From the Park I proceeded to Piccadilly, down St James's St., along Pall Mall, up the Haymarket and Bond St., and went as far as Portland Place where some of the houses were illuminated most splendidly. The French and Spanish Ambassadors' houses also produced a magnificent effect. I returned home about two o'clock, much exhausted. _July 20th._ I went to the Opera, it was very full, and after the Opera and Ballet we had a grand _God Save The King_. Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm of the audience. Tumults of applause at the end of every stanza, and the whole encored. A solitary hiss was heard, but it was soon silenced by cries of "Turn him out! Throw him over!" [Illustration: WALTER SPENCER STANHOPE, AETAT 70 _From an ivory bust in the possession of Mrs Stirling._] But save for the descriptions in the newspapers and the accounts sent to her by her sons, Mrs Stanhope saw nothing of the splendid spectacle which had been taking place. That year of general rejoicing had proved for her a year of seclusion and of mourning. After her return home the health of her husband had rapidly declined, and with the coming of April, 1821, while all England was awakening to a summer of festivity and gladness, Walter Stanhope, overborne with the burden of his seventy-one years, had peacefully breathed his last. He left behind him the record of a blameless and honourable life, and on April 21st, while his funeral was in progress in Yorkshire, his wife wrote to her son John:-- Upon this mournful day my first wish is to converse with my children- the only remaining tie I now have in this world. I hope in God you will all bear up during the awful and heart-rending Ceremony. The prayers of the poor and the afflicted will follow your beloved parent to the Grave, and may they fall upon his children. FOOTNOTES DRAMATIS PERSONAE [1] She married, March 1828, Robert Hudson, Esq. of Tadworth Court, near Reigate. Died September 1862, aged 76. [2] He succeeded to the estates of Cannon Hall and Horsforth, etc.; married, in 1822, Elizabeth Wilhelmina, youngest daughter of Thomas William Coke, Esq., afterwards 1st Earl of Leicester. Died 1873, aged 86. [3] She died, unmarried, 17th March, 1860, in her 72nd year. [4] Assumed by Royal Licence, in 1816, the name and arms of Collingwood, pursuant to the will of his great-uncle, Edward Collingwood, Esq., whose estates he inherited. He married, September 9th, 1820, Arabella, daughter of General John Calcraft, of Cholderton, Hants. Died August 4th, 1866, in his 75th year. [5] He assumed the name of Roddam on succeeding to the estates of his kinsman and godfather, Admiral Roddam of Roddam, Northumberland. He married, first, Charlotte, daughter of Henry Percy Pulleine, Esq. of Crakehall; and secondly, Selina Henrietta, daughter of John Cotes, Esq. of Woodcote. Died 1864, aged 71.