I know full well that many readers would be disappointed if I did not mention some of the grand places and bring in some of the great names that lend their lustre to London society.  We were to go to a fine musical party at Lady Rothschild’s on the evening of the 30th of May.  It happened that the day was Sunday, and if we had been as punctilious as some New England Sabbatarians, we might have felt compelled to decline the tempting invitation.  But the party was given by a daughter of Abraham, and in every Hebrew household the true Sabbath was over.  We were content for that evening to shelter ourselves under the old dispensation.

The party, or concert, was a very brilliant affair.  Patti sang to us, and a tenor, and a violinist played for us.  How we two Americans came to be in so favored a position I do not know; all I do know is that we were shown to our places, and found them very agreeable ones.  In the same row of seats was the Prince of Wales, two chairs off from A——­’s seat.  Directly in front of A——­ was the Princess of Wales, “in ruby velvet, with six rows of pearls encircling her throat, and two more strings falling quite low;” and next her, in front of me, the startling presence of Lady de Grey, formerly Lady Lonsdale, and before that Gladys Herbert.  On the other side of the Princess sat the Grand Duke Michael of Russia.

As we are among the grandest of the grandees, I must enliven my sober account with an extract from my companion’s diary:—­

“There were several great beauties there, Lady Claude Hamilton, a queenly blonde, being one.  Minnie Stevens Paget had with her the pretty Miss Langdon, of New York.  Royalty had one room for supper, with its attendant lords and ladies.  Lord Rothschild took me down to a long table for a sit-down supper,—­there were some thirty of us.  The most superb pink orchids were on the table.  The [Thane] of ——­ sat next me, and how he stared before he was introduced! ...  This has been the finest party we have been to, sitting comfortably in such a beautiful ball-room, gazing at royalty in the flesh, and at the shades of departed beauties on the wall, by Sir Joshua and Gainsborough.  It was a new experience to find that the royal lions fed upstairs, and mixed animals below!”

A visit to Windsor had been planned, under the guidance of a friend whose kindness had already shown itself in various forms, and who, before we left England, did for us more than we could have thought of owing to any one person.  This gentleman, Mr. Willett, of Brighton, called with Mrs. Willett to take us on the visit which had been arranged between us.