Day ever memorable in the annals of Great Britain!  Day of the coronation of Queen Victoria! ...  We were up at six, and Lizzy, Bob’m, and I, being the Abbey party, dressed in all our grandeur.  The ceremony was much what I expected, but less solemn and impressive from the mixture of religion with worldly vanities and distinctions.  The sight was far more brilliant and beautiful than I had supposed it would be.  Walked home in our fine gowns through the crowd; found the stand here well filled, and were quite in time to see the procession pass back.  Nothing could be more beautiful, the streets either way being lined with the common people, as close as they could stand, and the windows, house-tops, balconies, and stands crowded with the better dressed.  Great cheering when Soult’s carriage passed, but really magnificent for the Duchess of Kent and the Queen.  The carriages splendid.  Did not feel in the Abbey one quarter of what I felt on the stand.

    MINTO, November 4, 1838

    This morning brought us the sad, sad news of the death of Lady John
    Russell.  God give strength to her poor unhappy husband, and watch
    over his dear little motherless children.

The only event of importance which occurred in the family during 1838 was the marriage of the eldest daughter, Mary, to Ralph Abercromby, son of the Speaker and afterwards Lord Dunfermline.  It was a very happy marriage, but Lady Fanny missed her sister very much, and her accounts of the wedding and the last days before it are mixed with regrets.  She speaks of it as “an awful day,” though it seems to have ended merrily enough in dancing and rejoicings.

In May, 1839, the Government resigned in consequence of the opposition to the Jamaica Bill.  The object of the Bill was to suspend the constitution of Jamaica for five years, since difficulties had been made by the Jamaica Assembly in connection with the emancipation of slaves.  The Radicals voted with the Conservatives against the Government and the Bill was lost.

    ADMIRALTY, May 7, 1839

    We are all out!!!!

Papa was summoned to a Cabinet at twelve this morning.  Mama and I in the meantime drove to some shops, and when we came home found him anxiously expecting us with this overpowering news.  We bore, and are still bearing it with tolerable fortitude; but we are all very, very sorry, and every moment find something new to regret.  Mama, notwithstanding all she has said, is not better pleased than the rest of us.  Papa looks very grave, or else tries to joke it off.

    FRIDAY, May 10, 1839, ADMIRALTY

Agitating morning—­one report following another every hour.  Sir Robert Peel refused to form a Ministry unless the Queen would part with some of her household.  To this she would not consent.  To-day she sent for Lord Melbourne....  We went to the first Queen’s ball, very anxious to see how she and other people looked, and to try to foresee coming events by the expression of faces....  I spoke to scarcely one Tory, but our Whig friends were in excellent spirits—­the Queen also seemed to be so.

    TUESDAY, May 14, 1839, ADMIRALTY