She was deservedly admired, and I well remember Lord Normanby (the ambassador) whispering to me the night her engagement was announced: “What a pretty little edition of Young’s ‘Night Thoughts.’” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVIII 1844. TRIP TO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS It was during the summer of 1844 that my dear father, who had been in failing health for some time, breathed his last at the small wayside hotel at Salt-Hill, near Slough. It has since been burned down, but was well known in former years as the resort of the Eton scholars, at the time of Montem. My father had gone thither for change of air, in company with his life-long friend and favourite messmate, Sir Willoughby Lake, who did not long survive him. [Sidenote: SIR WILLIAM NAPIER] In the first days of that beautiful autumn I embarked at Southampton with my cousin, Richard Boyle,[41] and my brothers Charles and Cavendish, to pay visits to the Governors of Guernsey and Alderney. After a prosperous but rather rough voyage towards those “iron-bound” coasts, we arrived at Havilland Hall, the Government House of Guernsey, then inhabited by Sir William Napier (one of the chief heroes of the Peninsular War, and also the historian of it) with his delightful wife and beautiful daughters. Cavendish, indeed, did not remain with us long, for, much as he esteemed the Napier family, his regiment, the 48th, being quartered in Guernsey, yet at that moment the less fertile and picturesque island of Alderney possessed greater attractions for him. Footnote 41: The Reverend the Honourable Richard Boyle, youngest son of Edmund, eighth Earl of Cork and Orrery; married, 1845, Eleanor Vere, daughter of Alexander Gordon, Esq., of Ellon, N.B. It was, indeed, a very good time that we passed under the roof of Havilland Hall. We were a happy band of friends, and our daily rides, pleasant excursions, and joyous evenings will long be remembered.