteen days and twelve hours.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>To begin at the moment I left New York: I was so absorbed by
+the pain of parting from you that I was in a state of complete
+apathy with regard to all about me.&nbsp; I did not
+sentimentalize about &ldquo;the receding shores of my
+country;&rdquo; I hardly looked at them, indeed.&nbsp; Friday I
+was awoke in the middle of the night by the roaring of the wind
+and sea and <i>such</i> motion of the vessel.</p>
+<p>The gale lasted all Saturday and Sunday, strong from the
+North, and as we were in the region where the waters of the Bay
+of Fundy run out and meet those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
+afterwards we had a strong cross sea.&nbsp; May you never
+experience a &ldquo;cross sea.&rdquo; . . . Oh how I wished it
+had pleased God to plant some little islands as resting-places in
+the great waste of waters, some resting station.&nbsp; But no, we
+must keep on, on, with everything in motion that your eye could
+rest on.&nbsp; Everything tumbling about . . . We lived through
+it, however, and the sun of Sunday morn rose clear and
+bright.&nbsp; A pilot got on board about seven and at ten we were
+in Liverpool.</p>
+<p>We are at the Adelphi.&nbsp; Before I had taken off my bonnet
+Mr. Richard Rathbone, one of the wealthiest merchants here,
+called to invite us to dine the next day . . . Mrs. Richard
+Rathbone has written that beautiful &ldquo;Diary of Lady
+Willoughby,&rdquo; and, what is more, they say it is a perfect
+reflect of her own lovely life and character.&nbsp; When she
+published the book no one knew of it but her husband, not even
+her brothers and sisters, and, of course, she constantly heard
+speculations as to the authenticity of the book, and was often
+appealed to for her opinion.&nbsp; She is very unpretending and
+sweet in her manners; talks little, and seems not at all like a
+literary lady.</p>
+<p>I like these people in Liverpool.&nbsp; They seem to me to
+think less of fashion and more of substantial excellence than our
+wealthy people.&nbsp; I am not sure but the existence of a higher
+class above them has a favorable effect, by limiting them in some
+ways.&nbsp; There is much less show of furniture in the houses
+than with us, though their servants and equipages are in much
+better keeping.&nbsp; I am not sorry to be detained here for a
+few days by my illness to become acquainted with them, and I
+think your father likes it also, and will find it useful to
+him.&nbsp; Let me say, while I think of it, how much I was
+pleased with the <i>Great Western</i>.&nbsp; That upper saloon
+with the air passing through it was a great comfort to me.&nbsp;
+The captain, the servants, the table, are all excellent.&nbsp;
+Everything on board was as nice as in the best hotel, and my
+gruels and broths beautifully made.&nbsp; One of the stewardesses
+did more for me than I ever had done by any servant of my own . .
+. Your father and Louisa <a name="citation7"></a><a
+href="#footnote7" class="citation">[7]</a> were ill but three or
+four days, and then your father read Tacitus and talked to the
+ladies, while Louisa played with the other children.</p>
+<p>The Adelphi, my first specimen of an English hotel, is
+perfectly comfortable, and though an immense establishment, is
+quiet as a private house.&nbsp; There is none of the bustle of
+the Astor, and if I ring my bedroom bell it is answered by a
+woman who attends to me assiduously.&nbsp; The landlord pays us a
+visit every day to know if we have all we wish.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+Sunday, November 1.</p>
+<p>Here I am in the mighty heart, but before I say one word about
+it I will go on from Wednesday evening with my journal.&nbsp; On
+Thursday, though still very feeble, I dined at Green Bank, the
+country-seat of Mr. William Rathbone.&nbsp; I was unwilling to
+leave Liverpool without sharing with your father some of the
+hospitalities offered to us and made a great effort to go.&nbsp;
+The place is very beautiful and the house full of comfortable
+elegance.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image8" href="images/p8b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Aston Hall (Bracebridge Hall)"
+title=
+"Aston Hall (Bracebridge Hall)"
+ src="images/p8s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The next morning we started for Birmingham, ninety-seven miles
+from Liverpool, on our way to London, as I am unable to travel
+the whole way in a day.&nbsp; On this railway I felt for the
+first time the superiority of England to our own country.&nbsp;
+The cars are divided into first, second, and third classes.&nbsp;
+We took a first-class car, which has all the comforts of a
+private carriage.</p>
+<p>Just as we entered Birmingham I observed the finest seat,
+surrounded by a park wall and with a very picturesque old church,
+that I had seen on the way.&nbsp; On enquiring of young Mr. Van
+Wart, who came to see us in Birmingham (the nephew of Washington
+Irving), whose place it was, he said it was now called Aston Hall
+and was owned by Mr. Watt, but it was formerly owned by the
+Bracebridges, and was the veritable &ldquo;Bracebridge
+Hall,&rdquo; and that his uncle had passed his Christmas
+there.</p>
+<p>On arriving here we found our rooms all ready for us at
+Long&rsquo;s Hotel, kept by Mr. Markwell, a wine merchant.&nbsp;
+The house is in New Bond Street, in the very centre of movement
+at the West End, and Mr. Markwell full of personal assiduity,
+which we never see with us.&nbsp; He comes to the carriage
+himself, gives me his arm to go upstairs, is so much obliged to
+us for honoring his house, ushers you in to dinner, at least on
+the first day, and seats you, etc., etc.</p>
+<p>Do not imagine us in fresh, new-looking rooms as we should be
+in New York or Philadelphia.&nbsp; No, in London even new things
+look old, but almost everything <i>is</i> old.&nbsp; Our parlor
+has three windows down to the floor, but it is very dark.&nbsp;
+The paint is maple color, and everything is dingy in
+appearance.&nbsp; The window in my bedroom looks like a horn
+lantern, so thick is the smoke, and yet everything is
+scrupulously clean.&nbsp; On our arrival, Boyd, the Secretary of
+Legation, soon came, and stayed to dine with us at six.&nbsp; Our
+dinner was an excellent soup, the boiled cod garnished with fried
+smelts, the roast beef and a <i>fricandeau</i> with sweet breads,
+then a pheasant, and afterwards, dessert.</p>
+<p>This morning Mr. Bates came very early to see us, and then Mr.
+Joseph Coolidge, who looks very young and handsome; then Mr.
+Colman, who also looks very well, Mr. Boyd and a Mr. Haight, of
+New York, and Mr. Gair, son of Mr. Gair of Liverpool, a pleasing
+young man.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Monday Evening.</p>
+<p>This morning came Mr. Aspinwall, then Captain Wormeley, then
+Dr. Holland, then Mrs. Bates, then Mr. Joseph Jay and his sister,
+then Tom Appleton, Mrs. and Miss Wormeley, and Mrs. Franklin
+Dexter.&nbsp; Dr. Holland came a second time to take me a drive,
+but Mrs. Bates being with me he took your father.&nbsp; Mrs.
+Bates took me to do some shopping, and to see about some
+houses.&nbsp; They are very desirous we should be in their
+neighborhood, in Portland Place, but I have a fancy myself for
+the new part of town.&nbsp; I have been so used all my life to
+see things fresh and clean-looking, that I cannot get accustomed
+to the London dinge, and some of the finest houses look to me as
+though I would like to give them a good scouring.&nbsp; Tell
+Cousin M. never to come to England, she would be shocked every
+minute, with all the grandeur.&nbsp; A new country is
+cleaner-looking, though it may not be so picturesque.</p>
+<p>I got your letters when I arrived here, and I wish this may
+give you but a little pleasure they gave me.&nbsp; Pray never let
+a steamer come without a token from both of you . . . With love
+to Grandma and Uncle Thomas, believe me, with more love than ever
+before,</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Elizabeth D.
+Bancroft</span>.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+November 3, 1846.</p>
+<p>. . . This day, at five, your father had his first interview
+with Lord Palmerston, who will acquaint the Queen with his
+arrival, and after she has received him we shall leave our cards
+upon all the ministers and <i>corps diplomatique</i>.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">November 4th.</p>
+<p>Your father had a most agreeable dinner at Lord
+Holland&rsquo;s.&nbsp; He met there Lord and Lady Palmerston,
+Lord Morpeth, Lord de Mauley, Mr. Harcourt, a son of the
+Archbishop of York, etc.&nbsp; He took out Lady Holland and Lord
+Morpeth, Lady Palmerston, the only ladies present.&nbsp; Holland
+House is surrounded by 200 acres in the midst of the western part
+of London, or rather Kensington.&nbsp; Lord Holland has no
+children, and the family dies with him.&nbsp; They dined in the
+room in which Addison died.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image14" href="images/p14b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Henry Edward, fourth Lord Holland.  From the portrait by C. R.
+Leslie, R. A., at Holland House, by permission of the Earl of
+Ilchester"
+title=
+"Henry Edward, fourth Lord Holland.  From the portrait by C. R.
+Leslie, R. A., at Holland House, by permission of the Earl of
+Ilchester"
+ src="images/p14s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>To-day, to my surprise, came Lady Palmerston, which was a
+great courtesy, as it was my place to make the first visit.&nbsp;
+She is the sister of Lord Melbourne.&nbsp; Lord de Mauley has
+also been here. . . .&nbsp; To-day I have been driving through
+some of the best streets in London, and my ideas of its extent
+and magnificence are rising fast.&nbsp; The houses are more
+picturesque than ours, and some of them most noble.&nbsp; The
+vastness of a great capital like this cannot burst upon one at
+once.&nbsp; Its effect increases daily.&nbsp; The extent of the
+Park, surrounded by mansions which look, some of them, like a
+whole history in themselves, has to-day quite dazzled my
+imagination.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">November 5th.</p>
+<p>This morning, Thursday, came an invitation to dine with Lord
+and Lady Palmerston on Saturday.&nbsp; Sir George Grey, another
+of the ministers, came to see us to-day and Lord Mahon.&nbsp;
+Your father and I have been all the morning looking at houses,
+and have nearly concluded upon one in Eaton Square.&nbsp; We find
+a hotel very expensive, and not very comfortable for us, as your
+father is very restive without his books about him.&nbsp; Mr.
+Harcourt also came to see us to-day.&nbsp; I mention as many of
+the names of our visitors as I can recollect, as it will give you
+some idea of the composition of English society . . .&nbsp; This
+moment a large card in an envelope has been brought me, which
+runs thus: &ldquo;The Lord Steward has received Her
+Majesty&rsquo;s commands to invite Mr. Bancroft to dinner at
+Windsor Castle on Thursday, 12th November, to remain until
+Friday, 13th.&rdquo;&nbsp; I am glad he will dine there before
+me, that he may tell me the order of performances.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Friday, November 6th.</p>
+<p>. . . We had to-day a delightful visit from Rogers, the Poet,
+who is now quite old, but with a most interesting
+countenance.&nbsp; He was full of cordiality, and, at parting, as
+he took my hand, said: &ldquo;Our acquaintance must become
+friendship.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Harcourt came again and sat an hour
+with us, and has introduced your father at the Traveller&rsquo;s
+Club and the Athen&aelig;um Club.&nbsp; To-night came my new
+lady&rsquo;s maid, Russell.&nbsp; She dresses hair beautifully,
+but is rather too great a person to suit my fancy.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday Evening, November 8th.</p>
+<p>On Friday evening we met at Mrs. Wormeley&rsquo;s a cosy
+little knot of Americans.&nbsp; The Dexters were staying there
+and there were Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson and Miss Pratt, Mr. and Mrs.
+Aspinwall, Mr. and Miss Jay, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, Mr. Colman, Mr.
+Pickering, etc.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Wednesday Evening.</p>
+<p>On Monday we came to our <i>home</i>, preferring it to the
+hotel, though it is not yet in order for our reception, and we
+have not yet all our servants.&nbsp; Last evening we dined with
+Lord Morpeth at his father&rsquo;s house.&nbsp; His family are
+all out of town, but he remains because of his ministerial
+duties.&nbsp; Lord Morpeth took me out and I sat between him and
+Sir George Grey.&nbsp; Your father took out Lady Theresa Lewis,
+who is a sister of Lord Clarendon.&nbsp; She was full of
+intelligence and I like her extremely.&nbsp; Baron and Lady Parke
+(a distinguished judge), Lady Morgan, Mr. Mackintosh, Dr. and
+Mrs. Holland (Sidney Smith&rsquo;s daughter), and Mr. and Mrs.
+Franklin Dexter, with several others were the party.</p>
+<p>During dinner one gentleman was so very agreeable that I
+wondered who he could be, but as Lord Palmerston had told me that
+Mr. Macaulay was in Edinburgh, I did not think of him.&nbsp;
+After the ladies left the gentlemen, my first question to Mrs.
+Holland was the name of her next neighbor.&nbsp; &ldquo;Why, Mr.
+Macaulay,&rdquo; was her answer, and I was pleased not to have
+been disappointed in a person of whom I had heard so much.&nbsp;
+When the gentlemen came in I was introduced to him and talked to
+him and heard him talk not a little.</p>
+<p>These persons all came the next day to see us, which gave rise
+to fresh invitations.</p>
+<p>This morning we have been driving round to leave cards on the
+<i>corps diplomatique</i>, and Mr. Harcourt has taken me all over
+the Athen&aelig;um Club-house, a superb establishment.&nbsp; They
+have given your father an invitation to the Club, a privilege
+which is sometimes sought for years, Mr. Harcourt says. . .
+.&nbsp; Have I not needed all my energies?&nbsp; We have been
+here just a fortnight, and I came so ill that I could hardly
+walk.&nbsp; We are now at housekeeping, and I am in the full
+career in London society.&nbsp; They told me I should see no one
+until spring, but you see we dine out or go out in the evening
+almost every day. . . .&nbsp; For the gratification of S. D. or
+Aunt I., who may wonder how I get along in dress matters, going
+out as I did in my plain black dress, I will tell you that Mrs.
+Murray, the Queen&rsquo;s dressmaker, made me, as soon as I found
+these calls and invitations pouring in, two dresses.&nbsp; One of
+black velvet, very low, with short sleeves, and another of very
+rich black watered silk, with drapery of black tulle on the
+corsage and sleeves. . . .&nbsp; I have fitted myself with
+several pretty little head-dresses, some in silver, some with
+plumes, but all white, and I find my velvet and silk suit all
+occasions.&nbsp; I do not like dining with bare arms and neck,
+but I must.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image20" href="images/p20b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Augusta, Lady Holland.  From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A.,
+at Holland House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester"
+title=
+"Augusta, Lady Holland.  From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A.,
+at Holland House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester"
+ src="images/p20s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Tuesday, November 17th.</p>
+<p>Last evening we passed at the Earl of Auckland&rsquo;s, the
+head of the Admiralty.&nbsp; The party was at the Admiralty,
+where there is a beautiful residence for the first lord. . .
+.&nbsp; I had a long talk with Lord Morpeth last evening about
+Mr. Sumner, and told him of his nomination.&nbsp; He has a strong
+regard for him. . . .&nbsp; Not a moment have I had to a London
+&ldquo;lion.&rdquo;&nbsp; I have driven past Westminster, but
+have not been in it.&nbsp; I have seen nothing of London but what
+came in my way in returning visits.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+November 17, 1846.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle</span>: I cannot help
+refreshing the remembrance of me with you and dear Aunty by
+addressing a separate letter to you. . . .&nbsp; Yesterday we
+hailed with delight our letters from home. . . .&nbsp; One feels
+in a foreign land the absence of common sympathies and interests,
+which always surround us in any part of our own country.&nbsp;
+And yet nothing can exceed the kindness with which we have been
+received here.</p>
+<p>Last evening I went to my first great English dinner and it
+was a most agreeable one. . . .&nbsp; It seems a little odd to a
+republican woman to find herself in right of her country taking
+precedence of marchionesses, but one soon gets used to all
+things.&nbsp; We sat down to dinner at eight and got through
+about ten.&nbsp; When the ladies rose, I found I was expected to
+go first.&nbsp; After dinner other guests were invited and to the
+first person who came in, about half-past ten, Lady Palmerston
+said: &ldquo;Oh, thank you for coming so early.&rdquo;&nbsp; This
+was Lady Tankerville of the old French family of de Grammont and
+niece to Prince Polignac.&nbsp; The next was Lady Emily de Burgh,
+the daughter of the Marchioness of Clanricarde, a beautiful girl
+of seventeen.&nbsp; She is very lovely, wears a Grecian braid
+round her head like a coronet, and always sits by her mother,
+which would not suit our young girls.&nbsp; Then came Lord and
+Lady Ashley, Lord Ebrington, and so many titled personages that I
+cannot remember half.</p>
+<p>The dinner is much the same as ours in all its modes of
+serving, but they have soles and turbot, instead of our fishes,
+and their pheasants are not our pheasants, or their partridges
+our partridges.&nbsp; Neither have we so many footmen with
+liveries of all colours, or so much gold and silver plate. . .
+.&nbsp; The next morning Mr. Bancroft breakfasted with Dr.
+Holland to meet the Marquis of Lansdowne alone.&nbsp; [Thursday]
+he went down to Windsor to dine with the Queen.&nbsp; He took out
+to dinner the Queen&rsquo;s mother, the Duchess of Kent, the
+Queen going with the Prince of Saxe-Weimar, who was paying a
+visit at the Castle.&nbsp; He talked German to the Duchess during
+dinner, which I suspect she liked, for the Queen spoke of it to
+him afterwards, and Lord Palmerston told me the Duchess said he
+spoke very pure German.&nbsp; While he was dining at Windsor I
+went to a party all alone at the Countess Grey&rsquo;s, which I
+thought required some courage.</p>
+<p>Of all the persons I see here the Marquis of Lansdowne excites
+the most lively regard.&nbsp; His countenance and manners are
+full of benevolence and I think he understands America better
+than anyone else of the high aristocracy.&nbsp; I told him I was
+born at Plymouth and was as proud of my pure Anglo-Saxon Pilgrim
+descent as if it were traced from a line of Norman
+Conquerors.&nbsp; Nearly all the ministers and their wives came
+to see us immediately, without waiting for us to make the first
+visit, which is the rule, and almost every person whom we have
+met in society, which certainly indicates an amiable feeling
+toward our country.&nbsp; We could not well have received more
+courtesy than we have done, and it has been extended freely and
+immediately, without waiting for the forms of etiquette.&nbsp;
+Pray say to Mr. Everett how often we hear persons speak of him,
+and with highest regard.&nbsp; I feel as if we were reaping some
+of the fruits of his sowing.</p>
+<p>Mr. Bancroft sends you a pack of cards, one of the identical
+two packs with which the Queen played Patience the evening he was
+at Windsor.&nbsp; They were the perquisite of a page who brought
+them to him.&nbsp; He was much pleased with the Queen and thought
+her much prettier than any representation of her which we have
+seen, and with a very sweet expression.&nbsp; Lady Holland had
+been staying two or three days at Windsor, and was to leave the
+next morning.&nbsp; When the Queen took leave of her at night,
+she kissed her quite in my Virginia fashion.</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Uncle</span>: How much more your
+niece would have written if to-day were not packet day, I cannot
+say.&nbsp; I shall send you some newspapers and a pack of cards
+which I saw in the Queen&rsquo;s hands.&nbsp; The American
+Minister and Mrs. Bancroft have since played a game of piquet
+with them.&nbsp; The Queen&rsquo;s hands were as clean as her
+smile was gracious.&nbsp; Best regards to the Judge and Aunt
+Isaac.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Yours most truly,<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Bancroft</span>.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+November 29, 1846.</p>
+<p>After a long interval I find again a quiet Sunday evening to
+resume my journal to you.&nbsp; On Monday we dined at Lord John
+Russell&rsquo;s, and met many of the persons we have met before
+and the Duchess of Inverness, the widow of the Duke of
+Sussex.&nbsp; On Tuesday we dined at Dr. Holland&rsquo;s.&nbsp;
+His wife and daughter are charming, and then we met, besides,
+Lady Charlotte Lindsay, the only surviving child of Lord North,
+Mr. and Mrs. Milman (the author of the &ldquo;Fall of
+Jerusalem&rdquo;), and Mr. Macaulay.&nbsp; Yesterday I went to
+return the visit of the Milmans and found that the entrance to
+their house, he being a prebend of Westminster Abbey, was
+actually in the cloisters of the Abbey.&nbsp; They were not at
+home, but I took my footman and wandered at leisure through the
+cloisters, treading at every step on the tomb of some old abbot
+with dates of 1160 and thereabouts.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image26" href="images/p26b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Holland House"
+title=
+"Holland House"
+ src="images/p26s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Nothing could be more delightful than London is now, if I had
+only a little more physical vigor to enjoy it.&nbsp; We see
+everybody more frequently, and know them better than in the full
+season, and we have some of the best specimens of English
+society, too, here just now, as the Whig ministry brings a good
+deal of the ability of the aristocracy to its aid.&nbsp; The
+subjects of conversation among women are more general than with
+us, and [they] are much more cultivated than our women as a body,
+not our blues.&nbsp; They never sew, or attend, as we do, to
+domestic affairs, and so live for social life and understand it
+better.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+December 2, 1846.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. Polk</span>: <a
+name="citation28"></a><a href="#footnote28"
+class="citation">[28]</a> you told me when I parted from you at
+Washington that you would like to get from me occasionally some
+accounts of my experiences in English society.&nbsp; I thought at
+that time that we should see very little of it until the spring,
+but contrary to my expectation we have been out almost every day
+since our arrival.&nbsp; We made our <i>d&eacute;but</i> in
+London on the first day of November (the suicidal month you know)
+in the midst of an orange-colored fog, in which you could not see
+your hand before you.&nbsp; The prospect for the winter seemed, I
+must say, rather &ldquo;triste,&rdquo; but the next day the fog
+cleared off, people came constantly to see us, and we had
+agreeable invitations for every day, and London put on a new
+aspect.&nbsp; Out first dinner was at Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s,
+where we met what the newspapers call a distinguished
+circle.&nbsp; The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord and Lady John
+Russell, Marquis and Marchioness of Clanricarde (Canning&rsquo;s
+daughter), Earl and Countess Grey, Sir George and Lady Grey,
+etc., etc.&nbsp; I was taken out by Lord Palmerston, with Lord
+Grey on the other side, and found the whole thing very like one
+of our Washington dinners, and I was quite as much at my ease,
+and they seemed made of the same materials as our cabinet at
+home.&nbsp; I have since dined at Lord Morpeth&rsquo;s, Lord John
+Russell&rsquo;s, Lord Mahon&rsquo;s, Dr. Holland&rsquo;s, Baron
+Parke&rsquo;s, The Prussian Minister&rsquo;s, and to-day we dine
+with the Duchess of Inverness, the widow of the Duke of Sussex;
+to-morrow with Mr. Milman, a prebend of Westminster and a
+distinguished man of letters.&nbsp; We have been at a great many
+<i>soir&eacute;es</i>, at Lady Palmerston&rsquo;s, Lady
+Grey&rsquo;s, Lord Auckland&rsquo;s, Lady Lewis&rsquo;s, etc.,
+etc.</p>
+<p>And now, having given you some idea <i>whom</i> we are seeing
+here, you will wish to know how I like them, and how they differ
+from our own people.&nbsp; At the smaller dinners and
+<i>soir&eacute;es</i> at this season I cannot, of course, receive
+a full impression of English society, but certainly those persons
+now in town are charming people.&nbsp; Their manners are
+perfectly simple and I entirely forget, except when their
+historic names fall upon my ear, that I am with the proud
+aristocracy of England.&nbsp; All the persons whose names I have
+mentioned to you give one a decided impression not only of
+ability and agreeable manners, but of excellence and the domestic
+virtues.&nbsp; The furniture and houses, too, are less splendid
+and ostentatious, than those of our large cities, though [they]
+have more plate, and liveried servants.&nbsp; The forms of
+society and the standard of dress, too, are very like ours,
+except that a duchess or a countess has more hereditary point
+lace and diamonds.&nbsp; The general style of dress, perhaps, is
+not so tasteful, so simply elegant as ours.&nbsp; Upon the whole
+I think more highly of our own country (I mean from a social
+point of view alone) than before I came abroad.&nbsp; There is
+less superiority over us in manners and all the social arts than
+I could have believed possible in a country where a large and
+wealthy class have been set apart from time immemorial to create,
+as it were, a social standard of high refinement.&nbsp; The chief
+difference that I perceive is this: In our country the position
+of everybody is undefined and rests altogether upon public
+opinion.&nbsp; This leads sometimes to a little assumption and
+pretension of manner, which the highest class here, whose claims
+are always allowed by all about them, are never tempted to put
+on.&nbsp; From this results an extreme simplicity of manner, like
+that of a family circle among us.</p>
+<p>What I have said, however, applies less to the South than to
+the large cities of the North, with which I am most familiar at
+home.&nbsp; I hope our memory will not be completely effaced in
+Washington, for we cling to our friends there with strong
+interest.&nbsp; Present my respectful regards to the President,
+and my love to Mrs. Walker and Miss Rucker.&nbsp; To the Masons
+also, and our old colleagues all, and pray lay your royal
+commands upon somebody to write me.&nbsp; I long to know what is
+going on in Washington.&nbsp; The Pleasantons promised to do so,
+and Annie Payne, to whom and to Mrs. Madison give also my best
+love.&nbsp; Believe me yours with the highest regard.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">E. D. <span
+class="smcap">Bancroft</span>.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">2 December.</p>
+<p>Yesterday we dined at the Prussian Minister&rsquo;s, Chevalier
+Bunsen&rsquo;s.&nbsp; He met your father in Rome twenty years
+since, and has received us with great enthusiasm.&nbsp; Yesterday
+at dinner he actually rose in his seat and made quite a speech
+welcoming him to England as historian, old friend, etc., and
+ended by offering his health, which your father replied to
+shortly, in a few words.&nbsp; Imagine such an outbreak upon
+routine at a dinner in England!&nbsp; Nobody could have done it
+but one of German blood, but I dare say the Everetts, who know
+him, could imagine it all.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+December 19, 1846.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: . . . Yesterday we
+dined at Macready&rsquo;s and met quite a new, and to us, a most
+agreeable circle.&nbsp; There was Carlyle, who talked all
+dinner-time in his broad Scotch, in the most inimitable
+way.&nbsp; He is full of wit, and happened to get upon James I.,
+upon which topic he was superb.&nbsp; Then there was Babbage, the
+great mathematician, Fonblanc, the editor of the <i>Examiner</i>,
+etc., etc.&nbsp; The day before we dined at Mr. Frederick
+Elliott&rsquo;s with a small party of eight, of which Lady Morgan
+was one, and also a brother of Lord Normanby&rsquo;s, whom I
+liked very much.&nbsp; Lady Morgan, who had not hitherto much
+pleased me, came out in this small circle with all her Irish wit
+and humor, and gave me quite new notions of her talent.&nbsp; She
+made me laugh till I cried.&nbsp; On Saturday we dined at Sir
+Roderick Murchison&rsquo;s, the President of the Geological
+Society, very great in the scientific way.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image34" href="images/p34b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"George Bancroft.  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+possession of William J. A. Bliss"
+title=
+"George Bancroft.  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the
+possession of William J. A. Bliss"
+ src="images/p34s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>We have struck up a great friendship with Miss Murray, the
+Queen&rsquo;s Maid of Honor, who paid me a visit of three hours
+to-day, in the midst of which came in Colonel Estcourt, whom I
+was delighted to see, as you may suppose.&nbsp; Miss Murray is to
+me a very interesting person, though a great talker; a convenient
+fault to a stranger.&nbsp; She is connected with half the noble
+families in England, is the grand-daughter of the Duchess of
+Athol, who governed the Isle of Man as a queen, and the
+descendant of Scott&rsquo;s Countess of Derby.&nbsp; Though
+sprung of such Tory blood, and a maid of honor, she thinks freely
+upon all subjects.&nbsp; Religion, politics, and persons, she
+decides upon for herself, and has as many benevolent schemes as
+old Madam Jackson.</p>
+<p>I returned the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, the painter, this
+week, and saw the picture he is now painting for the
+Vice-Chancellor.&nbsp; It is a sketch of children, a boy driving
+his two little sisters as horses.&nbsp; One of the little girls
+is very like Susie, <a name="citation37"></a><a
+href="#footnote37" class="citation">[37]</a> her size, hair, and
+complexion.&nbsp; How I longed to be rich enough to order a copy,
+but his pictures cost a fortune.&nbsp; I paid also a visit this
+week to the Duchess of Inverness, whom I found in the prettiest,
+cosiest morning boudoir looking onto the gardens of the
+Palace.&nbsp; In short, I do, or see, every hour, something that
+if I were a traveller only, I could make quite a story of.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+January 1, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: . . .&nbsp; I wrote
+my last sheet on the 19th and your father went on that day to
+Cambridge to be present at the tri-centennial celebration of
+Trinity College . . . He went also the day after the anniversary,
+which was on our 22nd December, to Ely, with Peacock, the great
+mathematician, who is Dean of Ely, to see the great cathedral
+there . . . While he was at Cambridge I passed the evening of the
+22nd at Lady Morgan&rsquo;s, who happened to have a most
+agreeable set . . . Lady Morgan&rsquo;s reunions are entertaining
+to me because they are collections of lions, but they are not
+strictly and exclusively fashionable.&nbsp; They remind me in
+their composition from various circles of Mrs. Otis&rsquo;s
+parties in Boston.&nbsp; We have in this respect an advantage
+over the English themselves, as in our position we see a great
+variety of cliques.</p>
+<p>For instance, last evening, the 31st, I took Louisa, at
+half-past seven, to the house of Mr. Hawes, an under Secretary of
+State, to see a beautiful children&rsquo;s masque.&nbsp; It was
+an impersonation of the &ldquo;Old Year&rdquo; dressed a little
+like <i>Lear</i> with snowy hair and draperies.&nbsp; <i>Old
+Year</i> played his part inimitably, at times with great pathos,
+and then introducing witty hits at all the doings of his reign,
+such as exploding cotton, the new planet, a subject which he put
+at rest as &ldquo;<i>far beyond our reach</i>,&rdquo; etc.,
+etc.&nbsp; He then introduced one by one the children of all ages
+as &ldquo;Days&rdquo; of the coming year.&nbsp; There was
+<i>Twelfth Day</i>, crowned as Queen with her cake in her hands;
+there was <i>Christmas</i>, covered with holly and mistletoe;
+there was <i>April Fool&rsquo;s Day</i>, dressed as Harlequin;
+there was, above all, <i>Shrove Tuesday</i>, with her frying-pan
+of pancakes, dressed as a little cook; there was a charming boy
+of fourteen or fifteen, as <i>St. Valentine&rsquo;s Day</i> with
+his packet of valentines addressed to the young ladies present;
+there was the <i>5th of November</i>, full of wit and fun, etc.;
+the longest day, an elder brother, of William&rsquo;s height,
+with a cap of three or four feet high; and his little sister of
+five, as the shortest day.&nbsp; This was all arranged to music
+and each made little speeches, introducing themselves.&nbsp; The
+<i>Old Year</i>, after introducing his successors, and after much
+pathos, is &ldquo;going, going&mdash;gone,&rdquo; and falls
+covered with his drapery, upon removing which, instead of the
+lifeless body of the <i>Old Year</i>, is discovered a sweet
+little flower-crowned girl of five or six, as the <i>New
+Year</i>.&nbsp; It was charming, and I was so pleased that,
+instead of taking Louisa away at nine o&rsquo;clock as I
+intended, I left her to see &ldquo;Sir Roger de Coverly,&rdquo;
+in the dress of his time.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image40" href="images/p40b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Elizabeth Davis Bancroft.  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in
+the possession of William J. A. Bliss"
+title=
+"Elizabeth Davis Bancroft.  From the painting by C. C. Ingham in
+the possession of William J. A. Bliss"
+ src="images/p40s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Last night at Mr. Putnam&rsquo;s, I met William and Mary
+Howitt, and some of the lesser lights.&nbsp; I have put down my
+pen to answer a note, just brought in, to dine next Thursday with
+the Dowager Countess of Charleville, where we were last week, in
+the evening.&nbsp; She is eighty-four (tell this to Grandmamma)
+and likes still to surround herself with <i>beaux</i> and
+<i>belles esprits</i>, and as her son and daughter reside with
+her, this is still easy . . . The old lady talks French as fast
+as possible, and troubles me somewhat by talking it to me,
+forgetting that a foreign minister&rsquo;s wife can talk English
+. . . Your father likes to be here.&nbsp; He has copying going on
+in the State Paper Office and British Museum, and his heart is
+full of manuscripts.&nbsp; It is the first thought, I believe,
+whoever he sees, what papers are in their family.&nbsp; He makes
+great interest with even the ladies sometimes for this
+purpose.&nbsp; Upon the whole, I love my own country better than
+ever, but whether I shall not miss, upon my return, some things
+to which I am gradually getting accustomed, I have yet to
+learn.&nbsp; The gratification of mixing constantly with those
+foremost in the world for rank, science, literature, or all which
+adorns society is great, but there is a certain yearning toward
+those whose habits, education, and modes of thought are the same
+as our own, which I never can get over.&nbsp; In the full tide of
+conversation I often stop and think, &ldquo;I may unconsciously
+be jarring the prejudices or preconceived notions of these people
+upon a thousand points; for how differently have I been trained
+from these women of high rank, and men, too, with whom I am now
+thrown.&rdquo;&nbsp; Upon all topics we are accustomed to think,
+perhaps, with more latitude, religion, politics, morals,
+everything.&nbsp; I like the English extremely, even more than I
+expected, and yet happy am I to think that our own best portions
+of society can bear a comparison with theirs.&nbsp; When I see
+you I can explain to you the differences, but I think we need not
+be ashamed of ourselves.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+January 2, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle</span>: . . . I refer you to
+my letters to my boys, for all the new persons and places we may
+have seen lately, while I give you for Aunty&rsquo;s amusement a
+minute account of my visit into the country at Mr. Bates&rsquo;s,
+where things are managed in a scrupulously English manner, so
+that it will give her the same idea of country life here, as if
+it were a nobleman&rsquo;s castle.&nbsp; Our invitation was to
+arrive on Thursday, the day before Christmas, to dine, and to
+remain until the following Tuesday morning.&nbsp; His place is at
+East <i>Sheen</i>, which receives its name from the Anglo-Saxon
+word for <i>beauty</i>.&nbsp; It adjoins Richmond Park, beyond
+which is the celebrated Richmond Hill, Twickenham, Kew, etc.,
+etc. . . . We arrived at East Sheen at half-past five; but I
+ought first to mention the <i>preparations</i> for a country
+excursion.&nbsp; Our own carriage has, of course, no dickey for
+my maid, or conveniences for luggage, so we take a travelling
+carriage.&nbsp; The imperials (which are large, flat boxes,
+covering the whole top of the carriage, <i>capital</i> for velvet
+dresses, and smaller ones fitting into all the seats <i>in</i>
+the carriage, and <i>before</i> and <i>behind</i>) are brought to
+you the day before.&nbsp; I am merely asked what dresses I wish
+taken, and that is all I know of the matter, so thoroughly does
+an English maid understand her business.&nbsp; We were shown on
+our arrival into a charming room, semi-library.</p>
+<p>In a few minutes a servant came to show me to my apartment,
+which was very superb, with a comfortable dressing-room and fire
+for Mr. Bancroft, where the faithful Keats unpacked his dressing
+materials, while I was in a few moments seated at the toilet to
+undergo my hair-dressing, surrounded by all my apparatus, and a
+blazing fire to welcome me with a hissing tea-kettle of hot water
+and every comfort.&nbsp; How well the English understand it, I
+learn more and more every day.&nbsp; My maid had a large room
+above me, also with a fire; indeed, a &ldquo;lady&rsquo;s&rdquo;
+maid is a <i>very great</i> character <i>indeed</i>, and would be
+much more unwilling to take her tea with, or speak familiarly to,
+a footman or a housemaid than I should.&nbsp; My greatest
+mistakes in England have been committed toward those high
+dignitaries, my own maid and the butler, whose grandeur I
+entirely misappreciated and invaded, as in my ignorance I placed
+them, as we do, on the same level with other servants.&nbsp; She
+has her fire made for her, and <i>loaf</i> sugar in her tea,
+which she and Cates sip in solitary majesty.&nbsp; However, she
+is most conscientious and worthy, as well as dignified, and
+thoroughly accomplished in her business.&nbsp; As all these
+things are pictures of English life, I mention them to amuse
+Aunty, who likes to know how these matters are managed.</p>
+<p>After I am dressed, I join the circle in the library, where I
+am introduced to Mr. and Madam Van de Weyer, and Louis
+Buonaparte, the son of Louis, the ex-King of Holland, and of
+Hortense, Josephine&rsquo;s daughter.&nbsp; He was a long time
+imprisoned in the fortress of Ham, and has not long been
+free.&nbsp; There was also Napoleon, son of Jerome Buonaparte,
+and the Princess of Wurtemberg.&nbsp; They were most agreeable,
+intelligent, and amiable young men, and I was glad to meet
+them.&nbsp; Lord and Lady Langdale (who have a place in the
+neighborhood) were invited to dine with us.&nbsp; He is Master of
+the Rolls and was elevated to the peerage from great distinction
+at the bar.&nbsp; Lady Langdale is a sensible and excellent
+person.&nbsp; At dinner I sat between Mr. Bates and Lord
+Langdale, whom I liked very much.</p>
+<p>The next morning we assembled at ten for breakfast, which was
+at a round table, with a sort of circular tray, which turns at
+the least touch in the centre, leaving only a rim round the table
+for plates and cups.&nbsp; This was covered also with a white
+cloth and on it were placed all the breakfast viands, with
+butter, sugar, cream, bread, toast-rack and preserves.&nbsp; You
+need no servants, but turn it round and help yourself.&nbsp; I
+believe the Van de Weyers introduced it, from a visit in
+Wales.&nbsp; Tea and coffee are served from a side-table always,
+here.&nbsp; Let me tell Aunty that our simple breakfast
+<i>dress</i> is unknown in England.&nbsp; You come down in the
+morning dressed for the day, until six or seven in the evening,
+when your dress is low neck and short sleeves for dinner.&nbsp;
+At this season the morning dress is a rich silk or velvet, high
+body quite close in the throat with handsome collar and cuffs,
+and <i>always</i> a cap.&nbsp; Madam Van de Weyer wore every day
+a different dress, all very rich, but I adhered to a black
+watered silk with the same simple cap I wore at home.</p>
+<p>I took a drive through Richmond Park (where Henry the Eighth
+watched to see a signal on the Tower when Anne Boleyn&rsquo;s
+head fell, and galloped off to marry Jane Seymour) to Richmond
+Terrace, which is ravishingly beautiful even at this season. . .
+. The next day the gentleman all went to town, and Madam Van de
+Weyer and I passed the day <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i>,
+very pleasantly, as her experience in diplomatic life is very
+useful to me. . . .&nbsp; Her manners are very pleasing and
+entirely unaffected.&nbsp; She has great tact and quickness of
+perception, great intelligence and amiability and is altogether
+extremely well-fitted for the <i>r&ocirc;le</i> she plays in
+life.&nbsp; Her husband is charming. . . . They have three
+children, very lovely.&nbsp; The eldest, Victor, a fine boy of
+seven years old, Victoria, a girl of four, for whom the Queen was
+sponsor, and Albert, to whom Prince Albert performed the same
+office.&nbsp; This was, of course, voluntary in the royal
+parties, as it was not a favor to be asked. . . .&nbsp; Madam Van
+de Weyer is not spoiled, certainly, by the prominent part she was
+called to play in this great centre of the world at so early an
+age, and makes an excellent courtier.&nbsp; I could not help
+pitying her, however, for looking forward to going through, year
+after year, the same round of ceremonies, forms, and
+society.&nbsp; For us, it is a new study, and invaluable for a
+short time; but I could not bear it for life, as these European
+diplomatists.&nbsp; Besides, we Americans really enjoy a kind of
+society, and a much nearer intercourse than other foreigners, in
+the literary, scientific, and even social circles.</p>
+<p>On Saturday evening Lord William Fitzroy and daughter joined
+our party with Sir William Hooker and Lady Hooker. . . . Sir
+William Hooker is one of the most interesting persons I have seen
+in England.&nbsp; He is a great naturalist and has the charge of
+the great Botanical Gardens at Kew.&nbsp; He devoted a morning to
+us there, and it was the most delightful one I have passed.&nbsp;
+There are twenty-eight different conservatories filled with the
+vegetable wonders of the whole world.&nbsp; Length of time and
+regal wealth have conspired to make the Kew gardens beyond our
+conceptions entirely. . . . Sir William pointed out to us all
+that was very rare or curious, which added much to my pleasure. .
+. . He showed us a drawing of the largest <i>flower</i> ever
+known on earth, which Sir Stamford Raffles discovered in
+Sumatra.&nbsp; It was a parasite without leaves or stem, and the
+flower weighed fifteen pounds.&nbsp; Lady Raffles furnished him
+the materials for the drawing.&nbsp; I dined in company with her
+not long ago, and regret now that I did not make her tell me
+about the wonders of that region.&nbsp; At the same dinner you
+may meet so many people, each having their peculiar gift, that
+one cannot avail oneself of the opportunity of extracting from
+each what is precious.&nbsp; I always wish I could sit by
+everybody at the same time, and I could often employ a dozen
+heads, if I had them, instead of my poor, miserable one.&nbsp;
+From Sir William Hooker <i>I</i> learned as much about the
+<i>vegetable</i> world, as Mr. Bancroft did from the Dean of Ely
+on <i>architecture</i>, when he expounded to him the cathedral of
+Ely; pointing out the successive styles of the Gothic, and the
+different periods in which the different parts were built.&nbsp;
+Books are dull teachers compared with these gifted men giving you
+a lecture upon subjects before your eyes.</p>
+<p>On Sunday we dined with out own party; on Monday some
+diplomatic people, the Lisboas and one of Mr. Bates&rsquo;s
+partners, and on Tuesday we came home.&nbsp; I must not omit a
+visit while we were there from Mr. Taylor (Van Artevelde), who is
+son-in-law of Lord Monteagle, and lives in the
+neighborhood.&nbsp; He has a fine countenance and still finer
+voice, and is altogether one of those literary persons who do not
+disappoint you, but whose whole being is equal to their
+works.&nbsp; I hope to see more of him, as they spoke of
+&ldquo;<i>cultivating</i>&rdquo; us, and Mr. Taylor was quite a
+<i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;</i> of our kind and dear friend, Dr.
