nce was grievously disappointed with the
personal appearance of his bride--that he had formed some exaggerated
estimate of her charms, and that the reaction was so strong as to create
instantaneous antipathy. A more favourable hypothesis we cannot form; any
other must resolve itself into preconcerted insult. Still, this is no
justification for conduct which was at once mean and unmanly. There she
stood--the daughter of a sovereign prince--his own near kinswoman, whose
hand he had voluntarily solicited--young, and not devoid of some personal
beauty. Other defects he had not time to observe, and surely, on such an
occasion as this, they were not conspicuously prominent. Could any man,
with a spark of chivalrous feeling within him, have permitted himself to
manifest such tokens of disgust in the presence of a woman, who was to all
intents and purposes his wife, and whom he then for the first time beheld?
Some there were, wearing before him the princely plume of Wales, who would
rather have forfeited that honour than offered insult to a female and a
stranger--but the spirit of the Henrys and the Edwards was not there. An
interview of a minute's duration--brandy--and an oath! Rare prospects for
the felicity and continuance of the future Hymen!--Let us follow Lord
Malmesbury through the subsequent scenes.

"The drawing-room was just over. His Majesty's conversation turned
wholly on Prussian and French politics, and the only question about
the Princess was--'Is she good-humoured?'

"I said, and very truly, 'That in very trying moments I had never
seen her otherwise.'

"The King said, 'I am glad of it;' and it was manifest, from his
silence, he had seen the Queen _since_ she had seen the Prince, and
that the Prince had made a very unfavourable report of the Princess
to her. At dinner, at which all those who attended the Princess from
Greenwich assisted, and the honours of which were done by Lord
Stopford as Vice-Chamberlain, I was far from satisfied with the
Princess's behaviour. It was flippant, rattling, affecting raillery
and wit, and throwing out coarse, vulgar hints about Lady ----, who
was present, and, though mute, _le diable n'en perdait rien_. The
Prince was evidently disgusted, and this unfortunate dinner fixed his
dislike, which, when left to herself, the Princess had not the talent
to remove; but, by still observing the same giddy