A great misfortune has befallen us, and we are all very sad, but derive some comfort from the calmness and resignation with which my sister is bearing up against her grief. To William Harcourt it is, indeed, as you say, a wreck of all happiness and hope; but no man under such trying circumstances could have displayed more fortitude, or more tender concern for others. I meet him to-morrow at Nuneham for the last sad office. I grieve for Lord Lansdowne, and yet it is impossible not to feel that, at his age, and with rapidly increasing infirmities, a prolongation of existence was not to be desired. He was a rare combination of high qualities, and we shall not look upon his like again. The next letter, also from Lord Clarendon, refers to the 'Albert Memorial':-- _The Grove, March 29th_.--I knew you would approve of the Cross. I myself should prefer it to any other form of memorial, if it was in the centre of converging roads, or of a great place surrounded by buildings more or less harmonising with it; but placed in Hyde Park, with no local assistance beyond its imaginary connexion with the Exhibitions of '51 and '62, I have my fears that it will be thought unmeaning. I forget at this moment the exact height of the design, but I do not think it is to be 300 feet; and Mr. Scott is to consider whether the proportions may not generally be reduced. He may wish to build the largest cross in the world, but neither the Queen nor her committee have any such desire.... I don't think that a grant by the representatives of the people, as a supplement to their voluntary contributions, and aided by the subscription of the Queen, would destroy the feeling of the monument. There might perhaps be less sentiment, but the whole would be more national. From the Journal:-- _May 4th_.--Lord Hatherton died at Teddesley. His illness had been long. When we parted at Wiesbaden in August last, I knew we should not meet again. Never was there a kinder and more active friend. The confidence he showed me was unbounded; insomuch that in November he placed in my hands the original correspondence of the ministers with himself in June and July, 1834, on the Irish Coercion Bill, which led to the breaking up of Earl Grey's Cabinet. These I have power to publish; but, if not published, I mean eventually to return them to the Littleton family. This I did in July 1864. The volume was published in 1872. _To Mr. Dempster_