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diff --git a/old/lteng10.txt b/old/lteng10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f3a150 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lteng10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3551 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters from England, by Bancroft +#1 in our series by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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 + diff --git a/old/lteng10.zip b/old/lteng10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf89d94 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lteng10.zip |