QUEEN VICTORIA'S LETTER. 5

when the silence was broken by the king, who

asked in a pleasant voice "If we bad seen bim?" To tbis inquiry we were enabled, witliont any devi-

ation from the truth, to reply that we certainly

bad. After this preliminary we were each of us

introduced by name to the king, who caused a

good deal of amusement to all present by bis

attempts to repeat the outlandish words by which

Mr. Mackay designated us. I was always subse-

quently called " Doctori " by the king, a word which

be could easily remember.

After a good many questions the Queen's letter,

of which we were the honoured bearers, was

presented and read to the king. He was much

pleased with it, and said that be was very anxious

to remain friends with our Queen, adding the

extraordinary remark that Her Majesty and him-

self were the only monarchs in the world worth

the slightest consideration. To this, of course, we

listened with all due gravity, and then read to him the letter from the Church Missionary Society. He listened to this with evident interest, and

stated that it gave bim the liveliest satisfaction to

find that people were willing to come so far for

a sight of his gracious person— a sight, how-

ever, which he considered worth any sacrifice and

trouble. He seemed anxious to know the state

of public opinion in Europe with regard to himself

and his realm ; and inquired if much talk about his