+Holland, and dedicated his last poem to him.&nbsp; This
+expression, &ldquo;I shall <i>cultivate</i> you,&rdquo; we hear
+constantly, and it strikes me as oddly as our Western
+&ldquo;<i>being raised</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; Indeed, I hear improper
+Anglicisms constantly, and they have nearly as many as we
+have.&nbsp; The upper classes, here, however, do <i>speak</i>
+English so roundly and fully, giving every <i>letter</i> its due,
+that it pleases my ear amazingly.</p>
+<p>On Wednesday I go for the first time to Westminster Abbey, on
+Epiphany, to hear the Athanasian Creed chanted.&nbsp; I have as
+yet had no time for sight-seeing, as the days are so short that
+necessary visits take all my time.&nbsp; No one goes out in a
+carriage till after two, as the servants dine at one, and in the
+morning early the footman is employed in the house.&nbsp; A
+coachman never leaves his box here, and a footman is
+indispensable on all occasions.&nbsp; No visit can be paid till
+three; and this gives me very little time in these short
+days.&nbsp; Everything here is inflexible as the laws of the
+Medes and Persians, and though I am called &ldquo;Mistress&rdquo;
+even by old Cates with his grey hair and black coat, I cannot
+make one of them do anything, except <i>by</i> the person and
+<i>at</i> the time which English custom prescribes.&nbsp; They
+are brought up to fill certain situations, and fill them
+perfectly, but cannot or will not vary.</p>
+<p>I am frequently asked by the ladies here if I have formed a
+household to please me and I am obliged to confess that I have a
+very nice household, but that I am the only refractory member of
+it.&nbsp; I am always asking the wrong person for coals, etc.,
+etc.&nbsp; The division of labor, or rather ceremonies, between
+the butler and footman, I have now mastered I believe in some
+degree, but that between the <i>upper</i> and <i>under</i>
+house-maid is still a profound mystery to me, though the upper
+has explained to me for the twentieth time that she did only
+&ldquo;the top of the work.&rdquo;&nbsp; My cook comes up to me
+every morning for orders, and always drops the deepest curtsey,
+but then I doubt if her hands are ever profaned by touching a
+poker, and she <i>never</i> washes a dish.&nbsp; She is cook and
+<i>housekeeper</i>, and presides over the housekeeper&rsquo;s
+room; which has a Brussels carpet and centre table, with one side
+entirely occupied by the linen presses, of which my maid (my
+vice-regent, only <i>much</i> greater than me) keeps the key and
+dispenses every towel, even for the kitchen.&nbsp; She keeps
+lists of everything and would feel bound to replace anything
+missing.&nbsp; I shall make you laugh and Mrs. Goodwin stare, by
+some of my housekeeping stories, the next evening I pass in your
+little pleasant parlor (a word unknown here).</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+January 10, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My very dear Children</span>: . . .
+Yesterday we dined at Lady Charleville&rsquo;s, the old lady of
+eighty-four, at whose house I mentioned an evening visit in my
+last, and I must tell you all about it to entertain dear
+Grandma.&nbsp; I will be minute for once, and give you the
+<i>little</i> details of a London dinner, and they are all
+precisely alike.&nbsp; We arrived at Cavendish Square a quarter
+before seven (very early) and were shown into a semi-library on
+the same floor with the dining-room.&nbsp; The servants take your
+cloak, etc., in the passage, and I am never shown into a room
+with a mirror as with us, and never into a chamber or
+bedroom.</p>
+<p>We found Lady Charleville and her daughter with one young
+gentleman with whom I chatted till dinner, and who, I found, was
+Sir William Burdette, son of Sir Francis and brother of Miss
+Angelina Coutts.&nbsp; I happened to have on the corsage of my
+black velvet a white moss rose and buds, which I thought rather
+youthful for <i>me</i>, but the old lady had [them] on her
+cap.&nbsp; She is full of intelligence, and has always been in
+the habit of drawing a great deal. . . . Very soon came in Lord
+Aylmer, [who] was formerly Governor of Canada, and Lady
+Colchester, daughter of Lord Ellenborough, a very pretty woman of
+thirty-five, I should think; Sir William and Lady Chatterton and
+Mr. Algernon Greville, whose grandmother wrote the beautiful
+&ldquo;Prayer for Indifference,&rdquo; an old favorite of mine,
+and Mr. MacGregor, the political economist.&nbsp; Lord Aylmer
+took me out and I found him a nice old peer, and discovered that
+ever since the death of his uncle, Lord Whitworth, whose title is
+extinct, he had borne the arms of both Aylmer and
+Whitworth.&nbsp; Mr. Bancroft took out Lady Colchester, and the
+old lady was wheeled out precisely as Grandma is.</p>
+<p>At table she helped to the fish (cod, garnished round with
+smelts) and insisted on carving the turkey herself, which she did
+extremely well.&nbsp; By the way, I observe they never carve the
+breast of a turkey <i>longitudinally</i>, as we do, but in short
+slices, a little diagonally from the centre.&nbsp; This makes
+many more slices, and quite large enough where there are so many
+other dishes.&nbsp; The four <i>entr&eacute;e</i> dishes are
+always placed on the table when we sit down, according to our old
+fashion, and not one by one.&nbsp; They have [them] warmed with
+hot water, so that they keep hot while the soup and fish are
+eaten.&nbsp; Turkey, even <i>boiled</i> turkey, is brought on
+<i>after</i> the <i>entr&eacute;es</i>, mutton (a saddle always)
+or venison, with a pheasant or partridges.&nbsp; With the roast
+is always put on the <i>sweets</i>, as they are called, as the
+term dessert seems restricted to the last course of fruits.&nbsp;
+During the dinner there are always long strips of damask all
+round the table which are removed before the dessert is put on,
+and there is no brushing of crumbs.&nbsp; You may not care for
+all this, but the housekeepers may.&nbsp; I had Mr. Greville the
+other side of me, who seemed much surprised that I, an American,
+should know the &ldquo;Prayer for Indifference,&rdquo; which he
+doubted if twenty persons in England read in these modern
+days.</p>
+<p>It is a great mystery to me yet how people get to know each
+other in London.&nbsp; Persons talk to you whom you do not know,
+for no one is introduced, as a general rule.&nbsp; I have
+sometimes quite an acquaintance with a person, and exchange
+visits, and yet do not succeed for a long time in putting their
+name and the person together. . . . It is a great puzzle to a
+stranger, but has its conveniences for the English
+themselves.&nbsp; We are endeavoring to become acquainted with
+the English mind, not only through society, but through its
+products in other ways.&nbsp; Natural science is the department
+into which they seem to have thrown their intellect most
+effectively for the last ten or fifteen years.&nbsp; We are
+reading Whewell&rsquo;s &ldquo;History of the Inductive
+Sciences,&rdquo; which gives one a summary of what has been
+accomplished in that way, not only in past ages, but in the
+present.&nbsp; Every moment here is precious to me and I am
+anxious to make the best use of it, but I have immense demands on
+my time in every way.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right">Tuesday night, January 19, 1847.</p>
+<p>To-day we have been present at the opening of Parliament, but
+how can I picture to you the interest and magnificence of the
+scene.&nbsp; I will begin quite back, and give you all the
+preparations for a &ldquo;Court Day.&rdquo;&nbsp; Ten days
+before, a note was written to Lord Willoughby d&rsquo;Eresby,
+informing him of my intention to attend, that a seat might be
+reserved for me, and also soliciting several tickets for American
+ladies and gentlemen. . . .&nbsp; I cannot take them with me,
+however, as the seat assigned to the ladies of Foreign Ministers
+is very near the throne.&nbsp; This morning when I awoke the fog
+was thicker than I ever knew it, even here.&nbsp; The air was one
+dense orange-colored mass.&nbsp; What a pity the English cannot
+borrow our bright blue skies in which to exhibit their royal
+pageants!</p>
+<p>Mr. Bancroft&rsquo;s court dress had not been sent home, our
+servants&rsquo; liveries had not made their appearance, and our
+carriage only arrived last night, and I had not passed judgment
+upon it.&nbsp; Fogs and tradesmen! these are the torments of
+London.&nbsp; Very soon came the tailor with embroidered dress,
+sword, and chapeau, but, alas! Mr. Isidore, who was to have
+dressed my hair at half-past ten was not forthcoming, and to
+complete my perplexity, he had my head-dress in his
+possession.&nbsp; At last, just as Russell had resumed her office
+at the toilet, came Isidore, a little before twelve, coiffure and
+all, which was so pretty that I quire forgave him all his
+sins.&nbsp; It was of green leaves and white <i>fleur-de-lis</i>,
+with a white ostrich feather drooping on one side.&nbsp; I wear
+my hair now plain in front, and the wreath was very flat and
+classical in its style.&nbsp; My dress was black velvet with a
+very rich bertha.&nbsp; A bouquet on the front of
+<i>fleur-de-lis</i>, like the coiffure, and a Cashmere shawl,
+completed my array.&nbsp; I have had the diamond pin and earrings
+which you father gave me, reset, and made into a magnificent
+brooch, and so arranged that I can also wear it as a necklace or
+bracelet.&nbsp; On this occasion it was my necklace.</p>
+<p>Miss Murray came to go with me, as she wished to be by my side
+to point out everybody, and her badge as Maid of Honor would take
+her to any part of the house.&nbsp; At half-past twelve she and I
+set out, and after leaving us the carriage returned for your
+father and Mr. Brodhead.&nbsp; But first let me tell you
+something of our equipage.&nbsp; It is a <i>chariot</i>, not a
+coach; that is, it has but one seat, but the whole front being
+glass makes it much more agreeable to such persons as have not
+large families.&nbsp; The color is maroon, with a silver
+moulding, and has the American arms on the panel.&nbsp; The
+liveries are blue and red; on Court Days they have blue plush
+breeches, and white silk stockings, with buckles on their
+shoes.&nbsp; Your father leaves all these matters to me, and they
+have given me no little plague.&nbsp; When I thought I had
+arranged everything necessary, the coachman, good old Brooks,
+solicited an audience a day or two ago, and began,
+&ldquo;Mistress, did you tell them to send the pads and the
+fronts and the hand-pieces?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Heavens and
+earth! what are all these things?&rdquo; said I.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Why, ma&rsquo;am, we always has pads under the saddle on
+Court Days, trimmed round with the colors of the livery, and we
+has fronts made of ribbin for the horses&rsquo; heads, and we has
+white hand-pieces for the reins.&rdquo;&nbsp; This is a specimen
+of the little troubles of court life, but it has its
+compensations.&nbsp; To go back to Miss Murray and myself, who
+are driving through the park between files of people, thousands
+and thousands all awaiting with patient, loyal faces the passage
+of the Queen and of the State carriages.&nbsp; The Queen&rsquo;s
+was drawn by eight cream-colored horses, and the servants flaming
+with scarlet and gold.&nbsp; This part of the park, near the
+palace, is only accessible to the carriages of the foreign
+ministers, ministers, and officers of the household.</p>
+<p>We arrive at the Parliament House, move through the long
+corridor and give up our tickets at the door of the
+chamber.&nbsp; It is a very long, narrow room.&nbsp; At the upper
+end is the throne, on the right is the seat of the ambassadors,
+on the left, of their ladies.&nbsp; Just in front of the throne
+is the wool-sack of the Lord Chancellor, looking like a
+drawing-room divan, covered with crimson velvet.&nbsp; Below this
+are rows of seats for the judges, who are all in their wigs and
+scarlet robes; the bishops and the peers, all in robes of scarlet
+and ermine.&nbsp; Opposite the throne at the lower end is the Bar
+of the Commons.&nbsp; On the right of the Queen&rsquo;s chair is
+a vacant one, on which is carved the three plumes, the insignia
+of the Prince of Wales, who will occupy it when he is seven or
+nine years old; on the left Prince Albert sits.</p>
+<p>The seat assigned me was in the front row, and quite open,
+like a sofa, so that I could talk with any gentleman whom I
+knew.&nbsp; Madam Van de Weyer was on one side of me and the
+Princess Callimachi on the other, and Miss Murray just behind
+me.&nbsp; She insisted on introducing to me all her noble
+relatives.&nbsp; Her cousin, the young Duke of Athol; the Duke of
+Buccleuch; her nephew the Marquis of Camden; her brother the
+Bishop of Rochester.&nbsp; There were many whom I had seen
+before, so that the hour passed very agreeably.&nbsp; Very soon
+came in the Duke of Cambridge, at which everybody rose, he being
+a royal duke.&nbsp; He was dressed in the scarlet kingly robe,
+trimmed with ermine, and with his white hair and whiskers (he is
+an old man) was most picturesque and scenic, reminding me of King
+Lear and other stage kings.&nbsp; He requested to be introduced
+to me, upon which I rose, of course.&nbsp; He soon said,
+&ldquo;Be seated,&rdquo; and we went on with the
+conversation.&nbsp; I told him how much I liked Kew Garden, where
+he has a favorite place.</p>
+<p>When I first entered I was greeted very cordially by a
+personage in a black gown and wig, whom I did not know.&nbsp; He
+laughed and said: &ldquo;I am Mr. Senior, whom you saw only
+Saturday evening, but you do not know me in my wig.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+It is, indeed, an entire transformation, for it reaches down on
+the shoulders.&nbsp; He is a master in chancery.&nbsp; He stood
+by me nearly all the time and pointed out many of the judges, and
+some persons not in Miss Murray&rsquo;s line.</p>
+<p>But the trumpets sound! the Queen approaches!&nbsp; The
+trumpet continues, and first enter at a side door close at my
+elbow the college of heralds richly dressed, slowly, two and two;
+then the great officers of the household, then the Lord
+Chancellor bearing the purse, seal, and speech of the Queen, with
+the macebearers before him.&nbsp; Then Lord Lansdowne with the
+crown, the Earl of Zetland, with the cap of maintenance, and the
+Duke off Wellington, with the sword of State.&nbsp; Then Prince
+Albert, leading the Queen, followed by the Duchess of Sutherland,
+Mistress of the Robes, and the Marchioness of Douro,
+daughter-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, who is one of the
+ladies in waiting.&nbsp; The Queen and Prince sit down, while
+everybody else remains standing.&nbsp; The Queen then says in a
+voice most clear and sweet: &ldquo;My lords (rolling the r), be
+seated.&rdquo;&nbsp; Upon which the peers sit down, except those
+who enter with the Queen, who group themselves about the throne
+in the most picturesque manner.&nbsp; The Queen had a crown of
+diamonds, with splendid necklace and stomacher of the same.&nbsp;
+The Duchess of Sutherland close by her side with her ducal
+coronet of diamonds, and a little back, Lady Douro, also, with
+her coronet.&nbsp; On the right of the throne stood the Lord
+Chancellor, with scarlet robe and flowing wig, holding the
+speech, surrounded by the emblems of his office; a little
+farther, one step lower down, Lord Lansdowne, holding the crown
+on a crimson velvet cushion, and on the left the Duke of
+Wellington, brandishing the sword of State in the air, with the
+Earl of Zetland by his side.&nbsp; The Queen&rsquo;s train of
+royal purple, or rather deep crimson, was borne by many
+train-bearers.&nbsp; The whole scene seemed to me like a dream or
+a vision.&nbsp; After a few minutes the Lord Chancellor came
+forward and presented the speech to the Queen.&nbsp; She read it
+sitting and most exquisitely.&nbsp; Her voice is flute-like and
+her whole emphasis decided and intelligent.&nbsp; Very soon after
+the speech is finished she leaves the House, and we all follow,
+as soon as we can get our carriages.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image70" href="images/p70b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Duke of Wellington.  From the portrait by Count Alfred
+D&rsquo;Orsay; photograph copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell,
+London"
+title=
+"The Duke of Wellington.  From the portrait by Count Alfred
+D&rsquo;Orsay; photograph copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell,
+London"
+ src="images/p70s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Lord Lansdowne told me before she came in that the speech
+would be longer than usual, &ldquo;but not so long as your
+President&rsquo;s speeches.&rdquo;&nbsp; It has been a day of
+high pleasure and more like a romance than a reality to me, and
+being in the very midst of it as I was, made it more striking
+than if I had looked on from a distant gallery.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+February 7, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: . . . On Friday we
+dined with two bachelors, Mr. Peabody and Mr. Coates, who are
+American bankers.&nbsp; Mr. Peabody is a friend of Mr. Corcoran
+and was formerly a partner of Mr. Riggs in Baltimore.&nbsp; Mr.
+Coates is of Boston. . . . They mustered up all the Americans
+that could be found, and we dined with twenty-six of our
+countrymen.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Monday Morning.</p>
+<p>Last evening we were at home to see any Americans who might
+chance to come. . . . I make tea in the drawing-room, on a little
+table with a white cloth, which would not be esteemed <i>comme il
+faut</i> with us.&nbsp; There is none of the parade of eating in
+the largest evening party here.&nbsp; I see nothing but tea, and
+sometimes find an informal refreshment table in the room where we
+put on our cloaks.</p>
+<p>I got a note yesterday from the O&rsquo;Connor Don, enclosing
+an order to admit me to the House of Commons on Monday. . . . You
+will be curious to know who is &ldquo;The O&rsquo;Connor
+Don.&rdquo;&nbsp; He is Dennis O&rsquo;Connor, Esq., but is of
+the oldest family in Ireland, and the representative of the last
+kings of Connaught.&nbsp; He is called altogether the
+O&rsquo;Connor Don, and begins his note to me with that
+title.&nbsp; You remember Campbell&rsquo;s poem of
+&ldquo;O&rsquo;Connor&rsquo;s Child&rdquo;?</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday, 14th February.</p>
+<p>. . . Yesterday morning was my breakfast at Sir Robert
+Inglis&rsquo;s.&nbsp; The hour was halfpast nine, and as his
+house is two miles off I had to be up wondrous early for
+me.&nbsp; The weather has been very cold for this climate for the
+last few days, though we should think it moderate.&nbsp; They
+know nothing of extreme cold here.&nbsp; But, to return to or
+breakfast, where, notwithstanding the cold, the guests were
+punctually assembled: The Marquis of Northampton and his sisters,
+the Bishop of London with his black apron, Sir Stratford Canning,
+Mr. Rutherford, Lord Advocate for Scotland, the Solicitor-General
+and one or two others.&nbsp; The conversation was very agreeable
+and I enjoyed my first specimen of an English breakfast
+exceedingly. . . . Our invitations jostle each other, now
+Parliament has begun, for everybody invites on Wednesday,
+Saturday, or Sunday, when there are no debates.&nbsp; We had
+three dinner invitations for next Wednesday, from Mr. Harcourt,
+Marquis of Anglesey, and Mrs. Mansfield.&nbsp; We go to the
+former.&nbsp; The Queen held a lev&eacute;e on Friday, for
+gentlemen only.&nbsp; Your father went, of course.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image74" href="images/p74b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Sir Stratford Canning.  From the drawing by Richmond, make about
+1848, by permission of the Hon. Louisa Canning"
+title=
+"Sir Stratford Canning.  From the drawing by Richmond, make about
+1848, by permission of the Hon. Louisa Canning"
+ src="images/p74s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday, February 21st.</p>
+<p>I left off on Sunday, on which day I got a note from Lady
+Morgan, saying that she wished us to come and meet some
+agreeables at her house. . . . There I met Sir William and Lady
+Molesworth, Sir Benjamin Hall, etc., and had a long talk with
+&ldquo;E&#333;then,&rdquo; who is a quiet, unobtrusive person in
+manner, though his book is quite an effervescence. . . . On
+Wednesday we dined with Mr. Harcourt, and met there Lord
+Brougham, who did the talking chiefly, Lord and Lady Mahon, Mr.
+Labouchere, etc.&nbsp; It was a most agreeable party, and we were
+very glad to meet Lord Brougham, whom we had not before seen.</p>
+<p>Lord Brougham is entertaining, and very much listened
+to.&nbsp; Indeed, the English habit seems to be to suffer a few
+people to do up a great part of the talking, such as Macaulay,
+Brougham, and Sydney Smith and Mackintosh in their day. . . . On
+Saturday evening, at ten o&rsquo;clock, we went to a little party
+at Lady Stratheden&rsquo;s.&nbsp; After staying there
+three-quarters of an hour we went to Lady Palmerston&rsquo;s,
+where were all the <i>great</i> London world, the Duchess of
+Sutherland among the number.&nbsp; She is most noble, and at the
+same time lovely. . . . We had an autograph note from Sir Robert
+Peel, inviting us to dine next Saturday, and were engaged.&nbsp;
+I hope they will ask us again, for I know few things better than
+to see him, as we should in dining there.&nbsp; I have the same
+interest in seeing the really distinguished men of England, that
+I should have in the pictures and statues of Rome, and indeed,
+much greater.&nbsp; I wish I was better prepared for my life here
+by a more extensive culture; mere fine ladyism will not do, or
+prosy bluism, but one needs for a thorough enjoyment of society,
+a healthy, practical, and extensive culture, and a use of the
+modern languages in our position would be convenient.&nbsp; I do
+not know how a gentleman can get on without it here, and I find
+it so desirable that I devote a good deal of time to speaking
+French with Louisa&rsquo;s governess.&nbsp; Your father uses
+French a great deal with his colleagues, who, many of them, speak
+English with great difficulty, and some not at all. . . . Lady
+Charlotte Lindsay came one day this week to engage us to dine
+with her on Wednesday, but yesterday she came to say that she
+wanted Lord Brougham to meet us, and he could not come till
+Friday.&nbsp; Fortunately we had no dinner engagement on that
+day, and we are to meet also the Miss Berrys; Horace
+Walpole&rsquo;s Miss Berrys, who with Lady Charlotte herself, are
+the last remnants of the old school here.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right">February 21st.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle</span>: . . . I wrote [J.
+D.] a week or two before I heard of his death, but was unable to
+tell him anything of Lord North, as I had not met Lady Charlotte
+Lindsay.&nbsp; I have seen her twice this week at Baron
+Parke&rsquo;s and at Lord Campbell&rsquo;s, and told her how much
+I had wished to do so before, and on what account.&nbsp; She says
+her father heard reading with great pleasure, and that one of her
+sisters could read the classics: Latin and, I think, Greek, which
+he enjoyed to the last.&nbsp; She says that he never complained
+of losing his sight, but that her mother has told her that it
+worried him in his old age that he remained Minister during our
+troubles at a period when he wished, himself, to resign.&nbsp; He
+sometimes talked of it in the solitude of sleepless nights, her
+mother has told her.</p>
+<p>On Tuesday morning we were invited by Dr. Buckland, the Dean
+of Westminster, to go to his house, and from thence to the Abbey,
+to witness the funeral of the Duke of Northumberland.&nbsp; The
+Dean, who has control of everything in the Abbey, issued tickets
+to several hundred persons to go and witness the funeral, but
+only Lord Northampton&rsquo;s family, the Bunsens (the Prussian
+Minister), and ourselves, went to his house, and into the
+Dean&rsquo;s little gallery.</p>
+<p>After the ceremony there were a crowd of visitors at the
+Dean&rsquo;s, and I met many old acquaintances, and made many new
+ones, among whom were Lady Chantrey, a nice person.&nbsp; After
+the crowd cleared off, we sat down to a long table at lunch,
+always an important meal here, and afterward the Dean took me on
+his arm and showed me everything within the Abbey
+precincts.&nbsp; He took us first to the Percy Chapel to see the
+vault of the Percys. . . . From thence the Dean took us to the
+Jerusalem chamber where Henry IV died, then all over the
+Westminster school.&nbsp; We first went to the hall where the
+young men were eating their dinner. . . . We then went to the
+school-room, where every inch of the wall and benches is covered
+with names, some of them most illustrious, as
+Dryden&rsquo;s.&nbsp; There were two bunches of rods, which the
+Dean assured me were not mere symbols of power, but were daily
+used, as, indeed, the broken twigs scattered upon the floor
+plainly showed.&nbsp; Our ferules are thought rather barbarous,
+but a gentle touch from a slender twig not at all so.&nbsp; These
+young men looked to me as old as our collegians.&nbsp; We then
+went to their study-rooms, play-rooms, and sleeping-rooms.&nbsp;
+The whole forty sleep in one long and well-ventilated room, the
+walls of which were also covered with names.&nbsp; At the foot of
+each bed was a large chest covered with leather, as mouldering
+and time-worn as the Abbey itself.&nbsp; Here are educated the
+sons of some of the noblest families, and the Archbishop of York
+has had six sons here, and all of them were in succession the
+Captain of the school. . . .</p>
+<p>On Wednesday evening we went first to our friends, the
+Bunsens, where we were invited to meet the Duchess of Sutherland
+with a few other persons.&nbsp; Bunsen is very popular
+here.&nbsp; He is learned and accomplished, and was so much
+praised in the Biography of Dr. Arnold, the late historian of
+Rome, that he has great reputation in the world of letters. . . .
+Although we have great pleasure in the society of Chevalier and
+Madam Bunsen, and in those whom we meet at their house.&nbsp; On
+this occasion we only stayed half an hour, which I passed in
+talking with the Bishop of Norwich and his wife, Mrs. Stanley,
+and went to Lady Morgan&rsquo;s without waiting till the Duchess
+of Sutherland came.&nbsp; There we found her little rooms full of
+agreeable people. . . . The next day, Thursday, there was a grand
+opera for the benefit of the Irish, and all the Diplomatic Corps
+were obliged to take boxes.&nbsp; Lady Palmerston, who was one of
+the three patronesses, secured a very good box for us, directly
+opposite the Queen, and only three from the stage.</p>
+<p>We took with us Mrs. Milman and W. T. Davis, to whom it gave a
+grand opportunity of seeing the Queen and the assembled
+aristocracy, at least all who are now in London.&nbsp; &ldquo;God
+save the Queen,&rdquo; sung with the whole audience standing, was
+a noble sight.&nbsp; The Queen also stood, and at the end gave
+three curtsies.&nbsp; On Friday Captain and Mrs. Wormeley, with
+Miss Wormeley, dined with us, with Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle, Miss
+Murray, the Maid of Honor, Mr. and Mrs. Pell of New York, with
+William T. and Mr. Brodhead.&nbsp; William was very glad to see
+Carlyle, who showed himself off to perfection, uttering his
+paradoxes in broad Scotch.</p>
+<p>Last evening we dined at Mr. Thomas Baring&rsquo;s, and a most
+agreeable dinner it was.&nbsp; The company consisted of twelve
+persons, Lord and Lady Ashburton, etc.&nbsp; I like Lady
+Ashburton extremely.&nbsp; She is full of intelligence, reads
+everything, talks most agreeably, and still loves America.&nbsp;
+She is by no means one of those who abjure their country.&nbsp; I
+have seen few persons in England whom I should esteem a more
+delightful friend or companion than Lady Ashburton, and I do not
+know why, but I had received a different impression of her.&nbsp;
+Lord Ashburton, by whom I sat at dinner, struck me as still one
+of the wisest men I have seen in England.&nbsp; Lady Ashburton,
+who was sitting by Mr. Bancroft, leant forward and said to her
+husband, &ldquo;<i>We</i> can bring bushels of corn this year to
+England.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Who do you mean by <i>we</i>?&rdquo;
+said he.&nbsp; &ldquo;Why, we Americans, to be sure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image84" href="images/p84b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lord Ashburton.  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A."
+title=
+"Lord Ashburton.  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A."
+ src="images/p84s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Monday Evening.</p>
+<p>Yesterday we dined at Count St. Aulair&rsquo;s, the French
+Ambassador, who is a charming old man of the old French school,
+at a sort of amicable dinner given to Lord and Lady
+Palmerston.&nbsp; Lord John Russell was of the party, with the
+Russian Ambassador and lady, Mr. and Madam Van de Weyer, the
+Prussian and Turkish Ministers.&nbsp; The house of the French
+Embassy is fine, but these formal grand dinners are not so
+charming as the small ones.&nbsp; The present state of feeling
+between Lord Palmerston and the French Government gave it a kind
+of interest, however, and it certainly went off in a much better
+spirit than Lady Normanby&rsquo;s famous party, which Guizot
+would not attend.&nbsp; It seems very odd to me to be in the
+midst of these European affairs, which I have all my life looked
+upon from so great a distance.</p>
+<h3><i>To Mrs. W. W. Story</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+March 23, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. Story</span>: I should have
+thanked you by the last steamer for your note and the charming
+volume which accompanied it, but my thoughts and feelings were so
+much occupied by the sad tidings I heard from my own family that
+I wrote to no one out of it.&nbsp; The poems, which would at all
+times have given me great pleasure, gave me still more here than
+they would if I were with you on the other side of the
+Atlantic.&nbsp; I am not cosmopolitan enough to love any nature
+so well as our American nature, and in addition to the charm of
+its poetry, every piece brought up to me the scenes amidst which
+it had been written. . . . How dear these associations are your
+husband will soon know when he too is separated from his native
+shores and from those he loves. . . . I shall look forward with
+great pleasure to seeing him here, and only wish you were to
+accompany him, for your own sake, for his, and for ours.&nbsp;
+His various culture will enable him to enjoy most fully all that
+Europe can yield him in every department.&nbsp; My own regret
+ever since I have been here has been that the seed has not
+&ldquo;fallen upon better ground,&rdquo; for though I thought
+myself not ignorant wholly, I certainly lose much that I might
+enjoy more keenly if I were better prepared for it.&nbsp; I envy
+the pleasure which Mr. Story will receive from music, painting,
+and sculpture in Europe, even if he were destitute of the
+creative inspiration which he will take with him.&nbsp; For
+ourselves, we have everything to make us happy here, and I should
+be quite so, if I could forget that I had a country and children
+with very dear friends 3,000 miles away. . . . There are certain
+sympathies of country which one cannot overcome.&nbsp; On the
+other hand I certainly enjoy pleasures of the highest kind, and
+am every day floated like one in a dream into the midst of
+persons and scenes that make my life seem more like a drama than
+a reality.&nbsp; Nothing is more unreal than the actual presence
+of persons of whom one has heard much, and long wished to
+see.&nbsp; One day I find myself at dinner by the side of Sir
+Robert Peel, another by Lord John Russell, or at Lord
+Lansdowne&rsquo;s table, with Mrs. Norton, or at a charming
+breakfast with Mr. Rogers, surrounded by pictures and marbles, or
+with tall feathers and a long train, making curtsies to a
+queen.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image88" href="images/p88b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Miss Berry, at the age of 86.  From a crayon drawing by J. R.
+Swinton (1850); from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss"
+title=
+"Miss Berry, at the age of 86.  From a crayon drawing by J. R.
+Swinton (1850); from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss"
+ src="images/p88s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+April 2 [1847].</p>
+<p>Here it is the day before the despatches leave and I have not
+written a single line to you. . . . On Friday we dined at Lady
+Charlotte Lindsay&rsquo;s, where were Lord Brougham and Lady
+Mallet, Mr. Rogers and the Bishop of Norwich and his wife.&nbsp;
+In the evening Miss Agnes Berry, who never goes out now, came on
+purpose to appoint an evening to go and see her sister, who is
+the one that Horace Walpole wished to marry, and to whom so many
+of his later letters are addressed.&nbsp; She is eighty-four, her
+sister a few years younger, and Lady Charlotte not much their
+junior.</p>
+<p>These remnants of the <i>belles-esprits</i> of the last age
+are charming to me.&nbsp; They have a vast and long experience of
+the best social circles, with native wit, and constant practice
+in the conversation of society. . . . On Wednesday, we dined at
+Sir Robert Peel&rsquo;s, with whom I was more charmed than with
+anybody I have seen yet.&nbsp; I sat between him and the Speaker
+of the House of Commons.&nbsp; I was told that he was stiff and
+stately in his manners, but did not think him so, and am inclined
+to imagine that free from the burden of the Premiership, he
+unbends more.&nbsp; He talked constantly with me, and in speaking
+of a certain picture said, &ldquo;When you come to Drayton Manor
+I shall show it to you.&rdquo;&nbsp; I should like to go there,
+but to see himself even more than his pictures.&nbsp; Lady Peel
+is still a very handsome woman.</p>
+<p>The next morning we breakfasted with Mr. Rogers.&nbsp; He
+lives, as you probably know, in [a] beautiful house, though
+small, whose rooms look upon the Green Park, and filled with
+pictures and marbles.&nbsp; We stayed an hour or more after the
+other guests, listening to his stores of literary anecdote and
+pleasant talk.&nbsp; In the evening we went to the Miss
+Berrys&rsquo;, where we found Lord Morpeth, who is much attached
+to them.&nbsp; Miss Berry put her hand on his head, which is
+getting a little gray, and said: &ldquo;Ah, George, and I
+remember the day you were born, your grandmother brought you and
+put you in my arms.&rdquo;&nbsp; Now this grandmother of Lord
+Morpeth&rsquo;s was the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, who
+electioneered for Fox, and he led her to tell me all about
+her.&nbsp; &ldquo;Eothen&rdquo; was also there, Lady Lewis and
+many of my friends. . . . Aunty wishes to know who is
+&ldquo;Eothen.&rdquo;&nbsp; She has probably read his book,
+&ldquo;Eothen, or Traces of Travel,&rdquo; which was very popular
+two or three years since.&nbsp; He is a young lawyer, Mr.
+Kinglake, the most modest, unassuming person in his manners, very
+shy and altogether very unlike the dashing, spirited young
+Englishman I figured to myself, whom nothing could daunt from the
+Arab even to the plague, which he defied.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image90" href="images/p90b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"A. W. Kinglake (&ldquo;Eothen&rdquo;).  From a photograph"
+title=
+"A. W. Kinglake (&ldquo;Eothen&rdquo;).  From a photograph"
+ src="images/p90s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: On Thursday
+[the 25th] we were invited to Sir John Pakington&rsquo;s, whose
+wife is the Bishop of Rochester&rsquo;s daughter, but were
+engaged to Mr. Senior, who had asked us to meet the Archbishop of
+Dublin, the celebrated Dr. Whately.&nbsp; He had come over from
+Ireland to make a speech in the House of Lords upon the Irish
+Poor Law.&nbsp; He is full of learning [and] simplicity, and with
+most genial hearty manners.&nbsp; Rogers was also there and said
+more fine things than I have heard him say before at dinner, as
+he is now so deaf that he does not hear general conversation, and
+cannot tell where to send his shaft, which is always
+pointed.&nbsp; He retains all his sarcasm and epigrammatic point,
+but he shines now especially at breakfast, where he has his
+audience to himself.</p>
+<p>We went from Mr. Senior&rsquo;s to Mr. Milman&rsquo;s, but
+nearly all the guests there were departed or departing, though
+one or two returned with us to the drawing-room to stay the few
+minutes we did.&nbsp; Among the lingerers we found Sir William
+and Lady Duff Gordon, the two Warburtons, &ldquo;Hochelaga&rdquo;
+and &ldquo;Crescent and Cross,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Eothen.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mrs. Milman I really love, and we see
+much of them.</p>
+<p>On Saturday was the dreaded Drawing-Room, on which occasion I
+was to be presented to the Queen. . . . Mr. Bancroft and I left
+home at a quarter past one.&nbsp; On our arrival we passed
+through one or two corridors, lined by attendants with
+battle-axes and picturesque costumes, looking very much like the
+supernumeraries on the stage, and were ushered into the
+ante-room, a large and splendid room, where only the Ministers
+and Privy Councillors, with their families, are allowed to go
+with the Diplomatic Corps.&nbsp; Here we found Lady Palmerston,
+who showed me a list she had got Sir Edward Cust, the master of
+ceremonies, to make out of the order of precedence of the
+Diplomatic Corps, and when the turn would come for us who were to
+be newly presented.&nbsp; The room soon filled up and it was like
+a pleasant party, only more amusing, as the costumes of both
+gentlemen and ladies were so splendid.&nbsp; I got a seat in the
+window with Madam Van de Weyer and saw the Queen&rsquo;s train
+drive up.&nbsp; At the end of this room are two doors: at the
+left hand everybody enters the next apartment where the Queen and
+her suite stand, and after going round the circle, come out at
+the right-hand door.&nbsp; After those who are privileged to go
+<i>first</i> into the <i>ante-room</i> leave it, the general
+circle pass in, and they also go in and out the same doors.&nbsp;
+But to go back.&nbsp; The left-hand door opens and Sir Edward
+Cust leads in the Countess Dietrichstein, who is the eldest
+Ambassadress, as the Countess St. Aulair is in Paris.&nbsp; As
+she enters she drops her train and the gentlemen ushers open it
+out like a peacock&rsquo;s tail.&nbsp; Then Madam Van de Weyer,
+who comes next, follows close upon the train of the former, then
+Baroness Brunnow, the Madam Bunsen, then Madam Lisboa, then Lady
+Palmerston, who, as the wife of the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
+is to introduce the Princess Callimachi, Baroness de Beust, and
+myself.&nbsp; She stations herself by the side of the Queen and
+names us as we pass.&nbsp; The Queen spoke to none of us, but
+gave me a very gracious smile, and when Mr. Bancroft came by, she
+said: &ldquo;I am very glad to have had the pleasure of seeing
+Mrs. Bancroft to-day.&rdquo;&nbsp; I was not [at] all frightened
+and gathered up my train with as much self-possession as if I
+were alone.&nbsp; I found it very entertaining afterward to watch
+the reception of the others.&nbsp; The Diplomatic Corps remain
+through the whole, the ladies standing on the left of the Queen
+and the gentlemen in the centre, but all others pass out
+immediately. . . . On Sunday evening Mr. Bancroft set off for
+Paris to pass the Easter recess of Parliament. . . . I got a very
+interesting letter yesterday from Mr. Bancroft.&nbsp; It seems
+that the Countess Circourt, whose husband has reviewed his book
+and Prescott&rsquo;s, is a most charming person, and makes her
+house one of the most brilliant and attractive in Paris.&nbsp;
+Since he left, a note came from Mr. Hallam, the contents of which
+pleased me as they will you.&nbsp; It announced that Mr. Bancroft
+was chosen an Honorary Member of the Society of Antiquaries, of
+which Lord Mahon is president, Hallam, vice-president.&nbsp;
+Hallam says the society is very old and that he is the first
+citizen of the United States upon whom it has been conferred, but
+that he will not long possess it exclusively, as his
+&ldquo;highly distinguished countryman, Mr. Prescott, has also
+been proposed.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right">Tuesday.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: . . . On Monday
+morning came the dear Miss Berrys, to beg me to come that evening
+to join their circle.&nbsp; They have always the best people in
+London about them, young as well as old.</p>
+<p>The old and the middle-aged are more attended to here than
+with us, where the young are all in all.&nbsp; As Hayward said to
+me the other evening, &ldquo;it takes time to make <i>people</i>,
+like cathedrals,&rdquo; and Mr. Rogers and Miss Berry could not
+have been what they are now, forty years ago.&nbsp; A long life
+of experience in the midst constantly of the highest and most
+cultivated circles, and with several generations of distinguished
+men gives what can be acquired in no other way.&nbsp; Mr. Rogers
+said to me one day: &ldquo;I have learnt more from men that from
+<i>books</i>, and when I used to be in the society of Fox and
+other great men of that period, and they would sometimes say
+&lsquo;I have always thought so and so,&rsquo; then I have opened
+my ears and listened, for I said to myself, now I shall get at
+the treasured results of the experience of these great
+men.&rdquo;&nbsp; This little saying of Mr. Rogers expresses
+precisely my own feelings in the society of the venerable and
+distinguished here.&nbsp; With us society is left more to the
+crudities of the young than in England.&nbsp; The young may be
+interesting and promise much, but they are still
+<i>crude</i>.&nbsp; The elements, however fine, are not yet
+completely assimilated and brought to that more perfect tone
+which comes later in life.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image98" href="images/p98b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Samuel Rogers.  From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848);
+photograph copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell, London"
+title=
+"Samuel Rogers.  From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848);
+photograph copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell, London"
+ src="images/p98s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Monday, April 12th.</p>
+<p>. . . On Saturday I went with Sir William and Lady Molesworth
+to their box in the new Covent Garden opera, which has been
+opened for the first time this week.&nbsp; There I saw Grisi and
+Alboni and Tamburini in the &ldquo;Semiramide.&rdquo;&nbsp; It
+was a new world of delight to me.&nbsp; Grisi, so statuesque and
+so graceful, delights the eye, the ear, and the soul.&nbsp; She
+is sculpture, poetry, and music at the same time. . . . Mr.
