"At the dinner, she was on my right hand, I on Her Majesty's right hand. Her Majesty is a noble woman, a true daughter of the great Empress. A masculine intelligence; a man's courage, vigour and decision; of which by all accounts there is much need, for the King, though a man of great stature and bodily strength, and with plenty of mere bravery, has no thought for the morrow, nor indeed for his kingdom except as an institution to supply him with plenty of wild beasts for the chase and a sufficiency of money, which he never finds sufficient, to keep his friends, if one may call them such, round him. He is not even faithful to that noble woman; and she, with a fine scorn, akin to pity, condones his infidelity in return for his refraining from injuring his kingdom, as he would if he interfered with her wise counsels. For Ferdinand would treat politics as he treats his ducats--squander them for the gratification of the unworthy whim of the moment. He is indeed a despicable man. "The Queen has her softer moments, too; she is beautiful, and can be very tender. The first time that we were alone, when I looked for a grateful Queen condescending to the Admiral who had led the allies of her country to conquest, I found a weeping girl. I do not mean that she is young--she is by this past forty--but at that moment she was a girl back in her Austrian home with her unfortunate sister, the lovely martyr Marie Antoinette, whom those fiends insensately murdered. I could see that they were, as it were, girls together again in their childhood's home. Then, all in a moment, Marie Antoinette had been for years Queen of France, and murdered! I knew all this, though I could not translate the burning words which she poured into my ear in a passion of grief that turned into a passion of triumph--for suddenly tears and grief were swept from that inspired face, and she hailed me avenger of the martyr. "From that moment she was my intimate and affectionate friend; she would have me not treat her as a Queen, but rather as a well-loved lady of my acquaintance to whom I had rendered great service, and who had therefore admitted me to the footing of a relation. "She has divined, I feel certain, the respect that I feel for Emma, and my admiration for her rare graces of mind--and I may say to you, Pen, of person--for during the banquet she said to me, 'You look after dear Lady Hamilton: my kingdom owes everything to her after you.' And she herself was most condescending to Tom Troubridge, who stood the fire. He is the finest sailor in His Majesty's Service, and not to be swayed either by royal condescension or considerations of personal friendship, when--to give his expression, which means more to him than any officer engaged in the late battle--he is sounded.