and it is _all,
all_ owing to your _great care_ and _kindness_. "Nous etions des
enfans perdus," General Goblet[14] said to me at Claremont, "quand le
Roi est venu nous sauver." And so it is....

Pray, dear Uncle, say everything most kind from me to Ernest and
Albert, and believe me, always, your affectionate Niece,

VICTORIA.

Pray, dear Uncle, is the report of the King of Naples' marriage to the
Archduchess Theresa true? I hear the king has behaved uncommonly
well at Naples during the cholera panic. I enclose the measure of my
finger.

[Footnote 13: The regicide, Colonel Hutchinson's, fame rests
more on his wife's commemoration of him than on his own
exploits. She was the daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieutenant
of the Tower of London, and highly educated. Between 1664 and
1671 she wrote the biography of her husband, first published
in 1806. "The figure of Colonel Hutchinson," says J. R.
Green, "stands out from his wife's canvas with the grace and
tenderness of a portrait by Van Dyck."]

[Footnote 14: The Belgian General, Albert Joseph Goblet. Count
d'Alviella.]

[Pageheading: DEATH OF CHARLES X]

_The King of the Belgians to the Princess Victoria._

LAEKEN, _18th November 1836._

... Poor Charles X. is dead, it is said of the cholera. I regret
him; few people were ever kinder to me than the good old man. He was
blinded by certain absolute ideas, but a good man, and deserving to
be loved. History will state that Louis XVIII. was a most liberal
monarch, reigning with great mildness and justice to his end, but that
his brother, from his despotic and harsh disposition, upset all
the other had done, and lost the throne. Louis XVIII. was a clever,
hard-hearted man, shackled by no principle, very proud and false.
Charles X. an honest man, a kind friend, an honourable master, sincere
in his opinions, and inclined to do everything that is right. That
teaches us what we ought to believe in history as it is compiled
according to ostensible events and results known to the generality of
people. Memoirs are much more instructive, if written honestly and not
purposely fabricated, as it happens too often nowadays, particularly
at Paris.... I shall not fail to read the books you so kindly
recommend. I join you a small copy of our very liberal Constitution,
hitherto conscientiously executed--no easy matter. You may communicate
it to your Mother; it is the best answer to an