+Bancroft has been received with great cordiality in Paris.&nbsp;
+He has been three times invited to the Palace, and Guizot and
+Mignet give him access to all that he wants in the archives, and
+he passes his evenings with all the eminent men and beautiful
+women of Paris.&nbsp; Guizot, Thiers, Lamartine, Cousin,
+Salvandi, Thierry, he sees, and enjoys all.&nbsp; They take him
+to the salons, too, of the Faubourg St. Germain, among the old
+French aristocracy, and to innumerable receptions.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Wednesday.</p>
+<p>To-morrow I go to the Drawing-Room alone, and to complete the
+climax, the Queen has sent us an invitation to dine at the Palace
+to-morrow, and I must go <i>alone</i> for the <i>first
+time</i>.&nbsp; If I live through it, I will tell you all about
+it; but is it not awkward in the extreme?</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Friday Morning.</p>
+<p>At eight o&rsquo;clock in the evening I drove to the
+Palace.&nbsp; My dress was my currant-colored or grosseille
+velvet with a wreath of white Arum lilies woven into a kind of
+turban, with green leave and bouquet to match, on the bertha of
+Brussels lace.&nbsp; I was received by a servant, who escorted me
+through a long narrow corridor the length of Winthrop Place and
+consigned me to another who escorted me in his turn, through
+another wider corridor to the foot of a flight of stairs which I
+ascended and found another servant, who took my cloak and showed
+me into the grand corridor or picture gallery; a noble apartment
+of interminable length; and surrounded by pictures of the best
+masters.&nbsp; General Bowles, the Master of the Household, came
+forward to meet me, and Lord Byron, who is one of the Lords in
+Waiting.&nbsp; I found Madam Lisboa already arrived, and soon
+came in Lord and Lady Palmerston, the Duke of Norfolk, the
+Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter, Lord and Lady Dalhousie, Lord
+Charles Wellesley, son of the Duke of Wellington, Lady Byron, and
+Mr. Hallam.&nbsp; We sat and talked as at any other place, when
+at last the Queen was announced.&nbsp; The gentlemen ranged
+themselves on one side, and we on the other, and the Queen and
+Prince passed through, she bowing, and we profoundly
+curtseying.&nbsp; As soon as she passed the Marquis of Exeter
+came over and took Madam Lisboa, and Lord Dalhousie came and took
+me.&nbsp; The Queen and Prince sat in the middle of a long table,
+and I was just opposite the Prince, between Lord Exeter and Lord
+Dalhousie, who is the son of the former Governor of Nova Scotia,
+was in the last ministry, and a most agreeable person.&nbsp; I
+talked to my neighbors as at any other dinner, but the Queen
+spoke to no one but Prince Albert, with a word or two to the Duke
+of Norfolk, who was on her right, and is the first peer of the
+realm.</p>
+<p>The dinner was rather quickly despatched, and when the Queen
+rose we followed her back into the corridor.&nbsp; She walked to
+the fire and stood some minutes, and then advanced to me and
+enquired about Mr. Bancroft, his visit to Paris, if he had been
+there before, etc.&nbsp; I expressed, of course, the regret he
+would feel at losing the honor of dining with Her Majesty,
+etc.&nbsp; She then had a talk with Lady Palmerston, who stood by
+my side, then with all the other ladies in succession, until at
+last Prince Albert came out, soon followed by the other
+gentlemen.&nbsp; The Prince then spoke to all the ladies, as she
+had done, while she went in succession to all the gentlemen
+guests.&nbsp; This took some time and we were obliged to stand
+all the while.</p>
+<p>At last the Queen, accompanied by her Lady in Waiting, Lady
+Mount Edgcumbe, went to a sofa at the other end of the corridor
+in front of which was a round table surrounded by
+arm-chairs.&nbsp; When the Queen was seated Lady Mount Edgcumbe
+came to us and requested us to take our seats round the
+table.&nbsp; This was a little prim, for I did not know exactly
+how much I might talk to others in the immediate presence of the
+Queen, and everybody seemed a little constrained.&nbsp; She spoke
+to us all, and very soon such of the gentlemen as were allowed by
+their rank, joined us at the round table.&nbsp; Lord Dalhousie
+came again to my side and I had as pleasant a conversation with
+him, rather <i>sotto voce</i>, however, as I could have had at a
+private house.&nbsp; At half-past ten the Queen rose and shook
+hands with each lady; we curtsied profoundly, and she and the
+Prince departed.&nbsp; We then bade each other good-night, and
+found our carriages as soon as we chose.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+May 16, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: My letters by this
+steamer will have very little interest for you, as, from being in
+complete retirement, I have no new things to related to you. . .
+. We have taken advantage of our leisure to drive a little into
+the country, and on Tuesday I had a pleasure of the highest order
+in driving down to Esher and passing a quiet day with Lady Byron,
+the widow of the poet.&nbsp; She is an intimate friend of Miss
+Murray, who has long wished us to see her and desired her to name
+the day for our visit.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image106" href="images/p106b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lady Byron.  From the portrait in the possession of Sir J.
+Tollemache Sinclair, Bart."
+title=
+"Lady Byron.  From the portrait in the possession of Sir J.
+Tollemache Sinclair, Bart."
+ src="images/p106s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Esher is a little village about sixteen miles from London, and
+Lady Byron has selected it as her residence, though her estates
+are in Leicestershire, because it is near Lord and Lady Lovelace,
+her only child, the &ldquo;<i>Ada</i>&rdquo; of poetry.&nbsp; We
+went in our own carriage, taking Miss Murray with us, and as the
+country is now radiant with blossoms and glowing green, the drive
+itself was very agreeable.&nbsp; We arrived at two o&rsquo;clock,
+and found only Lady Byron, with the second boy of Lady Lovelace
+and his tutor.&nbsp; Lady Byron is now about fifty-five, and with
+the remains of an attractive, if not brilliant beauty.&nbsp; She
+has extremely delicate features, and very pale and finely
+delicate skin.&nbsp; A tone of voice and manner of the most
+trembling refinement, with a culture and strong intellect, almost
+masculine, but which betrays itself under such sweet and gentle
+and unobtrusive forms that one is only led to perceive it by slow
+degrees.&nbsp; She is the most modest and unostentatious person
+one can well conceive.&nbsp; She lives simply, and the chief of
+her large income (you know she was the rich Miss Milbank) she
+devotes to others.&nbsp; After lunch she wished me to see a
+little of the country round Esher and ordered her ponies and
+small carriage for herself and me, while Mr. Bancroft and Miss
+Murray walked.&nbsp; We went first to the royal seat, Claremont,
+where the Princess Charlotte lived so happily with Leopold, and
+where she died.&nbsp; Its park adjoins Lady Byron&rsquo;s, and
+the Queen allows her a private key that she may enjoy its
+exquisite grounds.&nbsp; Here we left the pedestrians, while Lady
+Byron took me a more extensive drive, as she wished to show me
+some of the heaths in the neighborhood, which are covered with
+furze, now one mass of yellow bloom.</p>
+<p>Every object is seen in full relief against the sky, and a
+figure on horseback is peculiarly striking.&nbsp; I am always
+reminded of the beginning of one of James&rsquo;s novels, which
+is usually, you know, after this manner: &ldquo;It was toward the
+close of a dull autumn day that two horsemen were seen,&rdquo;
+etc., etc.&nbsp; Lady Byron took me to the estate of a
+neighboring gentleman, to show me a fine old tower covered with
+ivy, where Wolsey took refuge from his persecutors, with his
+faithful follower, Cromwell.</p>
+<p>Upon our return we found the last of the old harpers, blind,
+and with a genuine old Irish harp, and after hearing his national
+melodies for half an hour, taking a cup of coffee, and enjoying a
+little more of Lady Byron&rsquo;s conversation, we departed,
+having had a day heaped up with the richest and best
+enjoyments.&nbsp; I could not help thinking, as I was walking up
+and down the beautiful paths of Claremont Park, with the fresh
+spring air blowing about me, the primroses, daisies, and wild
+bluebells under my feet, and Lady Byron at my side, that it was
+more like a page out of a poem than a reality.</p>
+<p>On Sunday night any Americans who are here come to see us. . .
+. Mr. Harding brought with him a gentleman, whom he introduced as
+Mr. Alison.&nbsp; Mr. Bancroft asked him if he were related to
+Archdeacon Alison, who wrote the &ldquo;Essay on
+Taste.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;I am his son,&rdquo; said he.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Ah, then, you are the brother of the historian?&rdquo;
+said Mr. Bancroft.&nbsp; &ldquo;I am the historian,&rdquo; was
+the reply. . . . An evening visitor is a thing unheard of, and
+therefore my life is very lonely, now I do not go into
+society.&nbsp; I see no one except Sunday evenings, and,
+occasionally, a friend before dinner.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B. and A. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+May 24, [1847].</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Sons</span>: . . . On Friday we
+both went to see the Palace of Hampton Court with my dear, good,
+Miss Murray, Mr. Winthrop and son, and Louise. . . . On our
+arrival, we found, to our great vexation, that Friday was the
+only day in the week in which visitors were not admitted, and
+that we must content ourselves with seeing the grounds and go
+back without a glimpse of its noble galleries of pictures.&nbsp;
+Fortunately for us, Miss Murray had several friends among the
+persons to whom the Queen has assigned apartments in the vast
+edifice, and they willingly yielded their approbation of our
+admission if she could possibly win over Mrs. Grundy, the
+housekeeper.&nbsp; This name sounded rather inauspicious, but Mr.
+Winthrop suggested that there might be a &ldquo;Felix&rdquo; to
+qualify it, and so in this case it turned out.&nbsp; Mrs. Grundy
+asserted that such a thing had never been done, that it was a
+very dangerous precedent, etc., but in the end the weight of a
+Maid of Honor and a Foreign Minister prevailed, and we saw
+everything to much greater advantage than if we had 150 persons
+following on, as Mr. Winthrop says he had the other day at
+Windsor Castle. . . . On our way [home] we met Lady Byron with
+her pretty little carriage and ponies.&nbsp; She alighted and we
+did the same, and had quite a pleasant little interview in the
+dusty road.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday, May 30th.</p>
+<p>Your father left town on Monday. . . . He did not return until
+the 27th, the morning of the Queen&rsquo;s Birthday
+Drawing-Room.&nbsp; On that occasion I went dressed in white
+mourning. . . . It was a petticoat of white crape flounced to the
+waist with the edges notched.&nbsp; A train of white glac&eacute;
+trimmed with a ruche of white crape.&nbsp; A wreath and bouquet
+of white lilacs, without any green, as green is not used in
+mourning.&nbsp; The array of diamonds on this occasion was
+magnificent in the highest degree, and everybody was in their
+most splendid array.&nbsp; The next evening there was a concert
+at the Palace, at which Jenny Lind, Grisi, Alboni, Mario, and
+Tamburini sang.&nbsp; I went dressed in [a] deep black dress and
+enjoyed the music highly.&nbsp; Seats were placed in rows in the
+concert-room and one sat quietly as if in church.&nbsp; At the
+end of the first part, the royal family with their royal guests,
+the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, and the Grand Duke and
+Duchess of Saxe-Weimar went to the grand dining-room and supped
+by themselves, with their suites, while another elegant
+refreshment table was spread in another apartment for the other
+guests. . . . Jenny Lind a little disappointed me, I must
+confess, but they tell me that her songs were not adapted on that
+evening to the display of her voice.</p>
+<p>On Sunday evening your father dined with Baron Brunnow, the
+Russian Minister, to meet the Grand Duke Constantine.&nbsp; It so
+happened that the Grand Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar appointed
+an audience to Baron and Baroness Brunnow at seven, and they had
+not returned at half-past seven, when the Grand Duke and their
+other guests arrived.&nbsp; The Baroness immediately advanced to
+the Grand Duke and sunk on her knees before him, asking pardon in
+Russian.&nbsp; He begged her to rise, but she remained in the
+attitude of deep humiliation, until the Grand Duke sunk also on
+<i>his</i> knees and gently raised her, and then kissed her on
+the cheek, a privilege, you know, of royalty.</p>
+<p>. . . On Monday evening we both went to a concert at Mr.
+Hudson&rsquo;s, the great railway &ldquo;king,&rdquo; who has
+just made an immense fortune from railway stocks, and is now
+desirous to get into society.&nbsp; These things are managed in a
+curious way here.&nbsp; A <i>nouveau riche</i> gets several
+ladies of fashion to patronize their entertainment and invite all
+the guests.&nbsp; Our invitation was from Lady Parke, who wrote
+me two notes about it, saying that she would be happy to meet me
+at Mrs. Hudson&rsquo;s splendid mansion, where would be the best
+music and society of London; and, true enough, there was the Duke
+of Wellington and all the world.&nbsp; Lady Parke stood at the
+entrance of the splendid suite of rooms to receive the guests and
+introduce them to their host and hostess.&nbsp; On Tuesday
+morning I got a note from Mr. Eliot Warburton (brother of
+&ldquo;Hochelaga&rdquo;) to come to his room at two o&rsquo;clock
+and look at some drawings.&nbsp; To our surprise we found quite a
+party seated at lunch, and a collection of many agreeable persons
+and some lions and lionesses.&nbsp; There was Lord Ross, the
+great astronomer; Baroness Rothschild, a lovely Jewess; Miss
+Strickland, the authoress of the &ldquo;Queens of England&rdquo;;
+&ldquo;E&#333;then,&rdquo; and many more.&nbsp; Mr. Polk,
+<i>Charg&eacute;</i> at Naples, and brother of the President,
+dined with us, and Miss Murray, and in the evening came Mr. and
+Mrs. McLean, he a son of Judge McLean, of Ohio.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image114" href="images/p114b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"George Hudson, the &ldquo;Railway King&rdquo;.  From the
+engraving after F. Grant"
+title=
+"George Hudson, the &ldquo;Railway King&rdquo;.  From the
+engraving after F. Grant"
+ src="images/p114s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">June 17th.</p>
+<p>On Friday evening we went to the Queen&rsquo;s Ball, and for
+the first time saw Her Majesty dance, which she does very well,
+and so does the Duchess of Sutherland, grandmother though she
+be.</p>
+<p>On Monday evening we went to a concert given to the Queen by
+the Duke of Wellington at Apsley House.&nbsp; This was an
+occasion not to be forgotten, but I cannot describe it.&nbsp; On
+Tuesday I went for the first time to hear a debate upon the
+Portugal interference in the House of Lords.&nbsp; It brought out
+all the leaders, and I was so fortunate as to hear a most
+powerful speech from Lord Stanley, one from Lord Lansdowne in
+defence of the Ministry and one from the Duke of Wellington, who,
+on this occasion, sided with the Ministers.&nbsp; On Wednesday
+was the great <i>f&ecirc;te</i> given by the Duchess of
+Sutherland to the Queen.&nbsp; It was like a chapter of a fairy
+tale.&nbsp; Persons from all the courts of Europe who were there
+told us that nowhere in Europe was there anything as fine as the
+hall and grand staircase where the Duchess received her
+guests.&nbsp; It exceeded my utmost conceptions of magnificence
+and beauty.&nbsp; The vast size of the apartment, the vaulted
+ceilings, the arabesque ornaments, the fine pictures, the
+profusion of flowers, the music, the flourish of trumpets, as the
+Queen passed backward and forward, the superb dresses and
+diamonds of the women, the parti-colored full dress of the
+gentlemen all contributed to make up a scene not to be
+forgotten.&nbsp; The Queen&rsquo;s Ball was not to be compared to
+it, so much more effective is Stafford House than Buckingham
+Palace. . . . We were fortunate to be present there, for Stafford
+House is not opened in this way but once in a year or two, and
+the Duke&rsquo;s health is now so very uncertain, that it may be
+many years before it happens again.&nbsp; He was not present the
+other evening.</p>
+<h3><i>To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+June 20, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: On the
+19th, Saturday, we breakfasted with Lady Byron and my friend,
+Miss Murray, at Mr. Rogers&rsquo;.&nbsp; He and Lady Byron had
+not met for many, many years, and their renewal of old friendship
+was very interesting to witness.&nbsp; Mr. Rogers told me that he
+first introduced her to Lord Byron.&nbsp; After breakfast he had
+been repeating some lines of poetry which he thought fine, when
+he suddenly exclaimed: &ldquo;But there is a bit of American
+<i>prose</i>, which, I think, had more poetry in it than almost
+any modern verse.&rdquo;&nbsp; He then repeated, I should think,
+more than a page from Dana&rsquo;s &ldquo;Two Years Before the
+Mast,&rdquo; describing the falling overboard of one of the crew,
+and the effect it produced, not only at the moment, but for some
+time afterward.&nbsp; I wondered at his memory, which enabled him
+to recite so beautifully a long prose passage, so much more
+difficult than verse.&nbsp; Several of those present with whom
+the book was a favorite, were so glad to hear from me that it was
+as <i>true</i> as interesting, for they had regarded it as partly
+a work of imagination.&nbsp; Lady Byron had told Mr. Rogers when
+she came in that Lady Lovelace, her daughter (Ada) wished also to
+pay him a visit, and would come after breakfast to join us for
+half an hour.&nbsp; She also had not seen Rogers, I
+<i>believe</i>, ever.&nbsp; Lady Lovelace joined us soon after
+breakfast, and as we were speaking of the enchantment of Stafford
+House on Wednesday evening, Mr. Rogers proposed to go over it and
+see its fine pictures by daylight.&nbsp; He immediately went
+himself by a short back passage through the park to ask
+permission and returned with all the eagerness and gallantry of a
+young man to say that he had obtained it.&nbsp; We had thus an
+opportunity of seeing, in the most leisurely way and in the most
+delightful society, the fine pictures and noble apartments of
+Stafford House again.</p>
+<p>. . . On Tuesday Mr. Hallam took us to the British Museum, and
+being a director, he could enter on a private day, when we were
+not annoyed by a crowd, and, moreover, we had the advantage of
+the best interpreters and guides.&nbsp; We did not even enter the
+library, which requires a day by itself, but confined ourselves
+to the Antiquity rooms. . . . As I entered the room devoted to
+the Elgin marbles, the works of the &ldquo;divine Phidias,&rdquo;
+I stepped with awe, as if entering a temple, and the Secretary,
+who was by my side, observing it, told me that the Grand Duke
+Constantine, when he came a few days before, made, as he entered,
+a most profound and reverential bow.&nbsp; This was one of my
+most delightful mornings, and I left the Antiquities with a
+stronger desire to see them again than before I had seen them at
+all.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday, June 27th.</p>
+<p>. . . I went on Wednesday to dine at Lord Monteagle&rsquo;s to
+meet Father Mathew, and the Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Whately)
+also dined there.&nbsp; Father Mathew spoke with great interest
+of America and of American liberality, and is very anxious to go
+to our country.&nbsp; He saw Mr. Forbes at Cork and spoke of him
+with great regard. . . . On [Saturday] Mr. Bancroft went to the
+palace to see the King of the Belgians, with the rest of the
+Diplomatic Corps.&nbsp; After his return we went to Westminster
+Hall to see the prize pictures, as Lord Lansdowne had sent us
+tickets for the private view.&nbsp; The Commission of Fine Arts
+have offered prizes for the best historical pictures that may
+serve to adorn the new Houses of Parliament, and the pictures of
+this collection were all painted with that view.&nbsp; One of
+those which have received a prize is John Robinson bestowing his
+farewell blessing upon the Pilgrims at Leyden, which is very
+pleasing.&nbsp; It was to me like a friend in a strange country,
+and I lingered over it the longest.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">July 2d.</p>
+<p>Wednesday [evening] we went to Lady Duff Gordon&rsquo;s, who
+is the daughter of Mrs. Austin, where was a most agreeable party,
+and among others, Andersen, the Danish poet-author of the
+&ldquo;Improvisatore.&rdquo;&nbsp; He has a most striking
+poetical physiognomy, but as he talked only German or bad French,
+I left him to Mr. Bancroft in the conversation way.</p>
+<p>The next morning before nine o&rsquo;clock we were told that
+Mr. Rogers, the poet, was downstairs.&nbsp; I could not imagine
+what had brought him out so early, but found that Moore, the
+poet, had come to town and would stay but a day, and we must go
+that very morning and breakfast with him at ten
+o&rsquo;clock.&nbsp; We went and found a delightful circle.&nbsp;
+I sat between Moore and Rogers, who was in his very best
+humor.&nbsp; Moore is but a wreck, but most a interesting
+one.</p>
+<h3><i>To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Nuneham
+Park</span>, July 27, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: . . . I
+must go back to the day when my last letters were despatched, as
+my life since has been full of interest.&nbsp; On Monday evening,
+the 19th, we went to the French play, to see Rachel in
+&ldquo;Ph&egrave;dre.&rdquo;&nbsp; She far surpassed my
+imagination in the expression of all the powerful passions. . . .
+On Tuesday Mr. Bancroft went down to hear Lord John make a speech
+to his constituents in the city, while I went to see Miss
+Burdett-Coutts lay the corner-stone of the church which
+&ldquo;the Bishop of London has permitted her to build,&rdquo; to
+use her own expression in her note to me.&nbsp; In the evening we
+dined there with many of the clergy, and Lord Brougham, Lord
+Dundonald, etc.&nbsp; I went down with the Dean of Westminster,
+who was very agreeable and instructive.&nbsp; He and Dr. Whately
+have the simplicity of children, with an immense deal of
+knowledge, which they impart in the most pleasant way.&nbsp;
+Saturday, the 24th, we were to leave town for our first country
+excursion.&nbsp; We were invited by Dr. Hawtrey, the Head Master
+of Eton, to be present at the ceremonies accompanying the annual
+election of such boys on the Foundation as are selected to go up
+to King&rsquo;s College, Cambridge, where they are also placed on
+a Foundation.&nbsp; From reading Dr. Arnold&rsquo;s life you will
+have learned that the head master of one of these very great
+schools is no unimportant personage.&nbsp; Dr. Hawtrey has an
+income of six or seven thousand pounds.&nbsp; He is unmarried,
+but has two single sisters who live with him, and his
+establishment in one of the old college houses is full of
+elegance and comfort.&nbsp; We took an open travelling carriage
+with imperials, and drove down to Eton with our own horses,
+arriving about one o&rsquo;clock.&nbsp; At two, precisely, the
+Provost of King&rsquo;s College, Cambridge, was to arrive, and to
+be received under the old gateway of the cloister by the Captain
+of the school with a Latin speech.&nbsp; After dinner there is a
+regatta among the boys, which is one of the characteristic and
+pleasing old customs.&nbsp; All the fashionables of London who
+have sons at Eton come down to witness their happiness, and the
+river bank is full of gayety.&nbsp; The evening finished with the
+most beautiful fireworks I ever saw, which lighted up the Castle
+behind and were reflected in the Thames below, while the glancing
+oars of the young boatmen, and the music of their band with a
+merry chime of bells from St. George&rsquo;s Chapel, above, all
+combined to give gayety and interest to the scene.&nbsp; The next
+morning (Sunday), after an agreeable breakfast in the long,
+low-walled breakfast-room, which opens upon the flower garden, we
+went to Windsor to worship in St. George&rsquo;s Chapel.&nbsp;
+The Queen&rsquo;s stall is rather larger than the others, and one
+is left vacant for the Prince of Wales.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+July 29th.</p>
+<p>And now with a new sheet I must begin my account of Nuneham. .
+. . The Archbishop of York is the second son of Lord Vernon, but
+his uncle, Earl Harcourt, dying without children, left him all
+his estate, upon which he took the name of Harcourt.&nbsp; We
+arrived about four o&rsquo;clock. . . . The dinner was at
+half-past seven, and when I went down I found the Duchess of
+Sutherland, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, Lord Kildare, and
+several of the sons and daughters of the Archbishop.&nbsp; The
+dinner and evening passed off very agreeably.&nbsp; The Duchess
+is a most high-bred person, and thoroughly courteous.&nbsp; As we
+were going in or out of a room instead of preceding me, which was
+her right, she always made me take her arm, which was a delicate
+way of getting over her precedence. . . . At half-past nine the
+[next morning] we met in the drawing-room, when the Archbishop
+led the way down to prayers.&nbsp; This was a beautiful scene,
+for he is now ninety, and to hear him read the prayers with a
+firm, clear voice, while his family and dependents knelt about
+him was a pleasure never to be forgotten. . . . At five I was to
+drive round the park with the Archbishop himself in his open
+carriage.&nbsp; This drive was most charming.&nbsp; He explained
+everything, told me when such trees would be felled, and when
+certain tracts of underwood would be fit for cutting, how old the
+different-sized deer were&mdash;in short, the whole economy of an
+English park.&nbsp; Every pretty point of view, too, he made me
+see, and was as active and wide-awake as if he were thirty,
+rather than ninety. . . . The next morning, after prayers and
+breakfast, I took my leave.</p>
+<h3><i>To A. H.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Bishop&rsquo;s
+Palace</span>, <span class="smcap">Norwich</span>, August
+1st.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Ann</span>: How I wish I could
+transport you to the spot where I am writing, but if I could
+summon it before your actual vision you would take it for a dream
+or a romance, so different is everything within the walls which
+enclose the precincts of an English Cathedral from anything we
+can conceive on our side of the water. . . . Some of the learned
+people and noblemen have formed an Arch&aelig;ological Society
+for the study and preservation [of] the interesting architectural
+antiquities of the kingdom, and [it] is upon the occasion of the
+annual meeting of this society for a week at Norwich that the
+Bishop has invited us to stay a few days at the palace and join
+them in their agreeable antiquarian excursions.&nbsp; We arrived
+on Friday at five o&rsquo;clock after a long dull journey of five
+hours on the railway. . . . Staying in the house are our friends,
+Mr. and Mrs. Milman, Lord Northampton and his son, Lord Alwyne
+Compton, and the Bishop&rsquo;s family, consisting of Mrs.
+Stanley, and of two Miss Stanleys, agreeable and highly
+cultivated girls, and Mr. Arthur Stanley, the writer of Dr.
+Arnold&rsquo;s Biography.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image130" href="images/p130b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lord Palmerston.  From the portrait by Partridge; photograph
+copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell, London"
+title=
+"Lord Palmerston.  From the portrait by Partridge; photograph
+copyright by Walker &amp; Cockerell, London"
+ src="images/p130s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>After dinner company soon arrived.&nbsp; Among them were Mrs.
+Opie, who resides here.&nbsp; She is a pleasing, lively old lady,
+in full Quaker dress.&nbsp; The most curious feature of the
+evening was a visit which the company paid to the cellar and
+kitchen, which were lighted up for the occasion.&nbsp; They were
+build by the old Norman bishops of the twelfth century, and had
+vaulted stone roofs as beautifully carved and ribbed as a
+church.</p>
+<p>The next day, Saturday, the antiquarians made a long excursion
+to hunt up some ruins, while the Milmans, Mr. Stanley, and
+ourselves, went to visit the place of Lady Suffield, about twelve
+miles distant, and which is the most perfect specimen of the
+Elizabethan style.&nbsp; Lady Suffield herself is as Elizabethan
+as her establishment; she is of one [of] the oldest high Tory
+families and so opposed to innovations of all sorts that though
+her letters, which used to arrive at two, before the opening of
+the railway two years ago, now arrive at seven in the morning,
+they are never allowed to be brought till the old hour. . . .
+This morning Mr. Bancroft and the rest are gone on an excursion
+to Yarmouth to see some ruins, while I remain here to witness the
+chairing of two new members of Parliament, who have just been
+elected, of whom Lord Douro, son of the Duke of Wellington, is
+one.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Audley
+End</span>, October 14, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Uncle</span>: We are staying for a
+few days at Lord Braybrooke&rsquo;s place, one of the most
+magnificent in England; but before I say a word about it I must
+tell you of A.&rsquo;s safe arrival and how happy I have been
+made by having him with me again. . . . On Saturday the 9th we
+had the honor of dining with the <i>Lord Mayor</i> to meet the
+Duke of Cambridge, a <i>f&ecirc;te</i> so unlike anything else
+and accompanied by so many old and peculiar customs that I must
+describe it to you at full length.&nbsp; The Mansion House is in
+the heart of the <i>City</i>, and is very magnificent and
+spacious, the Egyptian Hall, as the dining-room is called, being
+one of the noblest apartments I have seen.&nbsp; The guests were
+about 250 in number and were received by the Lady Mayoress
+<i>sitting</i>.&nbsp; When dinner was announced, the Lord Mayor
+went out first, preceded by the sword-bearer and mace-bearer and
+all the insignia of office.&nbsp; Then came the Duke of Cambridge
+and the Lady Mayoress, then Mr. Bancroft and I together, which is
+the custom at these great civic feasts.&nbsp; We marched through
+the long gallery by the music of the band to the Egyptian Hall,
+where two raised seats like thrones were provided for the Lord
+Mayor and Mayoress at the head of the hall.&nbsp; On the right
+hand of the Lord Mayor sat the Duke of Cambridge in a <i>common
+chair</i>, for royalty yields entirely to the Mayor, on his own
+ground.&nbsp; On the right of the Duke of Cambridge sat the
+Mayoress-elect (for the present dignitaries go out of office on
+the 1st of November).&nbsp; On the left hand of the present Lady
+Mayoress sat the Lord Mayor-<i>elect</i>, then I came with my
+husband on my left hand in very conjugal style.</p>
+<p>There were three tables the whole length of the hall, and that
+at which we were placed went across at the head.&nbsp; When we
+are placed, the herald stands behind the Lord Mayor and cries:
+&ldquo;My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, pray silence, for
+grace.&rdquo;&nbsp; Then the chaplain in his gown, goes behind
+the Lord Mayor and says grace.&nbsp; After the second course two
+large gold cups, nearly two feet high, are placed before the
+Mayor and Mayoress.&nbsp; The herald then cries with a loud
+voice: &ldquo;His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, the
+American Minister, the Lord Chief Baron,&rdquo; etc., etc.
+(enumerating about a dozen of the most distinguished guests),
+&ldquo;and ladies and gentlemen all, the Lord Mayor and Lady
+Mayoress do bid you most heartily welcome and invite you to drink
+in a loving cup.&rdquo;&nbsp; Whereupon the Mayor and Mayoress
+rise and each turn to their next neighbor, who take off the cover
+while they drink.&nbsp; After my right-hand neighbor, the Lord
+Mayor-elect, had put on the cover, he turns to me and says,
+&ldquo;Please take off the cover,&rdquo; which I do and hold it
+while he drinks; then I replace the cover and turn round to Mr.
+Bancroft, who rises and performs the same office for me while I
+drink; then he turns to his next neighbor, who takes off the
+cover for him.&nbsp; I have not felt so solemn since I stood up
+to be married as when Mr. Bancroft and I were standing up alone
+together, the rest of the company looking on, I with this great
+heavy gold cup in my hand, so heavy that I could scarcely lift it
+to my mouth with both hands, and he with the cover before me,
+with rather a mischievous expression in his face.&nbsp; Then came
+two immense gold platters filled with rose water, which were also
+passed round.&nbsp; These gold vessels were only used by the
+persons at the head table; the other guests were served with
+silver cups.&nbsp; When the dessert and the wine are placed on
+the table, the herald says, &ldquo;My Lords, Ladies, and
+Gentlemen, please to charge your glasses.&rdquo;&nbsp; After we
+duly charge our glasses the herald cries: &ldquo;Lords, Ladies,
+and Gentlemen, pray silence for the Lord Mayor.&rdquo;&nbsp; He
+then rises and proposes the first toast, which is, of course,
+always &ldquo;The Queen.&rdquo;&nbsp; After a time came the
+&ldquo;American Minister,&rdquo; who was obliged to rise up at my
+elbow and respond.&nbsp; We got home just after twelve.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image136" href="images/p136b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lady Palmerston.  From a painting, by permission of Sir Francis
+Gore"
+title=
+"Lady Palmerston.  From a painting, by permission of Sir Francis
+Gore"
+ src="images/p136s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>And now let me try to give you some faint idea of Audley End,
+which is by far the most magnificent house I have seen yet.&nbsp;
+It was built by the Earl of Suffolk, son of the Duke of Norfolk
+who was beheaded in Elizabeth&rsquo;s reign for high treason,
+upon the site of an abbey, the lands of which had been granted by
+the crown to that powerful family.&nbsp; One of the Earls of
+Suffolk dying without sons, the <i>Earldom</i> passed into
+another branch and the <i>Barony</i> and <i>estate</i> of Howard
+de Walden came into the female line.&nbsp; In course of time, a
+Lord Howard de Walden dying without a son, his title also passed
+into another family, but his estate went to his nephew, Lord
+Braybrooke, the father of the present Lord.&nbsp; Lady Braybrooke
+is the daughter of the Marquis of Cornwallis, and granddaughter
+of our American Lord Cornwallis.</p>
+<p>The house is of the Elizabethan period and is one of the best
+preserved specimens of that style, but of its vast extent and
+magnificence I can give you no idea.&nbsp; We arrived about five
+o&rsquo;clock, and were ushered through an immense hall of carved
+oak hung with banners up a fine staircase to the grand saloon,
+where we were received by the host and hostess.&nbsp; Now of this
+grand saloon I must try to give you a conception.&nbsp; It was, I
+should think, from seventy-five to one hundred feet in
+length.&nbsp; The ceiling overhead was very rich with hanging
+corbels, like stalactites, and the entire walls were panelled,
+with a full-length family portrait in each panel, which was
+arched at the top, so that the whole wall was composed of these
+round-topped pictures with rich gilding between.&nbsp;
+Notwithstanding its vast size, the sofas and tables were so
+disposed all over the apartment as to give it the most friendly,
+warm, and social aspect.</p>
+<p>Lady Braybrooke herself ushered me to my apartments, which
+were the state rooms.&nbsp; First came Mr. Bancroft&rsquo;s
+dressing-room, where was a blazing fire.&nbsp; Then came the
+bedroom, with the state bed of blue and gold, covered with
+embroidery, and with the arms and coronet of Howard de
+Walden.&nbsp; The walls were hung with crimson and white damask,
+and the sofas and chairs also, and it was surrounded by pictures,
+among others a full length of Queen Charlotte, just opposite the
+foot of the bed, always saluted me every morning when I awoke,
+with her fan, her hoop, and her deep ruffles.</p>
+<p>My dressing-room, which was on the opposite side from Mr.
+Bancroft&rsquo;s, was a perfect gem.&nbsp; It was painted by the
+famous Rebecco who came over from Italy to ornament so many of
+the great English houses at one time.&nbsp; The whole ceiling and
+walls were covered with beautiful designs and with gilding, and a
+beautiful recess for a couch was supported by fluted gilded
+columns; the architraves and mouldings of the doors were gilt,
+and the panels of the doors were filled with Rebecco&rsquo;s
+beautiful designs.&nbsp; The chairs were of light blue
+embroidered with thick, heavy gold, and all this bearing the
+stamp of antiquity was a thousand times more interesting than
+mere modern splendor.&nbsp; In the centre of the room was a
+toilet of white muslin (universal here), and on it a gilt
+dressing-glass, which gave pretty effect to the whole.</p>
+<p>I sat at dinner between Lord Braybrooke and Sir John Boileau,
+and found them both very agreeable.&nbsp; The dining-room is as
+magnificent as the other apartments.&nbsp; The ceiling is in the
+Elizabethan style, covered with figures, and the walls white and
+gold panelling hung with full-length family portraits not set
+into the wall like the saloon, but in frames.&nbsp; In the
+evening the young people had a round game at cards and the elder
+ones seemed to prefer talking to a game at whist.&nbsp; The
+ladies brought down their embroidery or netting.&nbsp; At eleven
+a tray with wine and water is brought in and a quantity of bed
+candlesticks, and everybody retires when they like.&nbsp; The
+next morning the guests assembled at half-past nine in the great
+gallery which leads to the chapel to go in together to
+prayers.&nbsp; The chapel is really a beautiful little piece of
+architecture, with a vaulted roof and windows of painted
+glass.&nbsp; On one side is the original cast of the large
+monument to Lord Cornwallis (our lord) which is in Westminster
+Abbey.&nbsp; After breakfast we passed a couple of hours in going
+all over the house, which is in perfect keeping in every
+part.</p>
+<p>We returned to the library, a room as splendid as the saloon,
+only instead of pictured panels it was surrounded by books in
+beautiful gilt bindings.&nbsp; In the immense bay window was a
+large Louis Quatorze table, round which the ladies all placed
+themselves at their embroidery, though I preferred looking over
+curious illuminated missals, etc., etc.</p>
+<p>The next day was the meeting of the County Agricultural
+Society. . . . At the hour appointed we all repaired to the
+ground where the prizes were to be given out. . . . Lord
+Braybrooke made first a most paternal and interesting address,
+which showed me in the most favorable view the relation between
+the noble and the lower class in England, a relation which must
+depend much on the personal character of the lord of the manor. .
+. . First came prizes to ploughmen, then the plough boys, then
+the shepherds, then to such peasants as had reared many children
+without aid, then to women who had been many years in the same
+farmer&rsquo;s service, etc., etc.&nbsp; A clock was awarded to a
+poor man and his wife who had reared six children and buried
+seven without aid from the parish.&nbsp; The rapture with which
+Mr. and Mrs. Flitton and the whole six children gazed on this
+clock, an immense treasure for a peasant&rsquo;s cottage, was
+both comic and affecting. . . . The next morning we made our
+adieus to our kind host and hostess, and set off for London,
+accompanied by Sir John Tyrrell, Major Beresford, and young Mr.
+Boileau.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+November 4, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear</span> W.: . . . Mr. Bancroft and I
+dined on Friday, the 22d, with Mr. and Mrs. Hawes,
+under-Secretary of State, to meet Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of
+Sarawak, who is a great lion in London just now.&nbsp; He is an
+English gentleman of large fortune who has done much to
+Christianize Borneo, and to open its trade to the English.&nbsp;
+I sat between him and Mr. Ward, formerly Minister to Mexico
+before Mr. Pakenham.&nbsp; He wrote a very nice book on Mexico,
+and is an agreeable and intelligent person. . . . On Wednesday A.
+and I went together to the National Gallery, and just as we were
+setting out Mr. Butler of New York came in and I invited him to
+join us. . . . While we were seated before a charming Claude who
+should come in but Mr. R. W. Emerson and we had quite a joyful
+greeting.&nbsp; Just then came in Mr. Rogers with two ladies, one
+on each arm.&nbsp; He renewed his request that I would bring my
+son to breakfast with him, and appointed Friday morning, and then
+added if those gentlemen who are with you are your friends and
+countrymen, perhaps they will accompany you.&nbsp; They very
+gladly acceded, and I was thankful Mr. Emerson had chanced to be
+with me at that moment as it procured him a high pleasure.</p>
+<p>Yesterday your father and I dined with Sir George Grey. . . .
+About four o&rsquo;clock came on such a fog as I have not seen in
+London, and the newspapers of this morning speak of it as greater
+than has been known for many years.&nbsp; Sir George Grey lives
+in Eaton Place, which is parallel and just behind Eaton
+Square.&nbsp; In going that little distance, though there is a
+brilliant gas light at every door, the coachman was completely
+bewildered, and lost himself entirely.&nbsp; We could only walk
+the horses, the footman exploring ahead.&nbsp; When the guests by
+degrees arrived, there was the same rejoicing as if we had met on
+Mont St. Bernard after a contest with an Alpine snow-storm. . . .
+Lady Grey told me she was dining with the Queen once in one of
+these tremendous fogs, and that many of the guests did not arrive
+till dinner was half through, which was horrible at a royal
+dinner; but the elements care little for royalty.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">November 14th.</p>
+<p>On Saturday we dined at the Duc de Broglie&rsquo;s.&nbsp; He
+married the daughter of Madam de Sta&euml;l, but she is not now
+living.&nbsp; I was very agreeably placed with Mr. Macaulay on
+one side of me, so that I found it more pleasant than diplomatic
+dinners usually.&nbsp; At the English tables we meet people who
+know each other well, and have a common culture and tastes and
+habits of familiarity, and a fund of pleasant stories, but of
+course, at foreign tables, they neither know each other or the
+English so well as to give the same easy flow to
+conversation.&nbsp; I am afraid we are the greatest diners-out in
+London, but we are brought into contact a great deal with the
+literary and Parliamentary people, which our colleagues know
+little about, as also with the clergy and the judges.&nbsp; I
+should not be willing to make it the habit of my life, but it is
+time not misspent during the years of our abode here. . . . The
+good old Archbishop of York is dead, and I am glad I paid my
+visit to him when I did.&nbsp; Mr. Rogers has paid me a long
+visit to-day and gave me all the particulars of his death.&nbsp;
+It was a subject I should not have introduced, for of that knot
+of intimate friends, Mr. Grenville, the Archbishop, and himself,
+he is now all that remains.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">November 28th.</p>
+<p>. . . On Monday evening I went without Mr. Bancroft to a
+little party at Mrs. Lyell&rsquo;s, where I was introduced to
+Mrs. Somerville.&nbsp; She has resided for the last nine years
+abroad, chiefly at Venice, but has now come to London and taken a
+house very near us. . . . Her daughter told me that nothing could
+exceed the ease and simplicity with which her literary
+occupations were carried on.&nbsp; She is just publishing a book
+upon Natural Geography without regard to political
+boundaries.&nbsp; She writes principally before she rises in the
+morning on a little piece of board, with her inkstand on a table
+by her side.&nbsp; After she leaves her room she is as much at
+leisure as other people, but if an idea strikes her she takes her
+little board into a corner or window and writes quietly for a
+short time and returns to join the circle.</p>
+<p>Dr. Somerville told me that his wife did not discover her
+genius for mathematics till she was about sixteen.&nbsp; Her
+brother, who has no talent for it, was receiving a mathematical
+lesson from a master while she was hemming and stitching in the
+room.&nbsp; In this way she first heard the problems of Euclid
+stated and was ravished.&nbsp; When the lesson was over, she
+carried off the book to her room and devoured it.&nbsp; For a
+long time she pursued her studies secretly, as she had scaled
+heights of science which were not considered feminine by those
+about her.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">December 2d.</p>
+<p>I put down my pen yesterday when the carriage came to the door
+for my drive.&nbsp; It was a day bright, beaming, and
+exhilarating as one of our own winter days.&nbsp; I was so busy
+enjoying the unusual beams of the unclouded sun that I did not
+perceive for some time that I had left my muff, and was obliged
+to drive home again to get it.&nbsp; While I was waiting in the
+carriage for the footman to get it, two of the most agreeable
+old-lady faces in the world presented themselves at the
+window.&nbsp; They were the Miss Berrys.&nbsp; They had driven up
+behind me and got out to have a little talk on the
+sidewalk.&nbsp; I took them into Mr. Bancroft&rsquo;s room and
+was thankful that my muff had sent me back to receive a visit
+which at their age is rarely paid. . . . I found them full of
+delight at Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, with whose nobleness
+of soul they would have great sympathy.&nbsp; He is just now the
+lion of London, and like all other lions is run after by most
+people because he is one, and by the few because he deserves to
+be one.&nbsp; Now, lest you should know nothing about him, let me
+tell you that at his own expense he fitted out a vessel, and
+established himself at Borneo, where he soon acquired so great
+[an] ascendancy over the native Rajah, that he insisted on
+resigning to him the government of his province of Sarawak.&nbsp;
+Here, with only three European companions, by moral and
+intellectual force alone, he succeeded in suppressing piracy and
+civil war among the natives and opened a trade with the interior
+of Borneo which promises great advantages to England. . . .
