n your
marriage and show you great affection, perhaps some would again have
tried to bring on unpleasant subjects....

My letter is grown long; I will therefore conclude it with the
expression of my great affection for your dear self. Ever, my most
beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

[Pageheading: POPULAR ENTHUSIASM]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_6th March 1840._

... As your Majesty has by your Lord Chamberlain permitted plays to
be acted on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, it would be condemning
yourself if you did not go to see them if you like to do so....

... Lord Melbourne is much pleased to hear that your Majesty and
the Prince liked _The School for Scandal_. It is upon the whole the
cleverest comedy in the English language, the fullest of wit and at
the same time the most free from grossness.

[Pageheading: THE CORN LAWS]

_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

_4th April 1840._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
the honour to state that the House of Commons having resumed the
consideration of the Corn Laws, the debate was closed by Sir Robert
Peel, in a speech much inferior to those which he usually makes. Mr
Warburton moved an adjournment, which caused many members to leave the
House. The motion being opposed, there were on a division 240 against
adjournment, and only 125 in favour of it.

Mr Warburton then by some blunder moved that the House adjourn, which
puts an end to the debate. This was eagerly caught at by the opposite
party, and agreed to. So that the question is lost by this ridiculous
termination, and it is to be feared that it will produce much
discontent in the manufacturing class.[10]

[Footnote 10: The opposition to the Corn Laws was now
increasing in the North.]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_5th April 1840._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He is quite
well but much tired. He has so much to do this morning that he will
not be able to speak to Albemarle,[11] but if Albemarle dines at the
Palace, he certainly will then.

Lord Melbourne always feared anything like a mixture of the Stable
establishments. It would have been much better that what horses the
Prince had should have been kept quite separate, and that the horses
of your Majesty's which he should have to use should have been
settled, and some plan arranged by which they could have been