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Letters from England 
 
ELIZABETH DAVIS BANCROFT 
 
 Probably taken at Brady's National Gallery, New York, sometime after her 
 return from England ; from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss 
 
LETTERS 
 FROM ENGLAND 
 
 1846 — 1849 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZABETH DAVIS BANCROFT 
 
 (Mrs. GEORGE BANCROFT) 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS AND VIEWS 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 NEW YORK:::::::::::::::::i904 
 
LiHKkky it CONGRESS 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 MAR 23 1904 
 
 i. Copyright Entry 
 
 rvUu. ii-/<?0 •4- 
 
 CLASS. Cl xXc. No. 
 COPY b 
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Published, March, 1904 
 
 TROW DIRECTORY 
 PRINTING AND BOOKBINOINO COMPANY 
 NtW YORK 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Elizabeth Davis Bancroft, the 
 writer of these letters, was the young- 
 est child and only daughter of William 
 and Rebecca Morton Davis, and was 
 born at Plymouth, Mass., in October, 
 1803. She often spoke in later times 
 of what a good preparation for her life 
 abroad were the years she spent at Miss 
 Cushing's school at Hingham, and of 
 her visits to her uncles, Judge Davis 
 and Mr. I. P. Davis of Boston. In 
 1825 she married Alexander Bliss, a 
 brilliant young lawyer and a junior 
 partner of Daniel Webster. On his 
 death a few years later, her father 
 having died, her mother and brother 
 formed a household with her and her 
 
Preface 
 
 two sons in Winthrop Place, Boston. 
 As a young girl in Plymouth she be- 
 came a great friend of the future Mrs. 
 Emerson and later of Mr. Emerson 
 and of Mr. and Mrs. Ripley, and 
 through them was much interested in 
 Brook Farm. 
 
 In 1838 she married George Ban- 
 croft, the historian and statesman, who 
 was then Collector of the Port of Bos- 
 ton and a widower with three children. 
 They continued to live in Winthrop 
 Place till 1845, when f° r one vear Mr. 
 Bancroft was Secretary of the Navy 
 in Polk's cabinet. While he was in 
 that position the Naval Academy at 
 Annapolis was established ; and he 
 played an important part in the earlier 
 stages of the Mexican War. In the 
 fall of 1846 he became Minister to 
 England. It was then that the let- 
 ters were written from which these ex- 
 
Preface 
 
 tracts have been taken. A number of 
 passages not of general interest have 
 been omitted, without any indications 
 of such omission in the text, but in no 
 case has any change in a sentence been 
 made. Most of the letters are in the 
 form of a diary and were addressed to 
 immediate relatives, and none of them 
 were written for publication ; but owing 
 to the standing of Mr. Bancroft as a 
 man of letters, as well as his official sta- 
 tion, the writer saw London life under 
 an unusual variety of interesting aspects. 
 In 1849 Mr* and Mrs. Bancroft re- 
 turned to this country, and Mr. Ban- 
 croft occupied himself with his history 
 until 1868, when he was for seven 
 years Minister to Prussia and the Ger- 
 man Empire. At the expiration of 
 that time they took up their residence 
 in Washington, where they lived dur- 
 ing the remainder of their lives. 
 
PORTRAITS AND VIEWS 
 
 Elizabeth Davis Bancroft .... Frontispiece 
 
 Probably taken at Brady's National Gallery, New York, 
 sometime after her return from England ; from a 
 picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss. 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Aston Hall (Bracebridge Hall) .... 8 
 Henry Edward, Fourth Lord Holland . . 14 
 
 From the portrait by C. R. Leslie. R. A., at Holland 
 House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester. 
 
 Augusta, Lady Holland 20 
 
 From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., at Holland 
 House, by permission of the Earl of Ilchester. 
 
 Holland House 26 
 
 George Bancroft 34 
 
 From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the possession of 
 William J. A. Bliss. 
 
 Elizabeth Davis Bancroft 40 
 
 From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the possession of 
 William J. A. Bliss. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington 70 
 
 From the portrait by Count Alfred D'Orsay ; photograph 
 copyright by Walker & Cockerell, London. 
 
Portraits and Views 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Sir Stratford Canning 74 
 
 From the drawing by Richmond, made about 1848, by 
 permission of the Hon. Louisa Canning. 
 
 Lord Ashburton 84 
 
 After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A. 
 
 Miss Berry, at the Age of 86 . . . . 88 
 
 From a crayon drawing by J. R. Swinton (1850) ; from 
 a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss. 
 
 A. W. Kinglake ("Eothen") .... 90 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 Samuel Rogers 98 
 
 From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848) ; photograph 
 copyright by Walker & Cockerell, London. 
 
 Lady Byron 106 
 
 From the portrait in the possession of Sir J. Tollemache 
 Sinclair, Bart. 
 
 George Hudson, the "Railway King" . 114 
 
 From the engraving after F. Grant. 
 
 Lord Palmerston 130 
 
 From the portrait by Partridge; photograph copyright 
 by Walker & Cockerell, London. 
 
 Lady Palmerston * 36 
 
 From a painting, by permission of Sir Francis Gore. 
 
 Mrs. Dawson Darner 154 
 
 From the miniature by Isabey, by permission of Lady 
 Constance Leslie. 
 
Portraits and Views 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert 160 
 
 From the pastel by J. Russell. 
 
 Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) 170 
 
 From the drawing by Cousins, by permission of the 
 Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker. 
 
 Lord George Bentinck 190 
 
 From the picture by Lane, by permission of the Duke 
 of Portland. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel 194 
 
 From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R. A. 
 
 Lady Peel 198 
 
 After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A. : photograph copyright 
 by W. Mansell & Co., London. 
 
 George Bancroft 210 
 
 Probably taken at Brady's National Gallery, New York, 
 sometime after his return from England ; from a 
 picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss. 
 
Letters from England 
 
Letters from England 
 
 To JV. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 Liverpool, October 26, 1846. 
 
 My dear Sons : Thank God with 
 me that we are once more on terra 
 firma. We arrived yesterday morning 
 at ten o'clock, after a very rough voy- 
 age 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, tort- 
 ures, and distresses, a sea voyage is 
 3 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 the greatest. . . . The Liverpool 
 paper this morning, after announcing 
 our arrival, says : "The Great West- 
 ern, notwithstanding she encountered 
 throughout a series of most severe 
 gales, accomplished the passage in six- 
 teen 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 Sun- 
 day, strong from the North, and as we 
 were in the region where the waters of 
 the Bay of Fundy run out and meet 
 
 4 
 
Letters from England 
 
 those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, after- 
 wards 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 mer- 
 chants 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 
 5 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 reflect of her own lovely life and char- 
 acter. 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 specula- 
 tions 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 fash- 
 ion 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 ser- 
 vants and equipages are in much bet- 
 ter keeping. I am not sorry to be de- 
 tained here for a few days by my illness 
 
 6 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 cap- 
 tain, the servants, the table, are all ex- 
 cellent. 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, 
 
 *Mr. Bancroft's daughter. 
 7 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 assidu- 
 ously. The landlord pays us a visit 
 every day to know if we have all we 
 wish. 
 
 London, Sunday, November i. 
 
 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 coun- 
 try-seat of Mr. William Rathbone. I 
 was unwilling to leave Liverpool without 
 sharing with your father some of the 
 hospitalities offered us and made a great 
 effort to go. The place is very beauti- 
 ful and the house full of comfortable 
 elegance. 
 
 The next morning we started for Bir- 
 mingham, ninety-seven miles from Liv- 
 
 8 
 
Letters from England 
 
 erpool, 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 ob- 
 served 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 
 
 9 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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-look- 
 ing rooms as we should be in New York 
 or Philadelphia. No, in London even 
 new things look old, but almost every- 
 thing is old. Our parlor has three win- 
 dows 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 
 
Letters from England 
 
 our arrival, Boyd, the Secretary of Le- 
 gation, soon came, and stayed to dine 
 with us at six. Our dinner was an ex- 
 cellent 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. Hol- 
 land, 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 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 second time to take me a drive, but Mrs. 
 Bates being with me he took your father. 
 Mrs. Bates took me to do some shop- 
 ping, and to see about some houses. 
 They are very desirous we should be in 
 their neighborhood, in Portland Place, 
 but I have rather a fancy myself for the 
 new part of the 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 gran- 
 deur. 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 of the pleasure they gave me. 
 Pray never let a steamer come without 
 
 12 
 
Letters from England 
 
 a token from both of you. . . . With 
 love to Grandma and Uncle Thomas, 
 believe me, with more love than ever be- 
 fore, 
 
 Elizabeth D. Bancroft. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, November 3, 1846. 
 
 . . . This day, at five, your father 
 had his first interview with Lord Pal- 
 merston, who will acquaint the Queen 
 with his arrival, and after she has re- 
 ceived him we shall leave our cards upon 
 all the ministers and corps diploma- 
 tique. 
 
 November 4th. 
 
 Your father had a most agreeable din- 
 ner at Lord Holland's. He met there 
 Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lord Mor- 
 peth, Lord de Mauley, Mr. Harcourt, 
 a son of the Archbishop of York, etc. 
 He took out Lady Holland and Lord 
 13 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Morpeth Lady Palmerston, the only 
 ladies present. Holland House is sur- 
 rounded by 200 acres in the midst of 
 the western part of London, or rather 
 Kensington. Lord Holland has no chil- 
 dren, and the family dies with him. 
 They dined in the room in which Addi- 
 son 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 Lon- 
 don, and my ideas of its extent and mag- 
 nificence 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 
 14 
 
HENRY EDWARD, FOURTH LORD HOLLAND 
 
 From the portrait by C. R. Leslie. R. A., at Holland House, by permission 
 the Farl of Ilchester 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 in- 
 vitation 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 con- 
 cluded 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 
 15 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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, 
 1 2th November, to remain until Friday, 
 13th." I am glad he will dine there be- 
 fore 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 intro- 
 duced 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. 
 16 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Sunday Evening, November 8th. 
 On Friday evening we met at Mrs. 
 Wormeley's a cosy little knot of Amer- 
 icans. The Dexters were staying there 
 and there were Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson 
 and Miss Pratt, Mr. and Mrs. Aspin- 
 wall, 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 intel- 
 17 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 ligence and I liked 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 in- 
 troduced to him and talked to him and 
 heard him talk not a little. 
 
 These persons all came the next day 
 
 18 
 
Letters from England 
 
 to see us, which gave rise to fresh invi- 
 tations. 
 
 This morning we have been driving 
 round to leave cards on the corps diplo- 
 matique, and Mr. Harcourt has taken 
 me all over the Athenseum 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 en- 
 ergies? We have been here just a fort- 
 night, and I came so ill that I could 
 hardly walk. We are now at house- 
 keeping, and I am in the full career of 
 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 
 19 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 cor- 
 sage 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 din- 
 ing with bare arms and neck, but I 
 must. 
 
 Tuesday, November 1 7th. 
 
 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. 
 20 
 
AUGUSTA, LADY HOLLAND 
 
 From the portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., at Holland House, by permission of 
 the Karl of Ilchester 
 
Letters from England 
 
 He has a strong regard for him. . . . 
 Not a moment have I had to a London 
 "lion." I have driven past Westminster, 
 but have not been in it. I have seen 
 nothing of London but what came in 
 my way in returning visits. 
 
 To I. P. D. 
 
 London, November 17, 1846. 
 
 My dear Uncle : I cannot help re- 
 freshing the remembrance of me with 
 you and dear Aunty by addressing a 
 separate letter to you. . . . Yester- 
 day we hailed with delight our letters 
 from home. . . . One feels in a for- 
 eign land the absence of common sym- 
 pathies and interests, which always sur- 
 round us in any part of our own country. 
 And yet nothing can exceed the kind- 
 ness with which we have been received 
 here. 
 
 Last evening I went to my first great 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 English dinner and it was a most agree- 
 able 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 Pal- 
 merston said : "Oh, thank you for com- 
 ing so early." This was Lady Tanker- 
 ville 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 Clanri- 
 carde, a beautiful girl of seventeen. She 
 is very lovely, wears a Grecian braid 
 round her head like a coronet, and al- 
 ways sits by her mother, which would 
 not suit our young girls. Then came 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Lord and Lady Ashley, Lord Ebring- 
 ton, 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 pheas- 
 ants, or their partridges our partridges. 
 Neither have we so many footmen with 
 liveries of all colors, 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 sus- 
 pect she liked, for the Queen spoke of 
 23 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 it to him afterwards, and Lord Pal- 
 merston 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 bet- 
 ter than anyone else of the high aris- 
 tocracy. 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 immedi- 
 ately, without waiting for us to make the 
 first visit, which is the rule, and almost 
 every person whom we have met in soci- 
 ety, which certainly indicates an amiable 
 24 
 
Letters from England 
 
 feeling toward our country. We could 
 not well have received more courtesy 
 than we have done, and it has been ex- 
 tended 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 
 25 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 of her at night, she kissed her quite in 
 my Virginia fashion. 
 