+Everybody here has the <i>Influenza</i>&mdash;a right-down
+influenza, that sends people to their beds.&nbsp; Those who have
+triumphed at their exemption in the evening, wake up perhaps in
+the morning full of aches in every limb, and scoff no longer. . .
+. Dinner parties are sometimes quite broken up by the excuses
+that come pouring in at the last moment.&nbsp; Lady John Russell
+had seven last week at a small dinner of twelve; 1,200 policemen
+at one time were taken off duty, so that the thieves might have
+had their own way, but they were probably as badly off
+themselves.</p>
+<h3><i>To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+December 16, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: . . . On
+Saturday Mr. Hallam wrote us that Sir Robert Peel had promised to
+breakfast with him on Monday morning and he thought we should
+like to meet him in that quiet way.&nbsp; So we presented
+ourselves at ten o&rsquo;clock, and were joined by Sir Robert,
+Lord Mahon, Macaulay, and Milman, who with Hallam himself, formed
+a circle that could not be exceeded in the wide world.&nbsp; I
+was the only lady, except Miss Hallam; but I am especially
+favored in the breakfast line.&nbsp; I would cross the Atlantic
+only for the pleasure I had that morning in hearing such men talk
+for two or three hours in an entirely easy unceremonious
+breakfast way.&nbsp; Sir Robert was full of stories, and showed
+himself as much the scholar as the statesman.&nbsp; Macaulay was
+overflowing as usual, and Lord Mahon and Milman are full of
+learning and accomplishments.&nbsp; The classical scholarship of
+these men is very perfect and sometimes one catches a glimpse of
+awfully deep abysses of learning.&nbsp; But then it is
+<i>only</i> a glimpse, for their learning has no cumbrous and
+dull pedantry about it.&nbsp; They are all men of society and men
+of the world, who keep up with it everywhere.&nbsp; There is many
+a pleasant story and many a good joke, and everything discussed
+but politics, which, as Sir Robert and Macaulay belong to
+opposite dynasties, might be dangerous ground.</p>
+<p>After dinner we went a little before ten to Lady Charlotte
+Lindsay&rsquo;s.&nbsp; She came last week to say that she was to
+have a little dinner on Monday and wished us to come in
+afterwards.&nbsp; This is universal here, and is the easiest and
+most agreeable form of society.&nbsp; She had Lord Brougham and
+Colonel and Mrs. Dawson-Damer, etc., to dine. . . . Mrs. Damer
+wished us to come the next evening to her in the same way, just
+to get our cup of tea.&nbsp; These nice little teas are what you
+need in Boston.&nbsp; There is no supper, no expense, nothing but
+society.&nbsp; Mrs. Damer is the granddaughter of the beautiful
+Lady Waldegrave, the niece of Horace Walpole, who married the
+Duke of Gloucester.&nbsp; She was left an orphan at a year old
+and was confided by her mother to the care of Mrs.
+Fitzherbert.&nbsp; She lived with her until her marriage and was
+a great pet of George IV, and tells a great many interesting
+stories of him and Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was five years older
+than he.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image154" href="images/p154b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Mrs. Dawson Damer.  From the miniature by Isabey, by permission
+of Lady Constance Leslie"
+title=
+"Mrs. Dawson Damer.  From the miniature by Isabey, by permission
+of Lady Constance Leslie"
+ src="images/p154s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+December 30, 1847.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear</span> W.: Your father left me on the
+18th to go to Paris.&nbsp; This is the best of all seasons for
+him to be there, for the Ministers are all out of town at
+Christmas, and in Paris everything is at its height.&nbsp; My
+friends are very kind to me&mdash;those who remain in town. . . .
+One day I dined at Sir Francis Simpkinson&rsquo;s and found a
+pleasant party.&nbsp; Lady Simpkinson is a sister of Lady
+Franklin, whom I was very glad to meet, as she has been in
+America and knows many Americans, Mrs. Kirkland for one. . . .
+Then I have passed one evening for the first time at Mr.
+Tagent&rsquo;s, the Unitarian clergyman, where I met many of the
+literary people who are out of the great world, and yet very
+desirable to see.</p>
+<p>There, too, I met the Misses Cushman, Charlotte and Susan, who
+attend his church.&nbsp; I was very much pleased with both of
+them.&nbsp; I have never seen them play, but they will send me a
+list of their parts at their next engagement and I shall
+certainly go to hear them.&nbsp; They are of Old Colony descent
+(from Elder Cushman), and have very much of the New England
+character, culture, and good sense.&nbsp; On Monday I dined at
+Sir Edward Codrington&rsquo;s, the hero of Navarino, with the
+Marquis and Marchioness of Queensberry, and a party of admirals
+and navy officers.&nbsp; On Tuesday I dined at Lady
+Braye&rsquo;s, where were Mr. Rogers, Dr. Holland, Sir Augustus
+and Lady Albinia Foster, formerly British Minister to the United
+States.&nbsp; He could describe <i>our Court</i>, as he called
+it, in the time of Madison and Monroe.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">January 1, 1848.</p>
+<p>This evening, in addition to my usual morning letter from your
+father, I have another; a new postal arrangement beginning to-day
+with the New Year.&nbsp; He gives me a most interesting
+conversation he has just been having with Baron von Humboldt, who
+is now in Paris.&nbsp; He says he poured out a delicious stream
+of remarks, anecdotes, narratives, opinion.&nbsp; He feels great
+interest in our Mexican affairs, as he has been much there, and
+is a Mexican by adoption.</p>
+<p>His letter, dated the 31st December, says: &ldquo;Madam
+Adelaide died at three this morning.&rdquo;&nbsp; This death
+astonished me, for he saw her only a few evenings since at the
+Palace.&nbsp; She was a woman of strong intellect and character,
+and her brother, the King, was very much attached to her as a
+counsellor and friend. . . . There were more than 100 Americans
+to be presented on New Year&rsquo;s Day at Paris, and, as Madam
+Adelaide&rsquo;s death took place without a day&rsquo;s warning,
+you can imagine the embroidered coats and finery which were laid
+on the shelf.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Saturday, January 7th.</p>
+<p>Yesterday, my dear son, I had a delightful dinner at the dear
+Miss Berrys.&nbsp; They drove to the door on Thursday and left a
+little note to say, &ldquo;Can you forgive a poor sick soul for
+not coming to you before, when you were all alone,&rdquo; and
+begging me to come the next day at seven, to dine.&nbsp; There
+was Lady Charlotte and Lady Stuart de Rothesay, who was many
+years ambassadress at Paris, and very agreeable.&nbsp; Then there
+was Dr. Holland and Mr. Stanley, the under-Secretary of State,
+etc.&nbsp; In the evening came quite an additional party, and I
+passed it most pleasantly. . . . Your father writes that on
+Friday he dined at Thiers&rsquo; with Mignet, Cousin, Pontois,
+and Lord Normanby.&nbsp; He says such a dinner is &ldquo;unique
+in a man&rsquo;s life.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Mignet is delightful,
+frank, open, gay, full of intelligence, and of that grace which
+makes society charming.&rdquo; . . . Your father to-day gives me
+some account of Thiers.&nbsp; He is now fifty: he rises at five
+o&rsquo;clock every morning, toils till twelve, breakfasts, makes
+researches, and then goes to the Chambers.&nbsp; In the evening
+he always receives his friends except Wednesdays and Thursdays,
+when he attends his wife to the opera and to the
+Acad&eacute;mie.</p>
+<h3><i>To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+January 28th, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: . . . Last
+Monday I received [this] note from George Sumner, which I thought
+might interest you: &ldquo;My dear Mrs. Bancroft: I hasten to
+congratulate you upon an event most honorable to Mr. Bancroft and
+to our country.&nbsp; The highest honor which can be bestowed in
+France upon a foreigner has just been conferred on him.&nbsp; He
+was chosen this afternoon a Corresponding Member of the
+Institute.&nbsp; Five names were presented for the vacant chair
+of History.&nbsp; Every vote but one was in favor of Mr. Bancroft
+(that one for Mr. Grote of London, author of the &lsquo;History
+of Greece&rsquo;).&nbsp; A gratifying fact in regard to this
+election is that it comes without the knowledge of Mr. Bancroft,
+and without any of those preliminary visits on his part, and
+those appeals to academicians whose votes are desired, that are
+so common with candidates for vacancies at the Institute.&nbsp;
+The honor acquires double value for being unsought, and I have
+heard with no small satisfaction several Members of the Academy
+contrast the modest reserve of Mr. Bancroft with the restless
+manoeuvres to which they have been accustomed.&nbsp; Prescott,
+you know, is already a member, and I think America may be
+satisfied with two out of seven of a class of History which is
+selected from the world.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image160" href="images/p160b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Mrs. Fitzherbert.  From the pastel by J. Russell"
+title=
+"Mrs. Fitzherbert.  From the pastel by J. Russell"
+ src="images/p160s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h3><i>To T. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+February 24, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Brother</span>: . . . Great
+excitement exists in London to-day at the reception of the news
+from France.&nbsp; Guizot is overthrown, and Count Mol&eacute; is
+made Prime Minister.&nbsp; The National Guards have sided with
+the people, and would not fire upon them, and that secret of the
+weakness of the army being revealed, I do not see why the Liberal
+party cannot obtain all they want in the end.&nbsp; Louis
+Philippe has sacrificed the happiness of France for the
+advancement of his own family, but nations in the nineteenth
+[century] have learned that they were not made to be the slaves
+of a dynasty.&nbsp; Mr. Bancroft dines with the French Minister
+to-day, not with a party, but quite <i>en famille</i>, and he
+will learn there what the hopes and fears of the Government
+are.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">February 25th.</p>
+<p>The news this morning is only from Amiens, which has risen in
+support of France.&nbsp; The railways are torn up all round
+Paris, to prevent the passage of troops, and the roads and
+barriers are all in possession of the people.&nbsp; All France
+will follow the lead of Paris, and what will be the result Heaven
+only knows.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+February 26, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle</span>: . . . On Thursday
+Mr. Bancroft dined with Count Jarnac, the Minister in the Duc de
+Broglie&rsquo;s absence, and he little dreamed of the blow
+awaiting him.&nbsp; The fortifications and the army seemed to
+make the King quite secure.&nbsp; On Friday Mr. Bancroft went to
+dine with Kenyon, and I drove there with him for a little
+air.&nbsp; On my return Cates, the butler, saluted me with the
+wondrous news of the deposition and flight of the royal family,
+which Mr. Brodhead had rushed up from his club to impart to
+us.&nbsp; I was engaged to a little party at Mr. Hallam&rsquo;s,
+where I found everybody in great excitement.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday Noon.</p>
+<p>To-day we were to have dined with Baron de Rothschild, but
+this morning I got a note from the beautiful baroness, saying
+that her sister-in-law and her mother with three children, had
+just arrived from Paris at her house in the greatest distress,
+without a change of clothes, and in deep anxiety about the Baron,
+who had stayed behind.</p>
+<p>Our colleagues all look bewildered and perplexed beyond
+measure. . . . The English aristocracy have no love for Louis
+Philippe, but much less for a republic, so near at hand, and
+everybody seemed perplexed and uneasy.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Tuesday.</p>
+<p>On Sunday the Duc de Nemours arrived at the French Embassy,
+and Monday the poor Duchess de Montpensier, the innocent cause of
+all the trouble.&nbsp; No one knows where the Duchess de Nemours
+and her young children are, and the King and Queen are entirely
+missing.&nbsp; At one moment it is reported that he is drowned,
+and then, again, at Brussels.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Wednesday.</p>
+<p>To-day the French Embassy have received despatches announcing
+the new government, and Count Jarnac has immediately
+resigned.&nbsp; This made it impossible for the Duc de Nemours
+and the Duchess de Montpensier to remain at the Embassy, and they
+fell by inheritance to Mr. Van de Weyer, whose Queen is Louis
+Philippe&rsquo;s daughter.&nbsp; The Queen has taken Louis
+Philippe&rsquo;s daughter, Princess Clementine, who married
+Prince Auguste de Saxe-Coburg to the Palace, but for State
+Policy&rsquo;s sake she can do nothing about the others.&nbsp;
+Mr. Van de Weyer offered Mr. Bates&rsquo;s place of East Sheen,
+which was most gratefully accepted.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Friday.</p>
+<p>This morning came Thackeray, who is the soul of <i>Punch</i>,
+and showed me a piece he had written for the next number.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Saturday.</p>
+<p>The King has arrived.&nbsp; What a crossing of the Channel,
+pea-jacket, woollen comforter, and all!&nbsp; The flight is a
+perfect comedy, and if <i>Punch</i> had tried to invent anything
+more ludicrous, it would have failed.&nbsp; Panic, despotism, and
+cowardice.</p>
+<p>These things are much more exciting here than across the
+water.&nbsp; We are so near the scene of action and everybody has
+a more personal interest here in all these matters.&nbsp; The
+whole week has been like a long play, and now, on Saturday night,
+I want nothing but repose.&nbsp; What a dream it must be to the
+chief actors!&nbsp; The Queen, who is always good and noble, was
+averse to such ignominious flight; she preferred staying and
+taking what came, and if Madam Adelaide had lived, they would
+never have made such a [word undecipherable] figure.&nbsp; Her
+pride and courage would have inspired them.&nbsp; With her seemed
+to fly Louis Philippe&rsquo;s star, as Napoleon&rsquo;s with
+Josephine. . . . Mr. Emerson has just come to London and we give
+him a dinner on Tuesday, the 14th.&nbsp; Several persons wish
+much to see him, and Monckton Milnes reviewed him in
+<i>Blackwood</i>.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+March 11, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear</span> W.: . . . Yesterday we dined
+at Lord Lansdowne&rsquo;s.&nbsp; Among the guests were M. and
+Madam Van de Weyer, and Mrs. Austin, the translatress, who has
+been driven over here from Paris, where she has resided for
+several years.&nbsp; She is a vehement friend of Guizot&rsquo;s,
+though a bitter accuser of Louis Philippe, but how can they be
+separated?&nbsp; She interests herself strongly now in all his
+arrangements, and is assisting his daughters to form their humble
+establishment.&nbsp; He and his daughters together have about
+eight hundred pounds a year, and that in London is poverty.&nbsp;
+They have taken a small house in Brompton Square, a little out of
+town, and one of those suburban, unfashionable regions where the
+most accommodations can be had at the least price.&nbsp; What a
+change for those who have witnessed their almost regal receptions
+in Paris!&nbsp; The young ladies bear very sweetly all their
+reverses. . . . Guizot, himself, I hear, is as <i>fier</i> as
+ever, and almost gay.&nbsp; Princess de Lieven is here at the
+&ldquo;Clarendon,&rdquo; and their friendship is as great as
+ever.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">March 15th.</p>
+<p>Yesterday we had an agreeable dinner at our own house.&nbsp;
+Macaulay, Milman, Lord Morpeth and Monckton Milnes were all most
+charming, and we ladies listened with eager ears.&nbsp;
+Conversation was never more interesting than just now, in this
+great crisis of the world&rsquo;s affairs.&nbsp; Mr. Emerson was
+here and seemed to enjoy [it] much.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Friday, March 17th.</p>
+<p>Things look rather darker in France, but we ought not to
+expect a republic to be established without some difficulties. .
+. . You cannot judge of the state of France, however, through the
+medium of the English newspapers, for, of course, English
+sympathies are all entirely against it.&nbsp; They never like
+France, and a republic of any kind still less.&nbsp; A peaceful
+and prosperous republic in the heart of Europe would be more
+deprecated than a state of anarchy.&nbsp; The discussion of
+French matters reveals to me every moment the deep repugnance of
+the English to republican institutions.&nbsp; It lets in a world
+of light upon opinions and feelings, which, otherwise, would not
+have been discovered by me.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image170" href="images/p170b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Richard Monckton Miles, (Lord Houghton).  From a drawing by
+Cousins, by permission of the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker"
+title=
+"Richard Monckton Miles, (Lord Houghton).  From a drawing by
+Cousins, by permission of the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker"
+ src="images/p170s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Sunday, March 19th.</p>
+<p>Yesterday we breakfasted at Mrs. Milman&rsquo;s.&nbsp; I was
+the only lady, but there were Macaulay, Hallam, Lord Morpeth,
+and, above all, Charles Austin, whom I had not seen before, as he
+never dines out, but who is the most striking talker in
+England.&nbsp; He has made a fortune by the law in the last few
+years, which gives him an income of &pound;8,000.&nbsp; He has
+the great railroad cases which come before the House of Lords. .
+. . On Tuesday came a flying report of a revolution in Berlin,
+but no one believed it.&nbsp; We concluded it rather a
+speculation of the newsmen, who are hawking revolutions after
+every mail in second and third editions.&nbsp; We were going that
+evening to a <i>soir&eacute;e</i> at Bunsen&rsquo;s, whom we
+found cheerful as ever and fearing no evil.&nbsp; On Monday the
+news of the revolution in Austria produced a greater sensation
+even than France, for it was the very pivot of conservatism. . .
+. On Thursday I received the letter from A. at eight <span
+class="GutSmall">A.M.</span>, which I enclose to you.&nbsp; It
+gives an account of the revolution in Berlin.</p>
+<h3><i>To T. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right">March 31.</p>
+<p>The old world is undergoing a complete reorganization, and is
+unfolding a rapid series of events more astonishing than anything
+in history.&nbsp; Where it will stop, and what will be its
+results, nobody can tell.&nbsp; Royalty has certainly not added
+to its respectability by its conduct in its time of trial.&nbsp;
+Since the last steamer went, Italy has shaken off the Austrian
+yoke, Denmark has lost her German provinces, Poland has risen, or
+is about to rise, which will bring Russia thundering down upon
+Liberal Europe. . . . Our whole Diplomatic Corps are certainly
+&ldquo;in a fix,&rdquo; and we are really the only members of it
+who have any reason to be quite at ease.&nbsp; Two or three have
+been called home to be Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as they have
+learned something of constitutional liberty in England.&nbsp;
+England is, as yet, all quiet, and I hope will keep so, but the
+Chartists are at work and Ireland is full of inflammable
+matter.&nbsp; But England does love her institutions, and is
+justly proud of their comparative freedom, and long may she enjoy
+them. . . . On Sunday Mr. Emerson dined with us with Lady Morgan
+and Mrs. Jameson&mdash;the authoress.&nbsp; On Monday I took him
+to a little party at Lady Morgan&rsquo;s.&nbsp; His works are a
+good deal known here.&nbsp; I have great pleasure in seeing so
+old a friend so far from home. . . . I think we shall have very
+few of our countrymen out this spring, as travelling Europe is so
+uncertain, with everything in commotion.&nbsp; Those who are
+passing the winter in Italy are quite shut in at present, and if
+war begins, no one knows where it will spread.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+April 7, 1848.</p>
+<p>. . . On Wednesday we had an agreeable dinner at Mrs. Milner
+Gibson&rsquo;s.&nbsp; Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli, Mr. and Mrs.
+Sheridan (brother of Mrs. Norton), etc., were among the
+guests.&nbsp; After dinner I had a very long talk with
+Disraeli.&nbsp; He is, you know, of the ultra Tory party here,
+and looks at the Continental movements from the darkest point of
+view.&nbsp; He cannot admit as a possibility the renovation of
+European society upon more liberal principles, and considers it
+as the complete dissolution of European civilization which will,
+like Asia, soon present but the ashes of a burnt-out flame.&nbsp;
+This is most atheistic, godless, and un-christian doctrine, and
+he cannot himself believe it.&nbsp; The art of printing and the
+rapid dissemination of thought changes all these things in our
+days.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right">April 10.</p>
+<p>This is the day of the &ldquo;Great Chartist Meeting,&rdquo;
+which has terrified all London to the last degree, I think most
+needlessly.&nbsp; The city and town is at this moment stiller
+than I have ever known it, for not a carriage dares to be
+out.&nbsp; Nothing is to be seen but a &ldquo;special
+constable&rdquo; (every gentleman in London is sworn into that
+office), occasionally some on foot, some on horseback, scouring
+the streets.&nbsp; I took a drive early this morning with Mr.
+Bancroft, and nothing could be less like the eve of a
+revolution.&nbsp; This evening, when the petition is to be
+presented, may bring some disturbance, not from the Chartists
+themselves, but from the disorderly persons who may avail
+themselves of the occasion.&nbsp; The Queen left town on Saturday
+for the Isle of Wight, as she had so lately been confined it was
+feared her health might suffer from any agitation. . . . I passed
+a long train of artillery on Saturday evening coming into town,
+which was the most earnest looking thing I have seen. . . .
+To-day we were to have dined at Mrs. Mansfield&rsquo;s, but her
+dinner was postponed from the great alarm about the
+Chartists.&nbsp; There is not the slightest danger of a
+revolution in England.&nbsp; The upper middle-class, which on the
+continent is entirely with the people, the professional and
+mercantile class, is here entirely conservative, and without that
+class no great changes can ever be made.&nbsp; The Duc de
+Montebello said of France, that he &ldquo;knew there were lava
+streams below, but he did not know the crust was so
+thin.&rdquo;&nbsp; Here, on the contrary, the crust is very
+thick.&nbsp; And yet I can see in the most conservative circles
+that a feeling is gaining ground that some concessions must be
+made.&nbsp; An enlargement of the suffrage one hears now often
+discussed as, perhaps, an approaching necessity.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Friday, April 14.</p>
+<p>The day of the Chartists passed off with most ridiculous
+quiet, and the government is stronger than ever. . . . If the
+Alien Bill passes, our American friends must mind their p&rsquo;s
+and q&rsquo;s, for if they praise the &ldquo;model
+republic&rdquo; too loudly, they may be packed off at any time,
+particularly if they have &ldquo;long beards,&rdquo; for it seems
+to be an axiom here that beards, mustaches, and barricades are
+cousins-german at least. . . . Mr. Bancroft goes to Paris on
+Monday, the 17th, to pass the Easter holidays.&nbsp; He will go
+on with his manuscripts, and at the same time witness the
+elections and meeting of the Convention.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+April 19, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear</span> W.: . . . To-day I have driven
+down to Richmond to lunch with Mrs. Drummond, who is passing
+Easter holidays there.&nbsp; On coming home I found a letter from
+Mr. Bancroft from which I will make some extracts, as he has the
+best sources of knowledge in Paris.&nbsp; &ldquo;Then I went to
+Mignet, who, you know, is politically the friend of Thiers.&nbsp;
+He pointed out to me the condition of France, and drew for me a
+picture of what it was and of the change.&nbsp; I begin to see
+the difference between France and us.&nbsp; Here they are
+accustomed to <i>be</i> governed.&nbsp; <i>We</i> are accustomed
+to <i>govern</i>.&nbsp; <i>Here</i> power may be seized and
+exercised, if exercised in a satisfactory manner; with us the
+foundation of power, its constitutionality and the legality of
+its acts are canvassed and analyzed.&nbsp; Here an unpopularity
+is made away with by a revolution, and you know how <i>we</i>
+deal with it.&nbsp; Thus, power, if in favor, may dare anything,
+and if out of favor is little likely to be forgiven.&rdquo; . . .
+&ldquo;Our fathers had to unite the thirteen States; here they
+have unity enough and run no risk but from the excess of
+it.&nbsp; My hopes are not less than they were, but all that
+France needs may not come at once.&nbsp; We were fourteen years
+in changing our confederation into a union, perhaps France cannot
+be expected to jump at once into perfect legislation or perfect
+forms.&nbsp; Crude ideas are afloat, but as to Communism, it is
+already exploded, or will be brushed away from legislative power
+as soon as the National Assembly meets, though the question of
+ameliorating the condition of the laboring class is more and more
+engaging the public mind.&rdquo; . . . &ldquo;I spent an hour
+with Cousin, the Minister of a morning.&nbsp; He gave me sketches
+of many of the leading men of these times, and I made him detail
+to me he scene of Louis Philippe&rsquo;s abdication, which took
+place in a manner quite different from what I had heard in
+London.&rdquo; . . . &ldquo;Cousin, by the way, says that the Duc
+de Nemours throughout, behaved exceedingly well.&nbsp; Thence to
+the Club de la Nouvelle Republique.&nbsp; Did not think much of
+the speaking which I heard.&nbsp; From the club I went to Thiers,
+where I found Cousin and Mignet and one or two more.&nbsp; Some
+change since I met him.&nbsp; A leader of opposition, then a
+prime minister, and now left aground by the shifting tide.&rdquo;
+. . . &ldquo;Everybody has given up Louis Philippe, everybody
+considers the nonsense of Louis Blanc as drawing to its
+close.&nbsp; The delegates from Paris will full half be
+<i>universally</i> acceptable.&nbsp; Three-fourths of the
+provincial delegates will be <i>moderate</i> republicans.&nbsp;
+The people are not in a passion.&nbsp; They go quietly enough
+about their business of constructing new institutions.&nbsp;
+Ledru-Rollin, Louis Blanc, and Flocon tried to lead the way to
+ill, but Lamartine, whose heroism passes belief and activity
+passes human power, won the victory over them, found himself on
+Sunday, and again yesterday, sustained by all Paris, and has not
+only conquered but <i>conciliated</i> them, and everybody is now
+firmly of opinion that the Republic will be established
+quietly.&rdquo; . . . &ldquo;But while there are no difficulties
+from the disorderly but what can easily be overcome, the want of
+republican and political experience, combined with vanity and
+self-reliance and idealism, may throw impediments in the way of
+what the wisest wish, <i>viz.</i>, two elected chambers and a
+president.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+May 5, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear</span> W.: . . . Last evening,
+Thursday, we went to see Jenny Lind, on her first appearance this
+year.&nbsp; She was received with enthusiasm, and the Queen still
+more so.&nbsp; It was the first time the Queen had been at the
+opera since the birth of her child, and since the republican
+spirit was abroad, and loyalty burst out in full force.&nbsp; Now
+loyalty is very novel, and pleasant to witness, to us who have
+never known it.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+May 31, 1848.</p>
+<p>. . . Now for my journal, which has gone lamely on since the
+24th of February.&nbsp; The Queen&rsquo;s Ball was to take place
+the evening on which I closed my last letter.&nbsp; My dress was
+a white cr&ecirc;pe over white satin, with flounces of Honiton
+lace looped up with pink tuberoses.&nbsp; A wreath of tuberoses
+and bouquet for the corsage.&nbsp; We had tickets sent us to go
+through the garden and set down at a private door, which saves
+waiting in the long line of carriages for your turn.&nbsp; The
+Diplomatic Corps arrange themselves in a line near the door at
+which the Queen enters the suite of rooms, which was at ten
+precisely.&nbsp; She passes through, curtseying and bowing very
+gracefully, until she reaches the throne in the next room, where
+she and the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and
+her daughters, who are here on a visit, etc., sit down, while
+Prince Albert, the Prince of Prussia and other sprigs of royalty
+stand near.&nbsp; The dancing soon began in front of the canopy,
+but the Queen herself did not dance on account of her mourning
+for Prince Albert&rsquo;s grandmother.&nbsp; There was another
+band and dancing in other rooms at the same time.&nbsp; After
+seeing several dances here the Queen and her suite move by the
+flourish of trumpets to another room, the guests forming a lane
+as she passes, bowing and smiling.&nbsp; Afterward she made a
+similar progress to supper, her household officers moving
+backwards before her, and her ladies and royal relatives and
+friends following.&nbsp; At half-past one Her Majesty retired and
+the guests departed, such as did not have to wait two hours for
+their carriages.&nbsp; On Saturday we went at two to the
+<i>f&ecirc;te</i> of flowers at Chiswick, and at half-past seven
+dined at Lord Monteagle&rsquo;s to meet Monsieur and Mademoiselle
+Guizot.&nbsp; He has the finest head in the world, but his person
+is short and insignificant.</p>
+<p>On Wednesday we dined at Lady Chantrey&rsquo;s to meet a
+charming party.&nbsp; Afterward we went to a magnificent ball at
+the Duke of Devonshire&rsquo;s, with all the great world.&nbsp;
+On Friday we went to Faraday&rsquo;s lecture at the Royal
+Institution.&nbsp; We went in with the Duke and Duchess of
+Northumberland, and I sat by her during the lecture.&nbsp; On
+Saturday was the Queen&rsquo;s Birthday Drawing-Room. . . . Mr.
+Bancroft dined at Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s with all the diplomats,
+and I went in the evening with a small party of ladies.&nbsp; On
+coming home we drove round to see the brilliant birthday
+illuminations.&nbsp; The first piece of intelligence I heard at
+Lady Palmerston&rsquo;s was the death of the Princess Sophia, an
+event which is a happy release for her, for she was blind and a
+great sufferer.&nbsp; It has overturned all court festivities, of
+course, for the present, and puts us all in deep mourning, which
+is not very convenient just now, in the brilliant season, and
+when we had all our dress arrangements made.&nbsp; The Queen was
+to have a concert to-night, a drawing-room next Friday, and a
+ball on the 16th, which are all deferred. . . . I forgot to say
+that I got a note from Miss Coutts on Sunday, asking me to go
+with her the next day to see the Chinese junk, so at three the
+next day we repaired to her house.&nbsp; Her sisters (Miss
+Burdetts) and Mr. Rogers were all the party.&nbsp; At the junk
+for the first time I saw Metternich and the Princess, his
+wife.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+June 29, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear</span> W.: . . . When I last left
+off I was going to dine at Miss Coutts&rsquo;s to meet the
+Duchess of Cambridge.&nbsp; The party was brilliant, including
+the Duke of Wellington, Lord and Lady Douro, Lady Jersey and the
+beautiful Lady Clementina Villiers, her daughter, etc.&nbsp; When
+royal people arrive everybody rises and remains standing while
+they stand, and if they approach you or look at you, you must
+perform the lowest of &ldquo;curtsies.&rdquo;&nbsp; The courtesy
+made to royalty is very like the one I was taught to make when a
+little girl at Miss Tuft&rsquo;s school in Plymouth.&nbsp; One
+sinks down instead of stepping back in dancing-school
+fashion.&nbsp; After dinner the Duchess was pleased to stand
+until the gentlemen rejoined us; of course, we must all stand. .
+. . The next day we dined at the Lord Mayor&rsquo;s to meet the
+Ministers.&nbsp; This was a most interesting affair.&nbsp; We had
+all the peculiar ceremonies which I described to you last autumn,
+but in addition the party was most distinguished, and we had
+speeches from Lord Lansdowne, Lord Palmerston, Lord John, Lord
+Auckland, Sir George Grey, etc.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+July 21, 1848.</p>
+<p>I was truly grieved that the last steamer should go to Boston
+without a line from me, but I was in Yorkshire and you must
+forgive me. . . . I left off with the 26th of June. . . . The
+next evening was the Queen&rsquo;s Concert, which was most
+charming.&nbsp; I sat very near the Duke of Wellington, who often
+spoke to me between the songs. . . . The next day we went with
+Miss Coutts to her bank, lunched there, and went all over the
+building.&nbsp; Then we went to the Tower and the Tunnel
+together, she never having seen either.&nbsp; So ignorant are the
+West End people of city lions. . . . And now comes my pleasant
+Yorkshire excursion.&nbsp; We left London, at half-past three, at
+distance of 180 miles.&nbsp; This was Saturday, July 8.&nbsp; At
+York we found Mr. Hudson ready to receive us and conduct us to a
+special train which took us eighteen miles on the way to Newby
+Park, and there we found carriages to take us four miles to our
+destination.&nbsp; We met at dinner and found our party to
+consist of the Duke of Richmond, Lord Lonsdale, Lord George
+Bentinck, Lord Ingestre, Lord John Beresford, Lady Webster, whose
+husband, now dead, was the son of Lady Holland, two or three
+agreeable talkers to fill in, and ourselves.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image190" href="images/p190b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lord George Bentinck.  From a painting by Lane, by permission of
+the Duke of Portland"
+title=
+"Lord George Bentinck.  From a painting by Lane, by permission of
+the Duke of Portland"
+ src="images/p190s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: right">Tuesday.</p>
+<p>Lady Webster, Mr. Bancroft, and myself, went to Castle Howard,
+as Lord Morpeth had written to his mother that we were to be
+there and would lunch with her.&nbsp; Castle Howard is
+twenty-five miles the other side of York, which is itself
+twenty-five miles from Newby.&nbsp; But what is fifty miles when
+one is under the wing of the Railway King and can have a special
+engine at one&rsquo;s disposal.&nbsp; On arriving at the Castle
+Howard station we found Lord Carlisle&rsquo;s carriage with four
+horses and most venerable coachman waiting to receive us.&nbsp;
+We enter the Park almost immediately, but it is about four miles
+to the Castle, through many gates, which we had mounted footmen
+open for us.&nbsp; Lady Carlisle received us in the most
+delightful manner. . . . I was delighted to see Lord
+Morpeth&rsquo;s home and his mother, who seldom now goes to
+London.&nbsp; She was the daughter of the beautiful Duchess of
+Devonshire, and took me into her own dressing-room to show me her
+picture. . . . On Wednesday we went into York to witness the
+reception of Prince Albert, to see the ruins of St. Mary&rsquo;s
+Abbey, the Flower Show, to lunch with the Lord Mayor, and above
+all, to attend prayers in the Minister and hear a noble
+anthem.&nbsp; The Cathedral was crowded with strangers and a
+great many from London.&nbsp; The next day was the day of the
+great dinner, and I send you the <i>Post</i> containing Mr.
+Bancroft&rsquo;s speech.&nbsp; It was warmly admired by all who
+heard it.</p>
+<p>At ten at night we ladies set out for York to go [to] the Lord
+Mayor&rsquo;s Ball, where the gentlemen were to meet us from the
+dinner.&nbsp; Everybody flocked round to congratulate me upon
+your father&rsquo;s speech.&nbsp; Even Prince Albert, when I was
+led up to make my curtsey, offered me his hand, which is a great
+courtesy in royalty, and spoke of the great beauty and eloquence
+of Mr. B.&rsquo;s speech.&nbsp; The Prince soon went away: the
+Lord Mayor took me down to supper and I sat between him and the
+Duke of Richmond at the high table which went across the head of
+the hall.&nbsp; Guildhall is a beautiful old room with a fine old
+traceried window, and the scene, with five tables going the
+length of the hall and the upper one across the head, was very
+gay and brilliant.&nbsp; There were a few toasts, and your father
+again made a little speech, short and pleasant.&nbsp; We did not
+get home till half-past three in the morning. . . . On Friday
+morning [July 14th] many of the guests, the Duke of Richmond,
+etc., took their departure and Mr. Hudson had to escort Prince
+Albert to town, but returned the same evening. . . . The next day
+we all went to pay a visit to an estate of Mr. Hudson&rsquo;s
+[name of estate indecipherable] for which he paid five hundred
+thousand pounds to the Duke of Devonshire. . . . It is nobly
+situated in the Yorkshire wolds, a fine range of hills, and
+overlooking the valley of the Humber, which was interesting to
+me, as it was the river which our Pilgrim fathers sailed down and
+lay in the Wash at its mouth, awaiting their passage to
+Holland.&nbsp; They came, our Plymouth fathers, mostly from
+Lincolnshire and the region which lay below us.&nbsp; I thought
+of them, and the scene of their sufferings was more ennobled in
+my eyes, from their remembrance than from the noble mansions and
+rich estates which feast the eye.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image194" href="images/p194b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Sir Robert Peel.  From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R.
+A."
+title=
+"Sir Robert Peel.  From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R.
+A."
+ src="images/p194s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>On Monday morning we left Newby for York on our way
+home.&nbsp; It so happened that the judges were to open the court
+that very morning, on which occasion they always breakfast with
+the Lord Mayor in their scarlet robes and wigs, the Lord Mayor
+and aldermen are also in their furred scarlet robes and the Lady
+Mayoress presents the judges with enormous bouquets of the
+richest flowers.&nbsp; We were invited to this breakfast, and I
+found it very entertaining.&nbsp; I was next the High Sheriff,
+who was very desirous that we should stay a few hours and go to
+the castle and see the court opened and listen to a case or
+two.&nbsp; The High Sheriff of a county is a great character and
+has a carriage and liveries as grand as the Queen&rsquo;s.&nbsp;
+After breakfast we bade adieu to our York friends, and set off
+with our big bouquets (for the distribution was extended to us)
+for home.</p>
+<h3><i>To T. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+August 9, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Brother</span>: . . . On Saturday
+we set off for Nuneham, the magnificent seat of the late
+Archbishop of York, now in possession of his eldest son, Mr.
+Granville Harcourt. . . . The guests besides ourselves were Sir
+Robert and Lady Peel, Lord and Lady Villiers, Lord and Lady
+Norreys, Lord Harry Vane, etc.&nbsp; We considered it a great
+privilege to be staying in the same house with Sir Robert Peel,
+and I had also the pleasure of sitting by him at dinner all the
+three days we were there.&nbsp; He was full of conversation of
+the best kind.&nbsp; Mr. Denison and Lady Charlotte, his wife,
+were also of our party.&nbsp; She was the daughter of the Duke of
+Portland and sister of Lord George Bentinck, Sir Robert&rsquo;s
+great antagonist in the House.</p>
+<p>On Sunday morning we attended the pretty little church on the
+estate which with its parsonage is a pleasing object on the
+grounds.&nbsp; The next day the whole party were taken to
+Blenheim, the seat of the famous Duke of Marlborough, built at
+the expense of the country.&nbsp; The grounds are exquisite, but
+I was most charmed by the collection of pictures.&nbsp; Here were
+the finest Vandykes, Rubens, and Sir Joshua Reynolds which I have
+seen.&nbsp; Sir Robert Peel is a great connoisseur in art and
+seemed highly to enjoy them.&nbsp; Altogether it was a truly
+delightful day: the drive of fifteen miles in open carriages, and
+through Oxford, being of itself a high pleasure.&nbsp; Yesterday
+we returned to London, and on Thursday we set out for
+Scotland.</p>
+<h3><i>To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span
+class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>, August 16, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: . . . Of
+Edinburgh I cannot say enough to express my admiration.&nbsp; The
+Castle Rock, Arthur&rsquo;s Seat, Salisbury Craigs and Calton
+Hill are all separate and fine mountains and, with the Frith of
+Forth, the ocean and the old picturesque town, make an assemblage
+of fine objects that I have seen nowhere else.&nbsp; Mr.
+Rutherford, the Lord Advocate, who is of the Ministry, had
+written to his friends that we were coming, and several gentlemen
+came by breakfast time the next morning.&nbsp; Mr. Gordon, his
+nephew, married the daughter of Prof. Wilson, and invited us to
+dine that day to meet the professor, etc. . . . We drove out
+after breakfast into the country to Hawthornden, formerly the
+residence of Drummond the poet, and to Lord Roslin&rsquo;s
+grounds, where are the ruins of Roslin Castle and above all, of
+the Roslin Chapel. . . . After lingering and admiring long we
+returned to Edinburgh just in season for dinner at Mr.
+Gordon&rsquo;s, where we found Prof. Wilson, and another daughter
+and son, Mrs. Rutherford, wife of the Lord Advocate, and Capt.
+Rutherford, his brother, with his wife.&nbsp; We had a very
+agreeable evening and engaged to dine there again quite <i>en
+famille</i>, with only the professor, whose conversation is
+delightful.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image198" href="images/p198b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lady Peel.  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.; photograph copyright
+by W. Mansell &amp; Co., London"
+title=
+"Lady Peel.  After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A.; photograph copyright
+by W. Mansell &amp; Co., London"
+ src="images/p198s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The next morning we went out to Craigcrook, Lord
+Jeffrey&rsquo;s country seat, to see and lunch with him.&nbsp; He
+was confined to his couch. . . . He is seventy-three or
+seventy-four, but looks not a minute older than fifty.&nbsp; He
+has a fine head and forehead, and most agreeable and courteous
+manners, rather of the old school.&nbsp; As he could not rise to
+receive me he kissed my hand.&nbsp; Mrs. Jeffrey is an
+intelligent and agreeable woman but has been much out of health
+the last year.&nbsp; She was Miss Wilkes of New York, you
+know.&nbsp; The house was an old castellated and fortified house,
+and with modern additions is a most beautiful residence.&nbsp;
+Capt. Rutherford told me that when he received the Lord
+Advocate&rsquo;s letter announcing that we were coming, he went
+to see Lord Jeffrey to know if he would be well enough to see us,
+and he expressed the strongest admiration for Mr.
+Bancroft&rsquo;s work.</p>
+<p>This may have disposed them to receive us with the cordiality
+which made our visit so agreeable.&nbsp; Mr. Empson, his
+son-in-law and the president editor of the Edinburgh Review, was
+staying there, and after talking two hours with Lord and Mrs.
+Jeffrey we took with him a walk in the grounds from which are
+delightful and commanding views of the whole environs, and never
+were environs so beautiful.</p>
+<h3><i>To W. D. B.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Tarbet on Loch
+Lomond</span>, August 28, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear</span> W. . . . Being detained here
+by rain this morning I devote it to you and to my journal. . . .
