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I by errata med to nent une pelure, facon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 mJ^-^QlRl/K UKh WAJKSTY THK QUEEN r^ KMORAVKD Hr- H A AN; l.F.';'; KHOMTiiK BuKT BY JOr.KPl! nUHHAW :'C)R01!T0 fiKOi'OK VIRTUI' r^ ■%^ '%v i BOH : .'•. B. Vli RTIiTia ft. C9 LlMlTiSa. rOI-fOMTO OEOHOK VUCPUK- *% 6^.^ •i*^ ^ j V i^i-^jJ o:v^ ■wu- i'\' (',,!, (M\S' ?'Si] ^OiJEilW ^ A' - . '.. '^ • ■ . 'C-'y/ ^' '^. - •''''' lA .t.;tNir>.OH, .r.R. vinsTrj'j; ?. r-^ La/iiTES. i df prct'uce to this work. ■*• If the life-long h-iendship of my nioth'-r with hor Majosty, which guiued for me the honour of often seeing tlio Queen, or a deep feeling of loyalty and atfection for our sovereign, which is shared by all her subjects, be accejjtcd as a qualitication, I gratefully respond to the call, but 1 feel that no written words of niino can add value to the following pages. Looking over some papers lately, I found the following note on a sketch which I had accidentally met with in Windsor Castle — a coloured chalk drawing, a mere study of one of the Queen's hands, by Sir David Wilkie, probably nuido for his pict'To now in the corridor of the Castle, representing the first council of Victoria. Of this sketch I wrote as follows : — " I was looking in one of the private rooms at Windsor Castle at a chalk sketch, by Sir David Wilkie, of a fair, soft, long-tingcred, dimpled hand, with a graceful wrist attacVod to a rounded arm. ' Only a woman's hand,' might Svtift, hud ho seen that sketcii, have written below. Only a sketch of a woman's hand ; but what memories that sketch recalls ! How many years ago Wilkie drew it I know not: that great artist died in the iimnth of June, 1841, so that morcj than forty years have passed, at least, since ho made that drawing. The hand that limned this work has long ago suifercd 'a sea change.' And the hand which he portrayed? That is still among the living — still occupied ■with dispensing aid and comfort to the suffering and the afflicted, for the original is that of a Queen, beloved as widely as her realms extend — the best of sovereigns, the kindest-hearted of women." To write the life of Queen Victoria is a task which many authors might well have felt incompetent to undertake. To succeed in writing it is an honour of which any author may well be proud. This honour I humbly think has been realised in the work of 'vhich these poor lines may form the preface. EONALD GOWEE. 1^1 pi N f CONTENTS. VOL. I. CHAP. I. Sixty-three Tears Since .... II. Childhood III. Youth .... rV. The Accession ... V. The Proroqiting of PAa,LiAMENT, THE Visit to au,JT^v,^rr .,,„ /-, «i, liir, visii 10 UUILDHALL, AND THE CORONATION VI. The Maiden Queen VII. The Betrothal .... VIII. The Marriage IX. A EoYAL Pair ... X. EoYAL Occupations.— An Attempt on the Queen's Life XI. The First Christening.— The Season of 1841 XII. Birth of the Prince of Wales.-Tiie Afghan Dis. — The Queen's Plantaoenet Ball Xin. Fresh Attempts against the Queen's Life.-Mendelssohn.-De XIV. The Queen's First Visit to Scotland .... XV. A Marriage, a Death, and a Birth in the Royal Family.-A Palace Home XVI. The Condemnation of the English l ......Another Marriage.-The Queen's Visit to Chateau d'Eu .... XVn. The Queen's Trip to Osten'd.-Visits to Drayton, Chatsworth, a>'d Belv XVIII. ALLiEb FROM Afah.-Death AND Absence.-Birthday Greetings XIX. EoYAi, Visitors.-The Birth of Prince Alfred.-A Northern Retreat . XX. Louis Philippe's Visit.-The Opening of the Royal Exchange \STERs.— Visit of the King of Prussia. ATH OF the Due d'Ori.kans TOIH PAGE 1 13 35 49 65 89 95 114 125 135 146 153 166 174 187 199 207 215 221 228 LIST OF STEEL PLATES. VOL. I. ♦ PAGE • Her Majesty the Queen (Victoria) . . . , FrontUpiect Balmoral VignetU Windsor Castle To Face 10 r Victoria 64 . Tub Queen's Horses 76 Her Majesty the Queen 86 / Dover — The Landing of Prince Albert 112 His Royal Hioiimess Prince Ai.uert .116 • The Princess Eoyal 146 . The Prince op Wales 153 ( Albert 172 / The Princess Alice 190 I The Prince Alfred 224 / Osborne House (from the North) 232 aUEEN VICTORIA. ]E CIIAl'TEll I. sixty-thui;e ykars since. ii rPHE 24th of May, 1819, was a memorable and happy doy for England, thongh. Hlco many such days, it was little noticed at the time. Sixty-three years since ! JJo many of us quite realise what England was like then ; how much it diflforcd from the England of to-day, even though some of us have lived as many years ? It is worth while devoting a chapter to an attempt to recall that England. A famous novel had for its second heading, " 'Tis sixty years since." That novel — " Waverley "— was published anonymously just five years before 1819, and, we need not Bay, proved an era in literature. The sixty years behind him to which Walter Scott— a man of forty-three— looked over his shoulder, carried him as far back as the landing of Prince Oharlie in Moidart, and the brief romantic campaign of the '46, with the Jacobite songs which embalmed it and kept it fresh in Scotch memories. The wounds dealt at Waterloo still tlirobbcd and burnt on occasions in 1819. Many a scarred veteran and limping subaltern continued the heroes of remote towns and villages, or starred it at Bath or Tunbridge. The warlike fever, which had so long raged in the country, even when ruined manufacturers and starving mechanics wore praying for peace or leading bread-riots, had but partially abated ; because whatever wrong to trade, and misery to the poor, closed ports and war prices might have meant, the people still depended upon their armed defenders, and in the hardest adversity foimd the heart to share their triumphs, to illuminate cities, light bonfires, cheer lustily, and not grudge parliamentary grants to the country's protectors. The "Eagle" was caged on his rock in the ocean, to eat his heart out in less than half-a-dozen years. Still there was no saying what might happen, and the sight of a red coat and a sword remained cheering— especiallv to soft hearts. QUEEN VICTORIA. m The commercial world was slowly recovering from its dire distress. Init its weavers and mechanics were blazing up into fierce, futile struggle with the powers by which masses of the people believed themselves oppressed. If the men of war had no longer anything to do abroad, there was great fear that work might be found for them at home. All Europe was looking on in the expectation that England was about to follow the example of France, and indulge in a revolution on its own account — not bloodless this time. llarely since the wars of the Commonwealth had high-treason been so much in men's mouths as it was in Great Britain during this and thr following year. Sedition smouldered and burst into flame — not in one place alone, but at every point of the compass. The mischief was not confined to a single class ; it prevailed mostly among the starving operatives, but it also fired minds of quite another calibre. Eash, generous spirits in every rank became affected, especially after an encounter between the blinded, maddened mobs and the military, when dragoons and yeomanry charged with drawn swords, and women and children went down under the horses' hoofs. Great riotous meetings were dis- persed by force at Manchester, Birmingham, Paisley. Political trials went on at every assize. Bands of men lay in York, Lancaster, and Warwick gaols. At Stockport Sir Charles Wolseley told a crowd armed with bhulgcons that he had been in Paris at the beginning of the French Revolution, that ho was the first man who made a kick at tno Bastille, and that he hoped he should be present at the demolition of another Bastille. On the 22iid of August, 1819, Sir Francis Burdett wrote to his electors at West- minster: *'.... It seems our fathers were not such fools as some would make us believe m ODDOsing the establishment of a standing army and sending King William's Dutch guards out of the country. Yet would to heaven they had been Dutchmen, or Switzers, or Eussians, or Hanoverians, or anything rather than Englishmen who have done such deeds. What! kill men unarmed, unresisting; and, gracious God! women too, disfigured, maimed, cut down, and tram^jled on by dragoons ! Is this England ? This a Christian land — a land of freedom ? " For this, and a great deal more. Sir Francis, after a protracted trial, was sentenced to pay a fine of two thousand pounds and to be imprisoned for three months in the Marshalsea of the Court. In the Cato Street conspiracy the notorious Arthur Thistlcwood and his fellow-conspirators planned to assassinate the whole of the Cabinet Ministers when they were dining at Lord Harrowby's house, in Grosvenor Square. Forgery and sheep- stealing were still punishable by death. Truly these were times of trouble in England. In London a serious difficulty presented itself when Queen Charlotte grew old and ailing, and there was no royal lady, not merely to hold a Drawing-room, but to lend the SIXTVTHREE YEARS SINCE. necessary touch of dignity and decorum to tho gaieties of the season. The exigency lent a new impetus to the famous balls at Aluiack's. An anonymous novel of the day, full of society scandal and satire, described tho despotic sway of the lady patronesses, the struggles and intrigues for vouchers, and the distinguished crowd when the object was obtained. The earlier hours, alas ! only gave longer time for the drinking habits of the Eegency. It is a little difficult to understand what young people did with themselves in the country when lawn-tennis and croquet were not. Tliero was archery for tho few, and a good deal more amateur gardening and walking, with field-sports, of course, for the lads. The theatre in 1819 was more popular than it showed itself twenty years later. Every country town of any pretensions, in addition to its assembly rooms had its theatre, which reared good actors, to which provincial tours brought London stars. Genteel comedy was not past its perfection. Adaptations of the Waverley novels, with musical dramas and melodramas, drew gieat houses. Miss O'Neill had just retired, but Ellen Tree was making a success, and Macrcady was already distinguished in his profession. Still the excellence and prestige of the stage had declined incontestably since the days of Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble. Edmund Kcan, though he did much for tragedy, had a short time to do it in, and was not equal in his passion of genius to the sustained majesty of the sister and brother. In the same way the painters' art hovoicd on the borders of a brilliant epoch. For Lawrence, with his courtly brush, which preferred flattery to truth and cloying suavity to noble simplicity, was not worthy to be named in the same breath with Eeynolds. Ilaeburn came nearer, but his reputation was Scotch. Blake in his inspiration was regarded, not without reason, as a madman. Flaxman called for classic taste to appreciate him ; and the fame of English art would have suffered both at home and abroad if a simple, manly lad had not quitted a Scotch manse and sailed from Leith to London, bringing with him indelible memories of the humour and the pathos of peasant life, and reproducing them with such graphic fidelity, power, and tenderness that the whole world has heard of David Wilkie. The pause between sunset and sunrise, the interregnum which signifies that a phase in some department of the world's history has passed away as a day is done, and a new development of h lan experience is about to present itself, was over in literature. The romantic period had succeeded the classic. Scott, Coleridge, Southey (Wordsworth stands alone), Byron, Shelley, Keats, Campbell, Moore, were all in the field as poets, !] 4 QUEEN VIC TOR FA. carrying the young world with them, and roplucing their immediate predecessors, Cowper, Thompson, Young, Bcattie, and other.s of loss note. Sir Walter Scott had also risen high aVove the horizon as a poet, and still higher as a novelist. A great start in periodical literature was nia'Je in 1802 by the establishment of Tht, Edinburgh Review, under Jeffrey and Sydney Smith, and again in 1817 by the publication of BlackwooiPs Magazine, with Christopher Noith for its editor, and Lockhart, Pe Quincey, Hogg, and Delta among its earlier contributors. The people's friend, Charles Knight, was still editing The Windsor and Eton Express. In 1819 Sir Humphry Davy was the most popular exponent of science, Sir James Mackintosh of philosophy. In politics, abovo the tl understorra of discontent, there was agi'.in the pause which anticipates a fresh advance. The groat Whig and Tory statesmon, Charles James Fox and William Pitt, were dead in 1800, and their mantles did not fall immediately on fit successors. The abolition of the slave-trade, for which Wilberforee, Zachary Macaulay, and Clarkson had fought gallantly and devotedly, was accomplished. But the Catholic Emancipation Bill was still to work its way in the teeth of bitter " No Popery " traditions, and Earl Grey's Eeform Bill tad not yet seen the light. George III.'s long reign was drawing to a close. What chsages it had seen from the War of American Independence to Waterloo ! What woeful personal contrasts since the honest, kindly, comely lad, in his simple kingliness, rode out in the summer sunshine past Holland House, whv^re Lady Sarah Lennox was making hay on the lawn, to the days when the blind, mad old king sat in bodily and mental darkness, isolated from the wife and children he had loved so well, immured in his tlistant palace-rooms in royal Windsor. His silver beard o'er a bosom spread Unvexed bj life's commotion, Like a yearly lengthening snow-drift shed On the cahii of a frozen ocean : Still o'er liim oblivion's waters lay, Tliougli the sUf'.m of time kept flowing • When they spoke of our King, 'twas bnt to say That the old maa's strength was going. At intervals thus the waves disgor^je, By weakness rent asunder, A piece of the wreck of the Royal George For the people's pity and wonder. Lady Sarah, too, became blind in h(>r age, and, alas ! she had trodden darker paths than any prepared ibr her feet by the visitation of God. SIXTl'-TJIREE I'EARS SINCE. | Queon Charlotte had como with her sense and si)iiit, and ruled for more than fifty years over a pure Court in England. The German princess of sixteen, with her spare little person and largo mouth, ■which prevented her from being comely, and her solitary accomplishment of playing on the harpsichord with as much correctness and taste as if she had been taught by Mr. Handel himself, had identifcd herself with the nation, so that no suspicion of foreign proclivities ever attached to hcr. Queen Charlotte bore her trials bravely ; while those who came nearest to her could tell that she was not only a fierce little dragon of virtue, as she has been described, but a loving woman, full of love's wounds and scars. The family of George III. and Queen Charlotte consisted of seven sons and six daughters, besides two sons who died in infancy. George, Prince of Wales, married, 1795, his cousin. Princess Caroline of Brunswick, daughter of the reigning Duke and of Princess Augusta, sister of George III. The Prince and Princess of Wales separated soon after their marriage. Their only child was Princess Charlotte of Wales. Frederick, Duke of York, married, 1791, Princess Fredcrica, daughter of the reigning King of Prussia. The couple were childless. William, Duke of Clarence, married, 1818, Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. Two daughters were born to them, but both died in infancy. Edward, Duke of Kent, married, 1818, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, widow of the Prince of Leiningen. Their only child is Queen Yictoru. Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, married, 1815, Princess Frederica of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, widow, first of Prince Frederick Louis of Prussia, and second, of the Prince of Salms-Braunfels. Their only child was George V., King of Hanover. Augustus, Duke of Sussex, married morganatically. Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, married, 1818, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, daughter of the Landgrave of Ilcsse-Cassel. They had three children — George, Duke of Cambridge ; Princess Augusta, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz ; and Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck. The daughters of King George and Queen Chai-lotte were: — The Princess Eoyal, married, 1797, the Prince, afterwards King, of Wurtemberg, Childless. Princess Augusta, unmarried. Princess Elizabeth, ma^.ried, 1818, the Landgrave of ITesse-Homburg. Childless. Princess Mary, married, 1816, her cousin, William, Duke of Gloucester. Childless. 1 6 QUEEN VICTORIA. Princess Sophia, unmarried. Princess Amelia, unmarried. In 1817 the pathetic idyl, wrought out amidst harsh discord, had found its earthly close in the family vault at Windsor, amidst the lamentations of the whole nation. Princess Charlotte, the candid, fearless, affectionate girl, whose youth had been clouded by the sins and follies of others, but to whom tlie country had turned as to a stay ibr the future — fragile, indeed, yet still full of hope — had wedded woll, known a year of blissful compar ionship, and then died in giving birth to a dead heir. It is sixty-five years since that November day, when the bonfires, ready to bo li'; at every town " cross," on every hill-side, remained dark and cold. Men looked at each other in blank dismay ; women wept for the blushing, smiling bride, who had driven w)ui uer grandmother through the park on hor way to be married not so many months before. There are comparatively few people alive who had come to man's or woman's estate when the shock was experienced ; but we have all heard from our predecessors the story which has lent to Claremont a tender, pensive grace, especially for royal young pairs. Old Queen Charlotte nerved herself to make a last public appearance on the 11th of July, 1818, four months before her death. It was in her presence, at Kew, that a royal marriage and re-marriage were celebrated that day. The Duke of Clarence was married to Princess Adelaide of Saxc-Meiningen, anv'. ao Duke of Kent was re-married, in strict accordance with the English Royal Marriage Act, to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, the widowed Princess of Leiningen. The last couple had been alroady united at Coburg in the month of May. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London officiated at the double ceremony. The brides were given away by the Prince "i?cgent. The Queen retired immediately afterwards. Bi.t a grand banquet, at wLioa the Prince Eegent presided, was given at six o'clock in the evening. An hour later the Duke and Duchess of Kent drove off in her brother. Prince Leopold's, carriage to Claremont. Of the two bridegrooms we ha-e ghmpses from Baron Stockraar, a shiewd ob.server, who was no flatterer. The Duke of Clarence, at fifty-three years of age, was the " smallest and least good- looking of the brothers, decidedly like his mother, as talkative as the rest ; " and wo may add that he was also endowed with a sailor-like frankness, cordiality, and good humour, which did not, however, prevent stormy ebullitions of temper, that recommended him to the nation of that day as a specimen of a princely blue-jacket. Since the navy was not considered a school of manners, he vvas excused for the absence of much culture or refinement. ! SIXTy-TllREE YEARS SINCE. "Tho Duko of Kent, at fifty-ono, was a tall, stalely nmii, of soldlorliko bearing, already inclined to great corpulence He had seen much of tho world, and of men. Ilia manner in society was pleasant and easy. He was not without ability and cultiirn, and he possessed great activity. His dependents complained of his strictness and pedantic love of order Tho Duke was well aware that his influence was but small, but thia did not prevent him from forwarding the petitions ho received whenever it was possible, with liis own recommendation, to the public departments Liberal political principles were at that time in the minority in England, and as tho Duko professed them, it can bo imagined how he was hated by the powerful party then dominant. Ho was on most unfriendly terms with his brothers The Duke proved au amiable and courteous, even chivalrous, husband." Judiciously, in the circumstances, neither of the brides w.as in her first youth, tho future Queen Adelaide having been, at twenty-six, the younger of tho two. Tho Duchess of Kent, a little over thirty, had been already mariicd, in 1803, when she was seventeen, to Prince Emich Charles of Leiningcn. Eleven years afterwards, in 1814, she was left a widow with a son and daughter. Four years later she married tho Duke of Kent. The brides were very different in looks and outward attractions. The Duchess of Clarence, with hair of a peculiar colour approaching to a lemon tint, weak eyes, and a bad com- plexion, was plain. She wag also quiet, reserved, and a little stiff, while she ai>pcars lo have had no special accomplishments, beyond a great capacity for carpet-work, Tho Duchess of Kent, with a fine figure, good features, brown hair and eyes, a pretty pink colour, winning manners, and graceful accomplishments — particularly music, formed a handsome, agreeable woman, " altogether most charming and attractive." But both Duchesses were possessed of qualities in compiirison with which beauty is deceitful and favour is vain — qualities which are calculated to wear well. Queen Adelaide's goodness and kindness, her unselfish, unassuming womanliness and devout resignation to sorrow and suffering, did more than gain and keep the heart of her bluff, eccentric sailor-prince. They secured for her the respectful regard of the nation among whom she dwelt, whether as Queen or Qucen-dowager. "'he Archbishof of Canterbury could say of her, after her husband's death, " For three weeks prior to his (King "William's) dissolution, the Queen sat by his bedside, performing for him every office which a sick man could require, and depriving herself of all manner of rest and refection. She underwent labours which I thought no ordinary woman could endure. "No language can do justice to the meekness and to the calmness of mind which she sought to keep up before the King, while sorrow was pressing on her heart. Such • QUEEN VIC I OKI A. coiistai'sy of affect ion, I think, was ono of the moHt intorcsliiig spcctarh^s that roiild bo prosented to a niiiul dosirous of bcinjj; gratiflt'd with th(^ sight of hunmn cxcol- lonco." • Such gracos, groat enough to resist tiie tcniptutioiis of the highest rank, might well be singled out as worthy of all iniitation. Tho Duchess of KcMit proved herself the best of mothers — as she was the best of wives, during her short time of wedlock — ia tho self-renunciation and self-devotion with which, through al' tics, aiul in spito of every opposition and misconception, she pursued the even tenor of lier way. Not for two or ton, but for well-nigh twenty years, she gave herself up unreservedly, turning her buck on her country with all its strong early ties, to rearing a good queen, worthy of her high destiny. England owes much to tho memories of Queen Adelaide and the Duchess of Kent, who succeeded Queen Charlotte, tho one as Queen Consort, the other as mother of tho future sovereign, aiul not oidy served as the salt to savour their royal circles, but kept up nobly the tradition of honourable women among tho queens and princesses of England, handing d(nvu the high obligation to younger generations. The IJuke and Duchess of Kent withdrew to Germany after their re-marriage, and resided at tho castle of Amorbach, in Bavaria, part of the inheritance of her young son. The couple returned to England that their child might be bom there. Tho Duke had a strong impression that, notwithstanding his three elder brothers, the Crown would como to him and his children. The persuasion, if they knew it, was not likely to be acceptable to the other Princes. Certainly, in the face of tho Duke's money embarrassments, his kinsmen granted no assistance to enable tho future Queen of England to be born in her own dominions. It was by the help of private friends that the Duke gratified his natural and wise wish. Apartments in Kensington Palace were assigned to the couple. The old queen had died at Kew, surrounded by such of her daughters as were in tho country, and by several of her sons, in the month of November, 1818. George III. was dragging out his days at Windsor. Tho Prince Regent occupied Carlton House. The Kensington of 1819 was not the Kensington of to-day. In spito of the palace and gardens, which are comparatively little altered, the great crowded quarter, with its Museum and Albert Hall, is as unlike as possible to the courtly village to which the Duke and Duchess of Kent came, and where the Queen spent her youth. That Kensington consisted mainly of a fine old square, built in the time of James II., in which the foreign amba.'"*adors and the bishops in attendance at Court congregated in the days of "William * Dr. Doran. siXTr-Tniu:r. yi:.\ns since. nnd Mury, iiiul Anno, and of n fow tcrmcoHiind blocks of buildings flcn(ti>rod nloiip (lir Oroat Western Iloiid, whoro conchos parsed several times a day. Otlior centres round wliich Hmaller buildiuf^selustored were Kcnsinf^ton Ilouso—wliicli hud lately lieen a school Tor the Bons of FreiK'h imujris of rank — the old chureh, and Holland House, the fine seat of tho Riches and the Foxes. Tho Ilif^h Street extended a very littlo way on each side of tho church and was best known by its Charity School, and its pastrycook's shop, at tho sign of tljo *' Pineapple," to whisidence. The Duke of Sussex, as well as tho Duko and Duchess of Kent, had apartments in the palace. He dwelt in the portion of the southern front understood to belong to the original building. His brother and sister-in-law were lodged not far off, but their apartments formed part of an addition made by King William, who employed Sir Christopher Wren as his architect. The clumsy, homely structure, with its three courts — the Clock Court, the Pj-inces' Court, and the Princesses' Court — had many interesting associations in addition to its air of venerable respectability. William and Mary resided frequently in the palace which they had chosen ; and both died under its roof. Mary sat up in one of these rooms, on a dreary December night in 1694, after she felt herself stricken with small-pox, seeking out and burning all the papers in her possession which might compromise others. The silent, asthmatic, indonutabU> little man was carried back here after his fall from his horse eight years later, to draw his last breath where Mary had laid down her crown. Here Anne sat, with her fan in her mouth, speaking in monosyllables to her circle. 10 0C/1A'llenad in those rooms, for the diversion of his royal mistress and tho princesses, with their ladies and gentlemen, tho false account of his own death, caused by an encounter with footpads on tho dangerous road between London and tho country palace, lie added an audacious description of the nianucr in M'hich iho news was received at Court, and of tho behaviour of the principal persons in tho circle. "With George II. and Queen Carolino the first glory of the palace departed, for the early Court of George III. and Queen Charlotte took its country pleasures at Kow. Then followed the selection of Windsor for the chief residence of the sovereigns. The promenades in the gardens, to which the great world of London flocked, remained for a season as a vestige of former grandeur. In George II.'s time tho gardens were only thrown open on Saturdays, when the Court went to Eiehmond. Afterwards the public were admitted every day, muler certain restrictions. So late as 1820 these promenades were still a feature on Sunday mornings. Kensington Palace has not yet changed its outward aspect. It still stands, with its forcing-houses, and Queen Anne's bauqueting-room — converted into an orangery — in its small private grounds, fenced off by a slight railing and an occasional hedge from tho public gardens. The principal entrance, nnder the clock-tower, leads to a plain, square, red courtyard, which has a curious foreign aspect in its quiet simplicity, as if the Brunswick princes had brought a bit of Germany along with them Avhcn they came to reign here ; and there are other red courtyards, equally unpretentious, with more or less old-fashioned doors and windows. V/ithin, tho building has sustained many alterations. Since it ceased to be a seat of the Court, the palace has furnished residences for various members of the royal family, and for different officials. Accordingly, the interior has been divided and partitioned off to suit the requirements of separate households. But i .^_. .5 I ■{I Q.'iVJ^O 1/8 1 iiml iho ■t!' the ! IJ of' f' in-- t ;i>;.i .r the ♦liO liiH^- i iiitit an orati' I :l I i i % :^ "^ r" SIXTY-THREE YEARS SINCE. tl the great staircase, imposing in its broad, shallow steps of black marble and its faded frescoes, still conducts to a succession of dismantled Pri^seiice-chambers and State-rooms. The pictures and tapestry have been taken from the walls, the old panelling is bare. The distin( tions which remain are the fine proportions of the apartments — the marble pillars and niches of one ; the remains of a richly-carved chimneypiece in another ; the highly-wrought ceilings, to which ancient history and allegory have supplied grandiose figures — their deep colours unfaded, the ruddy burnish of their gilding as splendid as ever. Here and there great black-and-gold court-stools, raised at the sides, and finished off with bullet heads of dogs, arouse a recollection of Yersailles or Fontainebleau, and look as if they had offered seats to Court ladies in hoops and brocades, and gentlemen-in- waiting in velvet coats and breeches and lace cravats. One seat is more capacious iuixii the others, with a round back, and in its heavy black-and-gold has the look of an informal throne. It might easily have borne the gallant William, or even the extensive proportions of Anne. There is a word dropped of " old kings " having died in the closed rooms behind these doors. George II., in his old age? or William, worn out in his prime? or it may be heavy, pacific George of Denmark, raised to the kingiy rank by the courtesy of vague tradition? The old chapel was in this part of the house. Leigh Hunt tells us it was in this chapel George I. asked the bishops to have good short sermons, because he was an old man, and when he was kept long, he fell asleep and caught cold. It must have been a curious old chapel, with a round window admitting scanty light. The household and servants sat below, while a winding staircase led round and up to a closed gallery in near proximity to the pulpit. It was only a man's conscience, or a sense of what was due to his physical well-being, which could convict him of slumbering in such a peaceful retreat. It is said that her late Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent objected to the obscurity of this place of worship, and, to meet her objections, the present little chapel was fitted up. The Duchess of Kent's rooms wore in an adjacent wing ; spacious rooms enough, and only looking the more habitable and comfortable for the moderate height of the ceilings. In a room with three windows on one side, looking out on the private grounds, the Queen was born. It was thiiilviug of it and its occupants that the warm-hearted, quick-witted Duchess-mother, in Coburg, wrote : " I cannot express how happy I am to know you, dearest, dearest Vickel, safe in your bed, with a little one Again a Charlotte — destined, perhaps, u play a great part one day, if a brother is not born to take it out of her hands. The English like queens ; and the niece (by marriage) of the ever-laraeu ;ed, beloved Charlotte, will be most dear to them." 12 QUEEN VICTORIA. In another wide, low room, with white pillars, some eighteen years later, the buhy Princess, become a maiden Qneon, held her first Council, surrounded by kindred who had stood at her font — hoary heads wise in statecraft, great prelates, great luwyers, a great soldier, and she an innocent girl at their head. No relic could leave such an impression as this room, with its wonderfully pathetic scene. But, indeed, there are few other traces of the life that budded into dawning womanhood here, which will be always linked with the memories of Kensington Palace. An upper room, sunny and cheerful, even on a winter's day, having a pleasant view out on the open gardens, with their straight walks and great pond, where a child might forget sometimes that she had lessons to learn, was a princess's school-room. Here the good Baroness who played the part of governess so sagaciously and faithfully may have slipped into the book of history the genealogical table which was to tell so startling a tale. In another room is a quaint little doU's-house, with the different rooms, which an active-minded child loved to arrange. The small frying-pans and plates still hang above the kitchen dresser ; the cook stands unwearied by the range ; the chairs are placed round the tables ; the tiny tea-service, which tiny fingers delighted to handle, is set out ready for company. But the owner has long done with make-believes, has worked in earnest, discharged great tasks, and borne the bui'deu and heat of the day, in reigning over a great empire. :^ CHArTEE II. CH i'iDHOOD. TN the months of March and May, 1819, the following announcements of royal births appeared in succession in the newspapers of the day, no doubt to the satisfaction alike of anxious statesmen and village politicians beginn: I. jj to grow anxious over the chances of the succession : — "At Hauover, March 26, her Eoyal Highness the Duchess of Cambrid^'i, of a son ; and on March 27, her Eoyal Highness the Duchess of Clarence, of a daughter, the latter only surviving a few hours." "24th May, at KeD'".)_,ton Palace, her Eoyal Highness the Duchess of Kent, of a daughter." " 27th May, at her hotel in Berlin, her Eoyal Higlinestj the Duchess of Cumberland, of a son." Thus her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria first saw the light in Kensington Palace on the 24th of May, 1819, one in a group of cousins, all, save herself, born out of England. The Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Wellington, and other officers of State were in attendance on the occasion, though the probability of her succession to the throne was then very doubtful. The Prince Ecgcnt had already made overtures towards procuriiig a divorce from the Princess of Wales. If he were to revive them, and prove successful, he might marry again and have heirs. The Duchess of Clarence, who had just given birth to an infant that had only survived a few hours, might yet be the joyful mother of living children. The little Princess herself might be the predecessor of a troop of princes of the Kent branch. Still, both at Kensington and in the depths of rural Coburg, there was a little flutter, not only of gladness, but of subdued expectation. The Duke of Kent, on showing his baby to his friends, was wont to say, " Look at her well, for she will be Queen of England." Her christening was therefore an event of more than ordinary importance in the household. The ceremony took place a month afterwards, on the 2-lth of June, and nil »♦ QUEEN VICTORIA. doulitle&s the good German ntirse, Mudamo Sicbold, who was ahout to return to the Duchess of Kent's old home to officiate on ah equally interesting occasion in the family of the Duchesb's brother, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, carried with her flaming accounts of the splendour of the ceremonial, as well as pretty talcs of the "dear little lov( '' destined to mute with the coming baby, whose big blue eyes were soon looking about in the lovely little hunting-seat of Rosenau, The gold font was brought down from the Tower, where for some time it had been out of request. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London officiated, as they had done the year before at the re-marriage of the Duke and Duchess. The godfathers were the Prince Regent, present in person, and Alexander, Einporor of Russia, then at the height of his popularity in England, represented by the Duke of York. The godmothers were the Queen-dowager of Wur- temberg (the Princess Royal), represented by Princess Augusta, and the Duchess-dowager of Coburg (mother of the Duchess of Kent, and grandmother of both the Queen and the Prince Consort), represented by the Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Mary). It is said there had been a proposal to name the little princess Georgiana also, after her grandfather and uncle, George III. and George, Prince Regent; but the idea was dropped because the latter would not permit his name to stand second on the list. Among the other privileged guests at the christening was Prince Leopold, destined to be the child's second father, one of her kindest and wisest friends. It is not difficult to comprehend what the scene must have been to the young man whose cup had been so full two years before, who was now a widower and childless. We have his own reference to his feelings in a letter to one of the late Princess Charlotte's friends. It had been hard for him to bo present, but he had felt it to be his duty, and he had made the efl'ort. This was a man who was always facing what was hard, always sti'uggling and cvercoming in the name of right. The consequence was that, even in his youth, all connected with him turned to him as to a natural stay. We have a still better idea of what the victory cost him wlien we read, in the '* Life of the Prince Consort," it was not till a great misfortune happened to her that Prince Leopold " had the courage to look into the blooming face of his infant niece." With what manly pity and tenderness he overcame his reluctance, and how he was rewarded, we all know. In December, 1819, the Duke and Duchess of Kent went for sea-air to Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth, Devonshire. The first baby is always of consequence in a household, but of how much consequence this baby was may be gleaned by the circumstance that a startling little incident concerning the child made tiufficieut mark to survive and be registered by a future chronicler. A boy i A. CHILDHOOD. 15 ' fX k I f I shooting sparrows fired unwittingly so near t)io house that the shot shattered one of tho windows of the nursery, and passed close to the head of the child iu the nurse's arms. Precious bahy-head, that was one day to wcai", with honour, a venerable crown, to be thus lightly threatened at the very outset ! One can fancy the terror of the nurse, the distress of tho Duchess, the fright and ire of the Duke, the horror and humiliation of tho unhappy offender, with the gradual cooling down into magnanimous amnesty — or at most dignified rebuke, mollified by penitent tears iuto reassuring kindness, and just a little quiver of half-affronted, half-nervous laughter. But there was no more room for laughter at false alarms at Woolbrook Cottage, Within a month the Duke was seized with the illness which ended his life in a few days. The particulars are simple and touching. He had taken a long walk with his equerry and great friend, Captain Conroy, and came in heated, tu-ed, and with his feet so wet that his companion suggested the propriety of immediately changing his boots. But the baby of whom he was so fond and proud came in his way. She was eight months old, able to stretch out her little arms and laugh back to him. He stayed to play with her. In the evening it was evident he had caught a chill ; he was hoarse, and showed symptoms of fever. The complaint settled at once on his lungs, and ran its course with great rapidity. We hardly need to be told that the Duchess was his devoted nurse, concealing her anxiety and grief to minister to him in everything. There is a pathetic little reference to the last illness of the Duke of Kent in one of the ] inccss Hohenlohe's letters to the Queen. This elder sister (Princess Feodora of Leiningen) was then a little girl of nine or ten years of age, residing with her mother and stepfather. " Indeed, I well romcmbor that dreadful time at Sidmouth. I recollect praying on my knees that God would not let your dear father die. I loved him dearly ; he always was so kind to me." On tho uflernoou of the 22nd his case was hopeless, and it became a question whether he had sufficient consciousness to sign his will. His old friend, General Wethcrall, was brought up to the bed. At the sound of the familiar voice which had always been welcome to him, the sick man, drifting away from all familiar sounds, raised himself, collected his thoughts for the last time, and mentioned several places and people intelli- gently. The poor Duke had never been negligent in doin^ what he saw to be his duty. He had been forward in helpiiig others, even when they were not of his flesh and blood. He heard the will read over, and with a great effort wrote the word " Edward," looking at every letter after he wrote it, and asking anxiously if the signature was legible. 16 QUEEN VICTORIA. In this will, whioh left the Duchess guardiiin to the child, nnd nppoiiitod Ooiiernl Wethorall and Captain Conroy trustees of his estate for the benefit of his widow and daughter, it is noticeable that the name in each case is given in tho French version, "Victoire." Indeed so rare was the term in England nt this date, that it is pro- bable the English equivalent had scarcely been used before the christening of tho Queen. The Duke died on the following day, the 23rd of January, 1820. Only six days later, on the 29th, good old King George expired at AVindsor. Tho son M-as cut down by violent disease while yet a man in middle life, just after he had become tho head of a little household full of domestic promise, and with what might still have been a great public career opening out before him. The father sank in what Mas, in his case, the merciful decay of age, after ho had been unable for ten years to fulfil the duties and charities of life, and after surviving his faithful Queen a year. Tho liiiiguage of tho official announcement of the physicians was unusually appropriate : " It has pleased the Almighty to release his Majesty from all lurther suffering." To complete the disasters of the royal family this month, the new King, George IV., who had been labouring under a cold when his father died, was seized immediately after his proclamation with dangerous inflammation of the lungs, the illness that had proved fatal to the Duke of Kent, and could not be present at his brother's or father's funerals ; in fact, he was in a precarious state for some days. The Duke of Kent was buried, according to the custom of the time, by torchlight, on the night of the 1 2th of February, at Windsor. As an example of the difference which distance made then, it took nearly a week's dreary travelling to convey the Duke's body from Woolbrook Cottage, where it lay in State for some days, to Cumberland Lodge, from which the funeral train walked to Windsor. The procession of mourning-coaches, hearse, and carriages set out from Sidmouth on Monday morning, halting on successive nights at Bridport, Blandford, Salisbury, and Basingstoke, the coffin being deposited in the principal church of each town, under a military guard, till on Friday night Cumberland Lodge was reached. The same night a detachment of the Royal Horse Guards, every third man bearing a flambeau, escorted a carriage containing the urn with the heart to St. George's Chapel, where in the presence of the Dean, the officers of the chapel, and several gentlemen appointed for the duty, urn and heart were deposited in the niche in which the coffin Avas afterwards to be placed. The body lay in State on the following day, that it might be seen by the inhabitants of Windsor, his old military friends, and tho multitude who came down from London for the two mournful ceremonies. At eight crnrniroon. •7 ■^1 o'clock at night the final prooossion was I'orinecl, consisting of Toor Km'glits, pages, pursuivants, heralds, the coronet on a black velvet cushion, the body under pull and canopy, the supporters of the pall and canopy field-marshals and generals, the chief mourner the Duke of York, tho Dukes of Clarence, Sussex, Gloucester, and Princo Leopold in long black cloaks, their < rains borno by gentlemen in attendance. These torchlight funeral processions formed a singular remnant of mediocval pageantry. How tho natural solemnity of night in itself increased tho awe and sadness of tho scene to all simple minds, we can well understand. Children far away from Windsor remembered after they were grown men and women the vague terror with which they had listened ia tho dim lampliglit of their nurseries to the dismal tolling of the bell out in the invisible church tower, which proclaimed that a royal duke was being carried to his last resting- place. We can easily believe that thousands would flock to look and listen, and be thrilled by the imposing spectacle. The show must have been weirdly picturesque when wild wintry weather, as in this case, added to the effect, " viewed for the distance of three miles, through the spacious Long Walk, amidst a double row of lofty trees, whilst at intervals the glittering of the flambeaux and tho sound of martial music were distinctly seen and heard." The Duke's funeral only anticipated by a few days tho still more magnificent ceremonial with which a king was laid in the tomb. But the real mourning was down in Devonshire, in the Sidmouth cottage. It would be difficult to conceive more trying circumstances for a woman in her station than those in which the youn^ T)uchess — she was but little over thirty — found herself left. She had lost a kind husband, her child would miss a doting father. She was a foreigner in a strange country. She had entered into a divided family, with which her connection was in a measure broken by the death of the Duke, while tho bond that remained, however precious to all, was too likely to prove a bone of contention. The Duke had died poor. The Duchess had previously relinquished her German jointure, and the English settlement on her was inadequate, especially if it were to bo cumbered with the discharge of any of her husband's personal debts. It was not realised then that the Duchess of Kent, iri murrymg the Duke and becoming his widow and the guardian of their child, had given up not only independence, but what was affluence in her own country, with its modest ways of living — even where princes were concerned — for the mortification and worry of narrow means, the strain of a heavy responsibility, the pain of much unjustifiable and undeserved interference, misconception, and censure, until she lived to vindicate the good sense, good feeling, and good taste with which she had always acted. Il QUEEN VICTORIA. i « But the DiU'liess was not ultogother dcsolato. riiiicc^ Leopold lnirruul to her and supported lior then, and on many another hard day, by brotherly kindness, nyinpathy, and generous help. It was in his eonipany that slio came back .vith her child to Kensinj^ton. Ono element of the Coburg character has been described as the sound judgment nnd quiet reasonableness associated with the temperate blood of the race. Accordingly, wo find the Duchess not only submitting with gentle resignation to misfortune, but rousing herself, as her brother might have done in lier circumstances — as doubtless he urged her to do — to the active discharge; of the duties of her position. On the 23rd of February, before the first month of her widowhood was well by, she received Viscount Morpeth and Viscount Clive, the deputation bearing to her the address of condolence from the House of Commons. She met Ihem with the infant Princess in her arms. The child was not only the sign that she fully appreciated and acknowledged the mature of the; tie which united her to the country, it was the intimation of the close inseparable union with her daughter which continued through all the years of the Queen's childhood and youth, till the office of sovereign forced its holder into a separate existence ; till she found another fitting protector, when the generous, ungrudging mother gave way to the worthy husband, who became the dutiful, affectionate son of the Duchess's declining years. Five months after these e\ents the Duchess, at her own request, had an interview with Willium Wilberforce, then living in the house at Kensington Gore which was occupied later by the Countess of Blessington and Coimt D'Orsay. " She received me," the good mun wrote to Hannah More, " with her fine, animated child on the floor by her side, with its playthings, of which I soon became one. She was very civil, but, as she did not sit down, I did not think it right to stop above a quarter of an hour; and there being but a female attendant and a footman present, I could not well get up any topic so as to carry on a continual discourse. 8hc (qwlor/ised for not speaking English well enough to talk it; intimated a hope that she might talk it better and longer with me at some future time. She spoke of her situation, and her manner was quite delightful." The seuteuee in italics opens our eyes to one of the difficulties of the Duchess to which we might not otherwise have given much consideration. We are apt to take it for granted that, though there is no royal road to mathematics, the power of speaking foreign languages comes to royal personages, if not by nature, at least by inheritimce and by force of circumstances. There is some truth in this when there is a foreign father or mother ; when royal babies are brouglit up, like Queen Victoria, to speak several languages from infancy; and when constant contact \\ith foreigners confirms CHILDHOOD. *« and maintaina tho tisoful fiiculfy. Even when n princo or a princpss is destined from his or hor early youth to Hhurc u foreign throne, aiul is brought up with that end, a provision may ho inado for an adopted tongue to hcoomo Moeond nature. Hut tho Duchess of Kent was not brought up with any sucli prospect, and during her eh-vcn years of married life in G(;rmany she must have had coniimratively little oeeasion to practise what English she knew; while, at tho date of her coming to England, sho was beyond tho age when one learns a now language with facility. Any one of us who has experienced tho fettered, perturbed, bewildered condition which results from being reduced to express ourselves at an important crisis in our history through a medium of speech with Avhich we are but imperfectly acquainted, will know how to estimate this unthought-of obstacle in the Duchess of Kent's path, at tho beginning of her widowhood. This Avas tho year (1820) of tho greatest eclipse of tho sun which had been scon for more than a century, when Venus and Mars were both visible, with the naked eye, for a few minutes in tho middle of tho day. Whatever the porter ts in the sky might mean, the signs on the earth were not reassuring. When the B(rman Wood. The King had instructed his ministers to lay before the TIouso of Lords a bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen which, if sustained, would deprive her of every claim to share his rank and would annul the marriage. The (Jueen was prepared with her defence, and furnished with two of the ablest advocates in the kingdom, Mr. Brougham and Mr. Dcnman. In the (>arlier stages of the proceedings she was present almost every day in the House of Lords. She entered in her puce or black sarcenet pelisse and black velvet hat, a large, not uncomely Avoman, a little over fifty, and took the chair of State provided for her, the IIouso rising to receive the Queen whom it was trying. The trial, in its miserable details of gross folly well-in'gh incredible, lasted from July to November — four months of burning excitement — when it collai)sed from the smallncss of the majority (nine) that voted for the second reading of the bill. Tho animus of tho prosecution and the un- worthy means taken to accomplish its purpose, defeated tho end iu view. It is said that had it boon otherwise the country would have broken out into widespread insurrection. The Queen's supporters, of all classes, sects, and shades, indulged in a perfect frenzy of rejoicing. Festivals, illuminations, every token of triumph for her and condemnation for him accompanied what was equivalent to her acquittal. She went in something like State, with her queer, motley household — Bohemian English and Italians — and her g-jat ally, Alderman Wood, ' offer up thanksgiving in St. Paul's, where, at the same time, she foimd her name omitto ' from the Church service. She wore white velvet and ermine, and was surrounded by thousands of shouting followers, as if she had been the most discreet of queens and best of women. The poor passionate, wayward nature, which after all had been cruelly dealt with, was touched as well as elated. On the very day after Queen Caroline's arrival in London in June, she had dispatched Alderman Wood to Kensington, to condole with the Duchess of Kent on her recent widow- hood, and inquire after the health of the infant princess. The message was innocent in itself, but alarming by implication ; for Queen Caroline was not a woman to be kept at a \,. \'.' m L^ cuii.niionn. ii diHtiuifo, or to hcsitnto in oxprosslnj? hor H<'iifiiiu>»itM if hIio fmicit'd hor ovoHiiros slighted hy till! omlmrnisMi'd DucIksh. In the month of Aiij^'iist (Jiicon ('urolinc hnd oMtabliwht'd htTNclf ut JlriindiMibur>; Hou«(! — tlui Miir^nivino of Anspuch'H lv>ii8o, by tho river at iriunmersmith— nt'ur onouj^li to luMiHington I alncc, to judKo from hiinmii nature, to dis('()n(!ort ond provoko u smile ugaiuHt tho Hiiiilor's will — for Carolino'H oxtnivagaiict'S would have disturbed tlio gravity of u judge- in tho womanly rrincoss at tho head of tho littlo household soberly Bottled thcro. Never wi •inceB808 and women ntoro unlike than Caroline of Urunswiek and Victoria of Cobi li\it poor (iuoon Caroline was not destined to remain long an awkward enigma — a quer .1 and yet no qu(M>n, an aunt and yet no aunt, a scandal and a torment in everybody's path. In tho summer of tho following year, when tho country was drawn away aiul dazzled by the magnificent ceremonial of tho coronation of Georgo IV., she exercisi-d her last disturbing intluenco. 8ho demanded to bo crowned along ,vith hor husband ; but her demand was refused by tho Privy Council. She appoaretl at tho door of Westminster Abbey, but tho way was barred to hor, A fortnight afterwards, when King Georgo had gone to Ireland to arouse tho nation's loyalty, his wife had passed where I'rivy Council ushers and yeomen of the guard were powerless, where the enmity of man had no voice in the judgment of God. She had been attacked by severe illness, and in the cou'"": J five days she died, in tho middle of a wild storm of thunder, wind, and rain The night before, a boatful of IMethodista had rowed up the Thames, within sound of the open windows of her sick-room, and sung hymns to comfort her in her extremity. Tho heart of a large part of tho nation still clung to her because of her misfortunes and the insults heaped upon her. The late Queen's body was conveyed back to Brunswick. The funeral passed through. Kensington, escorted by a mighty mob, in addition to companies of soldiers. The last were instructed to conduct tho corlhje by the outskirts of London to Harwich, where a frigate and two sloops of war were waiting for the coffin. The mob were resolute that their Queen's funeral should pass through tho city. The first struggle between the crowd and the military took place at the corner of Church Street, Kensington. The strange, unseemly contention was renewed farther on more than once ; but as bloodshed had been forbidden, the people had their way, and the swaying mass surged in grim determination straight towards the Strand and Temple Bar. The captain of the frigate into Avhose keeping the coffin was committed in order to be convoyed back to Brunswick had been, by a curious, sorrowful coincidence, the midshii)nian who, " more than a quarter of a century before, handed the rope to the royal bride whereby to help her on board the Jupilcr^^ which was to bring her to England. St QUEEN VICTORIA. 1 1 One can fancy that, when that sorry tragedy was ended, and its perpetual noisy ebullitions had sunk into Bileuce, a ser.se of relief stole over the palace-homo at Kensington. Eound the childhood and youth of sovereigns, especially popular sovereigns, a growth of stories will gather like t'le myths which attend on the infancy of a nation. Such stories or myths are chiefly valuable as showing the later tendency of the individual or people, the character and history of the monarch or of the subjects, in accordance with which, in reversal of the adage that makes the child father to the man, the man is, in a new sense, father to the child, by stamping on his infancy and nonage traits borrowed from his mature years. Mingled with the species of legendary lore attaching to every generation, there is a foundation more or less of authentic annals. It is as affording an example of this human patchwork of fancy and fact, and as illustrating the impression deeply engraved on the popular mind, that the following incidents of the Queen's childhood and youth arc given. First, the peo;ile have loved to dwell on the close union between mother and child. The Duchess nursed her baby — would see it washed and dressed. As soon as the little creature could sit alone, her small table was placed by her mother's at meals, though the child was only allowed the food fit for her years. The Princess slept in her mother's room all through her childhood and girlhood. In the entries in the Queen's diary at the time of the Duchess of Kent's death, her Majesty refers to an old repeater striking every qiiarter of an hour in the sick-room on the last night of the Duchess's life — " a large watch in a tortoiseshell case, which had belonged to my poor father, the sound of which brought back to me all the recollections of my childhood, for I had always used to hear it at night, but had not heard it for now twenty-three years." When the Princess was a little older, and lessons and play alternated with each other, she was taught to attend to the thing in hand, and tinisli what she had begun, both in her studies and games. One day she was amusing herself making a little haycock when some other mimic occupation caught her volatile fancy, and she flung down her small rake ready to rush off to the fresh attraction. " No, no, Princess ; you must always complete what you have commenced," said her governess, and the small haynnker had to conclude her haymaking before she was at liberty to follow another pursuit. From the Princess's fifth year Dr. Davys, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, was her tutor. When it became clear that the little girl would, if she lived, be (iueen of England, a prelate high in the Church was proposed to the Duchess of Kent as the successor of Dr. Davys in his office. But the Duchess, with the mild firmness and conscientious fidelity which rulc^d her conduct, declared that as she was perfectly satisfied with the tutor who '^L.^ CHILDHOOD. «3 had originally been appointed (when the appointment was less calculated to offer temptations to personal ambition and political intrigue), she did not sec that any change was advisable. If a clergyman of higher rank was necessary, there was room for the promotion of Dr. Davys. Accordingly he was named Dean of Chester. The Baroness Lehzen was another of the Queen's earliest guardians who remained at her post throughout her Majesty's youth. Louise Lehzen, daughter of a Hanoverian clergyman, came to England as governess to Princess Eeodora Leiningen and remained as governess to Princess Victoria, entering on her duties in 1824. In 1827 she was raised to the rank of a Hanoverian Baroness, by George IV., at the request of Princess Sophia. From that time Baroness Lehzen acted also as lady in attendance. On her death, so lato as 1870, her old pupil recorded of her, in a passage in the Queen's journal, which is given in the '* Life of the Prince Consort," " My dearest, kindest friend, old Lehzen, expired on the 9th quite gently and peaceably. . . . She knew me from six months old, and from my fifth to my eighteenth year devoted all her care and energies to me with the most wonderful abnegation of self, never even taking one day's holiday. I adored, though I was greatly in awe of her. She really seemed to have no thought but for me. . . . She was in her eighty-seventh year." This constancy and permanency in tlie family relations were in themselves inestimable boons to the child, who thus grew up in an atmosphere of familiar affection and unshaken trust, for the absence of which nothing in the world could have compensated. Another lady of higher rank was of necessity appointed governess to the Queen in 1831, when she became next heir to the throne. This lady, the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland, appears also as the Queen's friend in after life. The late Bishop Wilberforce was told by Dr. Davys an interesfing anecdote of his former pupil. " The Queen always had from my first knowing her a most striking regard to truth. I remember when I had been teaching her one day, she was very impatient for the lesson to be over — once or twice rather refractory. The Duchess of Kent came in, and asked how she had behaved. Lehzen said, ' Oh, once she was rather troublesome.' The Princess touched her and siiid, 'No, Lehzen, twice, don't you remember ? ' The Duchess of Kent, too, was a woman of groat truth." It had been judged meet that the future Queen should not be made aware of her coming greatness, which, for that matter, continued doubtful in her earlier years. She was to grow up free from the impending care and responsibility, happy and healthful in her unconscious girlhood— above all, unassailed by the pernicious attempts to bespeak her favour, the crafty flattery, the undermining insinuations which have proved the bane of the youth of so many sovereigns. In order to preserve this reticence, unslumbering care H QUEEN VICTORIA. a gr(>at bhmk to lier mother and sister. Happily for the latter, slie was too young to realise in the agreeable excitement of the moment what a deprivation remained in Btoro for her. There wero eleven years between the sisters. This was enough diiferenco to mingle a motherly, protecting element with the elder sister's pride and fondness, and to lead the younger, whose fortunes were so much higher, but who was unaware of the fact, to look up with affectionate faith and trust to the grown-up companion, in one sense on a level with the child, in another with so much more knowledge and independence. It was a German marriage, both bride and bridegroom being Germiin, tl'.ough the bride had been nine years — the difference between a child and a woman — in England, and though the event occurred in an English household. Whether the myrtle was worn for the orange-blossoms, or any of the other pretty German wedding customs imported, we cannot toll. AnyhoAv, the ordinary peaceful simplicity of the palace was replaced by much bustle and grandeur on that February morning, the modest foreruiuu^r of another February morning in another palace, when a young (iu'^en plighted her troth. The royal family in England, with two exceptions, Avere at Kensington Palace to do honour to the marriage. The absent members were the King and Princess Augusta — the latter of Avhom was at ]3righton. The company arrived soon after two o'clock, and consisted of the Duke and Duchess of Clarence, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Sophia, the Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, and Prince Leopold. At three o'clock the party " walked in procession to the great saloon adjoining the vestibule, in which a temporary altar had been fitted up. The bride was given away by the Duke of Clarence. The ceremony was performed in the simide Lutheran fashion by a simple Lutheran pastor. Dr. Kupcr, " the chaplain of the Royal German Chapel." Then came the parting, and the quiet palace-home was stiller and shadier than ever, when the gracious maidenly presence had gone, when the opening rose was plucked from the parent stem, and only the bud left. In 1S30 George IV. died, an'^ William, Dulce of Clarence, succeeded to the throne as King William IV. That summer was the last of the Princess's ignorance of her prospects ; until then not even the shadow of a throne had been projected across the sunshiny path of the happy girl of eleven. She was with her mother in one of the fairest scenes in England — Malvern. The little town with its old Priory among the Worcester hills, looks down on the plain of Worcester, the field of a groat English battle. ._4fci- CIUI.DHOOD. 