r
that on a closing audience in 1874 she said she felt sure I might
be reckoned upon to support the throne. She did not say anything
of the sort to-day. Her mind and opinions have since that day been
seriously warped, and I respect her for the scrupulous avoidance
of anything which could have seemed to indicate a desire on her
part to claim anything in common with me.

Only at three points did the conversation touch upon anything even
faintly related to public affairs.... The second point was the
conclusion of some arrangement for appanages or incomes on behalf
of the third generation of the royal house. I agreed that there
ought at a suitable time to be a committee on this subject, as had
been settled some time back, she observing that the recent
circumstances had made the time unsuitable. I did not offer any
suggestion as to the grounds of the affair, but said it seemed to
me possible to try some plan under which intended marriages should
be communicated without forcing a reply from the Houses. Also I
agreed that the amounts were not excessive. I did not pretend to
have a solution ready: but said it would, of course, be the duty
of the government to submit a plan to the committee. The third
matter was trivial: a question or two from her on the dates and
proceedings connected with the meeting. The rest of the
conversation, not a very long one, was filled up with nothings. It
is rather melancholy. But on neither side, given the conditions,
could it well be helped.

On the following day she wrote a letter, making it evident that,
so far as Ireland was concerned, she could not trust herself to
say what she wanted to say....

Among the hundreds of letters that reached him every week was one from an
evangelical lady of known piety, enclosing him a form of prayer that had
been issued against home rule. His acknowledgment (July 27) shows none of
the impatience of the baffled statesman:--

I thank you much for your note; and though I greatly deplored the
issue, and the ideas of the prayer in question, yet, from the
moment when I heard it was your composition, I knew perfectly well
that it was written in entire good faith, and had no relation to
political controversy in the ordinary sense. I cannot but think
that, in bringing the subject of Irish intolerance before the
Almighty Father,