 Dear Uncle : How much more your 
 niece would have written if to-day were 
 not packet day, I cannot say. I shall 
 send you some newspapers and a pack 
 of cards which I saw in the Queen's 
 hands. The American Minister and 
 Mrs. Bancroft have since played a game 
 of piquet with them. The Queen's 
 hands were as clean as her smile was 
 gracious. Best regards to the Judge 
 and Aunt Isaac. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 George Bancroft. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, November 29, 1846. 
 After a long interval I find again a 
 quiet Sunday evening to resume my jour- 
 26 
 
Letters from England 
 
 nal 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. Ma- 
 caulay. Yesterday I went to return the 
 visit of the Milmans and found that the 
 entrance to their house, he being a pre- 
 bend of Westminster Abbey, was actual- 
 ly in the cloisters of the Abbey. They 
 were not at home, but I took my foot- 
 man and wandered at leisure through 
 the cloisters, treading at every step on 
 the tomb of some old abbot with dates 
 of 1 1 60 and thereabouts. 
 
 Nothing could be more delightful than 
 27 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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, 1 846. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Polk* : You told me 
 when I parted from you at Washington 
 that you would like to get from me occa- 
 sionally some accounts of my experiences 
 
 *Wife of President Polk. 
 28 
 
Letters from England 
 
 in English society. I thought at that 
 time that we should see very little of it 
 until the spring, but contrary to my ex- 
 pectation we have been out almost every 
 day since our arrival. We made our 
 debut in London on the first day of No- 
 vember (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 win- 
 ter seemed, I must say, rather "triste," 
 but the next day the fog cleared off, peo- 
 ple came constantly to see us, and we had 
 agreeable invitations for every day, and 
 London put on a new aspect. Our first 
 dinner was at Lord Palmerston's, where 
 we met what the newspapers call a dis- 
 tinguished circle. The Marquis of Lans- 
 downe, Lord and Lady John Russell, 
 Marquis and Marchioness of Clanri- 
 carde (Canning's daughter), Earl and 
 
 Countess Grey, Sir George and Lady 
 
 29 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Rus- 
 sell'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 distin- 
 guished man of letters. We have been 
 at a great many soirees, at Lady Pal- 
 merston's, Lady Grey's, Lord Auck- 
 land'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. 
 
 30 
 
Letters from England 
 
 At the smaller dinners and soirees at this 
 season I cannot, of course, receive a full 
 impression of English society, but cer- 
 tainly those persons now in town are 
 charming people. Their manners are 
 perfectly simple and I entirely forget, ex- 
 cept when their historic names fall upon 
 my ear, that I am with the proud aris- 
 tocracy 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 splen- 
 did 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 
 31 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 man- 
 ners 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 re- 
 finement. The chief difference that I 
 perceive is this : In our country the posi- 
 tion 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 al- 
 ways allowed by all about them, are 
 never tempted to put on. From this re- 
 sults an extreme simplicity of manner, 
 like that of a family circle among us. 
 What I have said, however, applies 
 32 
 
Letters from England 
 
 less to the South than to the large cities 
 of the North, with which I am most fa- 
 miliar 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 An- 
 nie Payne, to whom and to Mrs. Madi- 
 son give also my best love. Believe me 
 yours with the highest regard, 
 
 E. D. Bancroft. 
 
 33 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 December z. 
 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 enthusi- 
 asm. 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 im- 
 agine it all. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, December 19, 1846. 
 
 My dear Sons: . . . Yesterday 
 we dined at Macready's and met quite a 
 new, and to us, a most agreeable circle. 
 
 34 
 
■■!■■ 
 
 GEORGE BANCROFT 
 From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the possession of William J. A. Bliss 
 
Letters from England 
 
 There was Carlyle, who talked all din- 
 ner-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 Nor- 
 manby'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 Sat- 
 urday we dined at Sir Roderick Murchi- 
 son'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 
 
 35 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 interest- 
 ing person, though a great talker; a con- 
 venient fault to a stranger. She is con- 
 nected 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 sub- 
 jects. 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 chil- 
 
 36 
 
Letters from England 
 
 dren, a boy driving his two little sisters 
 as horses. One of the little girls is very 
 like Susie,* her size, hair, and complex- 
 ion. 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, some- 
 thing that if I were a traveller only, I 
 could make quite a story of. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, January I, 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 
 
 *Only child of Mrs. Bancroft's second marriage, who had 
 died at the age of seven. 
 
 37 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 was on our 2 2d December, to Ely, with 
 Peacock, the great mathematician, who 
 is Dean of Ely, to see the great cathedral 
 there. . . . While he was at Cam- 
 bridge I passed the evening of the 22d 
 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 Eng- 
 lish 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 Secre- 
 tary of State, to see a beautiful chil- 
 dren's masque. It was an impersona- 
 tion of the "Old Year" dressed a little 
 38 
 
Letters from England 
 
 like Lear with snowy hair and dra- 
 peries. Old Year played his part in- 
 imitably, at times with great pathos, 
 and then introducing witty hits at all 
 the doings of his reign, such as explod- 
 ing 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 Christ- 
 mas, 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 pan- 
 cakes, 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 5*/* of November, 
 full of wit and fun, etc.; the longest day, 
 39 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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, introduc- 
 ing 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 
 40 
 
ELIZABETH DAVIS BANCROFT 
 From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the possession of William J. A. lilisi 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 some- 
 what by talking it to me, forgetting that 
 a foreign minister's wife can talk Eng- 
 lish. . . . 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 
 41 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 conver- 
 sation I often stop and think, "I may 
 unconsciously be jarring the prejudices 
 or preconceived notions of these people 
 upon a thousand points; for how differ- 
 ently 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, per- 
 haps, with more latitude, religion, poli- 
 tics, morals, everything. I like the 
 English extremely, even more than I ex- 
 pected, and yet happy am I to think that 
 our own best portions of society can bear 
 a comparison with theirs. When I see 
 42 
 
Letters from England 
 
 you I can explain to you the differences, 
 but I think we need not be ashamed of 
 ourselves. 
 
 To I. P. D. 
 
 London, January 2, 1847. 
 
 My dear Uncle: ... I refer 
 you to my letters to my boys, for all the 
 new persons and places we may have seen 
 lately, while I give you for Aunty's 
 amusement a minute account of my visit 
 into the country at Mr. Bates's, where 
 things are managed in a scrupulously 
 English manner, so that it will give her 
 the same idea of country life here, as if 
 it were a nobleman's castle. Our invi- 
 tation 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 Rich- 
 mond Park, beyond which is the cele- 
 43 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 brated 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 fit- 
 ting 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 arri- 
 val 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 dress- 
 
 44 
 
Letters from England 
 
 ing-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 Eng- 
 lish 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 unwill- 
 ing to take her tea with, or speak famil- 
 iarly to, a footman or a housemaid than 
 I should. My greatest mistakes in Eng- 
 land have been committed toward those 
 high dignitaries, my own maid and the 
 butler, whose grandeur I entirely misap- 
 preciated and invaded, as in my igno- 
 rance I placed them, as we do, on the 
 same level with other servants. She has 
 
 45 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 her fire made for her, and loaf sugar in 
 her tea, which she and Cates sip in soli- 
 tary majesty. However, she is most con- 
 scientious and worthy, as well as digni- 
 fied, 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 mat- 
 ters 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 Buona- 
 parte, and the Princess of Wurtemberg. 
 They were most agreeable, intelligent, 
 and amiable young men, and I was glad 
 to meet them. Lord and Lady Lang- 
 4 6 
 
Letters from England 
 
 dale (who have a place in the neighbor- 
 hood) 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, su- 
 gar, cream, bread, toast-rack and pre- 
 serves. 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. 
 
 47 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Let me tell Aunty that our simple break- 
 fast 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 Ter- 
 race, which is ravishingly beautiful even 
 at this season. . . . The next day 
 the gentlemen all went to town, and 
 Madam Van de Weyer and I passed the 
 
Letters from England 
 
 day tete-a-tete, very pleasantly, as her 
 experience in diplomatic life is very use- 
 ful to me. . . . Her manners are 
 very pleasing and entirely unaffected. 
 She has great tact and quickness of per- 
 ception, great intelligence and amiabil- 
 ity and is altogether extremely well-fitted 
 for the role she plays in life. Her hus- 
 band is charming. . . . They have 
 three children, very lovely. The eldest, 
 Victor, a fine boy of seven years old, Vic- 
 toria, 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 cen- 
 tre of the world at so early an age, and 
 makes an excellent courtier. I could not 
 help pitying her, however, for looking 
 
 49 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 
 50 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 add- 
 ed 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 oppor- 
 tunity of extracting from each what is 
 precious. I always wish I could sit by 
 everybody at the same time, and I could 
 51 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 often employ a dozen heads, if I had 
 them, instead of my poor, miserable one. 
 From Sir William Hooker / 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 teach- 
 ers compared with these gifted men giv- 
 ing you a lecture upon subjects before 
 your eyes. 
 
 On Sunday we dined with our own 
 party; on Monday some diplomatic peo- 
 ple, 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 Arte- 
 velde), who is son-in-law of Lord Mont- 
 eagle, and lives in the neighborhood. 
 He has a fine countenance and still finer 
 52 
 
Letters from England 
 
 voice, and is altogether one of those lit- 
 erary 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 dedi- 
 cated his last poem to him. This ex- 
 pression, "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 
 
 53 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 visits take all my time. No one goes out 
 in a carriage till after two, as the ser- 
 vants 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 
 gray 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 
 
 54 
 
Letters from England 
 
 that I am the only refractory member of 
 it. I am always asking the wrong per- 
 son 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 be- 
 tween 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 al- 
 ways 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 house- 
 keeper, and presides over the housekeep- 
 er'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 dis- 
 ss 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 penses 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. Good- 
 win stare, by some of my housekeeping 
 stories, the next evening I pass in your 
 little pleasant parlor (a word unknown 
 here) . 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, January 10, 1847. 
 
 My very dear Children: . . . 
 Yesterday we dined at Lady Charle- 
 ville'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 
 56 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 Angel- 
 ina 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 intelli- 
 gence, 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 Ellenbor- 
 ough, a very pretty woman of thirty-five, 
 I should think; Sir William and Lady 
 
 57 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Chatterton and Mr. Algernon Greville, 
 whose grandmother wrote the beautiful 
 "Prayer for Indifference," an old favor- 
 ite 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 insist- 
 ed 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 
 58 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 restrict- 
 ed 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 house- 
 keepers may. I had Mr. Greville the 
 other side of me, who seemed much sur- 
 prised that I, an American, should know 
 the "Prayer for Indifference," which he 
 
 59 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Lon- 
 don. 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 ex- 
 change visits, and yet do not succeed for 
 a long time in putting the name and the 
 person together. . . . It is a great 
 puzzle to a stranger, but has its conven- 
 iences 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 read- 
 ing Whewell's "History of the Induc- 
 tive Sciences," which gives one a sum- 
 60 
 
Letters from England 
 
 mary of what has been accomplished in 
 that way, not only in past ages, but in 
 the present. Every moment here is pre- 
 cious to me and I am anxious to make 
 the best use of it, but I have immense 
 demands on my time in every way. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 Tuesday night, January 19, 1847. 
 