91 A dim rocolloction of tho Duclioss and tho Princess is still prosorvcd at ilalvorii^ how pleasant and kind tlioy were to nil, how good to tho poor ; iiow tho futuio (Jncon rodo on a donkey liko any other young girl at Malvern — like poor Marie Antoinette in tho forest glades of Coinpiegno and Fontainebleau half a century earlier, when she was only four years older, although already Dauphinesa of France. The shadowy records do not tell us much more; we are left to form our own conclusions whether the Queen anticipated her later ascents of Scotih and Swiss mountains by juvenile scrambles amongst the Wor- cester nills; whether she stood on the top of the Worcester or IFeroford Beacon; or whether these were considered too dangerous and uasculinc exploits for a princes:^ of tender years, growing up to inherit a throne ? She could hardly fail to enter the Wytclio, the strange natural gap between Worcestershire and lIer(>fordshire, by which, at one step, the wayfiirer leaves wooded England behind, and stands face to face with a pastoral corner of Wales; or to drive along the mile-long common of IJurnard's Green, with the geese, and the hay-staeks, and the little cottages on either side, and always in front the steep ridge of hills with tho grey Friory where Piers Plowman saw his vision, nestling at their feet; or to pull the heather and the wild strawberries in Cowleigh Park, from which every vestige of its great house has departed. She miglit have been a privileged visitor at Madresficld, where some say Cluules 11. slept the night before the battle of Worcester, and where there is a relic that would better become Kensington, in a quilt which Queen Anne and Duchess Sarah embroidered together in silks in the days of their fust friendship. As it was part of the Princess's good education to be enlightened, as fiir as possible, with regard to the how and why of arts and manufactures, we make no question she was carried to Worcester, not only to see the cathedral, but to have the potteries exhibited to her. There was a great deal for the ingenuous mind of a royal pupil to see, learn, and enjoy in Worcester and AVarwickshire — for she was also at Guy's Cliff and Keuilworth. It had become clear to the world without that the s^uccessiou rested with the Duke of Kent's daughter. Long before, the Duchess of Clarence had written to her sister-in-law in a tender, generous struggle with her sorrow • " My children are dead, but yours lives, and she is mine too." As the direct heir to the crow ;, the Princess Victoria became a person of great importance, a source of serious consideration alike to the Government and to her future subjects. The result, in 1830, was a well-deserved if somewhat long-delayed testimony to the merits of tho Duchess of Kent, which must have given honest satisfac- tiou not only at Kensington, but at Clarcmont— to whoso master the Belgian Revolution was opening up the prospect of a kingdom more stable than that of Greece, for which I ' II I ' ft QUEEN VICTORIA. rrin(!(( Leopold had bopii montioiKHl. Awuy in tho Duchess's native Coburg, too, the congmtulutious were Hiiicerc and hearty. The English rurhaniont had not only fonnally rccogniscKl the Princoss as the next heir ond increased the Duchess's income to ten thousand a year, so relieving her from some of her difficulties ; it had, with express and flattering rcl'erenco to tho admirable manner in which she had until then diseharged tlie trust that her husband had contided to her, appointed her llcgent in the event of King William's death v;hile the Princess was still a minor. In this appointment the Duchess was preferred to the Duke of Cumberland. Ho had become the next royal Duke iu tho order of descent, but had failed to ins[)iro confidence in his countrymen. In fact he was in England tho most uniformly and universally unpopular of all George III.'s sons. There was even 'i wild rumour that he was seeking, against right and reason, to form a party which should attemjjt to revive the ISalie law and aim at setting aside the Princess and placing Prince George of Cumberland on the throne of England as well as on that of Hanover. Tho Princess had reached the ago of twelve, and it was judged advisable, after her position had been thus acknowledged, that she herself should bo made acquainted with it. The story — the authenticity of which is established beyond question — is preserved in a letter from the Queen's former governess, Baroness Lehzcn, which her Majesty has given to the world. " I ask your Majesty's leave to cite some remarkable words of your Majesty when only twelve years old, while tho Kcgcncy liill was in progress. I then said to the Duchess of Kent, that now, for the first time, your Majesty ouj^ht to know your place in the succession. Her Eoyal Highness agreed with me, and I put the genealogical table into the historical book. When Mr. Davys (tho Queen's instructor, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough) was gone, tho Princess Victoria opened the book again, as usual, and seeing the additional paper, said, ' I never saw that before.' ' It was not thought necessary you should, Princess,' I answered. * I see I am nearer the throne than I thought.' ' So it is, madam,' I said. After some moments the Princess answered, 'Now, many a child w^ould boast, but they don't know tho difficulty. There is much splendour, but there is more responsibility.' The Princess having lifted up the forefinger of her right hand while she spoke, gave me that little hand, saying, ' I will be good. I understand now why you urged me so much to learn even Latin. My aunts Augusta and Mary never did; but you told me Latin is the foundation of English j^ranomar and of all the elegant expressions, auu I learned it as you wished it, but I un- derstand all better now ; ' and the Princess gave me her hand, repeating, ' I will ■^^ a CHH.nilOOT) 33 1)0 ]Rood.' I then said, *Hut your aunt Adcliiidc is still youiif?, and may have chiltlrcii, and of course thoy would ascend tlio tliroiio afttM- their fatlicr, William IV., and not you, Prinncss.' The rrinccss answered, 'And if it was .so, I Hhoiild never fcol disappointed, fori know by the love aunt Adelaide boars mo how fond she is of children.' " No words can illustrate better what is striking and touching in this episode than flinso with which Mrs. Oliphant refers to it in her sketch of the Queen. *' It is seldom that an early scene like this stands out so distinctly in the early story oven of a life destined <) greatness. The hush of awe np«m the child; the childish application of this great secret to the abstruse study of Latin, which was not required I'rom the others; the iminediato resolution, so simple, yet containing all the wisest sage could have counselled, or the greatest hero vowed, * I will lie good,' makes a perfect little picture. It is the clearest appearance of the future Queen in her own person that we get through the soft obscurity of those childish years." The Duchess of Kent remained far from n rich woman for her station, and the young Princess had been sooner told of her mother's straitened income than of the great inheritance in store for herself. She continued to be brought up in unassuming, inexpensive habits. In February, 1831, when Princess Victoria was twelve, she made her first appearance in state at " the most magnificent Drawing-room which had been seen since that which had taken place on the presentation of Princess Charlotte of Wales upon the occasion of her marriage." The Drawing-room was held by Queen Adelaide, and it was to do honour to the now Queen no less than to commemorate the approaching completion of the Princess's twelfth year that the heiress to the throne was present in a prominent position, an object of the greatest interest to the splendid company. She came along with the Duchess her mother, attended by an appropriate suite, including the Duchess of Northumber- land, Lady Charlotte St. Maur, Lady Catherine Parkinson, the Hon. Mrs. Cust, the Baroness Lehzen, and the Princess's father's old friends, General Wetherall and Captain (now Sir John) Conroy, with his wife. Lady Conroy. The Princess's dress was made, as the Queen's often was afterwards, entirely of articles manufactured in the United Kingdom. She wore a frock of English blonde, " simple, modest, and becoming." She stood on the left of her Majesty on the throne, and " contemplated all that passed with much dignity, but with evident interest." We are further told, what we can well believe, that sne excited general admiration as well as interest. We can without difficulty call up before us the girlish figure in its pure, white dress, the soft, open face, the fair hair, the candid blue eyes, the frank lips slightly apart, showing the \\hits pearly teeth. The intelligent observation, the remarkable absence of self-consciousness and eonscquent power of self- 14 QUEEN VI CI OK I A. control luul of thought for ofhrrs, which Mtruok all wlio iiiniidaclicd licr in tho grout crisifl of her history six yonrs afterwiinls, wore iihciidy conKiiiouous in tho young girl. No douht it was for her lulvaiitago, in coiisidonition of what hiy hcforo her, tliat wliih^ brought up in wlioh'sorno privacy, who was at the saino tinu; inuriul, so fur, to ai)p('ar in public, to boar tho brunt of many eyes — some critical, though for tho most part kind — touched by hor youth and innocence, by tho circumstance tluit slio was fatherless, and by tho crown she must one day wear. Sho had to learn to conduct herself with tho mingled self-n'spect and ease which bocaino her station. Impulsiveness, shyness, nervousness, arc more serious defects in kings and queens tli!in in ordinary mortals. To use a homely phrase, "to have all their wits about them" is very necessary in their case. If in addition they can havo all their hearts — hearts warm and considerate, nobly mindful of their own obligations i nd of tho claims of others — so much tho better for tho sovereigns aiul for all who como imder thoir influence. A certain amount of familiarity with being tho observed of all observers, with treading alone a conspicuous path demanding great circumspection, was wanted beforehand, in order that the young head might remain steady in the time of sudden, tremendous elevation. Nevertheless, tho Princess was not present at the coronation of King William and Queen Adelaide, and her absence, as the heir-presumptive to tho throne, caused much remark and .speculation, and gavo rise to not a few newspaper paragraphs. Various causes were assigned for the singular omission. The Tiiiirs openly accused the Duchess of Kent of proving tho obstacle. Oth(>r newspapers followed suit, asserting that tho grounds for tho Duchess's refusal were to bo found in the circumstance that in the coronation procession, marshalled by Iiord A. Fitzclarence, tho place appointed for tho Princess Victoria, instead of being next to the King and Queen, according to her right, was after tho remaining members of tho royal family. Conflicting authorities declared that tho Priuio Minister, Earl Grey, for some occult reason, opposed the Princess's receiving an invitation to be present at a cere- mony which had so much interest for hor ; or that tho Duchess of Northumberland, tho governess of the Princess, took tho same extraordinary course from political motives. Finally, T/ie Globe gave, on authority, an explanation that had been offered all along in tho midst of more sensational rumours. Tho Princess's health was rather delicate, and tho Duchess of Kent had, on that account, got tho King's sanction to her daughter's not being exposed to unusual excitement and fatigue. The statement on authority was unanswerable, but while it stilled one cause of apjjrehcusion it awakened another. After the untimely death of Princess Charlotte, the nation was particularly sensitive with regard to the health of tho heir to the crown. Whispers began to spread abroad, happily without much founda- tion, of pale checks, and a constitution unfit for the burden which was to be laid upon it. i^^. cnvrTER 111. Youm. TN tlio month of Auf;;iist, 1831, tho Prinnoss wont with her mother to profit by tho soft, Bwoot broczi'S of tho Islo of Wight. Tho Duchess and her daughter occupied Norria Castle for three months, and tho ladies of the family were oi'tou on tho shore watching tho white sails and chatting with the sailors. Carishrooke and King Ciuules tho Martyr were brought juoro vividly homo to his descendant, with the pathetic littlo talo of the girl-l'rincess Elizabeth. Wo do not know whetli(;r the (iueeu thou learnt to feel a special lovo for tho fair little island with which she has long been familiar, but of this we are certain, that she could then have had littlo idea that her chief home would bo within its bounds. Even in 1831 transport and communication by land ai'd water continued a tedious and troublesome business. However, tho visit to tho Islo of Wight was repoat>.a in 1833. Terhaps to dissipate tho gossip and calm the little irritation which had been created by the Princess's absence from the coronation, ono made her appearance twice in public, on the completion of her tiiirteenth year, in 18.j2. That was a year in which there was much call for oil i ■ i'; cast on the troubled waters: never since 1819, the date of the Queen's birth, had there been greater rest- lessness and turmoil throughout the country. For some time public feeling had been kept at the boiling-point by tho question of the lleform Bill — groaned over by some as the first step to democracy and destruction; eagerly hailed by others as a new dawn of freedom, peace, and prosperity. The delay in passing the Hill had rendered the King unpopular, and brought unmerited blame on Queen Adelaide, for having gone beyuuJ her prerogative in lending herself to overthrow the King's Whig principles. The ferment had converted the old enthusiastic homage to the Iron Duke as a soldier into fierce detestation of hira as a statesman. The carrying of the measure on which the people had set their hearts did not immediately allay the tempest — a disajipointing result, which was inevitable when the universal panacea failed to work at once like a charm in relieving all the woes in the kingdum. Men were not onlj' rude, and spoke their minds, tho H 36 QUEEN VICTORIA. ringleaders broke out again into riots, the most formidable and alarming of which were those in Bristol, that left a deep impression on more than one chance spectator who witnessed them. But the girl Princess — praised for her pi-oficicncy in Horace and Virgil, and her progress in mathematics — could only hear far off tho mutteriugs of the storm that was passing ; and King William and Queen Adelaide sought to put aside what was perplexing and harassing them; and tried to forget that when they had shown them- selves to their people lately they had been met — here with indifference^— and there with hootings. The times wore waxing more and more evil, as it seemed, to untasy, vexed wearers of crowns, unlike those in which old King George and Queen Charlotte had been received with fervent acclamation wherever they went, whatever wars were being waged or laxes imposed. The manners of the Commons were not improving with the extension of their rights. But the King and Queen would do their duty, which was far from disagreeable to them, in paying proper respect to their niece and successor. Accordingly their Majesties gave a ball on the Princess's thirteenth birthday, 24th May, 1832, at which the heroine of the day fignred ; and four days later, on the 28th of May, she was present for the second time at a Drawing-room. All the same, it is an open secret that William, living, for the most part, in that noblest palace of Windsor, considered the Princess led too retired a life, so far as not appearing often enough at his Court was concerned, and that he complained of her absence and resented it as a slight to himself. It is an equally well-established fact that, in spite of the King's kindness of heart and Queen Ad(>laide's goodness, King William's Court was not in all respects a desirable place for a Princess to grow up in, in addition to the objection that any Court in itself formed an unsuitable schoolroom for a young girl. It is doubtful, ^ince even the most magnanimous men have jealous instincts, whether the King's displeasure on one point would be appeased by what was otherwise a very natvral and judicious step taken by the Duchess of Kent this year. She made an autumn tour with her daughter through several counties of England and Wales, in the course of which the ro5-al mother and daughter paid a succession of visits to seats of different noblemen, taking Oxford on the way. If there was a place in England which deserved the notice of its future Queen, it was one of the two great universities — the cradles of learning, and, in the case of " the most loyal city of Oxford," tho bulwark of the throne. The party proceeded early in October through the beautiful scenery of North Wales— the Princess's first experience of mountains — to Eaton Ilall, the home of the Gro3venor family. From Eaton the travellers drove to the ancient city of Chester, with its quaint arcades and double streets, its God's Providence House and its cathedral. At Chester the >-= %. YOUTH. 17 Princosa named the new bridge which was opened on the occasion. By the wise moderation and self-repression of tliose around her, the name bestowed was not tho "Victoria," but simply the " Grosveuor Bridge." From Eaton the Princess was taken to Chatsworth, the magnificent seat of tho Cavendishes. She stayed long enough to see and hear something of romantic Derbyshire. She visited Hardwick, associated with Building Bess, whose gianddaughter, the unfor- tunate " Lady Arbell," had been a remote cousin of this happy young Princess, and sho went, like everybody else, to Matlock. At Belper the party, in diligent search after all legitimate knowledge, examined the great cotton-mills of the Messrs. Strutt, and the senior partner had the honour of showing to her Eoyal Highness, by means of a model, how cotton was spun. From Chatsworth the Duchess and her daughter repaired to Alton Abbey, whcro the "Talbot tykes" still kept watch and ward; thence to Shugborough, the seat of tho Earl of Lichfield, which enabled thu visitors to see another fine cathedral and to breathe the air which is full of " the great Dr. Johnson." At each of the towns the Rtrangers were met by addresses — of course made to the Duchess and replied to by her. How original these formal compliments must have Bounded to Princess Victoria ! On the 27th of October their Eoyal Highnesses were at Pitchford Hall, the residence of the Earl of Liverpool, from which they visited Shrewsbury — another Chester — with a word of its own for the old fateful battle in which ** Percy was slain and Douglas taken prisoner," and the Welsh power broken in Owen Glendower. After getting a glimpse of the most picturesque portion of Shropshire, halting at more noble seats, and passing through a succession of Worcester towns, the royal party reached Woodstock on the 7th of November, and the same evening rested at Wytliam House, belonging to the Earl of Abingdon. There was hardly time to realise that the memories of Alice Lee, the old knight Sir Henry, and the faithful dog Bevis, rivalled successfully the grisly story of Queen Eleanor and Fair Eosamond. Nay, the magician was still dogging tho travellers' steps ; for had he not made the little town of Abingdon his own by choosing it for the meeting-place of Mike Lambourne and Tressillian, and rebuilding in its neighbourhood the ruins of Cumnor Hall, on which the dews fell softly ? Alas ! the wizard would weave no more spells. A month before that princely "progress" Sir Walter Scott, after Herculean labours to pay his debts like an honest man had wrecked even his robust frame and healthful genius, lay dead at Abbotsford. On the 8th of Novombcx tho future Queen entered Oxford with something like State, S8 QUEEN VICTORIA. .'I I in proper form escorted by a detachment of Yeomanry. There is no need to tell that she was received by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, and the dons and doctors of the various colleges, in full array. And she was told of former royal visitors : of Charles in his tribulation; of her grandfather and grandmother, King George and Queen Charlotte, when little Miss Barney was there to describe the festivities. The Princess went the usual round : to superb Christ Church, at which her sons were to graduate ; to the Bodleian and Eadclyffe libraries ; to All Souls, New College, &c. She proceeded to view other buildings, which, unless in a local guide-book, are not usually included among the lions of Oxford. But this young lady of the land was bound to encourage town as well as gown ; therefore she visited duly the Town Hall and Council Chamber. From Oxford the tourists returned to Kensington. There are no greater contrasts than those which are to be found in royal lives. When the Princess Victoria M'as about to set out on her pleasant journey in peace and prosperity, the news came of the arrest of the Duchesse de Berri, at Names. It was the sequel to her gallant but unsuccessful attempt to raise La Vendee in the name of her young son, Henri de Bordeaux, and the end to the months in which she had lain in hiding. She was discovered in the chimney of a house in the Eue Haute-du-Chriteau, Avhere she was concealed with three other conspirators against the Government of her cousin, Louis Philippe. The search had lasted for several hours, during which these unfortunate persons were penned in a small space and exposed to almost intolerable heat. A mantel- piece had been contrived so as to turn on a swivel and form an opening into a suffocating recess. "Wlien the Duchesse and her companions were found their hands were scorched and part of their clothes burnt. She was taken to the fortress of Nantes, and thonco transferred to the Castle of Blaze, where she sufifered a term of imprisonment. She had acted entirely on her own responsibility, her wild enterprise having being disapproved alike by her father-in-law, Charles X., and her brother and 8islei'«-in-la\' tlie Due and Ducliesse d'Angouleme. In 1833, we are told, the Duchess of Kent and the fourteen years old Prnicess stopped on their way to Weymouth — the old favourite watering-place of King George and (iueon C'harlotto — and visited the young Queen of Portugal, at Portsmouth. Donna Maria da Gloria had been sent from Brazil to England by her father, Don Pedro, partly for her safety, partly under the impression, which proved false, that the English Government would take an active part in her cause agtiiust the usurjiation of her uncle, Don Miguel. The Government did notliing. The royal family i)aid the stranger some courtly and kindly attentions. One of the least exceotionul passages in the late ( .►^i^JUL.. VOUTH. 39 rharlcs Greville's Memoirs is tho description of the ball given by tho King, at ■which the two young queens — to be — were present. The chronicle describes the girls, who were of an age — having been born in the same year : the sensible face of tho fair- haired English Princess, and tho extreme dignity — especially after she had sustained an accidental fall — of the Portuguese royal maiden, inured to the hot sun of the tropics. Don Miguel was routed in the course of the following year (1834), and his niece was established in her kingdom. Within the same twelve months she lost a father and gained and lost a husband; for among the first news that reached her English acquaintances was her marriage, before she was sixteen, and her widowhood within three months. Sho had married, in January, tho Duo de Leuchtenbcrg, a brother of her step- mother and a sou of Eugene Beauharnais. He died, after a short illness, in the following March. She married again in the next year, her rc-marriage having been earnestly desired by her subjects. The second husband was Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, belonging to the Eoman Catholic branch of the Coburgs, and cousin both to the Queen and the Prince Consort. He was a worthy and, ultimately, a popular prince. Donna Maria was grand-niece to Queen Amclie of France, and showed much attachment to the house of Orleans. There is said to have been a project formed by Louis Philippe, which was frustrated by the English Government, that she slioiild marry one of his sons, the Due de Nemours. In addition to the English tours which the Princess Victoria made with her mother, the Duchess of Kent was careful that as soon as her daughter had grown old enough to profit by the association, she should meet the most distinguished men of the day — whether statesmen, travellers, men of science, letters, or art. Kensington had one well-known intellectual centre in Holland House, presided over by the famous Lady Holland, and was soon to have another in Gore House, occupied by Lady Blessington and Count D'Orsay ; but even if tho fourteen years old Princess had been of sufficient age and had gone into society, such salons were not for her. The Duchess must " entertain " for her daughter. In 1833 Lord Campbell mentions dining at Kensington Palace. The company found the Princess in the drawing-room on their arrival, and again on their return from the dining- room. He records her bright, pleasant intelligence, perfect manners, and happy liveliness. In July, 1834, Avhen the Princess was fifteen, she was confirmed in tho Chapel Royal, St. James's, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the King and (^leen and tho Duchess of Kent. She was advancing with rapid steps to the point at which the girl leaves tho child for ever behind her, and stretches forward to her crown of young woman- hood. She had iu her own name coutirnaed the baptismal vow which consecrated her aa a IP ;i ! 40 QUEEN VICTORIA. responsible being to the service of the King of kings. Still she •was a j'onng crcatiiro, suffered to grow up accoiding to a gracious natural growth, not forced into premature expansion, permitted to preserve to the last the sweet girlish trust and confldcnce, the mingled coyness and fearlessness, pensive dreams and merry laughter, which constitute the ineffable freshness and tender grace of youth. If the earlier story of the purchase, or non-purchase, of the box at Tnnbridgo Wells reads " like an incident out of ' Sandford and Merton,' " there is another anecdote fitting into this time which has still more of the good-fairy ring in it, while it sounds like a general endorsement of youthful wisdom. Yet it may have had its origin in some eager, youthful fancy of astonishing another girl, and giving her " the very thing she wanted " as a reward for her exemplary behaviotxr. The Princess was visiting a jeweller's shop incognito (a little in the ij lion of Haroun-al-Easchid) when she saw another young lady hang long over some gold chains, lay down reluctantly the one which she evidently pre- ferred, and at last content herself with buying a cheaper chain. The interested on-looker waited till the purchaser was gone, made some inquiries, directed that both chains should be tied up and sent together, along with th Princess Victoria's card, on which a few words were pencilled to the effect that the Princess had been pleased to see prudence prevail, while she desired the young lady to accept her original choice, in the hope that she would always persevere in her laudable self-denial. In the autumn of 1835 the Duchess of Kent and the Princess went as far north as York, visiting the Archbishop at Bishopsthorpe, studying the minster — second only to Westminster among English abbeys — and gracing with the presence of royalty the great York Musical Festival. On the travellers' homeward route they were the guests of the Earl of Harcwood, at Ilarewood House, Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth, and the Duke of Rutland at Bel voir. At Burghley House the Duchess and the Princess visited the Marquis of Exeter. The late Charles Grevillo met them there, and gives a few particulars of their visit. " They arrived from Belvoir at three o'clock, in a heavy rain, the civic authorities having turned out at Stamford to escort thorn and a procession of different people, all very loyal. When they had lunched, and the Mayor and his brethren had got dry. the Duchess received the Address, which was read by Lord Exeter, as Eecorder. It talked of the Princess as * destined to mount the throne of those realms.' Conroy handed the answer just as the Prime Minister does to the King. They are splendidly lodged, and great preparations have been made for their reception. The dinner at Burghley was very handsome ; hall well lit, and all went off well, except that a pail of ice was landed in the Ducshess's lap, which made a great bustle. Three hundred people at the ball, which was lli YOUTH. *l opened by Lord Exeter and the Princess, who, after dancing one dance, went to bed. They appeared at breakfast next morning at nine o'clock, and at ten set off to llolkham." Eomance was not mu^h in Mr. Greville's way, but Burghley, apart from the statesman Cecil and his weighty nod, had bee' the scone of such a romance aa might well have captivated the imagination of a young princess, though its heroine was but a village maiden — she who married the landscai)c-painter, and was brought by him to Burghley, bidden look around at its splendour, and told ••All of tliia is thine and mine." Tennyson has sung it— how slie grew a noble lady, and yet died of the honour to which she was not born, and how the Lord of Burghley, deeply mourning, bid her attendants " Biiii.L,' the dress and put it on her Which she wore when we were wed." In one of those antunms which the Duchess of Kent and her daughter spent at Ramsgato — ^not 80 rural as it had been a dozen years before, but still a quiet enough retreat — they received a visit from the King and Queen of the Belgians. Prince Leopold was securely established on the throne which he filled so well and so long, keeping it when many other European sovereigns were unseated. He was accompanied by his second wife, Princess Louise of France, daughter of Louis Philippe. She was a good woman, like all the daugliters of Queen Amelie, while Princess Marie, in addition to goodness, had the perilous gift of genius. The following is Baron Stockmar's opinion of the Queen of the Belgians. " From the moment that the (Queen Louise) entered that circle in which I for so many years have had a place, I have revered her as a pattern of her sex. We say and believe that men can be noble and good ; of her wo know with certainty that she was so. "We saw in her daily a truthfulness, a faithful fulfilment of duty, which makes us beUeve in the possible though but seldom evident nobleness of the human heart. In characters such as the Queen's, I see a guarantee of the perfection of the Being who has created human nature." We ought to add that Stockmar had not only the highest opinion of the character of Queen Louise, but also of her insight and judgment, and he often expressed his opinion that if anything were to happen to King Leopold the Regency might be entrusted to the Queen with perfect confidence How much the Queen valued Queen Louise, how she became Queen Victoria's dearest friend, is fully shown at a later date by the extracts from the Queen's journal, and letters in the " Life of the j riuco Consort." !(' t l> ' I ll : 1 4« QUEEN VICTORIA. About this time the "nuchoss of Kent and Princess Yictoria paid a visit to the Duke of Wellington at Walmer Castle — the old tower with fruit-trees growing in the dry moat, and a slip from the weeping-willow which hung over the grave in St. Helena flourishing in its garden, where the Warden of the Cinque Ports could look across the roadstead of the Downs and count the ships' masts like trees in a forest, and watch the waves breaking twenty feet high on the Goodwin Sands. "The cut-throat town of Deal" which poor Lucy Hutchinson so abhorred, pranked its quaint red houses for so illustrious and dainty a visitor. The Duke had stood by her font, and if he had " no small talk," he was a courteous gentleman and gentle warrior when he fought his battles over again for the benefit of the young Princess. A winter was spent by the Duchess and the Princess at St. Leonard's, not far from Battle Abbey, where the last Saxon king of England bit the dust, and William of Normandy fought and won the great battle which rendered his invasion a conquest. 183G was an eventful year in the Queen's life. We read that the Duchess of Kent and her daughter remained at Kensington till the month of September. There was a good reason for staying at home in the early summer. The family entertained friends : not merely valued kinsfolk, but visitors who might change the Avhole current of a life's history and deeply influence a destiny on which the hopes of many hearts were fixed, that concerned the well-being of millions of the human race. Princess Yictoria had not grown up solitary in her high estate. It has been already pointed out that she was one in a group of cousins with whom she had cordial relations. But the time was drawing near when nature and policy alike pointed to the advisability of forming a closer tie, which would provide the Princess with companionship and support stretching beyond those of her mother, and, if it were well and wisely chosen, afibrd the people further assurance that the first household in the kingdom should be such as they could revere. The royal maiden who had been educated so wisely and grown up so simply and healthfully, was ajiproaching her seventeenth birthday. Already there were suitors in store for her hand; as many as six had been seriously thought of— among them, Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, whose suit was greatly favoured by King William ; Duke Ernest of Wurteraberg; Prince Adalliert of Prussia: and Prince George of Cambridge. Prince George of Cumberland was hors dc coinbid] apart fro'n the Duke of Cumberland's preten- sions and the alienation caused by them. Prince George, when a baby, had lost the sight of one eye, a misfortune which his father shared. A few years later in the son's boyhood, as he was at play in the gardens of Windsor Castle, he began to amuse himself with llin;^iiig into the ail" and catching a lung silk purse with hea\y gold tassels, when the YouriT. 43 purse fell on the seeing eye, inflicting sueli an injury as to threaten him with total blindness. The last catastrophe was brought about by the blunder of a famous German oculist after Prince George had become Crown Prince of Hanover. How much the Princess knew or guessed of these matrimonial prospects, how for they fluttered her innocent heart, wo cannot tell ; but as of all the candidates mentioned there was only one with whom she had any acquaintance to speak of, it may be supposed that the generality of the proposed wooers passed like vague shadows before her imagination. In the meantime the devoted friends of her whole life had naturally not left this question — the most important of all — entirely unapi)roachcd. Her English cousins stood to her somewhat in the room of contemporary brothers and sisters ; for her own brother and sister, however united to her in affection, wore removed from her by age, by other ties, and by residence in a foreign country, to which in 1833 there was still no highway well trodden by the feet of kings and queens and their heirs-presumptive, as well as by meaner people, such as we find to-day. But tliere were other cousins of whom much had been said and heard, though they had remained unseen and personally unknown. For that very reason they were more capable of being idealised and surrounded by a halo of romance. At the little ducal Court of Coburg there T7as the perfect young prince of all knightly legends and lays, whom fate seemed to have mated with his English cousin from their births within a few months of each other. When he was a charming baby of three years the common nurse of the pair would talk to him of his little far-away royal bride. The common grandmother of the two, a wise and witty old lady, dwelt fondly on the future union of her youngest charge with the "Mayflower" across the seas. In all human probability these grandmotherly predictions would have come to nothing had it not been for a more potent arbiter of the fortunes of his family. King Leopold had once filled the very post which was now vacant, for which there were so many eager aspirants. None could know as he know the manifold and difficult requirements for the office ; none could care as he cared that it should be worthily filled. His interest in England had never wavered, though he had renounced his English annuity of fifty thousand a year on his accession to the throne of Belgium. He was deeply attached to the niece who stood nearly in the same position which Princess Charlotte had occupied twenty years before. Away in Coburg there was a princely lad whom he loved as a son, and who held the precise relation to the ducal house which he himself had once filled. What was there to hinder King Leopold from following out the comparison ? Wh' could blame him for seeking to rebuild, in the interest of all, the fair edifice of love and happiness and 44- QUE EX VICTORIA. loyal service wlilcli had been shattered before the dawn of those Hvc3 — that were like tho lives of hia children — had arisen '{ Besides, look where he might, and study character and ehiuices with whatever forethought, he eouUl not find such another promising bride- groom for the future Queen of England. Young, handsome, clever, good, endowed with all winning attributes ; with wise, well-balanced judgment in advance of hia years; with earnest, steadfast purpose, gentle, symi)athetic temper, and merry humour. King Leopold's instinct was not at fault, as the result proved ; but it was not without the most careful consideration and many anxious consultations, especially with his trusty old friend. Baron Stockmar, that the King allowed himself to take the initiatory step in tho matter. If the young couple were to love and wed it wa;? certainly necessary that they should meet, that " the favourable impression " might be made, as the two honourable conspirators put it delicately. For this there was no more time to be lost, when so many suitors had already entered the lists, and the maiden only watitcd a year of the time fixed for her majority. But with conscientious heodfulncss for the feelings of the youthful pair, and for their power of forming separately an unbiassed opinion, it was settled that when an opportunity of becoming acquainted should be given them, the underlying motive must be kept secret from the Princess as well as the Prince, that they might be "perfectly at their ease with each other." This secrecy could not, however, extinguish the previous knowledge which the Prince at least possessed, that a marriage between the cousms had been mooted by some of those most interested in their welfare. In spite of the obstacles which King William raised, an invitation was sent by tho Duchess of Kent to her brother, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg, to pay her a visit, accompanied by his two sons, in the spring of 1836. Accordingly, in the month which is the sweetest of the year, in spite of inconstant skies and chill east winds, when Kensington Gardens were bowery and fair with the tender green foliage — the chestnut and hawthorn blossoms — tho lilac and laburnum plumes of early summer, the goodly company arrived, and made the old brick palace gay with the fresh and fitting gaiety of youth. We may never know how the royal cousins met — whether the frank, kind, unconscious Princess came down under the wing of the Duchess as far as their entrance into the Clock Court ; whether there was a little dimness of agitation and laughing confusion, in spite of the partial secrecy, in two pairs of blue eyes which then encountered each other for tho first time ; Thether the courtly company ascended in well-arranged file, or in a little friendly disorder. It was fortunate that there were more doors and halls and staircases than one, for it goes without saying that nobody could have had time and attention to spare for the wonderfully elaborate staircase, the representation in chiaroscuro of horses U^.. YOUTH. 45 and warlike weapons, the frieze with heads of unicorns and masks of lions. It must have been on another day that young heads looked up in jest or earnest at Hercules, Diana, Apollo, and Minerva, and stopped to pick out the heterogeneoua figures in the colonn-ido — " ladies, yeomen of the guard, pages, a quaker, two Turks, a Ilighlander, and Peter the "Wild Boy," which testified to the liberal imagination of Kent, who executed not only the architecture, but the painting, in tlie reign of George I. The guests remained at Kensington for a month, the only drawback to their pleasure being a little attack of bilious fever, from which Prince Albert suffered for a few days. There is a published letter to his stepmother in which the Prir.ce tells his doings in the most unaffected, kindly fashion. There were the King's levee, " long and fatiguing, but very interesting;" the dinner at Court, and the "beautiful concert" which followed, at which the guests had to stand till two o'clock ; the King's birthday, with the Drawing- room at St. James's Palace, whore three thousand eight hundred people passed before the King and Queen, and another great dinner and concert in the evening. There was also the "brilliant ball" at Kensington Palace, at which the gentlemen were in uniform and the 'lies in fancy dresses. Duke William of Brunswick, the Prince of Orange and his sons, and the Duke of Wellington, were among the guests, and the Princes of Coburg helped to keep up the ball till four o'clock. They spert a day with the Duke of Northumberland at Sion House, they went to Claremont, ai-d they were so constantly engaged that they had to make the most of their time in order to see at least some of the sights of London. To one of the sights the Queen re- ferred afterwards. The Duke of Coburg and the two Princes accompanied the Duchess of Kent and the Princess to the wonderful gathering of the children of the different charity schools in St. Paul's Cathedral, where Prince Albert listened intently to the sermon. We hardly need to be told that he was full of interest in everything, paid the greatest attention to all he saw, and was constantly occupied. Among his pleasant occu- pations were the two favourite pursuits — which the cousins shared — music and drawing. He accompanied the Princess on the piano, and he drew with and for her. It was a happy, busy time, though some of the late diiuicrs, at which the Prince drank only water, were doubtless dull enough to the young people, and Prince Albert, accustomed to the early hours and simple habits of Germany, felt the change trying. He confessed that it was sometimes with the greatest difficulty he could keep awake. The Princess's birthday came round during her kinsman's visit. The Prince alluded to the event and to his stay at Kensington in writing to the Duchess of Kent three years later, when he was the proud and happy bridegroom of his cousin. He made no note of the date as having hud 4« QUFKIV VrCTORr.l. an effect on tlieir relations to each other, neither did ho dwc'U on any good wi«h or gift " on his part ; but in conii)lianco with a niotlierly request from his uuut, the Duchess, thiit he would send her sonu'thing ho hud worn, he returned to her a ring that she hud given him on that ]May morning. The ring hud novor left his finger since then. Tho very shape proelainK'd that it had been squeezed in tho grasp of many a manly hand. Tho ring had lier name upon it, but the name was "Victoria" too, and he begged her to wear it in remembruneo of his bride and himself. Tho fuvouniblo impression had been made in spito of tho perversity of fortune and tho vagaries of human hearts, which, amidst other casualties, might have lod the Princess to accord her preference to tho elder brother, Prince Ernest, who was also " a tmo young fellow," though not so well suited to become prince-consort to the Queen of England. But for once destiny was propitious, and neither that nor any other mischance befell tho bright prospects of tho principal actors in the scene. When the King of tho Belgians could no longer refrain from expressing his hopes, he had the most satisfactory answer from his royal niece. " I have only now to beg you, my dearest uncle," she wrote, " to talio care of the health of one now so dear to me, and tc take him under your special protection. I hope and trust that all will now go on prosperously and well on this subject, now of so much importance to me." At the same time, though an aifectionate correspondence was started and maintained for a year, no further communication passed which could tend to enlighten the Prince as to the feelings ho had excited. He went away to complete his education, to study diligently, along with his brother, at Brussels and Bonn; to feel in full the gladness of opening life and opening powers of no ordinary description ; to rejoice, as few young men have the same warrant to rejoice, in the days of his unstained, noble youth. On tho King's birthday, the 21st August, the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria were at Windsor Castlo on a visit. In spito of some soreness over the old grievance, the King proposed the Princess Victoria's health very kindly at the dinner. After he had drunk the Princess Augusta's health he said, " And now, having given tho health of th^ oldest I will give that of the youngest member of the royal family. I know the interest which tho public feel about her, and although I have not seen so much of her as I could have wished, I take no less interest in her, and the more I do i ce of her, both in public and private, tho greater plcasui'e it will give me." The whole thing was ♦ Lady Bloomfield mentions nmong the Queen's rings "a small enauiul with a tiny diamuud iu the ceaiie, the Prince's gift when he liKt caiue tu England, a lad of stvuntceii." l^. YOUTH. 47 80 civil and gmcioiH tliiit it mnM hardly l)o taken ill, but, Bays Grovillo, "tho young Priiicess sat oi)j)osito and Lung licr head with not uuuutural modisty ut bchig thus talked of in 80 largo a company." In tlio Siipteiiiber of that year the Duchoss and tho Prinoess wont again to Pamsgato, and stayed there till Dccoinbcr. It was their last visit to tho quiet little resort within a short pilgriinago of Canterbury— tho great English shrine, not so much of Thomas a lieeket, slain before tho altar, as of Edward tho lllack rrineo, with his sword and gauntlets hung up for over, and tho inscription round tho effigy which does not speak of Cressy and Poictiers, but of tho vanity of human pride and ambition. It was tho last seaside holiday which the mother and daugliter spent tdgother unlrammelled by State obligations and momentous duties, with none to come between the two who had bten all in all with each other. In their absence a storm of wind passed over London, and wrought great damage in Ken-;ington Gardens. About a hundred and thirty of the larger trees were destroyed. In tho forenoon of tho 29th of November "a trcmondous crash was heard in one of tho plantations near tho Black Pond, between Kensington Palace and tho Mount Gate, and on several persons running to the spot twenty-five limes were found tumbled to tho earth by a single blast, their roots reaching high into the air, with a great quuntity of earth and turf adhering, while deep chasms of several yards in diameter sliowed tho force with which they had been torn up. ... On the Palace Green, Kensington, near the forcing-garden, two large elms and a very fine sycamore were also laid prostrate." In the following summer (1837) tho Princess came of age, as princesses do, at eighteen, and it was meet that the day should be celebrated with all honour and gladness. But the rejoicings were damped by the manifestly failing health of the aged King, then seventy-one years of ago. He had been attacked by hay fever — to which ho had been liable every spring at an earlier period of his life, but the complaint was more formidable in the case of an old and infirm man, while he still struggled manfully to transact business and discharge the duties of his position. At the Levee and Drawing- room of the 21st May he sat while receiving the company. By the 24th he was confined to his rooms, and the Queen did not leave him. At six o'clock in the morning the IJnion Jack was hoisted on the summit of the old church, Kensington, and on the flagstaff at Palace Green. In tho last instance the national ensign was surmounted by a white silk flag on which was inscribed in sky-blue letters " Victoria." The little town adorned itself to the best of its ability. " Prom the houses of the principal inhabitants of the High Street were also displayed the Eoyal Standard, Uuiou Jack, and other flags and colours, some of them of extraordinary QVKFX VICTOR r A. diinonsions." Soon after six o'clock tho giitoa of Koiisinpifon flardoiis wore tluov i ojicu for tho admission of the [lublio to be prcHont at tho Horenude whidi was to bo porformrci at seven o'clock under the Palueo windows, with tho doulilo puritoso of i. waking tho Princess in the most agrooable manner, and of reminding lier thiit at tho samo place and hour, eighteen years ago, she had oj)encd her eyes on the May world. Tho sleep of youth is light as well as sound, and it may well be that the Princess, knowing all that was in store for her on tho happy day that could not bo too long, tho many goodly tokens of her friends' love and gladness — not tho least precious those from Gornumy awaiting her acceptance — tho innumerable congratulations to be oflfered to her, was wide awaki before the first violin or voice led the choir. The bells rang out merry peals, carriages dashed by full of fine company. Kensington Square must have thought it was the old days of William and ^lary, and Anne, or of George II. and Queen Caroline at tho latest, come back again. Tho last French dwellers in Edwardes Square must have talked volubly of what their predecessors had told them of Paris before the flood, Paris before the Orloanists, and the lionapartists, and the Republic — Paris when the high-walled, grccn-gardoned hotels of tho Faubourg St. Germain were full of their ancient occupants J when Mario Antoinette was the daughter of the Cfesars at the Tuileries, and tho bergere Queen at le Petit Trianon. Before the sun went down many a bumper was drunk in honour of Kensington's own Princess, who should that day leave her girlhood all too soon behind her. But London as well as Kensington rejoiced, and the festivities were wound up with a ball given at St. James's Palace by order of the poor King and Queen, over whoso heads the cloud of sorrow and parting was hanging heavily. We are told that the ball opened with a quadrille, the Princess being " led off" by Lord Fitzalan, eldest son of the Earl of Surrey and grandson of the Duke of Norfolk, Premier Duke and Eurl, Hereditary Earl- ^Lirshal and Chief Butler of England. Her Royal Highness danced afterwards with Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, son of the Austrian Ambassador. Prince Nicholas made a bril- liant figure in contemporary annals— not because of his own merits, not because he married one of the fairest of England's noblo daughters, whose gracious English hospitalities were long remembered in Vienna, but because of the lustre of the diamonds in his Court suit. Ho was said to sparkle from head to heel. There was a legend that he could not wear this splendid costume without a hundred pounds' worth of diamonds dropping from him, whether he would or not, in minor gems, just as jewels fell at every word from the mouth of the enchanted Princess. We have heard of men and women behind whose stops flowers 8])rang into birth, but Prince .Nicholas left a more glittering, if a colder, harder track. iU^ ■ Jll i| . 1 I Htj. CUAi'l'KU IV. TIIK AcrKssroN. /"iN" tlio (lay after (Imt on which PriiicosH Victoria rolphrntcd h(>r majorify, liaron Stockiiiar arrived at Keiisiiif^toii. Uo came from tlie King of the IW^JKinns to ussis'^ King Leopiihl's niooo in what «as likely to be tlie great crisis of her life. During Haror, Stockmar'.s former stay in England he hatl boon in the character first of i'hysician in OrU- nury to I'rinco Leopold, and aft(>rwards of Private Secretary and Comptroller of his house- hold. In those otHees lie had spent the greater part of his time in this country from 1810 to 1834. IIo had accompanied his m:ister on his ascending the Uelgian throne, but had returned to Kngland in a few years in order to serve liim better there. Baron Stockmar was thus an old and early friend of the rrinocss's. In addition ho had a largo acquaintance with the English political world, and was therefore well (lualified to advise her with the force of a disinterested adviser in her ditticult p(»sition. In the view of her becoming (iiieen, although her tiiree predecessors, including (Jeorge III. after ho bo>'aine blind, had appointed and retained private secretaries, the office was not popidar in the eyes of tli( Government and country, and it was not (considered advisable that the future Queen should possess such a servant, notwithstanding the weight of business — enormous in the matter of signatures alone— which would fall on the Sovereign. Without any recognised position, Stockmar was destined to share with the Prime ^linister one portion of the duties which ought to liave devolved on a private secretary. He was alfo to act as confidential adviser. Baron Stockmar,* who was at this time a man of fifty, was no ordinary character. lie was sagacious, warm-hearted, honest, .straightforward to bluntness, painstaking, just, benev(dent to a remarkable degree; the friend of princes, witliout forfeiting his independence, he won and kept their perfect confidence to the eud. lie loved them heartily in return, ♦ "An lutivc, decided, sliiider, rather little man, with a compnct licnd, brown hair streaked with grey, a hold, short nose, firm yet full mouth, and what gave a peculiar air of aiiiiiiatiou to his face, with two youthful, Hashing brown eyes, full of roguish intelligence and tiery provocation. With this exterior, the style of his demeanour and conversation corrcsponiled ; bold, blight, pungent, eager, full of tlinught, so that amid all the bubbling eopiouancaa and easy vivacity of his talk, a certain purpose was never lust sight of in his remarks and illustrations." — Fricdiich Carl Mcijer, U >'l so QUEEN VICTORIA. witliout seeking anything from thoin ; on tlio contrary, ho showed himself reluctant toiieoept tokens of their favour. While lavishing his services on others, and readily lending his help to those who needed it. he would seem to have wanted comfort himself. An affectionate family man, he consented to coustuntly recurring separation from his wife tuid children in order to discharge tho peculiar functions which were entrusted to him. Tor he played in tho background — contented, nay, resolute to remain there — by the lawful exercise of influence alone, no small part in the destinies of sevcril of the reigning houses in Europe, and through them, of their kingdoms. Like Carlylo, he sud'ered during his whole life from dyspepsia ; like Curlyle, too, he was a victim to hypochondria, the result of his physical state. To these two last causes may be attributed some whimsicalities and eccentricities which wore readily forgiven in the excellent Baron. Baron Stockmar did not come too soon; in less than a month, on th(! 20th of June, 1837, after an illness which he had borne patiently and reverently, King William died peacefully, his hand resting where it had lain for hours, on the shoidder of his faithful Queen. The death took place at Windsoi*, at a little after two o'clock in tlie morning. Immediately afterwards the Archbishop of Canterbury, l)r. Ilowley, and the Lord Chamberlain, the Manpiis of Conyngham, together with the I-larl of Albemarle, the Master of the Horse, and Sir Henry Ilalford, tho late King's physician, started from Windsor for Kensington. All through tlu; rest of tho summer night these solemn and stalely gentlemen drove, nodding with fatigue, hailing the early dawn, speaking at intervals to pronounce sentence on the past reign and utter prognostications of tho reign which was to come. Shortly before five, when the birds were already in full chorus in Kensington Gardens, the party stood at the main door, demanding admission. This was another and ruder summons than the musical serenade which liad been planned to wile the gentle sleeper sweetly from her slumbers and to hail her natal day not a month befo'-e. That had been a graceful sentimental recognition of a glad event; this was an unvarnished, well- nigh stern arousal to tho world of grave bv.siness and anxious care, following tho mournful annoimcement of a death— not a birth. From this day the (ineen's heavy responsibilities and stringent obligatidiis were to begin. I'liat untimely, peremptory chalh-nge sounded the first knell to the light heart and careless freedom of youth. Though it had been well known that the King lay on his death-bed, and Kensington without, as well as Kensington within, must have been in a high state of e.\peetation, it does not appear that there were any watchers on th(! alert to rush togc^tlun' at the roll of the three royal carriages. Instead of tht; eager, resp(>etfiil crowd, hurrying into the early-opened gates of tlu^ park to secure good places for all that was to be seen and heard il*^ THE ACCESaiON. 51 on tlio day of tlio Priuccss's ('(niiiiipjof nfi;(>, ralaco nrccii sociiis to luivu licon a solitude on this niomentons Juno morning, and the individual tho nio«t intcrostod in tho event, after the ncw-niado Queen, instead of being tluTo to pay liis homage tirst, as he luid offered his congratulations on the birthday a year before, was fur a\,"ay, quietly studying at tho litth? university town on the IShinc;. "They knocked, they ran-, they thumped for a eonsiderablo time before Ihey could rouse the porter at the gate," says Miss Wynn, in tho "Diary of a Lady of (iuality," of these importunate new-comers. "They were again kept waiting in tho courtyard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where tliey seemed forgotten by everylxtdy. They rang tho bell and desired that tho attendant of tho Princess Victoria might l)o sent to inform Iler Royal Ilighness that they requested an audience on business of importancio. After another delay and another ringing to iuijuiro the cause, the attendant was sum- moned, Avho slated that the Princ(>ss was in such a sweet sleep that she could not venture to disturb her. Tiien they said, ' Wo are come on business of State to the (Jukkv, and even her sleep must give way to that.' It did ; and, to prove that she did not keep them waiting, in a few minutes she eamo into tho room in a loose white nightgown ami shawl, her nightcap tlirown off, and her hair fulling upon her shoulders, her fct-l in slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected and dignilied." In those days, when news did not travel very fast, and was not always delivered with strict accuracy, a rumour got abroad that tho Queen was walking in the Palace Ciarden when tho messengers came to tell her she liad succeeded to the Crown. A great deal was made of tho poetic simplicity of tho surroundings of tho interesting central tigure — tho girl in her tender bloom among tho lilies and roses which she r(>s(>mbled. We can remember a brilliant novel of the time whicih had a famous chapter beginning witli an impassioned apostrophe to the maiden who met her high destiny "in a palace, in a garden." Another account asserted that the (iucen saw the Archbishop of Canterbury alone in her ante-room, and that her tirst request was for his prayers. Tho ]\[ariiuis of Conyngham was tho b(>arer to the Queen of n request from the Quecn- dowagtu- that she might be permitted to remain at Windsor till after the fiiMcral. In reply, her Majesty wrote an atfccitionate letter of condolence to her utnit, begging her to consult nothing but her own health and convenienee, and to stay at Winefh of Carlyle, that a girl at an ago when, in ordinary circumstances, she would hardly be trusted to choose a boimct for herself, was culled upon to undertake responsibilities from which an archangel might have shrunk. ^^ore than this, the rotiri'ment in which the young Queen had grown up left her nature a hidden secret to tliose well-trained, gr(>y-bear(l((l men in authority, who now came to bid her rule over them. Thus, in addition to every other doubt to bo solved, there was the pressing (juestion as to how a girl wojild behave under such a tremendous test; for, iilthough there had been queens-regnant, popular and unpopular before, Mary and Elizabeth liiid been full-grown women, and Anne had attained still more mature years, before the crown and sceptre were committed to the safe keeping of each in turn. Above all, how woidd this royal girl, on whose conduct so much depended, demean herself on this crucial occasion? Surely if .she were overcome by timidity and appi-eheusion, if she were goaded into some foolish demonstration of pride or levity, allowance must bo made, and a good deal forgiven, because of the cruel strain to which she was subjected. Il^ [iM^. THE ACCESSION. SJ Shortly after olcvoii o'clock, the royul ])ukos and a Rnnit imiiilior of Privy Coun- cillors, amongst wliom were all the Cabinet Ministers and the great otlicers of State and the Ilousehokl, arrived at Kensington Palace, and were ushered into the State apartments. A later arrival consisted of the Lord Mayor, rttcndcd by the City Marshals in full uniform, on horseback, with crape on their left arms ; the Chamberlain, Sword- bearer, Comptroller, Town Clerk, and Deputy Town Clerk, &c., accompanied by six aldermen. These ('ity magnates appeared at the Palace to pay tlieir homage to her Majesty. The Lord iMayor attended the Council. We have various accounts — one from an eye-witness wont to be cool and critical enough — of what passed. " The first thing to be done," writes Greville, " was to teach her her less(m, which, for this purpose, Melbourne had himself to learn. 