"She bowed to the lords, took her seat, and then read her speech in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any appearance of fear or embarrassment. She was quite plainly dressed in mourning. After she had read her speech and signed the oath for the security of the church of Scotland, the privy councillors were sworn; and, as the two {315}old royal dukes, her uncles, knelt before her, swearing allegiance and kissing her hand, I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between their civil and their natural relations, and this was the only sign of emotion which she evinced. Her manner to them was very graceful and engaging; she kissed them both, and rose from her chair and moved towards the Duke of Sussex, who was farthest from her, and too infirm to reach her. She seemed bewildered at the multitude of men who were sworn, and who came one after another to kiss her hand; but she did not speak to anybody, nor did she make the slightest difference in her manner or show any in her countenance to any individual of whatever rank, station, or party. She went through the whole ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when she had any doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, and with perfect calmness and self-possession, but at the same time with a graceful modesty and propriety particularly interesting and ingratiating. When the business was done, she retired as she had entered. "The Duke of Wellington said that if she had been his own daughter he could not have desired to see her perform her part better. At twelve she held a council at St. James's, at which she presided with as much ease as if she had been doing nothing else all her life; she looked very well, and though so small of stature, and without much pretension to beauty, the gracefulness of her manner, and the good expression of her countenance, give her on the whole a very agreeable appearance, and, with her youth, inspire an excessive interest in all who approach her. After the council she received the archbishops and bishops, and after them the judges. They all kissed her hand, but she said nothing to any of them. In short, she appears to act with every sort of good taste and good feeling, as well {316}as good sense, and nothing can be more favorable than the impression she has made." When Conyngham carried the announcement of the king's death to the young queen, he was at the same time the bearer of a request from the Queen-dowager Adelaide that she might be permitted to remain at Windsor until after the funeral. Without a moment's hesitation the new sovereign wrote a most kind, tender, and sympathetic letter to her aunt, begging her to remain just as long as she pleased, and to consult nothing but her own feelings and convenience in the matter.