He received here yesterday your Majesty's letter of the 25th inst., upon a paper adorned with many quaint and humorous Christmas devices, and Lord Melbourne begs to offer to your Majesty, most sincerely and most fervently, the good wishes of the Season.

Lord Melbourne will be in town on Friday evening next, and after that day will wait upon your Majesty, whenever your Majesty is pleased to command....
Lord Melbourne is very glad to hear that the King of the Belgians is reassured by his journey to Mons and his reception upon it.

He need not mind the King of Holland, if he can keep all right at Paris.
The railway smash[163] is awful and tremendous, as all railway mishaps are, and Lord Melbourne fears must always be.

These slips and falls of earth from the banks are the greatest danger that now impends over them, and if they take place suddenly and in the dark, Lord Melbourne does not see how the fatal consequences of them are to be effectually guarded against.

They are peculiarly likely to happen now, as the cuttings have been recently and hastily made, the banks are very steep, and the season has been peculiarly wet, interrupted by severe frosts.
Lord Melbourne received the deputation from Derby, a large and respectable one, here on Monday last.