+The next day was Sunday but the weather being fine we concluded
+to continue our journey, and followed the Tay seeing Birnam Wood
+and Dunsinane on our way up to Dunkeld, near to which is the fine
+seat of the Duke of Athol.&nbsp; We took a delightful walk in the
+beautiful grounds, and went on to Blair Athol to sleep.&nbsp;
+This is the chief residence of the Duke of Athol and he has here
+another house and grounds very pretty though not as extensive as
+those at Dunkeld. . . . When the innkeeper found who we were he
+insisted on sending a message to the Duke who sent down an order
+to us to drive up Glen Tilt and met us there himself.&nbsp; We
+entered through the Park and followed up the Tilt.&nbsp; Nothing
+could be more wild than this narrow winding pass which we
+followed for eight miles till we came to the Duke&rsquo;s forest
+lodge.&nbsp; Here were waiting for us a most picturesque group in
+full Highland dress: the head stalker, the head shepherd, the
+kennel keepers with their dogs in leashes, the piper, etc.,
+etc.&nbsp; They told us that the Duke had sent up word that we
+were coming and he would soon be there himself.</p>
+<p>In a few moments he appeared also in full Highland costume
+with bare knees, kilt, philibeg, etc.&nbsp; He told us he had
+then on these mountains 15,000 head of dear, and thought we might
+like to see a <i>start</i>, as it is called.&nbsp; The head
+stalker told him, however, that the wind had changed which
+affects the scent, and that nothing could be done that day.&nbsp;
+The Duke tried to make us amends by making some of his people
+sing us Gaelic songs and show us some of the athletic Highland
+games.&nbsp; The little lodge he also went over with us, and said
+that the Duchess came there and lived six or seven weeks in the
+autumn, and that the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch rented it for
+many years while he was a minor.&nbsp; If you could see the tiny
+little rooms, you would be astonished to find what the love of
+sport can do for these people who possess actual palaces.</p>
+<p>After dining again upon salmon and grouse at the pretty little
+inn, we took a post chaise to go on to Taymouth, a little village
+adjoining Lord Breadalbane&rsquo;s place.&nbsp; We did not arrive
+at the inn till after eight and found it completely full. . . .
+We were sent to the schoolmaster&rsquo;s to sleep in the smallest
+of little rooms, with a great clock which ticked and struck so
+loud that we were obliged to silence it, to the great
+bewilderment, I dare say, of the scholars the next day.&nbsp;
+Before we were in bed, there was a knock at the door, which
+proved to be from Lord Breadalbane&rsquo;s butler, to say that he
+had been commissioned to enquire whenever we arrived at the inn,
+as his Lordship had heard that we were in Scotland and wished us
+to make them a visit.</p>
+<p>Next morning before we were up came a note from Lord
+Breadalbane urging us to come immediately to the Castle. . . .
+Taymouth Castle, though not more than fifty years old, has the
+air of an old feudal castle. . . . As we were ushered up the
+magnificent staircase through first a large antechamber, then
+through a superb hall with lofty ceiling glowing with armorial
+bearings, and with the most light and delicate carving on every
+part of the oaken panelling, then through a long gallery, of
+heavier carving filled with fine old cabinets, into the library,
+it seemed to me that the whole Castle was one of those magical
+delusions that one reads of in Fairy Tales, so strange did it
+seem to find such princely magnificence all alone amid such wild
+and solitary scenes.&nbsp; I had always the feeling that it would
+suddenly vanish, at some wave of an enchanter&rsquo;s wand, as it
+must have arisen also.&nbsp; The library is by far the finest
+room I ever saw.&nbsp; Its windows and arches and doorways are
+all of a fine carved Gothic open work as light as gossamer.&nbsp;
+One door which he lately added cost a thousand pounds, the door
+alone, not the doorway, so you can judge of the exquisite
+workmanship.&nbsp; Here Lady Breadalbane joined us, whom I had
+never before met. . . . During dinner the piper in full costume
+was playing the pibroch in a gallery outside the window, and
+after he had done a band, also in full Highland dress, played
+some of the Italian, German as well as Scotch music, at just an
+agreeable distance.&nbsp; I have seen nothing in England which
+compares in splendor with the state which is kept up here.</p>
+<p>We passed Wednesday and Thursday here most agreeably, and we
+rode or walked during the whole days.&nbsp; Lord Breadalbane, by
+the way, has just been appointed Lord High Chamberlain to the
+Queen in place of Lord Spencer.&nbsp; I am glad of this because
+we are brought often in contact with the Lord Chamberlain, but it
+is very strange to me that a man who lives like a king, and
+through whose dominions we travelled a hundred miles from the
+German Ocean to the Atlantic, can be Chamberlain to any
+Queen.&nbsp; These feudal subordinations we republicans cannot
+understand. . . . We stopped at the little town of Oban.&nbsp;
+After reading our letters and getting a dinner, we went out just
+before sunset for a walk.</p>
+<p>We wished much to see the ruins of Dunolly.&nbsp; We passed
+the porter&rsquo;s lodge and found ourselves directly in the most
+picturesque grounds on the very shore of the ocean and with the
+Western Islands lying before us.&nbsp; Mr. Bancroft sent in his
+card, which brought out instantly the key to the old castle, and
+in a few moments Capt. MacDougal and Mr. Phipps, a brother of
+Lord Normanby&rsquo;s, joined us.&nbsp; They pointed out the
+interesting points in the landscape, the Castle of Ardtornish,
+the scene of Lord of the Isles, etc., in addition to the fine old
+ruin we came to see.&nbsp; We lingered till the lighthouses had
+begun to glow, and I was reminded very much of the scenery at
+Wood&rsquo;s Hole, which I used to enjoy so much, only that could
+not boast the association with poetry and feudal romance.&nbsp;
+We then went into the house, and found a charming domestic circle
+in full evening dress with short sleeves, so that my gray
+travelling cloak and straw bonnet were rather out of place.&nbsp;
+Here were Mrs. Phipps, and Miss Campbell, her sister, daughters
+of Sir Colin Campbell, and to my great delight, Captain MacDougal
+brought out the great brooch of Lorn, which his ancestor won from
+Bruce and the story of which you will find in the Lord of the
+Isles.&nbsp; It fastened the Scotch Plaid, and is larger than a
+teacup.&nbsp; He described to me the reverential way in which
+Scott took it in both hands when he showed it to him.&nbsp; The
+whole evening was pleasant and the more so from being unexpected.
+. . . One little thing which adds always to the charm of Scotch
+scenery is the dress of the peasantry.&nbsp; One never sees the
+real Highland costume, but every shepherd has his plaid slung
+over one shoulder, making the most graceful drapery.&nbsp; This,
+with the universal Glengarry bonnet, is very pretty.</p>
+<p>At Glasgow we intended to pay a visit of a day to the
+historian Alison, but found letters announcing Governor
+Davis&rsquo;s arrival in London with Mr. Corcoran and immediately
+turned our faces homeward.&nbsp; We were to have passed a week on
+our return amidst the lakes, and I protested against going back
+to London without one look at least.&nbsp; So we stopped at
+Kendal on Saturday, took a little carriage over to Windermere and
+Ambleside and passed the whole evening with the poet and Mrs.
+Wordsworth, at their own exquisite home on Rydal Mount.&nbsp; At
+ten o&rsquo;clock we went from there to Miss Martineau, who has
+built the prettiest of houses in this valley near to Mrs. Arnold
+at Fox Howe.&nbsp; As we had only one day we made an arrangement
+with Miss Martineau to go with us and be our guide, and set out
+the next day at six o&rsquo;clock and went over to Keswick to
+breakfast.&nbsp; From thence we went to Borrowdale, by the side
+of Derwentwater, and afterward to Ulswater and home by the fine
+pass of Kirkstone.&nbsp; On my return, I found the Duke and
+Duchess of Argyle had been to see us.</p>
+<p>The time of closing the despatch bag has come and I must hurry
+over my delight at the scenery of the lakes.&nbsp; I could have
+spent a month there, much to my mind.&nbsp; We arrived home on
+Monday and early next morning came Mr. Davis and Mr.
+Corcoran.&nbsp; They went to see the Parliament prorogued in
+person by the Queen.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image210" href="images/p210b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"George Bancroft.  Probably taken at Brady&rsquo;s National
+Gallery, New York, sometime after his return from England; from a
+picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss"
+title=
+"George Bancroft.  Probably taken at Brady&rsquo;s National
+Gallery, New York, sometime after his return from England; from a
+picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss"
+ src="images/p210s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h3><i>To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+December 14, 1848.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Uncle and Aunt</span>: On Friday we
+dined at Mr. Tufnell&rsquo;s, who married last spring the
+daughter of Lord Rosebery, Lady Anne Primrose, a very &ldquo;nice
+person,&rdquo; to use the favorite English term of praise. . . .
+Sir John Hobhouse was of our party and he told us so much of
+Byron, who was his intimate friend, as you will remember from his
+Life, that we stayed much longer than usual at dinner. . . . On
+Tuesday we were invited to dine with Miss Coutts, but were
+engaged to Mr. Gurney, an immensely rich Quaker banker, brother
+of Mrs. Fry.&nbsp; His daughter is married to Ernest Bunsen, the
+second son of our friend.&nbsp; We were delighted with the whole
+family scene, which was quite unlike anything we have seen in
+England.&nbsp; They live at Upton Park, a pretty country seat
+about eight miles from us, and are surrounded by their children
+and grandchildren.&nbsp; Their costume and language are strictly
+Quaker, which was most becoming to Mrs. Gurney&rsquo;s sweet,
+placid face. . . . Louis Napoleon&rsquo;s election seems fixed,
+and is to me one of the most astounding things of the age.&nbsp;
+When we passed several days with him at Mr. Bates&rsquo;s, I
+would not have given two straws for his chance of a future
+career.&nbsp; To-night Mendelssohn&rsquo;s &ldquo;Elijah&rdquo;
+is to be performed, and Jenny Lind sings.&nbsp; We had not been
+able to get tickets, which have been sold for five guineas apiece
+the last few days.&nbsp; To my great joy Miss Coutts has this
+moment written me that she has two for our use, and asks us to
+take an early dinner at five with her and accompany her.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+June 8, 1849.</p>
+<p>I thank you, my dear Uncle, for your pleasant letter, which
+contained as usual much that was interesting to me.&nbsp; And so
+Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are to be our successors. . . . Happy as we
+have been here, I have a great satisfaction that we are setting
+rather than rising; that we have done our work, instead of having
+it to do.&nbsp; Like all our pleasures, those here are earned by
+fatigue and effort, and I would not willingly live the last three
+years over again, or three years like them, though they have
+contained high and lasting gratifications.&nbsp; We have
+constantly the strongest expressions of regret at our approaching
+departure, and in many cases it is, I know, most genuine.&nbsp;
+My relations here have been most agreeable, and particularly in
+that intellectual circle whose high character and culture have
+made their regard most precious to me.&nbsp; The manifestations
+of this kindness increase as the time approaches for our going
+and we are inundated with invitations of all kinds.</p>
+<p>Young Prescott is here.&nbsp; I wish Prescott could have seen
+his reception at Lady Lovelace&rsquo;s the other evening when
+there happened to be a collection of genius and literature.&nbsp;
+What a blessing it is <i>sometimes</i> to a son to have a
+father.</p>
+<p>To-morrow we dine with Lord John Russell down at Pembroke
+Lodge in Richmond Park.&nbsp; On Monday we breakfast with
+Macaulay.&nbsp; We met him at dinner this week at Lady
+Waldegrave&rsquo;s, and he said: &ldquo;Would you be willing to
+breakfast with me some morning, if I asked one or two other
+ladies?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Willing!&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I
+should be delighted beyond measure.&rdquo;&nbsp; So he sent us a
+note for Monday next.&nbsp; I depend upon seeing his bachelor
+establishment, his library, and mode of life.&nbsp; On Wednesday
+we go to a ball at the Palace.&nbsp; But it is useless to go on,
+for every day is filled in this way, and gives you an idea of
+London in the season.</p>
+<h3><i>To I. P. D.</i></h3>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">London</span>,
+June 22, 1849.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear Uncle</span>: Yesterday I passed
+one of the most agreeable days I have had in England at Oxford,
+where I went with a party to see Mr. Bancroft take his degree. .
+. . Nothing could have gone off better than the whole
+thing.&nbsp; Mr. Bancroft went up the day before, but Mrs. Stuart
+Mackenzie and her daughter, with Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave,
+Louisa, and myself went up yesterday morning and returned at
+night.&nbsp; We lunched at the Vice-Chancellor&rsquo;s (where Mr.
+B. made a pleasant little informal speech) and were treated with
+great kindness by everybody.&nbsp; I wish you could have seen Mr.
+Bancroft walking round all day with his scarlet gown and round
+velvet cap, such as you see in old Venetian pictures.&nbsp; From
+this time forward we shall have the pain of bidding adieu, one by
+one, to our friends, as they leave town not to return till we are
+gone.</p>
+<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2>
+<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7"
+class="footnote">[7]</a>&nbsp; Mr. Bancroft&rsquo;s daughter.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28"
+class="footnote">[28]</a>&nbsp; Wife of President Polk.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37"
+class="footnote">[37]</a>&nbsp; Only child of Mrs.
+Bancroft&rsquo;s second marriage, who had died at the age of
+seven.</p>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM ENGLAND, 1846-1849***</p>
+<pre>
+
+
+***** This file should be named 1936-h.htm or 1936-h.zip******
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diff --git a/old/lteng10.txt b/old/lteng10.txt
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters from England, by Bancroft
+#1 in our series by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft
+
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+Letters from England 1846-1849
+
+by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft (Mrs. George Bancroft)
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+October, 1999  [Etext #1936]
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+This etext was prepared by Jane Duff and proofed by David Price,
+email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk from the 1904 Smith, Elder and Co. edition.
+
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS FROM ENGLAND 1846-1849
+
+
+
+
+LETTER:  TO W.D.B. AND A.B.
+LIVERPOOL, October 26, 1846
+
+
+
+My dear sons:  Thank God with me that we are once more on TERRA
+FIRMA.  We arrived yesterday morning at ten o'clock, after a very
+rough voyage and after riding all night in the Channel in a
+tremendous gale, so bad that no pilot could reach us to bring us in
+on Saturday evening.  A record of a sea voyage will be only
+interesting to you who love me, but I must give it to you that you
+may know what to expect if you ever undertake it; but first, I must
+sum it all up by saying that of all horrors, of all physical
+miseries, tortures, and distresses, a sea voyage is the greatest . .
+. The Liverpool paper this morning, after announcing our arrival
+says:  "The GREAT WESTERn, notwithstanding she encountered
+throughout a series of most severe gales, accomplished the passage
+in sixteen days and twelve hours."
+
+To begin at the moment I left New York:  I was so absorbed by the
+pain of parting from you that I was in a state of complete apathy
+with regard to all about me.  I did not sentimentalize about "the
+receding shores of my country;" I hardly looked at them, indeed.
+Friday I was awoke in the middle of the night by the roaring of the
+wind and sea and SUCH motion of the vessel.
+
+The gale lasted all Saturday and Sunday, strong from the North, and
+as we were in the region where the waters of the Bay of Fundy run
+out and meet those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, afterwards we had a
+strong cross sea.  May you never experience a "cross sea." . . . Oh
+how I wished it had pleased God to plant some little islands as
+resting-places in the great waste of waters, some resting station.
+But no, we must keep on, on, with everything in motion that your eye
+could rest on.  Everything tumbling about . . . We lived through it,
+however, and the sun of Sunday morn rose clear and bright.  A pilot
+got on board about seven and at ten we were in Liverpool.
+
+We are at the Adelphi.  Before I had taken off my bonnet Mr. Richard
+Rathbone, one of the wealthiest merchants here, called to invite us
+to dine the next day . . . Mrs. Richard Rathbone has written that
+beautiful "Diary of Lady Willoughby," and, what is more, they say it
+is a perfect reflect of her own lovely life and character.  When she
+published the book no one knew of it but her husband, not even her
+brothers and sisters, and, of course, she constantly heard
+speculations as to the authenticity of the book, and was often
+appealed to for her opinion.  She is very unpretending and sweet in
+her manners; talks little, and seems not at all like a literary
+lady.
+
+I like these people in Liverpool.  They seem to me to think less of
+fashion and more of substantial excellence than our wealthy people.
+I am not sure but the existence of a higher class above them has a
+favorable effect, by limiting them in some ways.  There is much less
+show of furniture in the houses than with us, though their servants
+and equipages are in much better keeping.  I am not sorry to be
+detained here for a few days by my illness to become acquainted with
+them, and I think your father likes it also, and will find it useful
+to him.  Let me say, while I think of it, how much I was pleased
+with the GREAT WESTERN.  That upper saloon with the air passing
+through it was a great comfort to me.  The captain, the servants,
+the table, are all excellent.  Everything on board was as nice as in
+the best hotel, and my gruels and broths beautifully made.  One of
+the stewardesses did more for me than I ever had done by any servant
+of my own . . . Your father and Louisa were ill but three or four
+days, and then your father read Tacitus and talked to the ladies,
+while Louisa played with the other children.
+
+The Adelphi, my first specimen of an English hotel, is perfectly
+comfortable, and though an immense establishment, is quiet as a
+private house.  There is none of the bustle of the Astor, and if I
+ring my bedroom bell it is answered by a woman who attends to me
+assiduously.  The landlord pays us a visit every day to know if we
+have all we wish.
+
+
+LONDON, Sunday, November 1
+
+
+Here I am in the mighty heart, but before I say one word about it I
+will go on from Wednesday evening with my journal.  On Thursday,
+though still very feeble, I dined at Green Bank, the country-seat of
+Mr. William Rathbone.  I was unwilling to leave Liverpool without
+sharing with your father some of the hospitalities offered to us and
+made a great effort to go.  The place is very beautiful and the
+house full of comfortable elegance.
+
+The next morning we started for Birmingham, ninety-seven miles from
+Liverpool, on our way to London, as I am unable to travel the whole
+way in a day.  On this railway I felt for the first time the
+superiority of England to our own country.  The cars are divided
+into first, second, and third classes.  We took a first-class car,
+which has all the comforts of a private carriage.
+
+Just as we entered Birmingham I observed the finest seat, surrounded
+by a park wall and with a very picturesque old church, that I had
+seen on the way.  On enquiring of young Mr. Van Wart, who came to
+see us in Birmingham (the nephew of Washington Irving), whose place
+it was, he said it was now called Aston Hall and was owned by Mr.
+Watt, but it was formerly owned by the Bracebridges, and was the
+veritable "Bracebridge Hall," and that his uncle had passed his
+Christmas there.
+
+On arriving here we found our rooms all ready for us at Long's
+Hotel, kept by Mr. Markwell, a wine merchant.  The house is in New
+Bond Street, in the very centre of movement at the West End, and Mr.
+Markwell full of personal assiduity, which we never see with us.  He
+comes to the carriage himself, gives me his arm to go upstairs, is
+so much obliged to us for honoring his house, ushers you in to
+dinner, at least on the first day, and seats you, etc., etc.
+
+Do not imagine us in fresh, new-looking rooms as we should be in New
+York or Philadelphia.  No, in London even new things look old, but
+almost everything IS old.  Our parlor has three windows down to the
+floor, but it is very dark.  The paint is maple color, and
+everything is dingy in appearance.  The window in my bedroom looks
+like a horn lantern, so thick is the smoke, and yet everything is
+scrupulously clean.  On our arrival, Boyd, the Secretary of
+Legation, soon came, and stayed to dine with us at six.  Our dinner
+was an excellent soup, the boiled cod garnished with fried smelts,
+the roast beef and a FRICANDEAU with sweet breads, then a pheasant,
+and afterwards, dessert.
+
+This morning Mr. Bates came very early to see us, and then Mr.
+Joseph Coolidge, who looks very young and handsome; then Mr. Colman,
+who also looks very well, Mr. Boyd and a Mr. Haight, of New York,
+and Mr. Gair, son of Mr. Gair of Liverpool, a pleasing young man.
+
+
+Monday Evening
+
+
+This morning came Mr. Aspinwall, then Captain Wormeley, then Dr.
+Holland, then Mrs. Bates, then Mr. Joseph Jay and his sister, then
+Tom Appleton, Mrs. and Miss Wormeley, and Mrs. Franklin Dexter.  Dr.
+Holland came a second time to take me a drive, but Mrs. Bates being
+with me he took your father.  Mrs. Bates took me to do some
+shopping, and to see about some houses.  They are very desirous we
+should be in their neighborhood, in Portland Place, but I have a
+fancy myself for the new part of town.  I have been so used all my
+life to see things fresh and clean-looking, that I cannot get
+accustomed to the London dinge, and some of the finest houses look
+to me as though I would like to give them a good scouring.  Tell
+Cousin M. never to come to England, she would be shocked every
+minute, with all the grandeur.  A new country is cleaner-looking,
+though it may not be so picturesque.
+
+I got your letters when I arrived here, and I wish this may give you
+but a little pleasure they gave me.  Pray never let a steamer come
+without a token from both of you . . . With love to Grandma and
+Uncle Thomas, believe me, with more love than ever before,
+ELIZABETH D. BANCROFT
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, November 3, 1846
+
+
+
+. . . This day, at five, your father had his first interview with
+Lord Palmerston, who will acquaint the Queen with his arrival, and
+after she has received him we shall leave our cards upon all the
+ministers and CORPS DIPLOMATIQUE.
+
+
+November 4th
+
+
+Your father had a most agreeable dinner at Lord Holland's.  He met
+there Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lord Morpeth, Lord de Mauley, Mr.
+Harcourt, a son of the Archbishop of York, etc.  He took out Lady
+Holland and Lord Morpeth, Lady Palmerston, the only ladies present.
+Holland House is surrounded by 200 acres in the midst of the western
+part of London, or rather Kensington.  Lord Holland has no children,
+and the family dies with him.  They dined in the room in which
+Addison died.
+
+To-day, to my surprise, came Lady Palmerston, which was a great
+courtesy, as it was my place to make the first visit.  She is the
+sister of Lord Melbourne.  Lord de Mauley has also been here. . . .
+To-day I have been driving through some of the best streets in
+London, and my ideas of its extent and magnificence are rising fast.
+The houses are more picturesque than ours, and some of them most
+noble.  The vastness of a great capital like this cannot burst upon
+one at once.  Its effect increases daily.  The extent of the Park,
+surrounded by mansions which look, some of them, like a whole
+history in themselves, has to-day quite dazzled my imagination.
+
+
+November 5th
+
+
+This morning, Thursday, came an invitation to dine with Lord and
+Lady Palmerston on Saturday.  Sir George Grey, another of the
+ministers, came to see us to-day and Lord Mahon.  Your father and I
+have been all the morning looking at houses, and have nearly
+concluded upon one in Eaton Square.  We find a hotel very expensive,
+and not very comfortable for us, as your father is very restive
+without his books about him.  Mr. Harcourt also came to see us to-
+day.  I mention as many of the names of our visitors as I can
+recollect, as it will give you some idea of the composition of
+English society . . .  This moment a large card in an envelope has
+been brought me, which runs thus:  "The Lord Steward has received
+Her Majesty's commands to invite Mr. Bancroft to dinner at Windsor
+Castle on Thursday, 12th November, to remain until Friday, 13th."  I
+am glad he will dine there before me, that he may tell me the order
+of performances.
+
+
+Friday, November 6th
+
+
+. . . We had to-day a delightful visit from Rogers, the Poet, who is
+now quite old, but with a most interesting countenance.  He was full
+of cordiality, and, at parting, as he took my hand, said:  "Our
+acquaintance must become friendship."  Mr. Harcourt came again and
+sat an hour with us, and has introduced your father at the
+Traveller's Club and the Athenaeum Club.  To-night came my new
+lady's maid, Russell.  She dresses hair beautifully, but is rather
+too great a person to suit my fancy.
+
+
+Sunday Evening, November 8th
+
+
+On Friday evening we met at Mrs. Wormeley's a cosy little knot of
+Americans.  The Dexters were staying there and there were Mr. and
+Mrs. Atkinson and Miss Pratt, Mr. and Mrs. Aspinwall, Mr. and Miss
+Jay, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, Mr. Colman, Mr. Pickering, etc.
+
+
+Wednesday Evening
+
+
+On Monday we came to our HOME, preferring it to the hotel, though it
+is not yet in order for our reception, and we have not yet all our
+servants.  Last evening we dined with Lord Morpeth at his father's
+house.  His family are all out of town, but he remains because of
+his ministerial duties.  Lord Morpeth took me out and I sat between
+him and Sir George Grey.  Your father took out Lady Theresa Lewis,
+who is a sister of Lord Clarendon.  She was full of intelligence and
+I like her extremely.  Baron and Lady Parke (a distinguished judge),
+Lady Morgan, Mr. Mackintosh, Dr. and Mrs. Holland (Sidney Smith's
+daughter), and Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Dexter, with several others
+were the party.
+
+During dinner one gentleman was so very agreeable that I wondered
+who he could be, but as Lord Palmerston had told me that Mr.
+Macaulay was in Edinburgh, I did not think of him.  After the ladies
+left the gentlemen, my first question to Mrs. Holland was the name
+of her next neighbor.  "Why, Mr. Macaulay," was her answer, and I
+was pleased not to have been disappointed in a person of whom I had
+heard so much.  When the gentlemen came in I was introduced to him
+and talked to him and heard him talk not a little.
+
+These persons all came the next day to see us, which gave rise to
+fresh invitations.
+
+This morning we have been driving round to leave cards on the CORPS
+DIPLOMATIQUE, and Mr. Harcourt has taken me all over the Athenaeum
+Club-house, a superb establishment.  They have given your father an
+invitation to the Club, a privilege which is sometimes sought for
+years, Mr. Harcourt says. . . .  Have I not needed all my energies?
+We have been here just a fortnight, and I came so ill that I could
+hardly walk.  We are now at housekeeping, and I am in the full
+career in London society.  They told me I should see no one until
+spring, but you see we dine out or go out in the evening almost
+every day. . . .  For the gratification of S.D. or Aunt I., who may
+wonder how I get along in dress matters, going out as I did in my
+plain black dress, I will tell you that Mrs. Murray, the Queen's
+dressmaker, made me, as soon as I found these calls and invitations
+pouring in, two dresses.  One of black velvet, very low, with short
+sleeves, and another of very rich black watered silk, with drapery
+of black tulle on the corsage and sleeves. . . .  I have fitted
+myself with several pretty little head-dresses, some in silver, some
+with plumes, but all white, and I find my velvet and silk suit all
+occasions.  I do not like dining with bare arms and neck, but I
+must.
+
+
+Tuesday, November 17th
+
+
+Last evening we passed at the Earl of Auckland's, the head of the
+Admiralty.  The party was at the Admiralty, where there is a
+beautiful residence for the first lord. . . .  I had a long talk
+with Lord Morpeth last evening about Mr. Sumner, and told him of his
+nomination.  He has a strong regard for him. . . .  Not a moment
+have I had to a London "lion."  I have driven past Westminster, but
+have not been in it.  I have seen nothing of London but what came in
+my way in returning visits.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+LONDON, November 17, 1846
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle:  I cannot help refreshing the remembrance of me with
+you and dear Aunty by addressing a separate letter to you. . . .
+Yesterday we hailed with delight our letters from home. . . .  One
+feels in a foreign land the absence of common sympathies and
+interests, which always surround us in any part of our own country.
+And yet nothing can exceed the kindness with which we have been
+received here.
+
+Last evening I went to my first great English dinner and it was a
+most agreeable one. . . .  It seems a little odd to a republican
+woman to find herself in right of her country taking precedence of
+marchionesses, but one soon gets used to all things.  We sat down to
+dinner at eight and got through about ten.  When the ladies rose, I
+found I was expected to go first.  After dinner other guests were
+invited and to the first person who came in, about half-past ten,
+Lady Palmerston said:  "Oh, thank you for coming so early."  This
+was Lady Tankerville of the old French family of de Grammont and
+niece to Prince Polignac.  The next was Lady Emily de Burgh, the
+daughter of the Marchioness of Clanricarde, a beautiful girl of
+seventeen.  She is very lovely, wears a Grecian braid round her head
+like a coronet, and always sits by her mother, which would not suit
+our young girls.  Then came Lord and Lady Ashley, Lord Ebrington,
+and so many titled personages that I cannot remember half.
+
+The dinner is much the same as ours in all its modes of serving, but
+they have soles and turbot, instead of our fishes, and their
+pheasants are not our pheasants, or their partridges our partridges.
+Neither have we so many footmen with liveries of all colours, or so
+much gold and silver plate. . . .  The next morning Mr. Bancroft
+breakfasted with Dr. Holland to meet the Marquis of Lansdowne alone.
+[Thursday] he went down to Windsor to dine with the Queen.  He took
+out to dinner the Queen's mother, the Duchess of Kent, the Queen
+going with the Prince of Saxe-Weimar, who was paying a visit at the
+Castle.  He talked German to the Duchess during dinner, which I
+suspect she liked, for the Queen spoke of it to him afterwards, and
+Lord Palmerston told me the Duchess said he spoke very pure German.
+While he was dining at Windsor I went to a party all alone at the
+Countess Grey's, which I thought required some courage.
+
+Of all the persons I see here the Marquis of Lansdowne excites the
+most lively regard.  His countenance and manners are full of
+benevolence and I think he understands America better than anyone
+else of the high aristocracy.  I told him I was born at Plymouth and
+was as proud of my pure Anglo-Saxon Pilgrim descent as if it were
+traced from a line of Norman Conquerors.  Nearly all the ministers
+and their wives came to see us immediately, without waiting for us
+to make the first visit, which is the rule, and almost every person
+whom we have met in society, which certainly indicates an amiable
+feeling toward our country.  We could not well have received more
+courtesy than we have done, and it has been extended freely and
+immediately, without waiting for the forms of etiquette.  Pray say
+to Mr. Everett how often we hear persons speak of him, and with
+highest regard.  I feel as if we were reaping some of the fruits of
+his sowing.
+
+Mr. Bancroft sends you a pack of cards, one of the identical two
+packs with which the Queen played Patience the evening he was at
+Windsor.  They were the perquisite of a page who brought them to
+him.  He was much pleased with the Queen and thought her much
+prettier than any representation of her which we have seen, and with
+a very sweet expression.  Lady Holland had been staying two or three
+days at Windsor, and was to leave the next morning.  When the Queen
+took leave of her at night, she kissed her quite in my Virginia
+fashion.
+
+
+Dear Uncle:  How much more your niece would have written if to-day
+were not packet day, I cannot say.  I shall send you some newspapers
+and a pack of cards which I saw in the Queen's hands.  The American
+Minister and Mrs. Bancroft have since played a game of piquet with
+them.  The Queen's hands were as clean as her smile was gracious.
+Best regards to the Judge and Aunt Isaac.
+
+Yours most truly, George Bancroft.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, November 29, 1846
+
+
+
+After a long interval I find again a quiet Sunday evening to resume
+my journal to you.  On Monday we dined at Lord John Russell's, and
+met many of the persons we have met before and the Duchess of
+Inverness, the widow of the Duke of Sussex.  On Tuesday we dined at
+Dr. Holland's.  His wife and daughter are charming, and then we met,
+besides, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, the only surviving child of Lord
+North, Mr. and Mrs. Milman (the author of the "Fall of Jerusalem"),
+and Mr. Macaulay.  Yesterday I went to return the visit of the
+Milmans and found that the entrance to their house, he being a
+prebend of Westminster Abbey, was actually in the cloisters of the
+Abbey.  They were not at home, but I took my footman and wandered at
+leisure through the cloisters, treading at every step on the tomb of
+some old abbot with dates of 1160 and thereabouts.
+
+Nothing could be more delightful than London is now, if I had only a
+little more physical vigor to enjoy it.  We see everybody more
+frequently, and know them better than in the full season, and we
+have some of the best specimens of English society, too, here just
+now, as the Whig ministry brings a good deal of the ability of the
+aristocracy to its aid.  The subjects of conversation among women
+are more general than with us, and [they] are much more cultivated
+than our women as a body, not our blues.  They never sew, or attend,
+as we do, to domestic affairs, and so live for social life and
+understand it better.
+
+
+LONDON, December 2, 1846
+
+
+My dear Mrs. Polk:  you told me when I parted from you at Washington
+that you would like to get from me occasionally some accounts of my
+experiences in English society.  I thought at that time that we
+should see very little of it until the spring, but contrary to my
+expectation we have been out almost every day since our arrival.  We
+made our DEBUT in London on the first day of November (the suicidal
+month you know) in the midst of an orange-colored fog, in which you
+could not see your hand before you.  The prospect for the winter
+seemed, I must say, rather "triste," but the next day the fog
+cleared off, people came constantly to see us, and we had agreeable
+invitations for every day, and London put on a new aspect.  Out
+first dinner was at Lord Palmerston's, where we met what the
+newspapers call a distinguished circle.  The Marquis of Lansdowne,
+Lord and Lady John Russell, Marquis and Marchioness of Clanricarde
+(Canning's daughter), Earl and Countess Grey, Sir George and Lady
+Grey, etc., etc.  I was taken out by Lord Palmerston, with Lord Grey
+on the other side, and found the whole thing very like one of our
+Washington dinners, and I was quite as much at my ease, and they
+seemed made of the same materials as our cabinet at home.  I have
+since dined at Lord Morpeth's, Lord John Russell's, Lord Mahon's,
+Dr. Holland's, Baron Parke's, The Prussian Minister's, and to-day we
+dine with the Duchess of Inverness, the widow of the Duke of Sussex;
+to-morrow with Mr. Milman, a prebend of Westminster and a
+distinguished man of letters.  We have been at a great many SOIREES,
+at Lady Palmerston's, Lady Grey's, Lord Auckland's, Lady Lewis's,
+etc., etc.
+
+And now, having given you some idea WHOM we are seeing here, you
+will wish to know how I like them, and how they differ from our own
+people.  At the smaller dinners and SOIREES at this season I cannot,
+of course, receive a full impression of English society, but
+certainly those persons now in town are charming people.  Their
+manners are perfectly simple and I entirely forget, except when
+their historic names fall upon my ear, that I am with the proud
+aristocracy of England.  All the persons whose names I have
+mentioned to you give one a decided impression not only of ability
+and agreeable manners, but of excellence and the domestic virtues.
+The furniture and houses, too, are less splendid and ostentatious,
+than those of our large cities, though [they] have more plate, and
+liveried servants.  The forms of society and the standard of dress,
+too, are very like ours, except that a duchess or a countess has
+more hereditary point lace and diamonds.  The general style of
+dress, perhaps, is not so tasteful, so simply elegant as ours.  Upon
+the whole I think more highly of our own country (I mean from a
+social point of view alone) than before I came abroad.  There is
+less superiority over us in manners and all the social arts than I
+could have believed possible in a country where a large and wealthy
+class have been set apart from time immemorial to create, as it
+were, a social standard of high refinement.  The chief difference
+that I perceive is this:  In our country the position of everybody
+is undefined and rests altogether upon public opinion.  This leads
+sometimes to a little assumption and pretension of manner, which the
+highest class here, whose claims are always allowed by all about
+them, are never tempted to put on.  From this results an extreme
+simplicity of manner, like that of a family circle among us.
+
+What I have said, however, applies less to the South than to the
+large cities of the North, with which I am most familiar at home.  I
+hope our memory will not be completely effaced in Washington, for we
+cling to our friends there with strong interest.  Present my
+respectful regards to the President, and my love to Mrs. Walker and
+Miss Rucker.  To the Masons also, and our old colleagues all, and
+pray lay your royal commands upon somebody to write me.  I long to
+know what is going on in Washington.  The Pleasantons promised to do
+so, and Annie Payne, to whom and to Mrs. Madison give also my best
+love.  Believe me yours with the highest regard.
+
+E.D. BANCROFT.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  2 December
+
+
+
+Yesterday we dined at the Prussian Minister's, Chevalier Bunsen's.
+He met your father in Rome twenty years since, and has received us
+with great enthusiasm.  Yesterday at dinner he actually rose in his
+seat and made quite a speech welcoming him to England as historian,
+old friend, etc., and ended by offering his health, which your
+father replied to shortly, in a few words.  Imagine such an outbreak
+upon routine at a dinner in England!  Nobody could have done it but
+one of German blood, but I dare say the Everetts, who know him,
+could imagine it all.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, December 19,1846
+
+
+
+My dear Sons:  . . . Yesterday we dined at Macready's and met quite
+a new, and to us, a most agreeable circle.  There was Carlyle, who
+talked all dinner-time in his broad Scotch, in the most inimitable
+way.  He is full of wit, and happened to get upon James I., upon
+which topic he was superb.  Then there was Babbage, the great
+mathematician, Fonblanc, the editor of the EXAMINER, etc., etc.  The
+day before we dined at Mr. Frederick Elliott's with a small party of
+eight, of which Lady Morgan was one, and also a brother of Lord
+Normanby's, whom I liked very much.  Lady Morgan, who had not
+hitherto much pleased me, came out in this small circle with all her
+Irish wit and humor, and gave me quite new notions of her talent.
+She made me laugh till I cried.  On Saturday we dined at Sir
+Roderick Murchison's, the President of the Geological Society, very
+great in the scientific way.
+
+We have struck up a great friendship with Miss Murray, the Queen's
+Maid of Honor, who paid me a visit of three hours to-day, in the
+midst of which came in Colonel Estcourt, whom I was delighted to
+see, as you may suppose.  Miss Murray is to me a very interesting
+person, though a great talker; a convenient fault to a stranger.
+She is connected with half the noble families in England, is the
+grand-daughter of the Duchess of Athol, who governed the Isle of Man
+as a queen, and the descendant of Scott's Countess of Derby.  Though
+sprung of such Tory blood, and a maid of honor, she thinks freely
+upon all subjects.  Religion, politics, and persons, she decides
+upon for herself, and has as many benevolent schemes as old Madam
+Jackson.
+
+I returned the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, the painter, this week,
+and saw the picture he is now painting for the Vice-Chancellor.  It
+is a sketch of children, a boy driving his two little sisters as
+horses.  One of the little girls is very like Susie, her size, hair,
+and complexion.  How I longed to be rich enough to order a copy, but
+his pictures cost a fortune.  I paid also a visit this week to the
+Duchess of Inverness, whom I found in the prettiest, cosiest morning
+boudoir looking onto the gardens of the Palace.  In short, I do, or
+see, every hour, something that if I were a traveller only, I could
+make quite a story of.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, January 1, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Sons:  . . .  I wrote my last sheet on the 19th and your
+father went on that day to Cambridge to be present at the tri-
+centennial celebration of Trinity College . . . He went also the day
+after the anniversary, which was on our 22nd December, to Ely, with
+Peacock, the great mathematician, who is Dean of Ely, to see the
+great cathedral there . . . While he was at Cambridge I passed the
+evening of the 22nd at Lady Morgan's, who happened to have a most
+agreeable set . . . Lady Morgan's reunions are entertaining to me
+because they are collections of lions, but they are not strictly and
+exclusively fashionable.  They remind me in their composition from
+various circles of Mrs. Otis's parties in Boston.  We have in this
+respect an advantage over the English themselves, as in our position
+we see a great variety of cliques.
+
+For instance, last evening, the 31st, I took Louisa, at half-past
+seven, to the house of Mr. Hawes, an under Secretary of State, to
+see a beautiful children's masque.  It was an impersonation of the
+"Old Year" dressed a little like LEAR with snowy hair and draperies.
+OLD YEAR played his part inimitably, at times with great pathos, and
+then introducing witty hits at all the doings of his reign, such as
+exploding cotton, the new planet, a subject which he put at rest as
+"FAR BEYOND OUR REACH," etc., etc.  He then introduced one by one
+the children of all ages as "Days" of the coming year.  There was
+TWELFTH DAY, crowned as Queen with her cake in her hands; there was
+CHRISTMAS, covered with holly and mistletoe; there was APRIL FOOL'S
+DAY, dressed as Harlequin; there was, above all, SHROVE TUESDAY,
+with her frying-pan of pancakes, dressed as a little cook; there was
+a charming boy of fourteen or fifteen, as ST. VALENTINE'S DAY with
+his packet of valentines addressed to the young ladies present;
+there was the 5TH OF NOVEMBER, full of wit and fun, etc.; the
+longest day, an elder brother, of William's height, with a cap of
+three or four feet high; and his little sister of five, as the
+shortest day.  This was all arranged to music and each made little
+speeches, introducing themselves.  The OLD YEAR, after introducing
+his successors, and after much pathos, is "going, going--gone," and
+falls covered with his drapery, upon removing which, instead of the
+lifeless body of the OLD YEAR, is discovered a sweet little flower-
+crowned girl of five or six, as the NEW YEAR.  It was charming, and
+I was so pleased that, instead of taking Louisa away at nine o'clock
+as I intended, I left her to see "Sir Roger de Coverly," in the
+dress of his time.
+
+Last night at Mr. Putnam's, I met William and Mary Howitt, and some
+of the lesser lights.  I have put down my pen to answer a note, just
+brought in, to dine next Thursday with the Dowager Countess of
+Charleville, where we were last week, in the evening.  She is
+eighty-four (tell this to Grandmamma) and likes still to surround
+herself with BEAUX and BELLES ESPRITS, and as her son and daughter
+reside with her, this is still easy . . . The old lady talks French
+as fast as possible, and troubles me somewhat by talking it to me,
+forgetting that a foreign minister's wife can talk English . . .
