“But it will, I fear, be very difficult to fill your place with a person possessed in the same degree with yourself of the varied and high qualifications which it requires. “Believe me, “Most faithfully yours, (_Signed_) “W. E. GLADSTONE.” I had several letters on the subject from the Duke of Cambridge; some of them are of too confidential a character to be published, but I may reproduce part, at any rate, of one letter which he wrote me. “June 23rd, 1886. It is with the _deepest_ regret that I find from your letter that you have handed in your resignation. You will be a very great loss to the office and to myself personally as Ranger of the Royal Parks, for you have, by your tact and judgment, been enabled to assist me in meeting so many little difficulties, which in these times arise constantly in connection with these parks.... Though our official connection will, unfortunately, cease, I hope our personal one will be continued as heretofore, and I shall at all times be only too happy to talk over many little matters with you in which we both take an interest. “I remain, “Yours most sincerely, (_Signed_) “GEORGE.” Few men, whether princes, peers or peasants, have been so generally popular as the late Duke of Cambridge. Indeed, he had everything in his favour. Tall, burly and athletic in his youth, and when I first knew him, in the fifties, he was strikingly handsome, the perfect type of an Englishman. Gifted with a singularly frank and genial manner his soldier-like bearing could not fail to arrest attention. In later years he grew stout, but his goodly height enabled him to carry off the more ample figure, and he remained vigorous and active, a keen sportsman at an age when most men no longer care to face the buffets of wind and weather. His varied experience made him a most agreeable companion; he had seen active service, and had had a horse shot under him in the Crimea; he had travelled much and had had familiar intercourse with all the sovereigns and statesmen in Europe.