ill agree
with me and all whom I have yet spoken to, was a most perfect
answer; and I should have dearly liked to hear the volleys of
cheering which he so well deserved. Now we shall either go out with
honour or stay in with triumph--welcome either.

_Lord Charles Russell [35] to Lady John Russell_

_July_ 13, 1850

As you were not here to hear John move the monument [of Sir Robert
Peel], I must tell you that he succeeded in the opinion of all.
Dizzy has just, in passing my chair, said, "Well, Lord John did
that to perfection. My friends were nervous, I was not; it was a
difficult subject, but one peculiarly fitted for Lord John. He did
as I was sure he would, and pleased all those who sit about me."

[35] Lord John's stepbrother.

PEMBROKE LODGE, _July_ 17, 1850

For the first time since the session began John spent a whole
weekday here, and such a fine one that we enjoyed it thoroughly.
Our roses are still in great beauty, but it is a drying blaze. In
the evening we cried over "David Copperfield" till we were ashamed.

_Lady John Russell to Lady Melgund_

MINTO, October 5, 1850

This whole morning having been spent fox-hunting, and the afternoon
doing something else, I do not exactly remember what, I am obliged
to write to you at the forbidden time (after dinner), instead of
making myself agreeable. What a quantity I have to say to you, and
what a pity to say it all by letter, or, rather, to say a very
small part of it by letter, instead of having you here, as I had
hoped and looked forward to, enjoying daily _gloomy_ talks
with you, such as we always find ourselves indulging in when we are
together.... Though I have scarcely walked a step about the place
from obedience to doctors, I have driven daily with Mama--and such
lovely drives! Oh! the place is in such beauty. I think its
greatest beauty--the trees red, yellow, green, brown, of every
shade, so that each one is seen separately, and the too great
thickness on the rocks is less perceived. This was one of the
brightest mornings, and you know what a hunt is on the rocks when
the sun shines bright, and the rocks look whiter against a blue
sky, and men and horses and hounds place themselves in the most
picturesque positions, and horns and tally-hos echo all round, and
everybody, except the fox, is in