incerest sorrow.

The bereavement, the impossibility, they are what one feels most
deeply and painfully, that nothing will bring back the beloved object,
that there is a rupture with everything earthly that nothing can
remedy. Your good, dear Mamma was without ostentation, sincerely
religious, a great blessing, and the only solid support we can find.
Happy those whose faith cannot be shaken; they can bear the hardships
of earthly life with fortitude.

True it is that if we compare the sorrows of our earthly life with the
hope of an eternal existence, though painfully felt, still they shrink
as it were in appreciation.

You feel so _truly_, so _affectionately_, that even in that you must
gratify the dear being we lost. When I think of poor Aunt Julia,[12]
she was so alone that I cannot help to pity her even in all the
objects she valued and left behind; the affectionate care which is
shown to everything connected with your dear Mamma could not have
existed, and still she was a noble character, and with a warm,
generous heart. In all your dear Mamma's letters there will everywhere
be found traces of the affection which united us. From early childhood
we were close allies; she recollected everything so well of that
period which now, since the departure of the two sisters, is totally
unknown to every one but me, which, you can imagine, is a most
melancholy sensation. Time flies so fast that all dear recollections
soon get isolated. Your stay at Osborne will do you good, though
Spring, when fine, affects one very much, to think that the one that
was beloved does not share in these pleasant sensations. You must try,
however, not to shake your precious health too much. Your dear Mamma,
who watched your looks so affectionately, would not approve of it....
Your devoted old Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

[Footnote 12: Sister of King Leopold, and widow of the Grand
Duke Constantine, who had lived in retirement at Geneva for
many years, and died at Elfenau on the 15th of August 1860.]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _9th April 1861_.

MY DEARLY BELOVED UNCLE,--Your dear, _sad_ letter of the 5th found a
warm response in my poor heart, and I thank you with all my heart
for it. I am _now most_ anxiously waiting for an answer to my letter
asking you to come to us _now_. You would, I think, find it soothing,
and it would painfully interest you to look over her letters and
papers, which make me