Nuneham Park,July 27,1847
My dear Uncle and Aunt:...I must go back to the day when my last letters were despatched,as my life since has been full of interest.On Monday evening,the 19th,we went to the French play,to see Rachel in "Phedre."She far surpassed my imagination in the expression of all the powerful passions....On Tuesday Mr.
Bancroft went down to hear Lord John make a speech to his constituents in the city,while I went to see Miss Burdett-Coutts lay the corner-stone of the church which "the Bishop of London has permitted her to build,"to use her own expression in her note to me.In the evening we dined there with many of the clergy,and Lord Brougham,Lord Dundonald,etc.I went down with the Dean of Westminster,who was very agreeable and instructive.He and Dr.
Whately have the simplicity of children,with an immense deal of knowledge,which they impart in the most pleasant way.Saturday,the 24th,we were to leave town for our first country excursion.We were invited by Dr.Hawtrey,the Head Master of Eton,to be present at the ceremonies accompanying the annual election of such boys on the Foundation as are selected to go up to King's College,Cambridge,where they are also placed on a Foundation.From reading Dr.Arnold's life you will have learned that the head master of one of these very great schools is no unimportant personage.Dr.
Hawtrey has an income of six or seven thousand pounds.He is unmarried,but has two single sisters who live with him,and his establishment in one of the old college houses is full of elegance and comfort.We took an open travelling carriage with imperials,and drove down to Eton with our own horses,arriving about one o'clock.At two,precisely,the Provost of King's College,Cambridge,was to arrive,and to be received under the old gateway of the cloister by the Captain of the school with a Latin speech.
After dinner there is a regatta among the boys,which is one of the characteristic and pleasing old customs.All the fashionables of London who have sons at Eton come down to witness their happiness,and the river bank is full of gayety.The evening finished with the most beautiful fireworks I ever saw,which lighted up the Castle behind and were reflected in the Thames below,while the glancing oars of the young boatmen,and the music of their band with a merry chime of bells from St.George's Chapel,above,all combined to give gayety and interest to the scene.The next morning (Sunday),after an agreeable breakfast in the long,low-walled breakfast-room,which opens upon the flower garden,we went to Windsor to worship in St.
George's Chapel.The Queen's stall is rather larger than the others,and one is left vacant for the Prince of Wales.
LONDON,July 29th And now with a new sheet I must begin my account of Nuneham....
The Archbishop of York is the second son of Lord Vernon,but his uncle,Earl Harcourt,dying without children,left him all his estate,upon which he took the name of Harcourt.We arrived about four o'clock....The dinner was at half-past seven,and when Iwent down I found the Duchess of Sutherland,Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower,Lord Kildare,and several of the sons and daughters of the Archbishop.The dinner and evening passed off very agreeably.The Duchess is a most high-bred person,and thoroughly courteous.As we were going in or out of a room instead of preceding me,which was her right,she always made me take her arm,which was a delicate way of getting over her precedence....At half-past nine the [next morning]we met in the drawing-room,when the Archbishop led the way down to prayers.This was a beautiful scene,for he is now ninety,and to hear him read the prayers with a firm,clear voice,while his family and dependents knelt about him was a pleasure never to be forgotten....At five I was to drive round the park with the Archbishop himself in his open carriage.This drive was most charming.He explained everything,told me when such trees would be felled,and when certain tracts of underwood would be fit for cutting,how old the different-sized deer were--in short,the whole economy of an English park.Every pretty point of view,too,he made me see,and was as active and wide-awake as if he were thirty,rather than ninety....The next morning,after prayers and breakfast,I took my leave.