 To-day we have been present at the 
 opening of Parliament, but how can I 
 picture to you the interest and magnifi- 
 cence 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 la- 
 61 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 dies 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 car- 
 riage only arrived last night, and I had 
 not passed judgment upon it. Fogs and 
 tradesmen 1 these are the torments of 
 London. Very soon came the tailor 
 with embroidered dress, sword, and cha- 
 peau, 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 
 6e 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Isidore, a little before twelve, coiffure 
 and all, which was so pretty that I quite 
 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 your 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 
 63 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 I set out, and after leaving us the car- 
 riage returned for your father and Mr. 
 Brodhead. But first let me tell you some- 
 thing 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 coach- 
 man, good old Brooks, solicited an audi- 
 ence a day or two ago, and began, "Mis- 
 tress, did you tell them to send the pads 
 and the fronts and the hand-pieces?" 
 "Heavens and earth! what are all these 
 6 4 
 
Letters from England 
 
 things?" said I. "Why, ma'am, we al- 
 ways 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 be- 
 tween 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 
 65 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 up our tickets at the door of the cham- 
 ber. 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 draw- 
 ing-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. Op- 
 posite 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 
 
 66 
 
Letters from England 
 
 I knew. Madam Van de Weyer was 
 on one side of me and the Princess Calli- 
 machi on the other, and Miss Murray 
 just behind me. She insisted on intro- 
 ducing 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 
 67 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 told him how much I liked Kew Gar- 
 den, 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. Sen- 
 ior, whom you saw only Saturday 
 evening, but you do not know me in 
 my wig." It is, indeed, an entire trans- 
 formation, 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 el- 
 bow the college of heralds richly dressed, 
 slowly, two and two ; then the great offi- 
 cers of the household, then the Lord 
 Chancellor bearing the purse, seal, and 
 
 68 
 
Letters from England 
 
 speech of the Queen, with the mace- 
 bearers before him. Then Lord Lans- 
 downe with the crown, the Earl of Zet- 
 land, with the cap of maintenance, and 
 the Duke of 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 
 6 9 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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-bear- 
 ers. The whole scene seemed to me like 
 a dream or a vision. After a few min- 
 utes 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 em- 
 phasis decided and intelligent. Very 
 soon after the speech is finished she leaves 
 70 
 
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON 
 
 From the portrait by Count Alfred D'Orsay; photograph copyright by- 
 Walker & Cockerell, London 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, February 7, 1847. 
 
 My dear Sons : ... On Friday 
 we dined with two bachelors, Mr. Pea- 
 body and Mr. Coates, who are Ameri- 
 can 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 mus- 
 tered up all the Americans that could 
 71 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 draw- 
 ing-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 re- 
 freshment table in the room where we 
 put on our cloaks. 
 
 I got a note yesterday from the O'Con- 
 nor Don, enclosing an order to admit 
 me to the House of Commons on Mon- 
 day. . . . 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 
 
 72 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Connaught. He is called altogether 
 the O'Connor Don, and begins his note 
 to me with that title. You remem- 
 ber 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 moder- 
 ate. They know nothing of extreme 
 cold here. But, to return to our break- 
 fast, where, notwithstanding the cold, 
 the guests were punctually assembled: 
 The Marquis of Northampton and his 
 two sisters, the Bishop of London with 
 his black apron, Sir Stratford Canning, 
 Mr. Rutherford, Lord Advocate for 
 Scotland, the Solicitor-General and one 
 73 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 or two others. The conversation was 
 very agreeable and I enjoyed my first 
 specimen of an English breakfast ex- 
 ceedingly. . . . 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 invita- 
 tions 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 Moles- 
 worth, Sir Benjamin Hall, etc., and had 
 a long talk with "Eothen," who is a quiet, 
 74 
 
SIR STRATFORD CANNING 
 
 From the drawing by Richmond, made about 1S48, by permission of the 
 Hon. Louisa Canning 
 
Letters from England 
 
 unobtrusive person in manner, though 
 his book is quite an effervescence. . . . 
 On Wednesday we dined with Mr. Har- 
 court, 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 Eng- 
 lish habit seems to be to suffer a few peo- 
 ple to do up a great part of the talking, 
 such as Macaulay, Brougham, and Syd- 
 ney 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 Suther- 
 land among the number. She is most 
 
 75 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 in- 
 deed, much greater. I wish I was better 
 prepared for my life here by a more ex- 
 tensive 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. 
 
 76 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 en- 
 gage 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. Fortu- 
 nately 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 her- 
 self, are the last remnants of the old 
 school here. 
 
 To L 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 3 as I had not 
 
 77 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 re- 
 mained Minister during our troubles at 
 a period when he wished, himself, to re- 
 sign. 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 Westmin- 
 ster, to go to his house, and from thence 
 to the Abbey, to witness the funeral of 
 the Duke of Northumberland. The 
 78 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Dean, who has control of everything in 
 the Abbey, issued tickets to several hun- 
 dred persons to go and witness the fu- 
 neral, but only Lord Northampton's 
 family, the Bunsens (the Prussian Min- 
 ister), 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 West- 
 minster school. We first went to the hall 
 
 79 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 sym- 
 bols 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 gen- 
 tle 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 sleep- 
 ing-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 
 80 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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. . . . Altogether we have 
 great pleasure in the society of Chevalier 
 and Madam Bunsen, and in those whom 
 we meet at their house. On this occa- 
 sion 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. 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Diplo- 
 matic 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 Will- 
 
 82 
 
Letters from England 
 
 iam 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 parent country. 
 I have seen few persons in England 
 whom I should esteem a more delight- 
 ful friend or companion than Lady Ash- 
 burton, 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 
 most agreeable, as well as one of the 
 wisest, men I have seen in England. 
 83 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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. Au- 
 lair'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 charm- 
 ing 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 
 
LORD ASHBURTON 
 After Sir T. Lawrenee, R. A. 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 Eu- 
 ropean affairs, which I have all my life 
 looked upon from so great a distance. 
 
 To Mrs. W. W. Story 
 
 London, March 23, 1847. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Story: I should have 
 thanked you by the last steamer for your 
 note and the charming volume which 
 accompanied it, but my thoughts and 
 feelings were so much occupied by the 
 sad tidings I heard from my own family 
 that I wrote to no one out of it. The 
 poems, which would at all times have 
 given me great pleasure, gave me still 
 more here than they would if I were with 
 you on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 I am not cosmopolitan enough to love 
 any nature so well as our American nat- 
 85 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 ure, 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 see- 
 ing 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 de- 
 partment. 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 bet- 
 ter prepared for it. I envy the pleas- 
 ure which Mr. Story will receive from 
 music, painting, and sculpture in Eu- 
 
 86 
 
Letters from England 
 
 rope, 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 and 
 very dear friends 3,000 miles away. 
 . . . There are certain sympathies of 
 country which one cannot overcome. 
 On the other hand I certainly enjoy pleas- 
 ures 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 Lans- 
 downe's table, with Mrs. Norton, or at 
 a charming breakfast with Mr. Rogers, 
 87 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 surrounded by pictures and marbles, or 
 with tall feathers and a long train, mak- 
 ing curtsies to a queen. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, April 2, [1847.] 
 
 Here it is the day before the de- 
 spatches 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 
 
 8S 
 
v 
 
 
 MISS 
 
 BERRY, AT THE AGE OF 86 
 
 From a crayon drawing by J. R. Swinton (1850) ; from a picture owned by 
 Elizabeth B. Bliss 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 Dray- 
 ton Manor I shall show it to you." I 
 should like to go there, but to see him- 
 self 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 
 89 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 know, in [a] beautiful house, though 
 small, whose rooms look upon the Green 
 Park, and filled with pictures and mar- 
 bles. 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 election- 
 eered 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 
 9 o 
 
A. \V. KINGLAKE (" EOTHEN ") 
 
 Fn mi a photograph 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Travel," which was very popular two or 
 three years since. He is a young lawyer, 
 Mr. Kinglake, the most modest, unas- 
 suming 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. 
 
 To I. P. D. 
 
 Dear Uncle and Aunt : On Thurs- 
 day [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 
 91 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 con- 
 versation, 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 Will- 
 iam and Lady Duff Gordon, the two 
 Warburtons, "Hochelaga" and "Cres- 
 cent and Cross," and "Eothen." Mrs. 
 Milman I really love, and we see much 
 of them. 
 
 On Saturday was the dreaded Draw- 
 92 
 
Letters from England 
 
 ing-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 pictu- 
 resque 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 la- 
 
 93 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 dies 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 Count- 
 ess 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, then 
 Madam Bunsen, then Madam Lisboa, 
 
 94 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 re- 
 main 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 Sun- 
 day evening Mr. Bancroft set off for 
 Paris to pass the Easter recess of Parlia- 
 95 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 ment. ... I got a very interesting 
 letter yesterday from Mr. Bancroft. It 
 seems that the Countess Circourt, whose 
 husband has reviewed his book and Pres- 
 cott'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 con- 
 tents 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-presi- 
 dent. 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 pos- 
 sess it exclusively, as his "highly distin- 
 guished countryman, Mr. Prescott, has 
 also been proposed." 
 
 96 
 
Letters from England 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 My dear Sons: ... On Mon- 
 day 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 gen- 
 erations of distinguished men gives what 
 can be acquired in no other way. Mr. 
 Rogers said to me one day: "I have 
 
 97 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 learnt more from men than 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 distin- 
 guished here. With us society is left 
 more to the crudities of the young than 
 in England. The young may be inter- 
 esting 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 1 2th. 
 
 . . . On Saturday I went with Sir 
 William and Lady Molesworth to their 
 98 
 
SAMUEL ROGERS 
 
 From the drawing by G. Richmond (1848^: photograph copyright by 
 Walker & Cockerell, London 
 
Letters from England 
 
 box in the new Covent Garden opera, 
 which has been opened for the first time 
 this week. There I saw Grisi and Al- 
 boni and Tamburini in the "Semira- 
 mide." It was a new world of delight 
 to me. Grisi, so statuesque and so grace- 
 ful, 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 in- 
 vited 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 Fau- 
 bourg St. Germain, among the old 
 French aristocracy, and to innumerable 
 
 receptions. 
 ELofC. 
 
 99 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 To-morrow I go to the Drawing- 
 Room alone, and to complete the cli- 
 max, the Queen has sent us an invita- 
 tion 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 cur- 
 rant-colored or grosseille velvet with a 
 wreath of white Arum lilies woven into 
 a kind of turban, with green leaves and 
 bouquet to match, on the bertha of Brus- 
 sels lace. I was received by a servant, 
 who escorted me through a long nar- 
 row corridor the length of Winthrop 
 Place and consigned me to another 
 who escorted me in his turn, through 
 another wider corridor to the foot 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 Mas- 
 ter 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 Mar- 
 chioness of Exeter, Lord and Lady Dal- 
 housie, 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 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 profoundly curtseying. As soon as she 
 passed the Marquis of Exeter came over 
 and took Madam Lisboa, and Lord Dal- 
 housie 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 Dalhou- 
 sie, who is the son of the former Gov- 
 ernor 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 de- 
 spatched, and when the Queen rose we 
 followed her back into the corridor. She 
 walked to the fire and stood some min- 
 utes, and then advanced to me and en- 
 quired about Mr. Bancroft, his visit to 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 la- 
 dies 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 gentle- 
 men 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 Edg- 
 cumbe, 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 re- 
 quested us to take our seats round the 
 table. This was a little prim, for I did 
 103 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 not know exactly how much I might 
 talk to others in the immediate presence 
 of the Queen, and everybody seemed a 
 little constrained. She spoke to us all, 
 and very soon such of the gentlemen as 
 were allowed by their rank, joined us 
 at the round table. Lord Dalhousie 
 came again to my side and I had as 
 pleasant a conversation with him, rather 
 sotto voce, however, as I could have had 
 at a private house. At half-past ten the 
 Queen rose and shook hands with each 
 lady; we curtsied profoundly, and she 
 and the Prince departed. We then bade 
 each other good-night, and found our 
 carriages as soon as we chose. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, May 16, 1847. 
 
 My dear Sons: My letters by this 
 
 steamer will have very little interest for 
 104 
 
Letters from England 
 
 you, as, from being in complete retire- 
 ment, I have no new things to relate 
 to you. . . . We have taken advan- 
 tage 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 Mur- 
 ray, 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 Mur- 
 ray with us, and as the country is now 
 radiant with blossoms and glowing green, 
 the drive itself was very agreeable. We 
 105 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 brill- 
 iant beauty. She has extremely delicate 
 features, and very pale and finely deli- 
 cate skin. A tone of voice and manner 
 of the most trembling refinement, with 
 a culture and strong intellect, almost mas- 
 culine, 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 coun- 
 try round Esher and ordered her ponies 
 and small carriage for herself and me, 
 
 106 
 
LADY BYRON 
 From the portrait in the possession of Sir J. Tollemache Sinclair. Rart. 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 ex- 
 quisite grounds. Here we left the pe- 
 destrians, while Lady Byron took me a 
 more extensive drive, as she wished to 
 show me some of the heaths in the neigh- 
 borhood, 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 horse- 
 back 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 neigh- 
 107 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 boring 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 genu- 
 ine old Irish harp, and after hearing his 
 national melodies for half an hour, tak- 
 ing 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 walk- 
 ing 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. 
 
