we took with us Captain Chads of the ‘Andromache,’ and a young Wilmot Horton, one of the midshipmen, Captain Blackwood of the ‘Hyacinthe,’ Captain Grey, and three of his midshipmen, which, with our own household, made up a party of sixteen. However, I went fast asleep the instant we got on board, so they did not hurt me; but I saw nothing of the river in consequence. Our own servants, including the bargemen and the kitchen-servants, were all either in the steamer that towed us, or in the state barges, and they were rather more than 400 people—such a simple way of going to pass two nights in the country. We arrived before 5 p.m. Barrackpore is a charming place, like a beautiful English villa on the banks of the Thames—so green and fresh; the house is about the size of Cashiobury, to all appearance, but it just holds George, Fanny, and me, the rest of the party all sleep in thatched cottages built in the park; the drawing and dining-rooms are immense, and each person requires two or three rooms besides a bath in this country, so as to be able to change rooms from the sun. We were carried round the gardens, which are delightful, and I see that
