society; for in those days he was lamentably addicted to intoxicants.  On more than one public occasion he was the worse for his cups; and when, after his death, a subscription was started to place his statue in Westminster Abbey, Samuel Rogers, the poet, cynically said, “Yes, I will gladly give twenty pounds any day to see dear old Tom Campbell stand steady on his legs.”  It is a matter of congratulation that the most eminent men of the Victorian era have not fallen into some of the unhappy habits of their predecessors at the beginning of the last century.  Mrs. Baillie entertained me with lively descriptions of Sir Walter Scott, and of her old friend, Mr. Wordsworth, who was her guest whenever he came up to London.  She expressed the warmest admiration for the moral and political, though not all of the religious, writings of our Dr. Channing, whom she pronounced the finest essayist of the time.  She also felt a curious interest (which I discovered in many other notable people in England) to learn what she could in regard to our American Indians, and expressed much admiration when I gave her some quotations from the picturesque eloquence of our sons of the forest.

Every American who visited London in those days felt a laudable curiosity to see the young Queen, who had been crowned but four years before.  I went up to Windsor Castle, and after inspecting it, joined a little group of people who were standing at the gateway which leads out to the Long Drive and Virginia Water.  They were waiting to get a look at the young Queen, who always drove out at four o’clock.  Presently the gate opened and a low carriage, preceded by three horsemen, passed through.  It contained a plump baby, nearly two years of age, wrapped in a buff cloak and held up in the arms of its nurse.  That baby became the Empress Dowager of Germany, the mother of the present Kaiser and of Prince Henry, who has lately been our guest.  In a few minutes afterwards a pony phaeton, with two horses, passed through the gate and we all doffed our hats.  It was driven by handsome young Prince Albert, dressed in a gray overcoat and silk hat.  To this day I think of him as about the most captivating young husband that I have ever seen.  By his side sat his young wife, dressed in a small white bonnet with pink feather and wrapped in a white shawl.  Her complexion was exceedingly fresh and fair.  Her light brown hair was dressed in the “Grecian” style, and as she bowed gracefully I observed the peculiarity of her smile—­that she showed her teeth very distinctly.  This resulted from the shortness of her upper lip.  “A pretty girl she is too” was the remark I heard from the visitors as the carriage went on down the drive.  That was my first glimpse of royalty, and I little dreamed that she was to be the longest lived sovereign that ever sat on the British throne, and the most popular woman in all modern times.