1 gave him the Council papers and explained all that was to be done, and he went and explained all this to her. lie asked her if she would enter the room accompanied by the great officers of State, but she said she would come in alone. "When the Lords were assembled, the Lord President ( Lord Lansdowne) informed them of the King's death, and suggested, as they were so numerous, that a few of them should repair to the presence of the Queen, and inform her of the event, and that their lordships were assembled in oonse([>ience ; and accordingly the two royal Dukes (the Duke of Cumberland, by the death of William, King of Hanover, and the Duke of Sussex — the Duke of Cambridge was absent in Hanover), the two Archbishops, the Chancellor, and Melbourne went with him. The Queen received them in the adjoining room alone." It was the first time she had to act for herself. Until then she had been well supported by her mother, and by the precedence which the Duchess of Kent took as her Majesty's guardian. But the guardianship was over and the reign begun. There could be no more sheltering from responsibility, or becoming deference to, and reliance on, the wisdom of another and a much older person. In one sense the stay was of necessity removed. The Duchess of Kent fi )m this day " treated her daughter with respectful observance as well as affection." The time was past for advice, instruction, or sug- gestion, unless in private, and even then it would be charily and warily given by the sensible, modest mother of a (iui>en. Well for her ^Majesty that there was no more than truth in what one of the historians of tlu> reign has said, in just and temperate language, of her character : " She was well brought up. Both as regards her intellect and her character her training was excellent. She was taught to bo self-reliant, brave, and systematical." As soon as the deputation had returned, the proclamation was read: "Whereas it has pleased Almighty (Jod to call to His mercy our late Sovereign Lord, King William il^ H QUEEN VICTORIA. the Fourth, of bh by whoso dccctiso the ial Cn of the t ■ri Vi »?M. 1 and glorious memory, by whose rtccctiso the imponal L^rown United Kinj^dom of Great liritain and Irohuid is solely and rightfully come to the high and mighty Princess Alcxandrina Victoria, saving the rights of any issue of his late majesty. King William the Fourth, which may be born of his late Majesty's consort ; we, therefore, the lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being hero assisted with these of his late Majesty's Privy Council, with numbers of others, principal gentlemen of quality, with the Lord Mayor, aldermen and citizens of London, do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim that the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria is now, by the death of our late Sovereign, of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful liege Lady, Victoria, by the grace of God Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, saving, as aforesaid : To whom, saving as aforesaid, we do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all hearty and humble alfeetion, beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to bless the royal Princess Victoria with long and happy years to reign over us. " Giv(!n at the Court of Kensington this 20th di;y of June, 1837. (Signed by all th^ Lords of the Privy Council present). God Save the Queen." " Then," resuming Mr. Oreville's narrative, " the doors were thrown open, and the Queen entered, accompanied by her two uncles, who advanced to meet her. She bowed to the Lords, took her scat (an arm-chair improviscnl into a throne, with a footstool), and then read her speech in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any appearance of fear or embarrassment: — " ' The severe and afflicting loss which the nation has sustained by the death of his Majesty, my b(>loved uncle, has devolved upon me the duty of adniiuistering the Governtncut of this empire. TLis awful responsibility is imposed upon me so suddeidy, and at so early a period of my life, that I should feel myself utterly oppressed by the burden were I not sustained by the hope that Divine Providence, which has called me to this work, will give me strength for the perlbrmance of it, and that I shall tind in the purity of my intentions, and in my zeal fe- the public welfare, that 8up[»()rt and those resources which usually belong to a more maturi- age and to longer experience. '"I place my firm reliance upon the wisdom of Pai'liument and upon the loyalty and affection of my people. I esteem it also a peculiar advantage that I succeed to a Sovereign wli jso constant regard for the rights and liberties of his subjecfts, and whose desire to promote the amelioration of the laws and institutions of the country, liavc! rendered his name the object of general attachment and veneration. " ' Educated in England, under the tender and enlightened care of a most affec- THE ACCESSION, IS tionate mother, I huvo learned from my infiinoy to respect and lovo the Constitution of my native country. " ' It will be my unceasing study to maintain the reformed religion as by law established, securing at the same time to all the full enjoyment of religious liberty ; and I shall steadilj^ protect the rights and promote, to the utmost of my power, the happiness and welfare of all classes of my subjects.' " Iler Majesty's speech was after the model of English royal speeches ; but one can feel at this day it was spoken in all ingenuousness and sincerity, and that the utterance — remarkable already for clearness and distinctness — for the first time, of the set words, ending in the solemn promise to do a Sovereign's duty, must have thrilled the hearts both of speaker and hearers. A critical listener was not wanting, according to the testimony of the witness who, on his own account, certainly did not object to chronicle detraction of every kind. " The speech was admired, except by Brougham, who appeared in a considerable state of excite- ment. He said to Teel (whom ho was standing near, and with whom he was not in the habit of communicating), '"amelioration;" that is not English. You might perhaps say "melioration," but "improvement" is the proper word.' " * Oh !' said Peel, ' I see no harm in the word ; it is generally used.' " ' You object,' said Brougham, * to the sentiment ; I object to the grammar.' " * No,' said Peel, * I don't object to the sentiment,' " ' Well, then, she pledges herself to the poli(!y of our Government,' said Hrougham. "She was quite plainly dressed, and in mourning. After she had read her speech, and taken and signed the oath (administered bj tiie Arclibishop of Canterbury) for the security of the Church of Scotland, the Privy Councillors were sworn, the two royal Dukes first by themselves." The days of violence were ended, and whatever private hopes ho might once have niitertuined, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, was the first to hail his niece as the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria, to whom the imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland had solely and rightfully come— the first to proclaim her, with ono voice and consent of tongue and heart, on the part of himseK" and his peers, his only lawful and rightful liege Lady Victoria, to whom ho acknowledged all faith and rightful obedience, with all hearty and hund)le affection. It may be, the fact that ho had succeeded to the throne of Hanover rendered the step less difficult. His name was also tho first in the signatures of princes, Privy Councillors, piMU's, and gentlenu'n affixed in the next room to tho proclamation. His brother, the Duko of Sussex, followed. They wi're both elderly ' S6 Ql'HKIV VICTORIA. men, with \\w> youiif^cr oUUt in intirniitii'H than in yoaw. Tho Kiiiy of Hanover was sixty-six, the Duke of Sussex sixty-four years of age. "Ana as these two old men, lior uncles, knelt before her, swearini; allogianco and kissing her hand," Grovillo went on, with a sense of pathos, curious for him, in the scene, "I saw her biush up to the eyes, as if slio felt tho contrast between their civil and their natural relations, and this was the only sign of emotion which she evinced, ller manner to them was very graceful and engaging ; she kissed them both, and rose from her chai"" and moved towards the Duke of Sussex, who was farthest from her, and too infirm to reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the midtitude of men who were sworn, and who came one after another to kiss her hand, but she did not 8i)eak to anybody, nor did she make the slightest ditferenoe in her manner, or show any in her countenance, to any individual of any rank, station, or party. I particularly watched her when Melbourne and the Ministers, and the Duke of Wellington and Peel approached h(>r. She went through the whole ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when she had uny doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurreil, and with perfect coolness and self- possession, but at the same time with a gracd'ul modesty and propriety particularly intoH'sting and ingratiating. When the business was done she retired as she had entered, and I could see that nobody was in the adjoinin^; room." Mr. Greville's comment on the scene was singularly enthusiastic from such a man. " Never was anything like; tho first impression she protluced, or the chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner and behavour, and certainly not without justice. It was something very cxtr.iordinary, and something far beyond what was looked for." He quoted Sir Itobert Peel's and the Duke of Wt^llington's opinions in accordance with his own. "He (Sir Robert) likewise said how anuizcd he was at the manner and behaviour, at her api)areut deep .sense of her situation, her modesty, and at tho same time her firmness. She appeared, in fact, to be awed, but not daunted ; and aft«'rwards, the Duke of Wellington told me the same thing, and added, that if she had been his own daughter he could not have desired to see her perform her part better." We can understand the fatherly reference of the Duke, and the sort of personal pride he took in his young Qiu'en. He had been present at her birth in this very Palace of Kensington ; he had known her at every stage of her life hitherto. She was doing credit not only to herself an. ad of the ordinary moining dress of the gentlemen of their generation. It must have tickled Wilkie as he worked to come to an old acquaintance of his boyhood and youth in John, Lord Campbell, and to recognise how bewilderingly far removed from the bleak little parish of Cults and the quiet little town of Cupar was the coincidence which sununoned him, the distinguished painter, in the execution of a royal commission, to draw the familiar features of his early playmate in those of the Attorney-General, who appeared as a privileged .aieniber of the illustrious throng. We still turn back wistfully to that bright dawn of a beneficent reign. We see the slight girlish figure in her simple mourning filling her place sedately at the head of the Council table. At the foot, facing her ^lajesty, sits the Duke of Sussex, almost venerable in his stiffness aud lameness, Vtcaring the black velvet skull-cap by which he was dis- tinguished in those days. We look at the well-known faces, and think of the famous names among the crowd of mature men, each of whom was hanging on the words and looks of his mistress. There is Copley the painter's sou, sagacious Lyndhurst, who lived to be the Nestor of the bench and the peerage ; there is his great opponent, llobertson the I 5R Qri:KN VICTORIA. ! A liistoriaii'H Rruiul-ncplifw, nr()u;i;Iiiim, a tyrniit of trcfdiiiii, an iilusti'ious Ja('k-o."-all-lnul('s, the iiuwt iinpassioiK'd, most imblic-siiiritcd, most egotistical of men. IIo was a contradic- tion to himself as well as to his iieiglibours. Ilis slroiigly-markod face, M'ith its shaggy brows, high fheck-boiies, aggressive nose, mouth drooping at the corners, had not lost its mobility. He was restless and liudt-finding in this presence as in any other. The Duke of Wellington's Eoman noso lent something of the eagle to his aspect. It was a more patrician attribute than ISir IJobert Peel's long upper lip, with its shy, nervous compression, which men mistook for impassive coldness, just as the wits blundered in calling his strong, ser- viceable cajjacity, noblo uprightness, and patient labour "sublime mediocrity." William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, was the type of an aristocract, with bniins and heart, lie was still a very handsome man at tifty-eight, as he was also " perhaps the most grae(>ful and agreeable gentleman of the generation." Ilis colleag(U» — dcstini'd to marry Lord Mel- bourne's sistex', the most charming woman who ever presided in tiu-n over two ^linistcrial salons, Lord Palmerston, in sjjito of his early achievements in waltzing at Almaek's, was less personally and mentally gifted. Ho had rather an indiarubber-likc elasticity and jauntiness than stateliness, or dignity, or grace. His irri-gnlar-featured face was comical, but ho bore the bell in exhaustless spirits, Avliidi won him, late in life, the reputation of liereinual juvenility, and the enviable \'. not altogether respectful .sobriijuet of *' the ever- green Palm." Lord John Eussell, with his large head and little body, of Avhich Punch made stock, with his friendship for Mooro and his literary turn, as well as his ambition to serve his country like a true llussell, was at this date wooing and wedding the fair young Avidow, Lady Kibblesdale, his devotion to whom had dmwn from the wags a profane pun. They called the gifted little lord *' the widow's mite." When the marriage (ereinony was being performed between him and Lady IJibblesdale the wedding-ring fell from the bride's finger — an evil omen soon fultillod, for the marriage tie was .speedily broken by her early death. "Plain John Campbell" was a very different man. The son of a minister of the Church of Scotland, in a presbytery which included anumg its members the father of Sir David Wilkie, his Scotch tongue, Scotch shrewdness, healthy ajipetite for work, and invulnerable satisflxction with himself and his surroundings, caused themselves to bo felt in another sphere than that to which he was born. " The Cabinet ^linisters tendered to the Queen the seals of their respective offices, which her Majesty was jnost graciously pleased to return, and they severally kissed hands on their reai>pointment." The last business done was to arrange for the public proclama- tion of the (iueen, and to take her pleasure with regard f(t the time, which she fixed for the day following, AVedncsday, the 2l8t of June, at ten o'clock. When Lord Albemarle, 77/A' ACC/:s.S/(JX. S9 foi' whom slio liiid aeut, went tct her mid told her he was rome to tiilu^ her ordt-rs, slio snid, " I hiive no orders to give. You must know this so niuili better than I do, tliat I havo it all to you. I am to bo at 8t. James's at ten to-morrow, and must bcj? you to find mo a ccnveyiincc proper for tho occasion." We are further inl'ormed that the Queen, in the course of the morninj^, received a great many noble and distinguished personages. So finished a busy and exciting day, the herald of many other days crowded witli engagements and excitement. The Palace of St. Jan.e 's, whore tho proclamation was to tak(( place, had been for a long tinio the thealro of all tho principal events in tho lives of the kings and queens of Kngland. Even the young Queen already viewed it in this light, for though she had been baptized at Kensington, she had been confirmed at St. James's. Siu' had attended her first Drawing- rooms, and celebrated her coming-of-ago ball there. St. James's is a brick building, like Kensington Palace, but is far older, and full of more stirring and tragic; aesoeiations. It has an air of anticpiity about it, if it has few architectural claims on the world's interest ; but at least one front, that which includes the turreted gateway into St. James's Street, is n without picturescpie beauty. Tho situation of tho palace, considering that it is in the middle of a great city, is agreeable. It has its park, with a stretch of pleasant water on one side, and commands the leafy avenue of the Mall and tho sweep of ('on.stitution Hill. Asa royal residence it dates as far back as Henry VIII., whose daughter Mary ended her sad life here. I3oth of tho sons of James I. received it as a dwelling, and were connected with it in troubled days. Prince Henry fell into Ins pining sickness and died here. Charles, after bringing Henrietta Maria umler its roof, and owning its shelter till three of his children Avere born, was carried to St. James's as a prisoner. lie was taken from it in a sedan-chair to undergo his trial at his new palace of Whitehall. He was conveyed back ,'nder s"ntenco of death. Hero Bishop Juxon prcaehed the last sermon to which the King lisiened, and administered to liim the Sacrament ; and hero Charles to(dc leave of his children — the little Duke of Gloucester and the girl-Prinoess Elizabcith. From St. James's the King went to tho scaffold on tho bitter January morning, fVdlowed by the snowy night in which "the white King" was borne to his dishonoured burial. Other and less tragic scenes were enacted within its boundt A familiar figure in connection with Kensington Palace — Caroline of Anspach, wife of George II. — died like herself here. Her King had fallen into a stupor of sorrow across the bed where she lay in her last agony, and she forbade his being disturbed. She told those who were praying to pray aloud, that she might hoar them ; then raising herself up and uttering the single German word of acquiescence, " ^So," her brave spirit passed away. H t^S^B^^Si^ i'.7UaBI»n=ft«^M. 6o qui: EN VICTORTA. \ \ ii' WHion the Qiiccii arrived, aecoiupaiiiiul by licr mother ami her ladies, and attended by an escort, on the Juno morning ol' la-i jToclamation, slie was received by the other members of the royal family, the Household, and the Cabinet Ministers. Already every avenue to the Palace and evi'ry balcony and window within sight were crowded to excess. In tho quadrangle opposite the window where her Afajesty was to appear a mass of loyal ladies and gentlemen was tightly wedged. The parapets above were filled with pc'ople, conspicuous among them the big figure of Daniel U'( 'eiinell, tho agitator, waving his hut and cheering with Irish effusion. "At ten o'clock," says the Annual Jici/isfir, "the guns in tho park fired a salute, and immediately afterwards the (iueen made her appearance at the window of the tapestried ante-room adjoining the ante-chand)er, and was reeeivt>d with deafening cheers. She stood between liords Melbourne and Laiisdowno, in their State dresses and their ribands, who were also cheered, as was likewise her Royal Highness the I)uch(>s8 of Kent. At this and the two other windows we recognised the King of Hanover, the Dukes of Sussex, Wel- lington, and Argyle ; Lords Hill, Combernu>re, Denbigh, Duncannon, AllxMiiarle, and Winchester ; Sir E. Codrington, Sir William Houston, and a number of other lords and gentlemen, with several ladies. " Her Majesty looked extremely fatigued and pale, but returned tho repeated cheers with which she was greeted with remarkable case and dignity. She was dressed in deep mourning, with a white tippet, white cuffs, and a border of white lace under u small black bonnet, which was placed far back on her head, exhibiting her light hair in front simply parted over the forehead. Her Majesty seemed to view the proceedings with considerable interest. Her Eoyal Highness tho Duchess of Kent was similarly dressed to the Queen.'' " In the courtyard were Go'-ter-King-at-Arms with heralds and pursuivants in their robes of office, and eight officers of arms on Imrseback bearing massive silver maces ; sergcants-at-arms with their maces and collars ; the sergeant-trumpeter with his mace and collar; the trumpets, drum-major and drums, and knights'-marshal and men." " On Her Majesty showing herself at the Presence Chamber window, Garter-Principal-- King-at-Arms having taken his station in the courtyard under the window, accompanied by tho Duko of Norfolk us Earl-Marshal of England, read the procliimalion contain- ing the formal and official announcement of the demise of King William IV., and of the consequent accession of Queen Alexandrina Victoria to the throne of those realms ... 'to whom W(! acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all humble and hearty affection, beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to bless the Royal Princess Alexandrina Victoria with long and happy years to reign. God save the 11:1. ilk^ THE ACCESSION. •I Qut'oii,' At tlio tcriiiiiiiitioii of thiH prn tlio band Htriick up tho National Aiitlii'in, nnd u signal was given for tho I'ark and Tower guns to tiro iu order to announoo tlio fact of tho proelainatiou lieing made. During tho reading of tho proehunation her Majesty stood at the I'rosentre Cliaruhor window, and inuuediately upon its conclusion the uir was rent with thi> loudest acclamations by those within tho ureu, which wore responded to by tho thousands without." The Bcouo di-ew from Elizabeth Harrett Urowning tho following popular vcrBCB : — O, iimiden, licir of kingw, A kiii^ liim lefl lii.t iiliue j The riuij('4y of il< ulli Ims swept All other friiin IiIm I'lHi) ; AiilpR.siiij,'.s moll! ilivine, Ami lill with belter love limn earth That lender heart uf thine ; That when tho thrones of eailli shall l;o As low as j^'ruvcH 1ii-iiii|{lit of Kent liml l)«>i>n libi Hanio nido ; lii'i- brotlu-r unj;ly, th(» \Vhij;s hailod tho aocoHMion of Queen Victoria as tiieir triumph, likely to wcure and pndong tlieir tenure of oflieo. They claimed her uh their Uueen, with a boastiuf; exultaticm eahfuhited to wound and exasperato every Tory in tho kingdom. Lord Campbell, who, though a zeah»us Whig, was coni- parativoiy rool and cautious, wrote in hiH jojirnal, after the (Queen's first Couucil, "We basked in tho full ghire of royal sunshiiui;" and this tone wa« generally adopted by \m party. They mot with somc^ amount of suecesH in their loud assertion, and the eonstMiuonee was a strain of indignant bittornoHs in tho Tory rejoinder. A clover |)arlimin inscribed on tho wiudow-pano of an inn at Iluddersfield : "Till! yin'i'M is Willi tin," Wlii^!» iiiMiillinx my, " For when Aw fouiiil ii» in, ulic li't iin Miiy." It niiiy lie «» ; liiit ^i*'' '"" l''avi> to iloulit IIow long bhu'll kwp you i(7i«;i nhr ihid» ijnii mt. There was pvoii some cooling of Tory loyalty to tlic new (iueon. f'hroniclors fell us of tho ostentations difference in enthusiasm with which, at Tory dinners, the toasts of tho Queen, and tho Queen- dowager were rec»'ived. As a matter of course, Lord Melbourne became the Queen's instructor in the duties of her position, and as she had no private secretary, ho had to be in constant attendance upon her — to see her, not only daily, but sometinicH three or four times a day. The Queen has given her testimony to the unwearied kindness and iileasantness, the disinterested regard for her welfare, even the generous fairness to jiolitieal oppont-nts, with which her rriine Minister discharged his task. It seems as if the great trust imposed on him drew out all that was most manly and chivalrous in a character which, along with much that was tine and attractive, that won to him all who came in close contact with him, was not without tho faults of the tyi»ical aristocrat, coirectly or incorrectly defined by the popular imagination. Lord Melbourne, with his sense and spirit, honesty and good-nature, could be haughtily indifferent, la/ily self-indulgent, scornfully careless (iven to afl'ectation, of the opinions of his social inferiors, as when he appeared to amuse himself with " idly blowing a feather or nursing a sofa-cushion while receiving an important and jxrliaps highly sensitive deputation from this or that commercial interest." Tho time has coi. •* when it is fully recognised that whatever might have been liord Melbourne's defects, he never brought them info his relations with the Queen. To her he was tho fnink, sincere, devoted adviser of uU that it was wisest and best for her to do. " He docs not appear to have been THE ACCEHSION. grcfdy of power, or to hiivt« unnl any imfuir iik'iuih of p'ltiiit? or k wariii( could h<' piippot in the haiidrt of a MiiiiHtcr," Hut mon — cMpccially Lonl Mclh'niriic'H political ndviTsaric* — wcro not suf!i-lllilldod and larnc-licartcd to put this coiifhh'nco in him huforchaud. They rcmcmhorcd with Mrath and diHgUMt that, rvt>ii in th*' laii^ua;;!' of mon of tho world, " his morals wt-ro not Hupposrd to ho very strict." lie had hccn unhappy in his family lifo. The eccentricities and follies ot Lady Caroline Lamh had foriutMl tli(> gossip of several liondon seasons lon^ years hoforo. Other scandals had ^athered round his name, and though they had heen to sonio extent disproven, it was intlignantly asked, could theroboa more unsuitahle and uudesirahio guide for an innocent royal girl of eighteen than this accomplished, bland »'««« of threescore ? Should he he permitted to soil — were it but in thouglit— the lily of whose stainlessness the nation was so pnmd? The result proved that liord Melbourne could be a blameless, worthy servant to his Sovereign. In the meantimn the great news of (iueen Victoria's accession had travelled to the princely student at Uonn, who responded to it in a maidy, modest letter, in which he made no claim to share the gnnitness, while he referred to its noble, scdemn side. I'rince Albert wrote on the 20tli of June: " Xow you are Queen of the mightiest land of Europe; in your hand lies th(> happiness of millions. May Heaven assist you and strengthen you with its strength in that high butditticnlt task. I hope that your reign may be long, happy, and glorious, and that your efforts may be rewardiMl by the thankfulness and lovo of your sub- jects." To others ho express(>(l his satisfaction at what he heard of his cousin's astonishing self-possession, and of the high pndse bestowed on her by all parties, *' which seemed to promise so auspiciously for her reign." But so far from putting himself forward or being thrust forward by their commim friends as an aspirant for her hand, while she was yet only on the edge of that strong tide and giddy whirl of imposing power and dazzling adulation which was too likely to sweep her beyond his grasp, it was resolved by King Leopold and the kindred who were most concerned in the relations of the couple, that, to give time for matters to settle down, for the young (iueen to know her own niind — above all, to dissipate the premature rumour of a formal engagement between the cousins which had taken persistent hold of the public mind ever since the vi.sit of the ISaxe- Cobnrg princes to Kensington Talace in the previous year, Prince Albert should travel for several months. Accordingly, he set out, in company with his brother, to make an , 64 QUEEN VICTORIA. onjoyublc tour, on foot, tliroiipli Switzerland and tlio north of Italy. To a niituro liUo his, such an ox|)erioneo was full of krcn delight ; but in tho midst of his intoxication ho never forgot his eousin. Tiio correspondiMico between tliein bad been suffered to drop, but that she continued present to his thoughts was sufHeiently iudicatcd by the souvenirs ho collected spec^iuUy for her: the views of the scciios he visited, tho Aiju-iiruneH ho gathered for her in its native home, Voltaire's autograph. The Queen left Kensington within a month of her uncle's death, we do not need to bo told "greatly to tho vegret of the inhabitants," She went on the 13th of July to take up her residence at Buckingham Palace. " Shortly al't(>r one o'clock an escort of ^ancers took up a i)osition on the Palace fSreen, long previous to whicfh an immense concourse of respectiible por-ons had thronged the avenue and every open space near tho Palace." Abcviit half-past one an open carriage drawn by four greys, j)recedcd by two ontri the dates of the days on which the (iueen hersell had been accus- tomed to read the Psalms, and that the marker, with tho litth^ peaitock on it, was work«-d l)y the Princess's own hantl. The sick girl cried, and asked if this act was not beautiful ? [iMmm^ '1 1'^ [tJM^. t ^ HI P || pi iiM*'«- t'UAlTI.R V. TIIK ntOIinoUINi) OK I'AK: Ai.K ;■, XHK visit TCi nUII.nHAM,, and the CnnoNATION. "nUCKINfJnAM PALACl' had boon a srat of tho Duko of Hu(kiii<,'hnm'H, which was houplit by Gporf^o TI., and in tho roxt i'>igii was settlod on Queen Charlotto instead of Somerset IIouso, and caHed tlie "Queen's TTouse." It was rebiiiU. by (loorgo IV. but not occupied by him, and liad been rarely u^ed by King William. Hesides its gardens, wliich are of some extent, it shares with St. James's, which it is near, the advantage of St. Janu's's Park, one of the most agreeable in London, and full of historic memories. Though it, too, was modernised by George IV., its features have still much interest. It was by its canal, which has been twisted into the Serpentine, that tho Merry Monarch strolled alone, lazily playing with his dogs, feeding his ducks, and by his easy confidence flattering and touching liis good citizens of London. On the same water his gay courtiers practisecl their foreign accomplishment of skating, which they hud brought back with thom from tho Low Countries. In the Ttfall both Charles aii'l 1ii< brotlier, the Duko of York, joined in tho Court game of Palle Mallo, wlien a ball w;i~. Mtiiick with a nuiilet throuf^h an iron ring down a walk 'icwnwitli powdered cockle-shells. A. a hitcr period the Mall was the most fashionable promenade >ri Ijondon. While dinners vt;re ntill .-arly on Sunday afternoons. Uje T'lK'-ionublo w<'rld Malked for an hour or tv/o ufter dinner in the Midi. An eyewi' . .<« iJ" ared that ho had seen -'in one moving maiu., oxte'.'l!*fr the whole length oi 'lie Midi, live thousand of tho most lovely vomeii in this jiountry of female beauty, ,i'' ^plonUidly attir* 1, and accompanied by as majiv well-dressed men." pdr, as Mr. Iluro, in h'^ - Walks in London," pnuits out, tho froquenterd of the Mall were very different in »ino respect from tho company in the T?ow : "The ladies were in fill dresi^ and gentl(>;nen onrricd their hats under their arms." One relic of the past survives iiitart in the park — that i«, the .t \v-stalls, which formerly helped ti constitute ''Milk Fair." Mr. Ilaro tolls us "the vendors are proud of tho number of genorations through whiiii 111 !i II II u Qt/7:.v y/c/o/i/A. I'arliiiin(>nt. Tlio carriaj^o, with tho eight croum-folDund liorsos, was n«pd. Ah far a-* wo I'jiii judgu, thi.H was tlio first uppounuico in h«r Mujosty's rcigu ol' " tho creams," so dear to tho Lo«dt)ii populaot!. Tho cj'rriugo wjw pn'cj'dod liy tho Murshalmoii, u party of tho Yeomen of tho Guard in State roitumes, and ruimors. Tlio fourth carriage, drawn by six black horses, contained tho Manrliioness of Lansdowuo, tho Dncliess of Suthcrltitid, lac Puko of Argyle, Lord Steward and Gold Htii-k in Waiting. Tho Queen was accompanied by tho Kurl of Albcmarhs Master of the llorso, and tho Countess of Mulgravc, tho Lady-in- Waiting. Tho procession, escorted by a squadron of tho llr)rso Guards, moved into Whiteliall, and was cheered in rarliament Street by (h>afoning shouUt from a mass of spectators lining tho streets and covering tho house-tops. On arriving opposite tho entrance of tho Ilonso of Lords her Majesty was reeeivcMl by u battalion of tho Grenatlier Guards, whose splendid band, when she alighted, playey dependence on tho protection of Almighty God." Fanny Kemblo was present at this memorable scene, and law given her impression of it. Her testimony, as a publio speaker, is valuable. *'Tho Queen was n..'t bandsonio, but very pretty, and tho singularity' of her great position lent a sentimental and poetical cliarnj to In r youthful face and figure. Tho serene, serious swoctnoss of her candid brow and clear soft oyes gavti dignity to the girlish countenance, while tho want of height onlv adiled to the etfect of extreme \nuth of tho round but vleuder person, and gr.icefull) moulded bunds and urnis. The Queen's voicu was i-xi^uisitoy li i ubpf^* Tin: PRoiioariXG or pari /.\.y/:xT. «7 nor havo T ever heard any spokt'n weirds nmro musical in tli(>ir gontlo distiiictiioHs than '* My Lords and Gt'iiflnnoii," which hmko the breathless silence of tho illustrious assc'nibly wlidsc^ gazo wa« rivcti'd on that fair flower of royalty. The enunciation was as perfect as th(^ intonation was melodious, and I think it is impossible to hear a more excellent utterance than that of the (Queen's Kuj^lish by the Kn^'i'^h Qiu'on." The accession of Queen Victoria almost coincided with a new era in Etij^IIsIi history, art and letters, new relations in politics at homo and abioinl, new social movements undreamt of when she was born. In spito of the strong parly spirit, tho country was at peace within and without. Franco, the foreign neighbour of most importunco to England, was also at peace under a so-called ''citizen-king." The "Tractarian" movement at O.xford was startling the world with a proposed return to tho practices of the primitive Church, Aviiilo it laid the foundation of the High Church and Kitualistic parties in the modem Church of England. The names of Newman and I'usey especially were in many moutiis, spoken in various terms of reprobation and alarm, (»r approval and exultation. Next to Tractarianism, Chartism — the peophi's d(>maiid for a chiuter which should meet their wants — was a rising force, though it liad not reacin I W ■ full development. Arnold was doing his noble work, accouiplisliing a moral revolution in tho i)ublic schools of England. Milman antl (Jrote had arisen as historians. Eariiday was one of the chief lights of science. Sir John Iferschel occupied his father's po.st among the stars. Eeautiful modest Mary Somerville show«'d what a woman might do with th(> DiU'erential Calculus; lirewster had taken tho place of Sir Ilumphry Davy. Murchison was anticipating Robert Dick and Hugh Miller in geology. Alfred Tennyson had already published two volumes n, while it was still on the cards that his calling might be that of a groat dnimatist. Dickens, the Scott of the English lower- middle classes, wa-s bringing out his "Pickwick Papers." Disraeli liad got into tho JIouso of Commons at last, and his "Vivian (irey " was fully ten years old. So was Hulwer's " I'elham " — the author of which also aided in forming tho literary element of the If(mso of Commons in the (iueen's tii-st Parliament. Mrs. Gore, Mrs. Trolhtpe, Miss Mitford, ^frs. S. C. Ilall, and Harriet Martineau rejiresented under very different aspects 'he feminint> side of fiction. Macready remained the stage king, but he shared his royalty with the younger Kean. A younger Kemble had also played Juliet well, but the stage queen was Helen Faueit. In painting, Turner was working in his last stylo ; Stanfield's sea-pieces were famous. Mulready and Leslie were in tho front as ijcnre painters. Matdiso was nuiking his reputation; Etty had struggled into renown, while jioor Ilaydon was .ds^ II,: 6fl Of'FFX VICTORIA. sinking into dospiiir. IianneHt of their ^Majesties' loyal subjects, where the blind nld King used to totter along supported by two of his faitiiful Princesses ; the green alleys and glades of the ancient forest, Avith tho great boles of the venerable oaks — Queen Elizabeth's among them ; Virginia Water sparkling in the sunshine or glimmering in the moonlight, all make up such a kingly residence as in many respects cannot bo s\irpasscd. What must it not have been to enter tho little Court town, another Versailles or Fontainobleau, as its liege Lady, to bo hailed and welcomed by the goodly throng of Eton lads — those gay and gallant attendants on royal Windsor pageants • — to pass through these halls as their mistress, ami fairly recognise that all the noble siirroundings were hers, with all England, all Britain and many a groat dependency and Colony on which the sun never sots — hers to rule over, hers to bless if she would ? At the review, in eom])liment to her soldiers whom she saw marshalled in their disciplined nmsses, and salufing her as the Captain of their Captains — even of W ellington himself— the Queen wore a half-military dress — a tight jacket with deep lappels, tho blue riband of the Garter across one tihoulder, and its jewelled star upon her breast, a stocklike black neckerchief in stiff folds holding up the round throat, and on the head — liiding nearly '!ii Tin: VISIT TO GUILDHALL. 69 nil tlio fnir Imir — a round, hif;li, fliit cap Avitli a broiul black " snout " ; bcnoafh it tho soft, open, girlish face, with its singlo-licurted dignity. In this month of Soptomhcr tho Quocn heard that her sistor-quncn and girl friend, Donna Maria da Gloria, had received consolation for tho troubles of her kingdom in becoming tho youthful mother of a son and heir, I'rinee Ferdinand of I'ortiigal. By Novend)er the Court was back at Buckingham ralacc, and on tho 'Jth tho Queen paid her first visit to the City of London, which received her with nuiguificent hospitality. Long before tho hour appointed for her Majesty's dei)arturo for Guildhall, all the approaches to tho palaco and .ho park itself presented dense crowds of holiday folks. At two o'clock tho first carriage of tho procession emerged from the triumphal arch, and in (hic time came tho royal State carriage, in which sat tho Queen, attended by tho Mistress of the Robes and tho Master of the Ilorso. Her A[ajcsty's full-dress was a " splendid pink satin shot with silver." She wore a queenly diamond tiara, and, as we aro told, looked remarkably well. Her approach was the signal for enthusiastic cheering, which incn-ased as she advanced, while tho bolls of tho city churches rang out merry peals. Tho fronts of tho houses were decorated with bright-ccdoured doth, green boughs, and such flowers as November had spared. Devices in coloured latnps waited for the evening illumination lo bring them out in perfection. Venetian masts had not been hoisted then in England, but " rows of national flags and heraldic banners were stretched across the Strand at several points, and busts and portraits of her ^fajesty were placcul in conspicuous positions." The only person in tho Queen's train who excited much interest was the Duke of Wellington, and he heard himself loudly cheered. The mob was rapidly condoning what they had considered his errors as a statesman, and restoring him to his old eminence, in their estimation, as the hero of the long wars, tho conqueior of IJuonaparte. Applause or reprobation tho veteran met with almost equal coolness. When he had been besi»>ged by raging, threatening crowds, calling ujjou him to do justice to Queen Caroline, as ho rodo to Westminster during the wild days of liir trial, ho had answered " Yes, yes," without a muscle of his face moving, and pushed on straight to his destination. For many a year he was to receive every contrite hu//a, as he had received every lierco hiss, with no more than the twinkling of an eyelid or the raising of two fingers. Tho gathering at Temple liar— real, grim olil Temple liar, whi(di had borne traitors' heads in former days — was so great that a detachment of Life Guards, as well as a strong body of police, had work to do in clearing a way for tho carriages. The aldermen had to bo accommodated with a room in Child's old banking-house, founded by tho typical industrious apprentice who married his master's daughter. It sported tho quaint old sign fO Qturx vrrToniA of the "Mprigold," and wiim Hiippom-d to hold Hhcavusot' puporriCdiitaiiiins^tiotdc, nny, roynl scnrots, oh well as buNhclb of family jcwcIh, in its stroiipj hoxoR. It had even a family roinanoo of its own, for did not the f;n'at (-'liild of his day pui'Htie his hfiivss in her Hight to Oretna with tho heir of tho Villiers, who, leaning, pistol in hand, from hip postohaise lit front, sent a bullet info the near horse of the ehaiso behind, and escaped with his prize? Undisturbed by these exciting stories, the aldermen waited in tho dim interior — ehargod with other than riioney-lending mysteries, till the worthy gentlemen were joined by the Lord Mayor and sheriffs, when they proceeded to mount their ehargers in Teiiiide Yard — perhaps tho most disturbing proceeding of any, with the riders' minds a little soothed by tho circumsfcmoo that tho horses had been brought from the Artillery barracks at Wool- wich, and each was l(>d by the soldier to which it belonged, in the capacity of groom. " A few minutes before three the approach of tbo (iueen was announued. Tho Lord Mayor dismounted, and, taking tho City sword in his hand, stood (m the south side of Temple Har. As soon an the Queen's carriage arrived within the gateway it stopjM'd, and then, unfortunately, it began to rain." The (Jueen's weather, which has become proverbial, of which we are given to boast, did not attend her on this occasion, Perhaps it would have been too much to expect of the clouds when tho date was tho 9th of November. Kegardless of tho weather, "tho Lord Mayor delivered the keys of tho City to the (Jueen, which her Alajesty restored in the most gracious manner.'' At this time the multitude above, around, and below, from windows, xafl'olding, roofs, and parapets, cheered long and loud. Tho Lord ^fayor remounted, and, holding tho City sword aloft, took his jdaee immediately before tho royal carriage, after which tho aldermen, members of the Common Coiincil, and civic authorities formed in procession. Hather a curious ceremony was celebrated in front of St. Paul's. Booths and I'uctings had been erected in the ondoHure for the a(!eommodation of members of the different City comjianies and the boys o*' Christ's Hospital. "The royal carriage having stopped in tho middle of tho road, opposite the cathedral I'lite a platform was wheeled out, on which were Mr. Frederick Oiffonl Nash, senior scholar of Christ's Hospital, and tho head master and treasurer. Tho scholar, in conformity with an old usage, didivered an address of congratulation to her Majesty, concluding with an earnest prayer for her welfare. *Go«l with tho initiuls V. U., a crown and wreath iti gold, at which tho tii!iid.)ii (hioon waH undorstood to rooeivo tlio luwt toucdirs to hor toilitt, while sho was utti'iKlod hy hu(!Ii distiiigiUHhod iiiatroim aH tho DiioIh'mh of Kent, tho DucIk'hs of GloiKicstfr, uiid tho DuchuHS of (!aiiibridKO. In tho drawing-roiitii tht? addrcsM of tlio City of liOiidttii wiw read by tho Rocordor, and rrpliod to by tho (luroii. At twenty tiiiiiutoa |iast tlvo diniiur was aiiiiouiicod, and the (imcn, prccodcd by tho Lord Mayor and the F,ady Mayori'HH, and forination. Thoso woro diirciL'iit days from tho tiiiio when Anno Ahouo, of KolMoy, was tried thero for heresy, and the bravo, keen-witted lady told hor judges, when examined on tho doctrino of traiisiibstaiitiution, slie hud heard that God made man, but that man made God she had never heard; or when ;;allaiit Surrey oneountered his eni>mi(«M; or melodious Waller was called to account. It was on the raised platform at thn east end of the hall that tho Common Counoil had expended its strength of ornaiiien( iiid lavished its wealth. ITero London outditl itself. Tli«) throne was placed there, '* It was surmounted by an entablature, with the letters V. 11. supporting tho royal crown and cushion. In tlio front was an external valanco of crimson velvet, richly laced and trimmed with tassels. Tho baek-tluting was composed of white satin, relieved with the royal arms in gold. Tho curtains were of crimson velvet, trimmed with lace and lined with erimsoii silk. Tho canopy was composed of crimson velvet, with radiated centre of whito sutin enamelled with gold, forming a gold ray from which the ctMitro of velvet diverged; u valance of crimson v«'lvet, lacod with gold, depended from tho canopy, which was inler- Hccted with cornucopia', introducing the rose, thisth', and shamrock, in whito velvet. Iknieath this splendid « anopy was placed the State-chair, which was richly carved and gilt, and ornamented with tho royal arms and crown, including the rose, thistle, and shamrock, in orims.in velvo\ Its proportions were tastefully and judiciously diminished to a size that sho'ild in some sort correspond with tho slight and elegant iiguro of the young Sovereign for whom it was provided. The platform on whicdi tho throne stood was oovered with ermine and gold carpeting of tho richest des(;ription." .... In front of the throne was placed the royal table, «'Xteiidiiig tho wh(do width of the platform. It was thirty- four feet long and eight wide, and was covered with u oloth of tho most exquisite damask, I ty v». ^ -^^^oO. Su IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I l:i|M 12.5 I^IIIM i ■- IIIIM 11.25 i 1.4 1.6 V <^ A ^. ^ >>^

:^' Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WESSTER.N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 « &^ V qv N> %' cS^ ^. ^ ^v u.. CO 1:^ ! i; 7» QUEEN VICTORIA. trimmed with gold lace and fringe The sides and front of the platform were deckod with a profusion of the rarest plants and shrubs." The royal table was on a diiis above the level of the liall. A large mirror at each side of the throne reflected the gorgeous scene. From the impromptu dai's four long tables extended nearly half-way down the hall, where the Lord and Lady Mayoress presided over the company of foreign ambassadors, Cabinet Ministers, nobility, aldermen, and members of the Common Council. The " royal avenue " led up the middle of the hall to the throne, with the tables on each side. The Queen took her seat ou the throne ; the Lord and Lady Mayoress stood on either side of her Majesty, but were almost immediately bidden be seated at their table. The company had now time to study the central figure, the cause and culmination of the assembly. Over her pink and silver she wore the riband and order of the Garter, with the George appended. Besides her diamond tiara she had a stomacher of brilliants, and diamond ear-rings. She sat in the middle of a regal company, only two of the others young like herself. To the rest she must have been the child of yesterday ; Avhile to each and all she preserved in full the natural relations, and was as much the daughter, niece, and cousin as of old ; yet, at the same time, she was every inch the Queen. What a marvel it must have seemed — still more to those who sat near than to those who stood afar. The Queen was supported by the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, the Duchesses of Kent, Gloucester, Cambridge, and Sutherland ; and there were present her two cousins. Prince George and Princess Augusta of Cambridge. After dinner, Non Nohus Doinine was sung ; and then, preceded by a flourish of trumpets, the common crier advanced to the middle of the hall and said, " The Eight Honourable the Lord Mayor gives the health of our most gracious Sovereign, Queen Victoria." The company simultaneously rose and thank the toast with enthusiasm. " God Save the Queen " was sung, after which her Majesty rose and bowed repeatedly with marked goodwill The common crier then shouted, "Her Majesty gives the Lord Mayor and Prosperity to the City of London." Bishop's "When the Wind Blows" was sung. The only other toast was, " The Eoyal Family," given by the Lord Mayor. At half-past eight her Majesty's carriage was announced. The weather waa unpleasant, the streets were unusually dirty, but a vast crowd once more greeted her. On arriving at the end of Cheapside, she was hailed out of the glimmering illumination and foggy lamplight by " God Save the Queen," again sung by many hundred voices, accompanied by a band of wind instruments, the performance of the Harmonic Society, and the music was followed all the way by enthusiastic cheering. The Baroness Bunseu remarked of THE VISIT TO GUII.DIIAI.L. 11 sucli a scene long afterwards, " I was at a loss to conceive how any woman's sides can ' bear the beating of so strong a throb ' as must attend the consciousness of being the object of all that excitement, and the centre of attraction for all those eyes. But the Queen has royal strength of nerve." Not so much strength of nerve, wo should say, as strength of single-heartedness and simple sense of duty which are their own reward, together with the comparative immunity produced by long habit. Still it is a little relief to tvu-n from so much State and strain to a brief glimpse of the girl-Queen in something like the privacy of domestic life. In the month of NovcmlxM-, 1837, the Attoruoy-Genoral, Lord Campbell, witli his wife, Lady Strathedon, received an invitation to Buckingham Palace, to dine with her Majesty at seven, and one of the guests wrote thus of the entertainment : "I went, and found it exceedingly agreeable, although by no means so grand as dining at Tarvit with Mrs. Kigg. The little Queen was exceed- ingly kind to me, and said she had heard from the Duchess of Gloucester that I had the most beautiful children in the world. She asked me how many we had, and when she heard scvcn^ seemed rather appalled, considering this a number which she Avould never bo able to reach. She seems in perfect health, aud is as merry and playful as a kitten." Amongst the other innumerable engagements which engrossed every moment of the Queen from the time of her accession, she had been called on to sit for her portrait to many eager artists — among them Ilayter and Sir David Wilkio. The last has recorded his impression of her in his manly, unaffected, half-homely words. " Having been accustomed to see the Queen, from a child, my reception had a little the air of that of an early acquaintance. She is eminently beautiful, her features nicely formed, her skin smooth, her hair worn close to her face in a most simple way, glossy and clean-looking. Her manner, though trained to act the Sovereign, is yet simple and natural. She has all the decision, thought, and self-possession of a queen of older years, has all the buoyancy of youth, and from the smile to the unrestrained laugh, is a perfect child. While I was there she was sitting to Bistrucci for her coin, and to Ilayter I'or a picture for King Leopold." The mention of the coin recalls the " image and superscription " on the gold, silver, and copper that passes through our hands daily, which we almost forget to identifj' with tho likeness of the young Queen. About this time also commenced the royal patronage of Landseer, which resulted later in many a family group, in Avhich numerous four-footed favourites had their place. At the exhibition of Landseer's works after his death, the sight of these groups recalled to elderly men and women who had been his early neighbours, the days when a goodly cavalcade of ladies and gentlemen, with their grooms, on horseback, 74 QUEEN VICIORIA. 11 '■' 1 '•• ■if ' ! I !'J V I'i used to sweep past the windows, and the word went that the young Queen was honouring the painter by a visit to his studio. On the 20th of November the Queen went in State to the House of Lords to open Parliament for the first time, with as great a crowd of members and strangers present as had flocked to witness the prorogation in July. In the course of the month of December the bills were passed which fixed the Queen's income at three hundred and eighty-five thousand poimds a year, and further raised the Duchess of Kent's annuity from twenty-two thousand, which it had been latterly, to thirty thousand a year. On the 23rd of December the Queen went to give her assent to the bills, and thank her Parliament personally, according to old custom on such an occasion. On presenting the bill the Speaker observed that it had been framed in " a liberal and confiding spirit." The Queen simply bowed her acknowledgment. Lord Melbourne, " with the tears in his eyes," told Lord Campbell that in one of his first interviews with the Queen she had said to him, " My father's debts must be paid." Accordingly the late Duke of Kent's debts were paid by his daughter, in the name of herself and her mother, in the first year of Queen Victoria's reign. In the second year she discharged the debts which the Duchess of Kent had incurred in meeting the innumerable heavy calls made upon her, not only as the widow of one of the Eoyal Dukes, but as the mother of the future Sovereign. The summer of 1838 was gay with the preparations for the Queen's coronation. All classes took the greatest interest in it, so that splenetic pec )le pronounced the nation " coronation mad." Long before the event coronation medals were being struck, corona- tion songs and hymns written, coronation ribands woven. Every ingenious method by which the world could commemorate the joyful season was put in practice. The sentiment was not confined to the inhabitants of the United Kingdom. " Foreigners of various conditions, and from all qiiarters of Europe, flocked in to behold the inauguration of the maiden monai'ch of the British Empire. In the Metropolis for some weeks anterior to the event the excitement was extreme. The thousand equipages which thronged the streets, the plumed retainers of the ambassadors, the streams of swarthy strangers, and the incessant din of preparation, which resounded by night as well as by day, along the intended line of the procession, constituted by themselves a scene of no ordinary animation and interest, and sustained the public mind in an unceasing stretch of expectation." Some disappointment was experienced on the knowledge that the ancient custom of a royal banquet in Westminster Hail on the coronation- day was to be dispensed with. But Mill 'I C'2 n-; O cn I- if 11 X en w V \ S!l , il i i' i-|, \ \ THE COROXA TtON. 7S tli6 (os8 was coinpcnsutcd by a procession — ii luodilicutiou of tho old street pageiiut — ou tlio occasion. On the morning of tho 28th of Juno tho woathor was not promising. It was ooM for the season, and some rain I'cll ; but tho sliowcr ceased, and tho day proved fresh and bright, with sunshine gihling tlio darkest cloud. The Tower artillery aAVoko tho heaviest City sleepoTs. It is needless to say a great concourse, in every variety of vehicle and on foot, streamed from east to west through the " gravelled " streets, lined with soldiers and policemen, before tho barriers were put up. " The c 'rth was alive with men," wrot(! an enthusiastic spectator ; " tl o habitations in tho line of march cast forth their occupants to the balconies or the house-tops ; tho windows were liftetl out of their frames, and tho asylum of p ivate life, that sanctuary which our countrymen guard with such traditional jealousy, was on this occasion made accessible to the gaze of tho entire world." At ten o'clock tho Queen left Buckingham Palace in tho State coach, to the music of the National Anthem and a salute of guns, and passed beneath the Royal Standard hoisted on the marble arch. A marked feature of the procession was the niagiiitirent carriages and escorts of the foreign ambassadors ; tho splendid uniform of the German Jiigers delighted the populace. A deeper and subtler feeling was produced by the sight of one of Napoleon's marshals, Soult, Wellington's great adversary, rearing his white head in a coach the Iramework of which had belonged to tho State carriage of the Prince de Conde, and figured in the heaux jours of Louis XVI. The consciousness that this worthy foe had come to do honour to the young Queen awoke a generous response from the crowd. Soult was cheered lustily along the whole route, and in the Abbey itself, so that he returned to France not only full of personal gratification at the welcome he had received, but strongly convinced of the goodwill of John Bull to rrenchmen in general. How the balls of destiny roll ! Soult feted in London, Ney dead by a traitor's death, filling his nameless grave in Pere la Chaise. The procession, beginning with trumpeters and Life Guards, wound its way in relays of foreign ambassadors, members of the royal family and their suites — the Duchess of Kent first — the band of the Household Brigade, the Queen's bargemaster and her forty-eight watermen — honorary servants for many a day — twelve carriages with her Maj<^sty's suite, a squadron of Life Guards, equerries, gentlemen riders and military officials, the royal huntsmen, yeomen prickers, and foresters, six of her Majesty's horses, with rich trappings, each horse led by two grooms ; the Knight- Marshal, marshalmen. Yeomen of the Guai'd, tlio State coach — drawn by eight cream- colou'-ed horses, attended by a Yeoman of the Guard at each wheel, and two footmen at each door — the Gold Stick, Viscount Combermere, and the Captain of the Yeomen of the 76 OUKF.N VICTOIilA. i! ii:^ Giianl, tlio Kr.rl of Ilchcstor, riding on citiicr Hide. In tho coach sat tho Qiieoii, thu Mistress of tho Kobcs (tho DucIiohh of Suthi'Haud), tlio Master of tho Uorso (tho Earl of Aibomarlo), and tho Captain-Gonoral of tho Koyal Arcliors (tho Duko of Hucclcugh). The whole was wound up by a squadron of Lifo Guards. In this ordor of stately march, under tho June sky, emerging from tho groon avenues of tho park, tlio procession turned up Constitution Hill, traversed rieeadilly, St. James's Street, Tall INfall, Cockspur Street, and by Charing Cross, Whitehall, and rarliament Street, reached tho west door of West- minster Abbey — Wlicre royol heads receive the Bacretl gold. At the Abbey door, at half-past eleven, the Queen was received by tho great officers of State, tho noblemen bearing the regalia, the bishops carrying tho patina, tho chalice, and the Bible. Iler Majesty ijroceeded to the robing-room, and there was a hush of expecta- tion in the thronged interior, where the great persons who were to play a part in the ceremony and tho privileged ticket-holders had been wailing patiently for long hours. Underneath the galleries and below the platform were ranged lines of Foot Guards, The platform (under tho central tower) was the most conspicuous object. It was covered with cloth of gold, and bore the chair of homage, or throne, facing the altar. Farther on, witldn the altar-rails, was " St. Edward's Chair," or the chair decorated by " William the Painter " for Edward. Enclosed within it is the " Stone of Destiny," or Fatal Stone ol Scone — a sandy stone, supposed to have formed the )illow on which Jacob slept at Bethel, and long used in the coronation of the Scotch kings. In this chair all the kings of England, since the time of Edward I., have been crowned. The altar was covered with massive gold plate. The galleries of the Abbey were arranged for the members of the IIouso of Commons, the foreign ambassadors, the judges, Knights of the Bath, members of the Corporation, &c. &c. The floor of the transepts was occupied by benches for the peers and peeresses, who may be said to be in their glory at a coronation ; the space behind them was for the ticket-holders. Harriet Martineau has preserved some of the splendours and " humours " of the coronation with her usual clever power of observation and occasional caustic commentary. "The maids called me at half-past two that June morning, mistaking the clock. I slept no more, and rose at half-past three. As I began to dress the twenty-one guns were fired, which must have awakened all the sleepers in London. When the maid came to drens me shs said numbers of ladies were already hurrying to the Abbey. I saw the TllK rolWXA 77(hV. 77 groyoM Al>l>oy fr<»in tliowindow ns T drosscHl, nnd tlmuKlit whiit would liavo gnno firwiird witliiu it bcforo the buu set upon it. My mother Imd laid out lior pciirl onuuui'utK for mo. Tho fcoling wus vory stnuif^t! of drossin"? in crapo, liloudo, and pearls at fivo in tho morning. . . . Tho sight of tho rapidly filling Althoy was enough to go for. Tho Htono architooturc contrasted finely with tho gay colours of tho multitude. From my high seat I commandod tho whole north transept, tho arou with tho throne, and many portions of galleries, and tho balconies whi';li woro called tho vaultings, K.\cept a mcro sprinkling of oddities, overyhody was in full dross. In tho whole asseir'' i.igo T connted six bonnets. Tho scarlet of tho military olHccrs mixed in well, and tho grotips of tho clergy were dignified ; but to an unaccustomed eye the provaloncr of Court dresses had .'i curious effect. I was p(>rpetually taking whole groups of gontlomon for Quakers till I rocoW' led myself. The Earl-^farshal's assistants, called Gold Sticks, looked well from abovo, lightly fluttering about in white brooches, silk stockings, blue lacod frocks, and while sashes. Tho throne — an arm-chair with n round back, covered, as was its footstool, with cloth of gold — stood on an elevation of four steps in the centre of tho area. The first peeress took her scat in the north transept opposite, at a quarter before seven, and throe of tho bishops came next. From that tinu; the poors and their ladies arrived faster and faster. Each peeress was conducted by two Gold Sticks, one of Avhom handed her to hor seat, and the other boro and arranged hor train on her lap, and saw that her coronet, footstool, and book wore comfortably placed. I never saw anywhoro so remarkable a contrast between youth and age as in these noble ladies." Miss Martincau proceeds to remark in the strongest and plainest terms on the unbecoming effect of full dress, with " hair drawn t the top of tho head, to allow the putting on of tho coronet " on those venerable matrons. She goes on to express her admiration of a later generation of peeresses. "The younger were as lovely as the aged were haggard. . . . About nine the first gleams of the sun slanted into the Abbey and presently travelled down to tho pceressf. I had never before seen the full effect of diamonds. As tho light travelled each peeress shone like a rainbow. The brightness, vastness, and dreamy magnificence of tho scone produced a strange effect of exhaustion and sleepiness. . . . The great guns told when the Queen had sot forth, and there was renewed animation. The Gold Sticks flitted about, there was tuning in tho orchestra, and the foreign ambassadors and their snitos arrived in quick succession. Prince Esterhazy crossing a bar of sunshine was the most prodigious rainbow of all. He was covered with diamonds and pearls, and as ho dangled his hat it cast a dancing radiance all round. " At half-past eleven the guns told that the Queen had arrived, but as there was much to be done in the robing-room, there was a long pause before she appeared.'' i r \y ( ?• QIKHX VICTORIA. A liltlo after t\v(>lvo tho ^niiid pidcH'ssioii of tho day ontorod rlioir. Tho Proboii(lnri(».s uiul Dciin of Wcstminstor ami OfHcors-nt-Arma, Iho Uomptrollcr, Trousuror, Vico-Clianibcrlain, and liord Stcnvnnl of hor Majoaty's lIi>us('hoM, tlio Lord I'rivy Sial, tho Lord rrcsidcnt, tho Tiord Chancellor of Ireland, camo first When thoMo gontleincu wore poiTrt Hioir coronotM wore carried by pagos. Tho Tnnisnror boro the crimson bag with tho medals ; the Vice-Chancellor was attended by an officer from the Jewel Ofiicc, convoying, on a cuHhion, tho ruby ring and tho sword for tho offering. Then followed the Archbishops of Cantorbnry, York, and Arniugh, with tho Lord (Chancellor, each archbishop in his rochet, with his cap in his hand ; tho princesses of tho blood royal, all in "robes of ostato" of purplo velvet and wearing circlets of gold; tho Duchess of Cumbridgo, her train borne by Lady Caroline Canii)bell and a gentleman of her household, her coronet by Viscount Villiors ; tho Duchess of Kent, her train borno by Lady Flora Hastings, an i her coronet by Viscount Morpeth ; tho Duchess of Gloucester, her train borno by I idy Caroline Legge, and her coronet by Viscount Evelyn. (The royal generation Moxt that of Goorgo III. was fast dwindling away when these three ladies represeutc 1 tho six daughters and the wives of six of tho sons of the old King and Queen. But the'.e wore other survivors, though they were not present to-day. Tho Queen- dowager ; Princess Augusta, ai; aged woman of seventy ; Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse- llomburg, nearly as old, and absent in Germany; the Queen as well as the King of Hanover, who had figured formerly as Duke and Duchess of Cumberland; and Princess Sophia, who was ten years younger than Princess Augusta, and resident in England, but who was an invalid.) Tho regalia came next, St. Edward's staff, borne by the Dnke of Roxburgh, the golden spurs borne by Lord Byron, the sceptre with tlio cross borne by the Duke of Cleveland, the third sword borno by the Marquis of Westminster, Curtana borne by tho Duke of Devonshire, tho second sword borno by the Duke of Sutherland, each nobleman's coronet carried by a page. Black Eod and Deputy-Garter walking before Lord "Willoughby d'Eresby, Lord Great Chamberlain of England, with page and coronet. The princes of the blood royal were reduced to two. The Duke of Cambridge, in his robe of estate, carrying his baton as Field-Marshal, his coronet borno by the Marquis of Granby, his train by Sir "William Gomm; the Duke of Sussex, his coronet carried by Viscount Anson, his train by tho Honourable Edward Gore. The High Constable of Ireland, the Duke of Leinster ; the High Constable of Scotland, the Earl of Errol, with their pages and coronets. The Earl-Marshal of England, the Duke of Norfolk, with his staff, attended by two pages ; the sword of State, borne by Viscount Melbourne, with his page and coronet ; the Lord High Constable of England, the Duke of \y. •HIE CUROSAHON. 