We could not well have received more
courtesy than we have done, and it has been extended freely and
immediately, without waiting for the forms of etiquette. Pray say
to Mr. Everett how often we hear persons speak of him, and with
highest regard. I feel as if we were reaping some of the fruits of
his sowing.
Mr. Bancroft sends you a pack of cards, one of the identical two
packs with which the Queen played Patience the evening he was at
Windsor. They were the perquisite of a page who brought them to
him. He was much pleased with the Queen and thought her much
prettier than any representation of her which we have seen, and with
a very sweet expression. Lady Holland had been staying two or three
days at Windsor, and was to leave the next morning. When the Queen
took leave of her at night, she kissed her quite in my Virginia
fashion.
Dear Uncle: How much more your niece would have written if to-day
were not packet day, I cannot say. I shall send you some newspapers
and a pack of cards which I saw in the Queen's hands. The American
Minister and Mrs. Bancroft have since played a game of piquet with
them. The Queen's hands were as clean as her smile was gracious.
Best regards to the Judge and Aunt Isaac.
Yours most truly, George Bancroft.
LETTER: To W.D.B. and A.B.
LONDON, November 29, 1846
After a long interval I find again a quiet Sunday evening to resume
my journal to you. On Monday we dined at Lord John Russell's, and
met many of the persons we have met before and the Duchess of
Inverness, the widow of the Duke of Sussex. On Tuesday we dined at
Dr. Holland's. His wife and daughter are charming, and then we met,
besides, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, the only surviving child of Lord
North, Mr. and Mrs. Milman (the author of the "Fall of Jerusalem"),
and Mr. Macaulay. Yesterday I went to return the visit of the
Milmans and found that the entrance to their house, he being a
prebend of Westminster Abbey, was actually in the cloisters of the
Abbey. They were not at home, but I took my footman and wandered at
leisure through the cloisters, treading at every step on the tomb of
some old abbot with dates of 1160 and thereabouts.
Nothing could be more delightful than London is now, if I had only a
little more physical vigor to enjoy it. We see everybody more
frequently, and know them better than in the full season, and we
have some of the best specimens of English society, too, here just
now, as the Whig ministry brings a good deal of the ability of the
aristocracy to its aid.
