The
Cathedral Was Crowded With Strangers And A Great Many From London.
The Next Day Was The Day Of The Great Dinner, And I Send You The
POST Containing Mr. Bancroft's Speech.
It was warmly admired by all
who heard it.
At ten at night we ladies set out for York to go [to] the Lord
Mayor's Ball, where the gentlemen were to meet us from the dinner.
Everybody flocked round to congratulate me upon your father's
speech. Even Prince Albert, when I was led up to make my curtsey,
offered me his hand, which is a great courtesy in royalty, and spoke
of the great beauty and eloquence of Mr. B.'s speech. The Prince
soon went away: the Lord Mayor took me down to supper and I sat
between him and the Duke of Richmond at the high table which went
across the head of the hall. Guildhall is a beautiful old room with
a fine old traceried window, and the scene, with five tables going
the length of the hall and the upper one across the head, was very
gay and brilliant. There were a few toasts, and your father again
made a little speech, short and pleasant. We did not get home till
half-past three in the morning. . . . On Friday morning [July 14th]
many of the guests, the Duke of Richmond, etc., took their departure
and Mr. Hudson had to escort Prince Albert to town, but returned the
same evening. . . . The next day we all went to pay a visit to an
estate of Mr. Hudson's [name of estate indecipherable] for which he
paid five hundred thousand pounds to the Duke of Devonshire. . . .
It is nobly situated in the Yorkshire wolds, a fine range of hills,
and overlooking the valley of the Humber, which was interesting to
me, as it was the river which our Pilgrim fathers sailed down and
lay in the Wash at its mouth, awaiting their passage to Holland.
They came, our Plymouth fathers, mostly from Lincolnshire and the
region which lay below us. I thought of them, and the scene of
their sufferings was more ennobled in my eyes, from their
remembrance than from the noble mansions and rich estates which
feast the eye.
On Monday morning we left Newby for York on our way home. It so
happened that the judges were to open the court that very morning,
on which occasion they always breakfast with the Lord Mayor in their
scarlet robes and wigs, the Lord Mayor and aldermen are also in
their furred scarlet robes and the Lady Mayoress presents the judges
with enormous bouquets of the richest flowers. We were invited to
this breakfast, and I found it very entertaining. I was next the
High Sheriff, who was very desirous that we should stay a few hours
and go to the castle and see the court opened and listen to a case
or two. The High Sheriff of a county is a great character and has a
carriage and liveries as grand as the Queen's. After breakfast we
bade adieu to our York friends, and set off with our big bouquets
(for the distribution was extended to us) for home.
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