 108 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Harding brought with him a gentleman, 
 whom he introduced as Mr. Alison. 
 Mr. Bancroft asked him if he were re- 
 lated 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 so- 
 ciety. I see no one except Sunday even- 
 ings, and, occasionally, a friend before 
 dinner. 
 
 To W. D. B. and A. B. 
 
 London, May 24, [1847.] 
 
 My dear Sons : ... On Friday 
 we both went to see the Palace of Hamp- 
 ton Court with my dear, good, Miss 
 Murray, Mr. Winthrop and son, and 
 Louise. . . . On our arrival, we 
 109 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 found, to our great vexation, that Fri- 
 day was the only day in the week in 
 which visitors were not admitted, and 
 that we must content ourselves with see- 
 ing 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 admis- 
 sion 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 assert- 
 ed 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 pre- 
 vailed, and we saw everything to much 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 
 in 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Tam- 
 burini 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-Wei- 
 mar 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. 
 
 112 
 
Letters from England 
 
 On Sunday evening your father dined 
 with Baron Brunnow, the Russian Min- 
 ister, to meet the Grand Duke Constan- 
 tine. It so happened that the Grand 
 Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar ap- 
 pointed an audience to Baron and Bar- 
 oness Brunnow at seven, and they had 
 not returned at half-past seven, when the 
 Grand Duke and their other guests ar- 
 rived. The Baroness immediately ad- 
 vanced to the Grand Duke and sunk on 
 her knees before him, asking pardon in 
 Russian. He begged her to rise, but she 
 remained in an attitude of deep humili- 
 ation, 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, 
 
 113 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 and is now desirous to get into society. 
 These things are managed in a curious 
 way here. A noaveau riche gets several 
 ladies of fashion to patronize their en- 
 tertainment and invite all the guests. 
 Our invitation was from Lady Parke, 
 who wrote me two notes about it, say- 
 ing that she would be happy to meet me 
 at Mrs. Hudson's splendid mansion, 
 where would be the best music and so- 
 ciety 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 col- 
 lection of many agreeable persons and 
 114 
 
GEORGE HUDSON, THE "RAILWAY KING " 
 
 From the engraving after F. CJrant 
 
Letters from England 
 
 some lions and lionesses. There was 
 Lord Ross, the great astronomer; Bar- 
 oness 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 Suther- 
 land, grandmother though she be. 
 
 On Monday evening we went to a con- 
 cert 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 
 
 "5 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 the Portugal interference in the House 
 of Lords. It brought out all the lead- 
 ers, and I was so fortunate as to hear a 
 most powerful speech from Lord Stan- 
 ley, one from Lord Lansdowne in de- 
 fence of the Ministry and one from the 
 Duke of Wellington, who, on this occa- 
 sion, 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 Duch- 
 ess received her guests. It exceeded my 
 utmost conceptions of magnificence and 
 beauty. The vast size of the apartment, 
 the vaulted ceilings, the arabesque orna- 
 ments, the fine pictures, the profusion of 
 flowers, the music, the flourish of trump- 
 ets, as the Queen passed backward and 
 iz6 
 
Letters from England 
 
 forward, the superb dresses and dia- 
 monds of the women, the parti-colored 
 full dress of the gentlemen all contrib- 
 uted to make up a scene not to be for- 
 gotten. The Queen's Ball was not to 
 be compared to it, so much more effect- 
 ive is Stafford House than Buckingham 
 Palace. . . . We were fortunate to 
 be present there, for Stafford House is 
 not opened in this way but once in a 
 year or two, and the Duke's health is 
 now so very uncertain, that it may be 
 many years before it happens again. He 
 was not present the other evening. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D. 
 My dear Uncle and Aunt: On 
 
 London, June 20, 1847. 
 the 19th, Saturday, we breakfasted with 
 Lady Byron and my friend, Miss Mur- 
 ray, at Mr. Rogers'. He and Lady 
 Byron had not met for many, many 
 117 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 years, and their renewal of old friend- 
 ship 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 Amer- 
 ican prose, which, I think, has 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," describ- 
 ing the falling overboard of one of the 
 crew, and the effect it produced, not only 
 at the moment, but for some time after- 
 ward. I wondered at his memory, which 
 enabled him to recite so beautifully a 
 long prose passage, so much more diffi- 
 cult 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 regard- 
 
Letters from England 
 
 ed 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 pro- 
 posed to go over it and see its fine pict- 
 ures 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 see- 
 ing, in the most leisurely way and in the 
 most delightful society, the fine pictures 
 and noble apartments of Stafford House 
 again. 
 
 119 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 . . . 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 li- 
 brary, 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, observ- 
 ing it, told me that the Grand Duke 
 Constantine, when he came a few days 
 before, made, as he entered, a most pro- 
 found and reverential bow. This was 
 one of my most delightful mornings, and 
 I left the Antiquities with a stronger de- 
 sire to see them again than before I had 
 seen them at all. 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 his- 
 torical pictures that may serve to adorn 
 the new Houses of Parliament, and the 
 pictures of this collection were all paint- 
 ed with that view. One of those which 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 have received a prize is John Robinson 
 bestowing his farewell blessing upon the 
 Pilgrims at Leyden, which is very pleas- 
 ing. 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 daugh- 
 ter of Mrs. Austin, where was a most 
 agreeable party, and among others, An- 
 dersen, the Danish poet-author of the 
 "Improvisatore." He has a most strik- 
 ing poetical physiognomy, but as he 
 talked only German or bad French, I 
 left him to Mr. Bancroft in the con- 
 versation 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 
 
Letters from England 
 
 to town and would stay but a day, and 
 we must go that very morning and break- 
 fast with him at ten o'clock. We went 
 and found a delightful circle. I sat be- 
 tween Moore and Rogers, who was in 
 his very best humor. Moore is but a 
 wreck, but a most interesting one. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D. 
 
 Nuneham Park, July 27, 1847. 
 
 My dear Uncle and Aunt : . . . 
 I must go back to the day when my last 
 letters were despatched, as my life since 
 has been full of interest. On Monday 
 evening, the 19th, we went to the French 
 play, to see Rachel in "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 
 123 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Westmin- 
 ster, who was very agreeable and in- 
 structive. He and Dr. Whately have 
 the simplicity of children, with an im- 
 mense deal of knowledge, which they 
 impart in the most pleasant way. Sat- 
 urday, 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 Founda- 
 tion 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 
 124 
 
Letters from England 
 
 that the head master of one of these 
 very great schools is no unimportant 
 personage. Dr. Hawtrey has an in- 
 come of six or seven thousand pounds. 
 He is unmarried, but has two single sis- 
 ters who live with him, and his establish- 
 ment 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. Af- 
 ter dinner there is a regatta among the 
 boys, which is one of the characteristic 
 and pleasing old customs. All the fash- 
 ionables of London who have sons at 
 Eton come down to witness their happi- 
 ness, and the river bank is full of gayety. 
 125 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 morn- 
 ing (Sunday), after an agreeable break- 
 fast in the long, low-walled breakfast- 
 room, which opens upon the flower-gar- 
 den, 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 be- 
 gin my account of Nuneham. . . . 
 The Archbishop of York is the second 
 son of Lord Vernon, but his uncle, Earl 
 126 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Harcourt, dying without children, left 
 him all his estate, upon which he took 
 the name of Harcourt. We arrived 
 about four o'clock. . . . The din- 
 ner was at half-past seven, and when I 
 went down I found the Duchess of Suth- 
 erland, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, 
 Lord Kildare, and several of the sons 
 and daughters of the Archbishop. The 
 dinner and evening passed off very agree- 
 ably. The Duchess is a most high-bred 
 person, and thoroughly courteous. As 
 we were going in or out of a room in- 
 stead 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, 
 127 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 clear voice, while his family and depend- 
 ents knelt about him was a pleasure never 
 to be forgotten. ... At five I was 
 to drive round the park with the Arch- 
 bishop 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 Eng- 
 lish park. Every pretty point of view, 
 too, he made me see, and was as active 
 and wide-awake as if he were thirty, 
 rather than ninety. . . . The next 
 morning, after prayers and breakfast, I 
 took my leave. 
 
 To A. H. 
 
 Bishop's Palace, Norwich, August ist. 
 
 My Dear Ann: How I wish I 
 could transport you to the spot where 
 
 128 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 en- 
 close the precincts of an English Cathe- 
 dral 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 in- 
 teresting 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 pal- 
 ace 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 
 129 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Compton, and the Bishop's family, con- 
 sisting 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 re- 
 sides 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 cel- 
 lar and kitchen, which were lighted up 
 for the occasion. They were built 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 antiqua- 
 rians 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 
 130 
 

 
 
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 LORD PALMERSTON 
 
 From the portrait by Partridge; photograph copyright by Walker & Cockerell, 
 London 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 rail- 
 way two years ago, now arrive at 
 seven in the morning, they are never al- 
 lowed to be brought till the old hour. 
 . . . This morning Mr. Bancroft and 
 the rest are gone on an excursion to Yar- 
 mouth to see some ruins, while I remain 
 here to witness the chairing of two new 
 members of Parliament, who have just 
 been elected, of whom Lord Douro, son 
 of the Duke of Wellington, is one. 
 
 To I. P. D. 
 
 Audley End, October 14, 1847. 
 
 Dear Uncle : We are staying for a 
 few days at Lord Braybrooke's place, 
 131 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 apart- 
 ments 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 in- 
 signia of office. Then came the Duke 
 132 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 digni- 
 taries go out of office on the ist of 
 November). On the left hand of the 
 present Lady Mayoress sat the Lord 
 M.ayor-elect, then I came with my hus- 
 band on my left hand in very conjugal 
 style. 
 
 There were three tables the whole 
 length of the hall, and that at which we 
 133 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 si- 
 lence, 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 Mayor- 
 ess. The herald then cries with a loud 
 voice: "His Royal Highness the Duke 
 of Cambridge, the American Minister, 
 the Lord Chief Baron," etc., etc. (enu- 
 merating about a dozen of the most dis- 
 tinguished guests), "and ladies and gen- 
 tlemen all, the Lord Mayor and Lady 
 Mayoress do bid you most heartily wel- 
 come and invite you to drink in a loving 
 cup." Whereupon the Mayor and May- 
 oress rise and each turn to their next 
 neighbor, who take off the cover while 
 they drink. After my right-hand neigh- 
 134 
 
Letters from England 
 
 bor, 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 re- 
 place 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 stand- 
 ing 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 ex- 
 pression 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 
 135 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 that 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 
 136 
 
LADY PALMERSTON 
 
 From a painting, by permission of Sir Francis ( '.ore 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 pres- 
 ent 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 speci- 
 mens 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 
 137 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 friend- 
 ly, 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 em- 
 138 
 
Letters from England 
 
 broidery, 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 op- 
 posite 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 sup- 
 ported 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 de- 
 139 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 signs. The chairs were of light blue em- 
 broidered 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 mus- 
 lin (universal here), and on it a gilt 
 dressing-glass, which gave a pretty effect 
 to the whole. 
 
 I sat at dinner between Lord Bray- 
 brooke 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 fig- 
 ures, and the walls white and gold pan- 
 elling hung with full-length family por- 
 traits 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 pre- 
 fer talking to a game at whist. The 
 140 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 re- 
 tires when they like. The next morn- 
 ing 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 monu- 
 ment 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 
 141 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Quatorze table, round which the ladies 
 all placed themselves at their embroid- 
 ery, 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 interest- 
 ing 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 
 142 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 chil- 
 dren gazed on this clock, an immense 
 treasure for a peasant's cottage, was both 
 comic and affecting. . . . The next 
 morning we made our adieus to our kind 
 host and hostess, and set off for London, 
 accompanied by Sir John Tyrrell, Major 
 Beresford, and young Mr. Boileau. 
 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, November 4, 1847. 
 
 Dear W. : . . . Mr. Bancroft and 
 I dined on Friday, the 22d, with Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hawes, under-Secretary of 
 State, to meet Mr. Brooke, the Rajah 
 of Sarawak, who is a great lion in Lon- 
 don just now. He is an English gentle- 
 man of large fortune who has done much 
 143 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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. Emer- 
 son 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 
 144 
 
Letters from England 
 
 acceded, and I was thankful Mr. Emer- 
 son had chanced to be with me at that 
 moment as it procured him a high pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 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 news- 
 papers 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 dis- 
 tance, though there is a brilliant gas light 
 at every door, the coachman was com- 
 pletely bewildered, and lost himself en- 
 tirely. 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 
 145 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 royal- 
 ty. 
 
