TUNBRIDGE WELLS, _14th September 1834._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Allow me to write you a few words, to express how thankful I am for the very kind letter you wrote me. It made me, though, very sad to think that all our hopes of seeing you, which we cherished so long, this year, were over. I had so hoped and wished to have seen you again, my _beloved_ Uncle, and to have made dearest Aunt Louisa"s acquaintance. I am delighted to hear that dear Aunt has benefited from the sea air and bathing. We had a very pretty party to Hever Castle yesterday, which perhaps you remember, where Anne Boleyn used to live, _before she lost her head_. We drove there, and rode home. It was a most beautiful day. We have very good accounts from dear Feodore, who will, by this time, be at Langenburg.
Believe me always, my dearest Uncle, your very affectionate and dutiful Niece,
VICTORIA.
[Pageheading: HISTORICAL READING]
_The King of the Belgians to the Princess Victoria._
LAEKEN, _18th October 1834._
MY DEAREST LOVE,--I am happy to learn that Tunbridge Wells has done you good. Health is the first and most important gift of Providence; without it we are poor, miserable creatures, though the whole earth were our property; therefore I trust that you will take great care of your own. I feel convinced that air and exercise are most useful for you. In your leisure moments I hope that you study a little; history is what I think the most important study for you. It will be difficult for you to learn human-kind"s ways and manners otherwise than from that important source of knowledge. Your position will more or less render practical knowledge extremely difficult for you, till you get old, and still if you do not prepare yourself for your position, you may become the victim of wicked and designing people, particularly at a period when party spirit runs so high. Our times resemble most those of the Protestant reformation; then people were moved by religious opinions, as they now undoubtedly are by political pa.s.sions.
Unfortunately history is rarely written by those who really were the chief movers of events, nor free from a party colouring; this is particularly the case in the works about English history. In that respect France is much richer, because there we have authenticated memoirs of some of the most important men, and of others who really saw what pa.s.sed and wrote it down at the time. Political feelings, besides, rarely created _permanent_ parties like those in England, with the exception, perhaps, of the great distinctions of Catholics and Protestants. What I most should recommend is the period before the accession of Henry IV. of France to the throne, then the events after his death till the end of the minority of Louis XIV.; after that period, though interesting, matters have a character which is more personal, and therefore less applicable to the present times. Still even that period may be studied with some profit to get knowledge of mankind. _Intrigues_ and _favouritism_ were the chief features of that period, and Madame de Maintenon"s immense influence was very nearly the cause of the destruction of France. What I very particularly recommend to you is to study in the Memoirs of the great and good Sully[12] the last years of the reign of Henry IV. of France, and the events which followed his a.s.sa.s.sination. If you have not got the work, I will forward it to you from hence, or give you the edition which I must have at Claremont.
As my paper draws to a close, I shall finish also by giving you my best blessings, and remain ever, my dearest Love, your faithfully attached Friend and Uncle,
LEOPOLD R.
[Footnote 12: Maximilien, Duc de Sully, was Henry"s Minister of Finance. A curious feature of the Memoirs is the fact that they are written in the second person: the historian recounts the hero"s adventures to him.]
[Pageheading: THE PRINCESS"S READING]
_The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
TUNBRIDGE WELLS, _22nd October 1834._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--You cannot conceive how happy you have made me, by your very kind letter, which, instead of tiring, delights me beyond everything. I must likewise say how very grateful I feel for the kind and excellent advice you gave me in it.
For the autographs I beg to return my best thanks. They are most valuable and interesting, and will be great additions to my collections. As I have not got Sully"s Memoirs, I shall be delighted if you will be so good as to give them to me. Reading history is one of my greatest delights, and perhaps, dear Uncle, you might like to know which books in that line I am now reading. In my lessons with the Dean of Chester,[13] I am reading Russell"s _Modern Europe_,[14] which is very interesting, and Clarendon"s _History of the Rebellion_. It is drily written, but is full of instruction. I like reading different authors, of different opinions, by which means I learn not to lean on one particular side. Besides my lessons, I read Jones"[15] account of the wars in Spain, Portugal and the South of France, from the year 1808 till 1814. It is well done, I think, and amuses me very much. In French, I am now in _La Rivalite de la France et de l"Espagne_, par Gaillard,[16] which is very interesting. I have also begun Rollin.[17]
I am very fond of making tables of the Kings and Queens, as I go on, and I have lately finished one of the English Sovereigns and their consorts, as, of course, the history of my own country is one of my first duties. I should be fearful of tiring you with so long an account of myself, were I not sure you take so great an interest in my welfare.
Pray give my most affectionate love to _dearest_ Aunt Louisa, and please say to the Queen of the French and the two Princesses how grateful I am for their kind remembrance of me.
Believe me always, my dearest Uncle, your very affectionate, very dutiful, and most attached Niece,
VICTORIA.
[Footnote 13: The Rev. George Davys. See _ante_, p. 15.
(Ch. II, Footnote 4)]
[Footnote 14: This _History of Modern Europe_, in a series of letters from a n.o.bleman to his son, 5 vols. (1779-1784), deals with the rise of modern kingdoms down to the Peace of Westphalia (1648).]
[Footnote 15: Sir John Thomas Jones, Bart. (1783-1843), a Royal Engineer, who served in the Peninsular War.]
[Footnote 16: Gabriel Henri Gaillard (1726-1806), Member of the French Academy.]
[Footnote 17: The _Histoire Ancienne_, by Charles Rollin (1661-1741), Rector of the University of Paris.]
_The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
ST. LEONARDS, _19th November 1834._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--It is impossible for me to express how happy you have made me by writing so soon again to me, and how pleased I am to see by your very kind letter that you intend to write to me often. I am much obliged to you, dear Uncle, for the extract about Queen Anne, but must beg you, as you have sent me to show what a Queen _ought not_ to be, that you will send me what a Queen _ought to be_.[18]
Might I ask what is the very pretty seal with which the letter I got from you yesterday was closed? It is so peculiar that I am anxious to know.
Believe me always, dear Uncle, your very affectionate, very dutiful, and very attached Niece,
VICTORIA.
[Footnote 18: King Leopold had sent the Princess an extract from a French Memoir, containing a severe criticism of the political character of Queen Anne.]
_The King of the Belgians to the Princess Victoria._
LAEKEN, _2nd December 1834._
MY DEAREST LOVE,--You have written a very clever, sharp little letter the other day, which gave me great pleasure. Sure enough, when I show you what a Queen ought not to be, I also ought to tell you what she should be, and this task I will very conscientiously take upon myself on the very first occasion which may offer itself for a confidential communication. Now I must conclude, to go to town. I must, however, say that I have given orders to send you Sully"s Memoirs. As they have not been written exclusively for young ladies, it will be well to have Lehzen to read it with you, and to judge what ought to be left for some future time. And now G.o.d bless you! Ever, my beloved child, your attached Friend and Uncle,
LEOPOLD R.
[Pageheading: A NEW YEAR GREETING]
_The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
ST. LEONARDS, _28th December 1834._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I must again, with your permission, write you a few lines, to wish you a very happy new year, not only for _this_ year, but for _many_ to come. I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the _invaluable_ and precious autographs which you were so very kind as to send me. Some of them I received a few days ago, and the others to-day, accompanied by a very kind letter from you, and a beautiful shawl, which will be most useful to me, particularly as a favourite one of mine is growing very old. I wish you could come here, for many reasons, but also to be an eye-witness of my extreme prudence in eating, which would astonish you. The poor sea-gulls are, however, not so happy as you imagine, for they have great enemies in the country-people here, who take pleasure in shooting them.