Life Of

Her Most Gracious Majesty

THE QUEEN

by

SARAH TYTLER

_Edited with an Introduction by_

LORD RONALD GOWER, FSA. 

IN TWO VOLUMES

Vol II

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CONTENTS. 

VOL. II. 

CHAP. 

I. ROYAL PROGRESSES TO BURGHLEY, STOWE, AND STRATHFIELDSAYE

II. THE QUEEN'S POWDER BALL

III. THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO GERMANY

IV. RAILWAY SPECULATION--FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP--SIR ROBERT PEEL'SRESOLUTIONS--BIRTH OF PRINCESS HELENA--VISIT OF IBRAHIM PASHA

V. AUTUMN YACHTING EXCURSIONS--THE SPANISH MARRIAGES--WINTER VISITS

VI. INSTALLATION OF PRINCE ALBERT AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE

VII. THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND AND STAY ATARDVERIKIE

VIII. THE FRENCH FUGITIVES--THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER

IX. THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT BALMORAL

X. PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC INTERESTS--FRESH ATTACK UPON THE QUEEN

XI. THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND

XII. SCOTLAND AGAIN--GLASGOW AND DEE-SIDE

XIII. THE OPENING OF THE NEW COAL EXCHANGE--THE DEATH OF QUEENADELAIDE

XIV. PREPARATION FOR THE EXHIBITION--BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT

XV. THE DEATHS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, AND LOUISPHILIPPE

XVI. THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT HOLYROOD--THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN OFTHE BELGIANS

XVII. THE PAPAL BULL--THE GREAT EXHIBITION

XVII. THE QUEEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION

XIX. THE QUEEN'S "RESTORATION BALL" AND THE "GUILDHALL BALL. "

XX. ROYAL VISITS TO LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER--CLOSE OF THE EXHIBITION

XXI. DISASTERS--YACHTING TRIPS--THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON

XXII. THE IRON DUKE'S FUNERAL

XXIII. THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. AND THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE--FIRE ATWINDSOR

XXIV. THE EASTERN QUESTION--APPROACHING WAR--GROSS INJUSTICE TO PRINCEALBERT

XXV. THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN--FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE--THE DEATH OF THEEMPEROR NICHOLAS

XXVI. INSPECTION OF THE HOSPITAL AT CHATHAM--DISTRIBUTION OF WARMEDALS

XXVII. DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN--VISIT OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT TOTHE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH--FALL OF SEBASTOPOL

XXVIII. BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL--QUEEN'S SPEECH TO THESOLDIERS RETURNED FROM THE CRIMEA--BALMORAL

XXIX. DEATH OF THE PRINCE OF LEININGEN--BIRTH OF PRINCESS BEATRICE--BESTOWAL OF THE VICTORIA CROSS--INDIAN MUTINY

XXX. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL

XXXI. DEATH OF THE DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TOGERMANY--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO PRINCE AND PRINCESSFREDERICK WILLIAM AT BABELSBERG

XXXII. BIRTH OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA--DEATH OP PRINCE HOHENLOHE

XXXIII. DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT

XXXIV. LAST VISIT TO IRELAND--MEETING OF THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THEPRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF DENMARK--DEATH OF THE KING OF PORTUGAL AND HISBROTHERS. 

XXXV. THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT

XXXVI. THE WITHDRAWAL TO OSBORNE--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S FUNERAL

XXXVII. THE FIRST MONTHS OF WIDOWHOOD--MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OFWALES, ETC. , ETC. 

XXXVIII. DEATHS OF LORD PALMERSTON AND THE KING OF THE BELGIANS

XXXIX. STAY AT HOLYROOD--DEATHS OF PRINCESS HOHENLOHE AND OF PRINCEFREDERICK OF DARMSTADT--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH

XL. BIRTH OF THE FIRST GREAT-GRANDCHILD--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OFALBANY--CONCLUSION

 * * * * *

LIST OF STEEL PLATES. 

H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALESOSBORNE HOUSETHE PASTURE, OSBORNETHE AMAZON (PORTRAIT OF H. R. H. THE PRINCESS HELENA)THE ROYAL YACHT OFF MOUNT ST. MICHAELTHE PRINCESS LOUISETHE PRINCESS HELENAPRINCESSES HELENA AND LOUISETHE HUNTER (H. R. H. PRINCE ARTHUR)HYDE PARK IN 1851THE FISHER (H. R. H. PRINCE LEOPOLD)H. R. H. THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, K. G. , ETC. THE CRADLE (H. R. H. PRINCESS BEATRICE)H. R. H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES (BUST)H. R. H. THE PRINCESS OF WALESTHE ALBERT MEMORIALMONUMENT TO THE PRINCESS ALICE OF HESSE

 * * * * *

QUEEN VICTORIA. 

CHAPTER I. 

ROYAL PROGRESSES TO BURGHLEY, STOWE, AND STRATHFIELDSAYE. 

On the 29th of November the Queen went on one of her visits to hernobility. We are told, and we can easily believe, these visits werevery popular and eagerly contested for. In her Majesty's choice oflocalities it would seem as if she loved sometimes to retrace herearly footsteps by going again with her husband to the places whereshe had been, as the young Princess, with the Duchess of Kent. TheQueen went at this time to Burghley, the seat of the Marquis ofExeter. The tenantry of the different noblemen whose lands she passedthrough lined the roads, the mayors of the various towns presentedaddresses, the school children sang the National Anthem. 

At Burghley, too, Queen Elizabeth had been before Queen Victoria. Shealso had visited a Cecil. The Maiden Queen had travelled underdifficulties. The country roads of her day had been so nearlyimpassable that her only means of transit had been to use a pillionbehind her Lord Steward. Her seat in the chapel was pointed out to theQueen and Prince Albert when they went there for morning prayers. Whether or not both queens whiled away a rainy day by going over thewhole manor-house, down to the kitchen, we cannot say; but it is notlikely that her Majesty's predecessor underwent the ordeal to hergravity of passing through a gentleman's bedroom and finding his bestwig and whiskers displayed upon a block on a chest of drawers. And weare not aware that Queen Elizabeth witnessed such an interestingfamily rite as that which her Majesty graced by her presence. Theyoungest daughter of the Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter waschristened in the chapel, at six o'clock in the evening, before theQueen, and was named for her "Lady Victoria Cecil, " while PrinceAlbert stood as godfather to the child. After the baptism the Queenkissed her little namesake, and Prince Albert presented her with agold cup bearing the inscription, "To Lady Victoria Cecil, from hergodfather Albert. " At dinner the newly-named child was duly toasted bythe Queen's command. 

The next day the royal party visited "Stamford town, " from which theMayor afterwards sent Prince Albert the gift of a pair of Wellingtonboots, as a sample of the trade of the place. The drive extended tothe ruins of another manor-house which, Lady Bloomfield heard, wasbuilt by the Cecils for a temporary resort when their house ofBurghley was swept. The Queen and the Prince planted an oak and alime, not far from Queen Elizabeth's lime. The festivities ended witha great dinner and ball, at which the Queen did not dance. Most of thecompany passed before her chair of State on the dais, as they do at adrawing-room. 

On the 29th of December an aged English kinswoman of the Queen's diedat the Ranger's House, Blackheath, where she held the somewhatanomalous office of Ranger of Greenwich Park. This was Princess SophiaMatilda, daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, George III. 's brother, and sister of the late Duke of Gloucester, the husband of his cousin, Princess Mary. 