7» Wrllin^fon, with Iuh Htiifl' and bftlon uh Field- Mmsliul, iittciulctl by two pages. Tho BCJ^ptro witli tho dovo, bonio by tho Diiko of llichmuiul, pugo iiud coronet; St. Kdwurd's crown, boruo by tlio Lord Iliga oward, tho JJuko of Ihiiiiilton, iittoiuUMl by two pages; tho orb, borno by tho Duke of Boinersot, pigo and coronet. Tho patina, borno by tho Uishop of Uaiigor; tho IJiblo, borno by tho Diahop of Wiiichostor ; tho chulioo, bormt by tho Uiwhop of London. At hist tho Quccii entered, walking botweon tho Bishops of Biith imd Wolls lud Dnrhan), with Oentlemon-at-Anns on each side. 8ho was now u royal nmiden of nintteen, with a fair, pleasant faco, u sliglit fignre, rather i-niall in statnrc, but showing u queenly cttrriago, espeoiuUy in tho poso of t)io throat and head. Sho wore a royal r(jbo of eriinson velvet furred with orniino uud bordered with gold laco. 8ho had on tho collars of her orders. Like tho other princesses, sho wore u gold circlet on her head. Her train was borno by eight "beautiful young ladies," as Sir David Wilkio ealled them, all dressed alike, some of thorn destined to oflieiato again as tho Queen's bridesmaids, when tho loveliness of tho group attracted general attention and admiration. Those n -bio damstds were Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Fanny Cowpcr, Lady Anno Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Lady Mary Grimston, Lady Caroline Glordon Lennox, Lady Mary Talbot, Lady Catherine Stanhope, Lady Louisa Jenkinson. Tho Ladies of her Majesty's Household camo next in order, the Duchess of Sutherland, tho Mistress of tho Kobes, walking first, followed by Lady Lansdowne as first Lady of the Bod-chainbor. Other laidics of tlu; Bed-chamber, whoso names were long familiar in association with that of tho Queen, included Ladies Charlc- raont, Lyttclton, Portman, Tavistock, Mulgrave, and Barhain. Tho Maids of Ilonour bore names once equally well known in tho Court Circular^ while the office brought with it visions of old historic Maids prominent in Court gossip, and revealed to this day possibilities of sprightliness reined in by Court etiquette, and innocent little scrapes condoned by royal graciousncss and kindness. Tho Maids of Ilonour at the Queen's coronation were the Honourable Misses Margaret Dillon, Cavendish, Lister, Spring Eice, Harriet Pitt, Caroline Cocks, Matilda Paget, and Murray. One has heard and read less of the "Women of the Bed-chamber, noble ladies also, no doubt, but by tho time tho superb procession reached them, with the gathering up of the whole in Goldsticks, Captains of the Eoyal Archers, of the Yeomen of tho Guard, of tho Gcntlemen-at-Arms, though pages and coronets still abounded, the strained attention could take in no more accessories, but was fain to return to the principal figure in tho pagca-.t, ; nd dwell M'ith all eyes on her. "The Queen looked extremely well, and had an anir'.ated countenance." The scene within the choir on her entrance was so gorgeous, that, it is said, even the Turkish f|. i ili : !''' ib QUEEN VICTORIA. Amhassador, accustoned wo should say to gorgcousncss, stopped short in astonishment. As the Queen advanced 8lo^Yly towards the centre of the choir, she was received with hearty plaudits, everybody rising, the anthem, " I was glad," sung by the musicians, ringing through the Abbey. "At the close of the anthem, the Westminster boys (who occupied seats at the ex trcmity of the lower galleries on the northern and southern sides of the choir) chanted Vivat Victoria Regina. The Queen moved towards a chair placed midway between the chair of homage and the altar, on the carpeted space before described, which is called the theatre." Here she knelt down on a faldstool set for her before her chair, and used some private prayers. She then took her seat in the chair and the ceremonial proceeded. First came " the Eecognitiou " by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who advanced to the Queen, accompanied by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord High Constable, and the Earl-Marshal, preceded by the Deputy-Garter, and repeated these words: "Sii'S, I here present unto you Queen Victoria, the undoubted Queen of this realm, wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage, are you willing to do the same ? " Then burst forth the universal cry from the portion of her Majesty's subjects present, " God sa\e Queen Victoria." The Archbishop, turning to the north, south, and west sides of the Abbey, repeated, " God save Queen Victoria," the Queen turning at the same time in the same direction. '* The Bishops who bore the patina, Bible, and chalice in the procession, placed the same on the altar. The Archbishop of Cantcrbui-y and the Bishops Avho were to read the Litany put on their copes. The Queen, attended by the Bishops of Durham and Bath and Wells, and the Dean of Westminster, with the great officers of State and noblemen bearing the regalia, advanced to the altar, and, kneeling upon the crimson velvet cushion, made her first otfe^-ing, being a pall or altar-cloth of gold, which was delivered by an officer of the Wardrobe to the Lord Chamberlain, by his lordship to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and by him to the Queen, who delivered it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, by whom it was placed on the altar. The Treasurer of the Household then delivered an ingot of gold, of one pound Aveight, to the Lord Great Chamberlain, who having presented the same to the Queen, her Majesty delivered it to the Archbishop, by whom it was put into the oblation basin. *' The Archbishop delivered a prayer in the prescribed form. The regalia were laid on the altar by the Archbishop. The great officers of State, except the Lord Chamberlain, retired to their respective places, and the Bishops of Worcester and St. David's read the Litany. Then followed the Communion service, read by the Archbishop of Canterbury THE CORONATION. 8i and the IMshops of Rochester and Carlisle. The Bishop of London preached the sermon from the following text, in the Second Book of Chronicles, chapter xxxiv. verse 31 : * And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his shitutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to> perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.' " In the course of his sermon from this text, the Bishop praised the late king for his unfeigned religion, and exhorted his youthful successor to follow in his footsteps. At the conclusion of the sermon ' the oath ' was administered to the Queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The form of swearing was as follows : The Archbishop put certain questions, which the Queen answered in the affirmative, relative to the maintenance of the kw and the established religion ; and then her Majesty, with the Lord Chamberlain and other officers, the sword of State being carried before her, went to the altar, and laying '^er right hand upon the Gospels in the Bible carried in the procession, and now brought to her by the Archbishop of Canterbury, said, kneeling : ** * The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep. So help me God.' " The Queen kissed the book and signed a transcript of the oath presented to her by the Ai'fhbishop. She then kneeled upon her faldstool, and the choir sang ' Vmi^ Creator, Spiritus.'' ** * The Anointing ' was the next part of the ceremony. The Queen sat in King Edward's chair ; four Knights of the Garter — the Dukes of Buccleugh and Eutland, and the Marquesses of Anglesea and Exeter — held a rich cloth of gold over her head ; the Dean of Westminster took the ampulla from the altar, and poured some of the oil it contained into the anointing spoon, then the Archbishop anointed the head and hands of the Queen, marking them in the form of a cross, and pronouncing the words, ' Bo thou anointed with holy oil, i»o lungs, priests, and prophets were auointed ; and as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophci , so be you anointed, blessed, and consecrated Queen over this people, whom the Lord your God hath given you to rule and govern, in the name of tho Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.' " The Archbishop then said the blessing over her. " The spurs wej-e presented by the Lord Chamberlain, and the sword of State by Viscount iVielbourne, who, however, according to custom, redeemed it with a hundred shillings, and carried '^ during the rest of the ceremony. Then followed the investing with the ' royal robes and the delivery of the orb,' and the ' investiture per anvdum et baculum,^ by the ring and sceptre. : ^1 ;i:H 81 QUEEN VICTORIA. " The Coronation followed. The Archbishop of Caiitorhnry ofFored a prayer to Go J to bless her Majesty and crown her with all princely virtues. The Dean of "Westminster took the crown from the altar, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the Archbishops of York and Armagh, the Bishops of Loudon, Durham, and other Prelates, advanced towards the Queen, and the Archbishop taking the croWn from the Dean reverently placed it on the Queen's head. Tliis was no sooner done than from every part of the crowded edifice arose a loud and enthusiastic cry of ' God save the Queen,' mingled with lusty cheers, and accompanied by the waving of hats and handkorohiefs. At this moment, too, the Peers and Peeresses present put on their coronets, the Bishops their caps, and the Kings-of-Arms their crowns ; the trumpets sounding, the drums beating, and the Tower and park guns firing by signal." Harriet Martineau, who, like most of the mere spectators, failed to see and hear a good deal of the ceremony, was decidedly impressed at this point. "The acclamation when the cro^vn was put on her head was very animating ; and in the midst of it, in an instant of time, the Peeresses were all coroneted — all but the fair creature already described." The writer refers to an earlier paragraph in whicli she had detailed a small catastrophe that broke in upon the hai-monious perfection of the scene. " One beautiful creature, with transcendent complexion and form, and coils upon coils of light hair, was terribly embarrassed about her coronet ; slie had apparently forgotten that her hair must be disposed with a view to it, and the large braids at the back would in no way permit the coronet to keep on. She and her neighbours tugged vehemently at her braids, and at last the thing was done after a manner, but so as to spoil the wonderful effect of the self- coroneting of the Peeresses. To see " the Enthronement," the energetic Norwich woman stood on the rail behind her seat, holding on by another rail. But first " the Bible was presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Queen, who delivered it again to the Archbishop, and it was replaced on the altar by the Dean of Westminster. " The Benediction was delivered by the Archbishop, and the Te Dcum sung by the choir. At the commencement of the Te Deum the Queen went to the chair which she first occupied, supported by two Bishops; she was then 'enthroned,' or 'lifted,' as the formulary states, into the cliau* of homage by the Archbishops, Bishops, and Peers surrounding her Majesty. The Queen delivered the sceptre with the cross to the Lord of the Manor of Worksop (the Duke of Norfolk), and the sceptre with the stone to the Duke of Eichmond, to hold during the periVumance of the ceremony of homage. The Archbishop of Canterbury knelt and did homage for himself and other Lords Spiritual, who all kissed \M THE COROXA TION. the Queen's hand. The Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, removing their coronets, did homage in the.se words : — " ' I do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will hear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks, so help me God.' "They touched the crown on the Queen's head, kissed her left chock, and then retired. It was observed that her Majesty's bearing towards her uncles was very kind and affectionate. The Dukes and other Peers then performed their homage, the senior of each rank pronouncing the words; as they retired each Peer kissed her Majesty's hand. The Duke of "Wellington, Earl Grey, and Lord Melbourne were loudly cheered as they ascended the steps to the throne. Lord Eolle, who was upwards of eighty, stumbled and fell on going up the stops. The Queen imincdiately stepped forward and held out her hand to assist him, amidst the loudly expressed admiration of the entire assembly." " While the Lords were doing homage, the I'arl of Surrey, Treasurer of the Household, tlirew coronation medals, in silver, about the choir and lower galleries, which were scrambled for with great eagerness. "At the conclasion of the homage the choir sang the anthem, ' This is the day which the Lord hath made.' The Queen received the two sceptres from the Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond ; the drums beat, the trumpets sounded, and the assembly cried out — ' God save Queen Victoria ! '" * Harriet Martineau, from her elevated perch, says, "Her small dark crown looked pretty, and her mantle of cloth of gold very regal; she, herself, looked so small as to appear puny." (At a later stage of the proceedings the same keen critic notes that the enormous train borne by her ladies made the figure of the Queen look still less than it really was.) " The homage was as pretty a sight as any : trains of Peers touching' her crown, and then kissing her hand. It was in the midst of that process tliat poor Lord Rolle's disaster sent a shock through the whole assemblage. It turned me very sick. The large infirm old man was held up by two Peers, and had nearly reached the royal footstool when he slipped through the hands of his supporters, and rolled over and over down the steps, lying at the bottom coiled up in his robes. He was instantly lifted up, and he tried again and again, amidst shouts of admiration of his valour. The Queen at length spoke to Lord Melbourne, who stood at her shoulder, and he bowed approval ; on which she rose, leaned forward, and held out her hand to the old man, dispensing with his touching the crown. He was not hurt, and his self-quizzing on his misadventure was as brave as his behaviour at the time. A foreigner in London gravely reported to hia own countrymen, * Annu.il Reginter. '1 ■■ r<^' |Mf !( I I I ! if iii '^i;i 84 QUEEN VICTORIA. what he entirely believed on the word of a wag, that the Lords Eollo held their title on the condition of performing the feat at every coronation." Sir David Wilkio, who was present at the coronation, wrote simply, " The Queen looked most interesting, calm, and nnexcited ; and as she sat upon the chair with the crown on, the sun shone from ono of the windows bright upon hor." Leslie, another painter who witnessed the scene, remarked, " I was very near the altar, and the chair on which the Queen was crowned, when she signed the coronation oath. I could see that she wrote a large, bold hand I don't know why, but the first sight of her in her robes brought tears into my eyes, and it had this effect on many people ; she looked almost like a child." " The Archbishop of Canterbury then went to the altar. Tlio Queen followed him, and giving the Lord Chamberlain her crown to hold, knelt down at the altar. The Gospel and Epistle of the Communion service having been read by the Bishops, the Queon made her offering of the chalice and patina, and a purse of gold, which were laid on the altar. Iler Majesty received the sacrament kneeling on her faldstool by the chair." Leslie afterwards painted this part of the ceremony for her Majesty. Tn his picture are several details which are not given elsewhere. The Peers and Peeresses who had crowned themselves simultaneously with the coronation of the Queen, removed their crowns when she laid aside hers. Among the gentlemen of the royal family was the Due de Nemours. After receiving the communion, the Quoon put on her crown, " and with her sceptres in her hands, took her seat again upon the throne. The Archbishop of Canterbury proceeded with the Communion service and pronounced the final blessing. The choir sang the anthem, * Hallelujah ! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' The Queen then left the throne, and attended by two Bishops and noblemen bearing the regalia and swords of State, passed into King Edward's chapel, the organ playing. The Queen delivered the sceptre with the dove to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who laid it on the altar. She was then disrobed of her imperial robe of State and arrayed in her royal robe of purple velvet by the Lord Chamberlain. The Archbishop placed the orb in her left hand. The gold spurs and St. Edward's stuff were delivered by the noblemen who bore them to the Dean of West- minster, who placed them on the altar. The Queen then went to the west door of the Abbey wearing her crown, the sceptre with the cross being in the right and the orb in the left hand It was about a quarter to four o'clock when the royal procession passed through the nuve, in the same order as before, at the conclusion of the ceremony in the Abbey." m THF. CORONATION. 8S The coronntion lasted three hours, and must have boon attondod with grout fatigue of mind and body to the young girl who bore the burden of the honours. Even the mere spectators, who, to be sure, had been in their places from dawn of day, the moment the stimulus of excitement was removed, awoke to their desperate weariness. " I watched her (the Queen) oxit at the doors," said Harriet Martincau, " and then became aware how fearfully fatigued I was. I never remember anything like it. While waiting in the passages and between the barriers, several ladies sat or lay down on the ground. I did not like to sink down in dust half a foot deep, to the spoiling of my dross and the loss of my self- respect, but it was really a terrible waiting till my brothers appeared at the end of the barrier." But the day's business was not ended for the groat world, high and low. The return of the procession, though the line was broken, had the special attraction that the Queen wore her crown, and the Peers and Peeresses their coronets. The Queen's crown was a mass of brilliants, relieved here and there by a large ruby or emerald, encircling a purple velvet cap. Among the stories told of the coronation, foremost and favourite of which was the misadventure of poor Lord RoUe, and the pretty gentle way in which the young Queen did her best to help the sufferer ; an incident was reported which might have had its foundation in the difficulties described by Miss Martineau as besetting the fair Peeress in the Abbey. It was said that the Queen's crown was too cumbrous, and disturbed the arrangement of those soft braids of hair, the simple, modest fashion of which called forth Sir David Wilkie's praise, and that as her iliijesty drove along in her State carriage, she was seen laughingly submitting to the good offices of her beautiful companion seeking with soft hands to loop up afresh the rebellious locks which had broken loose. Leslie, from whom we have already quoted, gives an anecdote of the Queen on her coronation- day, which serves at least to show how deeply the youthfuluoss of their sovereign was impressed on the public mind. He had been informed that she was very fond of dogs, and that she possessed a favourite little spaniel which was always on the look-out for her. She had been away from him longer than usual on this particular day. When the State coach drove up to the palace on her return, she heard his bark of joy in the hall. She cried, "There's I) ish ! " and seemed to forgot crown and scej)tre in her girlish eagerness to greet her small friend.* In spite of th'' ordeal her Majesty had undergone, she entertained a party of a hundred to dinner, and witnessed from the roof of Jiuckingham Palace the grand display * In the list of Sir Edwin Lnndseer's pictures there is one, the property of the Queen, which was pftintcd in 1838. It includes " Hector," « Nero," " Dasli," ntid " Loroy " (dngs and pnrrnt>. 1:1 n Hi Hi ni «6 QUEEN VICTORIA. of flioworks in tho Grocn Park and the general ilium iiiation of T/ondon. The Duke of Wellington gave a ball at Apsloy House, followi'd next day by official dinners on the ])art of the Cabinet ministers. The festivities lasted "or more than a week in the metropolis. Prominent among them was a fancy fair held for tho space of four days in Ilyde Park, and visited by the Queen in person. On the 9th of July, a fine, hot day, there was a review in Hydo Park. Tho Qnoen appeared soon after eleven in an open barouche, with her aides-de-camp in full uniform. The Dukes of Cambridge and Wellington, the Due do Nemours, Marshal Soult, Prince Esterhazy, Prince Schwartzenburg, Count Stragonoff, were present amidst a great crowd. The Quoen wfs much cheered The country's old gallant foe, Soult, was again hailed with entliusiasm, though there was just a shade of being exTiltingly equal to the situation, in the readiness with v.hicL, on his having the misfortune to break u stirrup, a worthy firm of saddlers came forward with a supply of the stirrups v;hich Napoleon had used in one of his campaigns. And there might have been some- thing significant to the visitor, in the rapturous greeting which was bestowed on the Iron Duke, round whoso erect, impassive figure the multitude pressed, the nearest men and women defying his horse's hoofs and stretching up to shake hands with " the Conquering Hero " amidst a thunder of applause. The rejoicings pervaded every part of the country from John o' Groat's to Land's End, from the Scilly Isles to Sark. There was merry-making among the English residents in every foreign place, as inr as the great colonics in the still remote continents. To many simple people the Queen did not seem to reign, hardly to exist, till she had put on her crown and taken up her sceptre. It was to do the first honour to their youthful liege lady that June garlands were swung over every village street, bonfires gleamed like carbuncles on mountain cairns, frightening the hill foxes, or lit up the coast-line and were flung back in broken reflections from the to:.sing waves, scaring t'le very fish in the depths of the sea, where hardy islanders had kindled the token on some rock of the ocean. Pen and pencil were soon busy with the great event of the season. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote later : — The Minster was alight that day, hut not ".'.Ith fire, I weon, And long-drawn ylitterings swept adown that mighty aisU'd scene ; The priests stood stolfcd in their pomp, the sworded chiefs in tlieiis, And so the collared knights — and so the civil ministers ; And 80 the waiting lords and dames— and little pages best At holding trains — and legates so, from countries east and west ; Su alien princes, native peers, and high-born ladies bright, Along whose brows the Queen's new crown'd, flashed coronets to light. And so, the neoplc nt the gates, with priestly hands on high, ^'hich bring the first anointing to all legal majesty ; :! i THE CORONATION. •7 And 80, the Doiul — who Itty m rows heueutli ihu Minster floor, Tlierc verily on awful state nmintiiining evermore — The slatesnuin, with no Burleigh noil, wlmlu'er court tricks niiiy bo ; The courtier, who, for no fair Queen, will vise up to liia knee ; The court-diinie, who fur no court tiie will leave her shroud huliind ; The laureate, who no courtlier rhymes than "dust to dust" can find ; The kings and queens who having ta'en that vow and wcru that crown, Descended unto lower thrones and darker, deeper adown ; " Dieu et nion Droit," what is't to theni 1 what meaning can it have I The king of kings, the dust of dust— Qud's judgment and the grave. And when betwixt the quick and dead tlie young fair Queen had vowed, Tlio living shouted, " May she live ! Victoria, live ! " aloud. And as these loyul shouts went up, true spirits prayed between, Tlie blessings happy monarchs have, be thine, Crownfcd Quccu I In the autumn and winter of 1838 Leslie went down to Windsor to get sittings for his picture of the coronation. He had been presented to the Queen on her first visit to the Academy after her accession, as he mentions in oae of his pleasant letters to his kindred in America. He was now to come into nearer contact with royalty. He slept at the Castle Inn, Windsor, and went up daily to the Castle. If he found her Majesty and any other sitter engaged, he improved the occasion by copying two of the Queen's fine Dutch pictures, a De Hooghe and a Nicholas Maas. He wrote his experience to his wife in London, and his sister in America. To the latter he said, " I came here on the 29th of last month by appointment to have a sitting of the Queen, and with little expectation of having more than one. ... I have been here ever since, with the exception of a day or two in town (I perform the journey in an hour by the railroad), and the Queen has sat five times. She is now so far satisfied with the likeness, that she does not wish me to touch it again. She sat not only for the face, but for as much as is seen of the figure, and for the hands with the coronation-ring on her finger. Her hands, by-the-bye, arc very pretty, the backs dimpled, and the fingers delicately shaped. She was particular also in having her hair dressed exactly as she wore it at the ceremony, every time she sat. She has suggested an alteration in the composition of the picture, and I suppose she thinks it like the scene, for she asked me w here I sat, and said, ' I suppose you made a sketch on the spot.' " The Duchess of Kent and Lord Melbourne are now sitting to me, and last week I had sittings of Lord Conyngham and Lady Fanny Cowper* (a very beautiful girl, and one of the Queen's train-bearers), who was here for a few days on a visit to her Majesty. Every day lunch is sent to me, which, as it is always very plentiful and good, I generally make my dinner. The best of wine is sent in a beautiful little decanter, with a V.R. and * Daughter of a beautiful and popular mother, Lady Palmerston, by her first husband, Earl Cowper. ; I i 1;' i II QUEEN VICTORIA. the crown engraved on it, and tlio tublo-cloth and napkins have the royal arms and otlior insignia on thoin as a pattern. "I have two very good friends at the Castle. — one of the pages, and a litllo man who lights the fires. The Queen's pages are not little boys in green, but tall and itoul gentkmcn from forty to fifty years of age. My friend (Mr. Batcholor) was a pag*^ in the time of George III., and w;'s then twenty years old. George IV. died in his arms, he savH, in a room adjoining the one I am painting in. Mr. IJatcheloi" comes into the room whenever there is nobody there, and admires the piet-ro to my heart's oontent. My other friend, the fire-lighter, is extremely like Peter Powell, only a size larger. He also greatly admires the picture ; he confesses he knows nothing about the robes, and can't any whether thoy aie like or not, br.t he pronounces the (4ae..u's likeness excellent." * * Loalie's AuioL'ogrnpliy. i I ! jl 1 ', 1 ! 1 1 1 r ' ' 1 1 ■1 1 i I 1 i .* I! i' CHAPTER VI. THE MAIDKjr QUEEN. "117 HEN the groat event of the coronation was over the Qtioon was loft to fulfil tho heavy demands of business and the conehiding gaieties of tho season. It comes upon us with a little pathetic shock, to think of one whom wo have long known ohiefiy in tho chastened light of the devoted unflagging worker at her high calling, of our lady of sorrows, as a merry girl — girl-liko in her fondness, in spite of her noble nature and tho serious claims she did not neglect, of a racket of perpetual excitement. We road of her us going everywhere, as the blithest and most iudefutigublc dancer in her ball-room, dancing out a pair of slippers before the night was over ; wo hear how reluctant she was to leave town, how eager to return to it. Inevitably the old and dear friends most interested in her welfare were now regarding this critical period in the Queen's career with anxious eyes. In looking back upon it in after life, she has frankly and gravely acknowledged its pitfalls ; " a worse school for a young girl, or one more detrimental to all natiu'al feeling and affection, cannot well bo imagined, than the po.sition of a queen at eighteen, without experience, and Avithout a husband to guide and support her. This the Queen can state from painful experience, and she thanks God that none of her dear daughters are exposed to such danger." The King of the Belgians sought to abridge the period of probation by renewing tho project of the worthy marriage to which his niece had been well inclined two years before. But either from the natural coyness and the strain of perversity which are tho privilege and the danger of girlhood, or simply because, as she has stated, " the sudden change from the secluded life at Kensington to the independence of her position as Queen liegnant, at the age of eighteen, put all ideas of marriage out of her head," the bride in prospect demurred. She declared, with the unhesitating decision of her ago, that she had no thought of marriage for years to come. She objected, with some show of reason, that both she and Prince Albert were too young, and that it would be better for him to have a little more time to perfect his English education. ■:'!'■ i ITS «e QUEEN VICTORIA. The [)riiicoly cousin who hud won hor first Kiilisli iifToctions, and tho tender HweotnoHS of lovo in tho bud, were by no menus forgotten. Tho ideii of nimriago never crossed the (Jueen's mind without his imago presenting itself, sho has said, and slio never thought of herself as wedded to any other man. But every woman, bo she Qiioeii or beggar-maid, craves to exercise one species of power at ono oro of her life. It is her prerogative, and though tho ruth of lovo may live to regret it, and to grudge every passing pang intlicted, lialf wilful! iwittingly, on the true heart, it may bo (juestioned whether lovo would flourish better, whether it would attain its perfect btaturo, without tho test of the brief cheek and combat for mastery. But if a woman desires to prove her power, a man cannot be expected to welcome the soft tyranny; the more manly, tho mure sensitive he is, the more it voxos and wounds him. Ilcro the circumstances were specially trying, and while we have ample sympathy with tho young Queen — standing out as much in archness as in imperiousness for a prolonged wooing — we have also sympathy to spare for tho young Prince, with maidy dignity nnd a little indignant pain, resisting alike girlish volatility and womanly despotism, asserting what was only right and reasonable, that ho could not wait much longer for her to make up her mind — groat queen and dear cousin though she might bo. It was neither just nor generous that he should be kept hanging on in a condition of mortifying uncer- tainty, with the risk of his whole life being spoilt, after it was too late to guard against it, by a final refusal on her part. That tho Queen hud in substance made up her mind is proved by the circumstance that it was by her wish, and in accordance with her written instructions — of which, however, Prince Albert seems to have been ignorant — that Baron Stoeknuir, on quitting England in 1838, joined the Prince, who hud just endured the trial of being separated from his elder brother, with whom he had been brought up in the closest and most brotherly relations, so that tho two had never been a day apart during tho whole of their previous Uvea. Prince Albert was to travel in Italy, and Baron Stockmar and Sir Francis (then Lieutenant) Seymour were appointed his travelling companions, visiting with him, during what proved a happy tour, Rome and Naples. At home, where Baroness Lehzen retained tho care of purely personal matters and played her part in non-political affairs and non-political correspondence, Lord Melbourne, with his tact and kindness, discharged tho remaining offices of a private secretary. But things did not go altogether well. Party feeling was stronger than ever. The Queen's household was mainly of Whig materials, but there were exceptions, and the lady who had borne the train of the Duchess of Kent at the coronation belonged to a family which had become Tory in politics. THE MAI DUN QUEEN, «»• Ludy Floni ITiiHtinps was n daughtor ral of India. When ho was Govcrnor-CieiK^-al of Malta ho died far from Loudoun's woods and braes, and was buried in tho littlo island ; but in complianco with an old promise to his wife, who long survived him, that their dust should rest together, ho directed that after death his right hand should bo cut off, enclosed in a casket, and conveyed to tho family vault beneath tho church of Loudoun, whore the mortal renuiins of his Avidow would lio. Lady Flora Hastings was good, clover and accomplished, dearly loved by her family and friends. But whether she, nevertheless, possessed capabilities of ofl'cnding her companions in office at Conrt ; whether her conduct in any respect rebuked theirs, and provoked dislike, suspicion, and a desire to find her in tho wrong ; whether the calamity was shcerly due to that mortal meanness in Imman nature, which tempts people not other- wise unworthy to receive the most unlikely and injurious evil report of their neighbour, on the merest presumptive evidence, tho unhappy sequel remains the same. Lady Flora had been attacked by an illness which caused so great a change in her personal appearance, as to lend colour to a whispered charge tliat she had been secretly guilty of worse than levity of conduct. The cruel whisper once breathed, it certainly became tho duty of every person in authority round a young and maiden Queen to guard her Conrt jeah. sly from the faintest suspicion of such a reproach. The fault lay with those who uttered the shameful charge on slight and, as it proved, totally mistaken inferences. When the accusation reached the ears of Lady Flora — last of all, no doubt — the brave daughter of a bravo man welcomed such a medical examination as must prove her innocence beyond dispute. Her name and fame were triumphantly cleared, but the distress and humiliation she had suffered accelerated the progress of her malady, and she died shortly afterwards, passionately lamented by her friends. They sought fruitlessly to bring punishment on the accusers, which could not be done since there was no evidence of deliberate insincerity and malice on tho part of the circulators of the scandal. The blame of the disastrous gossip fell on two of the Whig Ladies of the Bed-chamber ; and just before the sad climax, the other event, which angry Tory eyes magnilied to the dignity of a conspiracy, drew double attention to both catastrophes. >T '■' i- ■i > ■ I 1 : ' i 1 j i IPI 1 -' <)I Qt'A'f.X VICTORIA. In Mny, 1839, the TN'liin Oovcnnncnt liiid lict-u (Icfcatrd in n rnu'Iiil monoiiro, ntid tho niiiiiHtry under tli(> U'udiiwhip of I^ord Mclhounio roHij,MH'd offlro. 'K\\\.\ (iuccii sent for tho Diiko of Wellington, and ho reeornniended that 8ir Robert Peel nhould l)(> called upon to lorni u new Cabinet. It waH the llrHt time that tho Queen had exixMieiieed a ehange ol Ministers, and sho was naturally disnuiyed at tho neeeHsity, and rehiclant to part with the fi lend who \vm\ lent her such aid on her aoeession, wh(»m she trusted implicitly, who in the requirements of liis office liad boon in daily eoniinunieation with her for the last two years. In her intorview witii Sir Robert Peel, who in his shyness and constraint appeared to have far fo'vor personal recommendations for a young (iueen's counsellor, she told him with a simple and girlish frankness that she was sorry to have to part with her late Minister, of whose conduct she entirely approved, but that she bowed to constitutional usage.* Sir Robert took tho impulsive speech in the straightforward spirit in whit^h it was spoken, while time was to show sueh a good understanding and cordial regard established between tho Queen and her future servant, as has rarely been siirpassed in the relations of sovereigns and their advisers. But in the meanwhile a contretemps^ which was more than half a blunder, occurred. " Tho negotiations wont on very smoothly as to tho colleagues Peel meant to recommend to her Majesty, until ho happened to notice the composition of tho royal household, as regarded tho ladies most closely in attendance on the Queen. For example, lie found that the wife of Lord Normanby and tho sister of Lord Morpeth were the two ladies in closest attendance on her Majesty. Now it has to be borno in mind — it was proclaimed again and again during tho negotiations — that the chief difficulty of the Conservatives would necessarily bo in Ireland, where their jJoHcy would be altogether opposed to that of the Whigs. Lord Normanby had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under the Whigs, and Lord Morpeth, whom we can nil remember as tho amiable and accomplished Lord Carlisle of later time, Irish Secretary. It certainly would not be satisfactory for Peel to try to work a new Irish policy, whilst the closest household companions of the Queen wore tho wife and sister of the displaced statesmen, who directly represented the policy he had to supersede. Had this point of view been made clear to the sovereign at first, it is hardly possible that any serious difficulty could have arisen, The Queen must have seen the obvious reasonableness of Peel's request, nor is it to be supposed that the two ladies in question could have desired to hold their places under such circumstances. But unluckily some misunderstanding took place at the very beginning of the conversations on this point. Peel only desired to press for the retirement of the ladies holding the higher offices,! he did not intend to ask for any * Justin Macarthy. f I'his lias been the rule in Bubsequeiit changes of Ministry, r/n:.Af.\ini:x Qfrrr^. ft diiin^c iifl'tMtiiiji II pliicc IdWff in (iflii'iiil niiik tlmii lliiif of Liuly of tin' IJcd-flianilK'r Uiit B(mH'h«»\v or otluT hu convoyed to tlio mind of tho (iu«t'ii ii dilli'ii'iit idi'ii. Hho th(Ml^llt ho niciint to inHint nH a niattor of priiKMiilo npon tlio romoval of oil hor familiar nttondants and houHcliold iiHsociatcH. Under this impression nhj eonsulted Lord John UushcII, who ndvincd lior on what h»' nndorHtood to bo the facts. On his advieo the (Jneen stated in reply, that Hho conld not " consent to a eouise which hIic conceives to be contrary to UNdgo, and is repngnant to her feelings." Sir Robert Peel hchl tirm to his ntipiihiticm, and tho chance of his then forming a Ministry was at an end. Lord Melbourne and his coUcapnos had to bo recalled, and at a Cabinet meeting 'i.'y adopted u minute declaring it "roasonablo that tho great oflicos of tho Conr^, and situations in tho household held by mombers of Parliament, should bo included in the politicid arrangements mado on a change in tho Adniinislintion ; but they are not of opinion that a similar principle should be applied or extended to the olHces held by ladies in hor !A[ajosty's housolK>ld." As an instance of the garbled impression received, and the unhesitating exultation manifested by some of tho Whig leaders, we quote from Lord Campbell : " House of Commons, Friday, INIay 10, 18o!). Whit do you think? Pool hp.s quarrelled with tho Queen, and for tho present wo are all in again. He insisted on her removing all hor ladies, which sho peremptorily refused. Peel sent his final answer yesterday evening, which she reeeived at dinner, saying that on consulting his colleagues they could not yield, and that his commission was at an end. She then sent for iSlelbourno, Avho had not seen her since his resignation. At eleven a meeting of tho old Cabinet was called. To-day Melbourne has been with hor, and. Bear Ellis says, agreed to go on with the government. Keports differ as to tho exact conditions. Our people say that sho was willing to give up the wives of Peers ; Sir Georgo Clerk assorts she insisted on keeping all, inter alias the Marchioness of Normanby. There never was such excitement in London. I came with hundreds of others to the IIouso of Lords, which met to-day, in the expectation that something would bo said, but all passing off in silence." * " Brooks's, Saturday, May 11, 1839. The Cabinet is still sitting, and wc know nothing more to-day I was several hours at the Queen's ball last night, a scene never to be forgotten. The Queen was in great spirits, and danced with more than usual gaiety. She received Peel with great civility ; but after dancing with tho Eussian Bear, took for her partner Lady Normanby's son. The Tories looked inconceivably foolish — suoh whimsical groups." Calm onlookers, including Stookmar, condemned Lord Melbourue for tho position in * The explanation was made later. < <^ i • '! «)4 QUEEN VICTORIA. which Le had allowed the yoxing Queen to be placed, and considered that lie had brought discredit on his Government by the circumstances in which he and his colleagues had resumed office. The melancholy death of Lady Flora Hastings following on this overthrow of the ordinary arrangements, intensified the wrath of the Tories, and helped to arouse a sense of general dissatisfaction and doubt. In the mouth of July, 1S39, an Act of Parliament was passed which was of great consequence to the mass of the people. In 1837 Sir Rowland Hill published his post- office reform pamphlet, and in 1839 the penny-post scheme was embodied in an Act of Parliament. What stories clustered round the e;irly miniature "heads" of her Majesty in the little dull red stamp ! These myths ranged from the panic that the adhesive gum caused cancer in the tongue, to the romance that a desperate young lady was collecting a huge supply of used stamps for the purpose of papering a room of untold dimensions. This feat was the single stipulation on the part of a tyrannical parent, on ccinpliance with which the hapless maiden would be allowed to marry her faithful lover. Piiti CHAPTER VII. THE BETROTHAL. rPHE Queen's remaining unmarried was becoming the soiirco of innuincrablo disturbing T rumours and private intrigues for the bestowal of her hand. To show the extent to which the public discussed the question in every light, a serious publii "•'on like the Annual Register found space in its pages for a ponderous joke on the jcct which was employing all tongues. Its chronicle professes to report an interview between her Majesty the Queen and Lord ^lelbourne, in which tlio Premier gravely represents to his sovereign the advisability of her marriage, and ventures to press her to say whether there is any man for whom she might entertain a preference. Her Majesty condescends to acknowledge there is one man for whom she could conceive a regard. Ilis name; is " Ai'thur, Duke of "Wellington." Altogether, King Leopold was warranted in renewing his eftbrts to accomplish the union which would best secure the happiness of his niece and the welfare of a kingdom. He adopted a simple, and at the same time, a masterly lino of policy. lie sent the Prince, whose majority had been celebrated along with his brother's a few months before, over again to England in the autumn of 1839. Prince Ernest of Saxe-Coburg went once more with Prince Albert, in order to show that this was not a bridegroom come to plead his suit in person ; this was a mere cousinly visit of which nothing need come. Indeed, the good king rather overdid his caution, for it seems he led the Prince to believe that the earlier tacit understanding between him and his cousin had come to an end, so that Prince Albert arrived more resolved to relinquish his claims than to urge his riglits. In his honest pride there was hardly room for the thought of binding more closely and indis- solubly the silken cord of love, which had got loosened and warped in the course of the three years since the pair had parted — a long interval at the ago of twenty. All the same, one of the most ncrtably and deservedly attractive young men of his generation was to bo brought for the second time, without the compulsory strain of an ulterior motive — declared or unjustiiiably implied — into new contact with a royal maiden, whum a qualified judge ^x"* ^r ■ffT I'i 96 QUEEN VICTORIA. describod as possessing "a keen and quick apprehension, being straight forwur J, singularly pure-heart* d, and free from all vanity and pretension." In the estima- tion of this sagacious well-wisher, she was htted beforehand " to do ample justice both to the head and heart of the Prince." It was at half-past seven on the evening of Tliursday, the 10th of October, that the princely brothers entered again on the scene, no longer young lads under the guidance of their father, come to make the acquaintance of a girl-princess, their cousin, who though she might be the heir to a mighty kingdom, was still entirely under the wing of the Duchess, their aunt and her mother, in the homely old Palace of Kensington. These were two young men in the flower of their early manhood, who aUf^i ted in due form under the gatcAvay of one of the stateliest of castles that could ever have visited their dreams, and found a young Queen as well as a kinswoman standing first among her ladies, awaiting them at the top of the grand staircase. However cordial and affectionate, and like herself, she might be, it had become her part, and she played it well, to take the initiative, to give directions instead of receiving them, to command where she had obeyed. It was she, and not the mother she loved and honoured, who was the mistress of this castle ; and it was for her to come forward, welcome her guests, and graciously conduct them to the Duchess. King Leopold had furnished the brothers with credentials in the shape of a letter, recommending them, in studiously moderate terms, as " good, honesi creatures," deserving her kindness, " not pedantic, but really sensible and trustworthy," whom he had told that her great wish was they should be at ease with her. Both of these simply snnimcd-up guests were fine young men, tall, manly, intelligent, nnd accomplished. Prince Albert was very handsome and wiuuiug, as all his contem- poraries must remember him, with a mixture of thought and gentleness in his broad forehead, deep-blue eyes, and sweet smile. The first incident of the visit was a trifle disconcerting, but not more so than happy, privileged people may be permitted to surmount with a laughing apology, even to draw additional light-hearted jests from the misadventure. The baggage of the Princes by some chance was not forthcoming ; they could not appear at a Court dinner in their morning dress, but etiquette was relaxed for the strangers to the extent that later in the evening they joined the circle, which included Lord Melbourne, Lord Clanricarde, liord and Lady Granville, Baron Brunnow and Lord Normanby, as visitors at Windsor at the time. The pleasant old courtier. Lord Melbourne, immediately told the Queen that ho was struck with the roscmblauco boLwoeu Prince Albert and herself. THE BETROTHAL. 97 " The way of life at Windsor during the stay of the Princes Avas much as follows : — the Queen breakfasting at this time in her own room, they afterwards paid her a "\ isit there ; and at two o'clock had luncheon with her and the Duchess of Kent. In the afternoon they all rode — the Queen and Duchess and the two Princes, with Lord Melbourne and most of the ladies and gentlemen in attendance, forming a large cavalcade. There was a great dinner every evening, Avith a dance after it, three times a week." * Surely an ideal palace life for the young — born to the stately conditions, bright with all the freshness of body and sparkle of spirit, unexhausted, undimmcd by years and care. Surely a fair field for true love to cast off its wilful shackles, and be rid of its half-cherish ^-d misunderstandings, to assert itself master of the situation. And so in five days, while King Leopold was still writing wary recommendations and temperate praise, the prize Avhich had been deemed lost was won, and the Queen who had foredoomed herself to years of maidenly toying with happiness and fruitless waiting, was ready to announce her speedy marriage, with loyal satisfaction and innocent fearlessness, to her servants in council. At the time, and for long afterwards, there were many wonderful little stories, doubtless fanciful enough, but all taking colour from the one charming fact of the royal lovers. How the Queen, whose place it was to choose, had with maidenly grace made known her worthy choice at one of these palace " dances," in which she had waltzed with her Prince, and subsided from the liege lady into the loving woman. She had presented him with her bouquet in a most marked and significant manner. He had accepted it with the fullest and most becoming sense of the distinction conferred upon him, and had sought to bestow her token in a manner which should prove his devotion and gratitude. But his tight-fitting foreign uniform had threatened to baffle his desire, till, in the exigency of the moment, he took out a pocket-knife (or was it his sword from its sheath ?) and cut a slit in the breast of his coat on the left side, over the heart, where he put the flowers. Was this at the end of that second day after the brothers' arrival, on which, as the Prince mentions, in detailing tc i friend the tui'n of the tide, " the most friendly demonstrations were directed towards me?" On the 14th of October, the Queen told her fatherly adviser, Lord Melbourne, that she had made her choice ; at which he expressed great satisfiiction, and said to her (as her Majesty has stated in one of the published portions of her Journal), " I think it will be very well received, for .. near that there is an anxiety now that it should be, and I am very glad of it; " addinj^, in quite a paternal tone, " you will bo much more comfortable, for a woman cannot stand alone for any time in whatever position she mo} bo.'* * "Early Yeurs of the Prince Cuiisort.'' • v^ ri'' 98 QUEEN VICTORIA. In the circumstances, the 'ordinary r61c was of necessity strangely reversed, and the ordeal of the declaration fell to the maiden and not to the young man. But the trial could not have come to a better pair. Innate good sense and dignity, and single-hearted affection on the one hand, and manly, delicate-minded tenderness on the other, made all things possible, nay, easy. An intimation was conveyed to the Prince through an old friend, who was in the suite of the brothers on this visit to England, Baron Alvensleben, Master of the Horse to the Duke of Coburg, that the Queen wished to speak to Prince Albert next day. Doubtless, the formality and comparative length of the invitation had its significant importance to the receiver of the message, and brought with it a tumult and thrill of anticipation. But he was called on to show that he had outgrown youthful impetuosity and impatience, and to prove himself worthy of trust and honour by perfect self-restraint and composure. So far as the world knows, he awaited his lady's will without a sign of restlessness or disturbance. If blissful dreams drove away sleep from the pillows on which two young heads rested in Eoyal Windsor that night, none save the couple needed to know of it. It was not by any means the first time that queenly and princely heads had courted oblivion in vain beneath the tower of St. George, and under the banner of England, but never in more natural, lawful, happy wakefulness. On the morning of the 15th, behaving himself as if nothing had happened, or was going to happen, according to the code of Saxon Englishmen, Prince Albert went out early, hunting with his brother, but came back by noon, and "half an hour afterwards obeyed the Queen's summons to her room, where he found her alone. After a few minutes' conversation on other subjects, the Queen told him why she had sent for him." The Prince wrote afterwards to the oldest of his relations : " The Queen sent for me alone to her room a few days ago, and declared to me, in a genuine outburst of love and affection, that I had gained her whole heart, and would make her intensely happy if I would make her the sacrifice of sharing her life with her, for she said she looked on it as a sacrifice ; the only thing that troubled her was, that she did not think she was worthy of me. The joyous openness of manner with which she told me this quite enchanted me, and I was quite carried away by it." " The Prince answered by the warmest den' instration of kindness and affection." The affair had been settled by love itself in less time than it has taken to tell it. There is an entry in her Majesty's Journal of this date, which she has, with noble and tender confidence, in the best feelings of humanity, permitted her people to read. "How I will strive to make him feel, as little as possible, the great sacrifices he has made ! I told him it ivas a great sacrifice on his part, but he would not allow it." THE BETROTHAL. 09 This recoi'fl has hcon enthusiastically dwell upon for its thoroTiph ■womanliness ; and so it is truly womanly, royally womanly. But it seems to us that less weight has been put on the fine sympathetic intuition of the Queen which enabled her to look beyond herself, beyond mere outward appearance and worldly advantages, and see the fact of the sacrifice on the part of such a man as Prince Albert, which he made with all his heart, cheerfully, refusing so much as to acknowledge it, for her dear sake. For the Queen was wisely right, and the Prince lovingly wrong. He not only gave back in full measure what he got, but, looking at the contract in the light of the knowledge which the Queen has granted to us of a rare nature, we recognise that for such a man — so simple, noble, purely scholarly and artistic ; so capable of undying attachment ; so fond of peaceful house- hold charities and the quiet of domestic life ; so indiff'erent to pomp and show ; so wearied and worried in his patience by formality, parade, and Tuo vulgar strife and noise, glare and blare of the lower, commoner ambitions — it was a sacrifice to forsake his fatherland, his father's house, the brother whom he loved as his own soul, the plain living md high thinking, healthful early hours and refined leisure — busy enough in good thoughts and deeds — of Germany, for the great shackled responsibility wlii(;h should rest on the Queen's husband, for the r-t-ficial, crowded, high-pressure life of an England which did not know him, did not understand him, for many a day. If Baron Stockmar was right, that the physical constitution of the Prince in his youth rendered strain and effort unwel- come, and that he was rather deficient in interest in the ordinary work of the world, and in the broad questions which concern the welfare of men and nations, than overendowed with a passion for mastering and controlling them, then the sacrifice was all the greater. But he made it, led by what was, in him, an overruling sense of right, and by the sweetest compelling motive, for highest duty and for her his Queen. Having put his hand to the plough he never looked back. What his hand found to do, that he did with all his might, and he became one of the hardest workers of his age. In seeing what he resigned, we also see that the fulness of his life was rendered complete by the resignation. He was called to do a grand, costly service, and he did well, at whatever price, to obey the call. Without the sacrifice his life would have been less honourable as an example, less full, less perfect, and so, in the end, less satisfying. When the troth was plighted, the Queen adds, " I then told him to fetch Ernest, who congratulated us both and seemed very happy. He told me how perfect his brother was." There were other kind friends to rejoice in the best solution of the problem and settlement of the vexed question. The good mother and aunt, the Duchess of Kent, rendered as secure as mortal mother could be of the future contentment and prosperity of Ih too QUEEN VICTORIA, her child ; the attached kinsman beyond the Channel ; the father of the hridcgroom ; hig female relations ; trusty Baron Stockmar ; an early comrade, were all to be told and made happy, and in some cases sorry also, for the promotion of Prince Albert to be the Queen's husband meant exile from Germany. The passages given from the Queen's and Prince's letters to King Leopold and Baron Stockmar are not only very characteristic, the words express what those who loved the writers best would have most wished them to say. The respective utterances are radiant with delight softened by the modest, firm resolves, the humble hearty conscientiousness which made the proposed marriage so auspicious of all it was destined to prove. The King of the Belgians was still in a state of doubt, writing his earnest but studiously measured praise of his nephews to the Queen. " I am sure you will like them the more, the longer you see them. They are young men of merit, and without that puppy-like affectation which is so often found with young gentlemen of rank ; and though remarkably well informed, they are very free from pedantry. " Albert is a very agreeable companion. His manners are so quiet and harmonious that one likes to have him near one's self. I always found him so when I had him with me, and I think his travels have still improved him. He is full of talent and fun, and draws cleverly." At last there is a plainer insinuation. "I trust they will enliven your s4jour in tho old castle, and may Albert be able to strew roses without thorns on the pathway of life of our good Victoria. He is well qualified to do so. . . ." On the very day this letter was written, the Queen was addressing her uncle. " My dearest uncle, this letter will I am sure give you pleasure, for you have always shown and taken sr warm an interest in all that concema me. My mind is quite mode up, and I told Albert this morning of it. Tho warm affection he showed me on learning this, gave me great pleasure. He seems perfection, and I think I have the prospect of very great h ippiness before me. I love him more than I can say, and shall do everything in my power to render this sacrifice (for such is my opinion it is) as small as I can. ... It is absolutely necessary that this determination of mine should be known to no one but your- self 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 BETROTHAL. 101 The King's reply from Wicsbatlon 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 aiTangement — 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 Augr aiEiiT den Himmki. ofpen, Es aciiwisiMT D.V8 Hi:nz i.\ sei.igkkit. The passage from which these lines are taken is the very beautiful one thus rendered in English by the late Lord Lytton : — And, lo ! as some sweet vision breaks Out from its iiiitive morning skies, With rosy sliame on downeaat cheeks, The virgin stands before his eyes : A nameless longing seizes him ! From all his wild companions flown ; •Tears, strange till then, his eyes bedim, He wanders all alone. Blushing he glides where'er she moves, Her greeting can transport him ; To every mend to deck his love, The happy wild-fiowers court him. Sweet hope — and tender longing — ye The growth of life's first age of gold, When the heart, swelling, seems to see The gates of heaven unfold. Oh, were it ever green ! oh, stay ! Linger, young Love, Life's blooming may. In a later letter to Stockmar the Prince writes: "An individuality, a character which shall win the respect, the love, and the conficV'^nce of the Queen and of the nation, must be the groundwork of my position ... If therefore I prove a ' noble ' Prince in the true sense of the word, as you call upon me to be, wise and prudent conduct will become easier to me, and its results more rich in blessings ; " and to his stepmother he makes the thoughtful comment, "With the exception of my relation to her (the Queen), my H*^ 1^1 1 1 j i 4 \. U • i f m > — lot QUEEN VICTORIA. future position will have its dark sides, and the sky will not always bo blue and unclouded. But life has its thorns in every position, and the consciousness of having used one's powers and endeavours for an object so great as that of promoting the good of so many will surely be sufficient to support me." The brothers remained at Windsor for a happy month,* when the royal lovers saw much of each other, and as a matter of course often discussed the future, particularly with reference to the Prince's position in his new country, and wlnt his title was to be. One can easily fancy how interesting and engrossing such talks would become, especially wh n they were enlivened by the bright hvmour, and controlled by the singular unselfish- ness, of the object of so many hopes and plans. It was already blustering wintry weather, but there was little room to fool the depressing influence of the grey cloudy sky or the chill of the shrilly whistling wind and driving rain. Prince Ernest had the misfortune to suffer from an attack of jaundieo, but it was a passing evil, sure to be lightened by ample sympathy, and it did not prevpnt the friend of the bridegroom from rejoicing greatly at the sound of the bridegroom's voice. Perhaps the fact that a form of secrecy had to be kept up till her Majesty should announce her marriage to the Council only added an aiiditional piquant flavour to the general satisfaction. But this did not cause the Queen to fail in confidence towards the members of her family, for she wrote herself to the Queen-dowager and to the rest of her kindred announcing her intended marriage, and receiving their congratulations. On the 2nd of November there was a review of the battalion of the Rifle Brigade quartered at Windsor under Colonel, afterwards Sir George Brown, of Crimean fame, in the Home Park. The Queen was present, accompanied by Prince Albert, in the green uniform of the Coburg troops. What a picture, full of joyful content, independent of all accidents of weather, survives of the scene ! " At ten minutes to twelve I s^t off in my Windsor uniform and cap (already described) on my old charger ' Leopold,' with my beloved Albert looking so handsome in his uniform on my right, and Sir John Macdonald, the Adjutant-General, on my left. Colonel Grey and Colonel Wemyss preceding me, a guard of honour, my other gentlemen, my cousin's gentlemen, Lady Caroline BaiTington, &c., for the ground. "A horrid day. Cold, dreadfully blowing, and, in addition, raining hard when we had been out a few minutes. It, however, ceased when we came to the ground. I rode alone down the ranks, and then took my place as usual, with dearest Albert on my right * Lady Bloonitield depRribes a beautiful emerald serpent ring which the Prince gave the Queen when they were engajjed. THE RETIWTIIAL, 103 and Sir John Macdonald on my loft, and saw the troops marcli past. They afterwards manosuvred. The Rifles looked heautiful. It was picrcinj^ly cold, and I had my capo on, which dearest Albert settled comfortably for mo. IIo was so cold, being * en guaxde TENUK,' with high boots. We cantered homo again, and Aveut in to show ourselves to poor Ernest, who had seen all from a window." The Princes left Windsor on tho 14th of November, visiting tho King of the Belgians on theu' way homo, so that King Leopold could write to his nioce, " I find them looking well, particularly Albert. It proves that happiness is an excellent remedy to keep people in better health than any other. lie is much attached to you, and modest when speaking of you. He is besides in great spirits, full of gaiety and fun." The bridegroom also sent kind words to his aunt and future mother-in-law, as well as tender words to his cousin and bride. " Dearest aunt, a thousand thanks for your two kind letters just received. I see from them that you are in close sympathy with your nephew — your son-in law soon to be — which gratifies mo very, very much What you say about my poor little bride sitting all alone in her room, silent and sud, has touched me to tho heart. Oh, that I might fly to her side to cheer her ! " " For ' the poor little bride ' there was no lack of those sweet words, touched with the grateful humility of a manly love, to receive which was a precious foretaste to her of the happiness of the years to come." " That I am the object of so much love and devotion often comes over me as something I can hardly realise," wrote tho Prince. *' My pre- vailing feeling is. What am I that such happiness should be mine? For excess of happiness it is to me to know that I am so dear to you." Again, in referiing to his grandmother's regret at his departure he added, " Still she hopes, what I am con- vinced will be the case, that I may find in you, my dear Victoria, all tho happiness I could possibly desire. And so I shall, I can truly tell her for her comfort." And once more he wrote from " dear old Coburg," brimming over with loyal joy, " How often are my thoughts with you! The hours I was privileged to pass with you in your dear littlo room are the radiant points of my life, and I cannot even yet clearly picture to myself that I am to be indeed so happy as to be always, near you, always your protector." Last and most touching assurance of all, touching as it was solemn, when he mentioned to the Queen that in an hour he was to take the sacrament in the church at Coburg, and went on, " God will not take it amiss, if in that serious act, even at the altar, I think of you, for I will pray to Him for you and for your soul's health, and He will not refuse us His blessing." In the meantime there was much to do in England. On the 20th of November the 10+ QUEEN VICTORIA. ri Queen, with the Durlioss of Kent, loft Windsor for Buckiii^liam Paliico. On tlii' 23r(l, the Coinioil assembled there in the Uow-rooin on the ground tloor. The ceremony of docliiruig her proposed marriage was a mere form, but a very trying form to a young and modest woman called to iwM ulono a gathering of eighty-three elderly gentlemen, and to make to them the announcement whicli concerned herself so nearly. Of tho Privy Councillors some, like tho Duko of Wellington, had known tho Queen all her life, some had only served hor since she came to tho throne, but all were accustomed to discuss very ditforent matters with her. How difficult tho task was to the Queen we may judge from the significant note. The Queen always wore a bracelet with tho Prince's picture, "and it seemed," she wrote in her Journal, " to give mo courage at the Council." Her own further account of tho scene is as follows : " Precisely at two I went in. The room was full, but I hardly knew Avho was there. Lord ]\[elbourne I saw looking kindly at mo with tears in his eyes, but he was not near me. I then read my short declaration. I felt my hands shook, but I did not make one mistake. I felt most happy and thankful when it was over. Lord Lansdowne then rose, and in tho name of tho Privy Council asked that this most gracious and most welcome communication might be printed. I then left tho room, the whole thing not lasting above two or three minutes. The Duko of Cambridge came into the small library where I was standing and wished me joy." The Queen's declaration was to this effect : " I have caused you to be summoned at tho present time in order that I may acquaint you with my resolution in a matter which deeply concerns the welfare of my people and the happiness of my future life. " It is my intention to ally myseli in marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxo-Coburg and Gotha. Deeply impressed with the solemnity of the engagement which I am about to contract, I have not come to this decision without mature consideration, nor without feeling a strong assurance that, with the blessing of Almighty God, it will at once secure my domestic felicity and serve the interests of my country. " I have thought fit to make this resolution known to you at the earliest period, in order that you may be apprised of a matter so highly important to me and to my kingdom, and which, I persuade myself, will be most acceptable to all my loving subjects." The Queen returned to Windsor with the Duchess of Kent the same evening. On the 16th of January, 1840, the Queen opened Parliament in person, and made a similar statement. " Since you were last assembled I have declared my intention of allying myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, I humbly implore that the Divine blessing may prosper this union, and render it conducive to the interests of my people as well as to my own domestic happiness, and it will be to me a ji:,! Ill THE BETROTHAL. I OS Hourco of tho most lively satistiuition to find tho resolution I Imvo talvcu riiiprovod by n>y rurliiimout. The coiiHtimt prool's which I liavo received of your iittaclun iit to my person and family persuade iiu; that you will enable mo to provide for such an CHtablisluaeut us may appear suitable to Co rank of tho I'rinco and tho dignity of tho Crown." To SCO anrl hear tho young Queen, still only in her twenty-first year, when she went to toll her people of her purpose, multitudes lined tho streets and cheered her on her way that wintry day, and every seat in tho IIouso " was filled with tho noblest and fairest of the land " ready to give her quieter but not less heartfelt support. It is no mere courtly compliment to say that Qucon Victoria's marriage afforded tho greatest satisfaction to tho nation at largo. Not only was it a very desirable measure on political grounds, but it appealed to the far deeper and wider feelings of humanity. It had that touch of nature which makes the whole world kin. Sir Ilobert reel's words, when he claimed tho right of tho Opposition to join with tho Government in its felicitations to both sovereign and country, were not required to convince the people that their Queen was not only making a suitable alliance, but was marrying " for lovo," according to tho oldest, wisest, best plan. Tht y knew the glad truth as if by instinct, and how heartily high and low entered into her happiness and wished her joy ! It is said there is ono spectacle which, whether the spec- tators own it or not, hardly ever palls entirely even on the most hardened and worldly, the most weary and wayworn, the poorest and most wretched — perhaps, least of oil on tho last. It is a bridegroom rejoicing to leave his chamber, and a brido blushing in hor sweet bliss. There are after all only throo great events in human history which, projected forward or refected backward, oolour all the rest — birth, marriage, and death. The most sordid or sullen population will collect in knots, brighten a little, forget hard fate or mortal wrongs for a moment, in tlie interest of seeing a wedding company go by. Tho surliest, the most whining of the onlookers will spare a little relenting, a happier thought, for " two lunatics," " a couple of young fools whose eyes will soon be opened," " a pore delooded lad," " a soft silly of a gal," who are still so enviable in their brief bright day. What was it then to know of a pair of royal lovers — a great Queen and her chosen Prince — well mated ! It softened all hearts, it made tho old young again, with a renewing breath of late romance and tenderness. And, oh I how the young, who are old now, gloried in that ideal marriage ! What tales they told of it, what wonderful fancies they had about it ! How it knit the hearts of the Queen and her subjects together more strongly than anything else save common sorrow could do ! for when it comes to that, sorrow is more universal than joy, sinks deeper, and in this world lasts longer. Indeed, at this stage, as at every other, it was soon necessary to descend from heaven •-.