supply of the cakes or _Oblaten_ which you kindly
always send me, but which have come to a dead _stop_, having been too
rapidly consumed; _all_ the children having taken to eat them. As I
am not a very good breakfast eater, they are often the _only_ things
I _can_ take at that time, and consequently I miss them much. May I
therefore beg them to be sent?

We are still here; profiting by the _bad_ sea, to visit many beautiful
_points de vue_ in this really beautiful country. We saw yesterday one
of the loveliest places possible--_Endsleigh_--the Duke of Bedford's,
about twenty miles from here.

The weather is so bad, and it blows so hard, that we shall go back
to Southampton to-morrow by railroad--a beautiful line which we have
never seen. I must close in haste. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

We went to Saltram, Lord Morley's, this afternoon.

[Pageheading: LORD GRANVILLE'S MISSION]

[Pageheading: THE CZAR ALEXANDER]

[Pageheading: CORONATION OF THE CZAR]

_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._[40]

MOSCOW, _30th August 1856_.

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs,
according to your Majesty's desire, to submit to your Majesty the
impressions which he has received during the short time of his stay in
this country.

Lord Granville's conversation with the Emperor of Russia, and what he
has heard from various reliable sources, have led him to the following
conclusions respecting His Imperial Majesty.

He is handsome, but thinner and graver than when he was in England.
When speaking with energy to Lord Granville his manner seemed to be
rather an imitation of some one else than his own, and he did not look
Lord Granville in the face. His usual manner is singularly gentle and
pleasing. He does not give the idea of having much strength either of
intellect or of character, but looks intelligent and amiable.
Although the education of a Caesarwitch must be subject to pernicious
influences, the present Emperor has had advantages which those in his
position have not usually had. The Emperor Nicholas came to the throne
without having had the confidences of his predecessor. He initiated
his son into everything that was going on, while others who knew the
good-nature of the Grand Duke Alexander's character, told him that
which they did not tell his father. He was supposed to have different
tastes from the late Emperor, but, since the death of the latter, he
has liked the late Emp