The Irish Tithes question came on last night in the House of Commons,[39] and I am very anxious for the morning papers, to see what has been done.

Lord Melbourne looks remarkably well, Lord Palmerston not very well, and as for poor little Lord John Russell, he is only a shadow of himself.

It must be dreadfully fagging work for them; they sit so very late too, for when the Spanish question came on, the division only took place at four o'clock in the morning, and I saw them at the Drawing-Room the same day afterwards....
[Footnote 38: Lord Palmerston indignantly asked whether England should continue to fulfil her engagement with the Queen of Spain, or disgracefully abandon an ally whom she had pledged herself to succour.] [Footnote 39: The Irish Tithe Bill, a measure to facilitate the collection of tithes, was abandoned because the Tories would not consent to any secular appropriation of Church revenues, and the Whigs would not consent to the withdrawal of their amendments.

A remarkable feature in the Bill was a proposal that a portion of every clergyman's income should be applied to education, as was already prescribed by a former Act.] _The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._ _9th May 1837._ MY DEAREST UNCLE,--It was very kind of you to write to me from your new chateau; I hardly ventured to hope for my usual letter, and yet I should have been much disappointed had I not received it.

I am sorry that the house is so bad, but hope you will have found a good position for a new one....
Pray, dearest Uncle, may I ask such an indiscreet question as, if Major Stroekens is a clever man; he was so nervous and embarrassed when he came here, that I could not make him out.