'They both at once expressed most unfeigned pleasure, but it is a sacrifice. I now leave Berlin on the 16th, and shall be in London on the 21st, please God, without fail. You cannot conceive how affectionately I am treated by this great family. I never have received so much real attention from out of my own family in my life. I feel sure you will approve of what I have done, and think after all this kindness I was bound to make a sacrifice, if asked. The King said to me at supper this evening, "I cannot think what became of you one morning on board the steamer. I went three times to your cabin to look for you, and could not find you. I asked for you, and no one had seen you; and then the horrid idea came over me that you had fallen overboard or were ill." I mention this to show the sort of feeling he must have for me. I believe I was asleep on the sofa with a table before it, and he did not see me, being very nearsighted. I am most charmingly lodged here, the walls of my room are all marqueterie and they have put sofa and bed, &c., as the Chamberlain told me "like it is done at Windsor."' It is clear from these letters that Lord Hardwicke's character and personality were much appreciated both by the King of Prussia and by the Emperor Nicholas. He was indeed so great a favourite with the latter that when the Emperor paid a visit to Queen Victoria in 1844 he was appointed to attend His Majesty, and took command of the _Black Eagle_ steam yacht which carried the Czar from Woolwich to Rotterdam on his leaving this country. As a memento of this service and of his esteem, the Emperor presented Lord Hardwicke with a snuff-box of great value, bearing his Majesty's miniature mounted in brilliants. In 1843 Lord Hardwicke had the honour of receiving Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort at Wimpole, upon the occasion of the Prince's visit to Cambridge to receive the degree of LL.D., and the following mention of the event occurs in one of the Queen's letters to the Queen of the Belgians: 'We returned on Saturday highly interested with our tour, though a little done up. The Royal party went by road from Paddington to Cambridge, and stayed at the Lodge at Trinity. On the following day Prince Albert was made LL.D. The party then went to Wimpole. At the ball which was given at Wimpole, there was a sofa covered with a piece of drapery given by Louis XIV. to the poet Prior and by him to Lord Oxford, the owner of Wimpole before its purchase by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke.' * * * * *