 November 14th. 
 
 On Saturday we dined at the Due 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 pleas- 
 ant stories, but of course, at foreign 
 tables, they neither know each other or 
 the English so well as to give the same 
 146 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 
 147 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Nat- 
 ural Geography without regard to po- 
 litical 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 mathe- 
 matics till she was about sixteen. Her 
 14S 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 
 149 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 I was waiting in the carriage for the 
 footman to get it, two of the most agree- 
 able old-lady faces in the world present- 
 ed 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 Bor- 
 neo, where he soon acquired so great 
 150 
 
Letters from England 
 
 [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 com- 
 panions, 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 Bor- 
 neo 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 
 151 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 had their own way, but they were prob- 
 ably as badly off themselves. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D. 
 
 London, December 16, 1847. 
 
 My dear Uncle and Aunt: . . . 
 On Saturday Mr. Hallam wrote us that 
 Sir Robert Peel had promised to break- 
 fast with him on Monday morning and 
 he thought we should like to meet him 
 in that quiet way. So we presented our- 
 selves 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 exceed- 
 ed 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 
 152 
 
Letters from England 
 
 way. Sir Robert was full of stories, and 
 showed himself as much the scholar as 
 the statesman. Macaulay was overflow- 
 ing as usual, and Lord Mahon and Mil- 
 man are full of learning and accomplish- 
 ments. 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 poli- 
 tics, 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 
 
 153 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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. Darner 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. Darner is the grand- 
 daughter of the beautiful Lady Walde- 
 grave, 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. 
 
 154 
 
h 
 
 m* 
 
 MRS. DAWSON DAMER 
 From the miniature by Isabey, by permission of Lady Constance Leslie 
 
Letters from England 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, December 30, 1847. 
 
 Dear W. : Your father left me on 
 the 1 8th 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 Christ- 
 mas, 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 Simp- 
 kinson 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 lit- 
 erary people who are out of the great 
 world, and yet very desirable to see. 
 155 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 There, too, I met the Misses Cush- 
 man, 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 Mar- 
 chioness 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 Brit- 
 ish Minister to the United States. He 
 could describe our Court, as he called 
 it, in the time of Madison and Mon- 
 roe. 
 
 156 
 
Letters from England 
 
 January I, 1848. 
 
 This evening, in addition to my usual 
 morning letter from your father, I have 
 another; a new postal arrangement be- 
 ginning 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, opinions. 
 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 at- 
 tached to her as a counsellor and friend. 
 . . . There were more than 100 
 157 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 em- 
 broidered coats and finery which were 
 laid on the shelf. 
 
 Saturday, January 7th. 
 
 Yesterday, my dear son, I had a de- 
 lightful dinner at the dear Miss Berrys. 
 They drove to the door on Thursday and 
 left a little note to say, "Can you for- 
 give 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 Char- 
 lotte and Lady Stuart de Rothesay, who 
 was many years ambassadress at Paris, 
 and very agreeable. Then there was 
 Dr. Holland and Mr. Stanley, the Un- 
 der-Secretary of State, etc. In the even- 
 ing came quite an additional party, and 
 I passed it most pleasantly. . . . 
 158 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 ac- 
 count 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 Academic 
 
 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 
 
 159 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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. Ban- 
 croft (that one for Mr. Grote of Lon- 
 don, author of the 'History of Greece'). 
 A gratifying fact in regard to this elec- 
 tion is that it comes without the knowl- 
 edge 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 In- 
 stitute. The honor acquires double value 
 
 for being unsought, and I have heard 
 
 1 60 
 
MRS. FITZHERBERT 
 
 From the pastel by J. Russell 
 
Letters from England 
 
 with no small satisfaction several Mem- 
 bers of the Academy contrast the modest 
 reserve of Mr. Bancroft with the restless 
 manoeuvres to which they have been ac- 
 customed. Prescott, you know, is al- 
 ready 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." 
 
 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 se- 
 cret of the weakness of the army being 
 revealed, I do not see why the Liberal 
 161 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 party cannot obtain all they want in the 
 end. Louis Philippe has sacrificed the 
 happiness of France for the advance- 
 ment 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. 
 
 162 
 
Letters from England 
 To L P. D. 
 
 London, February 26, 1848. 
 
 My dear Uncle : ... On Thurs- 
 day Mr. Bancroft dined with Count Jar- 
 nac, the Minister in the Due 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 
 163 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 I got a note from the beautiful baron- 
 ess, 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 re- 
 public, so near at hand, and everybody 
 seemed perplexed and uneasy. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 On Sunday the Due de Nemours ar- 
 rived at the French Embassy, and Mon- 
 day the poor Duchess de Montpensier, 
 the innocent cause of all the trouble. No 
 one knows where the Duchess de Ne- 
 mours and her younger children are, and 
 the King and Queen are entirely miss- 
 164 
 
Letters from England 
 
 ing. At one moment it is reported that 
 he is drowned, and then, again, at Brus- 
 sels. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 To-day the French Embassy have re- 
 ceived despatches announcing the new 
 government, and Count Jarnac has im- 
 mediately resigned. This made it im- 
 possible for the Due de Nemours and 
 the Duchess de Montpensier to remain 
 at the Embassy, and they fell by inher- 
 itance 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. 
 
 165 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Friday. 
 
 This morning came Thackeray, who 
 is the soul of Punch, and showed me a 
 piece he had written for the next num- 
 ber. 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 The King has arrived. What a cross- 
 ing of the Channel, pea-jacket, woollen 
 comforter, and all ! The flight is a per- 
 fect 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 Satur- 
 day night, I want nothing but repose. 
 What a dream it must be to the chief 
 actors ! The Queen, who is always good 
 
 166 
 
Letters from England 
 
 and noble, was averse to such ignomin- 
 ious flight; she preferred staying and 
 taking what came, and if Madam Ade- 
 laide had lived, they would never have 
 made such a [word undecipherable] fig- 
 ure. Her pride and courage would have 
 inspired them. With her seemed to fly 
 Louis Philippe's star, as Napoleon's 
 with Josephine. . . . Mr. Emerson 
 has just come to London and we give 
 him a dinner on Tuesday, the 14th. 
 Several persons wish much to see him, 
 and Monckton Milnes reviewed him in 
 Blackwood. 
 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, March 11, 1848. 
 Dear W.: . . . Yesterday we 
 dined at Lord Lansdowne's. Among 
 the guests were M. and Madam Van de 
 
 Weyer, and Mrs. Austin, the transla- 
 
 167 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 tress, 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 sep- 
 arated? She interests herself strongly 
 now in all his arrangements, and is assist- 
 ing 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, unfashiona- 
 ble regions where the most accommoda- 
 tions can be had at the least price. 
 What a change for those who have wit- 
 nessed their almost regal receptions in 
 Paris! The young ladies bear very 
 sweetly all their reverses. . . . Gui- 
 zot, himself, I hear, is as fier as ever, 
 and almost gay. Princess de Lieven is 
 
 168 
 
Letters from England 
 
 here at the " Clarendon," and their 
 friendship is as great as ever. 
 
 March 15th. 
 
 Yesterday we had an agreeable din- 
 ner at our own house. Macaulay, Mil- 
 man, Lord Morpeth and Monckton 
 Milnes were all most charming, and we 
 ladies listened with eager ears. Conver- 
 sation 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 difficul- 
 ties. . . . You cannot judge of the 
 state of France, however, through the 
 medium of the English newspapers, for, 
 of course, English sympathies are all 
 169 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 entirely against it. They never like 
 France, and a republic of any kind still 
 less. A peaceful and prosperous repub- 
 lic 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 Aus- 
 tin, 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 
 
 170 
 
RICHARD MON'CKTON MILNES, (LORD HOUGHTON) 
 
 From the drawing by Cousins, by permission 01 the Hon. Mrs. Arthur 
 Henniker 
 
Letters from England 
 
 £8,000. He has the great railroad cases 
 which come before the House of Lords. 
 . . . On Tuesday came a flying report 
 of a revolution in Berlin, but no one be- 
 lieved it. We concluded it rather a 
 speculation of the newsmen, who are 
 hawking revolutions after every mail in 
 second and third editions. We were go- 
 ing 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 let- 
 ter from A. at eight A. M., which I en- 
 close to you. It gives an account of the 
 revolution in Berlin. 
 
 171 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 To T. D. 
 
 March 31. 
 
 The old world is undergoing a com- 
 plete 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 add- 
 ed 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 thunder- 
 ing down upon Liberal Europe. . . . 
 Our whole Diplomatic Corps are cer- 
 tainly " 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 For- 
 eign Affairs, as they have learned some- 
 172 
 
Letters from England 
 
 thing of constitutional liberty in Eng- 
 land. England is, as yet, all quiet, and 
 I hope will keep so, but the Chartists are 
 at work and Ireland is full of inflamma- 
 ble 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 Mor- 
 gan 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 in 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. 
 
 173 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, April 7, 184.8. 
 
 . . . On Wednesday we had an 
 agreeable dinner at Mrs. Milner Gib- 
 son's. Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Sheridan (brother of Mrs. Nor- 
 ton), etc., were among the guests. After 
 dinner I had a very long talk with Dis- 
 raeli. He is, you know, of the ultra 
 Tory party here, and looks at the Con- 
 tinental 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 
 174 
 
Letters from England 
 
 of thought changes all these things in 
 our days. 
 
 To I. P. D. 
 
 April 10. 
 
 This is the day of the " Great Chart- 
 ist 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 con- 
 stable " (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 morn- 
 ing 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 
 
 175 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 con- 
 fined it was feared her health might 
 suffer from any agitation. ... I 
 passed a long train of artillery on Satur- 
 day evening coming into town, which 
 was the most in 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 mercan- 
 tile class, is here entirely conservative, 
 and without that class no great changes 
 can ever be made. The Due de Monte- 
 bello said of France, that he " knew 
 there were lava streams below, but he 
 176 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 gain- 
 ing ground that some concessions must 
 be made. An enlargement of the suf- 
 frage 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 gov- 
 ernment 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 
 177 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 17th, to pass the Easter holidays. He 
 will go on with his manuscripts, and at 
 the same time witness the elections and 
 meeting of the Convention. 
 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, April 19, 1848. 
 Dear W. : . . . To-day I have 
 driven down to Richmond to lunch with 
 Mrs. Drummond, who is passing the 
 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 con- 
 dition of France, and drew for me a pict- 
 ure of what it was and of the change. 
 I begin to see the difference between 
 France and us. Here they are accus- 
 es 
 
Letters from England 
 
 tomed to be governed. We are accus- 
 tomed to govern. Here power may be 
 seized and exercised, if exercised in a 
 satisfactory manner; with us the founda- 
 tion 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 ex- 
 cess 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 ex- 
 pected to jump at once into perfect legis- 
 lation or perfect forms. Crude ideas are 
 afloat, but as to Communism, it is al- 
 
 179 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 ready 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 en- 
 gaging 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 the 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 Due de Nemours throughout, be- 
 haved 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 
 1 80 
 
Letters from England 
 
 a prime minister, and now left aground 
 by the shifting tide." ..." Every- 
 body has given up Louis Philippe, every- 
 body considers the nonsense of Louis 
 Blanc as drawing to its close. The dele- 
 gates from Paris will full half be uni- 
 versally 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 insti- 
 tutions. Ledru-Rollin, Louis Blanc, 
 and Flocon tried to lead the way to ill, 
 but Lamartine, whose heroism passes be- 
 lief and activity passes human power, won 
 the victory over them, found himself 
 on Sunday, and again yesterday, sus- 
 tained by all Paris, and has not only con- 
 quered but conciliated them, and every- 
 body is now firmly of opinion that the 
 Republic will be established quietly." 
 ..." But while there are no difficul- 
 
 1S1 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 ties from the disorderly but what can 
 easily be overcome, the want of republi- 
 can and political experience, combined 
 with vanity and self-reliance and ideal- 
 ism, may throw impediments in the way 
 of what the wisest wish, viz., two elected 
 chambers and a president." 
 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, May 5, 1848. 
 
