_. Dr. Russell had the advantage of accompanying the Prince as one
of his personal suite, under the title of Honorary Private Secretary. It
is fortunate that the journey had such a historian. The work not only
gives a Diary of the tour in India, with a full record of the
proceedings of the Prince, but is in itself a most interesting and
instructive book of travel, full of information, conveyed in the graphic
and bright style which has made the author famous as a man of letters.
To this book the reader of these pages is referred for the story of the
Royal expedition, both in India and in the countries through which he
passed on the outward and homeward journey.[A]

[Footnote A: 'The Prince of Wales's Tour: a Diary in India, with some
accounts of the visits to the Courts of Greece, Egypt, Spain, and
Portugal.' By William Howard Russell, LL.D. With illustrations by Sydney
P. Hall. Sampson Low & Co.]

The Prince was fortunate in the companions of his journey, even to the
humbler and useful attendants. It is greatly to the credit of his
judgment and his right feeling that the first to whom he expressed a
wish to accompany him was Sir Bartle Frere, a wise and good man, and
whose Indian experience would be of immense value. In the suite there
were, of his own household, Lord Suffield, Sir Dighton Probyn, Colonel
Ellis, and Sir Francis Knollys. The Duke of Sutherland, Lord Alfred
Paget, Lord Aylesford, Lord Carington, Colonel Owen Williams, Lord
Charles Beresford, Captain Fitz George, were invited to join the
expedition. Canon Duckworth was selected as chaplain, and Sir Joseph
Phayrer as physician; Mr. Albert Grey, secretary to Sir Bartle Frere,
Dr. Russell, and Mr. S. P. Hall as artist, completed the list of those
who formed the suite of His Royal Highness. Several of these--General
Probyn, Colonel Ellis, and Dr. Phayrer--had long Indian experience; and
Lord Charles Beresford had accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh in his
Indian tour the year before.

The route to be laid down required much consultation, partly from public
considerations and partly from questions of climate and care for the
Prince's health. The best time of starting had also to be considered. At
last all was arranged, and on the 11th of November the Prince started.
The route was to be via Brindisi, to Greece, Egypt, Bombay, Ceylon,
Madras, Calcutta, Lucknow, Delhi, Lahore, Agra, Gwalior, Nepal,
Bareilly, Allahabad, Indore, Bombay, and home by Egypt, Malta,
Gi