iS52 RECEIVES THE ROYAL MEDAL 1 1 i 



it only strengthens and confirms the conclusion I had come to. 

 Bid me God-siseed then ... it is all I want to labour cheerfully. 



A'o'j. 28. 



. . . You will hear all the details of the Great Duke's state 

 funeral from the papers much better than I can tell you them. 

 I went to the Cathedral (St. Paul's) and had the good fortune 

 to get a capital seat — in front, close to the great door by which 

 every one entered. It was bitter cold, a keen November wind 

 blowing right in, and as I was there from eight till three, I 

 expected nothing less than rheumatic fever the next day ; how- 

 ever I didn't get it. It was pitiful to see the poor old Marquis 

 of Anglesey — a year older than the Duke — standing with bare 

 head in the keen wind close to me for more than three quarters 

 of an hour. It was impressive enough — the great interior 

 lighted up by a single line of light running along the whole cir- 

 cuit of the cornice, and another encircling the dome, and casting 

 a curious illumination over the masses of uniforms which filled 

 the great space. The best of our people were there and passed 

 close to me, but the only face that made any great impression 

 upon my memory was that of Sir Chas. Napier, the conqueror 

 of Scinde. Fancy a very large, broad-winged, and fierce-look- 

 ing hawk in uniform. Such an eye ! 



When the coffin and the mourners had passed I closed up 

 with the soldiers and went up under the dome, where I heard 

 the magnificent service in full perfection. 



All of it, however, was bufc stage trickery compared with the 

 noble simplicity of the old man's life. How the old stoic, used 

 to his iron bed and hard hair pillow, would have smiled at all 

 the pomp — submitting to that, however, and all other things 

 necessary to the " carrying on of the Queen's Government." 



I send Tennyson's ode by way of packing — it is not worth 

 much more, the only decent passages to my mind being those 

 I have marked. 



The day after to-morrow I go to have my medal presented 

 and to dine and make a speech. 



The Royal Medal was conferred on November 30, and 

 the medallists were entertained at the anniversary dinner of 

 the Society on that day. In the words with which the 

 President, the Earl of Rosse, accompanied the presentation 

 of the medal, " it is not difficult," writes Sir M. Foster, 

 " reading between the lines, to recognise the appreciation of 



