LONDON, May 21, 1867

MY DEAR NINA,—­As you have been so much bothered with the compound householder, you will be glad to learn that he is dead and is to be buried on Thursday.  It was supposed he was the last and best product of civilization; but it has been found out that he was a son of Old Nick, and a valiant knight of the name of Hodgkinson has run him through the body.

The Duke of Buccleuch, with whom Fanny and I have been having luncheon, says that Dizzy is like a clever conjuror.  “Is that the card you wished for, sir?-and is that yours, and yours, and yours?” But politics are rather disgusting than otherwise. ...  Fanny and I went yesterday to see the Queen lay the first stone of the Hall of Science and Art. [67] It was a grand sight—­great respect, but no enthusiasm, nor occasion for it.

Lotty is going to give us dinner to-morrow.  I call her and Mary, L’Allegra e la Penserosa. Fanny:  “And what am I?” “L’Allegra e Penserosa.”  I have no more nonsense to tell you.  I should like to go to Paris in July or August, but can we?  Let me know when you will be there.

    Your faithful

    TRUSTY TOMKINS

[67] The Albert Hall.

A few weeks later he wrote again to Lady Minto:  “Our Reform Bill is now brought to that exact shape in which Bright put it in 1858, and which he thought too large and democratic a change to be accepted by the moderate Liberal party.  However, nothing is too much for the swallow of our modern Tories.”

In August, 1867, Lord Russell’s eldest daughter, Georgiana, married Mr. Archibald Peel, [68] son of General Peel, and nephew of the statesman, Sir Robert Peel.

[68] The marriage service was at Petersham, in the quaint old village Church, hallowed by many sacred memories.

The daughters, who had now left the old home, were sadly missed, but intimate and affectionate intercourse with them never ceased.  Lady Russell’s own daughter, the youngest of three families—­ten in all—­thought in her early childhood that they were all real brothers and sisters, a striking proof of the harmonious happiness of the home.  In November, 1867, Lady Victoria Villiers wrote to Lady Russell:  “How I long to make our home as pure, as high in its tone and aims, as free from all that is low or even useless for our children, as our dear home was to us.”

On Lord Russell’s birthday, August 18, 1867, Lady Russell wrote in her diary: 

My dear, dear husband’s birthday.  Each year, each day, makes me feel more deeply all the wonderful goodness of God in giving me one so noble, so gentle, so loving, to be my example, my happiness, my stay.  How often his strength makes me feel, but try to conquer, my own weakness; how often his cheerfulness and calmness are a reproach to my anxieties.  Experience has not hardened but only given him wisdom.  Trials have taught