+Your father likes to be here.  He has copying going on in the State
+Paper Office and British Museum, and his heart is full of
+manuscripts.  It is the first thought, I believe, whoever he sees,
+what papers are in their family.  He makes great interest with even
+the ladies sometimes for this purpose.  Upon the whole, I love my
+own country better than ever, but whether I shall not miss, upon my
+return, some things to which I am gradually getting accustomed, I
+have yet to learn.  The gratification of mixing constantly with
+those foremost in the world for rank, science, literature, or all
+which adorns society is great, but there is a certain yearning
+toward those whose habits, education, and modes of thought are the
+same as our own, which I never can get over.  In the full tide of
+conversation I often stop and think, "I may unconsciously be jarring
+the prejudices or preconceived notions of these people upon a
+thousand points; for how differently have I been trained from these
+women of high rank, and men, too, with whom I am now thrown."  Upon
+all topics we are accustomed to think, perhaps, with more latitude,
+religion, politics, morals, everything.  I like the English
+extremely, even more than I expected, and yet happy am I to think
+that our own best portions of society can bear a comparison with
+theirs.  When I see you I can explain to you the differences, but I
+think we need not be ashamed of ourselves.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+LONDON, January 2, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle:  . . . I refer you to my letters to my boys, for all
+the new persons and places we may have seen lately, while I give you
+for Aunty's amusement a minute account of my visit into the country
+at Mr. Bates's, where things are managed in a scrupulously English
+manner, so that it will give her the same idea of country life here,
+as if it were a nobleman's castle.  Our invitation was to arrive on
+Thursday, the day before Christmas, to dine, and to remain until the
+following Tuesday morning.  His place is at East SHEEN, which
+receives its name from the Anglo-Saxon word for BEAUTY.  It adjoins
+Richmond Park, beyond which is the celebrated Richmond Hill,
+Twickenham, Kew, etc., etc. . . . We arrived at East Sheen at half-
+past five; but I ought first to mention the PREPARATIONS for a
+country excursion.  Our own carriage has, of course, no dickey for
+my maid, or conveniences for luggage, so we take a travelling
+carriage.  The imperials (which are large, flat boxes, covering the
+whole top of the carriage, CAPITAL for velvet dresses, and smaller
+ones fitting into all the seats IN the carriage, and BEFORE and
+BEHIND) are brought to you the day before.  I am merely asked what
+dresses I wish taken, and that is all I know of the matter, so
+thoroughly does an English maid understand her business.  We were
+shown on our arrival into a charming room, semi-library.
+
+In a few minutes a servant came to show me to my apartment, which
+was very superb, with a comfortable dressing-room and fire for Mr.
+Bancroft, where the faithful Keats unpacked his dressing materials,
+while I was in a few moments seated at the toilet to undergo my
+hair-dressing, surrounded by all my apparatus, and a blazing fire to
+welcome me with a hissing tea-kettle of hot water and every comfort.
+How well the English understand it, I learn more and more every day.
+My maid had a large room above me, also with a fire; indeed, a
+"lady's" maid is a VERY GREAT character INDEED, and would be much
+more unwilling to take her tea with, or speak familiarly to, a
+footman or a housemaid than I should.  My greatest mistakes in
+England have been committed toward those high dignitaries, my own
+maid and the butler, whose grandeur I entirely misappreciated and
+invaded, as in my ignorance I placed them, as we do, on the same
+level with other servants.  She has her fire made for her, and LOAF
+sugar in her tea, which she and Cates sip in solitary majesty.
+However, she is most conscientious and worthy, as well as dignified,
+and thoroughly accomplished in her business.  As all these things
+are pictures of English life, I mention them to amuse Aunty, who
+likes to know how these matters are managed.
+
+After I am dressed, I join the circle in the library, where I am
+introduced to Mr. and Madam Van de Weyer, and Louis Buonaparte, the
+son of Louis, the ex-King of Holland, and of Hortense, Josephine's
+daughter.  He was a long time imprisoned in the fortress of Ham, and
+has not long been free.  There was also Napoleon, son of Jerome
+Buonaparte, and the Princess of Wurtemberg.  They were most
+agreeable, intelligent, and amiable young men, and I was glad to
+meet them.  Lord and Lady Langdale (who have a place in the
+neighborhood) were invited to dine with us.  He is Master of the
+Rolls and was elevated to the peerage from great distinction at the
+bar.  Lady Langdale is a sensible and excellent person.  At dinner I
+sat between Mr. Bates and Lord Langdale, whom I liked very much.
+
+The next morning we assembled at ten for breakfast, which was at a
+round table, with a sort of circular tray, which turns at the least
+touch in the centre, leaving only a rim round the table for plates
+and cups.  This was covered also with a white cloth and on it were
+placed all the breakfast viands, with butter, sugar, cream, bread,
+toast-rack and preserves.  You need no servants, but turn it round
+and help yourself.  I believe the Van de Weyers introduced it, from
+a visit in Wales.  Tea and coffee are served from a side-table
+always, here.  Let me tell Aunty that our simple breakfast DRESS is
+unknown in England.  You come down in the morning dressed for the
+day, until six or seven in the evening, when your dress is low neck
+and short sleeves for dinner.  At this season the morning dress is a
+rich silk or velvet, high body quite close in the throat with
+handsome collar and cuffs, and ALWAYS a cap.  Madam Van de Weyer
+wore every day a different dress, all very rich, but I adhered to a
+black watered silk with the same simple cap I wore at home.
+
+I took a drive through Richmond Park (where Henry the Eighth watched
+to see a signal on the Tower when Anne Boleyn's head fell, and
+galloped off to marry Jane Seymour) to Richmond Terrace, which is
+ravishingly beautiful even at this season. . . . The next day the
+gentleman all went to town, and Madam Van de Weyer and I passed the
+day TETE-A-TETE, very pleasantly, as her experience in diplomatic
+life is very useful to me. . . .  Her manners are very pleasing and
+entirely unaffected.  She has great tact and quickness of
+perception, great intelligence and amiability and is altogether
+extremely well-fitted for the ROLE she plays in life.  Her husband
+is charming. . . . They have three children, very lovely.  The
+eldest, Victor, a fine boy of seven years old, Victoria, a girl of
+four, for whom the Queen was sponsor, and Albert, to whom Prince
+Albert performed the same office.  This was, of course, voluntary in
+the royal parties, as it was not a favor to be asked. . . .  Madam
+Van de Weyer is not spoiled, certainly, by the prominent part she
+was called to play in this great centre of the world at so early an
+age, and makes an excellent courtier.  I could not help pitying her,
+however, for looking forward to going through, year after year, the
+same round of ceremonies, forms, and society.  For us, it is a new
+study, and invaluable for a short time; but I could not bear it for
+life, as these European diplomatists.  Besides, we Americans really
+enjoy a kind of society, and a much nearer intercourse than other
+foreigners, in the literary, scientific, and even social circles.
+
+On Saturday evening Lord William Fitzroy and daughter joined our
+party with Sir William Hooker and Lady Hooker. . . . Sir William
+Hooker is one of the most interesting persons I have seen in
+England.  He is a great naturalist and has the charge of the great
+Botanical Gardens at Kew.  He devoted a morning to us there, and it
+was the most delightful one I have passed.  There are twenty-eight
+different conservatories filled with the vegetable wonders of the
+whole world.  Length of time and regal wealth have conspired to make
+the Kew gardens beyond our conceptions entirely. . . . Sir William
+pointed out to us all that was very rare or curious, which added
+much to my pleasure. . . . He showed us a drawing of the largest
+FLOWER ever known on earth, which Sir Stamford Raffles discovered in
+Sumatra.  It was a parasite without leaves or stem, and the flower
+weighed fifteen pounds.  Lady Raffles furnished him the materials
+for the drawing.  I dined in company with her not long ago, and
+regret now that I did not make her tell me about the wonders of that
+region.  At the same dinner you may meet so many people, each having
+their peculiar gift, that one cannot avail oneself of the
+opportunity of extracting from each what is precious.  I always wish
+I could sit by everybody at the same time, and I could often employ
+a dozen heads, if I had them, instead of my poor, miserable one.
+From Sir William Hooker I learned as much about the VEGETABLE world,
+as Mr. Bancroft did from the Dean of Ely on ARCHITECTURE, when he
+expounded to him the cathedral of Ely; pointing out the successive
+styles of the Gothic, and the different periods in which the
+different parts were built.  Books are dull teachers compared with
+these gifted men giving you a lecture upon subjects before your
+eyes.
+
+On Sunday we dined with out own party; on Monday some diplomatic
+people, the Lisboas and one of Mr. Bates's partners, and on Tuesday
+we came home.  I must not omit a visit while we were there from Mr.
+Taylor (Van Artevelde), who is son-in-law of Lord Monteagle, and
+lives in the neighborhood.  He has a fine countenance and still
+finer voice, and is altogether one of those literary persons who do
+not disappoint you, but whose whole being is equal to their works.
+I hope to see more of him, as they spoke of "CULTIVATING" us, and
+Mr. Taylor was quite a PROTEGE of our kind and dear friend, Dr.
+Holland, and dedicated his last poem to him.  This expression, "I
+shall CULTIVATE you," we hear constantly, and it strikes me as oddly
+as our Western "BEING RAISED."  Indeed, I hear improper Anglicisms
+constantly, and they have nearly as many as we have.  The upper
+classes, here, however, do SPEAK English so roundly and fully,
+giving every LETTER its due, that it pleases my ear amazingly.
+
+On Wednesday I go for the first time to Westminster Abbey, on
+Epiphany, to hear the Athanasian Creed chanted.  I have as yet had
+no time for sight-seeing, as the days are so short that necessary
+visits take all my time.  No one goes out in a carriage till after
+two, as the servants dine at one, and in the morning early the
+footman is employed in the house.  A coachman never leaves his box
+here, and a footman is indispensable on all occasions.  No visit can
+be paid till three; and this gives me very little time in these
+short days.  Everything here is inflexible as the laws of the Medes
+and Persians, and though I am called "Mistress" even by old Cates
+with his grey hair and black coat, I cannot make one of them do
+anything, except BY the person and AT the time which English custom
+prescribes.  They are brought up to fill certain situations, and
+fill them perfectly, but cannot or will not vary.
+
+I am frequently asked by the ladies here if I have formed a
+household to please me and I am obliged to confess that I have a
+very nice household, but that I am the only refractory member of it.
+I am always asking the wrong person for coals, etc., etc.  The
+division of labor, or rather ceremonies, between the butler and
+footman, I have now mastered I believe in some degree, but that
+between the UPPER and UNDER house-maid is still a profound mystery
+to me, though the upper has explained to me for the twentieth time
+that she did only "the top of the work."  My cook comes up to me
+every morning for orders, and always drops the deepest curtsey, but
+then I doubt if her hands are ever profaned by touching a poker, and
+she NEVER washes a dish.  She is cook and HOUSEKEEPER, and presides
+over the housekeeper's room; which has a Brussels carpet and centre
+table, with one side entirely occupied by the linen presses, of
+which my maid (my vice-regent, only MUCH greater than me) keeps the
+key and dispenses every towel, even for the kitchen.  She keeps
+lists of everything and would feel bound to replace anything
+missing.  I shall make you laugh and Mrs. Goodwin stare, by some of
+my housekeeping stories, the next evening I pass in your little
+pleasant parlor (a word unknown here).
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, January 10, 1847
+
+
+
+My very dear Children:  . . . Yesterday we dined at Lady
+Charleville's, the old lady of eighty-four, at whose house I
+mentioned an evening visit in my last, and I must tell you all about
+it to entertain dear Grandma.  I will be minute for once, and give
+you the LITTLE details of a London dinner, and they are all
+precisely alike.  We arrived at Cavendish Square a quarter before
+seven (very early) and were shown into a semi-library on the same
+floor with the dining-room.  The servants take your cloak, etc., in
+the passage, and I am never shown into a room with a mirror as with
+us, and never into a chamber or bedroom.
+
+We found Lady Charleville and her daughter with one young gentleman
+with whom I chatted till dinner, and who, I found, was Sir William
+Burdette, son of Sir Francis and brother of Miss Angelina Coutts.  I
+happened to have on the corsage of my black velvet a white moss rose
+and buds, which I thought rather youthful for ME, but the old lady
+had [them] on her cap.  She is full of intelligence, and has always
+been in the habit of drawing a great deal. . . . Very soon came in
+Lord Aylmer, [who] was formerly Governor of Canada, and Lady
+Colchester, daughter of Lord Ellenborough, a very pretty woman of
+thirty-five, I should think; Sir William and Lady Chatterton and Mr.
+Algernon Greville, whose grandmother wrote the beautiful "Prayer for
+Indifference," an old favorite of mine, and Mr. MacGregor, the
+political economist.  Lord Aylmer took me out and I found him a nice
+old peer, and discovered that ever since the death of his uncle,
+Lord Whitworth, whose title is extinct, he had borne the arms of
+both Aylmer and Whitworth.  Mr. Bancroft took out Lady Colchester,
+and the old lady was wheeled out precisely as Grandma is.
+
+At table she helped to the fish (cod, garnished round with smelts)
+and insisted on carving the turkey herself, which she did extremely
+well.  By the way, I observe they never carve the breast of a turkey
+LONGITUDINALLY, as we do, but in short slices, a little diagonally
+from the centre.  This makes many more slices, and quite large
+enough where there are so many other dishes.  The four ENTREE dishes
+are always placed on the table when we sit down, according to our
+old fashion, and not one by one.  They have [them] warmed with hot
+water, so that they keep hot while the soup and fish are eaten.
+Turkey, even BOILED turkey, is brought on AFTER the ENTREES, mutton
+(a saddle always) or venison, with a pheasant or partridges.  With
+the roast is always put on the SWEETS, as they are called, as the
+term dessert seems restricted to the last course of fruits.  During
+the dinner there are always long strips of damask all round the
+table which are removed before the dessert is put on, and there is
+no brushing of crumbs.  You may not care for all this, but the
+housekeepers may.  I had Mr. Greville the other side of me, who
+seemed much surprised that I, an American, should know the "Prayer
+for Indifference," which he doubted if twenty persons in England
+read in these modern days.
+
+It is a great mystery to me yet how people get to know each other in
+London.  Persons talk to you whom you do not know, for no one is
+introduced, as a general rule.  I have sometimes quite an
+acquaintance with a person, and exchange visits, and yet do not
+succeed for a long time in putting their name and the person
+together. . . . It is a great puzzle to a stranger, but has its
+conveniences for the English themselves.  We are endeavoring to
+become acquainted with the English mind, not only through society,
+but through its products in other ways.  Natural science is the
+department into which they seem to have thrown their intellect most
+effectively for the last ten or fifteen years.  We are reading
+Whewell's "History of the Inductive Sciences," which gives one a
+summary of what has been accomplished in that way, not only in past
+ages, but in the present.  Every moment here is precious to me and I
+am anxious to make the best use of it, but I have immense demands on
+my time in every way.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+Tuesday night, January 19, 1847
+
+
+
+To-day we have been present at the opening of Parliament, but how
+can I picture to you the interest and magnificence of the scene.  I
+will begin quite back, and give you all the preparations for a
+"Court Day."  Ten days before, a note was written to Lord Willoughby
+d'Eresby, informing him of my intention to attend, that a seat might
+be reserved for me, and also soliciting several tickets for American
+ladies and gentlemen. . . .  I cannot take them with me, however, as
+the seat assigned to the ladies of Foreign Ministers is very near
+the throne.  This morning when I awoke the fog was thicker than I
+ever knew it, even here.  The air was one dense orange-colored mass.
+What a pity the English cannot borrow our bright blue skies in which
+to exhibit their royal pageants!
+
+Mr. Bancroft's court dress had not been sent home, our servants'
+liveries had not made their appearance, and our carriage only
+arrived last night, and I had not passed judgment upon it.  Fogs and
+tradesmen! these are the torments of London.  Very soon came the
+tailor with embroidered dress, sword, and chapeau, but, alas! Mr.
+Isidore, who was to have dressed my hair at half-past ten was not
+forthcoming, and to complete my perplexity, he had my head-dress in
+his possession.  At last, just as Russell had resumed her office at
+the toilet, came Isidore, a little before twelve, coiffure and all,
+which was so pretty that I quire forgave him all his sins.  It was
+of green leaves and white FLEUR-DE-LIS, with a white ostrich feather
+drooping on one side.  I wear my hair now plain in front, and the
+wreath was very flat and classical in its style.  My dress was black
+velvet with a very rich bertha.  A bouquet on the front of FLEUR-DE-
+LIS, like the coiffure, and a Cashmere shawl, completed my array.  I
+have had the diamond pin and earrings which you father gave me,
+reset, and made into a magnificent brooch, and so arranged that I
+can also wear it as a necklace or bracelet.  On this occasion it was
+my necklace.
+
+Miss Murray came to go with me, as she wished to be by my side to
+point out everybody, and her badge as Maid of Honor would take her
+to any part of the house.  At half-past twelve she and I set out,
+and after leaving us the carriage returned for your father and Mr.
+Brodhead.  But first let me tell you something of our equipage.  It
+is a CHARIOT, not a coach; that is, it has but one seat, but the
+whole front being glass makes it much more agreeable to such persons
+as have not large families.  The color is maroon, with a silver
+moulding, and has the American arms on the panel.  The liveries are
+blue and red; on Court Days they have blue plush breeches, and white
+silk stockings, with buckles on their shoes.  Your father leaves all
+these matters to me, and they have given me no little plague.  When
+I thought I had arranged everything necessary, the coachman, good
+old Brooks, solicited an audience a day or two ago, and began,
+"Mistress, did you tell them to send the pads and the fronts and the
+hand-pieces?"  "Heavens and earth! what are all these things?" said
+I.  "Why, ma'am, we always has pads under the saddle on Court Days,
+trimmed round with the colors of the livery, and we has fronts made
+of ribbin for the horses' heads, and we has white hand-pieces for
+the reins."  This is a specimen of the little troubles of court
+life, but it has its compensations.  To go back to Miss Murray and
+myself, who are driving through the park between files of people,
+thousands and thousands all awaiting with patient, loyal faces the
+passage of the Queen and of the State carriages.  The Queen's was
+drawn by eight cream-colored horses, and the servants flaming with
+scarlet and gold.  This part of the park, near the palace, is only
+accessible to the carriages of the foreign ministers, ministers, and
+officers of the household.
+
+We arrive at the Parliament House, move through the long corridor
+and give up our tickets at the door of the chamber.  It is a very
+long, narrow room.  At the upper end is the throne, on the right is
+the seat of the ambassadors, on the left, of their ladies.  Just in
+front of the throne is the wool-sack of the Lord Chancellor, looking
+like a drawing-room divan, covered with crimson velvet.  Below this
+are rows of seats for the judges, who are all in their wigs and
+scarlet robes; the bishops and the peers, all in robes of scarlet
+and ermine.  Opposite the throne at the lower end is the Bar of the
+Commons.  On the right of the Queen's chair is a vacant one, on
+which is carved the three plumes, the insignia of the Prince of
+Wales, who will occupy it when he is seven or nine years old; on the
+left Prince Albert sits.
+
+The seat assigned me was in the front row, and quite open, like a
+sofa, so that I could talk with any gentleman whom I knew.  Madam
+Van de Weyer was on one side of me and the Princess Callimachi on
+the other, and Miss Murray just behind me.  She insisted on
+introducing to me all her noble relatives.  Her cousin, the young
+Duke of Athol; the Duke of Buccleuch; her nephew the Marquis of
+Camden; her brother the Bishop of Rochester.  There were many whom I
+had seen before, so that the hour passed very agreeably.  Very soon
+came in the Duke of Cambridge, at which everybody rose, he being a
+royal duke.  He was dressed in the scarlet kingly robe, trimmed with
+ermine, and with his white hair and whiskers (he is an old man) was
+most picturesque and scenic, reminding me of King Lear and other
+stage kings.  He requested to be introduced to me, upon which I
+rose, of course.  He soon said, "Be seated," and we went on with the
+conversation.  I told him how much I liked Kew Garden, where he has
+a favorite place.
+
+When I first entered I was greeted very cordially by a personage in
+a black gown and wig, whom I did not know.  He laughed and said:  "I
+am Mr. Senior, whom you saw only Saturday evening, but you do not
+know me in my wig."  It is, indeed, an entire transformation, for it
+reaches down on the shoulders.  He is a master in chancery.  He
+stood by me nearly all the time and pointed out many of the judges,
+and some persons not in Miss Murray's line.
+
+But the trumpets sound! the Queen approaches!  The trumpet
+continues, and first enter at a side door close at my elbow the
+college of heralds richly dressed, slowly, two and two; then the
+great officers of the household, then the Lord Chancellor bearing
+the purse, seal, and speech of the Queen, with the macebearers
+before him.  Then Lord Lansdowne with the crown, the Earl of
+Zetland, with the cap of maintenance, and the Duke off Wellington,
+with the sword of State.  Then Prince Albert, leading the Queen,
+followed by the Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes, and
+the Marchioness of Douro, daughter-in-law of the Duke of Wellington,
+who is one of the ladies in waiting.  The Queen and Prince sit down,
+while everybody else remains standing.  The Queen then says in a
+voice most clear and sweet:  "My lords (rolling the r), be seated."
+Upon which the peers sit down, except those who enter with the
+Queen, who group themselves about the throne in the most picturesque
+manner.  The Queen had a crown of diamonds, with splendid necklace
+and stomacher of the same.  The Duchess of Sutherland close by her
+side with her ducal coronet of diamonds, and a little back, Lady
+Douro, also, with her coronet.  On the right of the throne stood the
+Lord Chancellor, with scarlet robe and flowing wig, holding the
+speech, surrounded by the emblems of his office; a little farther,
+one step lower down, Lord Lansdowne, holding the crown on a crimson
+velvet cushion, and on the left the Duke of Wellington, brandishing
+the sword of State in the air, with the Earl of Zetland by his side.
+The Queen's train of royal purple, or rather deep crimson, was borne
+by many train-bearers.  The whole scene seemed to me like a dream or
+a vision.  After a few minutes the Lord Chancellor came forward and
+presented the speech to the Queen.  She read it sitting and most
+exquisitely.  Her voice is flute-like and her whole emphasis decided
+and intelligent.  Very soon after the speech is finished she leaves
+the House, and we all follow, as soon as we can get our carriages.
+
+Lord Lansdowne told me before she came in that the speech would be
+longer than usual, "but not so long as your President's speeches."
+It has been a day of high pleasure and more like a romance than a
+reality to me, and being in the very midst of it as I was, made it
+more striking than if I had looked on from a distant gallery.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, February 7, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Sons:  . . . On Friday we dined with two bachelors, Mr.
+Peabody and Mr. Coates, who are American bankers.  Mr. Peabody is a
+friend of Mr. Corcoran and was formerly a partner of Mr. Riggs in
+Baltimore.  Mr. Coates is of Boston. . . . They mustered up all the
+Americans that could be found, and we dined with twenty-six of our
+countrymen.
+
+
+Monday Morning
+
+
+Last evening we were at home to see any Americans who might chance
+to come. . . . I make tea in the drawing-room, on a little table
+with a white cloth, which would not be esteemed COMME IL FAUT with
+us.  There is none of the parade of eating in the largest evening
+party here.  I see nothing but tea, and sometimes find an informal
+refreshment table in the room where we put on our cloaks.
+
+I got a note yesterday from the O'Connor Don, enclosing an order to
+admit me to the House of Commons on Monday. . . . You will be
+curious to know who is "The O'Connor Don."  He is Dennis O'Connor,
+Esq., but is of the oldest family in Ireland, and the representative
+of the last kings of Connaught.  He is called altogether the
+O'Connor Don, and begins his note to me with that title.  You
+remember Campbell's poem of "O'Connor's Child"?
+
+
+Sunday, 14th February
+
+
+. . . Yesterday morning was my breakfast at Sir Robert Inglis's.
+The hour was halfpast nine, and as his house is two miles off I had
+to be up wondrous early for me.  The weather has been very cold for
+this climate for the last few days, though we should think it
+moderate.  They know nothing of extreme cold here.  But, to return
+to or breakfast, where, notwithstanding the cold, the guests were
+punctually assembled:  The Marquis of Northampton and his sisters,
+the Bishop of London with his black apron, Sir Stratford Canning,
+Mr. Rutherford, Lord Advocate for Scotland, the Solicitor-General
+and one or two others.  The conversation was very agreeable and I
+enjoyed my first specimen of an English breakfast exceedingly. . . .
+Our invitations jostle each other, now Parliament has begun, for
+everybody invites on Wednesday, Saturday, or Sunday, when there are
+no debates.  We had three dinner invitations for next Wednesday,
+from Mr. Harcourt, Marquis of Anglesey, and Mrs. Mansfield.  We go
+to the former.  The Queen held a levee on Friday, for gentlemen
+only.  Your father went, of course.
+
+
+Sunday, February 21st
+
+
+I left off on Sunday, on which day I got a note from Lady Morgan,
+saying that she wished us to come and meet some agreeables at her
+house. . . . There I met Sir William and Lady Molesworth, Sir
+Benjamin Hall, etc., and had a long talk with "Eothen," who is a
+quiet, unobtrusive person in manner, though his book is quite an
+effervescence. . . . On Wednesday we dined with Mr. Harcourt, and
+met there Lord Brougham, who did the talking chiefly, Lord and Lady
+Mahon, Mr. Labouchere, etc.  It was a most agreeable party, and we
+were very glad to meet Lord Brougham, whom we had not before seen.
+
+Lord Brougham is entertaining, and very much listened to.  Indeed,
+the English habit seems to be to suffer a few people to do up a
+great part of the talking, such as Macaulay, Brougham, and Sydney
+Smith and Mackintosh in their day. . . . On Saturday evening, at ten
+o'clock, we went to a little party at Lady Stratheden's.  After
+staying there three-quarters of an hour we went to Lady
+Palmerston's, where were all the GREAT London world, the Duchess of
+Sutherland among the number.  She is most noble, and at the same
+time lovely. . . . We had an autograph note from Sir Robert Peel,
+inviting us to dine next Saturday, and were engaged.  I hope they
+will ask us again, for I know few things better than to see him, as
+we should in dining there.  I have the same interest in seeing the
+really distinguished men of England, that I should have in the
+pictures and statues of Rome, and indeed, much greater.  I wish I
+was better prepared for my life here by a more extensive culture;
+mere fine ladyism will not do, or prosy bluism, but one needs for a
+thorough enjoyment of society, a healthy, practical, and extensive
+culture, and a use of the modern languages in our position would be
+convenient.  I do not know how a gentleman can get on without it
+here, and I find it so desirable that I devote a good deal of time
+to speaking French with Louisa's governess.  Your father uses French
+a great deal with his colleagues, who, many of them, speak English
+with great difficulty, and some not at all. . . . Lady Charlotte
+Lindsay came one day this week to engage us to dine with her on
+Wednesday, but yesterday she came to say that she wanted Lord
+Brougham to meet us, and he could not come till Friday.  Fortunately
+we had no dinner engagement on that day, and we are to meet also the
+Miss Berrys; Horace Walpole's Miss Berrys, who with Lady Charlotte
+herself, are the last remnants of the old school here.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+February 21st
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle:  . . . I wrote [J.D.] a week or two before I heard of
+his death, but was unable to tell him anything of Lord North, as I
+had not met Lady Charlotte Lindsay.  I have seen her twice this week
+at Baron Parke's and at Lord Campbell's, and told her how much I had
+wished to do so before, and on what account.  She says her father
+heard reading with great pleasure, and that one of her sisters could
+read the classics:  Latin and, I think, Greek, which he enjoyed to
+the last.  She says that he never complained of losing his sight,
+but that her mother has told her that it worried him in his old age
+that he remained Minister during our troubles at a period when he
+wished, himself, to resign.  He sometimes talked of it in the
+solitude of sleepless nights, her mother has told her.
+
+On Tuesday morning we were invited by Dr. Buckland, the Dean of
+Westminster, to go to his house, and from thence to the Abbey, to
+witness the funeral of the Duke of Northumberland.  The Dean, who
+has control of everything in the Abbey, issued tickets to several
+hundred persons to go and witness the funeral, but only Lord
+Northampton's family, the Bunsens (the Prussian Minister), and
+ourselves, went to his house, and into the Dean's little gallery.
+
+After the ceremony there were a crowd of visitors at the Dean's, and
+I met many old acquaintances, and made many new ones, among whom
+were Lady Chantrey, a nice person.  After the crowd cleared off, we
+sat down to a long table at lunch, always an important meal here,
+and afterward the Dean took me on his arm and showed me everything
+within the Abbey precincts.  He took us first to the Percy Chapel to
+see the vault of the Percys. . . . From thence the Dean took us to
+the Jerusalem chamber where Henry IV died, then all over the
+Westminster school.  We first went to the hall where the young men
+were eating their dinner. . . . We then went to the school-room,
+where every inch of the wall and benches is covered with names, some
+of them most illustrious, as Dryden's.  There were two bunches of
+rods, which the Dean assured me were not mere symbols of power, but
+were daily used, as, indeed, the broken twigs scattered upon the
+floor plainly showed.  Our ferules are thought rather barbarous, but
+a gentle touch from a slender twig not at all so.  These young men
+looked to me as old as our collegians.  We then went to their study-
+rooms, play-rooms, and sleeping-rooms.  The whole forty sleep in one
+long and well-ventilated room, the walls of which were also covered
+with names.  At the foot of each bed was a large chest covered with
+leather, as mouldering and time-worn as the Abbey itself.  Here are
+educated the sons of some of the noblest families, and the
+Archbishop of York has had six sons here, and all of them were in
+succession the Captain of the school. . . .
+
+On Wednesday evening we went first to our friends, the Bunsens,
+where we were invited to meet the Duchess of Sutherland with a few
+other persons.  Bunsen is very popular here.  He is learned and
+accomplished, and was so much praised in the Biography of Dr.
+Arnold, the late historian of Rome, that he has great reputation in
+the world of letters. . . . Although we have great pleasure in the
+society of Chevalier and Madam Bunsen, and in those whom we meet at
+their house.  On this occasion we only stayed half an hour, which I
+passed in talking with the Bishop of Norwich and his wife, Mrs.
+Stanley, and went to Lady Morgan's without waiting till the Duchess
+of Sutherland came.  There we found her little rooms full of
+agreeable people. . . . The next day, Thursday, there was a grand
+opera for the benefit of the Irish, and all the Diplomatic Corps
+were obliged to take boxes.  Lady Palmerston, who was one of the
+three patronesses, secured a very good box for us, directly opposite
+the Queen, and only three from the stage.
+
+We took with us Mrs. Milman and W.T. Davis, to whom it gave a grand
+opportunity of seeing the Queen and the assembled aristocracy, at
+least all who are now in London.  "God save the Queen," sung with
+the whole audience standing, was a noble sight.  The Queen also
+stood, and at the end gave three curtsies.  On Friday Captain and
+Mrs. Wormeley, with Miss Wormeley, dined with us, with Mr. and Mrs.
+Carlyle, Miss Murray, the Maid of Honor, Mr. and Mrs. Pell of New
+York, with William T. and Mr. Brodhead.  William was very glad to
+see Carlyle, who showed himself off to perfection, uttering his
+paradoxes in broad Scotch.
+
+Last evening we dined at Mr. Thomas Baring's, and a most agreeable
+dinner it was.  The company consisted of twelve persons, Lord and
+Lady Ashburton, etc.  I like Lady Ashburton extremely.  She is full
+of intelligence, reads everything, talks most agreeably, and still
+loves America.  She is by no means one of those who abjure their
+country.  I have seen few persons in England whom I should esteem a
+more delightful friend or companion than Lady Ashburton, and I do
+not know why, but I had received a different impression of her.
+Lord Ashburton, by whom I sat at dinner, struck me as still one of
+the wisest men I have seen in England.  Lady Ashburton, who was
+sitting by Mr. Bancroft, leant forward and said to her husband, "WE
+can bring bushels of corn this year to England."  "Who do you mean
+by WE?" said he.  "Why, we Americans, to be sure."
+
+
+Monday Evening
+
+
+Yesterday we dined at Count St. Aulair's, the French Ambassador, who
+is a charming old man of the old French school, at a sort of
+amicable dinner given to Lord and Lady Palmerston.  Lord John
+Russell was of the party, with the Russian Ambassador and lady, Mr.
+and Madam Van de Weyer, the Prussian and Turkish Ministers.  The
+house of the French Embassy is fine, but these formal grand dinners
+are not so charming as the small ones.  The present state of feeling
+between Lord Palmerston and the French Government gave it a kind of
+interest, however, and it certainly went off in a much better spirit
+than Lady Normanby's famous party, which Guizot would not attend.
+It seems very odd to me to be in the midst of these European
+affairs, which I have all my life looked upon from so great a
+distance.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mrs. W.W. Story
+LONDON, March 23, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Mrs. Story:  I should have thanked you by the last steamer
+for your note and the charming volume which accompanied it, but my
+thoughts and feelings were so much occupied by the sad tidings I
+heard from my own family that I wrote to no one out of it.  The
+poems, which would at all times have given me great pleasure, gave
+me still more here than they would if I were with you on the other
+side of the Atlantic.  I am not cosmopolitan enough to love any
+nature so well as our American nature, and in addition to the charm
+of its poetry, every piece brought up to me the scenes amidst which
+it had been written. . . . How dear these associations are your
+husband will soon know when he too is separated from his native
+shores and from those he loves. . . . I shall look forward with
+great pleasure to seeing him here, and only wish you were to
+accompany him, for your own sake, for his, and for ours.  His
+various culture will enable him to enjoy most fully all that Europe
+can yield him in every department.  My own regret ever since I have
+been here has been that the seed has not "fallen upon better
+ground," for though I thought myself not ignorant wholly, I
+certainly lose much that I might enjoy more keenly if I were better
+prepared for it.  I envy the pleasure which Mr. Story will receive
+from music, painting, and sculpture in Europe, even if he were
+destitute of the creative inspiration which he will take with him.
+For ourselves, we have everything to make us happy here, and I
+should be quite so, if I could forget that I had a country and
+children with very dear friends 3,000 miles away. . . . There are
+certain sympathies of country which one cannot overcome.  On the
+other hand I certainly enjoy pleasures of the highest kind, and am
+every day floated like one in a dream into the midst of persons and
+scenes that make my life seem more like a drama than a reality.
+Nothing is more unreal than the actual presence of persons of whom
+one has heard much, and long wished to see.  One day I find myself
+at dinner by the side of Sir Robert Peel, another by Lord John
+Russell, or at Lord Lansdowne's table, with Mrs. Norton, or at a
+charming breakfast with Mr. Rogers, surrounded by pictures and
+marbles, or with tall feathers and a long train, making curtsies to
+a queen.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, April 2 [1847]
+
+
+
+Here it is the day before the despatches leave and I have not
+written a single line to you. . . . On Friday we dined at Lady
+Charlotte Lindsay's, where were Lord Brougham and Lady Mallet, Mr.
+Rogers and the Bishop of Norwich and his wife.  In the evening Miss
+Agnes Berry, who never goes out now, came on purpose to appoint an
+evening to go and see her sister, who is the one that Horace Walpole
+wished to marry, and to whom so many of his later letters are
+addressed.  She is eighty-four, her sister a few years younger, and
+Lady Charlotte not much their junior.
+
+These remnants of the BELLES-ESPRITS of the last age are charming to
+me.  They have a vast and long experience of the best social
+circles, with native wit, and constant practice in the conversation
+of society. . . . On Wednesday, we dined at Sir Robert Peel's, with
+whom I was more charmed than with anybody I have seen yet.  I sat
+between him and the Speaker of the House of Commons.  I was told
+that he was stiff and stately in his manners, but did not think him
+so, and am inclined to imagine that free from the burden of the
+Premiership, he unbends more.  He talked constantly with me, and in
+speaking of a certain picture said, "When you come to Drayton Manor
+I shall show it to you."  I should like to go there, but to see
+himself even more than his pictures.  Lady Peel is still a very
+handsome woman.
+
+The next morning we breakfasted with Mr. Rogers.  He lives, as you
+probably know, in [a] beautiful house, though small, whose rooms
+look upon the Green Park, and filled with pictures and marbles.  We
+stayed an hour or more after the other guests, listening to his
+stores of literary anecdote and pleasant talk.  In the evening we
+went to the Miss Berrys', where we found Lord Morpeth, who is much
+attached to them.  Miss Berry put her hand on his head, which is
+getting a little gray, and said:  "Ah, George, and I remember the
+day you were born, your grandmother brought you and put you in my
+arms."  Now this grandmother of Lord Morpeth's was the celebrated
+Duchess of Devonshire, who electioneered for Fox, and he led her to
+tell me all about her.  "Eothen" was also there, Lady Lewis and many
+of my friends. . . . Aunty wishes to know who is "Eothen."  She has
+probably read his book, "Eothen, or Traces of Travel," which was
+very popular two or three years since.  He is a young lawyer, Mr.
+Kinglake, the most modest, unassuming person in his manners, very
+shy and altogether very unlike the dashing, spirited young
+Englishman I figured to myself, whom nothing could daunt from the
+Arab even to the plague, which he defied.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+
+
+
+Dear Uncle and Aunt:  On Thursday [the 25th] we were invited to Sir
+John Pakington's, whose wife is the Bishop of Rochester's daughter,
+but were engaged to Mr. Senior, who had asked us to meet the
+Archbishop of Dublin, the celebrated Dr. Whately.  He had come over
+from Ireland to make a speech in the House of Lords upon the Irish
+Poor Law.  He is full of learning [and] simplicity, and with most
+genial hearty manners.  Rogers was also there and said more fine
+things than I have heard him say before at dinner, as he is now so
+deaf that he does not hear general conversation, and cannot tell
+where to send his shaft, which is always pointed.  He retains all
+his sarcasm and epigrammatic point, but he shines now especially at
+breakfast, where he has his audience to himself.
+
+We went from Mr. Senior's to Mr. Milman's, but nearly all the guests
+there were departed or departing, though one or two returned with us
+to the drawing-room to stay the few minutes we did.  Among the
+lingerers we found Sir William and Lady Duff Gordon, the two
+Warburtons, "Hochelaga" and "Crescent and Cross," and "Eothen."
+Mrs. Milman I really love, and we see much of them.
+
+On Saturday was the dreaded Drawing-Room, on which occasion I was to
+be presented to the Queen. . . . Mr. Bancroft and I left home at a
+quarter past one.  On our arrival we passed through one or two
+corridors, lined by attendants with battle-axes and picturesque
+costumes, looking very much like the supernumeraries on the stage,
+and were ushered into the ante-room, a large and splendid room,
+where only the Ministers and Privy Councillors, with their families,
+are allowed to go with the Diplomatic Corps.  Here we found Lady
+Palmerston, who showed me a list she had got Sir Edward Cust, the
+master of ceremonies, to make out of the order of precedence of the
+Diplomatic Corps, and when the turn would come for us who were to be
+newly presented.  The room soon filled up and it was like a pleasant
+party, only more amusing, as the costumes of both gentlemen and
+ladies were so splendid.  I got a seat in the window with Madam Van
+de Weyer and saw the Queen's train drive up.  At the end of this
+room are two doors:  at the left hand everybody enters the next
+apartment where the Queen and her suite stand, and after going round
+the circle, come out at the right-hand door.  After those who are
+privileged to go FIRST into the ANTE-ROOM leave it, the general
+circle pass in, and they also go in and out the same doors.  But to
+go back.  The left-hand door opens and Sir Edward Cust leads in the
+Countess Dietrichstein, who is the eldest Ambassadress, as the
+Countess St. Aulair is in Paris.  As she enters she drops her train
+and the gentlemen ushers open it out like a peacock's tail.  Then
+Madam Van de Weyer, who comes next, follows close upon the train of
+the former, then Baroness Brunnow, the Madam Bunsen, then Madam
+Lisboa, then Lady Palmerston, who, as the wife of the Minister for
+Foreign Affairs, is to introduce the Princess Callimachi, Baroness
+de Beust, and myself.  She stations herself by the side of the Queen
+and names us as we pass.  The Queen spoke to none of us, but gave me
+a very gracious smile, and when Mr. Bancroft came by, she said:  "I
+am very glad to have had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Bancroft to-
+day."  I was not [at] all frightened and gathered up my train with
+as much self-possession as if I were alone.  I found it very
+entertaining afterward to watch the reception of the others.  The
+Diplomatic Corps remain through the whole, the ladies standing on
+the left of the Queen and the gentlemen in the centre, but all
+others pass out immediately. . . . On Sunday evening Mr. Bancroft
+set off for Paris to pass the Easter recess of Parliament. . . . I
+got a very interesting letter yesterday from Mr. Bancroft.  It seems
+that the Countess Circourt, whose husband has reviewed his book and
+Prescott's, is a most charming person, and makes her house one of
+the most brilliant and attractive in Paris.  Since he left, a note
+came from Mr. Hallam, the contents of which pleased me as they will
+you.  It announced that Mr. Bancroft was chosen an Honorary Member
+of the Society of Antiquaries, of which Lord Mahon is president,
+Hallam, vice-president.  Hallam says the society is very old and
+that he is the first citizen of the United States upon whom it has
+been conferred, but that he will not long possess it exclusively, as
+his "highly distinguished countryman, Mr. Prescott, has also been
+proposed."
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+
+
+
+Tuesday
+
+My dear Sons:  . . . On Monday morning came the dear Miss Berrys, to
+beg me to come that evening to join their circle.  They have always
+the best people in London about them, young as well as old.
+
+The old and the middle-aged are more attended to here than with us,
+where the young are all in all.  As Hayward said to me the other
+evening, "it takes time to make PEOPLE, like cathedrals," and Mr.
+Rogers and Miss Berry could not have been what they are now, forty
+years ago.  A long life of experience in the midst constantly of the
+highest and most cultivated circles, and with several generations of
+distinguished men gives what can be acquired in no other way.  Mr.
+Rogers said to me one day:  "I have learnt more from men that from
+BOOKS, and when I used to be in the society of Fox and other great
+men of that period, and they would sometimes say 'I have always
+thought so and so,' then I have opened my ears and listened, for I
+said to myself, now I shall get at the treasured results of the
+experience of these great men."  This little saying of Mr. Rogers
+expresses precisely my own feelings in the society of the venerable
+and distinguished here.  With us society is left more to the
+crudities of the young than in England.  The young may be
+interesting and promise much, but they are still CRUDE.  The
+elements, however fine, are not yet completely assimilated and
+brought to that more perfect tone which comes later in life.
+
+
+Monday, April 12th
+
+
+. . . On Saturday I went with Sir William and Lady Molesworth to
+their box in the new Covent Garden opera, which has been opened for
+the first time this week.  There I saw Grisi and Alboni and
+Tamburini in the "Semiramide."  It was a new world of delight to me.