 My dear W. : . . . Last evening, 
 Thursday, we went to see Jenny Lind, 
 on her first appearance this year. She 
 was received with enthusiasm, and the 
 Queen still more so. It was the first time 
 the Queen had been at the opera since 
 the birth of her child, and since the re- 
 publican 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. 
 182 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 tube- 
 roses. A wreath of tuberoses and bou- 
 quet 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 ar- 
 range 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 
 183 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 can- 
 opy, but the Queen herself did not dance 
 on account of her mourning for Prince 
 Albert's grandmother. There was an- 
 other 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 an- 
 other room, the guests forming a lane as 
 she passes, bowing and smiling. After- 
 ward she made a similar progress to sup- 
 per, her household officers moving back- 
 wards 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 car- 
 riages. On Saturday we went at two to 
 the fete of flowers at Chiswick, and at 
 184 
 
Letters from England 
 
 half-past seven dined at Lord Mont- 
 eagle's to meet Monsieur and Made- 
 moiselle 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 Institu- 
 tion. We went in with the Duke 
 and Duchess of Northumberland, and I 
 sat by her during the lecture. On Satur- 
 day was the Queen's Birthday Drawing- 
 Room. . . . Mr. Bancroft dined at 
 Lord Palmerston's with all the diplo- 
 mats, and I went in the evening with a 
 small party of ladies. On coming home 
 we drove round to see the brilliant birth- 
 day illuminations. The first piece of in- 
 telligence I heard at Lady Palmerston's 
 185 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft'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 con- 
 venient just now, in the brilliant season, 
 and when we had all our dress arrange- 
 ments made. The Queen was to have 
 had a concert to-night, a drawing-room 
 next Friday, and a ball on the 16th, 
 which are all deferred. ... I for- 
 got 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 Metter- 
 nich and the Princess, his wife. 
 
 1 86 
 
Letters from England 
 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 Cam- 
 bridge. The party was brilliant, includ- 
 ing the Duke of Wellington, Lord and 
 Lady Douro, Lady Jersey and the beau- 
 tiful Lady Clementina Villiers, her 
 daughter, etc. When royal people ar- 
 rive everybody rises and remains stand- 
 ing while they stand, and if they ap- 
 proach 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 
 187 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 must all stand. . . . The next day 
 we dined at the Lord Mayor's to meet 
 the Ministers. This was a most interest- 
 ing affair. We had all the peculiar cere- 
 monies which I described to you last 
 autumn, but in addition the party was 
 most distinguished, and we had speeches 
 from Lord Lansdowne, Lord Palmer- 
 ston, Lord John, Lord Auckland, Sir 
 George Grey, etc. 
 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 London, July 21, 1848. 
 I was truly grieved that the last steam- 
 er 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 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 Tow- 
 er 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 
 nine and arrived at York 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 car- 
 riages to take us four miles to our desti- 
 nation. We met at dinner and found 
 our party to consist of the Duke of Rich- 
 mond, Lord Lonsdale, Lord George 
 Bentinck, Lord Ingestre, Lord John 
 Beresford, Lady Webster, whose hus- 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 band, 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 How- 
 ard 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 Rail- 
 way 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 re- 
 ceive 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. 
 
 190 
 
LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. 
 
 Frum the picture by Lane, by permission of the Duke of Portland 
 
Letters from England 
 
 Lady Carlisle received us in the most 
 delightful manner. ... I was de- 
 lighted 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 wit- 
 ness 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 Minster and hear a noble an- 
 them. The Cathedral was crowded with 
 strangers and a great many from Lon- 
 don. 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, 
 191 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 sup- 
 per and I sat between him and the Duke 
 of Richmond at the high table which 
 went across the head of the hall. Guild- 
 hall 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 morn- 
 192 
 
Letters from England 
 
 ing [July 14th] many of the guests, the 
 Duke of Richmond, etc., took their de- 
 parture 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 inde- 
 cipherable] for which he paid five hun- 
 dred 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 
 193 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 noble mansions and rich estates which 
 feast the eye. 
 
 On Monday morning we left New- 
 by 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 flow- 
 ers. We were invited to this breakfast, 
 and I found it very entertaining. I was 
 next the High Sheriff, who was very de- 
 sirous 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 char- 
 acter and has a carriage and liveries as 
 grand as the Queen's. After breakfast 
 
 we bade adieu to our York friends, and 
 194 
 
SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 From the mezzotint after Sir T. Lawrence, R. A, 
 
Letters from England 
 
 set off with our big bouquets (for the 
 distribution was extended to us) for 
 home. 
 
 To T. D. 
 
 London, August 9, 1848. 
 
 My dear Brother: ... On 
 Saturday we set off for Nuneham, the 
 magnificent seat of the late Archbishop 
 of York, now in possession of his eldest 
 son, Mr. Granville Harcourt. . . . 
 The guests besides ourselves were Sir 
 Robert and Lady Peel, Lord and Lady 
 Villiers, Lord and Lady Norreys, Lord 
 Harry Vane, etc. We considered it a 
 great privilege to be staying in the same 
 house with Sir Robert Peel, and I had 
 also the pleasure of sitting by him at 
 dinner all the three days we were there. 
 He was full of conversation of the best 
 kind. Mr. Denison and Lady Char- 
 ts 
 
Mrs. George Bancrofts 
 
 lotte, 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 Marl- 
 borough, 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. Yester- 
 196 
 
Letters from England 
 
 day we returned to London, and on 
 Thursday we set out for Scotland. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D. 
 
 Edinburgh, August 16, 1848. 
 
 My dear Uncle and Aunt : 
 Of Edinburgh I cannot say enough to 
 express my admiration. The Castle 
 Rock, Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Craigs 
 and Calton Hill are all separate and fine 
 mountains and, with the Frith of Forth, 
 the ocean and the old picturesque town, 
 make an assemblage of fine objects that 
 I have seen nowhere else. Mr. Ruther- 
 ford, 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 morn- 
 ing. Mr. Gordon, his nephew, married 
 the daughter of Prof. Wilson, and in- 
 vited us to dine that day to meet the 
 professor, etc. ... We drove out 
 197 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 after breakfast into th 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 linger- 
 ing 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 de- 
 lightful. 
 
 The next morning we went out to 
 Craigcrook, Lord Jeffrey's country seat, 
 to see and lunch with him. He was con- 
 fined to his couch. . . . He is sev- 
 enty-three or seventy-four, but looks 
 
LADY PEEL 
 
 After Sir T. Lawrence, R. A., ; photograph copyright by W. Mansell .<. Co. 
 London 
 
Letters from England 
 
 not a minute older than fifty. He has a 
 fine head and forehead, and most agree- 
 able 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 beauti- 
 ful residence. Capt. Rutherford told me 
 that when he received the Lord Advo- 
 cate'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 ad- 
 miration for Mr. Bancroft's work. 
 This may have disposed them to re- 
 ceive us with the cordiality which made 
 our visit so agreeable. Mr. Empson, 
 
 his son-in-law and the president editor 
 199 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 of the Edinburgh Review, was staying 
 there, and after talking two hours with 
 Lord and Mrs. Jeffrey we took with 
 him a walk in the grounds from which 
 are delightful and commanding views 
 of the whole environs, and never were 
 environs so beautiful. 
 
 To W. D. B. 
 
 Tarbet on Loch Lomond, August 28, 1848. 
 
 Dear W. . . . Being detained 
 
 here by rain this morning I devote it to 
 
 you and to my journal. . . . The 
 
 next day was Sunday but the weather 
 
 being fine we concluded to continue our 
 
 journey, and followed the Tay seeing 
 
 Birnam Wood and Dunsinane on our 
 
 way up to Dunkeld, near to which is the 
 
 fine seat of the Duke of Athol. We 
 
 took a delightful walk in the beautiful 
 
 grounds, and went on to Blair Athol 
 200 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 innkeep- 
 er 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 en- 
 tered 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 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 full Highland costume with bare knees, 
 kilt, philibeg, etc. He told us he had 
 then on those mountains 15,000 head of 
 deer, 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 mak- 
 ing 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 
 
Letters from England 
 
 grouse at the pretty little inn, we took 
 a post chaise to go on to Taymouth, a 
 little village adjoining Lord Breadal- 
 bane's place. We did not arrive at the 
 inn till after eight and found it com- 
 pletely full. . . . We were sent to 
 the schoolmaster's to sleep in the small- 
 est 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 commis- 
 sioned 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 
 203 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Castle. . . . Taymouth Castle, 
 though not more than fifty years old, 
 has the air of an old feudal castle. 
 . . . As we were ushered up the mag- 
 nificent 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 
 204 
 
Letters from England 
 
 arches and doorways are all of a fine 
 carved Gothic open work as light as gos- 
 samer. 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 din- 
 ner the piper in full costume was playing 
 the pibroch in a gallery outside the win- 
 dow, 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 Thurs- 
 day 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 
 205 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 the Queen in place of Lord Spencer. I 
 am glad of this because we are brought 
 often in contact with the Lord Cham- 
 berlain, 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 subordina- 
 tions we republicans cannot understand. 
 . . . We stopped at the little town of 
 Oban. After reading our letters and 
 getting a dinner, we went out just be- 
 fore 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 in- 
 stantly the key to the old castle, and in 
 206 
 
Letters from England 
 
 a few moments Capt. MacDougal and 
 Mr. Phipps, a brother of Lord Nor- 
 manby'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 domes- 
 tic 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 de- 
 light, Captain MacDougal brought out 
 the great brooch of Lorn, which his an- 
 207 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 cestor 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 pleas- 
 ant and the more so from being unex- 
 pected. . . . One little thing which 
 adds always to the charm of Scotch 
 scenery is the dress of the peasantry. 
 One never sees the real Highland cos- 
 tume, 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 
 208 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 Sat- 
 urday, took a little carriage over to 
 Windermere and Ambleside and passed 
 the whole evening with the poet and 
 Mrs. Wordsworth, at their own exqui- 
 site 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 Bor- 
 rowdale, by the side of Derwentwater, 
 and afterward to Ulswater and home 
 by the fine pass of Kirkstone. On my 
 209 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 return, I found the Duke and Duchess 
 of Argyle had been to see us. 
 
 The time for closing the despatch bag 
 has come and I must hurry over my de- 
 light 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. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. I. P. D. 
 
 London, December 14, 1848. 
 
 Dear Uncle and Aunt: On Fri- 
 day we dined at Mr. Tufnell's, who mar- 
 ried last spring the daughter of Lord 
 Rosebery, Lady Anne Primrose, a very 
 " nice person," to use the favorite Eng- 
 lish term of praise. ... Sir John 
 Hobhouse was of our party and he 
 
 told us so much of Byron, who was 
 310 
 
GEORGE BANCROFT 
 
 Probably taken at Brady's National Gallery, New York, sometime after !i 
 return from England ; from a picture owned by Elizabeth B. Bliss 
 
Letters from England 
 
 his intimate friend, as you will remem- 
 ber 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 as- 
 tounding things of the age. When we 
 passed several days with him at Mr. 
 
 211 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 Bates's, I would not have given two 
 straws for his chance of a future career. 
 To-night Mendelssohn's " Elijah " is 
 to be performed, and Jenny Lind sings. 
 We had not been able to get tickets, 
 which have been sold for five guineas 
 apiece the last few days. To my great 
 joy Miss Coutts has this moment written 
 me that she has two for our use, and 
 asks us to take an early dinner at five 
 with her and accompany her. 
 
 To I. A. 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; 
 212 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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 con- 
 tained high and lasting gratifications. 
 We have constantly the strongest ex- 
 pressions of regret at our approaching 
 departure, and in many cases it is, I 
 know, most genuine. My relations here 
 have been most agreeable, and particu- 
 larly 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 Pres- 
 cott could have seen his reception at 
 Lady Lovelace's the other evening when 
 213 
 
Mrs. George Bancroft's 
 
 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 Walde- 
 grave's, and he said: "Would you be 
 willing to breakfast with me some morn- 
 ing, if I asked one or two other ladies? " 
 "Willing!" I said, "I should be de- 
 lighted 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 Pal- 
 ace. 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. 
 
 214 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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-Chancel- 
 lor'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 
 215 
 
Letters from England 
 
 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. 
 
