'This will be a short letter as the time passed since I wrote is small. We arrived here about noon to-day, having had a good passage and are all well. You will by this time feel that I am returning, and that my face is towards home. The King has pressed me to stay and go to the Rhine with him, but I have decided the point, and have declined his great kindness, thus I shall keep my word and hope to be at home again, at the time I stated.
'I believe I told you that the fête passed off well, our promenade amongst the lamps in the garden was stupid enough. I tried to stir the Maids of Honour up a little, but it was hard work even to make them laugh, and the people looked glum, being as it were a sort of contradiction to the illuminated garden. The last day was a day of repose. The next day being Saturday, the Imperial Family received us to take leave, and nothing could be more truly kind and affectionate in manner than they all were to me. I say to me, for I know not what was said to others, but I have no doubt they were so to all the Prussians. The Emperor and Empress both gave me special messages to the Queen. I then, when the audience was over, drove to visit the Grand Duke Michael at Orienbaum, about six miles from Peterhoff, an ancient palace, and a very fine one, I think. The Grand Duchess Helena, his wife, is a most charming lady and very lovely; she took me all over the house, and showed me how little by little she was making it comfortable.
'The Grand Duchess Marie did not see me, and I was very sorry for it. At twelve o'clock the King and Emperor came on board the Bogatir and we got under way immediately. At about one we passed Cronstadt; at half-past one we had passed the last ship of the fleet. I was standing on the paddle-box near the Emperor and King, when on a rocket being thrown up from the Bogatir, all the fleet, mounting 3500 pieces of cannon, discharged all the guns at once, and the Emperor at the same moment took the King in his arms and embraced him. This bit of stage effect took me by surprise and affected me exceedingly; there was something very imposing and touching in this coup de théâtre and the King was much affected. After this the boat was manned for the Emperor to depart, and he stood some time on deck without speaking, the King and all of us standing near him. I saw he was much moved. At last he pressed the King in his arms and kissed him; after he embraced the Prussians. When he came to me, he held out his hand; I gave him mine and bowed, but he said, "No, no; you must do so," and taking me round the neck kissed me most affectionately.
'I assure you it was a very striking scene and I shall never forget it; he was no more the Emperor, but a warm-hearted man. He was most affected at parting with the King, and this had softened him towards all, and his heart was uppermost. I was glad to see him thus. I did not think before he was a man of feeling, but he has a warm and affectionate heart. I shall not easily forget this evening.
'Our voyage was too good a one to produce any anecdote worth relating. As I passed the bar I remembered that I was indebted to its broken waves for my present station. The King spoke to me of Royston's death; he was at Memel when it happened and remembered all the circumstances of it. He knew Mrs. Potter very well. We start to-morrow on our way to Silesia, our first day's journey is to Tilsit….
'CHARLES.'
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ERDSMANSDORFF: July 27.
'I arrived here last night about six o'clock after a prosperous journey of four days and one night from Königsberg, from which place my last letter is dated. The Queen is just arrived, the King is expected about four in the afternoon. From Memel to this place the whole country is flat and tame. Erdsmansdorff is situated at the foot of a large mountain that separates Silesia from Bohemia, called Riesengeberg, which means "Great Mountain"; the chief of the chain is opposite my windows, the highest in Germany, being 4983 feet above the level of the sea. The outline of this chain is undulating but not bold. The valley is lovely, and the King is building a house here; the grounds are partially laid out, we are living in a building which will form a part of the offices of the new house. My apartment is on the ground floor, and the King and Queen are above me. The people are an industrious race. Here is a colony of Tyrolese the King received and gave lands to; they were persecuted by the Catholics on the other side of the mountains, and he said, "Come here, and I will give you rest." So here they are 300, and have built themselves houses after the fashion of their country, which has much added to the beauty and picturesqueness of this land.
'I cannot say how well I am treated everywhere, you cannot conceive the civility and attention that I have received from all and everyone, poor and rich, a proof how much the King is loved; for the poor know me as the King's friend.