be known to no one but yourself and to Uncle Ernest, until after the
meeting of Parliament, as it would be considered, otherwise, neglectful on
my part not to have assembled Parliament at once to inform them of it....
Lord Melbourne has acted in this business as he has always done towards me,
with the greatest kindness and affection. We also think it better, and
Albert quite approves of it, that we should be married very soon after
Parliament meets, about the beginning of February."

The King's reply from Wiesbaden is like the man, and is pathetic in the
depth of its gratification. "My dearest Victoria, nothing could have given
me greater pleasure than your dear letter. I had, when I learnt your
decision, almost the feeling of Old Simeon: 'Now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace.' Your choice has been for these last years my conviction
of what might and would be best for your happiness; and just because I was
convinced of it, and knew how strangely fate often changes what one tries
to bring about as being the best plan one could fix upon--the maximum of a
good arrangement--I feared that it would not happen."

In Prince Albert's letter to Baron Stockmar, written without delay, as he
says, "on one of the happiest days of my life to give you the most welcome
news possible," he goes on to declare that he is often at a loss to believe
that such affection should be shown to him. He quotes as applicable to
himself from Schiller's "Song of the Bell," of which the Prince was very
fond--

Das Auge sieht den Himmel offen,
Es schwimmt das Herz in seligkeit.

The passage from which these lines are taken is the very beautiful one thus
rendered in English by the late Lord Lytton:--