I don't think there is any need of your directly expressing to anyone here your thanks for the distinction conferred upon you; the more so since you have already expressed them through the Portuguese Minister in London.
It is here that the Journal mentions the death of the friend whose letters have occupied such a prominent place in these pages:—
June 22nd.—Fête at Strawberry Hill. Lord Clarendon was there, looking very ill, and on the 27th he died—'Multis ille flebilis occidit, nulli flebilior quam mihi.'
To 'Fraser's Magazine' for August Reeve contributed a graceful article, 'In Memory of George Villiers, Earl of Clarendon,' in which, recording his many public services, he especially dwelt on the very important service he had rendered to his country during the period of his being Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and on the fact that this service had had the singular honour of being directly referred to in the Queen's Speech on proroguing Parliament on September 5th, 1848, which concluded, 'The energy and decision shown by the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland deserve my warmest approbation.' Reeve was told by Lady Clarendon that her husband 'regarded these emphatic words as the most enviable distinction of his life.'
At the same time another article, 'In Memoriam,' appeared in 'Macmillan's Magazine.' This was by Reeve's colleague at the Privy Council Office, Mr. Arthur Helps, whose acquaintance with Lord Clarendon had been by no means so intimate. His appreciation was thus written from general repute rather than from personal knowledge, but it contains one remarkable passage that may be repeated in order to emphasise it:—
'He—Lord Clarendon—was a man who indulged, notwithstanding his public labours, in an immense private correspondence. There were some persons to whom, I believe, he wrote daily; and perhaps in after years we shall be favoured—those of us who live to see it—with a correspondence which will enlighten us as to many of the principal topics of our own period.'
Whether Reeve was one of the persons Helps alluded to must remain doubtful. In the strict sense of the words, Lord Clarendon did not write to him daily; but at times he wrote not only daily, but three times a day, [Footnote: See ante, vol. i. pp. 296-7.] and the letters, or extracts of letters, now printed, form but a very small portion of the great number which Reeve preserved.
The Journal then mentions:—
July 3rd.—Breakfasted at Orleans House with Prince Philip of Würtemberg. Matters looked threatening abroad, and on the 14th the rupture took place between Franco and Prussia. On the 18th war was declared. On the 25th we dined at York House. I said to the Comte de Paris, 'How is the Emperor to attack Germany?' Nobody thought at first that the war would be in France; but we were soon undeceived, and I speedily discovered the danger. The Duc d'Aumale wrote to me, 'Vous avez deviné ma pensée de Français et de soldat.'
I had hired a small moor at Ballachulish from Cameron, the innkeeper there. Maclean of Ardgour, to whom it belonged, lent me a keeper and some dogs. The hills were steep, the shooting bad; but the life there most agreeable. I went down on August 3rd. W. Wallace was with us; and on the 5th we were installed at Ballachulish for six weeks. They were spent in shooting, sea-fishing, boating, &c. Fairfax Taylor [Footnote: Son of John Edward Taylor; see ante, p. 117.] came, and Longman. The Trevelyans Fyfes, and Forsters were at the hotel on the other side of the ferry. We were there forty-five days. I went back to town by Greenock on September 21st.