the French, and was only ceded to the English in 1760, when it was taken in an expedition under Wolfe; "a very daring enterprise," he said. Canada was then entirely French, and the British only came afterwards.... Lord M. explained this very clearly (and much better than I have done) and said a good deal more about it. He then read me Durham's despatch, which is a very long one and took him more than ½ an hour to read. Lord M. read it beautifully with that fine soft voice of his, and with so much expression, so that it is needless to say I was much interested by it.'[29] And then the talk would take a more personal turn. Lord {69} M. would describe his boyhood, and she would learn that 'he wore his hair long, as all boys then did, till he was 17; (_how_ handsome he must have looked!).'[30] Or she would find out about his queer tastes and habits--how he never carried a watch, which seemed quite extraordinary. '"I always ask the servant what o'clock it is, and then he tells me what he likes," said Lord M.'[31] Or, as the rooks wheeled about round the trees, 'in a manner which indicated rain,' he would say that he could sit looking at them for an hour, and 'was quite surprised at my disliking them.... Lord M. said, "The rooks are my delight."'[32] [Illustration: QUEEN VICTORIA IN 1838. _From the painting by E. Corbould_.] The day's routine, whether in London or at Windsor, was almost invariable. The morning was devoted to business and Lord M. In the afternoon the whole Court went out riding. The Queen, in her velvet riding-habit and a top-hat with a veil draped about the brim, headed the cavalcade; and Lord M. rode beside her. The lively troupe went fast and far, to the extreme exhilaration of Her Majesty. Back in the Palace again, there was still time for a little more fun before dinner--a game of battledore and shuttlecock perhaps, or a romp along the galleries with some children.[33] Dinner came, and the ceremonial decidedly tightened. The gentleman of highest rank sat on the right hand of the Queen; on her left--it soon became an established rule--sat Lord Melbourne. After the ladies had left the dining-room, the gentlemen were not permitted to remain behind for very long; indeed, the short time allowed them for their wine-drinking formed the subject--so it was rumoured--of one of the very few disputes between the Queen and her Prime {70} Minister[34]; but her determination carried the day, and from that moment after-dinner drunkenness began to go out of fashion. When the company was reassembled in the drawing-room the etiquette was stiff. For a few minutes the Queen spoke in turn to each one of her guests; and during these short uneasy colloquies the aridity of royalty was apt to become painfully evident. One night Mr. Greville, the Clerk of the Privy Council, was present; his turn soon came; the middle-aged, hard-faced _viveur_ was addressed by his young hostess. 'Have you been riding to-day, Mr. Greville?'