216 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER CHAP. 



me to be the instrument of conveying to you Her Majesty's 

 gracious command. Believe me, yours very faithfully, 



SALISBURY. 



That autumn Flower was summoned to Windsor 

 Castle, where Queen Victoria graciously presented 

 to him the insignia of the Bath. 



The recurrence of the London season always 

 brought extra work by multiplying engagements. 

 Flower was the reverse of a recluse, and greatly 

 enjoyed congenial society, sometimes saying laugh- 

 ingly to his wife that " he was glad he was not a 

 genius, as he was sure that she would not have 

 found a genius pleasant to live with." He was 

 much in society, besides attending the functions of 

 the various learned bodies with which he was 

 associated. He did not care for the heated 

 atmosphere of large and late evening parties, but 

 found garden-parties more to his taste, especially 

 those held among the historical associations of 

 Lambeth Palace, or among the trees and flowers 

 of Syon House and Osterley, while in London 

 itself he had the privilege of attending the garden- 

 parties of Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace, and 

 of the Prince of Wales at Marlborough House. 

 But undoubtedly the most interesting of all these 

 social experiences was when Flower and his wife 

 and daughter were invited to Balmoral Castle, and 

 enjoyed the privilege of private conversation with 

 Her Majesty the Queen in September 1894. 

 Lady Flower writes : " Although my husband was 