 216 
 
INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Addison, 14 
 
 Adelaide, Madam, 157, 158, 167 
 
 Albert, Prince, 49, 66, 69, 101, 102, 
 
 103, 104, 184, 191, 192, 193 
 Alboni, 99, 112 
 Alison, Mr., 109, 208 
 Alison, Archdeacon, 109 
 Ambleside, 209 
 Amelie, Queen, 164-166 
 Amiens, 162 
 
 America, 24, 83, 121, 155, 161 
 Americans, 50, 10S, 155, 158 
 Andersen, 122 
 Anglesey, Marquis of, 74 
 Appleton, Mr. T., n 
 Apsley House, 115 
 Ardtornish, Castle of, 207 
 Argyle, Duke and Duchess of, 210 
 Arnold, Dr., 81, 124 
 Arnold, Mrs., 209 
 Arthur's Seat, 197 
 Ashburton, Lord, 83 
 Ashburton, Lady, 83-84 
 Ashley, Lord and Lady, 23 
 Aspinwall, Mr., 11, 17 
 Aspinwall, Mrs., 17 
 Aston Hall, 9 
 Athenseum Club, 16, 19 
 Athol, Duke of, 67, 200, 201, 202 
 Athol, Duchess of, 36, 202 
 Atkinson, Mr., 17 
 Atkinson, Mrs., 17 
 Auckland, Lord, 20, 28, 188 
 Audley End, 136 
 Austin, Charles, 170 
 Austin, Mrs., 122, 167 
 
 2 
 
 Austria, 171 
 Aylmer, Lord, 57, 58 
 
 Babbage, 35 
 
 Bancroft, Mr., 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 
 2- 25, 26, 37, 41, 45, 52, 58, 62, 
 
 64. 74. 77. 84. 93. 95. 9 6 . 99. I02 » 
 107, 109, in, 113, 121, 122, 123, 
 
 »3'> '33. '34. 135, 138, "43- MS. 
 
 '47. '55. J S7» x 59> I 6o. 161, 162, 
 
 163, 175, 177, 178, 185, 190, 191, 
 
 192, 199, 206, 215 
 Bancroft, Mrs., 26, 95, 160 
 Baring, Mr. Thomas, 83 
 Bates, Mr., 11, 43, 47, 52, 165, 212 
 Bates, Mrs., 11, 12 
 Belgians, King of the, 121 
 Bentinck, Lord George, 189, 196 
 Beresford, Lord John, 189 
 Beresford, Major, 143 
 Berlin, 171 
 Berry, the Misses, 77, 88, 90, 97, 
 
 150, 158 
 Beust, Baroness de, 95 
 Birmingham, 8, 9 
 Birnam Wood, 200 
 Blair Athol, 200, 201 
 Blanc, Louis, 181 
 Blenheim, 196 
 Bliss, A., 132, 144, 171 
 Boileau, Mr., 143 
 Boileau, Sir John, 140 
 Boleyn, Anne, 48 
 Borneo, 144, 150, 151 
 Borrowdale, 209 
 Boston, 38, 71, 188 
 
 17 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Bowles, General, 101 
 Boyd, Mr., n 
 Bracebridge Hall, 9 
 Braybrooke, Lord, 131, 137, 140, 
 
 142 
 Braybrooke, Lady, 137, 138 
 Braye, Lady, 156 
 Breadalbane, Lord, 203, 205 
 Breadalbane, Lady, 205 
 British Museum, 120 
 Brodhead, Mr., 64, 83, 163 
 Broglie, Due de, 146, 163 
 Brooke, of Sarawak, 143, 150 
 Brooks, 64 
 Brougham, Lord, 75, 77, 88, 124, 
 
 154 
 Bruce, 208 
 
 Brunnow, Baron, 113 
 Brunnow, Baroness, 94, 113 
 Brussels, 165 
 
 Buccleuch, Duke of, 67, 20a 
 Buccleuch, Duchess of, 202 
 Buckingham Palace, 117 
 Buckland, Dr., 78 
 Bunsen, Chevalier, 34, 79, 81, 
 
 '7* 
 Bunsen, Madam, 79, 81, 94 
 Bunsen, Ernest, 211 
 Buonaparte, Jerome, 46 
 Buonaparte, Louis, 46, 211 
 Buonaparte, Napoleon, 46 
 Burdett, Sir Francis, 57 
 Burdett, Sir William, 57 
 Burdett, the Misses, 186 
 Burgh, Lady Emily de, 22 
 Butler, Mr., 144 
 Byron, Lady, 105, 106, 108, in, 
 
 117, 119 
 Byron, Lord, 118, 210 
 Byron, Lord and Lady, 101 
 
 Callimachi, Princess, 67, 95 
 Calton Hill, 197 
 Cambridge, 37, 38, 124, 125 
 
 Cambridge, Duke of, 67, 133, 133, 
 
 134 
 Cambridge, Duchess of, 183, 187 
 Camden, Marquis of, 67 
 Campbell, Lord, 78 
 Campbell, Sir Colin, 207 
 Campbell, Miss, 207 
 Canning, Sir Stratford, 73 
 Carlisle, Lord, 190 
 Carlisle, Lady, 190 
 Carlyle, Mr., 35, 82, 83 
 Carlyle, Mrs., 82 
 Castle Howard, 190 
 Castle Rock, 197 
 Cates, 46, 54, 163 
 Chantrey, Lady, 79, 185 
 Charleville, Dowager Countess of, 
 
 40. S6, 57 
 Charlotte, Princess, 107 
 Charlotte, Queen, 139 
 Chartists, 173, 175, 176, 177 
 Chatterton, Sir William, 58 
 Chatterton, Lady, 58 
 Chiswick, 184 
 Circourt, Countess of, 96 
 Clanricarde, Marquis of, 27 
 Clanricarde, Marchioness of, 22, 27 
 Claremont, 107, 108 
 Clarendon, Lord, 17 
 Clementine, Princess, 165 
 Coates, Mr., 71 
 Codrington, Sir Edward, 156 
 Colchester, Lady, 57, 58 
 Colman, Mr., 11, 17 
 Compton, Lord Alwyne, 129, 130 
 Constantine, Grand Duke, 112, 
 
 113, 120 
 Coolidge, Mr. Joseph, n 
 Corcoran, Mr., 71, 208, 210 
 Cork, 121 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 137, 141 
 Cornwallis, Marquis, 137 
 Coutts, Miss Angelina, 57, 123, 
 186, 187, 189, 211, 212 
 18 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Cousin, 99, 159, 180 
 Covent Garden, 99 
 Craigcrook, 198 
 Cromwell, 108 
 Cushman, Elder, 156 
 Cushman, the Misses, 156 
 Cust, Sir Edward, 93, 94 
 
 Dalhousie, Lord, 101, 102, 104 
 Dalhousie, Lady, 101 
 Damar, Colonel and Mrs. Daw- 
 son, 154 
 Dana, Richard H., 118 
 Davis, Governor, 208, 210 
 Davis, W. T., 82, 83 
 Denmark, 172 
 Denison, Mr., 195 
 Denison, Lady Charlotte, 195 
 Derby, Countess of, 36 
 D'Eresby, Lord Willoughby, 61 
 Derwentwater, 209 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 185, 193 
 Devonshire, Duchess of, 90, 191 
 Dexter, Mr. Franklin, 17, 18 
 Dexter, Mrs., 11, 17, 18 
 Dietrichstein, Countess, 94 
 Disraeli, Mr. and Mrs., 174 
 Douro, Lord, 131, 187 
 Douro, Marchioness of, 69, 70, 187 
 Drayton Manor, 89 
 Drummond, 198 
 Drummond, Mrs., 178 
 Dryden, 80 
 
 Duff Gordon, Sir William, 92 
 Duff Gordon, Lady, 92, 122 
 Dundonald, Lord, 124 
 Dunkeld, 200, 201 
 Dunolly, 206 
 Dunsinane, 200 
 
 East Sheen, 43, 44, 165 
 Eaton Square, 15, 145 
 Ebrington, Lord, 23 
 Edinburgh, 197, 198 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 136 
 
 Ellenborough, Lord, 57 
 
 Elliott, Mr. Frederick, 35 
 
 Ely, 37. Sa 
 
 Ely, Dean of, 38, 52 
 
 Emerson, R. \V., 144, 145, 167, 
 
 l6 9. '73 
 Empson, Mr., 199 
 England, 9, 12, 29, 34, 36, 50, 76, 
 
 83, 98, 142, 151, 170, 173, 176, 
 
 205, 211, 215 
 " Eothen," 74, 90, 92, 115 
 Esher, 105, 106 
 Estcourt, Colonel, 36 
 Eton, 124, 125 
 Euclid, 149 
 
 Europe, 86, 116, 170, 173 
 Everett, Mr., 25, 34 
 Exeter, Marquis of, 101, 102 
 Exeter, Marchioness of, 101 
 
 Faraday, 185 
 
 Fitzherbert, Mrs., 154 
 
 Fitzroy, Lord William, 50 
 
 Flitton, Mr. and Mrs., 143 
 
 Flocon, 181 
 
 Fonblanc, 35 
 
 Forbes, Mr., iai 
 
 Foster, Sir Augustus, 156 
 
 Foster, Lady Albinia, 156 
 
 Fox, C. J., 90, 98 
 
 Fox Howe, 209 
 
 France, 160, 161, 162, 169, 170, 171, 
 
 176, 178, 179 
 Franklin, Lady, 15s 
 Frith of Forth, 197 
 Fry, Mrs., 211 
 
 Gair, Mr., 11 
 George IV., 154 
 Gibson, Mrs. Milner, 174 
 Glasgow, 208 
 Gloucester, Duke of, 154 
 Goodwin, Mrs., 56 
 
 iq 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Gordon, Mr., 197, 198 
 
 Grammont, de, 22 
 
 Grenville, Mr., 147 
 
 Greville, Mr. Algernon, 58, 59 
 
 Grey, Earl, »8 
 
 Grey, Countess, 24, 28 
 
 Grey, Sir George, 15, 17, 28, 145, 
 
 18S 
 Grey, Lady, 28, 146 
 Grisi, 99, 112 
 Grote, Mr., 160 
 Grundy, Mrs., no 
 Guizot, 85, 99, 161, 168, 185 
 Guizot, Mademoiselle, 185 
 Gurney, Mr. and Mrs., 211 
 
 Haight, Mr., n 
 
 Hall, Sir Benjamin, 74 
 
 Hallam, Mr., 96, xoi, 120, 152, 
 
 163, 170 
 Hallam, Miss, 152 
 Hampton Court, 109 
 Harcourt, Earl, 127 
 Harcourt, Mr., 13, 15, 16, 19, 74, 
 
 75. I9S 
 Harding, Mr., 109 
 Hawes, Mr., 38, 143 
 Hawes, Mrs., 143 
 Hawthornden, 198 
 Hawtrey, Dr., 124, 125 
 Hayward, Mr., 97 
 Henry IV., 79 
 Henry VIII. ,48 
 Hobhouse, Sir John, 210 
 Holland, Dr., it, 18, 23, 28, 32, 
 
 S3. 156, «S8 
 Holland, Mrs., 18 
 Holland, Lord, 13, 14 
 Holland, Lady, 13, 25 
 Holland, Lady (formerly Lady 
 
 Webster), 190 
 Holland, 193 
 Holland House, 14 
 Hooker, Sir William, 50, 51, 52 
 
 Hooker, Lady, 50 
 Hortense, 46 
 
 Howard de Walden, 137, 139 
 Howitt, William, 40 
 Howitt, Mary, 40 
 Hudson, Mr., 113, 189, 193 
 Hudson, Mrs., 1 14 
 Humber, 193 
 Humboldt, Baron, 157 
 
 Ingestre, Lord, 189 
 
 Inglis, Sir Robert, 73 
 
 Inverness, Duchess of, 28, 32, 37 
 
 Ireland, 173 
 
 Irving, Washington, 9 
 
 Isidore, 62, 63 
 
 Italy, 139, 172, 173 
 
 Jackson, Madam, 36 
 
 James I., 35 
 
 James, G. P. R., 107 
 
 Jameson, Mrs., 173 
 
 Jarnac, Count, 163, 165 
 
 Jay, Mr. Joseph, 11, 17 
 
 Jay, Miss. 17 
 
 Jeffrey, Lord, 198, 199, 200 
 
 Jeffrey, Mrs., 199, 200 
 
 Jersey, Lady, 187 
 
 Josephine, 46, 1(7 
 
 Keats, 45 
 Kendal, 209 
 Kensington, 14 
 Kent, Duchess of, 23 
 Kenyon, 163 
 Keswick, 209 
 Kew Gardens, 50, 51, 68 
 Kildare. Lord, 127 
 Kinglake, Mr., 91 
 Kirkland, Mrs., 155 
 Kirkstone, 209 
 
 Labouchere, Mr.. 75 
 Lamartine, 99, 181 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Langdale, Lord, 46, 47 
 Langdale, Lady, 46, 47 
 Lansdowne, Lord, 23, 24, 17, 69, 
 
 70, 71, 87, 116, i2i, 167, 188 
 Lawrence, Mr. and Mrs., 212 
 Leicestershire, 105 
 Leopold, Prince, 107 
 Leslie, Mr. and Mrs., 36 
 Leveson-Gower, Lady Caroline, 
 
 127 
 Lewis, Lady Theresa, 17, 28 
 Leyden, 122 
 Lieven, Princess de, 168 
 Lincolnshire, 193 
 Lind, Jenny, 112, 182, 212 
 Lindsay, Lady Charlotte, 32, 77, 
 
 88, 153, 158 
 Lisboa, Mr., 52 
 
 Lisboa, Madame, 52, 94, 101, 102 
 Liverpool, 4, s, 6, 8 
 London, 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 21, 27, 
 
 33. 56. 62. "4. i25i M3i «45. M7. 
 
