I had--I may say so without seeming to boast--the manners of the best society of Europe, having early moved in it, and been rather what is called in French _de la fleur des pois_.

A good judge I therefore was, but Charlotte found it rather hard to be so scrutinised, and grumbled occasionally how I could so often find fault with her.
Nothing perhaps speaks such volumes as the _positive fact_ of her manners getting _quite changed_ within a year's time, and that to the openly pronounced satisfaction of the very fastidious and not over-partial Regent.

To explain how it came that manners were a little odd in England, it is necessary to remember that England had been for more than ten years completely cut off from the rest of the world....
We have bitter cold weather which has given colds to both the children.

Uncle Ferdinand [22] is now only arriving _si dice_ on Sunday next.

He has been robbed of 15,000 francs in his own room _au Palais-Royal_, which is very unpleasant for all parties.
My letter is so long that I must haste to conclude it, remaining ever, my beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle, LEOPOLD R.
My love to Alberto.
[Footnote 19: Prince Charles of Leiningen.] [Footnote 20: The three sisters, Mrs Norton, Lady Dufferin, and Lady Seymour (afterwards Duchess of Somerset), the latter of whom was "Queen of Beauty" at the Eglinton Tournament, were grand-daughters of R.B.Sheridan.Lord Melbourne was much in Mrs Norton's company, and Norton, for whom the Premier had found a legal appointment, sued him in the Court of Common Pleas for _crim.