Page:The Letters Of Queen Victoria, vol. 2 (1908).djvu/24

6 , 30th January 1844. ,—I must begin by thanking you for your kind letter of the 26th, and by wishing you joy that the féte went off so well. I am glad Leo will appear at the next ball; he is nearly nine years old, and it is good to accustom children of his rank early to these things.

Guizot’s speech is exceedingly admired, with the exception of his having said more than he was justified to do about the right of search. Our speech has been very difficult to frame; we should like to have mentioned our visits to France and Belgium, but it has been found impossible to do so; France is mentioned, and it is the first time since 1834!

To-morrow we go up to Town “pour ce bore,” as the good King always said to me; whenever there were tiresome people to present he always said: “Je vous demande pardon de ce bore.”

I have had a tiresome though not at all violent cold which I was alarmed might spoil the sonorousness of my voice for the speech on Thursday, but it promises well now.

I own I always look with horror to the beginning of a Parliamentary campaign.

With Albert’s love. Ever your devoted Niece,

, 6th February 1844. ,—You must now be the father to us poor bereaved, heart-broken children. To describe to you all that we have suffered, all that we do suffer, would be difficult; God has heavily afflicted us; we feel crushed, overwhelmed, bowed down by the loss of one who was so deservedly loved, I may say adored, by his children and family; I loved him and looked on him as my own father; his like we shall not see again; that youth, that amiability, and kindness in his own house which was the centre and rendezvous for the whole family, will never be seen again, and my poor Angel’s fondest thought of beholding that dearly beloved Vaterhaus—where his