Her mother's history was a romance. She was the beautiful niece ofHorace Walpole, the illegitimate daughter of his brother, the Earl ofOxford. She married first the Earl of Waldegrave, and became themother of the three lovely sisters whom Sir Joshua Reynolds's brushimmortalised. The widowed countess caught the fancy of the royal Duke, just as it was said, in contemporary letters, that another fair youngwidow turned the head of another brother of the King's. George III. Refused at first to acknowledge the Duke of Gloucester's marriage, butfinally withdrew his opposition. If, as was reported, the Duke of Yorkmarried Lady Mary Coke, the marriage was never ratified. The risk ofsuch marriages caused the passing of the Royal Marriage Act, whichrendered the marriage of any member of the royal family without theconsent of the reigning sovereign illegal. The children of the Duke ofGloucester and his Duchess were two--Prince William and PrincessSophia Matilda. They held the somewhat doubtful position, perhaps moremarked in those days, of a family royal on one side of the house only. The brother, if not a very brilliant, an inoffensive and not anilliberal prince, though wicked wags called him "Silly Billy, "improved the situation by his marriage with the amiable and popularPrincess Mary, to whom a private gentleman, enamoured by hearsay withher virtues, left a considerable fortune. We get a passing glimpse ofthe sister, Princess Sophia Matilda, in Fanny Burney's diary. She wasthen a pretty, sprightly girl, having apparently inherited some of herbeautiful mother's and half-sisters' attractions. She was admitted toterms of considerable familiarity and intimacy with her royal cousins;and yet she was not of the circle of Queen Charlotte, neither couldshe descend gracefully to a lower rank. No husband, royal or noble, was found for her. One cannot think of her without attaching a senseof loneliness to her princely estate. She survived her brother, theDuke of Gloucester, ten years, and died at the age of seventy-two atthe Ranger's House, Blackheath, from which she had dispensed manykindly charities. At her funeral the royal standard was hoisted half-mast high on Greenwich Hospital, the Observatory, the churches of St. Mary and St. Alphege, and on Blackheath. She was laid, with nearly allher royal race for the last two generations, in the burial-place ofkings, St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Prince Albert occupied his stallas a Knight of the Garter, with a mourning scarf across his field-marshal's uniform. 

In the middle of January, 1845, the Queen and Prince Albert went on avisit to the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe, which was still unstrippedof its splendid possessions and interesting antiquarian relics. Thehuge gathering of neighbours and tenants included waggons full oflabourers, admitted into the park to see the Queen's arrival and theillumination of the great house at night. 

The amusements of the next two days, the ordinary length of a royalvisit, began with _battues_ for the Prince, when the accumulationof game was so enormous that, in place of the fact being remarkablethat "he hit almost everything he fired at, " it would have beensingular if a good shot could have avoided doing so. Fifty beaters, sonear each other that their sticks almost touched, entered a thickcover and drove the game past the place where the sportsmen werestationed, into the open space of the park. Out the hares rushed fromevery quarter, "so many of them, that it was often impossible to stopmore than one out of half-a-dozen. The ground immediately in front ofthe shooters became strewn with dead and dying.... It was curious tobehold the evident reluctance with which the hares left their retreat, and then their perplexity at finding themselves so beset without. Manyactually made for the canal, and swam like dogs across a piece ofwater nearly a hundred yards wide, shaking themselves upon landing, and making off without any apparent distress. The pheasants werestill more averse 'to come and be killed. ' For some time not oneappeared above the trees. The cocks were heard crowing like domesticfowls, as the numerous tribe retreated before the sticks of theadvancing army of beaters. Upon arriving, however, at the edge of thewood, quite a cloud ascended, and the slaughter was proportionatelygreat. "

"Slaughter, " not sport, is the appropriate word. One cannot helpthinking that so it must have struck the Prince; nor are we surprisedthat, on the next opportunity he had of exercising a sportsman'slegitimate vocation, with the good qualities of patience, endurance, and skill, which it is calculated to call forth, emphatic mention ismade of his keen enjoyment. 

Besides shooting there was walking for both ladies and gentlemen, tothe number of twenty guests, "in the mild, clear weather, " in thebeautiful park. There was the usual county gathering, in order toconfer on the upper ten thousand, within a radius of many miles, themuch-prized honour of "meeting" the Queen at a dinner or a ball. Lastly, her Majesty and the Prince planted the oak and the cedar whichwere to rank like heirlooms, and be handed down as trophies of a royalvisit and princely favour, to future generations. 

The Queen and Prince Albert returned to Windsor on the evening ofSaturday, the 18th of January, and on the afternoon of Monday, the20th, they started again to pay a long-projected visit to her oldfriend the Duke of Wellington at Strathfieldsaye. It was known thatthe Duke had set his heart on entertaining his sovereign in his ownhouse, and she not only granted him the boon, but in consideration ofhis age, his laurels, and the long and intimate connection betweenthem, she let the visit have more of a private and friendly characterthan the visits of sovereigns to subjects were wont to have. However, the country did not lose its gala. Arches of winter evergreens insteadof summer flowers, festive banners, loyal inscriptions, yeoman corps, holiday faces, met her on all sides. At Swallowfield--a name whichMary Russell Mitford has made pleasant to English ears--"no less aperson than the Speaker of the House of Commons, " the representativeof an old Huguenot refugee, the Right Honourable John Shaw Lefevre, commanded the troop of yeomanry. 

The Iron Duke met his honoured guests in the hall and conducted themto the library. Every day the same formula was gone through. "The Duketakes the Queen in to dinner, sits by her Majesty, and after dinnergets up and says, 'With your Majesty's permission I give the health ofher Majesty, ' and then the same to the Prince. They then adjourn tothe library, and the Duke sits on the sofa by the Queen (almost as afather would sit by a daughter) for the rest of the evening untileleven o'clock, the Prince and the gentlemen being scattered about inthe library or the billiard-room, which opens into it. In a largeconservatory beyond, the band of the Duke's grenadier regiment playsthrough the evening. "

There was much that was unique and kindly in the relations between theQueen and the greatest soldier of his day. He had stood by herbaptismal font; she had been his guest, when she was the girl-Princess, at Walmer. He had sat in her first Council; he had witnessedher marriage; she was to give his name to one of her sons; in fact, hehad taken part in every event of her life. The present arrangementswere a graceful, well-nigh filial, tribute of affectionate regard forthe old man who had served his country both on the battle-field and inthe senate, who had watched his Queen's career with the keenestinterest, and rejoiced in her success as something with which he hadto do. 

The old soldier also gave the Prince shooting, but it was the "finewild sport" which might have been expected from the host, and whichseemed more to the taste of the guest. And in the party of gentlemenwho walked for miles over the ploughed land and through the brushwood, none kept up the pace better than the veteran. 

The weather was broken and partly wet during the Queen's stay atStrathfieldsaye, and in lieu of out-of-door exercise, the tennis-courtcame into request. Lord Charles Wellesley, the Duke's younger son, played against professional players, and Prince Albert engaged LordCharles and one of the professional players, the Queen looking on. 

When the visit was over, the Duke punctiliously performed his part ofriding on horseback by her Majesty's carriage for the first stage ofher journey. 

Comical illustrations are given of the old nobleman and soldier's dryrebuffs, administered to the members of the press and the publicgenerally, who haunted Strathfieldsaye on this occasion. 