\ io6 (?f/AAiV VICTORIA. to uurth ; and to rrince Tieopold, when ho married rrincess Charlotte; but neither wns that quite ho in point. The fittest reference, ho far aH income was concern"d, seemed to bo ti private purses allowed to tho Queen Consorts of the reiguinp; soven igns of England. I'o the three last (Jueens — Caroline, Charlotte, and Adelaide, tho sum of tlfty thousand pounds a year had l)een granted. This also wns tho annuity settled on Prince Leopold. Therefore fifty thousand was tho amount confidently nskcd by tho fJovernment. After a good denl of wrangling and angry debute, in which, however, tho Queen's name was studiously respected, she and tho Prince had the mortification to lonrn that the country, by its roprosonfntives, hnd refused tho usual nllowance, and voted only thirty thousand a year to the Queen's luisbnnd. Tho same ill-fortune nttended an attempt to introduce into tho bill for the naturali- sation of tho Princo, before the House of liords, a clause which should secure his ta'.Ing precedence of all save the Queen. Tho ]Juko of Sussex opposed tho clause, in ♦lio interest of tho King of Hanover, and so many jealous objections were urged that it Avas judged better to lot the provision drop than risk a defeat in tho House of Lords similar to that in the House of Commons. The awkward alternative rcmnined that Prince Albert's position, so far as it had to do with tho Lord Chamberlain and the Heralds' Office, was left undecided and ambiguous. It was only by the issue of letters patent on the Queen's part, at a later date, that any certainty on this point could be attained even in England. Tho formation of the Prince's household, which one would think might have been left to his own good feeling and discretion, or at least to the Queen's judgment in acting for him, proved another bone of contention calling foith roany applications and implied claims. Baron Stockmar came to England in January, to see to this important element in the Prince's independence and comfort, as well as to tho signing of the marriage contract. But in spite of the able representative, the Prince's written wishes, judicious and liberal- minded as might have been expected, and the Queen's desire to carry them out, at least one of the offices was filled up in a manner which caused Prince Albert anxiety and pain. The gentleman who had been private secretary to Lord Melbourne was appointed private secretary to the Prince, without regard to the circumstance that the step would appear loS QUEEN VICTORIA. i 1 I ;i |l! ' I compromising in Tory eyes — the very result which Prince Albert had striven to avoid, and that the official would be forced, as it were, on the Prince's intimacy without such previous acquaintance as might have justified confidence. It was only the sterling qualities of both Prince and secretary which obvir.ted the natural consequences of such an ill-judged pro- ceeding, and ended by producing the genuine liking and honest friendship which ought to have preceded the connection. The grudging, suspicious, selfish spirit thus manifested on all hands, was liable to wound the Queen in the tendercst point, and the disappoint- ment came upon her with a shock, since she had been rashly assured by Lord Melbourne that there would be no difficulty either as regarded income or precedence. The indications were not encouraging to the stranger thus met on the threshold. But his mission was to disarm adverse criticism, to shame want of confidence and pettiness of jealousy, to confer benefits totally irrespective of the spirit in which they might be taken. And even by the irritated party-men as well as by the body of the people, the Prince was to be well received for the Queen's sake, with his merits taken for granted, so far as that went, since the heart of the country was all right, though its Whig and Tory temper might be at fault. On the 10th of January, 1840, a death instead of a marriage took place in the royal family, but it was that of an aged member long expatriated. Princess Elizabeth, Land- gravine of Hesse Homburg, died at Frankfort. It was twenty-two years since she had married and quitted England, shortly before the old Queen's death, a year before the birth of Queen Victoria. The Landgravine had returned once, a widow of sixty -four, and then had gone back to her adopted country. She had survived her husband eleven years, and her sister, resident like herself in Germany, the Princess Royal, Queen of Wurtemberg, twelve years. The Landgravine as Princess Elizabeth showed artistic talent. She was famous in her middle age for her great embonpoint; as she was also tall she waxed enormous. Baroness liunsen, when Miss Waddington, saw Princess Elizabeth, while she was still unmarried, dressed for a Drawing-room, with five or six yellow feathers towering above her head, and refers to her huge dimensions then. It was alh ged afterwards that it required a chain of her husband's faithful subjects in Homburg to encompass his consort. She accommodated herself wonderfully, though she was an elderly woman before she had ever been out of England, to the curious quaint mixture of State and homeliness in the little German town in which she was hold in much respect and regard. The Land- gravine was seventy years of age at the time of her death. After her widowhood she resided in Hanover, where her brother. King William, gave her a palace, and then at Frankfort, where she died. Out of her English income of ton thousand a year, it was said THE BETROrHAL, 109 she spared six thousand for the needs of Hesse Homburg. Its castle and English garden still retain memories of the English princess who made her quiet home there and loved the place. The marriage of the Queen was fixed for the 10 th of February, and many eager, aspiring young couples throughout the country elected that it should be their wedding- day also. They wished that the gala of their lives should fit in with hers, and that all future "happy returns of the day " might have a well-known date to go by, and a State celebration to do them honour. Lord Torrington and Colonel — afterwards General — Grey set out for Gotha to escort the bridegroom to England. They carried with them the Order of the Garter, with which Prince Albert was invested by his father, himself a Knight of the Order, amidst much ceremony. All the world knows that the Order of the Garter is the highest knightly order of England, dating back to the time of Edward III., and associated by a gay and gallant tradition with the beautiful Countess of Salisbury. The first Chapter of the Order was held in 1340, when twenty-five knights, headed by the King, walked in solemn procession to St. George's Chapel, founded for their use, and for the maintenance of poor knightly brethren to pray for the souls of the Knights-Companions — honce " the Poor Knights of Windsor." The first Knights-Companions dedicated their arms to God and St. George, and held a high festival and tournament in commemoration of the act in presence of Queen Philippa and her ladies. The habit of the knights was always distinguished by its colour, blue. Various details were added at different times by different kings. Henry VIII. gave the collar and the greater and lesser medallions of St. George slaying the dragon. Charles II. introduced the blue riband. It is scarcely necessary to say that the full dress of the knights is very magnificent. " There are the blue velvet mantle with its dignified sweep, the hood of crimson velvet, the heron and ostrich-plumed cap, the gold medallion, the blazing star, the gold-lettered garter, to all which may be added the accessories that rank and wealth have it in their power to display ; as, for example, the diamonds worn by the Marquis of Westminster, at a recent installation, on his sword and badge alone were worth the price of a small kingdom ; or richer still her present ^Majesty's jewels, that seem to have been showered by some Eastern fairy over her habit of the Order, among which the most beautiful and striking feature is, perhaps, the ruby cross in the centre of the dazzling star of St. George." * The whole court of Gotha was assembled to see Prince Albert get the Garter ; a • Kiiit5lil'8"OiaEngkii(l." f 1 ;' ■'l ( , i : I ■■ ■ ^ i 1 V i ' -"..-'^ no QVEEN VICTORIA. hundred and one guns were fired to comnionioriite the auspicious occasion. The younger Perthes, under whom the Prince had studied at Bonn, wrote of the event, " The Grand- ducal papa bound the Garter round his hoy's knee amidst the roar of a htmdred and one cannon " (the attaching of the Garter, liowever, was done, not by Prince Albert's father, but by the Queen's brother, the Prince of Leiningen, another Kniglit of the Order). "The eamostness and gravity Avith which the Prince has obeyed this early call to take a European position, give him dignity and standing in spite of his youth, and increase the charm of his whole aspect." The investiture was followed by a grand dinner, when the Duke proposed the Queen's health, which was drunk by all the company standing, accompanied by several distinct flourishes of trumpets, the band playing " God save the Queen," and the artillery outsidi; firing a royal salute. Already the Prince had written to the Queen, when the marriage was officially declared at Coburg, that the day had affected him very much, so many emotions had filled his heart. Her health had been drunk at dinner " with a tempest of huzzas." The joy of the people liad been so great that they had gone on firing in the streets, with guns and pistols, during the whole night, so that one might have imagined a battle was going on. This was a repetition of that earlier festival, only rendered more emphatic and witli a touch of pathos added to it by the impending departure of Prince Albert, to lay ho^d of his high destiny. The leave-takings were earnest and prolonged, with many pretty slightly fantastic German ceremonies, and musi have been hard upon a man whose affections were; so tender and tenacious. Especially painful was the farewell to his mother's mother, the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, who had partly reared the princely lad. She was much attached to him, and naturally saw him go with little hope of their meeting again in this \\ rid. The Prince was accompanied by his father and brother, with various friends in their train, who, after the celebration of the marriage, were to return to Germany. But Prince Albert carried with him — to remain in his near neighbourhood — two old allies, whose familiar faces would be doubly welcome in a foreign country. The one was his Swiss valet, Cart, a faithful, devoted servant, " the best of nurses," who had waited on his master since the latter Avas a boy of seven years of age. The other was the beautiful greyhound, Eos, jet black, w';. 'he exception of a narrow white sinvdc on the nose and a white foot. Her mas;-", li.ul gi>t her as a puppy of six weeks old, when he Avas a boy in his fourteenth year, and Id trained the loving, gracernl creature in all imaginable canine sagacity and cleverness. She had been the constant companion of his youth. She had already oome to England with him, on the decisive visit of the previous autumn, and was known and dear to his royal mistress. h; THE BETROTHAL. Ill jIkhI It was scvore wintry woatlior when tlio great civvaloatlo, in eight travelling oarringcs, sot out for England, and took its way across Germany, Belgium, and the north of France, to the coast. The whole journey assumed much of the character of a festive procession. At each halting-place crowds turned out to do the princes honour, Every court and governing body welcomed them with demonstrations of respect and rejoicing. But at Aix-la-CliapoUe, in a newspaper which he came across, Prince Albert read the debates and votes in the Houses of Parliament that cut down the ordinary annuity of the English sovereign's consort, and left unsettled the question of his position in the country. The first disappointment told in two ways. Young and sensitive — though ho was also resolute and cheerful-minded — he had been a little nervous beforehand about the reception which might be accorded to him in England ; he now received a painful impression that the marriage was not popular with the people. He had indulged in generous dreams of the assistance and encouragement which he would be able to bestow on men of letters and artists, when he suddenly found his resources curtailed to nearly half the amoimt ho had been warranted in counting upon. Ilowevor, at Brussels, the next halting-place, in writing to the Queen, and frankly admitting his mortification at the words and acts of the majority of the members of both English Houses of Parliament, he could add with perfect sincerity, " All I have time to say is, that while I possess your love they cannot make me unhappy." And King Leopold was there with his sensible, calming counsel, while Baron Stockmar had b(!on careful to have a letter awaiting the Prince, which explained the inidorcurrent of political, not personal, motives that had influenced the debates, lu fact, so far from being unpopular, the Prince, who was the Queen's choice, was really the most acceptable of all her suitors in the eyes of her people. The sole serious objection urged against him in those days was that of his youth, a fault which was not only daily lessening, but was speedily forgotten in the conviction of the manly and serious attention to duty on his part which he quickly inspired. On the 5th of Febrimry the party arrived at Calais. Lord Clarence Paget had been sent over with the Firebrand to await their arrival, but the usual difficulties of an adverse tide and an insufficient French harbour presented themselves, and the company had to sail on the morning of the 6th in ono of the ordinary Dover packet-boats, under a strong gale fiom the south-east, with a heavy sea, which rendered the hoiTors of the Channel crossing, at the worst, what only those who have experienced them can realise. The Prince, like most natives of inland Germany, had been little inured to sailing, and his constitution rendered him specially liable to sea-sickness. As a lad of seventeen, facing I.i il] 1 I ( i i lis QUEEN VICTORIA. the insidious and repulsive foe for the first time, ho hud expressed his own and his brother's dread of the unequal encounter. Now he was doomed to fe(>l its ignoble clutch to the last moment. " The Duke had gone below, and on either side of the cabin staircase lay the two princes in an almost helpless state." It was in such unpropitious circumstances that Prince Albert had to rise, pull himself together, and bow his ackuowledginents to the crowds on the pier ready to greet him. Who that has rebelled against tbe calm superiority of the comfortable, amused onlookers at the haggard, giddy sufferers reeling on shore from the disastrous crossing of a stormy ferry, cannot comprehend the ordeal I The Prince surmounted it gallantly, anticipating the time when, at the call of work or duty, he was known to rise to any effort, to shake off fatigue and indisposition as if he had been the most muscular of giants, and to make a bravo fight to the last against deadly illness. He had his reward. The raw inclement day, the disabling, discomfiting malady — which had appeared in themselves a bad beginning, an inhospitable introduction to his future life — the recent misgivings he had entertained, were all forgotten in the enthusi- astic reception he received before he put foot on land. A kind heart responds readily to kindness, and the Prince felt, in spite of parliamentary votes, the people \\ ere glad to see him, with an overflowing gladness. It had been fixed that the Prince should not arrive at Buckingham Palace till the 8th. Accordingly there was time for the much-needed rest and refreshment, and for a leisurely conclusion of the long journey. The travellers stayed that n'*3ht at Dover, the next at Canterbury, the Prince beginning the long list of fatiguing ceremonials which he was to undergo in the days to come, by receiving addresses, holding a reception, and showing himself on the balcony, as well as by the quieter, more congenial interlude of attending afternoon service in Canterbury Cathedral with his brother. The weather was still bad ; pouring rain had set in, but it could not damp the spirit of the holiday-makers. As for the hero of the holiday, he was chafing, lover-like, at the formal delay which was all that interposed between him and a blissful reunion. He wrote to the Queen before starting for Canter- bury, " Now I am once more in the same country with you. What a delightful thought for me. It will be hard for me to have to wait till to-morrow evening. Still, our long parting has floAvn by so quickly, and to-morrow's dawn will soon be here. . . . Our reception has been most satisfactory. There were thousands of people on the quays, and they saluted us with loud and uninterrupted cheers." From Canterbury Prince Albert sent on his valet. Cart, with the greyhoimd Eds. " Little Dash," if Dash still lived, was to have a formidable rival, and the Queen speaks ia 1 ll !| I j ,1 : ' '•t ili i 11 !l 111 the insidious "• droad of tho moment. " two princes It was ii together, an Who that h( at the haggi ferry, canno Tho Prii duty, he wa been the mc iUncss. Fv — which ha his future 11 astic recept: kindness, ai him, V ■ a 8 It nad 1 According] conclusion Canterbury undergo in on the bale service in rain had st the holiday between h bury, "N for me. ] parting ha has been i us with lo From « Little r QtUKJl a, m •X J^ -r THE BEIROTIIAL. "J her Journal of tho pleasure which the sight of " dear Eos," the evening boforo the arrival of tlie Prince, gave her." • Words are not wanted to picture tha bright little scone, the light interruption to " affairs of tho State," always weighty, oftoi.' harassing, the gay reaction, the hearty unceremonious recognition on both sides, the warm welcome to tho gentle avant courier. This was not a groat queen, but a gleeful girl at tho height of her happiness, who stroked with white taper hand tho sleek black head, looked eagerly into the fond eyes, perhaps went so far as to hug the humble friend, stretching up fleet shapely paws, wildly wagging a slender tail, uttering sharp little yelps of delight to greet licr. "V^'hat wealth of cherished associations, of thrice happy realisation, tho mere presence there, once more, of " only a dog," brought to tho mistress of tho palace, the lady of the land! On Saturday, tho 8th of tho month, Prince Albert proceeded to London, being cordially greeted along the whole road by multitudes flocking from every town and village to see him and shout their approval. At half-past four, in the pale light of a February afternoon, the travellers arrived at Buckingham Palace, " and were received at the hall door by tho Queen and the Duchess of Kent, attended by the whole household," to whom a worthy master had come. The fulness of satisfaction and perfect joy of the meeting to two in the company are sacred. An hour after his arrival the oath of naturalisation was administered to the Prince, and the day ended with a great State dinner. Sunday was a rest day. Divine service was performed by t!ie Bishop of London in the Bow-room on the ground floor — the same room in which the Quten had met her assembled Council in the course of the previous November, and announced to them her intended marriage. Afterwards the Prince drove out and paid the visits required of him to the diff'erent members of the royal family. In spite of the season and weather, throngs of Londoners surrounded the Palace, and watched and cheered him as he went and came. That day the Queen and Prince exchanged their wedding gifts. She gave him the star and badge of the Garter and the Garter set in diamonds, and he gave her a snpphii-e and diamond brooch. * " Early Years of the Prince Consort." I CHAPTER VIII. THE HARRIAQB. rpiTE 10th of February rose dark and foggy, with a lowering sky disohfirging at frequent intervals heavy showers. But to many a loyal heart far beyi^nd the sound of Bow bells the date brought a thrill of ghid consciousness which was quite independent of the weather. What mattered dreary skies or stinging sleet ! This was the day on which the young Queen was to wed the lover of her youth, the man of her choice. The marriage was to take place at noon, not in the evening, like former royal weddings, and the change was a groat boon to the London public. During the busy morning. Prince Albert found time for a small act, which was nevertheless full of manly reverence for age and weakness, of mindful, affectionate gratitude for old and tender cares which had oft?n made his childhood and youth happy. He wrote a few lines to the loving, venerable kinswoman who had performed the part of second mother to him, who had grieved so sorely over their parting. " In loss than three hours I shall stand before the altar with my dear bride. In these solemn moments I must once more ask your blessing, which I am Avell assured I shall receive, and which will be my safeguard and my future joy. I must end. God help me (or, rather, God be my stay !), your faithful Grandson." The Prince wrote a similar letter, showing how faithfully he recollected her on the crowning day of his life, to his good stepmother, the Duchess of Coburg. Among the innumerable discussions on the merits or demerits of the Prince when lie was first proposed as the husband for the Queen of England, there had not been wanting in a country where religion is generally granted to be a vital question, and where religious fouds, like other feuds, rage high, sundry probings as to the Prince's Christianity — what form he held, whether he might not be a Roman Catholic, whether he were a C^hristian at all, and might not rather be an intidel ? Seeing that the Prince belonged to a Christian and to one of the must Protestant royal families in Europe, that he had boon regularly trained in Christian and Lutheran doctrines, and had made a public THE MARRIAGE. "S profession of his bciiof in the Bfinio — ii profession whieh his pra(;ti(u\ h;i»l in no way contradicted — these suppositions were, to say the lonst, uncalled for, and not remarkiihlo for liberality or charity. It is easy to answer thoin suhstantially, Tlio Prineo, reserving his Protestant right of private judgment on all jtoiiits of his belief, was a deeply religious man, as indicated throughout his career, at every stage, in every event of his life. It is hardly possible even for an irreligious man to conceive that Trinco Albert could ha\" been what he was without faith and discipline. His biographer has w ith reason quoted the "God be my stay! " in the light of the sincerity of the man, in a letter written in the flush of his joy and the very fruition of his desires, as one of the innumerable proofs that the Prince lived consciously and constantly under the all-seeing eye of an Almighty Father. There were two main points from which out-of-door London could gazo its fill on the gala. The one was St. James's Park, from which the people could see the britlo and bridegroom drive from Buckingham Palace to St. James's, where the marriage was to take place, according to old usage, and back again to Buckingham Palace for the wedding breakfast; the other was the Green Park, Constitution Hill, Ilydo Park, and Piccadilly, by which most of the guests were to arrive to the wedding. The last point also commanded the route Mhioh the young couple would take; to Windsor. It was said that never since the allied sovereigns visited Loudon in 1814 had such a concourse of human beings made the parks alive, as on this wet February morning, when a dismal solitude was changed to an animated scene, full of life and motion. The Times described the mass of spectators wedged in at the back of Carlton Terrace and the foot of Constitution Hill, and the multitude of chairs, tables, benches, even casks, pressed into the service, and affording vantage-groiuid to those who could pay for the accommodation. The dripping trees were also rendered available, and had their branches so laden with human fruit, that brittle boughs gave way, while single specimens and small clusters of men and boys came rattling down on the heads and shoulders of confiding fellow-creatures; but such misadventures were without serious accident, and simply afforded additional entertainment to the self-invited, light-hearted wedding guests. Parties of cavalry and infantry taking their places, with " orderlies dashing to and fro," lent colour and livelier action to the panorama. At the same time the military were not a very prominent feature in the picture, and the State element was also to some extent wanting. Some state was inevitable, but after all the marriage of the sovereign was not 80 much a public ceremonial as a private event in her life. As early as eight o'clock I I lO QUKHX V/CW/i/.t. in tlio morning tho compnrntivoly liniitcMl nuinlxM- of invited gncsts bopm to contrilnito to tho Butisiiiction of llu^ meat nninvitoil by driving up bi-ni-iith tho triumphal iireh, nnd presenting their nink or whito cards for inspection. A body of Foot Guards marched forwards, followed by a detachment of tho llorso (luards Uluo, with their band discoursing wedding nnisio appropriate to tho occasion, cheering tlio hearts of the c(dd, soaked orowd, and awaking an enthusiastic response from it. Then appeiired various members of tho n(d)ility, including the Duko of Norfolk, coming always to tho front m CJrand Marshal, wearing his robo and carrying his staff of oflice, wheu tho rest of tho world wero in comparative undress, as more or less private individuals. Hut this gentleman sunnned up in his own person "all tho blood of all tho llnwards," and recalled his ancestors great and small — the poet Kurl of Surrey, those Norfolks to whom Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart wer(> aliki^ fatal, and that Dicky or J)ickon of Norfolk who lent u humorous strain to tho tragic tendency of tho race. Tho Ministers and Foreign Anibassadons came singly or in groups. The Ministers, with one or two exceptions, woro tho Windsor uniform, bluo turned up with an oak-leaf edging in gold. Viscount Morpeth, Lord .'ohn llussell, the Marcpiis of Norinanby, Lord Palmerston, Lord Holland, Lord Melbourne, wore well-known figures. The good-natured Duke of Cambridge arrived with his family and suite in three royal carriages. lie woro tho Orders of tho Garter, and tho Bath, and carried his baton as Field-Mar.shal. Tho Duke of Sussex was in the uniform of Claptaiu-Oeneral of tho Artillery Company, and wore the Orders of the Garter, tho Ihith, and St. Andrew. lie had on his black skull-cap as usual, and drove up in a single carriage. lie had opposed tho clause relating to Prince Albert's taking precedence of all, save tho Queen, in the Naturalisation Dill. Uo was to make further ol)jection to the husband's occupying his natural place by the side of his wife when tho Queen opened and prorogued Parliament, and to the Prince's rights in the Regency Bill. All the same, by right of birth and years, tho Duke of Sussex was to give away his royal niece. Before eleven o'clock, the Gentlemen and Ladies of tho Household were in readiness at Buckingham Palace. Tho Ladies started first for St. James's. The Gentlemen of the foreign suites — Prince Albert's, and his father's, and brother's — in their dark-blue and dark-green uniforms, mustered in the hall, and dispatched a detachment to receive the Prince on his arrival at tho other palace. At a quarter to twelve notice was sent to Prince Albert in his private apartments, and he came forth " like a bridegroom," between his royal supporters, traversed tho State-rooms, and descended the grand staircase, preceded by the Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain, Comptroller of the Household, equeries and h. t ■^ ind it) 1 *: /;'• \' i'.i tin; mnriiiiijjf tlio coinjMrjiiivcly iinii!iv wh-.U' m.-.i ('.iwani^, followed bv n '' It:. 1 :iM,.K' ii'lnlilv. ! ; ■ ■ lit-UMU 'to •■•illtnii,l!i 1 l,lic triuiii|i1iul arrh, and . >dy !>( KiHit (ju.ird.-i iiianli<'tt'i>. uj" Willi an (Hiklt af ' ol .\"iiiii)i;d>v, I ,«>i'd I'l • , d-iiiitiirfi! T' \vi.|» Tllr V •■I'll ,11 .1! I "• ' ,, ihl!. 111.' ,W(is .; -, :,. .,.ilii).il |iiact I'V tltr' wide of Ills ... i I'ip-ii .!:;.Ilt, unii In till' I'rilic<''s FiL'bts ill (h»' in," bi-'lwc'Cii : ■ . li"i'. cdt d ! i an In IIUI '"'I' "HO .l;AVM THE MARRIAGE. 117 ushers. He was received with eager clappings of bands and wavings of handkerchiefs. The Prince was dressed in the uniform of a British Field- Marshal, and wore only one decoration, that of the Garter, with the collar surmounted by two white rosettes, and his bride's gifts of the previous day, the George and Star set in diamonds, on his breast, and the diamond-embroidered Garter round his knee. His pale, handsome face, with its slight brown moustache, his slender yet manly figure would have become any dress. Indeed, his general appearance, full of " thoughtful grace and quiet dignity," impressed every honest observer most favourably. We can imagine Baron Stockmar watching keenly in the background to catch every furtive glance and remark, permitting himself to rub his hands and exclaim, with sober exultation, *' He is liked ! " Prince Albert's father and brother, his dearest friends hitherto, walked beside him. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with his fatherly heart swelling high, must have looked like one of the quaint stately figures out of old German prints in his long military boots, the same as those of the life Guards, and his dark -green uniform turned up with red. He, too, wore the collar and star of the Garter, and the star of his own Oi der of Ooburg Gotha. On the other side of the bridegroom walked Prince Ernest, rhe wedding was next in importance to him to what it was to his brother, while to the elder playing the secondary part of the couple so long united in every act of their young lives, the marriage ceremony of his other self, which was to deal the decisive blow in the cleaving asunder of the old double existence, must have been full of very mingled feelings of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. Prince Ernest was a fine young man, in whose face, possibly a little stem in its repressed emotion, The Times reporter imagined he saw more determination than could be found in the milder aspect of Prince Albert, not guessing how much strength of will and patient steadfastness might be bound up with gentle courtesy. Prince Eraest was in a gay light-blue and silver uuiform, and carried his helmet in his hand. When the group came down the stairs, some privileged company, including a few ladies, stationed behind the Yeoman Guard and about the entrance, clapped their hands and waved their congratulations, and as Prince Albert entered the carriage which was to take him and his father and brother to St. James's, he received for the first time all the honours paid to the Queen. Trumpets sounded, colours wore lowered, and arms presented. A squadron of Life Guards attended the party, but us the carriage was closed its occupants were not generally recognised. As soon as the Lord Chamberlain had returned from escorting the Prince, six royal carriages, each with two horses, were drawn up before the entrance to Buckingham I:' I, M ii8 QUEEN VICTORIA Palace, and his Lordship informed the Uuuen that all was ready for her. Accordingly, her Majesty left her room leaning on the arm of Lord Uxbridgo, the Lord Chamberlain. She was supported by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and followed by a page of honour. The various officers of the Household — the Earl of Belfast, Vice- Chamberlain ; the Earl of Albemarle, Master of the Horse ; Lord Torrington, Comptroller and Treasurer, &o., walked in advance. The Queen wore a bride's white satin and orange blossoms, a simple wreath of orange blossoms on her fair hair. Her iiiagnificent veil of Honiton lace did not cover the pale face, but fell on each side of the bent head. Her ornaments weie the diamond brooch which had been the gift of the bridegroom, diamond earrings and necklace, and the collar and insignia of the Garter. T "re looked well in her natural agitation, for, indeed, she was a true woman at such a momeui. She was shy and a little shrinking as became a bride, and her eyes were swollen with recent tears — an illustration of the wise old Scotch proverb, " A greetin' (weeping) bride's a happy bride." Here were no haughty indifference, no bold assurance, no thoughtless, heartless gaiety. A creature brealliing thoughtful breath, A traveller 'twixt life and death. A maiden leaving one stage of her life, with all its past treasures of affection and happiness, for ever behind her, and going forward, in loving hope and trust, no doubt, yet still in uncertainty of what the hidden future held in store for her of weal and woe, to meet her wifely dc^stiny. As she came down into her great hall she was welcomed with fervent acclamations, but for once she was absorbed in herself, and the usual frank, gracious response was not accorded to the tribute. Her eyes were fixed on the ground ; "a hurried glance round, and a slight inclination of the head," were all the signs she gave. The Duchess of Kent, the good mother who bad opened her heart to her nephew as to a son, from the May- day when he came to Kensington, who had every reason to rejoice in the marriage, still shared faithfully in hor daughter's perturbation. However glad the Duche&s might be, it was still a troubled gladness, for she had long experience. She knew that this day closed the morning glory of a life, brought change, a greater fulness of being, but with the fulness increased duties and obligations, more to dread, as well as more to hope, a heavier burden, though there was a true friend to share it. Hlusions would vanish, and though reality is better than illusion to all honest hearts, who -would not spare a sigh to the bright dreams of youth — too bright with a rainbow-hued radiance and a golden mist of grand expectations, dim in their grandeui', ever to be fulfilled in nami^Wiiilw. «iii"«^nv«vnr;ited in St. James's was that of George Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Caroline of Urunswick. The portions of the palace in use for the niarringo included the Presence Chamber, Queen Anne's Drawing-room, the Guard-room, the Grand Staircase, with the Colonnade, the Chapel Eoyal, and the Throne-room. On the Queen's marriage-day, rooms, staircase, and colonnade were lined with larger and smaller galleries for the accommodation of privileged spectators. The seats had crimson cushions with gold-coloured fringe, Wiinning up the cold light and shade of a February day, while the wliite and gay-coloured dresses of the ladies and the number of wedding favours contributed to the gaiety of the scene. A Queer's wedding favours were not greatly diff'ereut from those of humbler persons, and consisted of the st?^reotyped white riband, silver lace, and orange blossoms, except where loyalty indulged in immenRO bouquets of riband, and " massive silver bullion, having in ■ i I 11 IJf I I I I.. 5 11^ no QUEF.N VICTORIA. tho centre what might almost bo termed bnuichos of orange blossoms." The most eccentrically disposed favours seem to have been those of the mace-bearers, whose white "knots" were employed to tie up on the wearers' shoulders the large gold chains worn Avith the black dress of the officials. Tho uniformity of the gathering was broken by " burly Yeomen of the Guard, with their massive halbcrts, slim Gentlemen-at-Arms with their lighter 'partisans,' .... elderly pages of State, almost infantile pages of honour, officers of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, officers of the Woods and Forests, embroidered heralds and shielded cuirassiers, robed prelates, stoled priests, and surpliced singing-boys." Among the guests, though not in the procession, loudly cheered as on other occasions, was the Duke of Wellington, who had seen the bride christened. People thought they noticed him bending under his load of years, tottering to the last step of all, but the old soldier was still to grace many a peaceful ceremony. In his company, far removed this day from the smoke of cannon and the din of battle, walked more than one gallant brother- in-arms, the Marquis of Anglesey, Lord Hill, &c. The chapel was also made sumptuous for the occasion. Its carved and painted roof was picked out anew. The space within the chancel was lined and hung with crimson velvet, the communion-table covered with magnificent gold plate. The Queen's procession began with drums and trumpets, and continued with pursui- vants, heralds, pages, equeries, and the diflferent officers of the Household till it reached the members of the Royal Family. These ranged from the farthest removed in relationship, Princess Sophia of Gloucester, through the Queen's young cousins in the Cambridge family, with much admiration bestowed on the beautiful child, Princess Mary, and the exceedingly attractive young girl. Princess Augusta, to another and a venerable Princess Augusta — one of the elder daughters of George III., an aged lady upwards of seventy, who then made her final appearance in public. Doubtless she had been among the company who were present at tho last royal marriage in St. James's, on the night of the 8th of April, 1795, forty-fivo years before, a marriage so widely removed in every particular from this happy wedding. The two royal Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex walked next, the Lord Chamberlain and Vice-Chaniberlain, with Lord Melbourne between, bearing the Sword of State before the Queen. Her Majesty's train was canied by twelve unmunied ladies, her bridesmaids. Five of these, Lady Fanny Cowper, Lady Mary Grimston, Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox, and Lady Catherine Stanhope, had been among her Majesty's train- bearers at the coronation. Of the three other fair train-bearers on that occasion, one at least. Lady Anne Wentworth Fitzwilliam, was already a wedded wife. The remaining THE MARRIAGE. ISl seven hridcsmaids were Lady Elizabeth West, Lady Eleanor Paget, Lady Elizabeth Howard, Lady Ida Hay, Lady Jaue Bouverie, Lady Mary Howard, and Lady Sarah Villiers. These noblo maidens were in white satin like their royal mistress, but for her orange blossoms they wore white roses. Still more than on their former appearance together, the high-bred English loveliness of the party attracted universal admiration. The Master of the Horse and the Mistress of the Robes, the Ladles of the Bedchamber, Maids of Honour, and "W(jmen of the Bedchamber followed, closed in by Yeomen of the Guard and Gentlemen-at-Arms. In the chapel there had been a crowd of English nobility and foreign ambassadors awaiting the arrival of Prince Albert, when at twenty minutes past twelve he walked up the aisle, carrying a prayer-book covered with green velvet. Ho advanced, bowing to each side, followed by his supporters to the altar-rail, before which stood four chairs of State, provided for the Queen, the Prince, and, to right and left of them, Queen Adelaide and the Duchess of Kent. The Queen-dowager Avas in her place, wearing a dress of purple velvet and ermine ; the bridegroom kissed her hand and entered into conversation with her, while his father and brother took their seats near him. The Queen entered the chapel at twenty-five minutes to one, and immediately proceeded to her chair in front of the altar-rails. She knelt doAvn and prayed, and then seated herself. Her mother was on her left side. Behind her stood her bridesmaids and train-bearers. On stools to right and left sat the members of the Eoyal Family. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London were already at the altar. In a few minutes the Queen and the Prince advanced to the communion-table. The service was the beautiful, simple service of the Church of England, unchanged in any respect. In reply to the question, "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" the Duke of Sussex presented himself. The Christian-names "Albert" and "Victoria" were all the names used. Both Queen and Prince answered distinctly and audibly. The Prince undertook to love, comfort, and honour his wife, to have and to hold her for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer ; the Queen promised to obey as well as to love and cherish her husband till death them did part, like any other pair plighting their troth. When the ring was put on the finger, at a concerted signal the Park and Tower guns fired a royal salute and all London knew that her Majesty was a married woman. The usual congratulations were exchanged amongst the family party before they re-formed themselves into the order of procession. The Duke of Sussex in his character of father kissed his niece heartily on the cheek besides shaking her by the ' and. The Queen stepped quickly across and kissed her aunt. Queen Adelaide, whose hand Prince B ; J ,1 :■ III QUEEN VICTORIA. Albert Buluted again. Tho procession returned in the sinno order, except that the brido and bridegroom walked side by side and hand in hand, the wedding-ring being scon on the ungloved hand. Her Majestj sj oke onco or twice to Lord Uxbridgo, the Lord Chamberlain, as if expressing her wisiies with regard to the procession. Her paleness had been succeeded by a little flush, and she was smiling brightly. On tho appearance of the eouple they were received with clapping of hands and waving of handkerchiefs. In the Tl'.rone-room the marriage was attested and tho register signed " on a splendid table prepared for tho purpose." The whole company then repaired to Buckingham Palace, Prince Albert driving in the carriage with the Queen. The sight of the pair was hailed everywhere along the short route with loud cheering, to the joyous sound of which " the Queen walked up tho grand staircase, in the presence of her court, leaning on hor husband's arm." An eye-witness — the Dowager Lady Lyttclton, who, both an a Lady of the Bedchamber and Governess to the royal children, knew the Queen and Prince well — has recorded her impression of the chief actor in the scene. " The Queen's look and manner were very pleasing, her eyes much swollen with tears, but great happiness in her countenance, and her look of confidence and comfort at the Prince when they walked away as man and wife was very pleasing to see. I understand she is in extremely high spirits since ; such a new thing to her to dare to bo unguarded in conversation with anybody, and, with her frank and fearless nature, the restraints she has hitherto been under from one reason or another with everybody must have been most painful." The wedding-breakfast with the toast of the day followed, then the departure for Windsor, on which the skies smiled, for the clouds suddenly cleared away and the sun shone out on the journey and the many thousand spectators on the way. The Queen and Prince drove in one of the five carriages — four of which contained the suite inseparable from a couple of such rank. The first carriage conveyed the Ladies in Waiting, succeeded by a party of cavalry. The travelling chariot came next in order, and was enthusiastically hailed, bride and bridegroom responding graciously to the acclamations. Her Majesty's travelling dress was bridal-like : a pelisse of white satin trimmed with swans' down, a white satin bonnet and feather. The Prince was in dark clothes. The party left before four, but did not arrive at Windsor till nearly seven — long aftiu- darkness had descended on the landscape. Eton and Windsor were in the height of (>xcitemcnt, in a very frenzy of rejoicing. The travellers wended their way through a living mass in brilliantly illuminated streets, amidst the sending up of showers of rockets, tli(> ringing of bells, the huzzaing of the people, the glad shouting of the Eton fmnmimrmii^fm THE MARRIAGE. «».1 boys. Her Majesty was handed from the carriage by the Priucc, hUo took his arm and the two entered the castlo after a right royal welcome homo. Elizabeth Barrett Browning celebrated this event also in her eloquent I'ashion. •* Slie V0W8 to love who vowed to riilp, tho clioseii nt her aiilo, Let none say 'Qod preserve the Qiici'm,' but riUlier ' lih"<« llu; liriilo.' None bh)w the trump, none herul tlie knee, none viohito the dream Wherein no nionarvh hut a wife, slie to lierself may seem ; Or if you sny, * Preserve the Queen,' oh, hnatlie it inward, low — S)ie is a vjoman and beloved, and 'tis enough l)ut so. Count it enough, tliou noble Prince, who tak'st her by the hanf*. And ckimest for thy lady-love our Lady of the land. And since. Prince Albert, men have called thy spirit lii};!' and rare, And true to truth ond brave for truth a^ some at Auf-Omrj,' were, We charge thee by thy hifly thouj^hts and by thy poet-mi ud, Which not by glory and degree lakes measure of mankind. Esteem that wedded hand leas dear for sceptre than for ring, And hold her uncrowned womanliood to be the royal thing." Tip in London and all over tho country there were feasts and galas for rich and poor. There was a State banquet, attended by very high and mighty company, in tho Banqueting- room at St. James's. Giand dinners were given by the members of tho Cabinet; the theatres were free for the night to groat and small ; at each tlio National Anthem vras sung amidst deafening applause ; at Driiry Lane there was a curious emblematical balkv — like a revival of the old masques, ending with a representation of the Queen and Prince surrounded by fireworks, which no doubt afforded immense satisfaction to the audience. The Queen's wedding-cake was tlu-ee hundred pounds in weight, three yards in circumference, and fourteen inches in depth. In recognition of the national interest of the wedding, the figure of Hymen, on tho top, was replaced by Britannia in the act of blessing the royal pair, who, as a critic observed, were represented somewhat incongruously in the costume of ancient Eome. At the feet of the image of Prince Albert, several inches high, lay a dog, the emblem of fidelity. At the feet of the image of her Majesty nestled a pair of turtle-doves, the token of love and felicity. A Cupid wrote in a volume, spread open on his knees, for the edification of the capering Cupids around, the auspicious '* 10th of February, 1840," the date of the marriage ; and there were the usual bouquets of white flowers, tied with true lovers' knots of white riband, to bo distributed to the guests at the wedding breakfast and kept as mementoes of tho event. There were other trophies certain to be cherished and preserved among family treasures, and perhaps shown to future generations, as we sometimes see, turning up in museums and art collections, relics of the marriages of Mary Tudor and Cathai-ine of Aragon. These were the bridesmaids' brooches. They were the royal gift to the noble '»4 QUEEN VICTORIA. n| ! maidens, several of whom had, two years before, received rings ftom the sanio source to commemorate the services of tho train-bearers at the Coronation. Those brooohos wore in the shape of a bird, tho body being formed entirely of turquoises, the eyes were rubies, and the beak a diamond, tho claws were of pure gold, and rested on pearls of great size and value. The design and workmanship were according to tho Queen's directions. The twelve beautiful girls who received the gifts have since fulfilled their various destinies — each has " ureed her weird," according to the solemn, sad old Scotch phrase. Some, perhaps the happiest, have passed betimes into the silent land ; the survivors are elderly women, with granddaughters as lovely as they themselves were in their opening day. One became a princess — Lady Sarah Villicrs married Prince Nicholas Esferhazy. Two are duchesses — Lady Elizabeth Sackville-Wcst, Duchess of Bedford; and Lady Catherine Stanhope, married first to Lord Dalrarny, eldest son of tho Ear! of Eoscbcry, and secondly to tho Duke of Cleveland. Three are countesses — Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox, Countess of Bessborough ; Lady Mary Grimston, Countess of Eadnor; and Lady Ida Hay, Countess of Gainsborough. Lady Fanny Cowper, whoso beauty was much admired by Leslie, the painter, married Lord Jocelyn, eldest son of the Earl of Rod en. Lord Jocelyn was one of the victims to cholera in 1854. lie was seized while on duty at Buckingham Palace, and died after two hours' illness in Lady Palmerston's diawing- roora. Lady Mary Howard became the wife of Baron Foley. One bridesmaid, Lady Jane Bouverie, married a simple country gentleman, Mr. Ellis, of Gleuaquoich. ;i CHArTKR IX. A ROYAL PAIR. nnHE Qiioon nnd tho Prince were only one whole day holding state by themselves at Windsor. It is not given to a royal couple to flee away into the wilds or to shut themselves up from their friends and the world like meaner people ; whether a prolonged interval of retirement be spent in smiling or in sulking, according to cynical bachelors and spinsters, it is not granted to kings and queens. On the single day of grace which her Majesty claimed she wrote to Baron Stockmar tho emphatic estimate of the man of her choice. *' There cannot exist a dearer, purer, nobler being in tho world than tho Prince." A young bride's fond judgment ; but to hor was given the deep joy of finding that time only confirmed the proud and glad conviction of that first day of wedlock. On Wednesday, the 12th, the royal couple at Windsor were rejoined by the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Coburg, the hereditary Prince, and the whole Court. Then two more days of holiday were spent with something of tho heartiness of old times, when brides and bridegrooms did not seem either as if they were ashamed of their happiness or too selfish to share it with their friends. No doubt there were feasting and toasting, and there was merry dancing each night. On Friday, the 14th, the Court returned to London, that th'. principal person might gratify the people by appearing in public and that she might take up once more the burden of a sovereign's duties. Addresses were received from tho Houses of Parliament. The theatres were visited in state. On the 19th of tho month the Queen held her first levee after her marriage, when the Prince took his place at her left hand. On Sunday, the 20th, the newly-married couple attended divine service together in the Chapel Eoyal, St. James's, and were loudly cheered on their way through tho Park. Buckingham Palace was to continue tho Queen's town residence, but St. James's, by virtue of its seniority in age and priority in historical associations, remained for a considerable time the theatre of all the State ceremonials which were celebrated in town until gradually modifications of tho rule were established. A chapel was fitted up in 'I iMf J i I'll I 116 QUEKN VlCTvRIA. Ihickinghiun Pulaco, wliich acconiinodiitcd tlio houschdld in conipiirativo privacy, nml provi'iitod tho incoiivcuii'iioc of driving in idl states of tlio huulth and the w(>atli('r for publin worHliip at the noij^hbouring palace ciiapel. It was found that tliore was better accuminodation for holding Drawing-roonjs, and lesn crowding and inconvciiienee to the ladies attending them, when tho Drawing-rooniH were held at Ihickinghani I'alace instead of St. James's. Tho levees are nearly all that is left to St. Jatiies's, in addition to tho fact that it contains the offices of the Lord (Hiambcrlaiii, &c. IJnt tho place where her Majesty was iiroclaimed Qncen and wedded deserves a parting word. The visitor to St. James's passes up the great staircase, which has been trodden by the feet of so many generations, bound on such different errands. Hero and there, from a picture-frame high up on the wall, a painted face looks down immovably on the comings and goings below. Tho Guard-room has a few stands of glittering arms and one or two women's portraits ; altogether a different Guard-room from what it must have been when it received its name. Beyond is tho Armoury, M'here arms bristle in slicaves and piles, surmounted by hauberks and casques, smooth and polished as if they had never been dinted in battle or rusted with blood. (Jueen Anne's Drawing-room, spacious and stately, is resplendent in yellow satin. Old St. James's has sustained a recent renovation, its faded gcrgeousness has been renewed, not without a difficult compromise between the unhesitating magnificence of tho past and tho subdued taste of tho present day. The compromise is honourable to tho taste of tho decorator, for there is no stinting of rich effect, stinting which would have been out of jtlace, in tho great doors, picked out and embossed, the elaborately devised and wrought walls and ceilings, the huge chandeliers, &c. But warm, rieep crimson is relieved by cool pale green, and sage wainscot meets the dull red of feathery leaves on other walls. Tho Queen's Closet, which misses its meaning when it is called a boudoir, with the steel-liko embroidery on its walls, matching the grey blue of its cut velvet hangings, recalls the natural pauses in a busy life, when the Queen awaits the call of public duty, or withdraws for a breathing space from the pressure of fatiguing obligations. In more than one of the principal rooms there are low brass screens or railings drawn across the room, to be used as barricades; and the uninitiated hears with due respect that behind those the ambassadors are supposed to congregate, while these fence the approach to the throne. In spite of such precautions, large Drawing-rooms became latterly hard-pressed crowds stiiiggling to make their way, and the State-rooms of Buckingham Palace were put in request as afibrding better facilities for these ceremonies. A KOl'AL PAIR, »•? Tlicro is a picturo Rrtllory whcro n long row of Kinj^H niul Quoons, in thoir ftill-lonRth 'ortraitH, Htand liko ItaiKiuo'H (Irsct'iidaiitH. Tlii> portraitH licgiuHitli that of blutf \\\\\^ IIul, very blutt' and Htridont. AccordiiiK to Mr. llaro'H account, which ho lias taken from UolinHhod, Ilcnry VIII. f^ot St. James's when it was an lioMpital for "fourteen maidens that wcro h'prous," and having pensioiu^d off the sinterH, "reared ii fine mansifm and park" in tho room of tho hoHpital. The pi(!turo of his young son is a cpiaint, slim editicm of his father. There is u sad and stiff Mary Tudor, who laid down her ombiltered and broken- hearted life in this palace, and by her side, as she soldont was in the llesh, n high-rutfed, yellow-haired, peaked-cliinned Elizabeth — a noble shrew. The iJritish Solomon has tho sword-proof padding of his doublet and trunk hose very conspicuous. A wide contrast is a romantic, tragic Kii.g Charl»>s, with a melanclKdy remembrance in his long face and drooping eyes of tho diy when ho bade farewell to the world at St. James's and left it tor tho scaffold ut Whitehall. His swarthy periwigged sons balance tho sister queens, Mary and Anne. St. James's, like Kensington and Ilampfon Court, seems somehow peculiarly associated with them. Though other and more striking royal figures dwelt there both before and after the two last of the reigning Stuarts, thoy have left a distinct impression of themselves, together with a Sir Peter Lely and a Sir Godfrey Kncller flavour about all tho more prominent quarters of tho palace. Tho likenesses of Mary and Anne occur as thoy must have appeared before they lost the comeliness of youth, wlien St. James's was their home, the liousc of their father, the Duke of York and Anne his Duchess, whore tho two sisters wedded in turn a princely hero and a princely nobody. In tho Throne-room, amidst tho jtortraits of later sovereigns to which royal robes and the painter's art have supplied an adventitious dignity, there are fine likcn{>sses of tho Queen and Prince Albert, which must have been taken soon after their marriage, when they were in the first bloom of their youth and happiness. Her ^lajesty wears a royal mantlo and the riband of the Garter, like her compeers ; behind her rise tho towers of Windsor. In tho double corridor, along which two streams of company flow different ways to and from the Presence-chamber, as the blood Hows in the vohis and arteries, are more pictures — including those of some charming children. A stout little Prince Rupert before he over smelt the smoke of battle or put pencil to paper. Representations of almost equally old-world-looking children of the Georgian era by their royal mother's knee, one child bearing such a bow as figures often in the hands of children in the portraits of tho period ; a princely boy in miniature robes of State, with a queen's hand on his shoulder ; a little solitary flaxen-haired child with a tamloiirinc. Tho bow has long been unbent, tho royal mother and child are together again, tho music of the tambourine is mute. ili. tl, B liif . I"' i 11 ■ / 128 QUEEN VICTORIA. In the JJanquoting-room there are great battle-pieces by land and sea from Tournay to Trafalgar, like a memory of the Ilall of Battles at Versailles. The Chapel Royal, where the Queen was made a wife, has ceased in a measure to be a royal place of worship. Still within its narrow bounds and plain walls a highly oristocratic congregation have, if thoy choose, a right to the services of the dean and sub- dean and the five-and-thirty chaplains— not to say of the bishops duly appointed to officiate on special occasions. Not only is the royal closet still in readiness furnished with its chairs of State, there are other closets or small galleries for the Uouschold, peeresses and their daughters, &c. The simplest pew below belongs to the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Steward, peers and their sons, or members of Parliament, &e. The Chapel lloyal, like tho State-rooms, is fresh and spruce from renewal. It has, however, wisely avoided all departure from the original character of the building, which has nothing but the carved roof and the great square window to distinguish it from any other chapel of the same size and style. It is difficult to realise that it was here Queen Mary listened attentively to Bishop Burnet, and Queen Caroline was guilty of talking, while Princess Emily brought her little dog under her arm. Nor is it easy to fancy tho brilliance of tho scene in tho quiet place when it was lined from floor to ceiling with tier upon tier