"
At the subsequent Ball:
"The Duke did not dance: and the gallant Blucher was so overcome
by the heat of the ballroom as to oblige him to retire for a
short time. . . . The two gallant Generals rode from the
Government House in the same carriage; and it was observed that
the Emperor of Russia shook hands with the illustrious
Wellington every time he was near him."
From Portsmouth next day the Duke posts up to Westminster, to be
introduced by the Dukes of Richmond and Beaufort and take his seat in
the Lords under his new patents of nobility. Simultaneously in the
Commons, Lord Castlereagh moves a Vote of Thanks, which is carried by
a unanimous House. For the rest, Parliament is mainly occupied in
discussing Lord Cochrane's case and the sorrows of Her Royal Highness
the Princess of Wales, especially "the inadequacy of her income to
support the ordinary dignities of her rank, and afford her those
consolations which the unfortunate state of her domestic feelings
require." Mr. Wilberforce delivers a most animated speech against
the Slave Trade. It is rumoured that Princess Charlotte of Wales
has definitely refused the hand of the Prince of Orange, and that
the rejected lover has left London, full of grief, in his
carriage-and-four.
In short, our Major has been lost to us for ten full years, and still
the world goes on: nay, for the moment it is going on excitedly.
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