The first was in reply to a request for admission to the house on theplea that the writer was one of the staff of a popular journalcommissioned to give the details of the visit. "Field-Marshal the Dukeof Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. ---, and begs to sayhe does not see what his house at Strathfieldsaye has to do with thepublic press. " The other was in the form of a still more ironicalnotice put up in the grounds, "desiring that people who wish to seethe house may drive up to the hall-door and ring the bell, but thatthey are to abstain from walking on the flagstones and looking in atthe windows. "

In February the Queen opened Parliament in person for what wasdestined to be a stormy session, particularly in relation to SirRobert Peel's measure proposing an increased annual grant of money tothe Irish Roman Catholic priests' college of Maynooth. In thePremier's speech, in introducing the Budget, he was able to pay awell-merited compliment on the wise and judicious economy shown inthe management of her Majesty's income, so that it was equal to meetthe heavy calls made upon it by the visits of foreign sovereigns, whowere entertained in a manner becoming the dignity of the sovereign, "without adding one tittle to the burdens of the country. And I am notrequired, on the part of her Majesty, " went on Sir Robert Peel, "topress for the extra expenditure of one single shilling on account ofthese unforeseen causes of increased expenditure. I think, to statethis is only due to the personal credit of her Majesty, who insistsupon it that there shall be every magnificence required by herstation, but without incurring a single debt. " In order to show howthe additional cost of such royal hospitality taxed the resources evenof the Queen of England, it may be well to give an idea of theordinary scale of housekeeping at Windsor Castle. Lady Bloomfieldlikens the kitchen-fire to Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace. Even when there was no company, from fifteen to twenty joints hungroasting there. In one year the number of people fed at dinner in theCastle amounted to a hundred and thirteen thousand!

Shall we be accused of small moralities and petty lessons in thrift ifwe say that this passage in Sir Robert Peel's speech recalls thestories of the child-Princess's training, in a wholesome horror ofdebt, and the exercise of such little acts of self-denial as can alonecome in a child's way; that it brings to mind the Tunbridge anecdoteof the tiny purchaser on her donkey, bidden to look at her empty pursewhen a little box in the bazaar caught her eye, and prohibited fromgoing further in obtaining the treasure, till the next quarter'sallowance was due? Well might the nation that had read the report ofSir Robert Peel's speech listen complacently when it heard in thefollowing month, of the Queen's acquisition of a private propertywhich should be all her own and her husband's, to do with, as theychose. Another country bestowed, upon quite different grounds, on oneof its sovereigns the honourable title of King Honest Man. Here wasQueen Honest Woman, who would not buy what she could not afford, orask her people to pay for fancies in which she indulged, regardless ofher means. A different example had been presented by poor Louis XVI. And Marie Antoinette, who, after a course of what their most faithfulservants admitted to be grievous misrule and misappropriation ofpublic dignities and funds--to satisfy the ambition and greed offavourites or their friends--in the face of national bankruptcy, private ruin, and widespread disaffection, in the very death-throes ofthe Revolution, chose that time of all others to buy--under whateverspecious pretext of exchange and indemnification--for him who hadalready so many hunting-seats, the fresh one of Rambouillet; for her, who had Little Trianon in its perfection, the new suburban countryhouse of St. Cloud. 

Osborne abounded in the advantages which the royal couple sought. Itwas in the Isle of Wight, which her Majesty had loved in her girlhood, with the girdle of sea that gave such assurance of the much-courted, much-needed seclusion, as could hardly be procured elsewhere--certainly not within a reasonable distance of London. It was a lovelyplace by nature, with no end of capabilities for the practice of thePrince's pleasant faculty of landscape-gardening, with which he hadalready done wonders in the circumscribed grounds of Buckingham Palaceand the larger field of Windsor. There were not only woods and valleysand charming points of view--among them a fine look at Spithead; thewoods went down to the sea, and the beach belonged to the estate. Sucha quiet country home for a country and home-loving Queen and Prince, and for the little children, to whom tranquillity, freedom, the woods, the fields, and the sea-sands were of such vital and lastingconsequence, was inestimable. 

In addition to other outlets for an active, beneficent nature, Osborne, with its works of building, planting, and improving going onfor years to come, had also its farms, like the Home Farm at Windsor. And the Prince was fond of farming no less than of landscape-gardening--proud of his practical success in making it pay, deeply interestedin all questions of agriculture and their treatment, so as to securepermanent employment and ample provision for the labourers. PrinceAlbert's love of animals, too, found scope in these farmingoperations. When the Queen and the Prince visited the Home Farm thetame pigeons would settle on his hat and her shoulders. Theaccompanying engraving represents the pasture and part of the HomeFarm at Osborne. "The cow in the group was presented to her Majesty bythe Corporation of Guernsey, when the Queen visited the ChannelIslands; the animal is a beautiful specimen of the Alderney breed, andis a great favourite ... On the forehead of the cow is a Vdistinctly marked; a peculiarity, it may be presumed, which led to thepresentation; the other animals are her calves. "

In the course of this session of Parliament, the Queen sought morethan once to mark her acknowledgment of the services of Sir RobertPeel, round whose political career troubles were gathering. She actedas sponsor to his grandchild--the heir of the Jersey family--and sheoffered Sir Robert, through Lord Aberdeen, the Order of the Garter, anoffer which the Prime Minister respectfully declined in words thatdeserve to be remembered. He sprang from the people, he said, and wasessentially of the people, and such an honour, in his case, would bemisapplied. His heart was not set upon titles of honour or socialdistinction. His reward lay in her Majesty's confidence, of which, bymany indications, she had given him the fullest assurance; and when heleft her service the only distinction he courted was that she shouldsay to him, "You have been a faithful servant, and have done your dutyto your country and to myself. "

CHAPTER II. 

THE QUEEN'S POWDER BALL. 

On the evening of the 6th of June, 1845, her Majesty, who was atBuckingham Palace for the season, gave another great costume ball, still remembered as her Powder Ball--a name bestowed on it because ofthe universally-worn powder on hair and periwigs. It was not such anovelty as the Plantagenet Ball had been, neither was it so splendidlyfantastic nor apparently so costly a performance; not that thematerials used in the dresses were less valuable, but several of them--notably the old lace which was so marked a feature in the spectaclethat it might as well have been called "The Lace Ball"--existed inmany of the great houses in store, like the family diamonds, and hadonly to be brought out with the other heirlooms, and properly disposedof, to constitute the wearer _en grande tenue_. No doubt tradewas still to be encouraged, and Spitalfields, in its chronicadversity, to be brought a little nearer to prosperity by themanufacture of sumptuous stuffs, in imitation of gorgeous oldbrocades, for a portion of the twelve hundred guests. But thesemotives were neither so urgent nor so ostensible, and perhaps the balloriginated as much in a wish to keep up a good custom once begun, andto show some cherished guests a choice example of princelyhospitality, as in an elaborate calculation of forced gain to anexotic trade. 

The period chosen for the representation was much nearer the present. It was only a hundred years back, from 1740 to 1750. It may be thatthis comparative nearness fettered rather than emancipated the playersin the game, and that, though civil wars and clan feuds had long diedout, and the memory of the Scotch rebellion was no more than apicturesque tragic romance, a trifle of awkwardness survived in theencounter, face to face once more, in the very guise of the past, ofthe descendants of the men and women who had won at Prestonpans andlost at Culloden. It was said that a grave and stately formalitydistinguished this ball--a tone attributed to dignified, troublesomefashions--stranger then, but which since these days have become morefamiliar to us. 

No two more attractive figures presented themselves that night thanthe sisters-in-law, the Duchess of Kent and the Duchess ofGloucester, the one in her sixtieth the other in her seventieth year. The third royal duchess in the worthy trio, who represented long andwell the royal matronhood of England, the Duchess of Cambridge, was, along with her Duke, prevented from being present at the Queen's ballin consequence of a recent death in her family. The Duchess of Kentwore a striped and "flowered" brocade, with quantities of black lacerelieving the white satin of her train. The Duchess of Gloucester, sweet pretty Princess Mary of more than fifty years before, came inthe character of a much less happy woman, Marie Leczinska, the queenof Louis XV. She must have looked charming in her rich black brocade, and some of the hoards of superb lace--which she is said to haveinherited from her mother, Queen Charlotte--edged with strings ofdiamonds and agraffes of diamonds, while over her powdered hair wastied a fichu capuchin of Chantilly. 