of seats for tho noblest in tho land, when every inch of standing-room had its fit occupant, and a princely gathering was grouped before the glittering altar to hear a Queen plight her troth. St. James's has still a royal resident in tho solo surviving member of the great family of George III., the venerable Duchess of Cambridge, who lives in tho north wing of the palace. Marlborough House and Clarenco House are in tho immediate vicinity, indeed the last is so near that it is reached by a covered way. Ami as if to make the sense of tho neighbourhood of a cluster of royal establishments more vivid, and the thought of tho younger generation of tho Royal Family more present in the old place, as the visitor passes through its corridors tho cannon in the park peals forth the announcement of the birth of tho last of her Majesty's grandchildren. On the 28th of February, a little more than a fortnight after the marriage, came the Prince's first practical experience of its cost to him. Ilis father left on his return to Coburg. "He said to me," tho Queen wrote in her Journal, "that I had never known a father, and could not therefore feel what he did. His childhood had been very happy. Ernest, he said, was now the only one remaining hero of all his earliest tics and recollections ; but if I continued to love him as I did now, I could make up for all. . . . Oh ! how I did feel for my dearest, precious husband at this moment ! Father, brother, friends, country, all has he left, and all for me. God grant that I may be tho happy A KOVAL PAIR. I>9 person, the most happy person to make this doarost, blessed being happy and contented. What is in my power to make him happy I will do." Prince Ernest remained in England nearly three niontls after his father had left. Early in March a step was taken to render the Prince's position cleiiror and more secure. Lettere patent were i nod conferring on him precedence next to the Queen. Kow necessary the step was, 3ven in this country, towards a conclusion which appears to us to-day so natural as to be beyond dispute, may bo gathered from the circumstance that, even after the marriage, objections were made to the Prince's sitting by the (Jueen's side in the State carriage on State occasions, and to his occupying a chair of State next the throne when she opened and prorogued Parliament. Prince Albert proposed for himself a wise and generous course, which he afterwards embodied in fitting words — " to sink his own individual existence in that of his wife, to aim at no power by himself or for himself, to shun all ostentation, to assume no separate responsibility before the public ; continually and anxiousfly to watch every part of the public business in order to be able to advise and assist her at any moment, in any of the multifarious and difficult questions brought before her — sometimes political, or social, or personal — as the natural head of the family, superintendent of her household, manager of her private allairs, her solo confidential adviser in politics and only assistant in her com- munications with the afltiirs of the Government." In fact, the Prince was the Queen's private secretary in all save the name, uniting the two departments, political and social, of such an office which had hitherto been held separately by Lord Melbourne and Baroness Lehzen. Prince Albert diecharged the double duty with the authority of his rank and character, and especially of bis relations to the Queen. lie expressed his object very modestly in writing to his father: "I endeavour quietly to bo of as much use to Victoria in her position as I can." The post was a most delicate and difficult one, and would have been absolutely untenable, had it not been for the perfect contidenco and good understanding always existing between the Queen and the Prince, and for his remarkable command of temper, and manly forbearance and courtesy, under every provocation, to all who approached him. Perhaps a still more potent agent was a quality which was dimly felt from the beginning, and is fully recognised to-day— his sincerity of nature and honesty of purpose. In the painful revelations which, alas ! time is apt to bring of double-dealing and self- seeking on the part of men in power, no public eliaraeter of his day stands out more honour- ably in the strong light which posterity is already concentrating on the words and actions of the past, than does Prince Albert for undeniable truthfulness and disinteresteduesa. *r '■j\ I JO QUEEN VICTORIA. Men may still cavil at his conclusions, and maintain that he theorised and systematiscd and was tempted to interfere too much, but they have long ceased to question his perfect integrity and single-heartedness, his rooted aversion to all trickery and to deceit in every form. " Ho was an honest man and a noble prince who did good work," is now said universally of the Queen's husband ; and honesty is not only the highest praise, it is a great power in dealing with one's fellows. But it was not in a day or without manj struggles that anything approaching to his aim was achieved. The inevitable irritation caused by the transfer of power and the distur- bance of existing arrangements on the part of a new comer, the sensitive jealousy which even the Prince's foreign birth occasioned, had to be overcome before the first approach to success could be attained. "We can remember that some of the old Scotch Jacobite songs— very sarcastic where German royal houses were concerned — experienced a temporary revival, certainly more in jest than in earnest, and with a far higher appreciation of the fun than of the malice of the sentiment. The favourite was " The wee, wee German Laii'die," and began in this fashion : — Wha the Diel line wc gotten for a King, lint a Wee, wee Ceniiaii Liiirdic } Anil when they gaed to bring him hnnio Uu wtis delviu' in his littlu kail-yardic. The last verse declared : — He's ]«i'cd the rose o' English Idonnis, lie's lirjken the hnrp o' Irish clown.o, But Scotia's thiatle will jiig his tlioouilts, The wee, wee Qernmn Lairdieu A prophecy honoured in its entire broach. Even tried and trusty friends grown old in Court service could not make up their minds at once to the changed order of affairs, or resign, without an effort to retain it, th.cir rule when it came into collision with the wishes of the new head of the household. Prince Albert, in writing frankly to his old corMadc Prince Loweiistein, said he was very happy and contented, but the difficulty in filling his place with proper digi.ity was that ho was only the husband and not the master of the house. Tlu' (iiicen had to assert, like a true woman, when appealed to on the subject, that she had solcinnly engaged at the altar to obey as well as to love and honour her husband, and "this sacred obligation she could consent neither to limit nor define." It may be stated that, in spite of the fidelity and devotion of those who surrounded the Queen, the old system under which the arrangements of tho palaces were conducted stood in great need of reform. Anything more cumbrous, complicated, and inconvenient than A ROYAL PAIR. IJt the plan adopted cannot easily bo conceived. Tlio gioat cstuWishments were not subject to one independent, responsible rule, they were divided into various departments under as many different controlling bodies. Eights and privileges, sinecures and perquisites, bristled on all sides, and he who would reform them must face the unpopularity which is almost always the first experience of every reformer. There is a graphic account of the situation in the "Life of the Prince Consort," and "Baron Stockmar's Memoirs." "The three great Officers of State, the Lord Stewai'd, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Master oi the Horse, all of them officials who varied with each change of the Ministry, and were appointed without regard to any special qualifications for their office, had each a governing voice in the regulation of the household. . . . Thus one section of the palace was supposed to be under ibe Lord Chamberlain's charge, another under that of the Lord Steward, while as to a third it was uncertain whose business it was to look after it. These officials were responsible for all that concerned the interior of the building, but the outside had to be taken care of by the office of Woods and Forests. The consequence was, that as the inside cleaning of the windows belonged to the Lord Chamberlain's department, the degree of light to bo admitted into the palace depended proportionably on the well-timed and good understanding between the Lord Chamberlain's Office and that of Woods and Forests. One portion of the personnel of the establishment again was under the authority of the Lord Chamberlain, another under that of the Master of the Ilorse, and a third under the jurisdiction of the Lord Steward." " The Lord Steward," writes Baron Stockmar, " finds the fuel and lays the fire, and the Lord Chamberlain lights it. . . . In the same manner the Lord Chamberlain provides all the lamps, and the Lord Steward must clean, trim, and light them. Before a pane of glass or a cupboard door could be mended, the sanction of so many officials had to be obtained, that often months elapsed before the repairs were made." One is irresistibly reminded of the dilemma of the unfortunate King of Spain, who died from a feverish attack brought on by a prolonged exposure to a great fire, because it was not etiquette for the monarch to rise, and the graudco whoso prerogative it was to move the royal chair happened to be out of the way. "As neither the Lord Chamberlain nor the Master of the Horse has a regular deputy residing in the palace, more than two-thirds of all the male and female servants are left without a master in the house. They can come on and go off duty as they choose, they can remain absent hours and hours on their days of availing, or they may commit any excess or irregularity ; there is nobody to observe, to correct, or to reprimand them. The various details of internal urraugcmcnt whereon depuud the well-being and comfort of the '0gr. «l« QUEEN VICTORIA. whole establishment, no one is cognisant of, or responsiblo for. There is no officer responsible for the cleanliness, order, and security of the rooms and offices throughout the palace." Doubtless, it was under this remarkable condition of the royal household that a considerable robbery of silver plate from an attic in which it was stored took place at Windsor Castle in 1841. Massive silver encasings of tables, borders of mirrors, fire-dogs and candelabra, together with the silver ornaments of Tippoo Saib's tent, disappeared in this way. Tt took years to remedy such a state of matters, and it was only by the exercise of the greatest tact, which, to bo sure, was comparatively easy to the Prince, that the improve- ment was effected. The necessary reforms were made to proceed from the officers of State themselves, and the enforcement of the new regulations was carried out by a Master of the Household, who resided permanently in the palace which the Queen occupied. Eventually each royal establishment was brought to a high average of order and efficiency. If poss. e, still greater caution had to be practised in the Priuce's dealing with political affiiirs, for here the jealousy of foreign influence was national, and among the most deeply rooted of insular prejudices. In the beginning of their married life the Prince was rarely with the Queen at her Cabinet Councils, though no objection had been made to his presence, and he did not take much share in business, though Lord Melbourne, especially, urged his being made acquainted with it in all its details. Both in its public and private relations, the path at starting was not an easy one, while the Prince and the Queen shared its anxieties and worries. Happily for all, the two, who wrro alike in sense, good feeling, and trusting affection, stood firm, and gradually surmounted the contradictions in their brilliant lot. But it was probably under these influences that Baron Stockmar, always exacting in the best interests of those he loved, fancied — even wl.ilo he had no hesitation in recording the Prince behaved in his difficult position very well — that a friend Jiad reason to dread in the young man not yet twenty-one, the old defects of dislike to intellectual exertion and indifference to politics. No efforts were Avanting on the part of the good old mentor, who in his absence kept up a constant correspondence with the Prirce, to preserve the latter's " ideal aspirations." Sometimes, the keen observer feared that the object of his dreams and cares was losing courage for his self-imposed Herculean labours, but the brave will and loyal heart proved triumphant. That spring ana the next two springs and summers were gay seasons in London — and London life meant then to the Queen and the Prince an overwhelming amount of engage- ments, besides the actual part in the government of the country. "Levees, Drawing-rooms, A ROFAL PAIR. 1)3 presentations of addrcsflos, great dinners, State visits to the theatre " swelled the long list. The Prince, like most Germans, was fond of the play, and hud a great admiration of Shakes- peare, M'hose plays were revived at Covent Garden in 1840, Charles Kenible giving a last glimpse of the glory of the early Kemble performances. The couple presided over many little balls and dances which became a Court Avhere the sovereigns wore in the heyday of their youth and happiness. Lady liloomfield, who as the Hon. Miss Liddell was one of the Queen's Maids of Ilonour a little later, gives a pleasant account of an episode at one of these dances. *' One lovely summer's morning we had danced till dawn, and the quadrangle being then open to the east, her Majesty went out on the roof of the portico to see the sun rise, which was one of the most beautiful sights I ever remember. It rose belii'ul St. Paul's, which we saw quite distinctly ; Westminster Abbey aud the trees in the Green Park stood out against a golden sky." All this innocent gaiety was consecrated by the faithful discharge of duty and the reverent observance of sacred obligations. At Easter, which was spent at Windsor, the Queen and the Prince took the Sacramt,nt together for the first time. " The Prince,'' the Queen has said, " had a very strong feeling about the solemnity of the act, and did not like to appear in company either the evening before or on the day on which he took it, and he and the Queen almost always dined alone on these occasions." Iler Majesty h'is supplied a brief record, in the " Early Years of the Prince Consort," of one such peaceful evening. *' We two dined together. Albert likes being quite alone before he takes the Sacrament ; we played part of Mozai t's Requiem, and then he read to me out of Slunden den Andacht (Hours of Devotion) the article on Selbster Kentniss (Self-knowledge.)" The whole sounds like a sweet, solemn, blessed pause in the crowded busy life. A sudden shock, which was only that of a great danger happily averted, broke in on the flush of all that was best worth having and doing in existence, and seemed to utter a wanting against the instability of life at its brightest and fairest. There was stag-hunting on Ascot Heath, at which the Queen aud the Prince were to be present. Ho was to join in the hunt and she was to follow with Prince Ernest in a pony phaeton. As she stood by a window in Windsor Castle, she saw Prince Albert canter past on a restless and excited horse. In vain the rider turned the animal round seveial times, he got tho bit between his teeth and started at tho top of his speed among the trees of tho Park ; very soon he brushed against a branch and unseated tho Prince, who fell, without, however, sustaining any serious injury. Tho Queen saw tho beginning but not tho end of the misadventure, and her alarm was only relieved by the return of one of the grooms in waiting, who told the extent of the accident. Noblesse ohlige. The Prince mounted a fresh horse and ■*^ m QUEEN VICTORIA. M proceeded to the hunt, and tho Queen joined him. " Albert received mo on the terrace of the largo stand a'id led me up," the Queen wrote in her Journal. *' IIo looked very pale, and said he had been much alarmed lest I should have boon frightened by his accident. .... IIo told mo ho had scraped the skin oii' his poor arm, had bruised his hip and knee, and his coat was torn and dirty. It was a frightful fall." On the 20th of April, an event took place in France which at this time naturally was particularly interesting both to the Queen and the Prince. The Due do Nemours, second son of Louis Philippe and brother to tho Queen of the Belgians, married Princess Victoiro of Saxe-Coburg, only daughter of the head of the Catholic branch of the family, sister of the King Consort of Portugal, and first cousin both to the Queen and Princo Albert. This marriage drew many intertwined family ties still more closely together. Princess Victoire was a pretty golden-haired girl, and is described afterwards as a singularly sweet, affec- tionate, reasonable woman. She had spent much of her youth at Coburg, and been a favourite playmate of Prince Albert, whose junior she was by three years. She was the friend of tho Queen from girlhood. " We were like sisters," wrote her Majesty, " bore the same name, married the same year. . . . There was in short a similarity between us, which, since 1839, united us closely and tenderly." Tho Due dc Nemours, without the intellectual gifts of some of his brothers, resem jled his good mother. Queen Amelie, in many respects. IIo had quiet, domestic tastes, and was afi'cctiouately attached to hia wife. • ' I I l« ! 'I ' '( il. CnAPTER X. ROYAL OCCUPATIONS. — AN AITEMPT ON THE QUEKN's LIFE. rTlFIE fumily arraT-gements in the marriage of the Queen and Prince Albert appear -*- to have been made with the kindest, most judicious consideration for what was due to former ties, that all the relations of life might bo settled gradually and naturally, on the footing which it was desirable thoy shoidd assume. The connccticm between the Queen and the Duchess of Kent was very close. It was that of a molhor and child who had been nearly all in all to each other, who, till Queen Victoria's marriage, h'ld not been separated for a day. Since the Duchess of Kent's arrival in England, she had never dwelt alone. It was now deemed advisable that she should have a separate house, which was, however, to be in constant communication Avith the Queen's, the intercourse between the two continuing to be of the most intimate character, mother and daughter meeting daily and sharing the most of their pleasures. In April, two n- 1 ths after the marriage, i!ie Duchess removed to Ingostrie House, Belgrave Square. In another month, on the 7th of May, Prince Ernest left England. The parting between the brothers was a severe trial tc both. They bade farewell, German student fashion, singing together beforehand the parting song Abschicd. The young couple were now left in a greater measure to themselves to form their life, and lead it to noblo conclusions. They spent the Queen's birthday in private at Clare- mont — a place endeared to her by the happiest associations of her childhood, uiid very pleasant to him because of its country attractions. There the pair could wander about the beautiful grounds and neighbourhood, as another royal pair had wandered before them, and do much as they pleased, like simple citizens or great folks living in villeggiatura. The custom was then established of thus keeping the real birthday together in retirement, while another day was set apart for public rejoicing. There is a story told of the Queen and Prince Albert's early visits to Claremont — a story certainly not without its parallel in the lives of other popular young sovereigns in their honeymoons, but probable enough in this case. The couple Avere caught in a I JO QUEEN VICTORIA. shower, during one of their longer ramblos, and took rofugo in a cottage — the old mistroM of which was totally unacqnuintcd with the high rank of her guestH. She entertained them with many extraordinary anecdotes of Princess Cliarlotto and Prince Leopold, the original heroine and hero of Clarcmont. At last the danio volunteered to give her visitors the loan of her umbrella, with many charges to Prince Albert that it should be taken care of and returned to its owner. The Queen and the Prince started on their homeward way under the borrowed shelter, and it was not for some time that the donor knew with whom she had gossiped, and to whom she had dealt hor favours. The Prince's first appearance as an art patron took place in connection with the Ancient Music Concerts. Ho had already been named one of tho directors who arrange in turn each concert. lie made the selections for his concert on the 20th of April, and both ho and the Queen appeared at tho rehearsal on tho 27th. Perhaps the gentle science was ii^vX he loved above every other, being a true German in that as in all else. At this time ht' flayed and sang much with tho (Jueen ; tho two played together often on the organ in one of his rooms. Lady Lytlelton has described tho effect of his music. "Yesterday evening, as I was sitting here comforlubly after tho drive by candlelight, reading M. Guizot, suddenly there arose from the room beneath, oh, such sounds ! It was Prince Albert, dear Prince Albi, , A I' !'( »4» QUEEN VICTORIA. Tho QuGon mentions that, " in thoir morniug walka in the gardens, it was c, grrat amusciiiont to the I'rinco to wutch and food thoso birds. IIo taught thi^m to oomo when ho whiatlod to thorn from a bridge oonuooting u small island with the rest of the gardens. "Then como tho usual amount of business (far loss hcovy, however, then than now), besides which thoy drew and otchod a great deal together, whicsh was a source of great amusement, h';ving the phites bit in tho house. Tnmolieon followed ut the usual hour of two o'clock. Lord M(«lbourno, who wus gcncridly Htiiying in tho house, came to tlio Queen in the afternoon, and between flvo and six thu Prince usually drovo her out in a pony phaeton. If tho Prince did not drivo tho Queen ho rodo, in which case she dr(>vo with tho Duchess of Kent or tho ladies. The Princo also read aloud most days to the Queen. The dinner was at eight o'clock, and always with tho company. In tho evening the Prince frequently played at doublo chess, a gamo of which ho was very fond, and which he played extremely well." Tho Princo would return " at a great pace " from his morning rides, which took him into all the districts of London whore improvements were going on, and " would always como through tho Queen's dressing-room, whore she generally was at that time, with that bright loving smile with which he over greeted her, telling her whero ho had been, what now buildings ho liad seen, what studios he had visited." Her Majesty objected to tho English custom of gentlemen remaining in the dining-room after tho ladies had left tho table. But, by tho advico of Lord Melbourne, in which the Prince concurred, no direct chango was mado in what was almost a national institution. The hour when the whole party broke up, however, was seldom later than eleven. The story got into circulation that tho Queen's habit was to stand conversing with the ladies till tho gentlemen joined them, and that knowing her practice, the dining-room was soon loft empty. Lord Campbell gives his experience of this portion of a royal dinner come years after the Queen's marriage. " Tho Qucon and tho ladies withdrawing, Prince Albert camo over to her side of the table, and we remained behind about a quarter of an hour, but we rose within tho hoiu: from tho time of our sitting down. A snuff-box was twice carried round and offered to all the gentlemen. Prince Albert, to my surprise, took a pinch." Tho Prince, who was an exceedingly temperate man at table, rather grudged liie time spent in eating and drinking, just as he disliked riding for mere exercise, without any other object. Yet ho was a bold and skilled rider, and could, without any privilege of rank, como in first in the hunting-field. It amused tho Queen and her husband to find ROVAL OCCUPATIONS— AN ATTEMPT ON THE QUEEN'S LIFE. «4« that this acoomplishmont. more than ony othor, was likely to make him popular among KngliHh gontlonu'u. liut tliou)j;h ho liked himting ai4 a recreation, ho did nut understatid how it or any other sport could ho mado tho hiiHincHs of a man's life. By tho month of July, the prospect of on heir to the throno rendered it ndvisahlo that provision nhould ho made for tho Queen's possihlo death, or lengthened distiualilieation for reigning. Tho Regency Bill was brought forward with more caution and bettor success than had attended on tho Prince's Anntiity Bill. In accordance with tho prudent counsels of Baron Stockmar, tho Opposition as well as tho Ministry were taken into account and consulted. Tho consequence was that tho Duko of Wellington, tho mouthpiece of tho Tories on tho former occasion, was altogether propitious in the name of himself and his party, and it was agreed that tho Princo was tho proper person to appoint as Regent in coso of any unliappy contingency. The Bill was passed unanimously and without objection in both IIousos, except for a speech made by tho Duko of Sussex in tho IIouso of Lords. This conclusion was gratifying in all respects, not the least so in its testimony to the respect which tho Prince's conduct had already called forth. " Three months ogo they would not have dono it for him," Lord Melbourne told tho Queen. *' It is entirely his own character." It was also a ph'asaut proof of tho goodwill of the Tories, whom tho Princo had dono everything in his power to conciliate, employing his influence to impre>s upon tho young Queen the constitutional attitude of impartiality and neutrality towards all political parties. There was a corresponding withdrawal of the absurd opposition to Princo Albert's taking his place by tho Queen's side on all State occasions. " Let the Queen put the Prince where sho likes and settle it herself, that is the best way," said tho Duke of Wellington cordially. A lively example of tho great Duke's want of toleration for the traditions of Court etiquette is given in a note to the "Life of tho Princo Consort." The late Lord Albemarle, when Master of tho Horse, was very sensitive about his right in that capacity to sit in tho sovereign's coach on State occasions, " The Qu(>en," said the Duke, when appealed to for his opinion, " can make Lord Albemarle sit at tho top of the coach, under the coach, behind the coach, or wherever else her Majesty pleases." On the 11th of August tho Queen prorogued Parliament, accompanied by her husband for the first time. The following day tho Court left for Windsor, The Prince was very fond of tho country, and gladly went to it. Tho Queen, in her early womanhood, had been, as she said, " too happy to go to London, and wretched to leave it." But from the time of her marriage she shared her husband's tastes, and could have been " content and if «4» QUEEN VICTORIA. h :t hai)py iicviT to go to town." How her Mftjesty haa retained the lovo of nature, which is a ri'fugo of sorrow us well as a crown of happiness, wo all know. In the mornings at Windsor thoro wore shooting in the season, and a wider field for landscajio gardening for the rrinco before ho took to funning. In tho evening there were occasional great dinners and little dances as in London. Tlio young couple dispensed royal hospitality to a succession of iriemlly \ isitors, who carao to see with their own eyes the bright palace home. The King and tho (Juoen of the liclgians rejoiced in the fruits of his work. The Princess of Ilohculohe, herself a happy wife and mother, arrived with her children to witness her sister's felicity. Queen Adelaide did not shrink from revisiting Windsor, and seeing a beloved niece fill well King William and his consort's place. Prince Albert's birthday was celebrated in Engluiul for the first time ; there were illuminations in London; down at Windsor the day was kept, for the most part, in the simple family fashion^ which is the best. The Prince was awakened by a musical reveill6; a German chorale, chosen v.ith loving, ungrudging care, as tho first thing which was to greet him, was most certain, on that day of all others, to carry him back in spirit to his native country. Tho family circle breakfasted by themselves in a favourite cottage in tho park. Princess Peodora's children were in masquerade as Coliurg peasants, doubtless hailing the Coburg Priiifc with an appropriate greeting. In the afternoon, in the fine weatlm, tho Prince drove out the Queen; in the evening, "there was rather u larger dinner than iisual." On tho 11th of September the Prince was formally sworn a member of her Majesty's Privy Council. And so conscientiously anxious was he to discharge worthily every duty which could be required of him, that, in the greater l(>isure of Windsor, ho not only read " Ilallam's Constitutional History " with the Queen, he began to read English law with a barrister. In the meantime, on old historical figure, Princess Augusta of England, who had appeared at the Queen's marriage, lay terribly ill at Clarence llo'.iso. She died on the ii'Jnd of Si'ptemb(>r, having survived her sister, Priiu'ess Elizabeth, the Landgravine of Hesse Ilomburg, only (tight months. Princess Augusta carried away with her numy memories of the Court of (Jeorge III. Ky a coincidence, tho lady who may almost be culled tho Prin(;ess's biograjther, at least whose aiiiniated sketches and alft'ctionate praises of her •* dear Princess Augusta " were destined to give tli(> world of Knglaud its principal knowledge of an amiabht princess, died ut a great age the sumo year. Madame D'Arbluy, us Miss Hurnoy, the distinguislu'd novelist, hud been appointed in 1780, in a sonutwhut HOl'AL OCCUPATIONS— AN ATTEMPT ON THE QUEEN'S LIFE. «4J whimsical aoknowlodgment of hor tnlouts and services to the rctuling world, ono of tho keepers of Queen Churlott(^'s wardrobe. In this office she resided at Court for five years, and she has loft in her diary tho most grapliic accotint which wo have of tho English royal life of the day. "Evelina" and "Cecilia" were old stories even in 1840 ; it was more than fifty years since Madame D'Arblay had taken royal service, and now her hcst-lieloved young patroness had passed away an aged woman, only a few months later than the gifted and vivacious little keeper of tho robes, whose duties, to bo sure, had included reading habitually to the Queen when she was dressing, and sometimes to the Court circle. Princess Augusta's funorol went from her house of Frogmoro at seven o'clock in tho ovcnipg of the 2nd of October, one of tho last of tho niglit funerals of a past genera- tion, and she was buried with tho customary honours in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Frogmore bccamo from that time tho country residence of the Duche.-fs of Kent. In November the Court returned to Buckinghain Palace for the Queen's aecouchomont. Baron Stockmar, at the Prince's earnest entreaty, catno to England for the ovenl, though he remained then as always in tho background. On tho 21st of November the Princess Royal was bom, the good news being announced to London by tho firing of tho Tower guns. The Cabinet Minislers and Ofllcers of Slate were in attendance in an adjoining room, and the new-bom child, wrapped in flannel, was carrie(l by tho nurse, escdrted by Sir James Clark, into tho presence of those who were to attest her birth, and laid fur w iiKiment on a table before them. IJoth mother and child were well, and although u nidimntary disappointment was felt at the sex of tho infant, it did not detract fronj the general rejoicing at the (iueen's safety with a living successor to the llironc It was >aid at tho time, kindly gossips dwelling on tho utterance with tho utmost pleasure, that on the Priuco expressing a fear that tho people might be disa]tpiiiiited, the (iueeii reassured him in tho most cheerful spirit, "Never mind, tho next shall be a boy," and that she hoped she might have as many children as her grandmother, (hieeit Charlotte. A fresh instance of a diseased appetite fi»r notoriety, gialtt'd on vagrant youthful ouriosity and restless love of mischief, astonished and scandalised tho Eii;;lisli world. On tho day after tho birth of the Princess lloyal a rascally boy named Jones was discovered ooncealod under a sofa in a room next to the (iueen's. The ollt'iider was leniently dealt with in consideration of his immature years, but again and again, ut intervals of a fuw months, the fliblierligibbet turned up in tho most unlooked-for quarters, impudently assorting, 07>. huing questioned, that he had entered " the same way us before," and that he could, any time ho pleased, find his way into the palaco. It was supposed that he olimbed over the wull ou Constitution Hill and ere])t Uirough one of tho windows, liut iiii i! '1 »44 QUEEN VICTORIA. he could hardly havo done so if it had not hcon for tho confused palace manngomont, for which nobody was rcsitonsible, with its incvitablo disorder, that had not yet been overcome. Tho boy had to be conjniittcd to tho House of Corroetion us a roguo and vagabond for three months. Afterwards ho served on board one of her Majesty's ships, where his taste for creating a sensation seems to have died a nalurr.l death. In tho Queen's weakness the young husband and father was continually developing new traits of manly tenderness. " His tare and devotion were quite beyond expression." lie declined to go anywhere, that he might be always at hand to do anytliing in his power for her comfort. "lie was content to sit by her in a darkened room, lo read to her ond write for her." '* No one but himself ever lifted her from her bed to her sofa, and he always helped to wheel her on her bed or sofa into tho next room. For this purpose he would como instantly when sent for from any part of the house." " His caro for her was like that of a mother, uor could there bo a kinder, wiser, more judicious nurse." Happy (iueen 1 The Queen made an excellent recovery, and tho Court was back at Windsor holding Christmas and New Year relieved from uU caro and full of thaukfulness. Tho peace and goodwill of the season, with the interchange of kindly gifts, were celebrated with pleasant picturcscjue Qermaii, in addition to old llnglish customs. Wo have all heard wonderful tales (if tho baron of beef, the boar's head, tho peaeoek with spread fail, tho plum Boup for wliieh there is only out; recipe, and that a royal one. There were fir-trees in the Queen's and the Prince's rooms and in humbler chambers. There was a great gathering of tho houseiiold in a special eorritlor, whero tho Queen's p-esents were bestowed. A new year dawned with bright promise on an expectant world. This last year had been so good in one sens4> that it could hardly bo surpassed. What had it not done for thf family life ! It had given u good and loving wife to a good and loving huslxmd, and a little child, with un(lri>amt-of possibilities in its slumbering eyes and helpless hands. The public hori/on wits tolerably clear. The Welsh riots had been quelled and other acts of insubordinution in tho manufuclurin," districts put down — not without tho use of force — but there was room for trust thit such mad tumults would not be repeated. Father Matthews was reforming Ireland. There wore faraway wars both with China and Afghanistan, certainly, but tho wars wire far away in more nspects than one, disUuit enough to have their origin in tho Fnglish protection of tho opium trade, and interference — now with a peaceful, timidly conservative race — and again with fiercely jealous and warlike tribes, slurred over and forgotten, and only tho successos of tho national arms dwelt upon with prido and exultation. ROi'AL OCCUPATIONS— AN ATTEMPT ON THE QUEEN'S LIFE. •♦5 Across "the silver streak" of the Channel there were more remarkable events, marked by a cnrious inconsistency, than the suitable marriugo of the Duo do Nemours, rrinco Louis Napoleon Buonaparte landed on the French coast Avith a handful of men prepared to invade the country, and was immediately overpowered and arrested. He was tried and condemned to imprisonment in the fortress of Ham, from which he escaped in due time, having earned for himself during long years the sobriquet of " the madman of Uoulogne." The very same year Prince de Joinville, Louis riiiiippo's sailor son, was commissioned to bring the ashes of Napoleon from St. Helena to France The coffin was conveyed in the Prince's frigate. La Belle Poule, to Cherbourg, wlKnice a steamboat sailed with the solemn freight up the Seine to Paris. The funeral formed a splendid pageant, attended by the royal family, the ministers, and a great concourse of spectators. The dust of k petit caporal was deposited in a magniticent tomb in the llfltel des Invalides, before the eyes of a few survivors of his Old Guard. Spain and Portugal were still the theatres of civil wars— now smouldering, now leaping up with brief fury. In Spain the Queen Regent, Christina, was driven from the kingdom, and had to take refuge in France for a time. In Portugal, in the middl.' of a political crisis, Maria da Gloria gave birth to a daughter, which died soon after its birth, while for days her own life wua despaired of. 1 : /' iii '-• In i CHA TER XI. TTTK FTRST CHRISTENING. — Thie SRaSON OF 1841. rrillE Qiicen was able to open Piirliamont in pcrsor at the end of January. ■^ Tho first christotiing in tlio royal liouschold had been fixed to take place on the 10th of February, the first anniversary of the Queen's wcddiug-day, which was thus a double gala in 1841. The day before tho Prince again had a dangerous accident. He was skating in tho prosonco of tho Queen and one of her ladies on the lake in the gardens of IJackinghain raluce when the ice gave way a few yards from the bank, wlicre the water was so deep that tho skater bad to swim for two or three minutes before he could extricate himself. Tho Queen had tin- pn sonco of mind to lend him instant assistance, while her lady was "more occupied in screaming for help," so that the worst consequeQCOS of tho plunge were a bad cold. The christening took place at six in the evening in Ifuckingham Palace. Tho ceremony was performed by tho An^hlishop of Canterbury, assisted by tho Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, tho Kishop of Norwich, and the Dean of Carlisle. The sponsors were tho iJuko of Saxe-Coburg H ,tha, ropreseuted by tho Duke of Wellington, King Leopold, the (iueon-dowager, the DucUess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kcnl, and tho Duko of Sussex, the most of whom had been present at the baptism of her Majesty, and •■ j , able to compare royal child and royal mother in similar oircumstancos. The Duke of \. ... ."idge and his son, Princo Oeorgo, with Princo Edward of Saxe- Weimar, were among the company. The infant was named " Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa." The Annual Jieyistcr for tho year has an elaborate description of the new silver-gilt font used on the occasion. It Avas in tho shape of a water-lily supporting a shell, tho rim of which was decorated with j>maller wr.ter-lilies. The base bore, between the arms of tho Queen and Prince Albert, tho arms of the Princess Royal, surmounted by her Royal lligluK'ss's coroncit. The water had been brought from tho river Jordan. A simple description of the event was given by Prince Albert in a letter to his gnmdmother, the Dowuger-Duchoss of Gotha. " The christening went off very well ; I 'I I f I V. m i ! I; 'Mi 'iU n '\ \ 11 riT \ TTT^? T T nip KBAIWN rtV I S'f 1 . T f.iimary. take pliwjo on th« which \Ms thus a 1 1 10 gnrdetw ;. {\w hriTilc. whero tho watpr ■ foro he* (iouhl ' (?!♦ fi-ssistunoo, jUencoH I'll- \Vt'iiiiur, I f ; ft Ipr M oe, BOH wr. 511 l!i •ILJ W:: ;r I THE FIRST CHRISTENING— THE SEASON OF 1841. •47 your Ifttio groiit-gnuulduughter bolmvod with great propiioty and like a Christiiin. 8ho WU8 uwukc!, but did not cry at all, and Hoonicd to crow with immpuHO satisfaction at the lights and brilliant uniforms, for she is very intciUigc^nt and observing. Tho oeromony took plaoo at half-past six p.m. Aft(>r it thero was a dinner, and ihon wo had Bomo instrumental miisic. Tho health of tho littlo ono was drunk with great onthusiasm." Tho lively noticing powers of the Prinooss Royal when she was between two and three months of ago is in amusing contradiction to a report which wo remember as current at tho time. It was mentioned in order to bo denied by Leslie, who was enmmission(Hl to paint tho royal christening, and worKcd at tho picture so diligently in the long days of the following summer that he was often occupied with tho work from nine in tho morning till seven or eight in the evening. lie wrote in his *' llecol lections " : ** In 1841 I painted a second picture for the Queen, tho christening of tho Princess Royal. I was admitted to see tho ceremony, and made a slight sketch of tho royal personages as they stood round tho font in the room. I made a study from tho little Princess a few days afterwards. She was then three mcmths old, and a finer child of that ago I never saw. It is a curious proof of the nnidiness with which people believe whatever they hear to tho disadvantage of thos(> placed high in rank above them, that at the time at which I made tho sketch it was said everywhere but in the palace and by those who belonged to tho royal household, that the Princess was born blind, and by many it was even believed that she was bom without feet. The sketch waft shown at a party at ^Ir. Moon's, the evening after I made it, and the ladies all said, ' What a pity so fine a child should be entirely blind!' It was in vain I told them that her eyes wore beautifully clear and bright, and that she took notice of everything about her. I was told that, though her eyes looked bright, and though she might appear to turn them to every object, it was certain she was blind." What Leslie attributes to a species of envy, we think may be more justly regarded as having its foundation in tho love of sensationalism to which human nature is prone —sensationalism which appears to become all the racier when it finds its food in high quarters. The particular direii1il(> than bin manner, and that of his amiable Queen, who was iu tho room all the time he sat. Ho spoaks English very well, and she also spoke it. After 1 had pain'.ed for some time, she said, " May I look ?" and suggesting some alterations, sho said, " You must excuse me, I speak honest ; but if I am wrong, don't mind mo." In those years the King and Queen of the Belgians were such frequent visitors of her Majesty, wlio may be said to have been his adopted child, that a whole floor of Ducking- iiam Palace which was sot apart for their use is still known as "the Helgian Floor." The portraits of botli are in the Palace, and so is his likeness when he was many years younger, and one of tho handsomest men in Kuropo. The last is hanging besido a full-length portrait of his first wife. Princess Charlotte, with her fair face and striking figure. In the summer of 1841 the Queen was farther and longer separated from her mother than she had ever been previously. The Duchess of Kent, secure in her daughter's prosperity and happiness, went to her native Germany, for tho first time since she had come to England twenty-two years before. Sho was warmly r(>ceived wherever she went. She visited, among other places, Amorbach, the seat of hor son, the Prince of Leiningen, in Bavaria, where the liucliess had resided with the Duke of Kent in the first years of their married life. " It is like a dream that I am writing to you from this place," she addressed hor daughter. "He (the Prince of Leiningen) has made many alterations in tho house. Your father began them just before we left in March, 1819." A threatened change of Ministry and a general election were pending ; but amidst the political anxieties which already occupied much of tho Queen and Prince Albert's thoughts, it was a bright summer, full of many interests and special sources of pleasure. Mademoiselle Rachel, the gr at French actress, arrived in England. She had already •stablishcd her empire in Paris by her marv(>llou8 r-'-'^al of Racine's and Corneille's masterpieces. Sho was now to exercise tho same fascination over an alien people, to whom her speech was a foreign tongue. She made her first appearance in tho part of llermione in Racine's Andromaquc at the Italian Opcra-houso. Few who witnessed the spectacle ever forgot tho slight figure, the i)alc, dark, Jewish face, tiie deep melody of the voice, the restrained passion, the concentrated rage, especially the pitiless irony, with which she ga^ »' the poet's meaning. The Queen and the Prince shared the general enthusiasm. For that matter there was a little jealousy awakined lest there might bo too much generous alanJon m the loyal THE FIRST CHHISTEN!NO—THE SEASON OF 1*41. • 49 approval of tho groat pliiyor. iVrhaps this fooling oroHO in tlio niiiulH of tli who, (luting from Puritan duyH, had a conscicntioiiH objection to all plays and player 'nd wux(ul hotter as time, alas ! provod liow, in contrast to tho honouniltlo reputation of tlio EngliMh (Jut'ou of Tragedy, Sarah Siddons, tho chara(!ter and lifo of tho gifte^l Freneh aetreHH were miserably beneath her g(>niuH. There was a little vexed talk, which j)ittbably had small enough foundation, of tho admission of liachel into tho highest socii-ty; of the Duehess of Kent's condescending to give her shawl to tho shivering foreigner ; of a bra(!elet with tho simple inscription, " From Victoria to llachel," as if tluro could ho a e(»nuuon meeting- ground between tho two, though tho one was a quoon in art and tho other a queen in history. Hut if there was any imprudence, it might well have been excused as a fault of noble sympathy witli art and cordial acknowledgment of it, whieli leant to virtue's side, a fault which had hitherto been not too common in England. The same year a KemVtle, the last of tho family who redeemed for a time the fallen fortunes of Covent (larden Theatre, Adelaide, tho beautiful and accomplished younger daughter of ('harles Kemble, brother to John Komble and Sarah Siddons, camo out as an operati^'-singer in the part of "Norma." Bho was welcomed us her sweet voice, fine acting, and the traditions of her family deserved. She was invited to sing at tho palace. From girlliood tho Queen had been familiar with the Kcmblos in their connection with tho English stage. The last time she visited Ihe Academy us Princess Victoria, just before the death of King William, Leslie mentions, she askecl that Charles Komble might be prebentcd to her, when the gentleman had tho oppor- tunity of nuiking his " best genteel-eomcdy bow." Now it was on tho younger generation of tho Kenibles that tho Queen bestowed her gracious countenance. These were halcyon days for society as well as for the stage, when, in Mrs. Oliphant's words, " the Queen was in the foreground of tho national life, affecting it always for good, and setting an example of purity and virtue. Tlio theatres to which she went, and which lM)th she and her husband enjoyed, were purified by her presence, evils which had been tlu; growth of years diMai)pearing bef'oro tho face of the young Queen. ..." On tho 13th of Juno tho Queen revisited Oxford in company with her husband, in time for Connnemoration. Her Majesty and the Prince stayed at Nuneham, tho seat of the Arehbrshop of York, and drove in to the University city. Tho Prince was present at a banquet in St. John's and attended divino service at Now Inn Hall. On tho 2l8t of Juno the Queen and Prince Albert were at Woolwich, for tho launch of tho good ship Trafalgar. Nothing so gay had been seen at the mouth of the river since King William and Quoon Adolaido camo down to Greenwich to keep the anniversary of tho battle of Trafalgar. The water was covered with vessels, including every sort of craft I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ■ 50 ■^" ^ 1^ 12.0 2.5 1.8 1.25 II ,.4 , ,.6 "^ 6" ► V] <^ /2 v: '/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation % s 33 WEST MAW STREiT WEBSTER, N.Y. I45B0 (716) S73-4S03 o^ z ^ ^rft^ in Hi ' ISO QUEEN VICTORIA. that had boen seen " since the building of Noah's Ark." The shore was equally crowded with an imn\t;nse multitude of human lifin'^s finding standing-ground in the most unlikely places. The Queen drove down to the Dockyard in a travelling-carriage and four. She was received with a royal salute and glad bursts of cheering. It is hardly necessary to say that the young Queen was exceedingly popular with the blue-jackets. In the course of a visit to Portsmouth she had gone over one of her ships. She was sho\vn through the men's quarters, the sailors being under orders to remain per- fectly quiet and abstain from cheering. Her Majesty tasted the men's coffee and pronounced it good. She asked if they got nothing stronger. A glass of grog was brought to her. She put it to her lips, and Jack could contain himself no longer ; a burst of enthusiastic huzzas made the ribs of the ship ring. At Woolwich a discharge of artillery announced the moment when the great vessel slipped from her stays, and " floated gallantly down the river " till she was brought up and swung round with her stem to London. The King and Queen of the Belgians paid their second visit this year, the Queen remaining six weeks, detained latterly by the illness of her son in England. The long visit confirmed the tender friendship between the two queens. " During this stay, which had been such a happiness for me, we became most intimate," Qrieen Victoria wrote in her Journal, and she grudged the necessity of having to set out with Prince Albert on a royal progress before the departure of her cherished guest. " To lose four days of her stay, of which, I repeat, every hour is precious, is dreadful," her Majesty told King Leopold. The short summer progress was, otherwise very enjoyable. The Queen and Prince Albert visited the Duke of Bedford at the Eussells' stately seat of Wobum Abbey, with its park twelve miles in extent. From Wobum the royal couple went to Panshanger, Earl Cowper's, and Brocket Hall, Lord Melbourne's, returning by Hatfield, the Marquis of Salisbury's. At Brocket the Queen was entertained by her Prime Minister. At Hatfield there were many memories of another Queen and her minister, since the ancient country- house had been a rrtli"ce of Queen Elizabeth's, passing, in her successor's reign, by an exchange of mansions, from the hands of James I. into those of the son and representative of Lord Burleigh, little crooked, long-headed Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury. In Hatfield Park there is an oak still standing which bears the name of " Queen Elizabeth's Oak." It is said Princess Elizabeth was sitting in its shade when the news was brought to her of the death of her sister. Queen Mary, and her own accession to the throne of England. The only difficulty — a pleasant one after all— which was experienced in these progresses, ! THE FIRST CHRISTENING— THE SEASON OF 18+1. «S' 1 ■ proceeded from the exuberant loyalty of the people. At straw-plaiting Dunstable a volunteer company of farmers joined the regular escort and nearly choked the travellers with the dust the worthy yeomen raised. On leaving Woburn Abbey the same dubious compliment was paid. In the Queen's merry words, " a crowd of good, loyal people rode with us part of the way. They so pressed and pushed that it was as if we were hunting." The recent election had returned a majority of Conservative members, and soon after the reassembling of Parliament in August a vote of non-confidence in Lord Melbourne's Ministry was carried. The same evening the Prime Minister went to Windsor to announce his resignation. He acted with his natural fairness and generosity, giving due honour to his adversaries, and congratulating the Queen on the great advantage she possessed in the presence and counsel of the Prince, thus sofuniing t^ her the trial of the first change of Ministers in her reign. He only regretted the pain to himself of leaving her. "For four years I have seen you every day; but it is so different from what it would have been in 1839. The Prince understands everything so well, and has a clever, able head." The Queen was much affected in taking leave of a " faithful and attached friend," as well as Minister, while her words were, that his praise of the Prince gave her " great pleasure" and made her " very proud." In anticipation of the change of Ministry it had boon arranged, with Sir Robert Peel's concurrence, that the principal Whig ladies in the Queen's household — the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duchess of Bedford, and Lady Normanby — should voluntarily retire from office, and that this should be the practice in any future change of Ministry, so that the question of Ministerial interference in the withdrawal or the appointment of the ladies of the Queen's household might be set at rest.* On the 3rd of September the ne »v Ministers kissed hands on their appointment at a Cabinet Council held at Claremont Lord Campbell gives some particulars. " I have just seen here several of our friends returned from Claremont. Both parties met there at once. They were shown into separate rooms. The Queen sat in her closet, no one being present but Prince Albert. The exminters were called in one by one and gave up the seals or wands of their offices and retired. The new men by mistake went to Claremont all in their Court costume, whereas the Queen at Windsor and Claremont receives her Ministers in their usual morning di-ess. Normanby says taking leave of the Quecu was very affecting," Whatever momentary awkwardness may have attended the substitution of Sir Eobert Peel as Prime Minister, it did not at all interfere— thanks to the candid, liberal nature of ♦ The KJtireioeDt trom otfice is now limited to the Mistress of the Robes, "I. •Mi 'f: !^:| 'J» QUEEN VICTORIA. all concerne —with the friendly goodwill which it is so desirable should exist between sovereign and minister. We read in the " Life of the Prince Consort, " " Lord Melbourne told Baron Stockmai, who had just returned from Coburg, that Sir Robert Peel had behaved most handsomely, and that the conduct of the Prince had throughout been most moderate and judicious." Sir Eobert had experienced considerable embarrassment at the recollection of his share in the debates on the Eoyal Annuity Bill, but the Prince did not show an equally retentive memory. His seeming forgetfulness of the past and cordiality in the present did more than reassure, it deeply touched and completely won a man who was himself capable of magnanimous self-renunciation, Sir Eobert Peel had the pleasure, in his early days in office, of suggesting to the Prince the Eoyal Commission to promote and encourage the fine arts in the United Kingdom, with reference to the rebuilding of the two Houses of Parliament. Sir Eobert proposed that Prince Albert should be placed at the head of the Commission. This was not only a movement after the Prince's own heart, on Avhich he spared no thought and labour for years to come, it was an act in which Prince and Minister — both of them lovers of art — could co-operate with the greatest satisfaction. m r]:E PRINCE OF WALE J] r.N'iKA'.'j;. BY W K"F}-E Vl Ul-T TI!K .•■.TATi'E bV M"'- rHMKNYOl^Or'T •1 -■.noir}'.. r.K.!iTi'5!i^vruT :.'•: ^^ I liurrn \J the ■ Mavor'^5 l>iiy train Avent hx great t' Qucon-tiiothor and eliiM. The OH thi Slio hatl an uti'rction thw tinir liltiint took vfm fparocl (teatU was apj ; was bolievedj to her swfnw n ;i (h'Ui'M; iveti foi IS tlio The f' l)at)i( to g(i- Cboster WHH 1 iavcstt'd her sun witii the i putting a coronet on his I r" 1, that he nutfhi {■!