+Grisi, so statuesque and so graceful, delights the eye, the ear, and
+the soul.  She is sculpture, poetry, and music at the same time. . .
+. Mr. Bancroft has been received with great cordiality in Paris.  He
+has been three times invited to the Palace, and Guizot and Mignet
+give him access to all that he wants in the archives, and he passes
+his evenings with all the eminent men and beautiful women of Paris.
+Guizot, Thiers, Lamartine, Cousin, Salvandi, Thierry, he sees, and
+enjoys all.  They take him to the salons, too, of the Faubourg St.
+Germain, among the old French aristocracy, and to innumerable
+receptions.
+
+
+Wednesday
+
+
+To-morrow I go to the Drawing-Room alone, and to complete the
+climax, the Queen has sent us an invitation to dine at the Palace
+to-morrow, and I must go ALONE for the FIRST TIME.  If I live
+through it, I will tell you all about it; but is it not awkward in
+the extreme?
+
+
+Friday Morning
+
+
+At eight o'clock in the evening I drove to the Palace.  My dress was
+my currant-colored or grosseille velvet with a wreath of white Arum
+lilies woven into a kind of turban, with green leave and bouquet to
+match, on the bertha of Brussels lace.  I was received by a servant,
+who escorted me through a long narrow corridor the length of
+Winthrop Place and consigned me to another who escorted me in his
+turn, through another wider corridor to the foot of a flight of
+stairs which I ascended and found another servant, who took my cloak
+and showed me into the grand corridor or picture gallery; a noble
+apartment of interminable length; and surrounded by pictures of the
+best masters.  General Bowles, the Master of the Household, came
+forward to meet me, and Lord Byron, who is one of the Lords in
+Waiting.  I found Madam Lisboa already arrived, and soon came in
+Lord and Lady Palmerston, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis and
+Marchioness of Exeter, Lord and Lady Dalhousie, Lord Charles
+Wellesley, son of the Duke of Wellington, Lady Byron, and Mr.
+Hallam.  We sat and talked as at any other place, when at last the
+Queen was announced.  The gentlemen ranged themselves on one side,
+and we on the other, and the Queen and Prince passed through, she
+bowing, and we profoundly curtseying.  As soon as she passed the
+Marquis of Exeter came over and took Madam Lisboa, and Lord
+Dalhousie came and took me.  The Queen and Prince sat in the middle
+of a long table, and I was just opposite the Prince, between Lord
+Exeter and Lord Dalhousie, who is the son of the former Governor of
+Nova Scotia, was in the last ministry, and a most agreeable person.
+I talked to my neighbors as at any other dinner, but the Queen spoke
+to no one but Prince Albert, with a word or two to the Duke of
+Norfolk, who was on her right, and is the first peer of the realm.
+
+The dinner was rather quickly despatched, and when the Queen rose we
+followed her back into the corridor.  She walked to the fire and
+stood some minutes, and then advanced to me and enquired about Mr.
+Bancroft, his visit to Paris, if he had been there before, etc.  I
+expressed, of course, the regret he would feel at losing the honor
+of dining with Her Majesty, etc.  She then had a talk with Lady
+Palmerston, who stood by my side, then with all the other ladies in
+succession, until at last Prince Albert came out, soon followed by
+the other gentlemen.  The Prince then spoke to all the ladies, as
+she had done, while she went in succession to all the gentlemen
+guests.  This took some time and we were obliged to stand all the
+while.
+
+At last the Queen, accompanied by her Lady in Waiting, Lady Mount
+Edgcumbe, went to a sofa at the other end of the corridor in front
+of which was a round table surrounded by arm-chairs.  When the Queen
+was seated Lady Mount Edgcumbe came to us and requested us to take
+our seats round the table.  This was a little prim, for I did not
+know exactly how much I might talk to others in the immediate
+presence of the Queen, and everybody seemed a little constrained.
+She spoke to us all, and very soon such of the gentlemen as were
+allowed by their rank, joined us at the round table.  Lord Dalhousie
+came again to my side and I had as pleasant a conversation with him,
+rather SOTTO VOCE, however, as I could have had at a private house.
+At half-past ten the Queen rose and shook hands with each lady; we
+curtsied profoundly, and she and the Prince departed.  We then bade
+each other good-night, and found our carriages as soon as we chose.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, May 16, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Sons:  My letters by this steamer will have very little
+interest for you, as, from being in complete retirement, I have no
+new things to related to you. . . . We have taken advantage of our
+leisure to drive a little into the country, and on Tuesday I had a
+pleasure of the highest order in driving down to Esher and passing a
+quiet day with Lady Byron, the widow of the poet.  She is an
+intimate friend of Miss Murray, who has long wished us to see her
+and desired her to name the day for our visit.
+
+Esher is a little village about sixteen miles from London, and Lady
+Byron has selected it as her residence, though her estates are in
+Leicestershire, because it is near Lord and Lady Lovelace, her only
+child, the "ADA" of poetry.  We went in our own carriage, taking
+Miss Murray with us, and as the country is now radiant with blossoms
+and glowing green, the drive itself was very agreeable.  We arrived
+at two o'clock, and found only Lady Byron, with the second boy of
+Lady Lovelace and his tutor.  Lady Byron is now about fifty-five,
+and with the remains of an attractive, if not brilliant beauty.  She
+has extremely delicate features, and very pale and finely delicate
+skin.  A tone of voice and manner of the most trembling refinement,
+with a culture and strong intellect, almost masculine, but which
+betrays itself under such sweet and gentle and unobtrusive forms
+that one is only led to perceive it by slow degrees.  She is the
+most modest and unostentatious person one can well conceive.  She
+lives simply, and the chief of her large income (you know she was
+the rich Miss Milbank) she devotes to others.  After lunch she
+wished me to see a little of the country round Esher and ordered her
+ponies and small carriage for herself and me, while Mr. Bancroft and
+Miss Murray walked.  We went first to the royal seat, Claremont,
+where the Princess Charlotte lived so happily with Leopold, and
+where she died.  Its park adjoins Lady Byron's, and the Queen allows
+her a private key that she may enjoy its exquisite grounds.  Here we
+left the pedestrians, while Lady Byron took me a more extensive
+drive, as she wished to show me some of the heaths in the
+neighborhood, which are covered with furze, now one mass of yellow
+bloom.
+
+Every object is seen in full relief against the sky, and a figure on
+horseback is peculiarly striking.  I am always reminded of the
+beginning of one of James's novels, which is usually, you know,
+after this manner:  "It was toward the close of a dull autumn day
+that two horsemen were seen," etc., etc.  Lady Byron took me to the
+estate of a neighboring gentleman, to show me a fine old tower
+covered with ivy, where Wolsey took refuge from his persecutors,
+with his faithful follower, Cromwell.
+
+Upon our return we found the last of the old harpers, blind, and
+with a genuine old Irish harp, and after hearing his national
+melodies for half an hour, taking a cup of coffee, and enjoying a
+little more of Lady Byron's conversation, we departed, having had a
+day heaped up with the richest and best enjoyments.  I could not
+help thinking, as I was walking up and down the beautiful paths of
+Claremont Park, with the fresh spring air blowing about me, the
+primroses, daisies, and wild bluebells under my feet, and Lady Byron
+at my side, that it was more like a page out of a poem than a
+reality.
+
+On Sunday night any Americans who are here come to see us. . . . Mr.
+Harding brought with him a gentleman, whom he introduced as Mr.
+Alison.  Mr. Bancroft asked him if he were related to Archdeacon
+Alison, who wrote the "Essay on Taste."  "I am his son," said he.
+"Ah, then, you are the brother of the historian?" said Mr. Bancroft.
+"I am the historian," was the reply. . . . An evening visitor is a
+thing unheard of, and therefore my life is very lonely, now I do not
+go into society.  I see no one except Sunday evenings, and,
+occasionally, a friend before dinner.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B. and A.B.
+LONDON, May 24, [1847]
+
+
+
+My dear Sons:  . . . On Friday we both went to see the Palace of
+Hampton Court with my dear, good, Miss Murray, Mr. Winthrop and son,
+and Louise. . . . On our arrival, we found, to our great vexation,
+that Friday was the only day in the week in which visitors were not
+admitted, and that we must content ourselves with seeing the grounds
+and go back without a glimpse of its noble galleries of pictures.
+Fortunately for us, Miss Murray had several friends among the
+persons to whom the Queen has assigned apartments in the vast
+edifice, and they willingly yielded their approbation of our
+admission if she could possibly win over Mrs. Grundy, the
+housekeeper.  This name sounded rather inauspicious, but Mr.
+Winthrop suggested that there might be a "Felix" to qualify it, and
+so in this case it turned out.  Mrs. Grundy asserted that such a
+thing had never been done, that it was a very dangerous precedent,
+etc., but in the end the weight of a Maid of Honor and a Foreign
+Minister prevailed, and we saw everything to much greater advantage
+than if we had 150 persons following on, as Mr. Winthrop says he had
+the other day at Windsor Castle. . . . On our way [home] we met Lady
+Byron with her pretty little carriage and ponies.  She alighted and
+we did the same, and had quite a pleasant little interview in the
+dusty road.
+
+
+Sunday, May 30th
+
+
+Your father left town on Monday. . . . He did not return until the
+27th, the morning of the Queen's Birthday Drawing-Room.  On that
+occasion I went dressed in white mourning. . . . It was a petticoat
+of white crape flounced to the waist with the edges notched.  A
+train of white glace trimmed with a ruche of white crape.  A wreath
+and bouquet of white lilacs, without any green, as green is not used
+in mourning.  The array of diamonds on this occasion was magnificent
+in the highest degree, and everybody was in their most splendid
+array.  The next evening there was a concert at the Palace, at which
+Jenny Lind, Grisi, Alboni, Mario, and Tamburini sang.  I went
+dressed in [a] deep black dress and enjoyed the music highly.  Seats
+were placed in rows in the concert-room and one sat quietly as if in
+church.  At the end of the first part, the royal family with their
+royal guests, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, and the Grand
+Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar went to the grand dining-room and
+supped by themselves, with their suites, while another elegant
+refreshment table was spread in another apartment for the other
+guests. . . . Jenny Lind a little disappointed me, I must confess,
+but they tell me that her songs were not adapted on that evening to
+the display of her voice.
+
+On Sunday evening your father dined with Baron Brunnow, the Russian
+Minister, to meet the Grand Duke Constantine.  It so happened that
+the Grand Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar appointed an audience to
+Baron and Baroness Brunnow at seven, and they had not returned at
+half-past seven, when the Grand Duke and their other guests arrived.
+The Baroness immediately advanced to the Grand Duke and sunk on her
+knees before him, asking pardon in Russian.  He begged her to rise,
+but she remained in the attitude of deep humiliation, until the
+Grand Duke sunk also on HIS knees and gently raised her, and then
+kissed her on the cheek, a privilege, you know, of royalty.
+
+. . . On Monday evening we both went to a concert at Mr. Hudson's,
+the great railway "king," who has just made an immense fortune from
+railway stocks, and is now desirous to get into society.  These
+things are managed in a curious way here.  A NOUVEAU RICHE gets
+several ladies of fashion to patronize their entertainment and
+invite all the guests.  Our invitation was from Lady Parke, who
+wrote me two notes about it, saying that she would be happy to meet
+me at Mrs. Hudson's splendid mansion, where would be the best music
+and society of London; and, true enough, there was the Duke of
+Wellington and all the world.  Lady Parke stood at the entrance of
+the splendid suite of rooms to receive the guests and introduce them
+to their host and hostess.  On Tuesday morning I got a note from Mr.
+Eliot Warburton (brother of "Hochelaga") to come to his room at two
+o'clock and look at some drawings.  To our surprise we found quite a
+party seated at lunch, and a collection of many agreeable persons
+and some lions and lionesses.  There was Lord Ross, the great
+astronomer; Baroness Rothschild, a lovely Jewess; Miss Strickland,
+the authoress of the "Queens of England"; "Eothen," and many more.
+Mr. Polk, CHARGE at Naples, and brother of the President, dined with
+us, and Miss Murray, and in the evening came Mr. and Mrs. McLean, he
+a son of Judge McLean, of Ohio.
+
+
+June 17th
+
+
+On Friday evening we went to the Queen's Ball, and for the first
+time saw Her Majesty dance, which she does very well, and so does
+the Duchess of Sutherland, grandmother though she be.
+
+On Monday evening we went to a concert given to the Queen by the
+Duke of Wellington at Apsley House.  This was an occasion not to be
+forgotten, but I cannot describe it.  On Tuesday I went for the
+first time to hear a debate upon the Portugal interference in the
+House of Lords.  It brought out all the leaders, and I was so
+fortunate as to hear a most powerful speech from Lord Stanley, one
+from Lord Lansdowne in defence of the Ministry and one from the Duke
+of Wellington, who, on this occasion, sided with the Ministers.  On
+Wednesday was the great FETE given by the Duchess of Sutherland to
+the Queen.  It was like a chapter of a fairy tale.  Persons from all
+the courts of Europe who were there told us that nowhere in Europe
+was there anything as fine as the hall and grand staircase where the
+Duchess received her guests.  It exceeded my utmost conceptions of
+magnificence and beauty.  The vast size of the apartment, the
+vaulted ceilings, the arabesque ornaments, the fine pictures, the
+profusion of flowers, the music, the flourish of trumpets, as the
+Queen passed backward and forward, the superb dresses and diamonds
+of the women, the parti-colored full dress of the gentlemen all
+contributed to make up a scene not to be forgotten.  The Queen's
+Ball was not to be compared to it, so much more effective is
+Stafford House than Buckingham Palace. . . . We were fortunate to be
+present there, for Stafford House is not opened in this way but once
+in a year or two, and the Duke's health is now so very uncertain,
+that it may be many years before it happens again.  He was not
+present the other evening.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
+My dear Uncle and Aunt:
+LONDON, June 20, 1847
+
+
+
+On the 19th, Saturday, we breakfasted with Lady Byron and my friend,
+Miss Murray, at Mr. Rogers'.  He and Lady Byron had not met for
+many, many years, and their renewal of old friendship was very
+interesting to witness.  Mr. Rogers told me that he first introduced
+her to Lord Byron.  After breakfast he had been repeating some lines
+of poetry which he thought fine, when he suddenly exclaimed:  "But
+there is a bit of American PROSE, which, I think, had more poetry in
+it than almost any modern verse."  He then repeated, I should think,
+more than a page from Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," describing
+the falling overboard of one of the crew, and the effect it
+produced, not only at the moment, but for some time afterward.  I
+wondered at his memory, which enabled him to recite so beautifully a
+long prose passage, so much more difficult than verse.  Several of
+those present with whom the book was a favorite, were so glad to
+hear from me that it was as TRUE as interesting, for they had
+regarded it as partly a work of imagination.  Lady Byron had told
+Mr. Rogers when she came in that Lady Lovelace, her daughter (Ada)
+wished also to pay him a visit, and would come after breakfast to
+join us for half an hour.  She also had not seen Rogers, I BELIEVE,
+ever.  Lady Lovelace joined us soon after breakfast, and as we were
+speaking of the enchantment of Stafford House on Wednesday evening,
+Mr. Rogers proposed to go over it and see its fine pictures by
+daylight.  He immediately went himself by a short back passage
+through the park to ask permission and returned with all the
+eagerness and gallantry of a young man to say that he had obtained
+it.  We had thus an opportunity of seeing, in the most leisurely way
+and in the most delightful society, the fine pictures and noble
+apartments of Stafford House again.
+
+. . . On Tuesday Mr. Hallam took us to the British Museum, and being
+a director, he could enter on a private day, when we were not
+annoyed by a crowd, and, moreover, we had the advantage of the best
+interpreters and guides.  We did not even enter the library, which
+requires a day by itself, but confined ourselves to the Antiquity
+rooms. . . . As I entered the room devoted to the Elgin marbles, the
+works of the "divine Phidias," I stepped with awe, as if entering a
+temple, and the Secretary, who was by my side, observing it, told me
+that the Grand Duke Constantine, when he came a few days before,
+made, as he entered, a most profound and reverential bow.  This was
+one of my most delightful mornings, and I left the Antiquities with
+a stronger desire to see them again than before I had seen them at
+all.
+
+
+Sunday, June 27th
+
+
+. . . I went on Wednesday to dine at Lord Monteagle's to meet Father
+Mathew, and the Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Whately) also dined there.
+Father Mathew spoke with great interest of America and of American
+liberality, and is very anxious to go to our country.  He saw Mr.
+Forbes at Cork and spoke of him with great regard. . . . On
+[Saturday] Mr. Bancroft went to the palace to see the King of the
+Belgians, with the rest of the Diplomatic Corps.  After his return
+we went to Westminster Hall to see the prize pictures, as Lord
+Lansdowne had sent us tickets for the private view.  The Commission
+of Fine Arts have offered prizes for the best historical pictures
+that may serve to adorn the new Houses of Parliament, and the
+pictures of this collection were all painted with that view.  One of
+those which have received a prize is John Robinson bestowing his
+farewell blessing upon the Pilgrims at Leyden, which is very
+pleasing.  It was to me like a friend in a strange country, and I
+lingered over it the longest.
+
+
+July 2d
+
+
+Wednesday [evening] we went to Lady Duff Gordon's, who is the
+daughter of Mrs. Austin, where was a most agreeable party, and among
+others, Andersen, the Danish poet-author of the "Improvisatore."  He
+has a most striking poetical physiognomy, but as he talked only
+German or bad French, I left him to Mr. Bancroft in the conversation
+way.
+
+The next morning before nine o'clock we were told that Mr. Rogers,
+the poet, was downstairs.  I could not imagine what had brought him
+out so early, but found that Moore, the poet, had come to town and
+would stay but a day, and we must go that very morning and breakfast
+with him at ten o'clock.  We went and found a delightful circle.  I
+sat between Moore and Rogers, who was in his very best humor.  Moore
+is but a wreck, but most a interesting one.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
+Nuneham Park, July 27, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle and Aunt:  . . . I must go back to the day when my
+last letters were despatched, as my life since has been full of
+interest.  On Monday evening, the 19th, we went to the French play,
+to see Rachel in "Phedre."  She far surpassed my imagination in the
+expression of all the powerful passions. . . . On Tuesday Mr.
+Bancroft went down to hear Lord John make a speech to his
+constituents in the city, while I went to see Miss Burdett-Coutts
+lay the corner-stone of the church which "the Bishop of London has
+permitted her to build," to use her own expression in her note to
+me.  In the evening we dined there with many of the clergy, and Lord
+Brougham, Lord Dundonald, etc.  I went down with the Dean of
+Westminster, who was very agreeable and instructive.  He and Dr.
+Whately have the simplicity of children, with an immense deal of
+knowledge, which they impart in the most pleasant way.  Saturday,
+the 24th, we were to leave town for our first country excursion.  We
+were invited by Dr. Hawtrey, the Head Master of Eton, to be present
+at the ceremonies accompanying the annual election of such boys on
+the Foundation as are selected to go up to King's College,
+Cambridge, where they are also placed on a Foundation.  From reading
+Dr. Arnold's life you will have learned that the head master of one
+of these very great schools is no unimportant personage.  Dr.
+Hawtrey has an income of six or seven thousand pounds.  He is
+unmarried, but has two single sisters who live with him, and his
+establishment in one of the old college houses is full of elegance
+and comfort.  We took an open travelling carriage with imperials,
+and drove down to Eton with our own horses, arriving about one
+o'clock.  At two, precisely, the Provost of King's College,
+Cambridge, was to arrive, and to be received under the old gateway
+of the cloister by the Captain of the school with a Latin speech.
+After dinner there is a regatta among the boys, which is one of the
+characteristic and pleasing old customs.  All the fashionables of
+London who have sons at Eton come down to witness their happiness,
+and the river bank is full of gayety.  The evening finished with the
+most beautiful fireworks I ever saw, which lighted up the Castle
+behind and were reflected in the Thames below, while the glancing
+oars of the young boatmen, and the music of their band with a merry
+chime of bells from St. George's Chapel, above, all combined to give
+gayety and interest to the scene.  The next morning (Sunday), after
+an agreeable breakfast in the long, low-walled breakfast-room, which
+opens upon the flower garden, we went to Windsor to worship in St.
+George's Chapel.  The Queen's stall is rather larger than the
+others, and one is left vacant for the Prince of Wales.
+
+
+LONDON, July 29th
+
+
+And now with a new sheet I must begin my account of Nuneham. . . .
+The Archbishop of York is the second son of Lord Vernon, but his
+uncle, Earl Harcourt, dying without children, left him all his
+estate, upon which he took the name of Harcourt.  We arrived about
+four o'clock. . . . The dinner was at half-past seven, and when I
+went down I found the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Caroline Leveson-
+Gower, Lord Kildare, and several of the sons and daughters of the
+Archbishop.  The dinner and evening passed off very agreeably.  The
+Duchess is a most high-bred person, and thoroughly courteous.  As we
+were going in or out of a room instead of preceding me, which was
+her right, she always made me take her arm, which was a delicate way
+of getting over her precedence. . . . At half-past nine the [next
+morning] we met in the drawing-room, when the Archbishop led the way
+down to prayers.  This was a beautiful scene, for he is now ninety,
+and to hear him read the prayers with a firm, clear voice, while his
+family and dependents knelt about him was a pleasure never to be
+forgotten. . . . At five I was to drive round the park with the
+Archbishop himself in his open carriage.  This drive was most
+charming.  He explained everything, told me when such trees would be
+felled, and when certain tracts of underwood would be fit for
+cutting, how old the different-sized deer were--in short, the whole
+economy of an English park.  Every pretty point of view, too, he
+made me see, and was as active and wide-awake as if he were thirty,
+rather than ninety. . . . The next morning, after prayers and
+breakfast, I took my leave.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To A.H.
+BISHOP'S PALACE, NORWICH, August 1st
+
+
+
+My dear Ann:  How I wish I could transport you to the spot where I
+am writing, but if I could summon it before your actual vision you
+would take it for a dream or a romance, so different is everything
+within the walls which enclose the precincts of an English Cathedral
+from anything we can conceive on our side of the water. . . . Some
+of the learned people and noblemen have formed an Archaeological
+Society for the study and preservation [of] the interesting
+architectural antiquities of the kingdom, and [it] is upon the
+occasion of the annual meeting of this society for a week at Norwich
+that the Bishop has invited us to stay a few days at the palace and
+join them in their agreeable antiquarian excursions.  We arrived on
+Friday at five o'clock after a long dull journey of five hours on
+the railway. . . . Staying in the house are our friends, Mr. and
+Mrs. Milman, Lord Northampton and his son, Lord Alwyne Compton, and
+the Bishop's family, consisting of Mrs. Stanley, and of two Miss
+Stanleys, agreeable and highly cultivated girls, and Mr. Arthur
+Stanley, the writer of Dr. Arnold's Biography.
+
+After dinner company soon arrived.  Among them were Mrs. Opie, who
+resides here.  She is a pleasing, lively old lady, in full Quaker
+dress.  The most curious feature of the evening was a visit which
+the company paid to the cellar and kitchen, which were lighted up
+for the occasion.  They were build by the old Norman bishops of the
+twelfth century, and had vaulted stone roofs as beautifully carved
+and ribbed as a church.
+
+The next day, Saturday, the antiquarians made a long excursion to
+hunt up some ruins, while the Milmans, Mr. Stanley, and ourselves,
+went to visit the place of Lady Suffield, about twelve miles
+distant, and which is the most perfect specimen of the Elizabethan
+style.  Lady Suffield herself is as Elizabethan as her
+establishment; she is of one [of] the oldest high Tory families and
+so opposed to innovations of all sorts that though her letters,
+which used to arrive at two, before the opening of the railway two
+years ago, now arrive at seven in the morning, they are never
+allowed to be brought till the old hour. . . . This morning Mr.
+Bancroft and the rest are gone on an excursion to Yarmouth to see
+some ruins, while I remain here to witness the chairing of two new
+members of Parliament, who have just been elected, of whom Lord
+Douro, son of the Duke of Wellington, is one.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+AUDLEY END, October 14, 1847
+
+
+
+Dear Uncle:  We are staying for a few days at Lord Braybrooke's
+place, one of the most magnificent in England; but before I say a
+word about it I must tell you of A.'s safe arrival and how happy I
+have been made by having him with me again. . . . On Saturday the
+9th we had the honor of dining with the LORD MAYOR to meet the Duke
+of Cambridge, a FETE so unlike anything else and accompanied by so
+many old and peculiar customs that I must describe it to you at full
+length.  The Mansion House is in the heart of the CITY, and is very
+magnificent and spacious, the Egyptian Hall, as the dining-room is
+called, being one of the noblest apartments I have seen.  The guests
+were about 250 in number and were received by the Lady Mayoress
+SITTING.  When dinner was announced, the Lord Mayor went out first,
+preceded by the sword-bearer and mace-bearer and all the insignia of
+office.  Then came the Duke of Cambridge and the Lady Mayoress, then
+Mr. Bancroft and I together, which is the custom at these great
+civic feasts.  We marched through the long gallery by the music of
+the band to the Egyptian Hall, where two raised seats like thrones
+were provided for the Lord Mayor and Mayoress at the head of the
+hall.  On the right hand of the Lord Mayor sat the Duke of Cambridge
+in a COMMON CHAIR, for royalty yields entirely to the Mayor, on his
+own ground.  On the right of the Duke of Cambridge sat the Mayoress-
+elect (for the present dignitaries go out of office on the 1st of
+November).  On the left hand of the present Lady Mayoress sat the
+Lord Mayor-ELECT, then I came with my husband on my left hand in
+very conjugal style.
+
+There were three tables the whole length of the hall, and that at
+which we were placed went across at the head.  When we are placed,
+the herald stands behind the Lord Mayor and cries:  "My Lords,
+Ladies, and Gentlemen, pray silence, for grace."  Then the chaplain
+in his gown, goes behind the Lord Mayor and says grace.  After the
+second course two large gold cups, nearly two feet high, are placed
+before the Mayor and Mayoress.  The herald then cries with a loud
+voice:  "His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, the American
+Minister, the Lord Chief Baron," etc., etc. (enumerating about a
+dozen of the most distinguished guests), "and ladies and gentlemen
+all, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress do bid you most heartily
+welcome and invite you to drink in a loving cup."  Whereupon the
+Mayor and Mayoress rise and each turn to their next neighbor, who
+take off the cover while they drink.  After my right-hand neighbor,
+the Lord Mayor-elect, had put on the cover, he turns to me and says,
+"Please take off the cover," which I do and hold it while he drinks;
+then I replace the cover and turn round to Mr. Bancroft, who rises
+and performs the same office for me while I drink; then he turns to
+his next neighbor, who takes off the cover for him.  I have not felt
+so solemn since I stood up to be married as when Mr. Bancroft and I
+were standing up alone together, the rest of the company looking on,
+I with this great heavy gold cup in my hand, so heavy that I could
+scarcely lift it to my mouth with both hands, and he with the cover
+before me, with rather a mischievous expression in his face.  Then
+came two immense gold platters filled with rose water, which were
+also passed round.  These gold vessels were only used by the persons
+at the head table; the other guests were served with silver cups.
+When the dessert and the wine are placed on the table, the herald
+says, "My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, please to charge your
+glasses."  After we duly charge our glasses the herald cries:
+"Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, pray silence for the Lord Mayor."  He
+then rises and proposes the first toast, which is, of course, always
+"The Queen."  After a time came the "American Minister," who was
+obliged to rise up at my elbow and respond.  We got home just after
+twelve.
+
+And now let me try to give you some faint idea of Audley End, which
+is by far the most magnificent house I have seen yet.  It was built
+by the Earl of Suffolk, son of the Duke of Norfolk who was beheaded
+in Elizabeth's reign for high treason, upon the site of an abbey,
+the lands of which had been granted by the crown to that powerful
+family.  One of the Earls of Suffolk dying without sons, the EARLDOM
+passed into another branch and the BARONY and ESTATE of Howard de
+Walden came into the female line.  In course of time, a Lord Howard
+de Walden dying without a son, his title also passed into another
+family, but his estate went to his nephew, Lord Braybrooke, the
+father of the present Lord.  Lady Braybrooke is the daughter of the
+Marquis of Cornwallis, and granddaughter of our American Lord
+Cornwallis.
+
+The house is of the Elizabethan period and is one of the best
+preserved specimens of that style, but of its vast extent and
+magnificence I can give you no idea.  We arrived about five o'clock,
+and were ushered through an immense hall of carved oak hung with
+banners up a fine staircase to the grand saloon, where we were
+received by the host and hostess.  Now of this grand saloon I must
+try to give you a conception.  It was, I should think, from seventy-
+five to one hundred feet in length.  The ceiling overhead was very
+rich with hanging corbels, like stalactites, and the entire walls
+were panelled, with a full-length family portrait in each panel,
+which was arched at the top, so that the whole wall was composed of
+these round-topped pictures with rich gilding between.
+Notwithstanding its vast size, the sofas and tables were so disposed
+all over the apartment as to give it the most friendly, warm, and
+social aspect.
+
+Lady Braybrooke herself ushered me to my apartments, which were the
+state rooms.  First came Mr. Bancroft's dressing-room, where was a
+blazing fire.  Then came the bedroom, with the state bed of blue and
+gold, covered with embroidery, and with the arms and coronet of
+Howard de Walden.  The walls were hung with crimson and white
+damask, and the sofas and chairs also, and it was surrounded by
+pictures, among others a full length of Queen Charlotte, just
+opposite the foot of the bed, always saluted me every morning when I
+awoke, with her fan, her hoop, and her deep ruffles.
+
+My dressing-room, which was on the opposite side from Mr.
+Bancroft's, was a perfect gem.  It was painted by the famous Rebecco
+who came over from Italy to ornament so many of the great English
+houses at one time.  The whole ceiling and walls were covered with
+beautiful designs and with gilding, and a beautiful recess for a
+couch was supported by fluted gilded columns; the architraves and
+mouldings of the doors were gilt, and the panels of the doors were
+filled with Rebecco's beautiful designs.  The chairs were of light
+blue embroidered with thick, heavy gold, and all this bearing the
+stamp of antiquity was a thousand times more interesting than mere
+modern splendor.  In the centre of the room was a toilet of white
+muslin (universal here), and on it a gilt dressing-glass, which gave
+pretty effect to the whole.
+
+I sat at dinner between Lord Braybrooke and Sir John Boileau, and
+found them both very agreeable.  The dining-room is as magnificent
+as the other apartments.  The ceiling is in the Elizabethan style,
+covered with figures, and the walls white and gold panelling hung
+with full-length family portraits not set into the wall like the
+saloon, but in frames.  In the evening the young people had a round
+game at cards and the elder ones seemed to prefer talking to a game
+at whist.  The ladies brought down their embroidery or netting.  At
+eleven a tray with wine and water is brought in and a quantity of
+bed candlesticks, and everybody retires when they like.  The next
+morning the guests assembled at half-past nine in the great gallery
+which leads to the chapel to go in together to prayers.  The chapel
+is really a beautiful little piece of architecture, with a vaulted
+roof and windows of painted glass.  On one side is the original cast
+of the large monument to Lord Cornwallis (our lord) which is in
+Westminster Abbey.  After breakfast we passed a couple of hours in
+going all over the house, which is in perfect keeping in every part.
+
+We returned to the library, a room as splendid as the saloon, only
+instead of pictured panels it was surrounded by books in beautiful
+gilt bindings.  In the immense bay window was a large Louis Quatorze
+table, round which the ladies all placed themselves at their
+embroidery, though I preferred looking over curious illuminated
+missals, etc., etc.
+
+The next day was the meeting of the County Agricultural Society. . .
+. At the hour appointed we all repaired to the ground where the
+prizes were to be given out. . . . Lord Braybrooke made first a most
+paternal and interesting address, which showed me in the most
+favorable view the relation between the noble and the lower class in
+England, a relation which must depend much on the personal character
+of the lord of the manor. . . . First came prizes to ploughmen, then
+the plough boys, then the shepherds, then to such peasants as had
+reared many children without aid, then to women who had been many
+years in the same farmer's service, etc., etc.  A clock was awarded
+to a poor man and his wife who had reared six children and buried
+seven without aid from the parish.  The rapture with which Mr. and
+Mrs. Flitton and the whole six children gazed on this clock, an
+immense treasure for a peasant's cottage, was both comic and
+affecting. . . . The next morning we made our adieus to our kind
+host and hostess, and set off for London, accompanied by Sir John
+Tyrrell, Major Beresford, and young Mr. Boileau.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, November 4, 1847
+
+
+
+Dear W.:  . . . Mr. Bancroft and I dined on Friday, the 22d, with
+Mr. and Mrs. Hawes, under-Secretary of State, to meet Mr. Brooke,
+the Rajah of Sarawak, who is a great lion in London just now.  He is
+an English gentleman of large fortune who has done much to
+Christianize Borneo, and to open its trade to the English.  I sat
+between him and Mr. Ward, formerly Minister to Mexico before Mr.
+Pakenham.  He wrote a very nice book on Mexico, and is an agreeable
+and intelligent person. . . . On Wednesday A. and I went together to
+the National Gallery, and just as we were setting out Mr. Butler of
+New York came in and I invited him to join us. . . . While we were
+seated before a charming Claude who should come in but Mr. R.W.
+Emerson and we had quite a joyful greeting.  Just then came in Mr.
+Rogers with two ladies, one on each arm.  He renewed his request
+that I would bring my son to breakfast with him, and appointed
+Friday morning, and then added if those gentlemen who are with you
+are your friends and countrymen, perhaps they will accompany you.
+They very gladly acceded, and I was thankful Mr. Emerson had chanced
+to be with me at that moment as it procured him a high pleasure.
+
+Yesterday your father and I dined with Sir George Grey. . . . About
+four o'clock came on such a fog as I have not seen in London, and
+the newspapers of this morning speak of it as greater than has been
+known for many years.  Sir George Grey lives in Eaton Place, which
+is parallel and just behind Eaton Square.  In going that little
+distance, though there is a brilliant gas light at every door, the
+coachman was completely bewildered, and lost himself entirely.  We
+could only walk the horses, the footman exploring ahead.  When the
+guests by degrees arrived, there was the same rejoicing as if we had
+met on Mont St. Bernard after a contest with an Alpine snow-storm. .
+. . Lady Grey told me she was dining with the Queen once in one of
+these tremendous fogs, and that many of the guests did not arrive
+till dinner was half through, which was horrible at a royal dinner;
+but the elements care little for royalty.
+
+
+November 14th
+
+
+On Saturday we dined at the Duc de Broglie's.  He married the
+daughter of Madam de Stael, but she is not now living.  I was very
+agreeably placed with Mr. Macaulay on one side of me, so that I
+found it more pleasant than diplomatic dinners usually.  At the
+English tables we meet people who know each other well, and have a
+common culture and tastes and habits of familiarity, and a fund of
+pleasant stories, but of course, at foreign tables, they neither
+know each other or the English so well as to give the same easy flow
+to conversation.  I am afraid we are the greatest diners-out in
+London, but we are brought into contact a great deal with the
+literary and Parliamentary people, which our colleagues know little
+about, as also with the clergy and the judges.  I should not be
+willing to make it the habit of my life, but it is time not misspent
+during the years of our abode here. . . . The good old Archbishop of
+York is dead, and I am glad I paid my visit to him when I did.  Mr.
+Rogers has paid me a long visit to-day and gave me all the
+particulars of his death.  It was a subject I should not have
+introduced, for of that knot of intimate friends, Mr. Grenville, the
+Archbishop, and himself, he is now all that remains.
+
+
+November 28th
+
+
+. . . On Monday evening I went without Mr. Bancroft to a little
+party at Mrs. Lyell's, where I was introduced to Mrs. Somerville.
+She has resided for the last nine years abroad, chiefly at Venice,
+but has now come to London and taken a house very near us. . . . Her
+daughter told me that nothing could exceed the ease and simplicity
+with which her literary occupations were carried on.  She is just
+publishing a book upon Natural Geography without regard to political
+boundaries.  She writes principally before she rises in the morning
+on a little piece of board, with her inkstand on a table by her
+side.  After she leaves her room she is as much at leisure as other
+people, but if an idea strikes her she takes her little board into a
+corner or window and writes quietly for a short time and returns to
+join the circle.
+
+Dr. Somerville told me that his wife did not discover her genius for
+mathematics till she was about sixteen.  Her brother, who has no
+talent for it, was receiving a mathematical lesson from a master
+while she was hemming and stitching in the room.  In this way she
+first heard the problems of Euclid stated and was ravished.  When
+the lesson was over, she carried off the book to her room and
+devoured it.  For a long time she pursued her studies secretly, as
+she had scaled heights of science which were not considered feminine
+by those about her.
+
+
+December 2d
+
+
+I put down my pen yesterday when the carriage came to the door for
+my drive.  It was a day bright, beaming, and exhilarating as one of
+our own winter days.  I was so busy enjoying the unusual beams of
+the unclouded sun that I did not perceive for some time that I had
+left my muff, and was obliged to drive home again to get it.  While
+I was waiting in the carriage for the footman to get it, two of the
+most agreeable old-lady faces in the world presented themselves at
+the window.  They were the Miss Berrys.  They had driven up behind
+me and got out to have a little talk on the sidewalk.  I took them
+into Mr. Bancroft's room and was thankful that my muff had sent me
+back to receive a visit which at their age is rarely paid. . . . I
+found them full of delight at Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, with
+whose nobleness of soul they would have great sympathy.  He is just
+now the lion of London, and like all other lions is run after by
+most people because he is one, and by the few because he deserves to
+be one.  Now, lest you should know nothing about him, let me tell
+you that at his own expense he fitted out a vessel, and established
+himself at Borneo, where he soon acquired so great [an] ascendancy
+over the native Rajah, that he insisted on resigning to him the
+government of his province of Sarawak.  Here, with only three
+European companions, by moral and intellectual force alone, he
+succeeded in suppressing piracy and civil war among the natives and
+opened a trade with the interior of Borneo which promises great
+advantages to England. . . . Everybody here has the INFLUENZA--a
+right-down influenza, that sends people to their beds.  Those who
+have triumphed at their exemption in the evening, wake up perhaps in
+the morning full of aches in every limb, and scoff no longer. . . .
+Dinner parties are sometimes quite broken up by the excuses that
+come pouring in at the last moment.  Lady John Russell had seven
+last week at a small dinner of twelve; 1,200 policemen at one time
+were taken off duty, so that the thieves might have had their own
+way, but they were probably as badly off themselves.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
+LONDON, December 16, 1847
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle and Aunt:  . . . On Saturday Mr. Hallam wrote us that
+Sir Robert Peel had promised to breakfast with him on Monday morning
+and he thought we should like to meet him in that quiet way.  So we
+presented ourselves at ten o'clock, and were joined by Sir Robert,
+Lord Mahon, Macaulay, and Milman, who with Hallam himself, formed a
+circle that could not be exceeded in the wide world.  I was the only
+lady, except Miss Hallam; but I am especially favored in the
+breakfast line.  I would cross the Atlantic only for the pleasure I
+had that morning in hearing such men talk for two or three hours in
+an entirely easy unceremonious breakfast way.  Sir Robert was full
+of stories, and showed himself as much the scholar as the statesman.
+Macaulay was overflowing as usual, and Lord Mahon and Milman are
+full of learning and accomplishments.  The classical scholarship of
+these men is very perfect and sometimes one catches a glimpse of
+awfully deep abysses of learning.  But then it is ONLY a glimpse,
+for their learning has no cumbrous and dull pedantry about it.  They
+are all men of society and men of the world, who keep up with it
+everywhere.  There is many a pleasant story and many a good joke,
+and everything discussed but politics, which, as Sir Robert and
+Macaulay belong to opposite dynasties, might be dangerous ground.
+
+After dinner we went a little before ten to Lady Charlotte
+Lindsay's.  She came last week to say that she was to have a little
+dinner on Monday and wished us to come in afterwards.  This is
+universal here, and is the easiest and most agreeable form of
+society.  She had Lord Brougham and Colonel and Mrs. Dawson-Damer,
+etc., to dine. . . . Mrs. Damer wished us to come the next evening
+to her in the same way, just to get our cup of tea.  These nice
+little teas are what you need in Boston.  There is no supper, no
+expense, nothing but society.  Mrs. Damer is the granddaughter of
+the beautiful Lady Waldegrave, the niece of Horace Walpole, who
+married the Duke of Gloucester.  She was left an orphan at a year
+old and was confided by her mother to the care of Mrs. Fitzherbert.
+She lived with her until her marriage and was a great pet of George
+IV, and tells a great many interesting stories of him and Mrs.
+Fitzherbert, who was five years older than he.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, December 30, 1847
+
+
+
+Dear W.:  Your father left me on the 18th to go to Paris.  This is
+the best of all seasons for him to be there, for the Ministers are
+all out of town at Christmas, and in Paris everything is at its
+height.  My friends are very kind to me--those who remain in town. .
+. . One day I dined at Sir Francis Simpkinson's and found a pleasant
+party.  Lady Simpkinson is a sister of Lady Franklin, whom I was
+very glad to meet, as she has been in America and knows many
+Americans, Mrs. Kirkland for one. . . . Then I have passed one
+evening for the first time at Mr. Tagent's, the Unitarian clergyman,
+where I met many of the literary people who are out of the great
+world, and yet very desirable to see.
+
+There, too, I met the Misses Cushman, Charlotte and Susan, who
+attend his church.  I was very much pleased with both of them.  I
+have never seen them play, but they will send me a list of their
+parts at their next engagement and I shall certainly go to hear
+them.  They are of Old Colony descent (from Elder Cushman), and have
+very much of the New England character, culture, and good sense.  On
+Monday I dined at Sir Edward Codrington's, the hero of Navarino,
+with the Marquis and Marchioness of Queensberry, and a party of
+admirals and navy officers.  On Tuesday I dined at Lady Braye's,
+where were Mr. Rogers, Dr. Holland, Sir Augustus and Lady Albinia
+Foster, formerly British Minister to the United States.  He could
+describe OUR COURT, as he called it, in the time of Madison and
+Monroe.