Among the multitude of guests assembled at Buckingham Palace, theprivileged few who danced in the Queen's minuets, as well as themembers of the royal family, arrived by the Garden Gate and werereceived in the Yellow Drawing-room. Included in this select companywas a German princess who had lately married an English subject--Princess Marie of Baden, wife of the Marquis of Douglas, not the firstprincess who had wedded into the noble Scotch house of Hamilton, though it was many a long century since Earl Walter received--

 all Arran's isle To dower his royal bride

The Queen had special guests with her on this occasion--her brotherthe Prince of Leiningen, the much-loved uncle of the royal children;and the favourite cousin of the circle, the young Duchesse de Nemours, with her husband. The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by theirvisitors, the various members of the English royal family present atthe ball, and the different suites, passed into the ball-room at half-past ten. The first dance, the graceful march of the German_polonaise_, was danced by all, young and old, the bands strikingup simultaneously, and the dance extending through the whole of theState apartments, the Queen leading the way, preceded by the Vice-Chamberlain, the Comptroller and Treasurer of the Household, and twogentlemen ushers to clear a space for her. After the _polonaise_the company passed slowly before the Queen. A comical incidentoccurred in this part of the programme through the innocent mistake ofan old infantry officer, who in his progress lifted his peaked hat andgave the Queen a military salute, as he walked by. 

Then her Majesty left the ball-room and repaired to the throne-room, where the first minuet was formed. It is only necessary to recall thatmost courtly of slow and graceful dances to judge how well suited itwas for this ball. The Queen danced with her cousin, Prince George ofCambridge. Her Majesty wore a wonderful dress of cloth of gold andcloth of silver, with daisies and poppies worked in silks, and shadedthe natural colours; trimmings and ruffles of exquisite old lace, stomacher covered with old lace and jewels, the sacque set off withscarlet ribands, the fair hair powdered under a tiara and crown ofdiamonds, dainty white satin shoes with scarlet rosettes--a diamond ineach rosette, the Order of the Garter on the arm, the Star and Ribandof the Order. 

Prince George was less fortunate in the regimentals of a cavalryofficer a century back; for, as it happened, while the costume of1740-50 was favourable to women and to civilians, it was trying tomilitary men. 

Prince Albert danced with the Duchesse de Nemours. These two had beenearly playmates who never, even in later and sadder days, got togetherwithout growing merry over the stories and jokes of their childhood inCoburg. The Prince must have been one of the most graceful figuresthere, in a crimson velvet coat edged with gold and lined with whitesatin, on the left breast the splendid Star of the Order of theGarter, shoulder-strap and sword inlaid with diamonds, white satinwaistcoat brocaded with gold, breeches of crimson velvet with goldbuttons, shoes of black kid with red heels and diamond buckles, three-cornered hat trimmed with gold lace, edged with white ostrichfeathers, a magnificent loop of diamonds, and the black cockade of theGeorges, not the white cockade of the Jameses. 

His golden-haired partner was in a tastefully gay and fantastic aswell as splendid costume of rose-coloured Chinese damask, with goldblonde and pearls, over a petticoat of point d'Alençon, with a deepborder of silver and silver rosettes. The stomacher of brilliants andpearls, on the left shoulder a nosegay with diamond wheat-earsinterspersed, shoes of purple satin with fleurs-de-lys embroidered ingold and diamonds, as became a daughter of France, and glovesembroidered with similar fleurs-de-lys. 

There were many gay and gallant figures and fair faces in that minuetof minuets. Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar was meant to dance with theyoung Marchioness of Douro, but she by some strange chance came toolate for the honour, and her place was supplied by another youngmatron and beauty, Lady Jocelyn, formerly Lady Fanny Cowper. PrinceLeiningen, who wore a white suit faced with blue and a buff waistcoatedged with silver lace, danced with Lady Mount-Edgcumbe. The Duke ofBeaufort once more disputed with the Earl of Wilton the distinction ofbeing the finest gentleman present. 

The Queen danced in four minuets, standing up in the second withPrince Albert. This minuet also included several of the most beautifulwomen of the time and of the Court; notably Lady Seymour, one of theSheridan sisters, the Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton tournament; andLady Canning. 

After the second minuet the Queen and all the company returned to theball-room, where two other minuets, those of Lady Jersey and LadyChesterfield, were danced, and between them was given LadyBreadalbane's strathspey. There was such crowding to see these dancesthat the Lord Chamberlain had difficulty in making room for them. While Musard furnished special music for the minuets and quadrilles, adapting it in one case from airs of the '45, the Queen's piper, Mackay, gave forth, for the benefit of the strathspey and reel-dancers, the stirring strains of "Miss Drummond of Perth, ""Tullochgorum, " and "The Marquis of Huntly's Highland Fling, " whichmust have rung with wild glee through the halls of kings. 

Lady Chesterfield's minuet was the last dance before supper, servedwith royal splendour in the dining-room, to which the Queen passed attwelve o'clock. After supper the Queen danced in a quadrille and inthe two next minuets. Her first partner was the Duc de Nemours, whowore an old French infantry general's uniform--a coat of white cloth, the front covered with gold embroidery, sleeves turned up with crimsonvelvet, waistcoat and breeches of crimson velvet, stockings of crimsonsilk, and red-heeled shoes with diamond buckles. In the second minuether Majesty had her brother, the Prince of Leiningen, for her partner. The ball was ended, according to a good old English fashion, by thequaint changing measure of "Sir Roger de Coverley, " known in Scotlandas "The Haymakers, " in which the Queen had her husband for herpartner. This country-dance was danced in the picture gallery. 

Let who would be the beauty at the Queen's ball, there was at leastone poetess there in piquant black and cerise, with cerise roses andpriceless point à l'aiguille, Lady John Scott, who had been the wittyheiress, Miss Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode. She wrote to an oldrefrain one of the most pathetic of modern Scotch ballads--

 Douglas, Douglas, tender and true

The beauty of the ball was the Marchioness of Douro, who not so longago had been the beauty of the season as Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughterof the Marquis of Tweeddale, when she caught the fancy of the elder, son and heir of the Duke of Wellington. In this case beauty was notunadorned, for the lovely Marchioness, [Footnote: Her likeness isfamiliar to many people in an engraving from a well-known picture ofthe Duke of Wellington showing his daughter-in-law the field ofWaterloo] the Greek mould of whose head attracted the admiration ofall judges, was said to wear jewels to the value of sixty thousandpounds, while the superb point-lace flounce to her white brocade musthave been a source of pious horror to good Roman Catholics, since itwas believed to have belonged to the sacred vestments of a pope. 

We have said that lace and jewels gave the distinguishing stamp to theball--such lace!--point d'Alençon, point de Bayeux, point de Venise, point a l'aiguille, Mechlin, Guipure, Valenciennes, Chantilly, enoughto have turned green with envy the soul of a cultured _petit-maître_, an aesthetic fop of the present day. 

Some of the jewels, no less than the lace, were historical. TheMarchioness of Westminster, besides displaying _sabots_ of point-lace, which had belonged to Caroline, queen of George II. , wore theNassuk and Arcot diamonds. 

Miss Burdett-Coutts wore a lustrous diadem and necklace that had oncegraced the brow and throat of poor Marie Antoinette, and had foundtheir way at last into jewel-cases no longer royal, owing theirglittering contents to the wealth of a great city banker. 