• ' iv"0 smu' . engaged ; ' hi i I 1 I CHArTER XII. BIHTH OF THE PRINCE OF WAU:s. — THE AFG''AN MSASTERS. — VISIT OP THE KINO OP I'HUSSIA. — " TUE queen's PLANTAOENET HALL." f\^ the 9th of Novcmlnr, 1841, tho happiness of the Qvieen and Prince was increased by ^ tho birth of tho Priiico of Wales. Tho event took place on tho morning of the Lord Mayor's Pay, as the citizens of London rejoiced to learn by the booming of the Tower guns. In additio.1 to tho usual calls of tho nobility and gentry, the Lord Mayor and his train went in great state to offer their congratulations and make their inquiries for the Queen-mother and child. The sole shadow on the rejoicing was tho dangerous illness of the Quoon-dowager. Sho had an aff'cction of the chest whic'i rendered her a confirmed invalid for years. At this time the complaint took an aggravated form, and her weakness became so great that it was feared death was ap[iroaching. But sho rallied — a recovery duo in a groat measure, it was believed, to hor serono nature and patient resignation. She regained her strength in a degree and survived for years. The public took a keen interest in all that concerned the heir to tho crown, though times were less free and easy than they had been — all the world no longer trooped to tho Queen's House as thoy had done to taste the caudle compounded when royal Charlotte's babies were born. There was at least tho cradle with the nodding Princo of Wales feathers to gossip about. The patent creating the Duke of Cornwall Princo of Wales and Earl of Chester was issued on the 8th of December, when the child was a month old. It was a" quaint enough document, inasmuch as the Queen declared in it that she ennobled and invested her son with the Principality and earldom by girting him with a sword, by putting a coronet on his head and a gold ring on his finger, and also by delivering a gold rod into his hand, that he might preside there, and direct and defend these parts. The Eoyal Nursery had now two small occupants, and their wise management, still more than that of the household, engaged the serious consideration of the Queen and the Prince's old friend, Baron Stockmar, and engrossed much of the attention of the youthful parents. iM rt*sr ;i ' i >S4 Ql/EE.V VICTORJA. Thoy t )ok great delight in tho bright little girl, whom hor mother named " Pussy," and the charming baby who was bo near her in age. " To think," wrote tho Queen in hor Journal this ChriatinnB, " that we have two children now, and one Mho enjoys the sight already " (ret'eiring to the Christmas-tree) ; '* it is like a dream." ''This is tho dear Christmas Eve on which I have bo often listened with impatience to your step which was to usher us into tho gift-room," the Princo reminded his father. ** To-dav I have two children of my own to make gifts to, who, thoy know not why, aie full of happy wonder at the German Christmas-tree and its radiant candles." On this occasion the Now Year was danced into " in good old English fashion. In the middle of the dance, as the clock finished striking twelve, a flourish of trumpets was blown, in accordance with a German custom." Tho past year had been good also, and fertile in blessings on that roof-tree, though in the world without there were the chafings and mutterings of more than one impending crisis. The corn-laws, with tho embargo thoy laid on free trade, weighed heavily on tho minds both of statesmen and people. In Scotland Church and State were struggling keenly once more, though bloodlcssly this time, as they had struggled to the death in past centuries, for mastery where what each considered its rights were in question. Among the blows dealt by death in 1841, there had been heavy losses to art in the passing away of Chantrey and Wilkie. In January, 1842, events happened in Afghanistan which brought bitter gr of to many an English home, and threw their shadow over the palace itself in the next fe.v months. The fatal policy of English interference with the fleiy tribes of Northern India in support of an unpopular ruler had ended in the murder of Sir Alexander Burns and Sir William Macnaghten, and the evacuation of Cabul by the English. This was not all. The march through the terrible mountain defiles in the depth of winter, under the continual assaults of an unscrupulous and cruel enemy, meant simply destruction. The ladies of the party, with Lady Sale, a heroic woman, at their head, the husbands of the ladies who were with the camp, and finally General Elphinstone, who had been the first in command at Cabul, but who was an old and infirm man, had to be surrendered as hostages. They were committed to the tender mercies of Akbar Khan, the son of the exiled Dost Mahomed, the moving spirit of the insurrection against the native puppet maintained by English authority, and the murderer, with his own hand, of Sii William Macnaghten, whose widow was among the prisoners. The surrender of hostages was partly a matter of necessity, in order to secui-e for the most helpless of the party the dubious protection of Akbar Khan, partly a \ THK AFGHAN DISASTERS, •S5 dosporato monsuro to prevent what would otlicrwiHo have hcon inovitiiLlc — tlio pcriHhiiij^ of tho womoii and cliildrcn in the dreadful liardwliipH ol" tlui retreat. '\\w captives Merc curried first to Poshuwur and afterwards to a succeHsion of hill-forts in the direction of tho Caucasus, while their eoutitryinen at home. long holon; they had become familiar with the tragedy of the Tndian KebcUion^ burned with indignation and thrilled with horror at the possible fato of those victims of a treacherous, vindictivt) Afghan chief. In the meantime the awful march went on, amidst tho rigours of winter, in wild snowy passes, by ige precipices, while tho most unsparing guerilla warfare was kept up by the furious r ives at every point of vantage. Alas ! for tho miscrabli^ end which wo all know, some of us recalling it, through the mists of years, still fresh witii tho wonder, wrath, and sorrow which tho news aroused here. Out of a company of sixteen thousand that left Cabul, hundreds were slain or died of exhaustion every day, three thousand fell in an ambush, and after a night's exposure to such frost as was never experienced in England. At last, on the 13th of January, 184f2, one haggard man, Ur. Brydon, rode up, reeling in his saddle, to the gates of Jellalabad. Tho fortress was still in tho keening of Sir Kobcrt Sale, who had stead- fastly refused to retire. It is said his wife wrote to him from her prison, urging him to hold out, because she preferred her own and her daughter's death to his dishonour. But tho Afghan disasters were not fully known in England for months to come. In the interval, the christening of tho Prince of Wales was celebrated with much splendour in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on the 25th of January. The King of Prussia came over to England to officiate in person as ono of tho Prince's godfathers. The others were the child's two grand-uncles, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, uncle of the Queen and of Prince Albert, and father of the King Consort of Portugal and the Duchesse de Nemours. The godmothers were tho Duchess of Kent, proxy for the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, Prince Albert's stepmother; the Duchess of Cambridge, proxy for the child's great-grandmother, the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha ; and the Princess Aug",Fita of Cambridge, proxy for the Princess Sophia of England. The ambassadors and foreign ministers, the Cabinet ministers with their wives in full dress, tho Knights of the Garter in their mantles and collars, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Oxford, and Norwich assembled in the Waterloo Gallery ; the officers and the ladies of the Household awaited the Queen in the corridor. At noon, certain officers of the Household attended the King of Prussia, who was joined by 'he other sponsors at the head of the grand staircase, to the chapel. The Queen's procession included the Duke of Wellington, bearing the Sword of State between the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl De la Warr, and the Lord Steward, the Earl of ■ill 'wrj"- i 'S6 QUEKN VICTORIA. Tjivcrpool, the throo wftlkiiiK hoforo lior Majesty nnd Priiico Albert, who wore supporfcd by their lords-in-waitiiifj, and followed by the Diiko of SuHsex, rrinco Oeorgo of Cuinbridge, I'rinoo Edwaid of Saxo- Weimar, Prince Augustus nnd Priiico Leopold of Saxcs-Coburg, sons of Prince Ferdinand and cousins of the Queen and Prince Albert. When (\w sponsors had taken their places, and the other company wore si^ated near the altnr, the liord Chamberlain, accompanied by the Groom of tho Stall to Princo Albert, proceeded to tho f'ha])ter-house, and conducted in tho infant Princo of Wal(>s, attended by tho lord and groom in waiting. Tho Duchess of Uuccleugh, tho Mistress of the Kobes, took the infant from tho nurse, and put him in the Archbishop's arms. Tho child was named "Albert" for his father, and "Edward" for bis maternal grandfathor, tho Duke of Kent. Tho baby, on th(! authority of The Times, " behaved with princely decorum." After the ceremony, he was reconducted to the Cluipter-house by the Lord Chamberlain. By Princo Albert's desire "The Hall slujah Chorus," which has never been given in England without the audience rising simu taueously, was played at tho close of the service. The Queen afterwards held a Chapter of the Order of the Garter, at which the King of Prussia, " as a lineal descendiat of George L," was elected a Knij;ht (Companion, the Queen buckling the garter round his knee. There was luncheon in tho White Breakfast-room, and in th(> evening there was a banquet in St. George's Ilall. The table reached from one end of the hall to the other, nnd wao covered with gold plate. Lady Bloomfield, who was present, describes an immense gold vessel — more like a bath than anything else, capable of containing thirty dozens of wine. It was filled with mulled claret, to tho amazement of tho Prussians. Four toasts were drunk — that to his Eoyal Ilighncss tho Prince of Wales taking precedence ; toasts to his Majesty the King of Prussia, the Queen and Prince Albert followed. A grand musical performance in the Waterloo Gallery wound up the festivities of the day. The presence of the King of Prussia added additional dignity to the proceedings. He was a great ally whose visit on the occasion was a becoming compliment. Besides, Jiis personal character was then regarded as full of promise, and excited much interest, llis attainments a. d accomplishments, which were really remarkable, won lively admira- tion. Ilis warm regard for a man like Baron Bunsen seemed to afford the best augury for the liberality of his sentiments. As yet the danger of impracticability, discouragement, confusion, and paralysis of all that had been hoped lor, was but faintly indicated in the dreaminess and fancifulness of his nature. Lady Bloomfield describes the King as of middle size, rather fat, with an excellent countenance and little hair. The Queen met him on the grand staircase, kissed him twice, yiSIT OF THE Kh\r Journal: " TTo wan in ronunon morninj,' coHtunu', ond coniplainod nui(!hot'n[)i>('uring so hcforo irn\ ... Ho is cntoitiiiniiig, agrooablo, and witty, tcllH a tiling so ploasantly, and is ■ il of ainuHing ancodolcs." Madanio IhinHon, ^»•llo was privilngod to sco a good doal of tho guy doings during tlio ICing of rruHsia's visit, has handed down hor oxpcrionco. " 28th January, 1S42, camo by railway to Windsor, and found that in tho York Towor a coinfortablo set of rooms wi'ro awaiting us, Tho nppor housemaid gave us tea, and bread and butter — very refreshing; when dr(«ssed wo wont together to tho corridor, soon met Lord Do la Wan*, tho Duchess of Ducclough, and Lord and Lady Westmoreland — tho former showeil us where to go — that is, to walk through tho corridor (a fairy scene — lights, pictures, moving figures of courtiers unknown), the apartments which wo passed through one after another till we reached tho magniticont ball-room where tho guests wore assembled to await tho Queen's appearance. Among these guests stood our King himself, punctual to quarter-past seven o'clock ; soon camo Princo Albert, to whom Lord Do la Wurr named me, when he spoke to mo of Eome. Wo had not been thero long before two gentlemen walking in by the same door by which we had entered, and then turning and nuiking profound bows towards tho open door, showed that the Queen was coming. She approached mo directly and said, with a gracious smile, ' I am very much pleased to see you,' then passed oii, and after speaking a few moments to tho King took his arm and moved on, ' God save tho Queon ' having begun to sound from the Waterloo Gallery, wIkto the Queen has always dined since tho King Las been with her. Lord Iluddington led mo to dinner, and one of tho King's suite sat on tho other side. Tho scene was one of fairy tales, of undescribcd magniflcenco, tho proportions of tho hall, the mass of light in suspension, tho gold plate, and the tahle glittering with a thousand lights in branches of a proper height not to meet tho eye. Tho King's health was drunk, then the Queen's, and then tho Queen went out, followed by all her ladies. During tho half-hour or less that elapsed before Prince Albert and tho King followed the Queen, she did not sit, but went round to speak to the different ladies. She asked after my children, and gave me an opportunity of thanking her for the gracious permission to behold hor Majesty so soon after my arrival. The Duchess of Kent also spoke to me, and I was very glad of the notice of Lady Lyttelton, who is very charming. As soon as the King came the Queen went into the ball-room and made the King dance a quadrille witb her, which he did with all suitable grace and dignity, though he has long ceased to dance. At half-past eleven, after the Queen had retired, I set out '^n my travels to my bed-chamber. I might have looked and wandered about some milci • ^fore I had found my door of exit, but was helped by an old gentleman, I believe Lord Albemarle." «•• ' '~r4»fv- 4 -;! t ! ISI QUEEN VICTOR/A. The same tlioughtful observer was present v hen the King of Prussia saw the Queen open Parliament. "February, 1842, Thursday. The opening of the Parliament was the thing from which I exj^ected most, uud I was not disappointed ; the throngs iu the streets, in the windows, in every place people could stand upon, all looking so pleased; the splendid Ilorso Guards, the Grenadiers of the Gua d — of whom might be said as the King said on another occasion — * An ai)peaiance so fine, you know not how to believe it true ; ' the Yeomen of the Body Guard ; then in the House of Lords, the Peers in their robes, the beautifully-dressed ladies wiih very many beautiful faces ; lastly, the procession of the Queen's entry and herself, looking worthy and fit to be the converging-point of so many mjs of grandeur. It is self-evident that she is not tall, but were she ever so tall, she could not have more grace and dignity, a head better set, a throat better arching ; and one advantage there is in her looks when she casts a glance, being of necessity cast up and not down, that the effect of the eyes is not iost, and they have an effect both bright and pleasing. The >?omposure with which she filled the throne while awaiting the Commons, I much admired — it was a test, no fidget, no apathy. Then her voice and enunciation cannot be more perfect. In short it could not be said that she did tccll, but that she a 'as t/w Queen — she was, and felt herself to be, the descendant of her ancestors. Stufi'ed in by her Majesty's maco-bearers, and peeping over their shoulders, I was enabled to struggle down the emotions I felt, at thinking what mighty pages in the world's history were condensed in the words so impressively uttered by that soft and feminine voice. Peace and war — the fate of millions — relations and exertions of power felt to the extremities of the globe ! Alterations of corn-laws, bLrth of a future sovereign, with what should it close, but the heartfelt asinratiou, God bless her and guide her for her sake, and the sake of all." liady 131oomfield, who was also present, mentions that when the Queen had finished speaking and descended from the throne, she t.'vnod to the King of Prussia and made him a low curtsey. The same eye-witness refers to one of the " beautiful faces " which Madame Bunsen remarked ; it was that of one of the loveliest and most accomplished women of her time: "Miss Stewart (afterwards Marchioness of Watorford) was there, looking strikingly handsome. She wore a turquoise blue velvet which was very becoming, and she was like one of the Madonnas she is so fond of painting." The Queen anc the Prince's hearts were gladdened this spring by the news of the approaching marriage of his brother, Prince Ernest, to Princess Alexandrine of Baden In a family so united such intelligence awoke the liveliest sympathy. The Queen wrote eagerly on the subject to her uncle, and the uncle of the bridegroom. King Leopold, "My heart is full, very full of this marriage; it brings back so many recollections of ''THE QUEEN'S PLANTAGENET BALL': 'S9 our dear betrothal — as Ernest was with us all tho time and longed for similar happiness. . . I have entreated Ernest to pass his honeymoon with us, and I beg you to urge him to do it, for he witnessed our happiness and wc must therefore witness A/s." There were warm wishes for Prince Albert's presence at the ceremony at Carlsruho on the 3rd of May ; but though his inclination coincided with these wishes, he believed there .» ere grave reasons for his remaining in England, and, as was usual with him, inclination yielded to duty. The times were full of change and excitement. Tho people were suffering. Eioting had occurred in the mining districsts, both in England and Scotland. Lord Shaftesbury, then Lord Ashley, a champion of hard-pressed humanity, was able to obtain an Act of Parliament which redeemed women from tho degradation and slavery of their work as beasts of burden in the mines, and ho \/as pushing forward his " Factories Hill," to release little children from the unchildliko length of small labour, which was required from them ia mills. Tho Anti-corn Law League was stirring up tho country through its length and breadth. The twin names of Cobdeu and Bright, men of tho people, were becoming associated everywhere with eloquent persistent appeals Ibr " Free Trade " — cheap bread to starving multitudes. Fears were entertained of the attitude of the Chartists. The true state of matters in Afghanistan began to break on tho public, America was sore on what she considered the tampering with her flag in the interests of the abolition of the slave trade. Sir Robert Peel's income-tax, in order to replenish an ill-filled exchequer, was pending. Notwithstanding, tho season was a gay one, though the gaiety might bo a little forced in some quarters. Certainly an underlying motive was an anxious effort to promote trade by a succession of " dinners, concerts, and balls." One famous ball is almost historical. It is still remembered as "(ho Queen's Plan- tagenet Ball." It was a very artistic and wonderfully perfect revival, for one night at Ihickingham Palace, of tho ago of Chaucer and tho Court of Edward III. and Queen riiilippa. Notliing could exceed tho enthusiasm with which the idea uas taken up in (he groat world. All aristocratic liondon set themselves to study tho pages of Chaucer and Frois- sart. At the same time, though tho Court was to bo that of Edward III. and his Queen, no limit was put to the periods and nationalities to be selected by the guests. Tho ball was to be a masque, and perhaps it Avould have lost a little of its motley charm had it been confined entirely to one age in history, and to ono country of tho world. A comical petition had to be presented, thot tho masquers might remain covered before tho Queen, lest the doffing of hats should cause the displaccuiont of wigs. The great attraction lay in the fact that not only did her Majesty represent one of her i6o QUEEN VICTORIA. 1 % m predecessors, an ancestress however remote, but that many of the guests were enabled to follow her example. They appeared — some in the very armour of their forefathers, others in costumes copied from family pictures, or in the dress of hereditary offices still held by the representatives of the ancient houses. For it was the sons and daughters of the great nobles of England that held high revelry in Buckingham Palace that night. There was an additional picturesqueness, as well as a curious vividness, lent to the pageant by the circum- stance that in many cases the blood of the men and the women represented ran in the veins of the performers in the play. The wildest rumours of the extent and cost of the ball circulated beforehand. It was said that eighteen thousand persons were engaged in it. The Earl of Poi broke was to wear thirty thousand pounds' worth of diamonds — the few diamonds in his hat alone would be of the value of eighteen thousand pounds. He was to borrow ten thousand pounds' worth of diamonds from Storr and Mortimer atone per cent, for the night. These great jcAvellers' stores were reported to be exhausted. Every other jeweller and diamond merchant was in the same condition. It almost seemed as if the Prince of Esterhazy must bo outdone, even though the report of his losses from falling stones on the Coronation-day had risen to two thousand pounds. One lady iioasted that she would not give less than a thousand pounds for her dress alone. Lord Chesterfield's costume was to cost eight hundred pounds. Plain dresses could not be got under two hundred ; the very commonest could not be bought under fifty pounds. A new material had been invented for the occasion — gold and silver blonde to replace the heavy stuffs of gold and silver, since the nineteenth century did not always furnish strength or endurance to bear such a burden in a crowded ball-room on a May night. Truly one description of trade must have received a lively impetus. Both The Times and the Morning Post give full accounts of the ball. " The loading feature. . . . was the assemblage and meeting of the Courts of Anne of Brittany (the Duchess of Cambridge) and Edward III. and Philippa (her Majesty and Prince Albert). A separate entrance to the Palace was set apart for the Court of Brittany, the Duchess of Cambridge assembling her Court in one of the lower rooms of the Palace, while the Queen and Prince Albert, surrounded by a numerous and brilliant circle, prepared to receive her Eoyal Highness in the Throne-room, which was altered so as to be made r.s much as possible to harmoilize with the period. The throne was removed and another erected, copied from an authentic source of the time of Edward III. It was lined (as well as the whole alcove on whicL the throne was placed) with purple velvet, having worked upon it in gold the crown of England, the cross of St. George, and emblazoned shields with the arms of England and France. The State chairs were what I I m 'THE QUEEN'S PLANTAGENET BALL." i6i might bo culled of Gothic design, and the throne was surmounted with Gothic tracery. At the back of tho throne were emblazoned the royal arms of England in silver. Seated on this throne, her Majesty and Prince Albert awaited tho arrival of tho Court of Anne of Brittany." Hel- Majesty's dress was entirely composed of the manufactures of Spitalfields. Over a skirt with a demi-train of ponceau velvet edged with fur there was a surcoat of brocade in blue and gold lined with miniver (only her Majesty wore this royal fur). From the stomacher a band of jewels on gold tissue descended. A mantle of gold and silver brocade lined with miniver was so fastened that the jewelled fastening traversed tho jewelled band of the stomacher, and looked like a great jewelled cross on tho breast. Iler Majesty's hair, folded ct la Clovis, was surmounted by a light crown of gold ; she had but one diamond in her crown, so largo that it shone like a star. It was valued at ton thousand pounds. Prince Albert, as Edward III., wore a cloak of scarlet velvet, lined with ermine and trimmed with gold lace — showing oak-leaves and acorns, edged with two rows of largo pearls. The band connecting the cloak was studded with jewels ; so was the collar oi' the full robe, or under cloak, of blue and gold brocade slashed with blue velvet. The hose were of scarlet silk, and the shoes were richly jewelled. Tho Prince had on a gold coronet set with precious stones. The suite were in the costume of the time. Tho Hon. Mrs. Anson and Mrs. Brand, Women of the Bedchamber, had dresses bearing the quarterings of tlie old arms of England, with lions and jleurs-dc-hjs. The Maids of Honour had dresses and surcoats trimmed with gold and silver. The Duke of Buccleugh figured as one of the original Knights of the Garter. The Countess of Eosslyn appeared as the beautiful Countess of Salisbury. About half-past ten, tho heralds marshalled the procession from tho lower suite of rooms up the grand white marble staircase, and by tho Green Drawing-room to tho Throne- room, all the State-rooms having been thrown open and brilliantly illuminated. Tho Duchess of Cambridge entered magnificently dressed as Anno of Brittany, led by tho Duko of Beaufort, richly clad as Louis XII., and followed by her court. It included the Earl of Pembroke as the Comte d'Angouleme, with Princess Augusta of Cambridge as Princess Claude ; Prince George of Cambridge as Gaston de Foix, with tho Marchioness of Ailesbury as tho Duchesso do Ferraro; Lord Cardigan as Bayard, with Lady Exeter as Jeanne de Conflans; Lord Claud Hamilton as tho Comte do Chateaubriand, with Lady Lincoln as Anne de Villeroi The Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Saxc-Weimar represented two French Chatelaines of the period. Each gentleman, leading a lady, passed before tho Queen and Prince Albert, and did obeisance. t .,;■ 1 '-'f ^! ;!' i6z QUEEN VICTORIA. Among the most famous quadrilles which followed that of Franco were the German quadrille, led by the Duchess of Sutherland, and the Sj^anish quadrille, led by tho Duchess of Bucclcugh. There wero also Italian, Scotch, Greek and Eussian quadrilles, u Crusaders' quadrille led by the Marchioness of Londonderry, and a "VVaverley quadrille led by tho Countess Do la Warr. One of tho two finest effects of tho evening was tho passing of the quadrilles before tho Queen, a ceremony which lasted for an hour. On leaving tho Throne-room, the quadrille company went by the Picture Gallery to join the general company in the ball- room. The Queen and the Prince then headed their procession, and walked to the ball- room, taking their places on the haut pas under a canopy of amber satin, when each quadrille set was called in order, and danced in turn before tho Queen, the Scotch set dancing reels. The court returned to the Throne-room for tho Eussian mazurkas. The Eussian or Cossack Masquers were led by Baroness Brunnow in a dress of the time of Catherine II., a scarlet velvet tunic, full white silk drawers, and white satin boots embroidered with gold, a Cossack cap of scarlet velvet with heron's feathers. The appearance of the Throne-room with its royal company and brilliant picturesque groups, when the mazurkas wero danced, is said to have been striking and beautiful. Tho diamonds of the Queen, the Duchess of Cambridge, and the Marchioness of Londonderry outshone all others. Lady Londonderry's very gloves and shoos were resplendent with brilliants. The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort — the one as Louis XII. of France, the other as Isabelle of Valois, Queen of Spain, in the French and Spanish quadrilles, were magnificent figures. Among the beauties of the evening, and of Queen Victoria's earlier reign, were Lady Clementina Villiers as Vittoria Colonna; Lady "VViihelmina Stanhope as her ancestress, Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset; Lady Frances and Lady Alexandrina Vane as Eowcna and Queen Bercngaria ; and tho Ladies Paget in the Greek quadrille led by the Duchess of Leinster. Another group of lovely sisters who took part in three different quadrilles, were the Countess of Chesterfield, Donna Flurinda in the S])anish quadrille; the Honourable Mrs. Anson, Duchess of Lauenburg in the German quadrille; and Miss Forrester, Blanche do St. Pol in the French quadrille. Of the ladies and gentlemen who came in the guise of ancient members of theu- families, or in the costumes of old hereditary offices. Lady Do la Warr appeared as Isabella Lady Do la Warr, daughter of the Lord High Treasurer of Charles I. ; Lady Colville as the Avife of Sir Eobcrt Colville, Master of tho Horse to James IV. of Scotland; Viscountess Pollington, daughter of the Earl of Orford, as Margaret Eollc, Baroness Clinton, ■^ ,. ''THE QUEEN'S PLANTAGENET JIAT.L." 163 in her own right, and Coiintcss of Orforcl ; ami tlio Countess of Westmoreland as Joan Beaufort, daugliter of John of Gamit and wife of Ealph Neville, first Earl of Westmore- land. Earl Do la Warr wore the armour used by his ancestor in the battle of Cressy, and the Marquis of Exeter the armour of Sir John Cecil at the siego of Calais. The Earl of Warwick went as Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, Marshal-General of the army at the battle of Poictiers ; the Duke of Norfolk as Thomas Howard, Earl-Marshal in the reign of Elizabeth ; the Earl of Eosslyn as the Master of the Buckhounds ; the Duke of St. Albans as Grand Falconer — hereditary offices. Mr. Monckton Milnes, the poet, presanted himself as Chaucer. The historical novelist of the day. Sir Edward Lytton Bulwcr, contented himself with a comparatively humble anonymous dress, a doublet of dark velvet slashed with white satin. The Duke of Roxburgh as David Bruce, the captive King of Scotland, encountered no rival royal prisoner, though a ridiculous report had sprung up that a gentleman representing John of France was to form a prominent feature of the pageant, to walk in chains past the Queen. This stupid story not only wounded the sensitive vanity of the French, to whom the news travelled, it gave rise to a witty canard in the 3Iorning Chronicle professing to give a debate on the affront, in the Chamber of Deputies. The tent of Tippoo Saib was erected in the upper or Corinthian portico communicating with the Green Drawing-room, and used as a refreshment-room. At one o'clock, the Earl of Liverpool, the Lord Iligli Steward, as an ancient seneschal, conducted the Queen to supper, which was served in the dining-room. The long double table was covered with shields, vases, and tankards of massive gold plate. Opposite tho Queen, where she sat at the centre of the horseshoe or cross table, a superb buffet reached almost to tho roof, covered with plate, interspersed with blossoming flowers. After supper her Majesty danced in a quad- rille with Prince George of Cambridge, opposite tho Duke of Beaufort and the Duchess of Buccleugh. Tho Queen left the ball-room at about a quarter to three o'clock, and dancing was continued for an hour afterwards. Thus ended tho most unique and splendid fete of the reign. About a fortnight afterwards, the Queen and the Prince went in state to a ball given at Covent Garden Theatre, for the relief of the Spitalfields weavers. Society followed the Queen's example. There was another fancy ball at Stafford House, and a magnificent rout at Apsley House. Fanny Kcmble was present at both, and retained a vivid remembrance of " the memorable peavanco " of two of the belles of tho evening at the last fete, " Lady Douro and Mdllc. D'Este,* who, coming into the room together, * Dmi^litcr of the Diiko of Sussex, by hU morganatic marriage with Lady Augusta Murray. Mdlle. D'Esto became tlie wife uf Luixl Ciiaiicullur Truio. i ■ I I 164 QUEEN VICTORIA. produced a most striking oflfect by their great beauty and their exquisite dress. They both wore magnificent dresses of white lace over white satin, ornamented with largo cactus flowers, those of the blonde Marchioness being of the sea- shell rose colour, and the dark Mademoiselle D'Esto's of deep scarlet, and in the bottom of each of those 3argo veined blossoms lay, like a great drop of dew, a single splendid diamond. The women were noble samples of fair and dark beauty, and their whole appearance, coming in together attired with ^noh elegance and becoming magnificent simplicity, produced an effect of surprise and admiration on the whole brilliant assembly." Of this year's Drawing-rooms we happen to have two characteristic reports. Baroness Bunsen attended one on April 8th, and wrote : " I was extremely struck with the splendour of the scene at the Drawing- room, and had an excellent place near enough to sec everybody como up to the Queen* and pass off again. I was very much entertained, and admired a number of beautiful persons. But nobody did I admire more than Mrs. Norton, whom I had never seen before, and Lady Canning's face always grows upon me." Fanny Kemblo also attended a J)rawing-room and described it after hov fashion. " You ask about my going to the Drawing-room, which happened thus. The Duke of Eutland dined some little time ago at the Palace, and speaking of the late party at Belvoir, mentioned me, when the Queen asked why I didn't have myself presented ? The Duke called next day, at my house, but we did not see him, and he being obliged to go out of town, left a message for ine with Lady LondondeiTy to the efiect that her Majesty's interest about me (cariosity would have been the more exact word I suspect) rendered it imperative that I should go to the Drawing-room ; and indeed Lady Londonderry's authoritative ' Of course you'll go,' given in her most gracious manner, left me no doubt whatever as to my duty in that respect. ..." "You ask me how I managed about diamonds to go to Co art in?" she wroio afterwards in reply to a friend's question. " I used a set of the value of seven hundred pounds, which I also wore at the fete at Apsley House ; they were only a necklace and earrings, which I wore .... stitched on scarlet velvet and as drops in the middle of scarlet velvet bows in my hair, and my dress being white satin and point lace, trimmed with white Eoman pearls, it all looked nice enough. " I suffered agonies of nervousness, and I rather think did all sorts of awkward things ; ' ♦ " At a Levee or D^a^ving-^oom it is his (the Lord Chnmbcrlain's) chity to stand next to the Queen and read out the names of each one approaching the royal presence Any peeress on presentation, as also daughters of dukes, niurquiscs, and earls, have the privilege of being kissed by her Majesty ; all other ladies make the lowest Court curtsey they can, and lifting the Queen's hand, which she offers, on tht palm of their hand, it is gently kissed It seems unnecessary to say that of course the right-hand glove is removed before reaching the Presence Chamber." — " Old Cuuit Customs and Modem Court Rule," by the Hon. Mrs. Armytage. 'THE QUEEN'S PLANTAGENET BALL.' l6S but so I dure say do other people in the same predicament, and I did not trouble my head much about my various mis-performancos. One thing, however, I can toll you, if her Majesty has seen me, I have not see her, and should bo qnitc excusable in cutting her wherever I met her. ' A cat may look at a king,' it is said ; but how about looking at the Queen ? In great uncertainty of mind on this point I did not look at my sovereign hdy. I kissed a soft white hand which I believe was hers ; I saw a pair of very handsome legs in very fine silk stockings, which I am convinced wore not hers, but am inclined to attribute to Prince Albert ; and this is all I perceived of the whole Eoyal family of England, for I made a sweeping curtsey to the ' good remainders of the CoTirt ' and came away, with no impression but that of a crowded mass of full-dressed confusion, and neither know how I got in or out of it." Wo might furnish a third sketch of a Drawing-room from one of the letters of Bishop, then Archdeacon, Wilbcrforce, who was often at Court about this time. In the early part of 1842 he paid a visit to Windsor, of which he has left a graphic account. " All went on most pleasantly at the Castle. M^' reception and treatment throughout was exceedingly kind. The Queen and the Prince were both at church, as was also Lord Melbourne, who paid his first visit at the same time. The Queen's meeting with him was very interesting. The exceeding pleasure which lighted up her countenance was quite touching. His behaviour to her was perfect — the fullest attentive deference of the subject with a subdued air of ' your father's friend ' that was quite fascinating. It was curious to sec (for I contemplated myself at the moment objectively and free from the consciousness of subjectivity), sitting round the Queen's table, (1) the Queen, (2) the Prince, (3) Lord Melbourne, (4) Archdeacon, (5) Lady F. Howard, (6) Baron Stockmar, (7) Duchess of Kent, (8) Lady Sandwich, in the evening, discussing Coleridge, German literature, &c., with 2 and 3, and a little with 4 and 6, who is a very superior man evidently. The remarks of 3 were highly characteristic, his complaints of ' hard words,' &c., and 2 showed a great deal of interest and taste in German and English literature, and a good deal of acquaintance with both. I had orders to sit by the Duchess of Kent at dinner, just opposite to 1 and 2, 3 sitting at I's right, and the conversation, especially after dinner, was much more general across the table on etymology," &c. &c. rV iil! 1 L^^ CHAPTER XIII, FRKSII ATTElirrS AGAINST THE QUEEN'S LIFE. — MENDELSSOHN. — DEATii OF THE DUO L'oRL^ANS. '! .;; li i; /^N tho 30tli of May a renewed attempt to assassinate tho Queen, almost identical ia the circumstances and the motive — or no motive, save morbid vanitv — with the affivir of Oxford, awoko tho same disgust and condemnation. This was a double attack, for on the previous day, Sunday, at two o'clock, as the Queen and the Prince were driving homo from tho Chapel Eoyal, St. James's, in passing along the Mall, near Stafford IIouso, amidst a crowd of bowing, cheering spectators, the Prince saw a man step out and present a pistol at him. He heard the trigger snap, but tho pistol missed fire. The Queen, who had been bowing to the people on the opposite side, neither saw nor heard aii^ -ling. On reaching the Palace the Prince qncstioued the footmen in attendance, but neither had they noticed anything, and ho could judge for himself that no commotion, such as would have followed an arrest, had taken place. He was tempted to doubt the evidence of his senses, though he thought it necessary to make a private statement before the Inspector of Police. Con- firmation came in the story of a stuttering boy named Pearse. He had witnessed the scene, and after a little delay arrived of his own accord at the Palace, to report what had happened. Everybody concerned was now convinced of the threatened danger, but it was judged best to keep it secret. The Prince, ^v^iting afterwards to his father, mentions in his simple straightforward fashion that they were both naturally much agitated, and that the Queen was very nervous and unwell ; as who would not bo with the swoi d of Damocles quivering ready to fall on the doomed head ? Her Majesty's doctor wished that she should go out, and the wish coincided with the quiet courage and good sense of the Eoyal couple. To have kept within doors might have been to shut themselves up for months, and the Queen said later, " she never could have existed under the uncertainty of a concealed attack. She would much rather run the immediate risk at any timo than have the presentiment of danger constantly hovering over her." But the brav?^ generous woman, a true queen in facing tho dastardly foe, was careful to save ot^-crs from unnecessary exposure. Tho I'RESll ATTEMPTS AGAINST THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 167 Annual Jicffislcr of tho year mentions that sho did not permit lier female ntteiidunlH to accompany hor according to her tisual practice, on that dangerous drive. Lady lUoomfiehl, who as Miss LiddcU was one of the Maids of Honour in waiting, amply confirms tho statement. No whisper of what was expected to occur had reached tho ladies of the Household. They waited at homo all the afternoon counting on heing summoned to drive with tho Queen. Contrary to her ordinary habit and to her wonted consideration for them, they wore neither sent for to accompany her, nor apprised in time that thoy were not wanted, so that they miglit have disposed of their leisure elsewhere. Tho Queen went out alone with Prince Albert. When she returned and everybody knew what sho had encountered, sho said to Miss LiddcU : "I daro say, Georgy, you were surprised at not driving with mc this afternoon, but tho fact was that as wo returned frdin church yester- day, a man presented a pistol at the carriage window, which flashed iu the pan ; wo wore so taken by surprise that we had not time to escape, so I knew what was hanging over me, and was determined to expose no lifo but my own." Tho young Maid of Honour, in speaking warmly of the Queen's courage and unselfishness, shrewdly reminds her readers that had three ladies driven rapidly by instead of one, the would-bo assassin might have been bewildered and uncertain in his aim. The Queen and tho Prince had driven in the direction of Hampstead in "superb weather," with "hosts of people on foot" around them — a strange contrast in their ease and tranquillity to the beating hearts and watchful oyes in the Eoyal carriage. There had been no misadventure and nothing suspicions observed, though every turn, almost every face was scanned, till on the way home, between the Green Park and the garden wall, at tho same spot, though on the opposite side from where Oxford had stood two years before, a shot was fired about five paces off. The Princo immediately recognised tho man who had aimed at him the day before, " a little swarthy ill-looking rascal," who had been already seized, though too late to stop the shot, by a policeman close at hand. When the worst was over without harm done, "We felt as if a load had been taken off our hearts," wrote the Prince, " and we thanked the Almighty for having preserved us a second time from so great a danger." Tho Prince added, "Uncle Mcnsdorff* and mamma were driving close behind us. The Duchess Beruhard of Weimar was on horseback — not sixty paces from us." It was said that when the Queen arrived at the Palace and met the Duchess of Kent, whom Count Mcnsdorff had conducted thither, the poor mother was deeply affected and * Tho Duchess of Kent's eldest sister marrieil a private gentleman, originally a French Migri, afterwards a distin- guished officer in the Austrian service. His sons were Prince Albert's early companions and intimate friends. •i^ 168 QUI: UN VtCWRlA. foil upon lior (liuiylitcr'H neck with a flood of toui-H, " while the Qiioon (Mulctivourcd (o roussure her with clu'crful words uiul iiflbctionuto caresses." Indeed Ww Queen was greatly relieved, and in the reaction she recovered her spirits. She wrote to the King of tho Uelgians tho day afterward.<, '* I was really not at all frightened, and feel very proud at dear Uncle MensdorfT calling mo * very courageous,' which I shall over reini'inber with peculiar pride, coming from so distinTii-'^'- >'i an officer as ho is." "Wo may mention that, tho general impression made on tho , Dy tho (iueen's hearing under these treacherous attacks was that of her utter fearlessness and strength of nerve ; a corresponding idea, which wo think quite mistaken, was that tho Priuco showed himself tho more nervous of tho two. A great crowd assembled to cheer tho Queen when she drove out on the following day. " One long shout of hurrahs," with waving of hats and handkerchiefs, greeted her. Sho bowed and smiled and appeared calm and collected, though somewhat flushed ; but when sho camo back from what is described as like a triumphal i)rogress, it was observed that, in spito of her gratification, slie looked palo and not so well as sho had done on tho day preceding tho attack. The bravest heart in a woman's breast coidd not surmount unmoved such an ordeal ; sho was at tho Italian Opera tho same evening, however, and heard tho national anthem interrupted at every lino by bursts of cheering. In this case, as in the other, tho offender was a mere lad, little over twenty, named John Francis, llo was tho son of a stage-carpenter, and had himself been a young carpenter who had led an irregular life, and been guilty of dishonesty. IIo behaved at first with much coolness and indifference, jeering at tho magistrates. Francis was tried in tho month of June for high treason, and sentenced to death, when his bluster ceased, and ho fell back in a fainting fit in the arms of the turnkey. The Queen was exceedingly anxious that the sentence should not bo executed, Ihougli "fully conscious of tho encouragement to similar attempts which might follow from such leniency," and the sentence of death was commuted to banishment for life. On the very day after tho commutation of the sentence had been announced, Sunday, tho 3rd of July, tho Queen was again fired at as she sat by the side of her uncle. King Leopold, on her way to the Chapel Eoyal, St. James's. The pistol missed fire, and the man who presented it, a hunchback, was seized by a boy of sixteen called Uassct. So ridicidous did tho group seem, that the very policemen pushed away both captor and captive as actors in a bad practical joke. Then tho boy Dasset, who retained the pistol, was in danger of being taken up as tho real culprit, trying to throw tho blame upon another. At last several witnesses proved the true state of tho case. The pistol was discovered to contain only FliKSlI ATTEMPTS AGAINUT THE QUEEN'S LIFE. |6<) pftwdor, paper, and somo l)its of u tobucco-pipo rnmni(ul together. On (wiiiniimtion it was found tlmt tlio hunchback, anotlior niiscmhk! hid named llean, was a chemist's assistant, who had written a letter to his father dochiring that ho " wouhl never hoo him again, U3 ho intended doing sometliing which Avas not dislionest, hut desperato." Tho Queen was not awaro of Benin's attempt till slio camo hack from St. James's, "when sho betrayed no alarm, hut said she had expected a repetition of tho attempts on her life, bo long as tho law remained unaltered by which they could bo dealt with only as acts of high treason." *' Sir Robert Pool hurried up from C-'ambridgo on hearing what had occurred, to consult with the I'rinco as to the steps to be taken. During this interview her Majesty entered tho room, when the Minister, in public so cold and self- controlled, in reality so full of genuine feeling, out of his very manliness, was unablo to control his emotion, and burst into tears;''* an honourable sequel to tho difficulties and misunderstanding which had heralded tho Premier's entrance on office. It was, indeed, high time that a suitable provision should be made to meet what seemed likely to bo a new and base abuse of Royal clemency. In tho meantime, Prince Albert's fair and fearless treatment of the whole matter was very remarkable. IIo wrote that he could imagine tho circumstance of Ueau's attempt being mado the day after Francis received his pardon would excite much surprise in Germany. But tho Prince was satisfied that Bean's letter making known his intention had been written days before. Prince Albert was convinced that, as tho law then stood, Francis's execution, notwithstanding tho verdict of the jury, would have been nothing less than u judicial murder, as it was essential that the act should bo committed with intent to kill or wound, and in Fran>- s's case this, to all appearance, was not the fact ; at least it was open to gi'avo doubt. There was no proof that Francis's pistol was loaded. " In this calm and wise way," observes Mr. Justin M'Carthy, " did tho husband of the Queen, who had always shared with her whatever of danger there might be in the attempts, arguo as to tho manner in which they ought to bo dealt Avith." Tho historian adds, " The ambition which moved most or all the miscreants who thus disturbed the Queen and the country, was that of the mountebank rather than the assassin." It merited contempt no less than icverity. A bill was brought forward on tho 12th of July, and passed on tho IGth, making Bucli attacks punishable, as high misdemeanours, by transportation for seven years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three years ; tho culprit to be publicly or privately whipped as often and in such, manr.cr and form as the court * " Life of the Prince Consort." Z " i ■ 1 it) 170 OUKEN VICTORIA, Himll (liroct, not excodding tlirioo. Boan was tried by tlii.s law on tlio 2'>tli of Aiiu:iiHt, and Buutoiicod to eighteen nmnths' iiiiprisoniiieiit. One of tlio attract iouH of tho seaHon was tlio roappearancc^ of Uuclicl, ravisliing all hearts by her acting of Canullo in Lcs Iloruces, uud wiiiiiiiig ovations of every kind up to roses dropped from the Queen's boiupiot. Mondeliwohn was also in London, and went to lluckiiiglnun Palace. He has left u charming account of one of his visits in u letter to his mother. " I must tell you," ho writes, " all tho details of my last visit to ]Uicking1ium ralaco. ... It is, as O. says, tho one really pleasant and thoroughly eonifortublo English house where one feels a ton aisc. Of course I do know a few others, but yet on tho whole I agree with him. Joking apart, Prince Albert had asked me to go to him on Saturday at two o'clock, so that I might try his organ before I left England ; I found him alone, and as avo were talking away, tho Queen came in, also alone, in a simple morning-dress. She said she was obliged to leave for Clarcmont in an hour, and then, suddenly interrupting herself, exclaimed, ' Hut, goodness, what a confusion!' for tho v ind had littca'ed the whole room, and even tho pedals of the organ (which, by the way, made u very pretty picture in the room), with leaves of music from a largo portfolio that lay open. As she spoke she knelt down, and began picking up tho music ; Prince Albert helped, and I too was not idle. Then Prince Albert proceeded to explain the stops to mo, and she said that she would meanwhile put things straight. "I begged th . the Princo would first play me something, so that, as I said, I might boast about it in Germany. lie played a chorale by heart, witli the pedals, so charmingly, and clearly, and correctly, that it would have done credit to any professional ; and the Queen, having finished her work, camo and sat by him and listened, and lookcnl pleased. Then it was my turn, and I began my chorus from »S7. Paul, " IIow lovely are the messengers." lieforo I got to the end of the first verso they both joined in tho chorus, and all tho time Princo Albert managed the stops for mo so cleverly — first a flute, at the forte the great organ, at the D major part the whole register, then ho made a lovely diminuendo with the stops, and so on to the end of the piece, and all by heart — that I was really quite enchanted. Then the young Princo of Gotha came in, and there Avas more chatting ; and tho Queen asked if I had written any new songs, and said she was very fond of singing my published ones. ' You should sing ono to him,' said Prince Albert, and after a little begging she said she would try the ' Friihliugslied ' in 13 flat. ' If it is still here,' she added, ' for all my music is packed up for Claremont.' Prince Albert went to look for it, but came back saying it was already packed. ' Hut one might, jifuxDKrssoi/x. 17' iMTliiipH, unpack it,' Hiiid T. * Wo muHt Hond for r.ady .' hIio miid (I did not ciitoh tho niiino). So tho hell wiiHinng, and tho sorvants worn sent after it, but without succchh; and at hist tlio Qiiocn wont hca-solf, and whihi sho wuh gono, I'rinco Alhort Haid to me, 'Hho Ix'RH you will acTcpt this prosont as ii riMiicinhranro,' and guvo mo u littlo oaso with a hcaiitiful ring, on which is ongravod < V. K., 18 12.' ** Then tho (iuccn cnmo Imck and said, ' Lady is gono, and lm« taken all my things with her. It really is most annoying.' You cari't think how that amused me. I th(!n lieggod that I might not bo mado to sufFor for tho accident, and hoped she woidd sing another song. After some consultation with her husband, ho said, 'P''o will sing you something of flluck's.' Meant inie, tho I'rinoess of (iotha had como in, and wo flvo proceedi'd through various corridors and rooms to tho (iution's sitting-room. Tho Duchess of Kent camo in too, and while they wore all talking, I rummaged about amongst tho music, and soon discovered my first sot of songs; so, of course, I begged her rather to sing ono of those than the 01 uck, to which sho very kimlly cimsentod; and which did she chooso? ^Sch'oiicr tind sch'nnrr nrhmHck sirh,'' sang it quite charmingly, in stricit time and tune, and with very good execution. Only in tho lino 'Av Prosu Luslen und mii/i,^ whoro it goes down to D, and then comes up again by semi-tones, she sang 1) sharp each time, and as I gave her the noto tho two first times, tho last time sho sang D, where it ought to have boon D sharp. But with the exception of this littlo mistake it was really cliarming, and tho hist long G I have never heard better, or purer, or more natural, from any amateur. Then I was obliged to confess that Fanny had written tho song (which I found very hard ; but pride must liavo a fall), and to beg her to sing one of my own aLo. ' If I would give her plenty of help sho would gladly try,' sho said, and then she sang * I*il(/c)'sj)ruch,^ ^Lass dich nur,' really quite faultlessly, and with charming feeling and expression. I thought to myself, one must not pay too many compliments on such an occasion, so I merely thanked her a great many times, upon which she said, ' Oh, if only I had not been so frightened ! generally I have such long breath.' Then I praised her heartily, and with tho best conscience in the world ; for just that part with tho long C at the close, she had done so Avell, taking it and tho three notes next to it all in the same breath, as ono seldom hears it done, and tlioroforo it amused mo doubly that sho herself should have begun about it. "After this Prince Albert sang tho 'Arndlc-licd,^ ' Es ist ein sclmittcr,^ and then ho said I must play him something before I went, and gave mo as themes tho chorale which ho had played on tho organ, and the song he had just sung. If everything had gone as usual I ought to have improvised dreadfully badly, for it is almost always so witli mo I •' •I M ' 17a QVEEN VICTORIA. when I want it to go well, and then I should have gone away vexed with the whole morning. But just as if I vere to keep nothing but the plcasantcst, most charming recol- lection of it, I never improvised better ; I was in the best mood for it, and played a long time, and enjoyed it myself so much that, besides tho two themes, I brought in the songs that tho Queen had sung quite naturally ; and it all went off so easily, that I would gladly not have stopped ; and they followed mo with so much intelligence and attention, that I felt more at my ease than I ever did in improvising to an audience. Tho Queen said several times she hoped I would soon come to England again, and pay them a visit, and then I tool: leave; and down below I saw the beautiful carriages waiting, with their scarlet outriders, and in a quarter of an hour the flag was lowered, and the Court Circular announced, ' Iler Majesty left tho palace at twenty minutes past three.' " The Queen and the Prince were enjoying the company of Prince Albert's brother. Prince Ernest, the hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and his newly-wedded wife, who were both with the Court during its short stay at Claremont. There the news reached her Majesty of the sad and sudden death of tho Due d'Orleans, the eldest son of Louis Philippe, and the favourite brother of tho Queen of the Belgians. The Due d'Orleans had been with the King and Queen of France at Neuilly, from which he Avas returning in order to join the Duchcsse d'Orleans at Plombieres, when the horses in his carriage started off near the Porto Maillot. Fearing that he should be overturned the Prince rashly leaped out, when his spurs and his sword caught in his cloak and helped to throw him to the ground with great violence. The result wr^s concussion of the brain, from which he died within three hours, never recovering consciousness. The Due d'Orleans was a young man of great promise, and his death was not only a source of deep distress to all connected with him, it was in the end, so far as men can judge, fatal to the political interests of his family. Many of us can recollect still something of the agonised prayer of the poor mother by the dying Prince, " My God, take me, but save my child ! " and the cry of the bereaved father, the first time he addressed the Chamber afterwards, when he broke down and could utter nothing r^ave the passionate lamentation of David of old, " My sou, my son ! " The Queen and Prince Albert were doubly and trebly allied to the Orleans family by the marriages of the Queen of the Belgians, the Due dc Nemours, and later of Princess Clementine, to three members of the Coburg family — the uncle and two of tho cousins of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They felt much for tho unhappy family in their terrible bereavement. The Queen grieved especially for her particular friend. Queen Louise, and for the young widow, a cultured, intellectual German Princess, with her health already broken. " My poor dearest Louise, how my heart bleeds for her. I know how I 1 1 \'^'. \ ! • i ii ,' rccul- VVfllt «•' iiiich in iw I saw the and pay tticrn n \h\t. and . i'-i waitint;, wiih (1 *" i-cd, and tl: ■y nf i'rinco Alliorfs hrnth(?r, 'lU, and his n<-wl}'-Nvoddpd wil\-. rcnvjut, Th'.TO the news r,s, tho oldest son of Due d'OrliVni-? ■■''■'■ ^ -' ; '.ni.'uitjd ■ '! ;i hini, 11 ViL-i ill liiu ciul, .■ii) iu,i ;4." tiicu («i.u y-'.^o, liiUil U.; tin.: j::'litu:ul iulcixtilrf of his lumily, "Mawy of us can ref.'olKift still souk;'' ■ the aginu^od prayer oC tha poor My God, l!ik(v nic, but ^avo ray child !" and the cj'v of tho ' t= addvcs>!C'd thi^ C^liuinher ai' ■ ' inOHliitiOTl O! 1: ■ f tho QuecQ of tl: " ' ■ *' '■ niid I'rinco Alhc-''f !;6 hriikn down • ,:Hh I ^t ■.lUiRAVED Bx V; ROl-'FE. FROM THE I'ATlip: BY J H F.jLEIY B A TORONTO OKOKOK VIHTUK IF \i^ m i ! .frrf 1 ri DEATH OF THE DUG D' ORLEANS. '73 sho loved poor Chartrca,* and deservedly, for ho was so noble and good. All onr anxiety now is to hear how poor dear frail Helfcne (the Duchesso d'Orlcans) has borno this too dreadful loss. She loved him so, and Im was so devoted to her." During the night of tho 27th of July this year, London was visited by tho most violent thunderstorm which had been expeiiouced for many summers. It lastod for several hours. The fine spire of tho church of St. Martin-iu-the-Fields was struck by the lightning and practically destroyed. On tho 9th of August the Queen prorogued Parliament, when the Iiince and Princess of Saxo-Coburg Qotha witnessed tho interesting ceremony, occupying chairs near the chair of State, kept vacant for the Prince of Wales to the right of tho Queen, while Prince Albert sat in the chair to her left. The Prince of Wales was still at a considerable distance from the occupancy of that chair. Even as wo see him here, in a copy of Mrs. Thornycroft's graceful statue, he is in the character of a shepherd lad, like David of old, and not in that of tho heir-apparent to tho throne. At the close of this season, the Queen's old friend ^nd servant Baroness Lehzen with- drew from Court service and retired to Germany to ^i her days in her native country, in the company of a sister. Lady Bloomfield saw the Baroness Lehzen in her home at Biickeburg, within a day's journey of Hanover, a few years subsequently. " She resided with her sister in a comfortable small house, where she s'^emcd perfectly contented and happy. She was as much devoted to the Queen as ever, and her rooms were filled with pictures and prints of her Majesty." The Prince and Princess of Biickeburg were very kind to her, and she had as much society as she liked or desired. What a change from the great monarchy of England to the tiny princedom of ]Jiickeburg ! But the Baroness was a German, and could reconcile the two ideas in her mind. Sho was also an ageing woman, to whom the rest and freedom of domestic life were sweet and tho return to the customs of her youth not unacceptable. * The Due lie Clmrtres was tho earlier title of the Due d'Orldnns, which he bore when his father was still Due (I'Orliians, 1>elVirc he became King uf France as " Louis Thilippc." Apparently the son continued " Charlres " to Lis intinmt« fiicnds. Vj .^ ' 1' r .1 ^ CHAPTER XIV. niE queen's first visit to SCOTLAND. rpHE Qxioen had never been abroad. It was still well-nigh an unconstitutional step for a sovereign of England to claim the privilege, enjoyed by so many English subjects, of a foreign tour, let it be ever so short. However, this year the proposal of a visit to her uncle King Leopold at Brussels, where several members of Louis Philippe's family were to have met her, was made. But the lamentable death of the Due d'Orleans put an end for the present to the project. Neither were affairs at home in so flourishing a condition as to encourage any great departure from ordinary rule and precedent. The manufacturing districts were in a most unsettled state. The perpetually recurring riots — so long as the corn laws stood in the way of a sure and abundant supply of grain, which meant cheap bread, and as the people believed prosperous trade — had broken out afresh in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midland counties. The aspect of Manchester alone became so threatening, that all the soldiers who could be spared from London, including a regiment of the Guards, were dispatched to the North of England. Happily, the disturbances were quelled, though not without bloodshed; and it M'as resolved, notwithstanding the fact that similar rioting had taken place in Lanarkshire, the Queen and the Prince should pay their first visit to Scotland, a country within her dominions, but different in physical features and history from the land in which she had been born and bred. , How much the royal visitors were gratified, has been amply shown ; but to realise what the Queen's visit was to the Scotch people, it is necessary to go back to the nation's loyalty and to the circumstance that since the exile of the Stewarts, nay, since the days when James VI. left his ancient capital to assume the croAvn of England, the monarchs had shown their faces rarely in the north; while in the cases of Charles I. and Charles II. there had been so much of self-interest and compulsion in their presence as to rob it of its grace. George IV. had come and gone certainly, but though ho was duly welcomed, it was difficult even for his most zealous supporters to be enthusiastic about him. At the proposed arrival of the young m THE QUEEN'S FIRST V1SI7' TO SCOTLAND. ni Queen, who was well worthy of the most ardent devotion, the " leal " heart of Scotland swelled with glad anticipation. The country had its troubles like the rest of the world. In addition to vexed questions between perplexed mill-masters, shipbuilders, and mine- owners on the one side, and on the other, penniless mechanics and pitmen, the crisis which more than all others rent the Covenanting church, so dear to the descendants of tho old "Whigs, was close at hand. All was forgotten for the hour in the strange resemblance which exists between one strain of tho character of the staid Scotch, and a vein in tho nature of the impulsive French, two nations that used to be trusty allies. There is, indeed, a bond to unite " Caledonia stern and wild " and " tho sunny land of Franco ; " a weft of passionate poetry crosses alike the woof of the simple cunning of the Iliglilandcr and tho slow canuiucss of tho Lowlander. Scotland as well as France has been The chosen home of cliivalry, the gdrdeu of romance. The news that the Queen and the Prince were coming, travelled with the rapidity of the ancient clansmen's fiery cross from the wan waters of the south to the stormy friths of the north, and kindled into a blaze the latent fire in every soul. The fields, the pastures, the quarries, tho shootings, were all very well, and the Kirk was still better ; but tho Queen Avas at the door — tho Queen who represented alike Queen Mary, King Jamie — all the King Jamies, — King William, the good friend of religious liberty, and of " Cardinal Car.stairs," " Bonnie Prince Charlie," at once pitied and condemned, and King George, " honest man !" not unfair or i merciful, whatever his minister Walpole might advise. Tho Queen was, above all, herself tho flower of her race. Who would not hurry to meet and greet her, to give her the warmest reception ? All the traditions, all tho instincts of the people thrilled and impelled them. Multitudes formed of broadly and picturesquely contrasting elements flocked to Edinburgh to hail her Majesty's landing. Manifold preparations were made for her entrance into the capital, tho one regret being that she was not to dwell in her own beautiful palace of Holyrood — unoccupied by royal tenants since the last French exiles, Charles X., the Dauphin and the Dauphiness (the Daughter of the Temple), and the Duchesso do Berri, with hor two children, the young Due do Bourdeaux and his sister, found a brief refuge within its walls. The Queen, like hor uncle George IV., was to be in the first place the guest of the Duke of Buccleugh at Dalkeith Palace. Her Majesty and the Prince left Windsor at five o'clock on the morning of the 29th August, 1842, and after journeying to London and Woolwich, embarked on board the Royal George yacht under a heavy shower of rain. The yacht was attended by a squadron of nine vessels, the Trinity House steamer, and a packet, besides being iM: \ L-^*^ mi n J I J 176 QUEEN VICTORIA. followed for some distunco, in spite of tlio unpropitious wcaflior, by innumorablo littlo pleasure-boats. The squadron was both for safety and convcnicnco; certain vessels conveyed the ladies and gentlemen of the suite, and one took the two dogs, tho chosen companions of their master and mistress, " Eos," and anotlicr four-footed favourite, " Cairnaoh." ♦ Tho voyage was both tedious and trying, tho sea was rough, and the royal voyagers were ill. On the morning of the 31st they were only coasting Northumberland, when the Queen saw the Fern Islands, where Grace Darling's lighthouse and her heroic story were still things of yesterday. Before her Majesty's return to England, she heard what she had not known at the time, that the bravo girl had died within twenty-four hours of tho royal yacht's passing tho lighthouse station. The Queen's first remark on the Scotch coast, though it happened to bo tho com- paratively tame east coast, was '* very beautiful — so dark, rocky, bold, and wild — totally unlike our coast." All her observations had the naive freshness and sympathetic willingness to be pleased, of an unexhausted, imvitiated mind. She noticed everything, and was gratified by details which would have signified nothing to a sated, jaded nature, or, if they had made an impression, would only have called forth more weariness, varied by con- temptuous criticism. The longer light in the north, that dear summer gloaming which is neither night nor day, but borrows something from both — from the silence and solemn mystery of the latter, and from the clear serenity of the former — a leisure time which is associated from youth to age with a host of happy, tender associations ; the pipes playing in one of the fishing-boats ; the reel danced on board an attendant steamer ; the bonfires on the coast — nothing was too trivial to escape the interested watcher, or was lost upon her. Queen though she was. The anchor of the royal yacht was let down in Leith Roads at midnight. At seven o'clock on the morning of the Ist of September the Queen saw before her the good town of Leith, where Queen Mary had landed from France ; and in tho background, Edinburgh half veiled in an autumn fog, lying at the foot of its semicircle of hills — the grim couohant lion of Arthur's seat ; Salisbury Crags, grey and beetling ; the heatherly slopes of tho Tentlands in the distance. A little after eight her Majesty landed at Granton Pier, amidst the cheers of her Scotch subjects. The Duko of Buccleugh, whose public-spirited work the pier was, stood there to receive his sovereign, when she put her foot on shore, as he * Sir Kdwin Landsecr painted these two dofrs for tlic Queen, "Eos" with the Princess Rojal in 1841, "Eos" alone, a skotdi for a large picture in 1842, " Cairnach " in 1841. In 1838, the great animal painter had painttJ for her Majesty "little Dash" along witli two otlwir dogs, and '= Lorey," a pet parrot helonging to tho Duchess of Kent. \ Till-: QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO SCOTLAND. %11 had already boon on board tho yacht to greet her arrival in what was once called Scotland Water. When Queen Mary landed at Lcith, it took her more than one day, if wc remember rightly, to make a slow progress to her capital. Things are done faster in tho nineteenth century; a few minutes by railway now separate Granton from Edinburgh. But tho Edinburgh and Granton railway did not exist in 1842. Her Majesty and the I'rinco drovo in a barouche, followed by the ladies and gentlemen of her suite in other carriages, and escorted by the Duke of Buccleugh and several gentlemen on horseback, to the ancient city of her Stewart ancestry. An unfortunate misconception robbed the occasion of the dignified ceremony and the exhibition of fervent personal attachment which had awaited it. All tho previous day tho authorities and tho crowd had been on the look-out for tho great event, and in the delay had passed the time quite happily in watching the prepara- tions, and tho decorations and devices for tho coming illumination. The Lord Provost, Sir James Forrest, had taken the precaution to send a carriageful of bailies over night, or by dawn of day, to catch tho first sign of the Queen's landing, and drive with it, post-haste, to the chief magistrate, who with his fellows was to be stationed at the barrier erected in the High Street, to present the keys of tho city to the sovereign claiming admittance. But whether tho bailies blundered over their instructions or slept at their post, or lost their way, no warning of the Queon's approach reached the Provost and his satellites in time. They were calm in the confident persuasion that the Queen would not arrive till noon — at tho soonest — a persuasion which was based on the conviction that the event was too great to be hurried over, and which left out of sight the consideration of the disagreeable sea-voyage, and the natural desire to be on solid ground, and at rest, on the part of the travel-tossed voyagers. " We both felt dreadfully tired and giddy," her Majesty wrote of herself and the Prince when they reached Dalkeith. The result was that these gentlemen in office were seated at breakfast as usual, or were engaged in getting rid betimes of some of tho numerous engagements which beset busy men on a busy day, when the cry arose that tho Queen was there, in the midst of them, with . .^ody to meet her, no silver keys on a velvet cushion to be respectfully offered and graciously .oturned. The ancient institution of tho lloyal Archer Guard, one of the chief glories of the situation, Avas only straggling by twos and threes to its mustcr-grotmd. The Celtic Society was in a similar plight, headed in default of the Duke of Argyle by the Marquis of Lorn, a golden-haired stripling in a satin kilt of the Campbell set, who looked all the slighter and more youthful, with more dainty calves in his silken hose, because of the big burly chieftains — Islay conspicuous among them — whom he led. The I' I H' iili A A ! / •?