26 FEBRUARY 1870, Page 1

The Prince of Wales is, we are happy to say,

well out of this mud. He gave his evidence ou Wednesday very posi- tively, and in a style which impressed all who were in Court most favourably ; nor was his evidence on oath much needed after the publication of his extremely harmless letters to Lady Mordaunt, which contained very strong indirect evidence of the innocent character of the friendship. The letters, indeed, remind one a good deal of the universal schoolboy type of epis- tolary composition, which consists in retailing morsels of fact and wish, after such a fashion as this, for instance :—" I hope you are very well. I am very well. Yesterday papa gave me a knife. We have had a jolly frost, and such good sliding ; all the ponds are frozen. Tom has got the measles. I had the measles two years ago. Good bye. I am your affectionate friend." It is really quite a pleasure to read such unsophisticated, abrupt statements of fact as fill the Prince's communications to Lady Mordaunt, from the heir to the Crown. There is both kindness and great literary simplicity in such an offer as " if there is anything else (besides horses) which I can do for you, please let me know." Of course, the Prince didn't write these good-natured hasty little notes for publication, and it would be absurd to take them as any measure of his intellectual ability. The only fair criticism they suggest is that the Prince must have had a great deal of spare time on his hands when he wrote them.