A word about the antiquated finery of the Iron Duke, with which theold soldier sought to please his young mistress. It provoked a smileor two from the more frivolous as the grey, gaunt, spindle-shanked oldman stalked by, yet it was not without its pathetic side. The Dukewore a scarlet coat, a tight fit, laced with gold, with splendid goldbuttons and frogs, the brilliant star of the Order of the Garter, andthe Order of the Golden Fleece, a waistcoat of scarlet cashmerecovered with gold lace, breeches of scarlet kerseymere trimmed withgold lace; gold buckles, white silk stockings, cocked hat laced withgold, sword studded with rose diamonds and emeralds. 

It is nearly forty years since these resplendent masquers trod thefloors of Buckingham Palace, and if the changes which time has broughtabout had been foreseen, if the veil which shrouds the future had beenlifted, what emotions would have been called forth!

Who could have borne to hear that the bright Queen and giver of thefete would pass the years of her prime in the mournful shade ofdisconsolate widowhood? That the pale crown of a premature death washovering over the head of him who was the life of her life, the activepromoter and sustainer of all that was good and joyous in that greathousehold, all that was great and happy in the kingdom over which sheruled?

Who would have ventured to prophesy that of the royal kindred andcherished guests, the Prince of Leiningen was to die a landless man, the Duc de Nemours to spend long years in exile, the Duchesse to becut down in the flower of her womanhood? Who would have guessed thatthis great nobleman, the head of an ancient house, was to perish by amiserable accident in a foreign hotel; that his sister, the wife of anunfortunate statesman, was to be dragged through the mire of a divorcecourt; that the treasures of a princely home were to pass away fromthe race that had accumulated them, under the strokes of anauctioneer's hammer? Who could have dreamt that this fine intellectand loving heart would follow the lord of their destiny to Hades, andwander there for evermore distracted, in the land of shadows, wherethere is no light of the sun to show the way, no firm ground to staythe tottering feet and groping hands? As for these two fair sisters inWatteau style of blue and pink, and green and pink taffetas, lace, andpearls, and roses--surely the daintiest, most aristocraticshepherdesses ever beheld--one of them would have lost her gracefulequanimity, reddened with affront, and tingled to the finger-tipswith angry unbelief if she had been warned beforehand that she wouldbe amongst the last of the high-born, high-bred brides who wouldforfeit her birthright and her presence at a Queen's Court by agreeingto be married at the hands of a blacksmith instead of a bishop, beforethe rude hymeneal altar at Gretna. 

But to-night there was no alarming interlude, like a herald of evil, to shake the nerves of the company--nothing more unpropitious than the_contretemps_ to an unlucky lady of being overcome by the heatand seized with a fainting-fit, which caused her over-zealoussupporters to remove her luxuriant powdered wig in order to give hergreater air and coolness, so that she was fain, the moment sherecovered, to hide her diminished head by a rapid discomfited retreatfrom what remained of the revelry. 

On the 21st of June the Queen and the Prince, with the Lords of theAdmiralty, inspected the fleet off Spithead. The royal yacht wasattended by a crowd of yachts belonging to the various squadrons, athrong of steamboats and countless small boats. The Queen visited andwent over the flagship--which was the _St. Vincent_--the_Trafalgar_, and the _Albion_. On her return to the yachtshe held a levee of all the captains of the fleet. A few daysafterwards she reviewed her fleet in brilliant, breezy weather. Theroyal yacht took up its position at Spithead, and successive signalswere given to the squadron to "Lower sail, " "Make sail, " "Shorten sailand reef, " and "Furl topgallant sails, " all the manoeuvres--includingthe getting under way and sailing in line to St. Helen's--beingperformed with the very perfection of nautical accuracy. The reviewended with the order, "Furl sails, put the life-lines on, and manyards, " which was done as only English sailors can accomplish thefeat, while the royal yacht on its return passed through the squadronamidst ringing cheers. 

During the earlier part of the summer Sir John Franklin sailed withhis ships, the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, in search of thatNorth Pole which, since the days of Sir Hugh Montgomery, "a captaintall, " has been at once the goal and snare of many a gallant Englishsailor. The good ships disappeared under the horizon, never to reachtheir haven. By slow degrees oblivion, more or less profound, closedover the fate of officers and men, while, for lack of knowledge oftheir life or death, the light of many a hearth was darkened, andfaithful hearts sickened with hope deferred and broke under thestrain. As one instance, out of many, of the desolation which thesilent loss of the gallant expedition occasioned, sorrow descendedheavily on one of the happy Highland homes among which the Queen haddwelt the previous summer. Captain, afterwards Lord James, Murray, brother of Lord Glenlyon, was married to Miss Fairholme, sister of oneof the picked men of whom the explorers were composed. When no tidingsof him came, year after year, from the land of mist and darkness, pining melancholy seized upon her and made her its prey. 

In the month of July the King of the Netherlands, who, as Prince ofOrange, had served on the Duke of Wellington's staff at the close ofthe Peninsular War, came to England and took up his quarters atMivart's Hotel, the Queen being in the Isle of Wight, where he joinedher. Prince Albert met the King at Gosport and escorted him toOsborne. On his return to London the King, who was already a generalin the English army, received his appointment as field-marshal, andreviewed the Household troops in Hyde Park. He paid a second visit tothe Queen at Osborne before he left Woolwich for Holland. 

A curious accident happened when the Queen prorogued Parliament on the9th of August. The Duke of Argyle, an elderly man, was carrying thecrown on a velvet cushion, when, in walking backwards before theQueen, he appeared to forget the two steps, leading from the platformon which the throne stands to the floor, and stumbled, the crownslipping from the cushion and falling to the ground, with the loss ofsome diamonds. The Queen expressed her concern for the Duke instead offor the crown; but on her departure the keeper of the House of Lordsappeared in front of the throne, and prevented too near an approach toit, with the chance of further damage to the dropped jewels. Themisadventure was naturally the subject of a good deal of privateconversation in the House. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO GERMANY. 

On the evening of the day that she prorogued Parliament, the Queen andthe Prince with the Earl of Aberdeen as the minister in attendance, started from Buckingham Palace that she might pay her first visit toGermany. Surely none of all the new places she had visited within thelast few years could have been of such surpassing interest to thetraveller. It was her mother's country as well as her husband's, thehome of her brother and sister, the place of which she must haveheard, with which she must have had the kindliest associations fromher earliest years. 

The first stage of the journey--in stormy weather, unfortunately--wasto Antwerp, where the party did not land till the following day, whenthey proceeded to Malines, where they were met by King Leopold andQueen Louise, who parted from their royal niece at Verviers. On thePrussian frontier Lord Westmoreland, the English ambassador, and BaronBunsen met her Majesty. "To hear the people speak German, " she wrotein her Journal, "to see the German soldiers, seemed to me so singular. I overheard people saying that I looked very English. "

At Aix-la-Chapelle the King and Prince of Prussia received thevisitors and accompanied them to Cologne. The ancient dirty town ofthe Three Kings gave the strangers an enthusiastic reception. Theburghers even did their best to get rid of the unsavoury odours whichdistinguish the town of sweet essences, by pouring eau-de-Cologne onthe roadways. 

At Bruhl the Queen and the Prince were taken to the palace, where theyfound the Queen of Prussia, whose hostility to English and devotion toRussian interests when Lord Bloomfield represented the EnglishGovernment at Berlin, are recorded by Lady Bloomfield. With the Queenwas her sister-in-law, the Princess of Prussia, and the Court. Theparty went into one of the _salons_ to hear the famous tatooplayed by four hundred musicians, in the middle of an illumination bymeans of torches and coloured lamps. The Queen was reminded that shewas in a land of music by hearing at a concert, in which sixtyregimental bands assisted, "God save the Queen" better played than shehad ever heard it before. "We felt so strange to be in Germany atlast, " repeats her Majesty, dwelling on the pleasant sensation, "atBruhl, which Albert said he used to go and visit from Bonn. "

The next day the visitors went to Bonn, accompanied by the King andQueen of Prussia. At the house of Prince Furstenberg many professorswho had known Prince Albert were presented to the Queen, "whichinterested me very much, " the happy wife says simply. "They weregreatly delighted to see Albert and pleased to see me.... I felt asif I knew them all from Albert having told me so much about them. " Theexperience is known to many a bride whose husband takes her proudly tohis old _alma mater_. 

The day was made yet more memorable by the unveiling of a statue toBeethoven. But, by an unlucky _contretemps_, the royal party onthe balcony found the back of the statue presented to their gaze. The_Freischutzen_ fired a _feu-de-joie_. A chorale was sung. The people cheered and the band played a _Dusch_--such a flourishof trumpets as is given in Germany when a health is drunk. 

The travellers then went to the Prince's "former little house. " TheQueen writes, "It was such a pleasure for me to be able to see thishouse. We went all over it, and it is just as it was, in no wayaltered.... We went into the little bower in the garden, from whichyou have a beautiful view of the _Kreuzberg_--a convent situatedon the top of a hill. The _Siebengebirge_ (seven mountains) youalso see, but the view of them is a good deal built up. "

This visiting together the ground once so familiar to the Princeformed an era in two lives. It was the fulfilment of a beautiful, brilliant expectation which had been half dim and vague when theardent lad was a quiet, diligent student, living simply, almostfrugally, like the other students at the university on the Rhine, andhis little cousin across the German Ocean, from whom he had parted inthe homely red-brick palace of Kensington, had been proclaimed Queenof a great country. The prospect of their union was still veryuncertain in those days, and yet it must sometimes have crossed hismind as he built air-castles in the middle of his reading; or strolledwith a comrade along those old-fashioned streets, among theirpopulation of "wild-looking students, " with long fair hair, pipesbetween their lips, and the scars of many a sword-duel on forehead andcheek; or penetrated into the country, where the brown peasant women, "with curious caps and handkerchiefs, " came bearing their burden ofsticks from the forest, like figures in old fairy tales. He must havetold himself that the time might come when something like thetransformation of a fairy-tale would be effected on his account; theplain living and high-thinking and college discipline of Bonn beexchanged for the dignity and influence of an English sovereign'sconsort. Then, perhaps, he would bring his bride to the dear old"fatherland, " and show her where he had dreamt about her among hisbooks. 

At the banquet in the afternoon the accomplished King gave the Queen'shealth in a speech fit for a poet. He referred to a word sweet aliketo British and German hearts. Thirty years before it had echoed on theheights of Waterloo from British and German tongues, after days of hotand desperate fighting, to mark the glorious triumph of theirbrotherhood in arms. "Now it resounds on the banks of our fair Rhine, amidst the blessings of that peace which was the hallowed fruit of thegreat conflict. That word is 'Victoria. ' Gentlemen, drink to thehealth of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britainand Ireland, and to that of her august consort. "

"The Queen, " remarked Bunsen, "bowed at the first word, but much lowerat the second. Her eyes brightened through tears, and as the King wastaking his seat again, she rose and bent towards him and kissed hischeek, then took her seat again with a beaming countenance. "

After the four-o'clock dinner, the royal party returned to Cologne, and from a steamer on the Rhine saw, through a drizzle of rain whichdid not greatly mar the spectacle, a splendid display of fireworks andillumination of the town, in which the great cathedral "seemed to glowwith fire. "

We quote a picturesque description of the striking scene. "The Rhinewas made one vast _feu-de-joie_. As darkness closed in, the dimcity began to put forth buds of light. Lines of twinkling brightnessdarted like liquid gold or silver from pile to pile, then by thebridge of boats across the river, up the masts of the shipping, andalong the road on the opposite bank. Rockets now shot from all partsof the horizon. The royal party embarked in a steamer at St. Tremondand glided down by the river. As they passed the banks blazed withfireworks and musketry. At their approach the bridge glowed withredoubled light, and, opening, let the vessel pass to Cologne, whosecathedral burst forth a building of light, every detail of thearchitecture being made out in delicately-coloured lamps--pinkish, with an underglow of orange. Traversing in carriages the illuminatedand vociferous city, the King and his companions returned by therailroad to Bruhl. "

Next morning there was a great concert at Bonn--part of the Beethovenfestival, in which much fine music was given, but, oddly enough, notmuch of Beethoven's, to her Majesty's regret. The Queen drove to theUniversity--in the classrooms of which the Prince had sat as astudent--and saw more of the professors who had taught him, and ofstudents similar to those who had been his class-fellows. Then shewent once more to Cologne, and visited its glory, the cathedral, atthat time unfinished, returning to Bruhl to hail with delight thearrival of the King and Queen of the Belgians. "It seems like a dreamto them and to me to see each other in Germany, " the Queen wrote oncemore. The passages from her Majesty's Journal read as if she werepleased to congratulate herself on being at last with Prince Albert inhis native country. 

The last day at Cologne ended in another great concert, conducted byMeyerbeer, for which he had composed a cantata in honour of the Queen. Jenny Lind sang in the concert. It was her Majesty's first opportunityof hearing the great singer, who, of all her sister singers, has mostidentified herself with England, and from her noble, womanly characterand domestic virtues, endeared herself to English hearts. 

The tutelary genius of the river which is the Germans' watchword wasnot able to procure the Queen her weather for her sail on its greenwaters. Rain fell or threatened for both of the days. Not even thepresence of three queens--of England, Prussia, and Belgium--two kings, a prince consort, an archduke, and a future emperor and empress, couldpropitiate the adverse barometer, or change the sulky face of the sky. Between showers the Queen had a glimpse of the romantic scenery, andperhaps Ehrenbreitstein was most in character when the smoke from thefiring of twenty thousand troops "brought home to the imagination thedin and lurid splendours of a battle. "

The halt was made at Schlossenfels, which included among itsdistinguished guests Humboldt and Prince Metternich. Next day the Kingand Queen of Prussia took leave of their visitors, still under heavyrain. The weather cleared afterwards for a time, however, andbeautiful Bingen, with the rest of the Rhenish country, was seen insunshine. The only inconvenience remaining was the thunder of cannonsand rattle of muskets which every loyal village kept up. 

At Mayence the Queen was received by the Governor, Prince William ofPrussia, and the Austrian commander, while the Prussian and Austriantroops, with their bands, gave a torchlight serenade before the hotelwindows. On the rest-day which Sunday secured, the Queen saw the goodnurse who had brought the royal pair into the world. Her Majesty hadalso her first introduction to one of her future sons-in-law--anunforeseen kinsman then--Prince Louis of Hesse, whom she noticed as "avery fine boy of eight, nice, and full of intelligence. "

There were still long leagues to drive, posting, before Coburg couldbe reached, and the party started from Mayence in two travellingcarriages as early as seven o'clock next morning. They went byFrankfort to Aschaffenburg, where they were met by Bavarian troops anda representative of the King on their entrance into Bavaria. Throughwoodland scenery, and fields full of the stir of harvest, where aqueenly woman did not relish the spectacle of her sister-womentreated as beasts of burden, the travellers journeyed to Wurzburg. There Prince Luitpold of Bavaria met and welcomed them to amagnificent palace, where the luggage, which ought to have precededthe wearied travellers, was not forthcoming. Another long day'sdriving, beginning at a little after six in the morning, would bringthe party to Coburg. By one o'clock they were at the old prince-bishop's stately town of Bamberg. In the course of the afternoon theQueen had changed horses for the last time in Franconia. "I began, "she wrote, "to feel greatly moved, agitated indeed, in coming near theCoburg frontier. At length we saw flags and people drawn up in lines, and in a few minutes more were welcomed by Ernest (the Duke of Coburg)in full uniform.... We got into an open carriage of Ernest's with sixhorses, Ernest sitting opposite to us. "

