As he had intimated, the king could not continue familiar intercourse with the westerners because none but the nobles might enter his presence, except by particular request. There was some speculation, therefore, as to the attitude he would assume towards the missionaries after the coronation ceremonies were over. Any misgivings they may have had were soon dispelled. For some years it had been the custom of the Prince-Priest to celebrate his birthday—“the day like that on which I was born,” as he termed it—by inviting his foreign friends to a feast. The missionaries awaited the royal birthday with some interest, agreeing among themselves that his future attitude towards them would be more truly forecast by his treatment of his former custom. When the day approached the king sent an autograph letter “to all the white strangers,” inviting them to the palace. Concerning this event Dr. House wrote (Oct. 18, 1851): “This day twelve-month, how different we were situated: our teachers arrested and in irons; our servants panic struck or in prison; and we seriously agitating the question of seeking a more open field to labor in. “Now we are the invited guests of the King himself, on the occasion of his forty-seventh birthday, to dine at the royal palace with other Europeans. His Majesty’s eldest son is deputed to do the honours of the feast, and we receiving a present of gold from the sovereign of the land as a token of his favour; and nobles and princes courting rather than shunning our acquaintance.” King Mongkut entertained a particularly high esteem for Dr. Bradley and Dr. House. This admiration manifested itself not merely by including them under the bestowal of general favours but by marks of personal consideration. It was no small honour which the king conferred upon Dr. House by this request (July, 1852): “Honoured today by the first personal summons I (or indeed any of us missionaries) have received to the royal presence. Nai Poon called to say that he was ordered some days ago to take me for conversation in English as His Majesty was ‘losing all his English.’” Frequently the king sent to Dr. House requesting him to translate for him items of political or scientific interest in English journals or to report news from the doctor’s foreign mail. Before the king engaged Mrs. Leonowens, the English governess, who served also as his amanuensis, he occasionally would summon Dr. House to transcribe in a familiar hand letters in English to the king or to write for him letters to foreign rulers, including Queen Victoria and the President of the United States. In his capacity as a surgeon, after he had given up the general practise, Dr. House was on two occasions summoned to assist Dr. Bradley at the king’s palace. In January of 1852 he records his first attendance: