oubt, or fears.

[Sidenote: VICTORIOUS PEACE]

The end came softly. 'I fall back on the faith of my childhood,' were
the words he uttered to Dr. Anderson. The closing scene is thus recorded
in Mr. Rollo Russell's journal: 'May 28 [1878].--He was better this
morning, though still in a very weak state. He spoke more distinctly,
called me by my name, and said something which I could not understand.
He did not seem to be suffering ... and has, all through his long
illness, been cheerful to a degree that surprises everybody about him,
not complaining of anything, but seeming to feel that he was being well
cared for. About midday he became worse ... but bore it all calmly. My
mother was with him continually.... Towards ten he was much worse, and
in a few minutes, while my mother was holding his hand, he breathed out
gently the remainder of life.' Westminster Abbey was offered as a place
of burial, but, in accordance with his own expressed wish, Lord John
Russell was gathered to his fathers at Chenies. The Queen's sympathy and
her sense of loss were expressed in the following letter:--

'Balmoral: May 30, 1878.

'DEAR LADY RUSSELL,--It was only yesterday afternoon that I heard
through the papers that your dear husband had left this world of sorrows
and trials peacefully and full of years the night before, or I would
have telegraphed and written sooner. You will believe that I truly
regret an old friend of forty years' standing, and whose personal
kindness in trying and anxious times I shall _ever_ remember. "Lord
John," as I knew him best, was one of my _first_ and _most
distinguished_ Ministers, and his departure recalls many eventful times.

'To you, dear Lady Russell, who were ever one of the most devoted of
wives, this must be a terrible blow, though you must have for some time
been prepared for it. But one is _never_ prepared for the blow when it
comes, and you have had such trials and sorrows of late years that I
most truly sympathise with you. Your dear and devoted daughter will, I
know, be the greatest possible comfort to you, and I trust that your
grandsons will grow up to be all you could wish.

'Believe me always, yours affectionately,
'VICTORIA R. AND I.'

[Sidenote: HIS GREAT QUALITIES]

Lord Shaftesbury wrote in his journal some words about Lord Russell
which speak for themselves. After recording that he had reached the ripe
age of eighty-six, and that he had been a conspicuous man