a little operetta written by your mother, called “William and Susan,” in which Lotty and Harriet[13] sang delightfully in parts; but this must have been later on than the game period.

I come now to my first distinct impression of your mother.  It is as clear as a miniature in my mind’s eye, and it belongs to a very interesting time.  I think her engagement to Papa [14] must just have been declared.  She came with Lord and Lady Minto to dine with him at 30, Wilton Crescent, the house he owned since his marriage to my mother.  As she passed out of the room to go down to dinner, “Lady Fanny’s” face and figure were suddenly photographed on my brain.  Her dark and beautiful smooth hair was most becomingly dressed in two broad plaited loops, hanging low on the back of the neck; the front hair in bands according to the prevailing fashion.  Her eyes were dark and very lustrous.  Her face was freckled, but this was not disfiguring, as a rich colour in her cheeks showed itself through them.  Her neck, shoulders, and arms were most beautifully white, and her slim upright figure showed to great advantage in the neat and simple dress then worn.  Hers was of blue and silver gauze, the bodice prettily trimmed with folds of the stuff, and the sleeves short and rather full.  I think she wore an enamelled necklet of green and gold.  Mama [15] long afterwards told me that at this dinner she went through a very embarrassing moment; Papa asked her what wine she would have, and she, just saying the first thing that came into her head, replied, “Oh, champagne.”  There was none.  Papa was sadly disconcerted, and replied humbly, “Will hock do?” I used to take much interest at all times in Papa’s dinner-parties, and sometimes suggested what I considered suitable guests.  I was much disappointed when I found my selection of Madame Vestris and O’Connell did not altogether commend itself to Papa.

[13] Lady Harriet Elliot, sister of Lady John Russell.

[14] Lord John Russell.

[15] The second Lady John Russell.

Mrs. Drummond, in another letter to Lady Agatha Russell, alluding to a visit to Minto before Lord John Russell’s second marriage, writes: 

Mama [then Lady Fanny Elliot] was very kind to me even then, and I took to her very much.  I used to admire her bright eyes and her beautiful and very abundant dark hair, which was always exceedingly glossy, and her lovely throat, which was the whitest possible—­also her sprightly ways, for she was very lively and engaging.

The winter of 1840 was spent between the Admiralty and Putney House, which the Mintos had taken.  Lady Fanny’s description of Putney sounds to us now improbably idyllic: 

Out almost till bedtime—­the river at night so lovely, so calm, still, undisturbed by anything except now and then a slow, sleepy-looking barge, gliding so smoothly along as hardly to make a ripple.  The last few nights we have had a little crescent moon to add to the beauty.  Then the air is so delightfully perfumed with azalea, hawthorn, and lilac, and the nightingales sing so beautifully on the opposite banks, that it is difficult to come in at all.

    PUTNEY HOUSE, April 30, 1840