 148, 150, 161, 167, 168, 175, 180, 
 
 189, 191, 196, 208, 209, 214 
 London, Bishop of, 73, 124 
 Lonsdale, Lord, 189 
 Lorn, brooch of, 207 
 Louis, ex- King of Holland, 46 
 Louis Philippe, 157, 162, 163, 164, 
 
 165, 166, 167, 168, 180, 181 
 Louisa, 7, 38, 76, 109, 215 
 Lovelace, Lord, 105 
 Lovelace, Lady, 105, 106, 119, 213 
 Lyell, Mrs., 148 
 
 Macaulay, 18, 32, 75, 146, 152, 153, 
 
 169, 170, 214 
 MacDougal, Captain, 207 
 MacGregor, Mr., 58 
 Mackenzie, Mrs. Stuart, 215 
 Mackintosh, Mr., 18, 75 
 Macready, 34 
 Madison, 156 
 Madison, Mrs., 31 
 
 Mahon, Lord, 15, 28, 75, 96, 152, 
 
 •53 
 Mahon, Lady, 75 
 Mallet, Lady, 88 
 Mansfield, Mrs., 74, 176 
 Mansion House, 132 
 Mario, 112 
 Markwell, Mr., 10 
 Marlborough, Duke of, 196 
 Martineau, Miss, 209 
 Mason, 31 
 
 Mathew, Father, 121 
 Mauley, Lord de, 13, 14 
 Mayor, The Lord, 132, 133, 134, 
 
 136, 188 
 Mayoress, The Lady, 132, 133, 134 
 Melbourne, Lord, 14 
 Mendelssohn, 212 
 Mexico, 144 
 McLean, Judge, 115 
 McLean, Mr. and Mrs., 115 
 Metternich, Prince and Princess, 
 
 186 
 Mignet, 99, 159, 178, 180 
 Milman, Mr., 28, 32, 92, 129, 152, 
 
 153* 169 
 Milman, Mrs., 32, 82, 92, 129, 130, 
 
 170 
 Milnes, Monckton, 167,169 
 Mole, Count, 161 
 Molesworth, Sir William, 74, 98 
 Molesworth, Lady, 74, 98 
 Monroe, 156 
 
 Montebello, Due de, 176 
 Monteagle, Lord, 52, 121, 185 
 Montpensier, Duchess de, 164, 165 
 Mont St. Bernard, 145 
 Moore, 122, 123 
 Morgan, Lady, 18, 35, 38, 74, 81, 
 
 '73 
 Morpeth, Lord, 13, 14, 17, ao, 28, 
 
 90, 169, 170, 190, 191 
 Mount F.dgcumbe, Lady, 103 
 Murchison, Sir Roderick, 35 
 
 221 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Murray, Miss, 35, 36, 63, 65, 67, 
 68, 82, 105, 107, 109, no, 115, 
 117 
 
 Murray, Mrs., 20 
 
 Napoleon, 167 
 
 Navarino, 156 
 
 Nemours, Due de, 164, 165, 180 
 
 Nemours, Duchess de, 164 
 
 Newby Park, 189, 190, 194 
 
 New York, 10 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 101, 102 
 
 Normanby, Lord, 35, 159, 207 
 
 Normanby, Lady, 85 
 
 Norreys, Lord and Lady, 195 
 
 North, Lord, 32, 77 
 
 Northampton, Lord, 73, 79, 129 
 
 Northumberland, Duke of, 78 
 
 Northumberland, Duke and 
 
 Duchess of, 185 
 Norton, Mrs., 87, 174 
 Norwich, 128, 129 
 Norwich, Bishop of, 81, 88, 129 
 Nuneham, 126, 195 
 
 Peacock, Dean, 38 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 76, 87, 89, 152, 
 
 i53> '95. 196 
 Peel, Lady, 89, 195, 196 
 Pell, Mr. and Mrs., 8a 
 Phidias, 120 
 Philadelphia, 10 
 Phipps, Mr. and Mrs., 207 
 Pickering, Mr., 17 
 Pleasantons, 33 
 Plymouth, 24, 187, 193 
 Polignac, Prince, 22 
 Polk, President, 31 
 Polk, Mrs., 26 
 Polk, Mr., 115 
 Poland, 172 
 Pontois, 159 
 Portland, Duke of, 196 
 Pratt, Miss, 17 
 Prescott, 96, 161, 213 
 Primrose, Lady Ann, 210 
 Prussia, Prince of, 184 
 Putnam, Mr., 17, 40 
 Putnam, Mrs., 17 
 
 Oban, 206 
 
 O'Connor, Dennis, 72, 73 
 
 Opie, Mrs., 130 
 
 Otis, Mrs., 38 
 
 Oxford, 196, 215 
 
 Pakenham, Mr., 144 
 Pakington, Sir John, 91 
 Palmerston, Lord, 13, 15, 18 
 
 27, 28, 84, 101, 185, 188 
 Palmerston, Lady, 13, 14, 15, 
 
 28, 75, 82, 84, 93, 95, 101, 
 185 
 
 Paris, 95, 96,99, 103, 155, 157, 
 
 162, 164, 168, 177, 178, 181 
 Parke, Baron, 18, 28, 78 
 Parke, Lady, 18, 114 
 Payne, Annie, 31 
 Peabody, Mr., 71 
 
 Queensberry, Marquis and 
 Marchioness of, 156 
 
 Rachel, 123 
 
 Raffles, Sir Stamford, 51 
 Raffles, Lady,' 5 1 
 Rathbone, Richard, 5 
 Rathbone, Mrs. Richard, 5 
 24, Rathbone, William, 8 
 
 Rebecco, 139 
 22, Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 196 
 103, Richmond, Duke of, 189, 192, 193 
 
 Richmond Park, 43, 48, 178, 214 
 158, Riggs, Mr., 71 
 
 Robinson, John, 122 
 Rochester, Bishop of, 67, 91 
 Rogers, Samuel, 16, 87, 88, 89, 92, 
 97, 98, 117, 118, 119, 122, 123, 
 144, 147, 156, 186 
 222 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Rollin, Ledru-, 181 
 
 Rome, 34 
 
 Ross, us 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, aio 
 
 Roslin, Lord, 198 
 
 Roslin Castle and Chapel, 198 
 
 Rothschild, Baron, 163, 164 
 
 Rothschild, Baroness, 115, 164 
 
 Ruckers, Miss, 33 
 
 Rubens, 196 
 
 Russell, Lord John, 27, 28, 32, 84, 
 
 87, 123, 188, 214 
 Russell, Lady John, 27, 151 
 Russia, 172 
 
 Rutherford, Captain, 198, 199 
 Rutherford, Mr., 73, 197 
 Rutherford, Mrs., 198 
 Rydal Mount, 209 
 
 St. Aulair, Count of, 84 
 St. Aulair, Countess of, 94 
 St. George's Chapel, 126 
 St. Mary's Abbey, 191 
 Salisbury Crags, 197 
 Salvandi, 99 
 Sarawak, 143, 150, 151 
 Saxe-Coburg, Prince Auguste de, 
 
 165 
 Saxe- Weimar, Prince of, 23 
 Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duke of, 
 
 112, 113 
 Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duchess of, 
 
 112, 113, 183 
 Scotland, 197, 203 
 Scott, 208 
 
 Senior, Mr., 68, 91, 92 
 Seymour, Jane, 48 
 Sheridan, Mr. and Mrs., 174 
 Simpkinson, Sir Francis, 155 
 Simpkinson, Lady, 155 
 Smith, Sidney, 18, 75 
 Somerville, Dr. and Mrs., 148 
 Sophia, Princess, 186 
 Spencer, Lord, 206 
 
 Stai : ], Madam de, 146 
 Stafford House, 117, 119 
 Stanley, Lord, 116 
 Stanley, Mrs., 81, 130 
 Stanley, the Misses, 130 
 Stanley, A., 130 
 Stanley, Mr., 158 
 Story, Mr. W. W., 86 
 Story, Mrs., 85 
 Stratheden, Lady, 75 
 Strickland, Mrs., 115 
 Stuart de Rothesay, Lady, 158 
 Suffield, Lady, 130, 131 
 Suffolk, Earl of, 136, 137 
 Sumner, Charles, 20 
 Sumner, George, 159 
 Sussex, Duke of, 28. 32 
 Sutherland, Duke of, 117 
 Sutherland, Duchess of, 69, 75, 
 81, 115, 116, 127 
 
 Tagent, Mr., 15s 
 Tamburini, 99, 112 
 Tankerville, Lady, 21 
 Tay, 200 
 
 Taylor, Mr., 52, 53 
 Taymouth, 203 
 Taymouth Castle, 204 
 Thackeray, 166 
 Thierry, 99 
 
 Thiers, 99, 159, 178, 180 
 Tilt, 201 
 Tower, 189 
 Traveller's Club, 16 
 Trinity College, 37 
 Tufnell, Mr., 210 
 Tuft, Miss, 187 
 Tunnel, i3t/' 
 Tyrrell, Sir John, 143 
 
 Ulswater, 209 
 United States, 96, 156 
 
 Vandyke, 196 
 Van Wart, Mr., 9 
 
 ■' 
 
 
 223 
 
Index of Names 
 
 Van de Weyer, Mr., 46, 47, 84, 
 165, 167 
 
 Van de Weyer, Madame, 46, 47, 
 48, 49, 67, 84, 94, 167 
 
 Vane, Lord Harry, 195 
 
 Venice, 148 
 
 Vernon, Lord, 126 
 
 Victoria, Queen, 13, 16, 23, 24, 25, 
 26, 49, 65, 68, 69, 70, 74, 82, 93, 
 94> 95t ""> IOI > "'-, 10 3> '"4 1 
 107, in, 115, n6, 117, 126, 146, 
 165, 176, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 
 188, 206, 210 
 
 Villiers, Lord and Lady, 195 
 
 Villiers, Lady Clementina, 187 
 
 Waldegrave, Lady, 154, 214 
 Waldegrave, Lady E., 215 
 Wales, Prince of, 66. 126 
 Walker, Mrs., 33 
 Walpole, Horace, 77, 88, 154 
 Warburton, 92 
 Warburton, E., 92, 114 
 Ward, Mr., 144 
 Washington, 26, 28, 33 
 Watt, Mr., 9 
 Webster, Lady, 189, 190 
 Wellesley, Lord Charles, 101 
 Wellington, Duke of, 69, 70, 101, 
 114, 115, 116, 131, 187, 188 
 
 Western Islands, 206 
 Westminster Abbey, 21, 30, 53, 78, 
 
 79, 80, 141 
 Westminster, Dean of, 79, 80, 124 
 Westminster School, 79 
 Westminster Hall, 121 
 Whately, Dr., 91, 121, 124 
 Whewell, 60 
 Whitworth, Lord, 58 
 Wight, Isle of, 176 
 Wilkes, Miss, 199 
 Wilson, Professor, 196, 197 
 Windemere, 209 
 Windsor Castle, 16, 23, 24, 25, m, 
 
 126 
 Winthrop, Mr., 109, no, in 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 108 
 Wood's Hole, 207 
 Wordsworth, Mr. and Mrs., 209 
 Wormeley, Captain, n, 82 
 Wormeley, Mrs., n, 17, 82 
 Wormeley, Miss, n, 82 
 
 Yarmouth, 131 
 
 York, 189, 190, 191, 194 
 
 York, Archbishop of, 13, 81, 126, 
 
 127, 128, 147, 195 
 Yorkshire, 188, 189, 193 
 
 Zetland, Earl of, 69, 70 
 
 224 
 
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