I saw Mrs. Austin yesterday at Weybridge, and was glad to find her so well. She desired to be remembered to you. She is very busy with J. Austin's MSS.; but, in fact, they are in perfect order, and might be sent at once to the press. And then the Journal-- Later in August went to Aix. I went over to Bonn to see Bunsen, who was dying, but full of enthusiasm for Italy. Came home on August 27th. CHAPTER XIV LITERATURE AND POLITICS Early in August Mrs. Henry Reeve had gone on a visit into Dorsetshire, and at the time of her husband's return from Aix was in Cornwall--at Pencarrow, near Bodmin--on a visit to her old friend, Lady Molesworth. Reeve, thus left to himself, started almost immediately for Scotland on a visit to Sir James Clark, who, with Lady Clark and his son--the present baronet--was then living up Dee-side at Birk Hall, lent him by the Queen. The Journal's scanty notices of a very interesting visit can be happily replaced by extracts from the letters which he wrote almost daily to his wife at Pencarrow. _To Mrs. Henry Reeve_ Birk Hall, Ballater, September 1st. My dearest wife,--Matters have turned out here very pleasantly. I proceeded to Aboyne by rail, and then posted along the Dee-side to this place--the Strath most beautiful; a lovely mixture of wood, water, and heather, with mountains beyond. I got here just before six, and found the Clarks and Van de Weyers sitting down to an early dinner in order to go to the Gillies' Ball at Balmoral, in honour of the Prince's birthday, to which I found myself also invited. We drove up to the Castle, which is eight miles off, through a fine wooded glen, in the moonlight. The old house of Balmoral has quite disappeared, and the Castle is now a very fine edifice, decorated in excellent taste. On arriving, we waited in the library, where arrived Lady John Russell and her boys, the Farquharsons of Invercauld, young Peel [Footnote: Robert Kennedy Peel; son of Lady Alice and Colonel Peel, who had been Secretary of State for War in the Derby Ministry of 1858-9.] (Lady A.'s son), the William Russells, the Duke of Argyll--and then the Court. Nobody was in mourning, as it was a birthday; the Queen in white, with a floating sash of Royal Stuart tartan from her shoulders: about half the men in kilts. The Queen made a circle, and then we went into the ball-room, where about a hundred and fifty of the tenants, servants, &c., with their wives and daughters, were assembled. Reels then began, which were danced with great energy, and also jigs--very droll. Prince Arthur danced like mad; and Princess Alice was 'weel ta'en out' by the gamekeeper. I stood in a corner talking with the Duke of Argyll, &c. At last the Prince came round, and conversed very courteously for ten minutes. He had heard I had been in Germany lately, so we soon got into the heart of German and Austrian questions. All this lasted two hours, and then the Queen withdrew into the supper-room, where there were sandwiches and champagne.