The rest of the scene was very German, quaintly picturesque and warm-hearted. "The good people were all dressed in their best, the women inpointed caps, with many petticoats, and the men in leather breeches. Many girls were there with wreaths of flowers. " A triumphal arch, aVice-Land-Director, to whose words of greeting the Queen replied, hisfellow-officials on either side, the people welcoming their prince andhis queen in "a really hearty and friendly way. "

The couple drove to what had been the pretty little country house oftheir common grandmother, the late Dowager-Duchess of Coburg, andfound King Leopold and Queen Louise awaiting them there. He also wasan honoured son of Coburg, pleased to be present on such a proud dayfor the little State. He and his queen took their places beside QueenVictoria and Prince Albert--Ernest Duke of Coburg mounting onhorseback and riding beside the carriage as its chief escort. In thisorder the procession, "which looked extremely pretty, " was formed. Atthe entrance to the town there was another triumphal arch, beneathwhich the Burgomaster addressed the royal couple. "On the other sidestood a number of young girls dressed in white, with green wreaths andscarfs, who presented us with bouquets and verses. "

Oh! what anxious, exciting, girlish rehearsals must have been gonethrough beforehand. 

"I cannot say how much I felt moved on entering this dear old place, and with difficulty I restrained my emotion. The beautifully-ornamented town, all bright with wreaths and flowers, the numbers ofgood affectionate people, the many recollections connected with theplace--all was so affecting. In the Platz, where the _Rathhaus_and _Rigierungshaus_ are, which are fine and curious old houses, the clergy were assembled, and Ober-Superintendent Genzler addressedus very kindly--a very young-looking man for his age, for he marriedmamma to my father, and christened and confirmed Albert and Ernest. "Neither was the motherly presence of her whose marriage vow the Ober-Superintendent had blessed, who had done so much to contribute to thetriumph of this day, wanting to its complete realization of all thatsuch a day should have been. The Duchess of Kent was already on avisit to her nephew, standing on the old threshold--once so well knownto her--ready to help to welcome her daughter, prepared to show herthe home and cherished haunts of her mother's youth. As the carriagedrew up, young girls threw wreaths into it. Beside the Duchess of Kentwere the Duchess and Dowager-Duchess of Coburg, Prince Albert'ssister-in-law and stepmother. The staircase was full of cousins. "Itwas an affecting but exquisite moment, which I shall never forget, "declared the Queen. 

But in the middle of the gratification of the son of the house whothus brought his true wife under its roof-tree, and of hissatisfaction of being with her there, the faithful hearts did notforget the late sovereign and house-father who had hoped so eagerly towelcome them to the ancestral home. They were there, but his place wasfilled by another. At Coburg and at Rosenau, which had been one of theold Duke's favourite resorts, his memory haunted his children. "Everysound, every view, every step we take makes us think of him and feelan indescribable hopeless longing for him. "

By an affectionate, thoughtful provision for their perfect freedom andenjoyment, Rosenau, Prince Albert's birthplace, was set apart for theQueen and the Prince's occupation on this very happy occasion whenthey visited Coburg, and still it is the widowed Queen's residencewhen she is dwelling in the neighbourhood. Beautiful in itself amongits woods and hills, it was doubly beautiful to both from itsassociations. The room in which the Queen slept was that in which thePrince had been born. "How happy, how joyful we were, " the Queenwrote, "on awaking to find ourselves here, at the dear Rosenau, myAlbert's birthplace, the place he most loves.... He was so happy to behere with me. It is like a beautiful dream. "

Fine chorales were sung below the window by some of the singers in theCoburg theatre. Before breakfast the Prince carried off the Queen tosee the upper part of the house, which he and his brother had occupiedwhen children. "It is quite in the roof, with a tiny little bedroom oneach side, in one of which they both used to sleep with Florschutz, their tutor. [Footnote: The Prince was then such a mere child that thetutor used to carry him in his arms up and down stairs. One isreminded of the old custom of appointing noble governors for royalchildren of the tenderest years, and of the gracious patheticrelations which sometimes existed between bearded knights and infantkings. Such was the case where Sir David Lindsay of the Mount andlittle King James V. Were concerned, when the pupil would entreat themaster for a song on the lute with childish peremptoriness, "P'ay, Davie Lindsay, p'ay!"] The view is beautiful, and the paper is stillfull of holes from their fencing; and the very same table is there onwhich they were dressed when little. "

The days were too short for all that was to be seen and done. Thefirst day there was a visit to the fortress overhanging the town, which looks as far away as the sea of trees, the Thuringerwald. It hasLuther's room, with his chair and part of his bed. 

In the evening the Queen went to the perfect little German theatre, where Meyerbeer's _Huguenots_ was given, and the audience sang"God save the Queen" to German words. 

The next day the visitors drove to Kalenberg, another of the Duke'sseats. In the evening they held a reception at the palace, when notonly those persons who had the magic prefix _von_ to their nameswere admitted, but deputations of citizens, merchants, and artisanswere presented, the Queen praising their good manners afterwards. 

The following day was the Feast of St. Gregorius, the children'sfestival, in which thirteen hundred children walked in processionthrough Coburg, some in fancy dresses, most of the girls in white andgreen. Three girls came up to the palace balcony and sang a song inhonour of the Queen. Then great and small repaired to the meadow--fortunately the fine weather had set in--where there were tentsdecorated with flowers, in which the royal party dined, while the bandplayed and the children danced "so nicely and merrily, waltzes, polkas, and it was the prettiest thing I ever saw, " declared theQueen. "Her Majesty talked to the children, to their greatastonishment, in their own language. Tired of dancing and processions, and freed from all awe by the ease of the illustrious visitors, thechildren took to romps, 'thread my needle, ' and other pastimes, andfinally were well pelted by the royal circle with bon-bons, flowersand cakes" is the report of another observer. 

The day ended with a great ball at the palace. 

The next day was spent more quietly in going over old favouritehaunts, among them the cabinet or collection of curiosities, stuffedbirds, fossils, autographs, &c. , which had been formed partly by thePrinces when boys. Prince Albert continued to take the greatestinterest in it, and had made the Queen a contributor to its treasures. At dinner the Queen tasted _bratürste_ (roasted sausages), thenational dish of Coburg, and pronounced it excellent, with itsaccompaniment of native beer. A royal neighbour, Queen Adelaide'sbrother, the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, joined the party at dinner, andthe company witnessed the performance of Schiller's _Bride ofMessina_ at the theatre. 

On Sunday the August weather was so hot that the Queen and the Princebreakfasted for the second time out of doors. In the course of themorning they drove over with Duke Ernest and the Duchess to St. MoritzKirche--equivalent to the cathedral of the town. The clergy receivedthe party at the door of the church, and the Ober-SuperintendentGenzler made a brief oration "expressive of his joy at receiving thegreat Christian Queen who was descended from their Saxon dukes, whowere the first Reformers, and at the doors of the church where theReformation was first preached. " The Queen describes the service aslike the Scotch Presbyterian form, only with more ceremony and moresinging. The last impressed her deeply. The pastor preached a finesermon. The afternoon's drive led through scenery which, especially inits pine woods, resembled the Scotch Highlands, and ended in the_Thiergarten_, where the Duke reared his wild boars. 

"I cannot think, " the Queen wrote longingly, "of going away from here. I count the hours, for I have a feeling here which I cannot describe--a feeling as if my childhood also had been spent here. " No wonder;Coburg was home to her, like her native air or her mother tongue; shemust have learnt to know it at her mother's knee. Her husband'sexperience was added to the earlier recollection of every salientpoint, every _Haus-Mahrchen_; and never were husband and wifemore in sympathy than the two who now snatched a short season ofdelight from a sojourn in the cradle of their race. 

