ious sunset brought the glorious
day to an end.

[51] Mary Agatha.

_Lady John Russell to Lady Charlotte Portal_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _December_ 26, 1857

I cannot remember a happier Christmas than ours has been, and I am
sure nobody can remember a milder or brighter Christmas sky. I sat
more than an hour yesterday in the sunny South summer-house,
listening to the songs of the blackbirds and thrushes, who have
lost all count of the seasons, and to the merry voices of the boys
and little May, and thinking of many things besides, and wishing I
could lay my hand on old Father Time and stop him in his flight,
for he _cannot_ bring me any change for the better, and he
must very soon take away one of the best joys of my daily life,
since he must take away childhood from my bairnies.

In the meantime I know I am not ungrateful, and when the little
boys in their evening prayer thanked God for making it "such a
happy Christmas," oh! how I thanked Him too. We have had a
Christmas-tree, and for many days before its appearance the
children were in a state of ungovernable spirits, full of
indescribable fun and mischief, and making indescribable uproar.
John has been by no means the least merry of the party, and seeing
a game at "my lady's toilet" going on yesterday evening, could not
resist tacking himself to its tail and being dragged through as
many passages and round as many windings as Pemmy Lodge affords.

Although the Palmerston Ministry seemed firmly seated in power and were
certainly capable of carrying out the spirited and aggressive foreign
policy on which they had so successfully appealed to the country, an
unexpected event occurred during the recess of 1857 which led to their
downfall. On the night of January 14th some Italian patriots threw three
bombs under Napoleon's carriage as he was driving to the Opera. The Emperor
and Empress had a narrow escape, and many spectators were killed or
wounded. The outrage was prompted by a frantic notion that the death of
Napoleon III was an indispensable step towards the freedom of Italy.
Orsini, the leader of the conspirators, was not himself of a crazy criminal
type. He was a fine, soldier-like fellow, who had fought and suffered for
his country's independence, and he had many friends in England among lovers
of Italy who never suspected that he was the kind of man to turn into an
assas