e senior imperial and royal personages crowded together into a
small cabin on the deck to hear Mr. Tennyson read two of his
poems, several of the younger branches clustering round the doors.
Between 2 and 3, the illustrious party left the _Pembroke Castle_,
and in the midst of an animated scene, went on board the King of
Denmark's yacht, which steamed towards Elsinore.

Mr. Gladstone was much pleased to observe that the Emperor of
Russia appeared to be entirely released from the immediate
pressure of his anxieties supposed to weigh much upon his mind.
The Empress of Russia has the genial and gracious manners which on
this, and on every occasion, mark H.R.H. the Princess of Wales.

-------------------------------------

_Sept. 22, 1883._--Mr. Gladstone presents his humble duty to your
Majesty, and has to acknowledge your Majesty's letter of the 20th
"giving him full credit for not having reflected at the time" when
he decided, as your Majesty believes, to extend his recent cruise
to Norway and Denmark.

He may humbly state that he had no desire or idea beyond a glance,
if only for a few hours, at a little of the fine and peculiar
scenery of Norway. But he is also responsible for having
acquiesced in the proposal (which originated with Mr. Tennyson) to
spend a day at Copenhagen, where he happens to have some
associations of literary interest; for having accepted an
unexpected invitation to dine with the king some thirty miles off;
and for having promoted the execution of a wish, again
unexpectedly communicated to him, that a visit of the illustrious
party to the _Pembroke Castle_ should be arranged. Mr. Gladstone
ought probably to have foreseen all these things. With respect to
the construction put upon his act abroad, Mr. Gladstone ought
again, perhaps, to have foreseen that, in countries habituated to
more important personal meetings, which are uniformly declared to
be held in the interests of general peace, his momentary and
unpremeditated contact with the sovereigns at Fredensborg would be
denounced, or suspected of a mischievous design. He has, however,
some consolation in finding that, in England at least, such a
suspicion appears to have been confined to two secondary journals,
neither of which has ever found (so far as he is aware) in any act
of his a