The Duke of Wellington was at this time (1834) a man sixty-five years old. He was in the prime of strength and health, with a capacity for work which the roughing and the hard service he had undergone in earlier life had not in the least impaired. In spite of the passing unpopularity due to his opposition to the Reform Bill, that led to his being publicly hooted in 1832, he had had many high offices bestowed upon him. He had now been a widower for three years.
CHAPTER II.
FIRST INTERVIEWS.
Miss J.'s first letter to the duke was written on the 15th of January, 1834, from Devonshire, where she was spending several months. She was greatly encouraged by receiving an answer from the duke by return post. This letter is unfortunately missing, nor does Miss J. give extracts from it, as from many others, but she indulges in a few comments upon it.
"It was," she says, "dated from Hartford Bridge, Jan. 18, 1833, instead of 1834,—a remarkable circumstance for one so accurate in such particulars. It had also a mistake in one place and a blot in two,—betraying consequently, I should imagine, feelings which overwhelmed him on the receipt of my Epistle; and since it is not at all unlikely that the same Lord who worked in me to write may ('His eyes being in every place') have allowed him to participate in the same in some way known only to Himself, in order to effect His purposes."
Stimulated by this reception of her first venture, Miss J. proceeded further, and on the 24th of April carried a Bible to the town-house of the Duke, and with her own hand gave it into the charge of the servant. She writes a minute account of this occurrence:—
"After earnest prayer the Bible was taken by me, with a fluttering, agitated feeling, to the Duke's gates and delivered into the porter's hands, after asking him if the Duke were at home. He replied, 'Yes, ma'am.' I then asked, 'Is he engaged?' He told me Lord—I forget his name—and Sir Thomas Somebody were with him. I then inquired, 'Who delivers parcels into His Grace's hands?' He respectfully said, 'I do, ma'am.' I rejoined, 'Then you will deliver that,'—returning home, marvelling wherefore such things were permitted, and what the end thereof would be. Of course a suitable note accompanied The Bible."
The Duke was not as prompt in acknowledging "The Bible" as he had been in replying to the first note, for he did not write until the 27th of August. Even then the letter was delayed by a mistake he made in the address, directing the envelope to Mrs., instead of Miss J. She says, "I presume he was in doubt on the subject whether I was a married or single lady, as my signature could not decide on that point." In this note the Duke asks if he may not have the pleasure of meeting her; and Miss J., acting under the advice of her friend Mrs. L., grants his request and expresses her own desire to know him,—"considering it may be The Lord's will to permit personal interviews, proposing under such circumstances to use my influence with him; accordingly craving the Divine blessing thereon."
From the Duke's reply, which follows, it is evident that she had corrected his uncertainty as to whether she was married or single: