Looking back--Society at Pembroke Lodge--Home life--The house and its memories--Charles Dickens's speech at Liverpool--Literary friendships--Lady Russell's description of her husband--A packet of letters--His children's recollections--A glimpse of Carlyle--A witty impromptu--Closing days--Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone--The jubilee of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--'Punch' on the 'Golden Wedding'--Death--The Queen's letter--Lord Shaftesbury's estimate of Lord John's career--His great qualities. PEACE with honour--a phrase which Lord John used long before Lord Beaconsfield made it famous--sums up the settled tranquillity and simple dignity of the life at Pembroke Lodge. No man was more entitled to rest on his laurels than Lord John Russell. He was in the House of Commons, and made his first proposals for Parliamentary redress, in the reign of George III. His great victory on behalf of the rights of conscience was won by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in the reign of George IV. He had piloted the first Reform Bill through the storms of prejudice and passion which had assailed that great measure in the reign of William IV. He was Home Secretary when Queen Victoria's reign began, and since then he had served her Majesty and the nation with unwearied devotion for almost the life-time of a generation. He was Secretary for the Colonies during a period when the expansion of England brought delicate constitutional questions to the front, and was Minister of Foreign Affairs when struggling nationalities looked to England, and did not seek her help in vain. Twice Prime Minister in periods of storm and stress, he had left his mark, directly or indirectly, on the statute-book in much progressive legislation, and, in spite of mistakes in policy, had at length quitted office with the reputation of an honest and enlightened statesman.