+
+
+January 1, 1848
+
+
+This evening, in addition to my usual morning letter from your
+father, I have another; a new postal arrangement beginning to-day
+with the New Year.  He gives me a most interesting conversation he
+has just been having with Baron von Humboldt, who is now in Paris.
+He says he poured out a delicious stream of remarks, anecdotes,
+narratives, opinion.  He feels great interest in our Mexican
+affairs, as he has been much there, and is a Mexican by adoption.
+
+His letter, dated the 31st December, says:  "Madam Adelaide died at
+three this morning."  This death astonished me, for he saw her only
+a few evenings since at the Palace.  She was a woman of strong
+intellect and character, and her brother, the King, was very much
+attached to her as a counsellor and friend. . . . There were more
+than 100 Americans to be presented on New Year's Day at Paris, and,
+as Madam Adelaide's death took place without a day's warning, you
+can imagine the embroidered coats and finery which were laid on the
+shelf.
+
+
+Saturday, January 7th
+
+
+Yesterday, my dear son, I had a delightful dinner at the dear Miss
+Berrys.  They drove to the door on Thursday and left a little note
+to say, "Can you forgive a poor sick soul for not coming to you
+before, when you were all alone," and begging me to come the next
+day at seven, to dine.  There was Lady Charlotte and Lady Stuart de
+Rothesay, who was many years ambassadress at Paris, and very
+agreeable.  Then there was Dr. Holland and Mr. Stanley, the under-
+Secretary of State, etc.  In the evening came quite an additional
+party, and I passed it most pleasantly. . . . Your father writes
+that on Friday he dined at Thiers' with Mignet, Cousin, Pontois, and
+Lord Normanby.  He says such a dinner is "unique in a man's life."
+"Mignet is delightful, frank, open, gay, full of intelligence, and
+of that grace which makes society charming." . . . Your father to-
+day gives me some account of Thiers.  He is now fifty:  he rises at
+five o'clock every morning, toils till twelve, breakfasts, makes
+researches, and then goes to the Chambers.  In the evening he always
+receives his friends except Wednesdays and Thursdays, when he
+attends his wife to the opera and to the Academie.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
+LONDON, January 28th, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle and Aunt:  . . . Last Monday I received [this] note
+from George Sumner, which I thought might interest you:  "My dear
+Mrs. Bancroft:  I hasten to congratulate you upon an event most
+honorable to Mr. Bancroft and to our country.  The highest honor
+which can be bestowed in France upon a foreigner has just been
+conferred on him.  He was chosen this afternoon a Corresponding
+Member of the Institute.  Five names were presented for the vacant
+chair of History.  Every vote but one was in favor of Mr. Bancroft
+(that one for Mr. Grote of London, author of the 'History of
+Greece').  A gratifying fact in regard to this election is that it
+comes without the knowledge of Mr. Bancroft, and without any of
+those preliminary visits on his part, and those appeals to
+academicians whose votes are desired, that are so common with
+candidates for vacancies at the Institute.  The honor acquires
+double value for being unsought, and I have heard with no small
+satisfaction several Members of the Academy contrast the modest
+reserve of Mr. Bancroft with the restless manoeuvres to which they
+have been accustomed.  Prescott, you know, is already a member, and
+I think America may be satisfied with two out of seven of a class of
+History which is selected from the world."
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To T.D.
+LONDON, February 24, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear Brother:  . . . Great excitement exists in London to-day at
+the reception of the news from France.  Guizot is overthrown, and
+Count Mole is made Prime Minister.  The National Guards have sided
+with the people, and would not fire upon them, and that secret of
+the weakness of the army being revealed, I do not see why the
+Liberal party cannot obtain all they want in the end.  Louis
+Philippe has sacrificed the happiness of France for the advancement
+of his own family, but nations in the nineteenth [century] have
+learned that they were not made to be the slaves of a dynasty.  Mr.
+Bancroft dines with the French Minister to-day, not with a party,
+but quite EN FAMILLE, and he will learn there what the hopes and
+fears of the Government are.
+
+
+February 25th
+
+
+The news this morning is only from Amiens, which has risen in
+support of France.  The railways are torn up all round Paris, to
+prevent the passage of troops, and the roads and barriers are all in
+possession of the people.  All France will follow the lead of Paris,
+and what will be the result Heaven only knows.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+LONDON, February 26, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle:  . . . On Thursday Mr. Bancroft dined with Count
+Jarnac, the Minister in the Duc de Broglie's absence, and he little
+dreamed of the blow awaiting him.  The fortifications and the army
+seemed to make the King quite secure.  On Friday Mr. Bancroft went
+to dine with Kenyon, and I drove there with him for a little air.
+On my return Cates, the butler, saluted me with the wondrous news of
+the deposition and flight of the royal family, which Mr. Brodhead
+had rushed up from his club to impart to us.  I was engaged to a
+little party at Mr. Hallam's, where I found everybody in great
+excitement.
+
+
+Sunday Noon
+
+
+To-day we were to have dined with Baron de Rothschild, but this
+morning I got a note from the beautiful baroness, saying that her
+sister-in-law and her mother with three children, had just arrived
+from Paris at her house in the greatest distress, without a change
+of clothes, and in deep anxiety about the Baron, who had stayed
+behind.
+
+Our colleagues all look bewildered and perplexed beyond measure. . .
+. The English aristocracy have no love for Louis Philippe, but much
+less for a republic, so near at hand, and everybody seemed perplexed
+and uneasy.
+
+
+Tuesday
+
+
+On Sunday the Duc de Nemours arrived at the French Embassy, and
+Monday the poor Duchess de Montpensier, the innocent cause of all
+the trouble.  No one knows where the Duchess de Nemours and her
+young children are, and the King and Queen are entirely missing.  At
+one moment it is reported that he is drowned, and then, again, at
+Brussels.
+
+
+Wednesday
+
+
+To-day the French Embassy have received despatches announcing the
+new government, and Count Jarnac has immediately resigned.  This
+made it impossible for the Duc de Nemours and the Duchess de
+Montpensier to remain at the Embassy, and they fell by inheritance
+to Mr. Van de Weyer, whose Queen is Louis Philippe's daughter.  The
+Queen has taken Louis Philippe's daughter, Princess Clementine, who
+married Prince Auguste de Saxe-Coburg to the Palace, but for State
+Policy's sake she can do nothing about the others.  Mr. Van de Weyer
+offered Mr. Bates's place of East Sheen, which was most gratefully
+accepted.
+
+
+Friday
+
+
+This morning came Thackeray, who is the soul of PUNCH, and showed me
+a piece he had written for the next number.
+
+
+Saturday
+
+
+The King has arrived.  What a crossing of the Channel, pea-jacket,
+woollen comforter, and all!  The flight is a perfect comedy, and if
+PUNCH had tried to invent anything more ludicrous, it would have
+failed.  Panic, despotism, and cowardice.
+
+These things are much more exciting here than across the water.  We
+are so near the scene of action and everybody has a more personal
+interest here in all these matters.  The whole week has been like a
+long play, and now, on Saturday night, I want nothing but repose.
+What a dream it must be to the chief actors!  The Queen, who is
+always good and noble, was averse to such ignominious flight; she
+preferred staying and taking what came, and if Madam Adelaide had
+lived, they would never have made such a [word undecipherable]
+figure.  Her pride and courage would have inspired them.  With her
+seemed to fly Louis Philippe's star, as Napoleon's with Josephine. .
+. . Mr. Emerson has just come to London and we give him a dinner on
+Tuesday, the 14th.  Several persons wish much to see him, and
+Monckton Milnes reviewed him in BLACKWOOD.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, March 11, 1848
+
+
+
+Dear W.:  . . . Yesterday we dined at Lord Lansdowne's.  Among the
+guests were M. and Madam Van de Weyer, and Mrs. Austin, the
+translatress, who has been driven over here from Paris, where she
+has resided for several years.  She is a vehement friend of
+Guizot's, though a bitter accuser of Louis Philippe, but how can
+they be separated?  She interests herself strongly now in all his
+arrangements, and is assisting his daughters to form their humble
+establishment.  He and his daughters together have about eight
+hundred pounds a year, and that in London is poverty.  They have
+taken a small house in Brompton Square, a little out of town, and
+one of those suburban, unfashionable regions where the most
+accommodations can be had at the least price.  What a change for
+those who have witnessed their almost regal receptions in Paris!
+The young ladies bear very sweetly all their reverses. . . . Guizot,
+himself, I hear, is as FIER as ever, and almost gay.  Princess de
+Lieven is here at the "Clarendon," and their friendship is as great
+as ever.
+
+
+March 15th
+
+
+Yesterday we had an agreeable dinner at our own house.  Macaulay,
+Milman, Lord Morpeth and Monckton Milnes were all most charming, and
+we ladies listened with eager ears.  Conversation was never more
+interesting than just now, in this great crisis of the world's
+affairs.  Mr. Emerson was here and seemed to enjoy [it] much.
+
+
+Friday, March 17th
+
+
+Things look rather darker in France, but we ought not to expect a
+republic to be established without some difficulties. . . . You
+cannot judge of the state of France, however, through the medium of
+the English newspapers, for, of course, English sympathies are all
+entirely against it.  They never like France, and a republic of any
+kind still less.  A peaceful and prosperous republic in the heart of
+Europe would be more deprecated than a state of anarchy.  The
+discussion of French matters reveals to me every moment the deep
+repugnance of the English to republican institutions.  It lets in a
+world of light upon opinions and feelings, which, otherwise, would
+not have been discovered by me.
+
+
+Sunday, March 19th
+
+
+Yesterday we breakfasted at Mrs. Milman's.  I was the only lady, but
+there were Macaulay, Hallam, Lord Morpeth, and, above all, Charles
+Austin, whom I had not seen before, as he never dines out, but who
+is the most striking talker in England.  He has made a fortune by
+the law in the last few years, which gives him an income of 8,000
+pounds.  He has the great railroad cases which come before the House
+of Lords. . . . On Tuesday came a flying report of a revolution in
+Berlin, but no one believed it.  We concluded it rather a
+speculation of the newsmen, who are hawking revolutions after every
+mail in second and third editions.  We were going that evening to a
+SOIREE at Bunsen's, whom we found cheerful as ever and fearing no
+evil.  On Monday the news of the revolution in Austria produced a
+greater sensation even than France, for it was the very pivot of
+conservatism. . . . On Thursday I received the letter from A. at
+eight A.M., which I enclose to you.  It gives an account of the
+revolution in Berlin.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To T.D.
+March 31
+
+
+
+The old world is undergoing a complete reorganization, and is
+unfolding a rapid series of events more astonishing than anything in
+history.  Where it will stop, and what will be its results, nobody
+can tell.  Royalty has certainly not added to its respectability by
+its conduct in its time of trial.  Since the last steamer went,
+Italy has shaken off the Austrian yoke, Denmark has lost her German
+provinces, Poland has risen, or is about to rise, which will bring
+Russia thundering down upon Liberal Europe. . . . Our whole
+Diplomatic Corps are certainly "in a fix," and we are really the
+only members of it who have any reason to be quite at ease.  Two or
+three have been called home to be Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as
+they have learned something of constitutional liberty in England.
+England is, as yet, all quiet, and I hope will keep so, but the
+Chartists are at work and Ireland is full of inflammable matter.
+But England does love her institutions, and is justly proud of their
+comparative freedom, and long may she enjoy them. . . . On Sunday
+Mr. Emerson dined with us with Lady Morgan and Mrs. Jameson--the
+authoress.  On Monday I took him to a little party at Lady Morgan's.
+His works are a good deal known here.  I have great pleasure in
+seeing so old a friend so far from home. . . . I think we shall have
+very few of our countrymen out this spring, as travelling Europe is
+so uncertain, with everything in commotion.  Those who are passing
+the winter in Italy are quite shut in at present, and if war begins,
+no one knows where it will spread.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, April 7, 1848
+
+
+
+. . . On Wednesday we had an agreeable dinner at Mrs. Milner
+Gibson's.  Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli, Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan (brother of
+Mrs. Norton), etc., were among the guests.  After dinner I had a
+very long talk with Disraeli.  He is, you know, of the ultra Tory
+party here, and looks at the Continental movements from the darkest
+point of view.  He cannot admit as a possibility the renovation of
+European society upon more liberal principles, and considers it as
+the complete dissolution of European civilization which will, like
+Asia, soon present but the ashes of a burnt-out flame.  This is most
+atheistic, godless, and un-christian doctrine, and he cannot himself
+believe it.  The art of printing and the rapid dissemination of
+thought changes all these things in our days.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+April 10
+
+
+
+This is the day of the "Great Chartist Meeting," which has terrified
+all London to the last degree, I think most needlessly.  The city
+and town is at this moment stiller than I have ever known it, for
+not a carriage dares to be out.  Nothing is to be seen but a
+"special constable" (every gentleman in London is sworn into that
+office), occasionally some on foot, some on horseback, scouring the
+streets.  I took a drive early this morning with Mr. Bancroft, and
+nothing could be less like the eve of a revolution.  This evening,
+when the petition is to be presented, may bring some disturbance,
+not from the Chartists themselves, but from the disorderly persons
+who may avail themselves of the occasion.  The Queen left town on
+Saturday for the Isle of Wight, as she had so lately been confined
+it was feared her health might suffer from any agitation. . . . I
+passed a long train of artillery on Saturday evening coming into
+town, which was the most earnest looking thing I have seen. . . .
+To-day we were to have dined at Mrs. Mansfield's, but her dinner was
+postponed from the great alarm about the Chartists.  There is not
+the slightest danger of a revolution in England.  The upper middle-
+class, which on the continent is entirely with the people, the
+professional and mercantile class, is here entirely conservative,
+and without that class no great changes can ever be made.  The Duc
+de Montebello said of France, that he "knew there were lava streams
+below, but he did not know the crust was so thin."  Here, on the
+contrary, the crust is very thick.  And yet I can see in the most
+conservative circles that a feeling is gaining ground that some
+concessions must be made.  An enlargement of the suffrage one hears
+now often discussed as, perhaps, an approaching necessity.
+
+
+Friday, April 14
+
+
+The day of the Chartists passed off with most ridiculous quiet, and
+the government is stronger than ever. . . . If the Alien Bill
+passes, our American friends must mind their p's and q's, for if
+they praise the "model republic" too loudly, they may be packed off
+at any time, particularly if they have "long beards," for it seems
+to be an axiom here that beards, mustaches, and barricades are
+cousins-german at least. . . . Mr. Bancroft goes to Paris on Monday,
+the 17th, to pass the Easter holidays.  He will go on with his
+manuscripts, and at the same time witness the elections and meeting
+of the Convention.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, April 19, 1848
+
+
+
+Dear W.:  . . . To-day I have driven down to Richmond to lunch with
+Mrs. Drummond, who is passing Easter holidays there.  On coming home
+I found a letter from Mr. Bancroft from which I will make some
+extracts, as he has the best sources of knowledge in Paris.  "Then I
+went to Mignet, who, you know, is politically the friend of Thiers.
+He pointed out to me the condition of France, and drew for me a
+picture of what it was and of the change.  I begin to see the
+difference between France and us.  Here they are accustomed to BE
+governed.  WE are accustomed to GOVERN.  HERE power may be seized
+and exercised, if exercised in a satisfactory manner; with us the
+foundation of power, its constitutionality and the legality of its
+acts are canvassed and analyzed.  Here an unpopularity is made away
+with by a revolution, and you know how WE deal with it.  Thus,
+power, if in favor, may dare anything, and if out of favor is little
+likely to be forgiven." . . . "Our fathers had to unite the thirteen
+States; here they have unity enough and run no risk but from the
+excess of it.  My hopes are not less than they were, but all that
+France needs may not come at once.  We were fourteen years in
+changing our confederation into a union, perhaps France cannot be
+expected to jump at once into perfect legislation or perfect forms.
+Crude ideas are afloat, but as to Communism, it is already exploded,
+or will be brushed away from legislative power as soon as the
+National Assembly meets, though the question of ameliorating the
+condition of the laboring class is more and more engaging the public
+mind." . . . "I spent an hour with Cousin, the Minister of a
+morning.  He gave me sketches of many of the leading men of these
+times, and I made him detail to me he scene of Louis Philippe's
+abdication, which took place in a manner quite different from what I
+had heard in London." . . . "Cousin, by the way, says that the Duc
+de Nemours throughout, behaved exceedingly well.  Thence to the Club
+de la Nouvelle Republique.  Did not think much of the speaking which
+I heard.  From the club I went to Thiers, where I found Cousin and
+Mignet and one or two more.  Some change since I met him.  A leader
+of opposition, then a prime minister, and now left aground by the
+shifting tide." . . . "Everybody has given up Louis Philippe,
+everybody considers the nonsense of Louis Blanc as drawing to its
+close.  The delegates from Paris will full half be UNIVERSALLY
+acceptable.  Three-fourths of the provincial delegates will be
+MODERATE republicans.  The people are not in a passion.  They go
+quietly enough about their business of constructing new
+institutions.  Ledru-Rollin, Louis Blanc, and Flocon tried to lead
+the way to ill, but Lamartine, whose heroism passes belief and
+activity passes human power, won the victory over them, found
+himself on Sunday, and again yesterday, sustained by all Paris, and
+has not only conquered but CONCILIATED them, and everybody is now
+firmly of opinion that the Republic will be established quietly." .
+. . "But while there are no difficulties from the disorderly but
+what can easily be overcome, the want of republican and political
+experience, combined with vanity and self-reliance and idealism, may
+throw impediments in the way of what the wisest wish, VIZ., two
+elected chambers and a president."
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, May 5, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear W.:  . . . Last evening, Thursday, we went to see Jenny
+Lind, on her first appearance this year.  She was received with
+enthusiasm, and the Queen still more so.  It was the first time the
+Queen had been at the opera since the birth of her child, and since
+the republican spirit was abroad, and loyalty burst out in full
+force.  Now loyalty is very novel, and pleasant to witness, to us
+who have never known it.
+
+
+LONDON, May 31, 1848
+
+
+. . . Now for my journal, which has gone lamely on since the 24th of
+February.  The Queen's Ball was to take place the evening on which I
+closed my last letter.  My dress was a white crepe over white satin,
+with flounces of Honiton lace looped up with pink tuberoses.  A
+wreath of tuberoses and bouquet for the corsage.  We had tickets
+sent us to go through the garden and set down at a private door,
+which saves waiting in the long line of carriages for your turn.
+The Diplomatic Corps arrange themselves in a line near the door at
+which the Queen enters the suite of rooms, which was at ten
+precisely.  She passes through, curtseying and bowing very
+gracefully, until she reaches the throne in the next room, where she
+and the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and her
+daughters, who are here on a visit, etc., sit down, while Prince
+Albert, the Prince of Prussia and other sprigs of royalty stand
+near.  The dancing soon began in front of the canopy, but the Queen
+herself did not dance on account of her mourning for Prince Albert's
+grandmother.  There was another band and dancing in other rooms at
+the same time.  After seeing several dances here the Queen and her
+suite move by the flourish of trumpets to another room, the guests
+forming a lane as she passes, bowing and smiling.  Afterward she
+made a similar progress to supper, her household officers moving
+backwards before her, and her ladies and royal relatives and friends
+following.  At half-past one Her Majesty retired and the guests
+departed, such as did not have to wait two hours for their
+carriages.  On Saturday we went at two to the FETE of flowers at
+Chiswick, and at half-past seven dined at Lord Monteagle's to meet
+Monsieur and Mademoiselle Guizot.  He has the finest head in the
+world, but his person is short and insignificant.
+
+On Wednesday we dined at Lady Chantrey's to meet a charming party.
+Afterward we went to a magnificent ball at the Duke of Devonshire's,
+with all the great world.  On Friday we went to Faraday's lecture at
+the Royal Institution.  We went in with the Duke and Duchess of
+Northumberland, and I sat by her during the lecture.  On Saturday
+was the Queen's Birthday Drawing-Room. . . . Mr. Bancroft dined at
+Lord Palmerston's with all the diplomats, and I went in the evening
+with a small party of ladies.  On coming home we drove round to see
+the brilliant birthday illuminations.  The first piece of
+intelligence I heard at Lady Palmerston's was the death of the
+Princess Sophia, an event which is a happy release for her, for she
+was blind and a great sufferer.  It has overturned all court
+festivities, of course, for the present, and puts us all in deep
+mourning, which is not very convenient just now, in the brilliant
+season, and when we had all our dress arrangements made.  The Queen
+was to have a concert to-night, a drawing-room next Friday, and a
+ball on the 16th, which are all deferred. . . . I forgot to say that
+I got a note from Miss Coutts on Sunday, asking me to go with her
+the next day to see the Chinese junk, so at three the next day we
+repaired to her house.  Her sisters (Miss Burdetts) and Mr. Rogers
+were all the party.  At the junk for the first time I saw Metternich
+and the Princess, his wife.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, June 29, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear W.:  . . . When I last left off I was going to dine at Miss
+Coutts's to meet the Duchess of Cambridge.  The party was brilliant,
+including the Duke of Wellington, Lord and Lady Douro, Lady Jersey
+and the beautiful Lady Clementina Villiers, her daughter, etc.  When
+royal people arrive everybody rises and remains standing while they
+stand, and if they approach you or look at you, you must perform the
+lowest of "curtsies."  The courtesy made to royalty is very like the
+one I was taught to make when a little girl at Miss Tuft's school in
+Plymouth.  One sinks down instead of stepping back in dancing-school
+fashion.  After dinner the Duchess was pleased to stand until the
+gentlemen rejoined us; of course, we must all stand. . . . The next
+day we dined at the Lord Mayor's to meet the Ministers.  This was a
+most interesting affair.  We had all the peculiar ceremonies which I
+described to you last autumn, but in addition the party was most
+distinguished, and we had speeches from Lord Lansdowne, Lord
+Palmerston, Lord John, Lord Auckland, Sir George Grey, etc.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+LONDON, July 21, 1848
+
+
+
+I was truly grieved that the last steamer should go to Boston
+without a line from me, but I was in Yorkshire and you must forgive
+me. . . . I left off with the 26th of June. . . . The next evening
+was the Queen's Concert, which was most charming.  I sat very near
+the Duke of Wellington, who often spoke to me between the songs. . .
+. The next day we went with Miss Coutts to her bank, lunched there,
+and went all over the building.  Then we went to the Tower and the
+Tunnel together, she never having seen either.  So ignorant are the
+West End people of city lions. . . . And now comes my pleasant
+Yorkshire excursion.  We left London, at half-past three, at
+distance of 180 miles.  This was Saturday, July 8.  At York we found
+Mr. Hudson ready to receive us and conduct us to a special train
+which took us eighteen miles on the way to Newby Park, and there we
+found carriages to take us four miles to our destination.  We met at
+dinner and found our party to consist of the Duke of Richmond, Lord
+Lonsdale, Lord George Bentinck, Lord Ingestre, Lord John Beresford,
+Lady Webster, whose husband, now dead, was the son of Lady Holland,
+two or three agreeable talkers to fill in, and ourselves.
+
+
+Tuesday
+
+
+Lady Webster, Mr. Bancroft, and myself, went to Castle Howard, as
+Lord Morpeth had written to his mother that we were to be there and
+would lunch with her.  Castle Howard is twenty-five miles the other
+side of York, which is itself twenty-five miles from Newby.  But
+what is fifty miles when one is under the wing of the Railway King
+and can have a special engine at one's disposal.  On arriving at the
+Castle Howard station we found Lord Carlisle's carriage with four
+horses and most venerable coachman waiting to receive us.  We enter
+the Park almost immediately, but it is about four miles to the
+Castle, through many gates, which we had mounted footmen open for
+us.  Lady Carlisle received us in the most delightful manner. . . .
+I was delighted to see Lord Morpeth's home and his mother, who
+seldom now goes to London.  She was the daughter of the beautiful
+Duchess of Devonshire, and took me into her own dressing-room to
+show me her picture. . . . On Wednesday we went into York to witness
+the reception of Prince Albert, to see the ruins of St. Mary's
+Abbey, the Flower Show, to lunch with the Lord Mayor, and above all,
+to attend prayers in the Minister and hear a noble anthem.  The
+Cathedral was crowded with strangers and a great many from London.
+The next day was the day of the great dinner, and I send you the
+POST containing Mr. Bancroft's speech.  It was warmly admired by all
+who heard it.
+
+At ten at night we ladies set out for York to go [to] the Lord
+Mayor's Ball, where the gentlemen were to meet us from the dinner.
+Everybody flocked round to congratulate me upon your father's
+speech.  Even Prince Albert, when I was led up to make my curtsey,
+offered me his hand, which is a great courtesy in royalty, and spoke
+of the great beauty and eloquence of Mr. B.'s speech.  The Prince
+soon went away:  the Lord Mayor took me down to supper and I sat
+between him and the Duke of Richmond at the high table which went
+across the head of the hall.  Guildhall is a beautiful old room with
+a fine old traceried window, and the scene, with five tables going
+the length of the hall and the upper one across the head, was very
+gay and brilliant.  There were a few toasts, and your father again
+made a little speech, short and pleasant.  We did not get home till
+half-past three in the morning. . . . On Friday morning [July 14th]
+many of the guests, the Duke of Richmond, etc., took their departure
+and Mr. Hudson had to escort Prince Albert to town, but returned the
+same evening. . . . The next day we all went to pay a visit to an
+estate of Mr. Hudson's [name of estate indecipherable] for which he
+paid five hundred thousand pounds to the Duke of Devonshire. . . .
+It is nobly situated in the Yorkshire wolds, a fine range of hills,
+and overlooking the valley of the Humber, which was interesting to
+me, as it was the river which our Pilgrim fathers sailed down and
+lay in the Wash at its mouth, awaiting their passage to Holland.
+They came, our Plymouth fathers, mostly from Lincolnshire and the
+region which lay below us.  I thought of them, and the scene of
+their sufferings was more ennobled in my eyes, from their
+remembrance than from the noble mansions and rich estates which
+feast the eye.
+
+On Monday morning we left Newby for York on our way home.  It so
+happened that the judges were to open the court that very morning,
+on which occasion they always breakfast with the Lord Mayor in their
+scarlet robes and wigs, the Lord Mayor and aldermen are also in
+their furred scarlet robes and the Lady Mayoress presents the judges
+with enormous bouquets of the richest flowers.  We were invited to
+this breakfast, and I found it very entertaining.  I was next the
+High Sheriff, who was very desirous that we should stay a few hours
+and go to the castle and see the court opened and listen to a case
+or two.  The High Sheriff of a county is a great character and has a
+carriage and liveries as grand as the Queen's.  After breakfast we
+bade adieu to our York friends, and set off with our big bouquets
+(for the distribution was extended to us) for home.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To T.D.
+LONDON, August 9, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear Brother:  . . . On Saturday we set off for Nuneham, the
+magnificent seat of the late Archbishop of York, now in possession
+of his eldest son, Mr. Granville Harcourt. . . . The guests besides
+ourselves were Sir Robert and Lady Peel, Lord and Lady Villiers,
+Lord and Lady Norreys, Lord Harry Vane, etc.  We considered it a
+great privilege to be staying in the same house with Sir Robert
+Peel, and I had also the pleasure of sitting by him at dinner all
+the three days we were there.  He was full of conversation of the
+best kind.  Mr. Denison and Lady Charlotte, his wife, were also of
+our party.  She was the daughter of the Duke of Portland and sister
+of Lord George Bentinck, Sir Robert's great antagonist in the House.
+
+On Sunday morning we attended the pretty little church on the estate
+which with its parsonage is a pleasing object on the grounds.  The
+next day the whole party were taken to Blenheim, the seat of the
+famous Duke of Marlborough, built at the expense of the country.
+The grounds are exquisite, but I was most charmed by the collection
+of pictures.  Here were the finest Vandykes, Rubens, and Sir Joshua
+Reynolds which I have seen.  Sir Robert Peel is a great connoisseur
+in art and seemed highly to enjoy them.  Altogether it was a truly
+delightful day:  the drive of fifteen miles in open carriages, and
+through Oxford, being of itself a high pleasure.  Yesterday we
+returned to London, and on Thursday we set out for Scotland.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
+EDINBURGH, August 16, 1848
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle and Aunt:  . . . Of Edinburgh I cannot say enough to
+express my admiration.  The Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat, Salisbury
+Craigs and Calton Hill are all separate and fine mountains and, with
+the Frith of Forth, the ocean and the old picturesque town, make an
+assemblage of fine objects that I have seen nowhere else.  Mr.
+Rutherford, the Lord Advocate, who is of the Ministry, had written
+to his friends that we were coming, and several gentlemen came by
+breakfast time the next morning.  Mr. Gordon, his nephew, married
+the daughter of Prof. Wilson, and invited us to dine that day to
+meet the professor, etc. . . . We drove out after breakfast into the
+country to Hawthornden, formerly the residence of Drummond the poet,
+and to Lord Roslin's grounds, where are the ruins of Roslin Castle
+and above all, of the Roslin Chapel. . . . After lingering and
+admiring long we returned to Edinburgh just in season for dinner at
+Mr. Gordon's, where we found Prof. Wilson, and another daughter and
+son, Mrs. Rutherford, wife of the Lord Advocate, and Capt.
+Rutherford, his brother, with his wife.  We had a very agreeable
+evening and engaged to dine there again quite EN FAMILLE, with only
+the professor, whose conversation is delightful.
+
+The next morning we went out to Craigcrook, Lord Jeffrey's country
+seat, to see and lunch with him.  He was confined to his couch. . .
+. He is seventy-three or seventy-four, but looks not a minute older
+than fifty.  He has a fine head and forehead, and most agreeable and
+courteous manners, rather of the old school.  As he could not rise
+to receive me he kissed my hand.  Mrs. Jeffrey is an intelligent and
+agreeable woman but has been much out of health the last year.  She
+was Miss Wilkes of New York, you know.  The house was an old
+castellated and fortified house, and with modern additions is a most
+beautiful residence.  Capt. Rutherford told me that when he received
+the Lord Advocate's letter announcing that we were coming, he went
+to see Lord Jeffrey to know if he would be well enough to see us,
+and he expressed the strongest admiration for Mr. Bancroft's work.
+
+This may have disposed them to receive us with the cordiality which
+made our visit so agreeable.  Mr. Empson, his son-in-law and the
+president editor of the Edinburgh Review, was staying there, and
+after talking two hours with Lord and Mrs. Jeffrey we took with him
+a walk in the grounds from which are delightful and commanding views
+of the whole environs, and never were environs so beautiful.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To W.D.B.
+TARBET ON LOCH LOMOND, August 28, 1848
+
+
+
+Dear W. . . . Being detained here by rain this morning I devote it
+to you and to my journal. . . . The next day was Sunday but the
+weather being fine we concluded to continue our journey, and
+followed the Tay seeing Birnam Wood and Dunsinane on our way up to
+Dunkeld, near to which is the fine seat of the Duke of Athol.  We
+took a delightful walk in the beautiful grounds, and went on to
+Blair Athol to sleep.  This is the chief residence of the Duke of
+Athol and he has here another house and grounds very pretty though
+not as extensive as those at Dunkeld. . . . When the innkeeper found
+who we were he insisted on sending a message to the Duke who sent
+down an order to us to drive up Glen Tilt and met us there himself.
+We entered through the Park and followed up the Tilt.  Nothing could
+be more wild than this narrow winding pass which we followed for
+eight miles till we came to the Duke's forest lodge.  Here were
+waiting for us a most picturesque group in full Highland dress:  the
+head stalker, the head shepherd, the kennel keepers with their dogs
+in leashes, the piper, etc., etc.  They told us that the Duke had
+sent up word that we were coming and he would soon be there himself.
+
+In a few moments he appeared also in full Highland costume with bare
+knees, kilt, philibeg, etc.  He told us he had then on these
+mountains 15,000 head of dear, and thought we might like to see a
+START, as it is called.  The head stalker told him, however, that
+the wind had changed which affects the scent, and that nothing could
+be done that day.  The Duke tried to make us amends by making some
+of his people sing us Gaelic songs and show us some of the athletic
+Highland games.  The little lodge he also went over with us, and
+said that the Duchess came there and lived six or seven weeks in the
+autumn, and that the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch rented it for
+many years while he was a minor.  If you could see the tiny little
+rooms, you would be astonished to find what the love of sport can do
+for these people who possess actual palaces.
+
+After dining again upon salmon and grouse at the pretty little inn,
+we took a post chaise to go on to Taymouth, a little village
+adjoining Lord Breadalbane's place.  We did not arrive at the inn
+till after eight and found it completely full. . . . We were sent to
+the schoolmaster's to sleep in the smallest of little rooms, with a
+great clock which ticked and struck so loud that we were obliged to
+silence it, to the great bewilderment, I dare say, of the scholars
+the next day.  Before we were in bed, there was a knock at the door,
+which proved to be from Lord Breadalbane's butler, to say that he
+had been commissioned to enquire whenever we arrived at the inn, as
+his Lordship had heard that we were in Scotland and wished us to
+make them a visit.
+
+Next morning before we were up came a note from Lord Breadalbane
+urging us to come immediately to the Castle. . . . Taymouth Castle,
+though not more than fifty years old, has the air of an old feudal
+castle. . . . As we were ushered up the magnificent staircase
+through first a large antechamber, then through a superb hall with
+lofty ceiling glowing with armorial bearings, and with the most
+light and delicate carving on every part of the oaken panelling,
+then through a long gallery, of heavier carving filled with fine old
+cabinets, into the library, it seemed to me that the whole Castle
+was one of those magical delusions that one reads of in Fairy Tales,
+so strange did it seem to find such princely magnificence all alone
+amid such wild and solitary scenes.  I had always the feeling that
+it would suddenly vanish, at some wave of an enchanter's wand, as it
+must have arisen also.  The library is by far the finest room I ever
+saw.  Its windows and arches and doorways are all of a fine carved
+Gothic open work as light as gossamer.  One door which he lately
+added cost a thousand pounds, the door alone, not the doorway, so
+you can judge of the exquisite workmanship.  Here Lady Breadalbane
+joined us, whom I had never before met. . . . During dinner the
+piper in full costume was playing the pibroch in a gallery outside
+the window, and after he had done a band, also in full Highland
+dress, played some of the Italian, German as well as Scotch music,
+at just an agreeable distance.  I have seen nothing in England which
+compares in splendor with the state which is kept up here.
+
+We passed Wednesday and Thursday here most agreeably, and we rode or
+walked during the whole days.  Lord Breadalbane, by the way, has
+just been appointed Lord High Chamberlain to the Queen in place of
+Lord Spencer.  I am glad of this because we are brought often in
+contact with the Lord Chamberlain, but it is very strange to me that
+a man who lives like a king, and through whose dominions we
+travelled a hundred miles from the German Ocean to the Atlantic, can
+be Chamberlain to any Queen.  These feudal subordinations we
+republicans cannot understand. . . . We stopped at the little town
+of Oban.  After reading our letters and getting a dinner, we went
+out just before sunset for a walk.
+
+We wished much to see the ruins of Dunolly.  We passed the porter's
+lodge and found ourselves directly in the most picturesque grounds
+on the very shore of the ocean and with the Western Islands lying
+before us.  Mr. Bancroft sent in his card, which brought out
+instantly the key to the old castle, and in a few moments Capt.
+MacDougal and Mr. Phipps, a brother of Lord Normanby's, joined us.
+They pointed out the interesting points in the landscape, the Castle
+of Ardtornish, the scene of Lord of the Isles, etc., in addition to
+the fine old ruin we came to see.  We lingered till the lighthouses
+had begun to glow, and I was reminded very much of the scenery at
+Wood's Hole, which I used to enjoy so much, only that could not
+boast the association with poetry and feudal romance.  We then went
+into the house, and found a charming domestic circle in full evening
+dress with short sleeves, so that my gray travelling cloak and straw
+bonnet were rather out of place.  Here were Mrs. Phipps, and Miss
+Campbell, her sister, daughters of Sir Colin Campbell, and to my
+great delight, Captain MacDougal brought out the great brooch of
+Lorn, which his ancestor won from Bruce and the story of which you
+will find in the Lord of the Isles.  It fastened the Scotch Plaid,
+and is larger than a teacup.  He described to me the reverential way
+in which Scott took it in both hands when he showed it to him.  The
+whole evening was pleasant and the more so from being unexpected. .
+. . One little thing which adds always to the charm of Scotch
+scenery is the dress of the peasantry.  One never sees the real
+Highland costume, but every shepherd has his plaid slung over one
+shoulder, making the most graceful drapery.  This, with the
+universal Glengarry bonnet, is very pretty.
+
+At Glasgow we intended to pay a visit of a day to the historian
+Alison, but found letters announcing Governor Davis's arrival in
+London with Mr. Corcoran and immediately turned our faces homeward.
+We were to have passed a week on our return amidst the lakes, and I
+protested against going back to London without one look at least.
+So we stopped at Kendal on Saturday, took a little carriage over to
+Windermere and Ambleside and passed the whole evening with the poet
+and Mrs. Wordsworth, at their own exquisite home on Rydal Mount.  At
+ten o'clock we went from there to Miss Martineau, who has built the
+prettiest of houses in this valley near to Mrs. Arnold at Fox Howe.
+As we had only one day we made an arrangement with Miss Martineau to
+go with us and be our guide, and set out the next day at six o'clock
+and went over to Keswick to breakfast.  From thence we went to
+Borrowdale, by the side of Derwentwater, and afterward to Ulswater
+and home by the fine pass of Kirkstone.  On my return, I found the
+Duke and Duchess of Argyle had been to see us.
+
+The time of closing the despatch bag has come and I must hurry over
+my delight at the scenery of the lakes.  I could have spent a month
+there, much to my mind.  We arrived home on Monday and early next
+morning came Mr. Davis and Mr. Corcoran.  They went to see the
+Parliament prorogued in person by the Queen.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
+LONDON, December 14, 1848
+
+
+
+Dear Uncle and Aunt:  On Friday we dined at Mr. Tufnell's, who
+married last spring the daughter of Lord Rosebery, Lady Anne
+Primrose, a very "nice person," to use the favorite English term of
+praise. . . . Sir John Hobhouse was of our party and he told us so
+much of Byron, who was his intimate friend, as you will remember
+from his Life, that we stayed much longer than usual at dinner. . .
+. On Tuesday we were invited to dine with Miss Coutts, but were
+engaged to Mr. Gurney, an immensely rich Quaker banker, brother of
+Mrs. Fry.  His daughter is married to Ernest Bunsen, the second son
+of our friend.  We were delighted with the whole family scene, which
+was quite unlike anything we have seen in England.  They live at
+Upton Park, a pretty country seat about eight miles from us, and are
+surrounded by their children and grandchildren.  Their costume and
+language are strictly Quaker, which was most becoming to Mrs.
+Gurney's sweet, placid face. . . . Louis Napoleon's election seems
+fixed, and is to me one of the most astounding things of the age.
+When we passed several days with him at Mr. Bates's, I would not
+have given two straws for his chance of a future career.  To-night
+Mendelssohn's "Elijah" is to be performed, and Jenny Lind sings.  We
+had not been able to get tickets, which have been sold for five
+guineas apiece the last few days.  To my great joy Miss Coutts has
+this moment written me that she has two for our use, and asks us to
+take an early dinner at five with her and accompany her.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+LONDON, June 8, 1849
+
+
+
+I thank you, my dear Uncle, for your pleasant letter, which
+contained as usual much that was interesting to me.  And so Mr. and
+Mrs. Lawrence are to be our successors. . . . Happy as we have been
+here, I have a great satisfaction that we are setting rather than
+rising; that we have done our work, instead of having it to do.
+Like all our pleasures, those here are earned by fatigue and effort,
+and I would not willingly live the last three years over again, or
+three years like them, though they have contained high and lasting
+gratifications.  We have constantly the strongest expressions of
+regret at our approaching departure, and in many cases it is, I
+know, most genuine.  My relations here have been most agreeable, and
+particularly in that intellectual circle whose high character and
+culture have made their regard most precious to me.  The
+manifestations of this kindness increase as the time approaches for
+our going and we are inundated with invitations of all kinds.
+
+Young Prescott is here.  I wish Prescott could have seen his
+reception at Lady Lovelace's the other evening when there happened
+to be a collection of genius and literature.  What a blessing it is
+SOMETIMES to a son to have a father.
+
+To-morrow we dine with Lord John Russell down at Pembroke Lodge in
+Richmond Park.  On Monday we breakfast with Macaulay.  We met him at
+dinner this week at Lady Waldegrave's, and he said:  "Would you be
+willing to breakfast with me some morning, if I asked one or two
+other ladies?"  "Willing!" I said, "I should be delighted beyond
+measure."  So he sent us a note for Monday next.  I depend upon
+seeing his bachelor establishment, his library, and mode of life.
+On Wednesday we go to a ball at the Palace.  But it is useless to go
+on, for every day is filled in this way, and gives you an idea of
+London in the season.
+
+
+
+LETTER:  To I.P.D.
+LONDON, June 22, 1849
+
+
+
+My dear Uncle:  Yesterday I passed one of the most agreeable days I
+have had in England at Oxford, where I went with a party to see Mr.
+Bancroft take his degree. . . . Nothing could have gone off better
+than the whole thing.  Mr. Bancroft went up the day before, but Mrs.
+Stuart Mackenzie and her daughter, with Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave,
+Louisa, and myself went up yesterday morning and returned at night.
+We lunched at the Vice-Chancellor's (where Mr. B. made a pleasant
+little informal speech) and were treated with great kindness by
+everybody.  I wish you could have seen Mr. Bancroft walking round
+all day with his scarlet gown and round velvet cap, such as you see
+in old Venetian pictures.  From this time forward we shall have the
+pain of bidding adieu, one by one, to our friends, as they leave
+town not to return till we are gone.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters from England, by Bancroft
+
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