• QUEEN VICTORIA. stands, tho windows, tho very grand old Htrcots wcro half empty as yot, in tho raw Soptombor morning. No King or (iuoon had visited Edinburgh for u score of years, and when at last tho Queen of Hearts did come, tho citizens wore fouiul napping — a sore mortiftcation with which her Majesty deals very gently in her Journal, scarcely alluding to tho inopportune accident. In truth only a moiety of early risers — those mostly country folks who had trooped into tho town — restless youthful spirits, ardent holiday-makers, who could not find any holiday too long — or gallant devoted innocent Queen- worshippers, sleepless with tho thought that tho Queen was so near and might already bo stirring — were abroad and intent on wliat was passing, looking at tho vacant places, speculating on how they would be choke full in a couple of hours, amusing themselves easily with tho idlest trifles, by way of whetting the appetite for the great sight, which they were to remember all their lives. Those spectators were startled by seeing a gentleman, said afterwards to have been Lord John Scott, tho popular but somewhat madcap brother of the Duke of Buccleugh, gallop up tho street bareheaded, waving his hat above his head and shouting " The Queen, the Queen ! " The listeners looked at each other and laughed. How well tho hoax was gone about ; but who would presume to play such a trick, it was too much even from Lord John — did not somebody say it was Lord John ? On tho lino of route too ! What were the police thinking of? Then swift corroboration followed, in the train of carriages rolling up, tho first attended by a few of the Eoyal Archers, in their picturesque costumes of green and gold, each with his bow in one hand and his arrows in his belt. But the calmest hud his equanimity disturbed by the consciousness that the main body of his comrades, all noblemen and gentlemen of Scotland, wcro running pell-mell behind, in a desperate effort to form into rank and march in duo order. One eager confused glance, one long-drawn breath, one vehement heart-throb for her who was tho centre of all, and tho disordered pageant had swept past. The Queen wrote in her Journa' that the Duke of Eoxburgh and Lord Elcho were the members of the Body Guard on her side of the carriage, and that Lord Elcho, whom she did not know at the time, pointed out the various monuments and places of interest. Both the Queen and Prince Albert were much struck by the beautiful town, the massive stone houses, the steep High Street, the tall buildings, " and the Castle on the grand rock in the middle of the town, and Arthur's Seat in the background, a splendid spectacle." On the country road to Dalkeith, the cottages built of stone, the walls (" dry stano dykes ") instead of fences, the old women in theix- close caps (" sou-backed mutches "), the M^ THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO SCOTIAA'D. 179 1 girls and children of the working cIuhhch, with flowing hair, often rod, and huro feet, all the littk) individual traits, which inipross \is on our first visit to a foreign country, woro carefully noted down. The Duko and Duchess of Bucclcugh proved a nohlo host and hostess, but they could provide! no such cicorono for the Queen as was furnished for fieorgo IV., when Sir "Walter Scott showed him lulinburgh, and for the Governor of the Netherlands, when Ilubens introduced him to Antwerp. Neither did any peer or chief appear on the occasion of the Queen's visit, with such a telling accompaniment as that ruinous "tail" of wild Uighlaudcrs, attached to Glengarry, when ho waited on the King. On tho " rest day," which succeeded that of hor Majesty's arrival at Dalkeith, she had three fresh experiences, chronicled in her Journal. She tasted oatmeal porridge, which she thought " very good," and " Finnan haddies," of which she gave no opinion, and she was stopped and turned back in her drive by "a Scotch mist." Indeed, not all tho Queen's proverbial good luck in tho matter could now or at any future time greatly modify the bano of open-air enjoyment amidst tho beautiful scenery of Scotland — tho exceedingly variablo, oven inclement, weather which may be met with at all seasons. Saturday, tho 3rd of September, afforded abundant compensation for all that had boon missed on tho Queen's entrance into Edinburgh. She paid an announced and formal visit from Dalkeith Palace to tho to^v^l, in order to accomplish the balked ceremony of tho presentation of the keys and to see tho Castle on its historic rock. By Ilolyrood Chapel and Ilolyrood Palace, which the Queen called "a royal-looiiing old place," but wlioro she did not tarry now, because thero -vras fever in tlio neighbourhood; np tho old world Cannon-gate, and the High Street, where tho Setouns and the Leslies had their brawl, and tho Jacobites went with white cockades in their cocked hats and white roses at their breasts, braving tho fire of the Castle, to pay homage to Prince Charlie ; on to tho barrier. Edinburgh was wide awake this time. Tho streets wore densely crowded, every window, high and low, in the tall grey houses framed a galaxy of faces, stands had been erected, and platforms thrown out wherever stand and platform could find space. The very "leads " of the public buildings bore their burden of sightsccn. The Lord Provost and his bailies stood ready, and the Queen camo wearing the royal Stewart tartan, " A' fine colours but nane 0' them blue," to show that she was akin to the surroundings. She heard and replied to the speech made to her by the representative of the old burghers, and gave him back the token of his rule. She reached tho Castle, after having passed tho houses of Knox and tho Earl of Moray. She saw the Scotch regalia, and heard anew how it had once been saved by a minister's brave wife, who carried it hidden in a bundle of yarn in her III ^i n « I 180 QUKKN y WTO HI A, lap, out of tlio nortliprn onHtlc, wliidi was in tlio liaiuln of the cnomy; and liitw it liiul Ix'cn conocalcd apiin — only too well, I'oigotton in the* courHo of a gcncmtion or two, and actually lost Higlit of for a hundred y«>nrH. Sho entered the room, '* such a very, very snuill room," she wrote, iu her wonder at tho rudo and seanty nccuinniodation of those days, in whieh James VI. was born. No doubt " Mons Meg," the old Flemish cannon and grim darling of the fortress, was presented to her. Ihit what 80(>ms to have moved her most was tho maguiHoont view, whieh included tho rich Lothians and tho silver shield of the Frith, and stretched, but only when tho weather was lino enough, in the direction of Stirlingshire, to tho round-backed Ochils and tho blue giants, tho Grampians, while at her feet lay the green gardens of Princes Street and tho handsonie street itself — onco tho Nor' lioch and tho IJurgh ^[uir — Allan Kamsay's house and lleriot's Ilctspital, or "Wark," tho princely gift of the worthy jeweller to his native town. A littlo incident, the motive of which was unknown to her Majesty, occurred on her drive back to Dalkeith. An enthusiastic active young fellow, who had seen tho presen- tation of the keys, hurried out the length of a milo on tho country road to Dalkeith, and choosing a solitary point, stationed himself t)n the summit of a wall, where he was the only watcher, and awaited tho return of the carriages. Tho special phaeton drove up with tho young couple, talking and laughing together in the freedom of their privacy. Tho single spectator took off his hat at the risk of losing his precarious footing, and in respectful silence, bowed, or '-louted low "^another difficult proceeding under the circumstances. Prince Albert, who was sitting with his arms crossed on his breast, treated tho demonstra- tion as not meant for him. The smiling Queen inclined her head, and the eager lad had what ho sought, a mark of her recognition given to him alone. To the day of his deata no more loyal heart beat for his Queen throughout her wide dominions. The Queen drove to Leith on another day, and she and the Prince were still more charmed with tli*^ view, which he ca '. ' "fairylike." After the fashion of most strangers, the travellers had their attentio- attracted by the Newhavcn fish-wives, who offered a curious contrast to tho rest of the population. Their Flemish origin annoimced itself, for her Majesty pronounced them " very clean and very /?H/c/!-looking with their M'hite caps and bright-coloured petticoats." It was about this time that a great author made them all his own, by choosing a fit representative for his heroine, and describing a fisherman's marriage on the island of Inchcolm. On Sunday, Dean Eamsay, whose memory is so linked with Scotch stories, read prayers. On Monday, the Queen held a Drawing-room at Dalkeith Palace. It was an anti- quarian question whether there had been another Drawing-room since the Union. Well ^g^esssmt THE orr.r.x'R first visit to scotiaxd. i8i might tho Htuy-ut-hotiio liitliiH of Sciitliiiiil [iliitno thomHclvt's. AfttTWiinls, her Mnjcwty rcwiviul addiTHscs IVnm the Mii^istnitcs of Kdiiiliiirgh, the ScmiIcjIi (7liurc)i, itiid IJiiivorHitu'H. Tlio (iuccn's stay iit Dalkrith wuh variod liy drivoH about the bcaiitifid gromidM on tho two KskH, ami short viHitH to iicighhoiii-iiig country watH, (iharactcriHlic and interesting, Dahnony, DalhouHie, &c. &c. In tlio evening, it Ih Buid, Seoteh musie waH frcquc-ntly given for hor Majesty's deh'cdation, and '.iiat among tho Hongs were Honio '" Mio HatireH and parodies poured forth on tlie unfortunate Lord Provo^.t and bailios, . ad robbed tho town of tlio full glory of the (iuco I's arrival. Tho doverest of these w an adaptation of an old Jacobite ditty, itself a cutting satiro which a liundred years before had taunted the Georgian general. Sir Jolm (!opo, with the exc(>s.s of caution that led him to shun un engagomcnt, withdraw his forc(!S over night, and leavo the country open to tho Prctoudor to nuirch southward. The mocking versos thus challenged tho defaulter— II(>y ! Jdliniiii) ('opv, aro ye wuiikiii' yetl Or are your dniiiis a-lji'utin' yet I Now, with a slight variation on tho words tho measure ran — Hey ! Jamie Furrcst, iiio ye waiikiii' yetl Or aiti yo\ir builien Biioviu' yet 1 Then, after proceeding to run over tho temptations wliich might bo supposed to have overmastered tho party, tho writer dwelt with emphasis on a favourite breakfast dish in Scotland — For kijiper it in savoury fdoil, Sae early in tliu luoiiiiu'. ^ ' Common rumour would have it that Lord John Scott, whoso good qualities included a fine voice and a love for Scotch songs, to whi(di his wife contributed at least one exquisite ballad, sang this squib to her Majesty. An improvement on the story, which is at least strictly in keeping with tho Prince's character, added, that when another song was suggested, and the " Flowers of tho Forest " mentioned. Prince Albert, nnac(iuainted with the song in question, and misled by a word in tho title, exclaimed kindly, " No, no ; let the poor man alone, ho has had enough of this sort of thing." From Dalkeith tho Queen and tho Prince started for tho Highlands, on a bright, clear, cold, frosty morning. They crossed the Forth and landed at Queen's Ferry, which bore its name from another queen when she Avas going on a very different errand ; for there it is said the fugitive Margaret, the sister of the Atheling, after she hud been wreciked in i I M\ 1 8a QUEEN VICTORIA. Scotland "Water, landed and took her way on foot to Dunferndine to ask <»raec of Malcolm Ccan Mohr, who made her his wife. Queen Victoria only saw Dunfermline and the abbey which holds the dust of King E-ucrt the Bruce from a disiunce, as she journeyed by Kinross and Loch Lcven, getting a nearer glimpse of Queen Mrry's island prison, to Perthsliire. At Dupplin the 42nd Highlanders, in their kilts, were stationed appropriately. Perth, with its fair " Inches " lying on the brimming Tay, in the shadow of the Avooded hills of Kinnoul a id ^[onorieff, delighted the royal strangers, and reminded Prince Albert of Basle. The old Palace of Scone, under the guardianship of Lord Mansfield, was the resting- place for the night. Next day the Queen saw the mound where the early kings of Scotland were crowned. A sort of ancient royal visitors' book was brought out from Perth to her Majesty, and the Queen and the Prince were requested to write their names in it. The last nanies written were those of James VI. and Charles I. Her Majesty and Prince Albert gave their mottoes as well as their names. Beneath her signature she wrote, '■'■Dieu et mon Droit ; " beneath his he wrote, " Treu und Fest." From Scone the party proceeded to Bunkeld, passing through Birnam Pass, the first of the three " Gates,'' into the Highlands, where the prophecy against Macbeth was fulfilled, and entered what is emphatically " the Country " by the lowest spur of the mighty Grampians. The romantic, richly-wooded beauty of Punkeld was increased by a picturesque camp of Athole Highlanders, to the niunbcr of a thousand men, with their piper in attendance. They had been called out for her Majesty's benefit by the late Duke of Athole, then Lord Glenlyon, who was suffering from temporary blindness, so that he had to be led about by Lady Glenlyon, his wife. At Dunkeld the Queen lunched, and walked down the ranks of Highland soldiers. The piper played, and a reel and the ancient sword-dance, over crossed swords — the nimble dancer avoiding all contact with the naked blades — were danced. Tho whole scene — royal guests, noble men and women, stalwart clansmen in their waving dusky tartans — must have boon very animated and striking in the lovely autumn setting of tho mountains when the ling was red, the roAvan berries hung like clusters of coral over tho brown burns, and a field of oats here and there came out like a patch of gold among tho heather. To put the finishing-touch to the picture, the grey tower of Gawin Douglas's Cathedral, still and solemn, kept watch over the tomb of the Wolf of Badcnoch. lint Dunkold was not the Queen's destination. She was going still farther into tho Highlands. She left the mountains of Craig-y-barns and Craig-vinean behind her, and travelled on by Aberfeldy to Taymouth, tho noble seat of the Marquis of Breadalbane. Lord Glenlyon's Highlanders gave place to Lord Breadalbane's, the Muirays, in Ihi'ir THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 183 ( particular sot of tartan with their juniper budge, to the Campbells and the Menzies, in their dark green and red and Avhitc kilts, with tho tufts of bog myrtle and ash in their bonnets. Tho pipers were multiplied, and a comjjany of tho 92nd Highlanders replaced the 42nd, in kilts like their neighbours. *' The firing of the guns," wrote the (Ju(>en, " tho cheering of the great crowd, the picturestpieness of the dresses, the beauty >f the surround- ing country with its rich background of wooded hills, altogether formed one of tho finest scenes imaginable. It seemed as if a great chieftain in olden feudal times was receiving his sovereign. It was princely and romantic." Such a "sovereign" of such a "chief" is tho crowned lady, every inch a queen, represented in Durham's bust reproduced in tho illustration. Lord Breadalbane was giving his Queen a royal welcome. Lady Breadalbane, a childless wife, had been one of the beautiful Haddington Baillies, descenilants of Grizel Baillie ; she was suffering from wasting sickness, and her beauty, still remarkable, was " as that of the dead." Some of the flower of tho Scotch nobility were assembled in the house to meet the Queen and the Prince — members of the families of Buccleugli, Sutherland, Abercorn, Roxburgh, Kinnoul, La\iderdalc &c. &c. The Gothic dining-room was dined in for the first time ; the Queen was the earliest occupant of her suite of rooms. After dinner, the gardens were illuminated, tho hills were crowned with bonfires, and Iligh- landers danced reels to the sound of the pipes by torchlight in front of the house. " It had a wild and very gay cS'ect." The whole life, with its environment, was like a revelation of new possibilities to tho young English Queen who had never been out of England before. It was at tli(> most propitious moment that she made her first ac(iuaintancc with tho Scotch llighluiuls which she has learned to love so well ; she enjoyed everything with the keen sense of novelty and the buoyanco of unquenchcd spirits. Looking back upon it all, long afterwards, she wrote with simjile pathos, " Albert and I were then only twenty-three, young and happy." At Taymouth there was shooting for the Prince ; and there Avas much pleasant driving, walking, and sketching for the Queen — 'with the drives walks, and sketches unlike anything that she had been accustomed to previously. The weather was not always favourable ; the sport was not always so fortunate as on the first day, when the Prince shot nineteen roe-deer, •several hares and pheasants, three brace of grouse, and wounded a capercailzie, which was afterwards brought in ; but the travellers made the best of everything and became " quite fond of the bagpipes," which were played in perfection at breakfast, at luncheon, whenever tho royal pair went out and in, and before and during dinner. One evening there was a ball for tho benefit of tho county people, at which the Queen danced \,are(l and sought to guard against. V,wxm\ Stockmar was greatly pleased with the aspect of the family. lie proudly proclaimed that the Prince was quickly showing what was in him, among other things that he was rich in that very practical talent in which the IJar&n liad feared the young man might ho deficient ; at the same time the old family friend remarked that the Prince, in the midst of his industry and happiness, frequently looked " pale, worried, and weary." An instance of Prince Albert's cordial interest in the welfare of the humbler ranks is to be found in one of Bishop Wilbcrforce's letters, dated March, 1843 : " After breakfast with the Prince, for three-quarters of an hour talked about Sunday. Told him that I thought « Book of Sports ' did more than anything to shock the 1 glish mind. lie urged want of amusements for common people of an innocent class— no gardens. In Coburg, with ten thousand inhabitants, thirty-two gardens, frequented by different sorts of people, who meet and associate in them. * I never heard a real shout in England. All my servants marry because they say it is so dull here, nothing to interest — good living, good M'ine, but there is nothing to do but turn rogue or marry.' " On the 20th of April, Prince Augustus of Saxe- Coburg was married to Princess Clementine of France, the younf^est daughter of Louis Philippe. On the following day, the 21st, the Queen's uncle, the Duke of Sussex, who had long been infirm, and for a little time seriously ailing, died at Kensington Palace, at the age of seventy years. The body lay in state there on the 3rd of May, all persons in decent mourning being admitted to witness the sight. Twenty-five thousand persons availed themselves of the permission. On the following morning, the funeral of the first of the Eoyal Dukes, m'Iio was buried by day- light and not in the royal vault at Windsor, took place. There was a great procession, a mile in length, beginning and ending with detachments of Horse and Foot Guards, their bands playing at intervals the " Dead March in Saul," in acknowledgment of the military rank of the deceased. The hoarse, drawn by eight black horses, was preceded and followed by twenty-two mourning-coaches and carriages, each with six horses, and upwards of fifty private carriages, one of these containing Sir Augustus d'Este, the son of the dead Duke and of Lady d'Amcland (Lady Augusta Murray).* The Duke of Cambridge acted as chief mourner. The cortege passed along the High Street to Kensal Green Cemetery, whore Prince Albert, Prince George of Cambridge, and the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg- 11:1! 3 ; k * The Duke of Sussex made a second luorRanatic marriage, after Lndy d'AmelaiuVs death, with Lady Cecilia Bugj^iii, daughter of the second Earl of Arran, and widow of Sir George But;giii. Slie was created Duchess of Inverness, Slie survived the Duke of Sussex thirty years. 1,-^ 190 QUEEN VICTORIA. m\ Strolitz, whoso son was about to bocomo the husband of Princess Augusta of Cambridgo, awaited its arrival. The service was road by the Bisliop of Norwich in the cemetery chapel, and the coffin was deposited in the vault prepared for it. It was observed of Prince Albert that "ho seemed to be more affected than any person at the funeral." An old face, once very familiar, had passed away : a young life had dawned. In the interval between the Duke of Sussex's death and funeral, five days after the death, on the 24th of April, 1843, a second princess was bom. The Queen was soon able to write to King Leopold that the baby was to bo called "Alice," an old English name, " Maud," another old English name, and " Mary," because she had been born on the birthday of the Duchess of Gloucester. The godfathers were the Queen's uncle, the King of Ilanovcr, and Prince Albert's brother, by their father's retirement, already Duke of Coburg. The King of Hanover came to England, though, unfortunately, too late to be present at the christening, so that one likes to think of the Princess, whose name is associated with all that is good and kind, as having served from the first in the light of a messenger of peace to heal old feuds. The godmothers were the Princess of Ilohenlohc and Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester. In the illustration Princess Alice is given as she represented " Spring " in the family mask in 1864. On the 18th of May, 1843, the prolonged contest between the civil and ecclesiastical courts in Scotland reached its climax — in many respects striking and noble, though it may be also one-sided, high-handed, and erring. The chief civil law-court in Scotland— the Court of Session — had overruled the decisions of the chief spiritual court — the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland — and installed, by the help of soldiers, in the parishes, which patronage had presented to them, two ministers, disliked by their respective congre- gations, and resolutely rejected by them, though neither for moral delinquencies nor heretical opinions. The Government, after a vain attempt to heal the breach and reconcile the contending parties, not only declined to interfere, but asserted the authority of the law of the land over a State church. Once more the representatives of the Scotch clergy and ^aity, of all shades of opinion, met, as their forefathers had done for centuries, in the Assembly Hall, in Edinburgh, in the month of May. Then, after the usual introductory ceremonies, the moderator, or chairman, delivered a solemn protest against the State's interference with the spiritual rights of the Chm*ch, declared that the sovereignty of its Divine Head was invaded, and, in the name of himself and his brethren, rejected a union which compelled submission to the civil law on what a considerable proportion of the population persisted in regarding as ffo. cry of In the 3on ish orn cle, idy too ose the 3 of lily ical nay the eral tea, ?re- nor cile law ion. in , or tual 1, in the gas Stroli u waited 1 ill:ijn ' -^•uata of Onmbridgf, I'lp of Norwich in tUo ceraetoj'y ;lt pi-e][i wus obsM'ved of artcctod tli r.s were the Queen's uneb l>y tlioir father's rotiromont, alroady lu Kngland, though, unfortunately, too > lik«'8 to think of the Princess, whofl«* 18 having wTved from the first iu tln^ tiother:* were the Princess of luiiiUy •sia.suc.ui \ our! xUu <.l* ■ ' ' ui ,Ui(- '. uurcii 1 ■ and luhtiui' i - wiiiui jj4' ■ ' ' ■ ■ !n, two ininistcrs, uiNiuvLU i.iy UK'U- rc^-i;tiU'ii: cuiigic- gations, ruiu it .'riit' ij rcji. I'a uy thorn, though ncif!) '' ' moral dolmqueneica nor heriitical ojjinion.^. The Go vcrnni ■ ' ' r a vain attempt i o 1 1- j [ the breach and reconcile the contending parties, not only aijiiiii u to interfere, but asK( i ' ^ " r^ authority of the law if tho land over a State church. ' h cc more the repfe.sentutive.s ' ■ ' ■'••■- -I' 1 I'lrecl that tho — ■ ■ - ,;., i...,n;,. .. i... ^juportion '1.., spiritual ..u. d, and, in .a.ission to the THE PRINCESS ALIl'K ■ K-tK VTi?'.: I ,1 I I It i': I i A MARNIMIE, A DEATH, AA'P A lilRIII IX THE liOVAI. F.\Mll.y. »0« purely Rpiiitiial tjiioHtioiiH. Four luiiulnd and wvoiity ministers of ono of \\w poorest ohurohcs in ChriHtcndoni laid appcndod their niinieH to the protcHt. C'liiirclieH, miinscH, livings wcro laid down, fho niftHS foI!'>\viiiR their leaders. Among them, tlion',ii many a good and gifted niiin remained with etjual eonsc'iontiimsiie.s.s heliind, t'"'!'" ,vere men of remarkablo ability as well as Clirislian worth; and there was ono, Dr. Chalmers, with a world-wide reputation for genius, eloquence, and splendid bencvolenco. The hand formed thomselvos into a procession of black-coated soldiers of a King — not of this world — marched along the crowded streets of Edinburgh, hailci' aiul cheered by an cnthusiastiri multitude, and entering n building temporarily engaged tor the purpose, constitiited them- Belvcs a separate church, and flung themselves on the liberality of their portion of the people, on whom they were thenceforth entirely dependent for maintenance. And their people, who, with their compatriots, are regarded among the nations as notably eloscvfisteu ond hard-headed, responded generously, lavishly, to the impassioned appeal. All Scotland was rent and convulsed then, and for years before and alter, by the great split in what lay very near its heart — its church principles and government. These things were not done in a corner, and could not fail to arouse the interest of the Queen and Prince, whatever verdict their judgment might pronounce on the dispute, or however they might range themselves on the constitutional side of the question, as it was interpreted by their political advisers — indeed, by the first statesmen, Whig ^r Tory, of the day. Six years later. Sir Edwin Landsccr painted the picture called " The Free Kirk," which became the property of her Majesty. The Eoyal Commission on the Fine Arts, at the head of whieh was Prince Albert, in view of the decoration of the new IIouscs of Parliament, had an exhibition of prize cartoons in Westminster Hall during the summer of 1843. Groat expectations were entertained of the effect of such patronage on painting in its higher branches. Many careful investiga- tions were made into the best processes of fresco painting, of which the Prince had a high c^.^aion, and this mode of decoration was ultimately adopted, unfortunately, as it proved, for in spite of every precaution, and the greatest care on the part of the painters — some of whom, like Dyce, were learned in this direction, while others went to Italy to acquire the necessary knowledge — the result has been to show the perishable nature of the means used, in this climate at least, since the pictures on the walls of the Houses of Parliament have become but dim, fast-fading shadows of the original representations. In the early days of the movement the Prince, in order the better to test and encourage a new development of art in this country, gave orders for a series of fresco paintings from Milton's " Comus," in eight lunettes, to decorate a pavilion in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Among the I \^ 19a qUEEN VICTORIA. \ IN painters employed were Landseer, Maclise, Leslie, Uwins, Dyce, Stanlidd, &c. &c. Two of them — Leslie and Uwins — record the lively interest Avhich the Queen and the Prince took in the painting of the pavilion, how they would come unannounced and without attendants twice a day, when the Court was at Buckingham Palace, and watch the painters at Avork. Uwins wrote, that in many things the Queen and her husband were an example to the age. " They have breakfasted, heard morning prayers with the household in the private chapel, and are out some distance from the Palace, talking to us in the summcr-housej before half-past nine o'clock — sometimes earlier. After the public duties of the day, and before the dinner, they come out again, evidently delighted to get away from the bustle of the world to enjoy each other's society in the solitude of the garden. . . . Hero, too, the royai children are brought out by the nurses, and the whole arrangement seems like real domestic pleasure." The square of the Palace, with a park ou either hand, and its main entrance fronting the Mall, has green gardens of its own, velvet turf, shady trees, shining water — now expanding iut' a great round pond, like that in Kensington Gardens, only larger — now narrowing till it is crossed by a rustic bridge. These cheat the eye and the fancy into tlic belief that the dwellers in the Palace have got rid of the town, and furnish pleasant paths and pretty effects of landscape gardening within a limited space. Hut the Palace has a public as well as a private side. The former looks out on the parks and drives, which belong to all the world, and in the season are crowded with company. The great white marble staircase leads to many a stately corridor, with kings and queens looki.' j down from the walls, to many a magnificent room with domed and richly- fretted roofs, uTU-room ith a raised dais for court company, and a spot where royal quadrilles are do) ?ed, bnnqueting-room, music-room, white, crimson, blue, and green drawing-rooms, crinipon and goid throne-room. There are finely- wrought white marble chimney-pieces with boldly-carved heads, angelic figures, and dragons in full relief. There are polished pillars of purple-blue, and red scagliola, huge china vases — oriental, Dresden, impolished Sevres — and glittering timepieces of every shape and device. King George and Queen Charlotte in shadowy form preside once and again, as well they may, seeing this was her house when it was named the Queen's House. Thoir family, too, still linger in their portraits. George IV. in very full-blown kingly state, the Duke of York and his Duchess, the Duke of Kent and his Duchess, the King of Hanover, King William and Queen Adelaide, the Duke of Sussex. But not one of their lives is so linked with the place as the life of Queen Victoria has been, especially the double life of the Queen and the Prince Consort in their " blooming time." Buckingham I'alaco was thoir t'y A PALACE HOME. "93 London home, to which thoy camo every season as regularly as Park liane and Piccadilly, with the squares and streets of Bclgravia, find their fitting occupants. From this Palace tho girl-Queon drove to Westminster, to bo croAvned, and returned to watch in the soft dusk of the summer evening all London illuminated in her honoiir. Here she announced her intended marriage to her Lords in Council ; hero she met her princely bridegroom come across the seas to wed her. From that gateway she drove in her bi'idal white and orange blossoms, and it was up these steps she walked an hour-old wife, leaning on tho arm of her husband. Most of their children were born here. The Princess Eoyal was baptized hero, and she went from Buckingham Palace to St. James's, like her mother before her, to be married. In the immediate neighbourhood occurred some of the miserable attempts on the Queen's life, and it was round Buckingham Palace that nobility and people thronged to convince themselves of her Majesty's safety, and assure her of their hot indignation and deep sympathy. On that balcony she has shown herself, to the thousands craving for tho sight, on tho opening-day of the first Exhibition and on tho n.orning when the Guards left for the Crimea. Through these corridors and drawing-rooms streamed tho princely pageant of the Queen's Phintagenet Ball. Kingly and courtly company, tho renowned men and the fair women of her reign, have often held festival hero. Along these quiet gardou walks tho Queen was wout to stroll with her husband-lover; from that rustic bridge he would summon his feathered favourites around him ; in yon sheet of water he swam for his life among tho broken ice, tho day before tho christening of tho Princess Royal. In the littlo chalet close to the house tho Queen loved to carry on her correspondence on summer-days, rather than to write within palace walls, because she, whose life has been pure and candid as the day, has always loved dearly tho open air of heaven. In the pavilion where tho firat English artists of tho time strove to do their Prince's behest, working sometimes from eight in tho morning to six or seven in tho evening, her Majesty and tho Prince delighted to watch Macliso put in Sabrina releasing tho Lady from tho enchanted chair, and Leslie make Comus offering the cup of witchery. As in tho case of King George and Queen Charlotte, it is well that portraits and marble statues of the Queen and the Prince, in the flower of their age, should remain hero as unfailing links with the past which was spent within these walls. In later years tho widowed Queen has dwelt little at Buckingham Palace, coming rarely except for the Drawing-rooms, which inaugurate tho season and lend the proper stamp to tho gilded youth of the kingdom. What tales that Throne-room could tell of tho beating hearts of iUhutantes and the ambitious dreams of carc-ladcn chaperons I The last tale is of tlio kind consideration of tho liege lady. From the room whore tho members c c m n A •9» QUEEN VICTORIA. ' I'i 1' I of the royal family assemble apart, she walks, not to take her seat on the throne, but to stand in front of the steps which lead to it, that the ladies who advance towards her in single file may not have to climb the steps with stumbling feet, often caught in their trailing skirts, till the wearers wore in danger of being precipitated against the royal knees as the ladies bent to kiss the Queen's hand. In the same manner, the slow and painful process of walking backwards with long trains, of which such stories were told in Queen Charlotte's day, is graciously dispensed with. A stop or two, ar^l the trains are thrown over their owners' arms by the pages in waiting, while the ladies are permitted to retire, like ordinary mortals, in a natural, easy, and what is really a more seemly fashion. A royal chapel has for a considerable time taken the place of a great conservatory, so that the Queen and the Triuce could worship with their household, without the necessity of repairing to the neighbouring Chapel Eoyal of St. James's. There are other suites of rooms besides the private apartments, notably the Belgian floor, full of memories of King Leopold and Queen Louise. Among the portraits of foreign sovereigns, the correctly beautiful face of the Emperor Alexander of Eussia, and the likeness of his successor, Nicholas, occur repeatedly. The portraits of the Emperor and Empress of Germany, when as Prince and Princess of Prussia they won the cordial friendship of the Queen, are here. There is a pleasant picture of Queen Victoria's girl friend, Maria da Gloria, and a companion picture of her husband, the Queen and the Prince's cousin. The burly figure of Louis Philippe appears in the company of two of his sons. Another ruler of Franco, tho Emperor Napoleon III., looks sallow and solemn beside his Empress at the height of her loveliness. Other royal portraits are those of tho King of Saxony, the present King and Queen of the Belgians, as Duke and Duchess of Brabant ; the late blind King of Ilunover and his devoted Queen ; the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now blind also, and his Duchess, who was tho handsome and Avinning Princess Augusta of Cambridge ; her not less charming sister. Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck ; the familiar face of their soldierlike brother, the Duke of Cambridge ; the Maharajah Dhulecp Singh, in his slender youth and eastern cU'css, &c. &c. In the sister country of France, one has a feeling that there are blood stains on all tho palaces. Let us be thankful that, as a rule, it is not so in England. But there are tragic faces and histories here too, mocking the glories of rank and Slate. There is a fine picture of Matilda of Denmark, to whom — but for tho victim's fairer hair — her collateral descendant, Queen Victoria, is said to boar a great resemblance. Tho Queen's ancestresa was herself a princess and a queen, yet she was fated to fall under an infamous, unproven charge, and to pine to an early death in a prison fortress. A PALACE HOME. 195 Here, with a pathos all hor own. in her pale dark girlish face and slight fignro, is the Queen's Indian god-dauglitcr, Princess Gonromma, the child of the Eajah of Coorg. She was educated in England, and married a Scotch gentleman named Camphell. But the grey northern skies and the bleak easterly winds were cruel to her, as they would have been to one of her native palm-trees, and she found an early grave. A graceful remembrance of a peculiarly graceful tribute to the faithful service and devotion of a lifetime appears in a picture of the old Duke of Wellington — after whom the Queen named her third son — presenting his godfather's token of a costly casket to the infant Prince Arthur, seated on the royal mother's knee. Another laughing child, in the arms of another happy mother, is the Queen herself, held by the Duchess of Kent. The long picture gallery contains valuable specimens of Dutch and Flemish art, a remnant of George IV.'s collection, and a portion of the Queen's many fine examples of these schools. Ilero are Tenierses, full of riotous life ; exquisite Metzus, Tcrburgs, and Gerard Dows ; cattle by Paul Potter ; ships by Van de Veldo ; skies by Cuyp ; landscapes, with white horses, by "Wouvermanns ; driving clouds and shadow-darkened plains by Euysdael, who, though he died in a workhouse, yet lives in his pictures in kings' palaces. Lady Bloomfield has given the world a delightful glimpse of what the life at Windsor and Buckingham Palace was from 1842 to 1845 ; how much real friendliness existed in it ; what simplicity and naturalness lay behind its pomp and magnificence. Dissipation and extravagance found no place there. That palace home — whether in town or country, where all sacred obligations and sweet domestic affections reigned supreme, where noble Avork had due prominence and high-minded study paved the way for innocent pleasure — ^Avas, indeed, a pattern to every homo in the kingdom. The great household was like a large family, with a queenly elder sister and a royal brother at its head ; for the Queen and the Prince Avcrc still in their first prime, and very kindly, as well as very wise, were their relations with old and young. It is good to read of the tenderly-united pair ; of their well-regulated engagements — punctually performed as clockwork, and rarely jostling each other ; of their generous con- sideration for others, their faithful regard for old friends, so that to tiiis day the ranks of the Queen's household are replenished from the households of her youth. It has been pointed out how rarely the Duchess of Kent allowed any change in the little Princess's guardians and teachers. In like manner, as whoever will examine Court calendars may learn for themselves, this middle-aged Mistress of the Robes, or that elderly Lady in Waiting, was in former times a young Maid of Honour, and the youngest page of to-day is very likely the grandson of a veteran courtier, and has a hereditary interest in his surroundings. When her Majesty was still young, there was the frankest sympathy with the young ii-' i; ! -1 ri' i 196 QUEEN VICTORIA. girls who were so proud to be in their Queen's service — a sympathy showing itself in a thousand unmistakable ways ; in concern for each noble maiden's comfort and happiness ; in interest in her friends pursuits, and prospects ; by the kindly informal manner in which each member of the girlish suite M'as addressed by her familiar christiun-name, sometimes with its home abbreviation ; by the kiss with which she was greeted on her return from her six months' absence. We do not always connect such lovable attributes with kings' and queens' courts, and it Is an excellent thing for us to know that the greatest, towards whom none may presume, can also be the most ready to oblige, the least apt to exact, the most cordial and trustful. We hear from Lady Bloomfield that the sum total of a Maid of Honour's obligations, when she is in residence, like a canon, is to give the Queen her bouquet before dinner every other day. In reality, the young lady and her companions, as well as the older and more experienced Ladies and Women of the Bedchamber, are in waiting to drive, ride, or walk with the Queen when she desires their society, to sit near her at dinner, to share her occupations — such as reading, music, drawing, needlework — when she v Jies it, t ^ help to make up any games, dances, &c. &c. These favoured damsels enjoy a modest income of three hundred a year, and wot^r a badge — the Queen's picture, surrounded with brilliants oa a red bow — siioh as the public may have seen in the portraits of several of the IMaids of Uonour belonging to the Queen which were exhibited on the walls of the Academy within recent years. The hours of " the Maids " never were so early as those of their royal mistress, while their labours, like their responsibilities, have been light as thistledown in comparison with hers. The greatest restriction imposed on these youthful members of the Housohold, when Lady Bloomfield as Miss Liddell figured among thorn, seems to have been that they were expected to be at their posts, and they •were not at liberty to entertain all visitors in their private sitting-rooms, but had to receive some of theii- friends in a drawing-room which belonged to the ladies in common. The routine of the Palace passes before us, unpretentious in its dignity as the actual life was led : the waiting of the ladies in the eon*idor to meet the Queen when she left her apartments and accompany her to dinner ; the talk at the dinner-table ; the roimd game of cards — vingt-et-un, or sonK other in the evening, for which the stakes were so low, that the players were accustomed to provide themselves with a stock of new shillings, sixpences, and fourpenny pieces, and the winnings wore now threepence, now eightpenco ; the workers and talkers in the background. In spite of different times and diiferent manners, there is a slight flavour of Queen Charlotte's drawing-room, in Miss liurney's day, about the whole scene. A PALACE HOME. 197 Tlio ordinary current was broken by varying eddies of royal visits and visitors, with their accompanying whirl and bubble of cxcitonient, and by ccremouios, like the opening and proroguing of Parliament, State visits to the Oity, royal baptisms. In addition thcro were the more tranquil and homely diversions of the festivals of the . oasons and family festivals. There was Christmas, when everybody gave and received Christmas-boxes; and this happy individual had a brooch, "of dark and light blue enamel, with two rubies and a diamond in the shape of a bow;" and another had a bracelet, with the Queen's portrait; while to all there were pins, rings, studs, shawls, &c. &c. Or it was the Duchess of Kent's birthday, when the Court went to dine and dance, and wish the kind Duchess many happy returns of the day, at Frogmore. On one occasion the little ball ended in a curiors dance, callod. " Grand-pere," a sort of " Follow my Leader." " The Prince and the Duchess of Kent led. the way, and it was great fun, but rather a romp." Solemn statesmen, hoary soldiers, reverent churchmen, foreign diplomatists, were frequently consigned for companion- ship and entertainment to the " ladies of the Household," and rela.:ed and grew jocular in such company, under the spring sunshine of girlish smiles and laughter. More mature and distinguished figures stood out among the women, to match the men — whose names will be household words so long as England keeps her place among the nations. Sagacious Baroness Lehzen, the incomparable early instructress and guide of the Queen, so good to all the young people who came under her influence, before she retired, to her quiet home at Biickeburg ; Lady Lyttelton, who had been with the Queen as one of the ladies-in-waiting ever siuce her Majesty came to the throne, who, after the most careful selection, was appointed governess to the Royal children, and was well qualified to discharge an office of such consequence to the Queen and the nation. It is impossible to read such portions of her letters as have been published without being struck by their wise womanliness and gentle motherlincss. Beautiful Lady Canning, with her artist soul, was another star in an exalted firmament. Little feet pattered amongst the brilliant groups. The Princess Eoyal was a remark- ably bright, lively child ; the Prince of Wales a beautiful good-tempered baby, in such a nautilus-shell cradle as Mrs. Thorncycroft copied in modelling the likeness of Princess Beati'ice. We have the pretty fancy before us : the exquisite curves of the shell, its fair round-limbed occupant, one foot and one arm thrown out with the careless grace of childhood, ass if to balance and steer the fairy bark, the other soft hand lightly resting on the br jast, over which the head and face, full of infant innocence and peace, are inclined. Both children were fond of music, us the daughter and son of parents so musical might well be. ^A'heu the youthfu' pair were x little older they would stand slill and quiet in fi'i !• mi a I It If 198 QUEEN VICTORIA. the music-room to hear the rrince-fathor discourse sweet sounds on his organ, and the Queen-mother sing with one of her ladies, "in perfect time and tune," with a fine feeling for her songs, as Mendelssohn has described her. The small people furnished a never-ending series of merry anecdotes and witticisms all their own, and would have gone far to break down the highest dead wall of stiffness and reserve, had such a barrier ever existed. Now it was the little Princess, a quaint tiny figure " in dark-blue velvet and Wiiiio shoes, and yellow kid gloves," keeping the nurseries alive with her sports, showing off the new frocks she had got as a Christmas-box from her grandmamma, the Duchess of Kent, and bidding Miss Liddell put on one. Now it was the Queen oflfending the dignity of her little daughter by calling her " Missy," and being told in indignant remonstrance, " I'm not Missy — I'm the Princess Eoyal." Or it was Lady Lyttelton who was warned off with the dismissal in French, from the morsel of royalty, not quite three, ^^N^approchez pas mot, mot no veut pas vous)^^ or it was the Duke of Wellington, with a dash of old chivalry, kissing the baby-hand and bidding its owner remember him. Or the child was driving in Windsor Park with the Queen and three of her ladies, when first the Princess imagined she saw ;i cat beneath the trees, and announced, " Cat come to look at the Queen, I suppose." Then she longed for the heather on the bank, and asked Lady Dunmore to get her some ; when Lady Dunmore said she could not do that, as they were driving so fast, the little lady observed composedly, "No, you can't, but those girls," meaning the two Maids of Ilonour, in the full dignity of their nineteen or twenty summers and their office, " might get me some." Windsor Castle in the height of summer, Windsor in the park among the old oaks and ferns, Windsor on the grand terrace with its glorious English view, might well leave bright lingering memories in a susceptible young mind. So we hear of a delightful ride, when the kind Queen mounted her Maid of Ilonour on a horse which had once belonged to Miss Liddell's sister, and in default of Miss Liddell's habit, which was not forthcoming, lent her one of the Queen's, with hat, collar and cuffs to suit, and the two cantered and walked over the greensward and down many a leafy glade for two hours and a half. Once, we are told, the Queen, the Prince, and the whole company went out after dinner in the warm summer Aveather, and promenaded in the brilliant moonlight, a sight to see, with the lit-up castle in the backgi'ound, the men in the Windsor uniform, the women in full dress, like poor Marie Antoinette's night promenades at Versailles, or a page from Boccaccio. Punning through all the young Maid of Honour's diary is the love which makes all service light ; the loyal innocent sense of hardship at being in waiting and not seeing the Queen "at least once a day;" the affectionate iTgrct to lose any of her Majesty's company ; the pride and pleasure at being selected by the Queen for special duties. CHAPTEE XVT. THE CONDEMNATION OF THE ENGLISH DUEL. — ANOTHER MAKRIAGE. — THE QUKEn's VISIT TO CHATEAU d'eU. rkN the 1st of July, 1843, duelling received its death-blow in England by a fatal duel— ^ so unnatural and so painful in its consequences that it served the purpose of calling public attention to tho offence — long tolerated, even advocated in some quarters, and to the theory of military honour on which this particular duel took place. Two officers. Colonel Fawcett and Lieutenant Munro, who were also brothers-in-law, had a quarrel. Colonel Fawcett was elderly, had been in India, was out of health and exceedingly irritable in temper. It came out afterwards that he had given his relation the greatest provocation. Still Lieutenant Munro hung back from what up to that time hail been regarded as the sole resource of a gentleman, especially a military man, in tho circumstances. lie showed great reluctance to challenge Colonel Fawcett, and it was only after tho impression — mistaken or otherwise — was given to the insulted man that his regiment expected him to take tho old course, and if he did not do so he must be disgraced throughout tho service, that he called out his brother-in-law. The challenge was accepted, the meeting took place. Colonel Fawcett was shot dead, and the horrible anomaly presented itself of two sisters— tho one rendered a widow by the hand of her brother-in-law, and a family of children clad in mourning for their uncle, whom their father had slain. Apart from the bloodshed, Lieutenant Munro was ruined by tho miserable step on which he had been thrust. Public feeling was roused to protest against the barbarous practice by which a bully had it in his power to risk the life of a man immeasui-ably his superior, against whom he happened to have conceived a dislike. Prince Albert interested himself deeply in the question, especially as it concei-ncd the army. Various expedients were suggested ; eventually an anendmcnt was inserted into the Articles of War which was founded on the more reasonable, humane, and Christian concluniiju, that to oflfer an apology, or even to make reparation tO(> QUKEN VICTORIA. % 'A. whoro wrong liad been cominittod, was inoro boc'. niiig tho charnctcr of an ofRcer and a gentleman, than to furnish tho altoiuutivo of & iindiug up to kill or to bo killed for a hasty word or a rasli act. On tho 28th of July, Princess Augusta of Cainbridgo was married in tho chapel at Buckingham Palace to tho hereditary Grand Duko of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Princess Augusta was tho older of tho two daughters of tho Duko of Cambridge, was three years younger tha.i the Queen, and at tho time of her marriage was twcnty-ono years of age. In tho cousins' childhood and early youth, during tho reign of King William, tho Duke of Cambridge had acted as tho King's representative in Kanover, so that his family wore much in Germany. At the date of tho Queen's accession. Princess Angusta, a girl of fifteen, was considered old enough to appear with the rest of tho royal family at tho banquet at Guildhall, and in tho other festivities which commemorated tho beginning of the new reign. She figures in tho various pictures of tlio Coronation, the Queen's mar- riage, &c. &c., and won the enthusiastlo admiration of Leslie when ho went to Cambridge House to take the portraits of the didVMvut members of the family for ono of his pictures. Only a year before she had, in tho character of Princess Claude of France, been ono of the most graceful masquers at the Queen's Plantagenet Ball, and among tho bridesmaids on the present occasion were two of tho beauties at the ball. Lady Alexandrina Vano and Lady Clementina Villiers. Princess Augusta was marrying a young German prince, three years her senior, a kinsman of her father's through his mother. Queen Charlotte. She was going to tho small northern duchy which had sent so bravo a little queen to England. Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and all tho royal family in the country, including the King of Hanover, who had remained to graco the ceremony, wore present at the wedding, which, in old fashion, took ])lacc in tuo evening. Among the foreign guests were tho King and Queen of the Belgians, tho Prince and Princess of Oldenburg, tho Crown Prince of Wurtemburg, &c. &c. The ambassadors, Cabinet Ministers, and officers of State were in attendance. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London and Norwich, officiated. Tho marriage was registered and attested in the great dining-room at Buckingham Palace. Then there passed away from tho scene tho Princess who had been for some years tho solitary represeutativo of tho royal young ladyhood of England, as her sister. Princess Mary, was eleven years Princess Augusta's junior, and still only a littlo giri of ten. Princess Augusta had an annuity of three thousand a year voted to her by Parliament on her marriage. A mouth later, on tho 28th of August, the Queen went by railway to Southampton, in of ANOTHER ROIAI. MARRI.XCi:. lOI order to go on hoard tlio royiil yaclit fur ii trip to tho Isle of Wight and tho Dovonahiro coast. At Southampton Pier the ruin wan falling hcnivily. Ilor Majesty had boon roceivod by tho Mayor and Corporation, tho Buko of Wellington, and other official per- sonages, when it was discovofod that there was not sufficient covering for tho stage or gangway, which was to bo run out between tho pier and tho yacht. Then tho members of tho Southampton Corporation were moved to follow tho example of Sir Walter Raleigh in tho service which introduced him to tho notice of (iueen Elizabeth. They pulled off their red gowns, spread them on the gangway, and so procured a dry footing for her Majesty. Lady liloomfield, as Miss Liddell, in tho cai)acity of Maid of Honour in waiting, 'vaa with tho Queen, and has furnished a few particulars of the pleasant voyage. Tho Queen landed frequently, returning to the yacht at night and sleeping on board. At tho Isle of Wight she visited Norris Castle, where she had stayed in her youth, asking to see some of tho rooms, and walking on tho terrace. She told her companions that she would willingly have bought tho place but could not afford it. At one point all tho party except Lady Canning were overcome by sea sickness, which is no respecter of persons. At Dart- mouth tho Queen entered her barge and is rowed round the harbour, for tho better inspection of tho place, and the gratification of the multitude on the quays and in every description of sailing craft. At Plymouth tho visitors landed and proceeded to Mount Edgcumbo, the beautiful seat of the Edgcunibe family. Wherever her Majesty went sho made collections of flowers, which she laid dried and kept as mementoes of tho scenes in Avhich they had been gathered. In driving through Pl)'mouth, tho crowd was so great, and pressed so much on tho escort, that the infantry bayonets crossed in the carriages. At Falmouth, tho Queen was again rowed in her barge round the harbour, but the con- course of small boats became dangerous, as their occupants deserted tho helms and rushed to one side to see the Queen, and the royal bargo could only bo extricated by tho rowers exerting their utmost strength and skill, and forcing a passage through tho swarming flotilla. The Mayor of Falmouth was a Quaker, and asked permission to keep on his hat while reading his address to tho Queen. The Mayor of Truro, who with the Mayor of Penryn had accompanied their official brother when he put off in a small boat to intercept her Majesty in her circuit round tho harbour, was doomed to play a more undignified part. He unluckily overleaped himself and fell into tho water, so that ho and his address, being too wet for presenttition, were obliged to be put on shore again. On board the Queen used to amuse herself with a favourite occupation of the ladies of the day, plaiting paper so as to resemble straw plait for bonnets. Sho was sufficiently skilled ia the art to instruct her Maid of Honour in it. o l! I r \ •I fl«S QUE EN VICTORIA. On ono occasion the Queen chanced to have her cunip-stnol set wlioro it shut up tho door of tho placo tlmt held tho sailors' grog-tubs. After nuicli hanging about and consult- ing. with tho authorities, she was made acquainted with tho fact, when she rose on con- dition that a glass of grog should be brought to her. She tasted it and said, " I am afraid I can only nuiko tho sanio remark I did onco before, that I think it would be very good if it wore stronger," an observation that called forth tho unqualified delight of tho men. Sometimes in tho evening tho sailor's, at her Majesty's request, danced hornpipes on deck. But tho Queen's cruises this year were not to end on English or oven Scotch ground. Sho was to make the first visit to Franco which had been paid by an English sovereign since Henry VIII. met Francis I. on tho field of tho Cloth of Gold. Earlier in tho year two of Louis Philippe's sons, tho sailor Princo Joinville, ** tall, dark, and good looking, with a large beard, but, unfortunately for him, terribly deaf," and his brclhor, tho man of intellect and culture if not of genius, tho Due d'Aunmle, '* much shorter and very fair," had been together at Windsor ; and had doubtless arranged tho preliminaries of the informal visit which t'^c Queen was to pay to Louis Philippe. Tho King of France and his largo family were in tho habit of spending somo time in summer or autumn at Chilteau d'Eu, near the seaport of Treport, in Normandy ; and to this point tho Queen could easily run across in her yacht and exchange friendly greetings, without tho elaborate preparations and manifold trouble which must bo tho accompaniment of a State visit to the Tuileries. Accordingly tho Queen and Prince Albert, on the 1st of September, sailed past tho Eddystono Lighthouse, where thoy were joined by a little fleet of war-ships, and struck off for the coast of France. Besides her suite, tho Queen was accompanied by two of her ministers, Lords Aberdeen and Liverpool. With the first, a shrewd worthy Scot, dis- tinguished as a statesman by his experience, calm sagacity, and unblemished integrity, hor Majesty and Princo Albert were destined to havo cordial relations in the years to come. In the meantime, French country people were pouring into Trdport, where the King's barge lay ready. It was provided with a crimson silk awning, having white muslin curtains over a horseshoe-shaped seat covered with crimson velvet, capable of containing cloven or twelve persons. The rowers were clad in white, with red sashes and red ribands round their hats. The Queen was to land by crossing the deck of a vessel moored along tho quay and mounting a ladder, the steps of which were covered with crimson velvet. At five o'clock in the afternoon the King and his whole family, a great cortege, arrived on horseback and in open chars-a-' ancs. Prince Joinville had met the yacht at Cherbourg and gone on board. As soon as it lay-to tho King came alongside in his barge. The citizen King THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO CHATEAU D'EU. aoj WPS stout, florid, and Idulf-looking, 'vitli thick giizzleil liuir hnislicd up into a point. As the oxilod Dtdco of Orleans, in the days of the groat JJevohition, ho had been a friend of the Queen's father, the Didto of Kent. Tlie King did not fail to remind his guest of this, after ho had kissed her on each cheek, kissed lier hand, and tokl her again and again how delighted ho was to see her. When the two sovcrcit^us entered tho barge the standards of England and France were hoisted together, and amidst royal Halutcs from tho vessels in tho roads and from the batteries on shore, to tho music of regimental bands, in tho sunset of u fine autumn evening tho party landed. At tho end of the jetty tho ladies of tho royal family of Franco with their suites stood ill a curved lino. Queen Amelie, with her snowy curls and benevolent face, was two paces in advance of tho others. Behind her were her daughter and daughter-in-law, the Queen of tho Uelgians and tho widowed Duchosso d'Orleans, Avho appeared in public for tho first time since her husband's death a year before. A little farther back stood Madumo Adelaide, tho King's sister, and the other princesses, tho younger daughter and tho daughters-in-law of tho house. Louis Philippe presented Queen Victoria to his Queen, who " took her by both hands and saluted her several times on both chocks with evident warmth of manner." Queen Louise, and at least one of the other ladies, were well known to the visitor, whom they greeted gladly, while tho air was filled with shouts of " Vivo la Reino Victoria 1 " " Vivo la Eeine d'Angleterre 1 " Tho Queen, who was dressed simply, as usual, in a purple satin gown, a black mantilla trimmed with lace, and a straw bonnet with straw-coloured ribands and ono ostrich feather, immediately entered tho King's eluir-ii-bancs, which had a canopy and cui-tains that were left open. Lady Bloomficld describes it as drawn by twelve largo clumsy horses. There was a coachman on tho box, with three footmen behind, and there was " a motley crowd of outriders on wretched horses and dressed in different liveries." Tjo other chars-a-bancs with six horses followed, and tho whole took their way to tho Chateau, a quaint and pleasant dwelling, some of it as old as tho time of the Great Mademoiselle. A stately banquet was held in the evening in the banquetiug-room, hung round with royal portraits and historical pictures, the table heavy with gold and silver plate, including the gold plateau and tho great gold vases filled with flowers. The King, in uniform, sat at tho centre of tho table. Ho had on his right hand Queen Victoria, -w^caring a gown of crimson velvet, tho order of the garter and a parure of diamonds and emeralds, but having her hair simply braided. On her other side sat Prince Joinvillo. On the King's left hand was Queen Louise. The Duchesse d'Orleans, in accordance with French etiquetto for widows in their weeds, did not come to the dinner-table. Opposite tho King sat his I fi it'i •1 ' ^' ill • r 1' MI ,1 tB4 QVEKX VICTORtA. Quocn, with Prinoo AllM-rt on her right hiiiid mid tho Due d'Aumulo on her left. The royal host and hostess carved like any other ohl-fashioned couple. Tho Queen received tho same lively impressions from her llrst visit to France that she had experienced on her first visit to Scotland. Apart from tho scenery there was yet more to strike her. Tho decidedly foreign dresses of tho people, tho strange tongue, the mill going on Sunday, tho different sound of the church hells — nothing escaped her. There was also, in the largo family of her brother king and ally— connected with her by so many ties, every member familiar to her by hearsay, if not known to her personally— much to interest her. The Queen had been, to all intents and purposes, brought up like an only child, and her genial disposition had craved for entire sympathy and ccpml companionship. She seems to have regarded wistfully, as an only child often regards, what she had never known, the full, varied, yet united life of a large, happy, warmly attached family circle. When she saw her children possessed of the blessing which had been denied to her in her early days, she was tempted to look back on tho widowed restricted household ia Kensington Palace as on a somewhat chill and grey environment. She has mure than once referred to her childhood as dull and sad by comparison with what she lived to know of the young life of other children. But tho great royal household of France at this date, in addition to its wealth of interests and occupations, and its kindness to the stranger who was so quick to respond to kindness, was singularly endowed with elements of attractiveness for Queen Victoria. It appeared, indeed, as if all life at its different stages, in its different aspects, even in its different nationalities, met and mingled with a wonderful charm under the one roof-tree. Besides the old parent couple and tho maiden aunt, who had seen such changes of fortune, there were three young couples, each with their several careers before them. There was the bride of yesterday, the youngest daughter of the house, Princess Clementine, with her young German husband, the Queen and Prince Albert's kinsman; there was Nemours, wedded to another German cousin, the sweet-tempered golden-haired Princess Victoire ; there was Joinville, with his dark-haired Brazilian Princess.* It had been said that he had gone farther, as became a sailor, in search of a wife than any other prince in Europe. She was very pretty in a tropical fashion, very piquante, and, perhaps, just '.\ little sauvage. She had never seen snow, and the rules and ceremonies of a great European court were almost as strange to her. Lady Bloomfield mentions her as if she were something of a spoilt child who could hardly keep from showing that tho rigid laws of her new position fretted and bored her. She wore glowing pomegranate blossoms * A kiuiiwuiuau of Muria ila Qluria'a. THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO CHATEAU D' EU. lOJ ill hor hnir, nn