Another brilliant sunshiny day--which the brother Princes spenttogether reviving old associations in the town, while the Queensketched at Rosenau--closed with the last visit to the theatre, whenthe people again sang "God save the Queen, " adding to it some prettyfarewell verses. 

The last day which the Queen passed in Coburg was, by a happycircumstance, the Prince's birthday--the first he had spent at Rosenausince he was a lad of fifteen, and, in spite of all changes, the daydawned full of quiet gladness. "To celebrate this dear day in mybeloved husband's country and birthplace is more than I ever hopedfor, " wrote her Majesty, "and I am so thankful for it; I wished himjoy so warmly when the singers sang as they did the other morning. "The numberless gifts had been arranged by no other hands than those ofthe Queen and the Prince's brother and sister-in-law on a table"dressed with flowers. "' Peasants came in gala dress, [Footnote: TheQueen admired greatly many of the peasant costumes, often asserviceable and durable as they were becoming, which she saw inGermany. She expressed the regret so often uttered by Englishtravellers that English labourers and workers at handicrafts, in placeof retaining a dress of their own, have long ago adopted a tawdryversion of the fashions of the upper classes. Unfortunately thepractice is fast becoming universal. ] with flowers, music, and dancingto offer their good wishes. In the afternoon all was quiet again, andthe Queen and the Prince took their last walk together, for many aday, at Rosenau, down into the hayfields where the friendly peopleexchanged greetings with them, drank the crystal clear water from thestream, and looked at the fortifications which two princely boys haddug and built, as partly lessons, partly play. 

The next day at half-past eight the travellers left "with heavyhearts, " measuring the fateful years which were likely to elapsebefore Coburg was seen again. The pain of parting was lessened by thepresence of the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, who accompanied theirguests to the Duke's other domain of Gotha. The way led through QueenAdelaide's country of Meiningen, and at every halting-place clergymenwith addresses more or less discursive, and "white and green youngladies, " literally bombarded the travellers with speeches, flowers, and poems. At last the Duke of Coburg's territory was again enteredafter it was dark; and the party reached the lovely castellatedcountry-seat of Reinhardtsbrunn, amidst forest and mountain scenery, with its lake in front of the house, set down in the centre of amining population that came up in quaint costumes, with flamingtorches, to walk in procession past the windows. The Queen was charmedwith Reinhardtsbrunn, and would fain have lingered there, but timepressed, and she was expected in the course of the next afternoon atGotha, on a visit to the Prince's aged grandmother who had helped tobring him up, and was so fondly attached to her former charge. 

The old lady at seventy-four years of age anticipated the visit. Shetravelled the distance of eight miles before breakfast, in order totake her grandchildren by surprise. "I hastened to her, " is theQueen's account, "and found Albert and Ernest with her. She is acharming old lady, and though very small, remarkably nice-looking, erect and active, but unfortunately very deaf.... She was so happy tosee us, and kissed me over and over again. Albert, who is the dearestbeing to her in the world, she was enraptured to see again, and kissedso kindly. It did one's heart good to see her joy. "

In the afternoon the travellers proceeded to Gotha, which was in astate of festival and crowded with people. The Queen and the Princeresided at the old Duchess's house of Friedrichsthal, where thegreatest preparations, including the hanging of all her pictures intheir rooms, had been made for them. The first visit they paid inGotha was a solemn one, to the chapel which formed the temporaryresting-place of the body of the late Duke, till it could be removedto its vault in Coburg. Then the rooms in which the father had diedwere visited. These were almost equally melancholy, left as they hadbeen, unchanged, with the wreaths that had decorated the room for hislast birthday still there; "and there is that sad clock which stoppedjust before he died. " Who that has seen in Germany these fadedwreaths, with their crushed, soiled streamers of white riband, canforget the desolate aspect which they lend to any room in which theyare preserved!

There was a cabinet or museum here, too, to inspect, and the curiousold spectacle of the popinjay to be witnessed, in company with theGrand Duke of Weimar and his son. This kind of shooting was harmlessenough, for the object aimed at was a wooden bird on a pole. Theriflemen, led by the rifle-king (_schutzen-konig_), the publicofficials, and deputations of peasants marched past the platform wherethe Queen stood, like a pageant of the Middle Ages. All the princes, including King Leopold, fired, but none brought down the bird; thatfeat was left for some humbler hero. 

On the Queen's return from the popinjay she had the happiness to meetBaroness Lehzen, her old governess, who had come from Buckeburg to seeher Majesty. During the next few days the old friends were oftentogether, and the Queen speaks with pleasure of the Baroness's"unchanged devotion, " only she was quieter than formerly. It must haveappeared like another dream to both, that "the little Princess" ofKensington, travelling with her husband, should greet her oldgoverness, and tell her, under the shadow of the great Thuringerwald, of the four children left behind in England. 

The next day the forest itself was entered, when "the bright blue sky, the heavenly air, the exquisite tints, " gave a crowning charm to itsbeauties. The road lay through green glades which occasionallycommanded views so remote as those of the Hartz Mountains, to_Jagersruh_, a hunting-lodge on a height "among stately firs thatlook like cedars. " Here the late Duke had excited all his skill andtaste to make a hunter's paradise, which awoke again the regretfulthought, "How it would have pleased him to have shown all this himselfto those he loved so dearly!"

But _Jagersruh_ was not the goal of the excursion; it was a"deer-drive" or battue, which in Germany at least can be classed as "arelic of mediaeval barbarism. " A considerable space in the forest wascleared and enclosed with canvas. In the centre of this enclosure wasa pavilion open at the sides, made of branches of fir-trees, anddecorated with berries, heather, and forest flowers; in short, asylvan bower provided for the principal company, outside a tablefurnished with powder and shot supplied a station for less privilegedpersons, including the chasseurs or huntsmen of the Duke, in green andgold uniforms. 

Easy-chairs were placed in the pavilion for the Queen, the Queen ofthe Belgians, and the Duchess Alexandrina, while Prince Albert, KingLeopold, the Prince of Leiningen, and Duke Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, the Prince's uncle, stood by the ladies. Stags to the number ofupwards of thirty, and other game, were driven into the enclosure, andbetween the performances of a band which played at intervals, thegentlemen loaded their rifles, and fired at the helpless prey in thepresence of the ladies. 

Her Majesty records in her Journal, "As for the sport itself, none ofthe gentlemen like this butchery. " She turns quickly from the piteousslaughter to the beautiful, peaceful scenery. 

A quiet Sunday was spent at Gotha. Monday was the _Lieder fest_, or festival of song, to which, on this occasion, not only thetownspeople and villagers from all the neighbouring towns and villagescame with their banners and bands, but every small royalty from farand near flocked to meet the Queen of England. These innumerablecousins repaired with the Queen to the park opposite the Schloss, andshared in the festival. The orchestra, composed of many hundreds ofsingers, was opposite the pavilion erected for the distinguishedvisitors. Among the fine songs, rendered as only Germans could renderthem, songs composed by Prince Albert and his brother, and songswritten for the day, were sung. Afterwards there was a State dinnerand a ball. 

The last day had come, with its inevitable sadness. "I can't--won'tthink of it, " wrote the Queen, referring to her approaching departure. She drove and walked, and, with her brother-in-law and his Duchess, was ferried over to the "Island of Graves, " the burial-place of theold Dukes of Gotha when the duchy was distinct from that of Coburg. Anancient gardener pointed out to the visitors that only one moreflower-covered grave was wanted to make the number complete. When theDuchess of Gotha should be laid to rest with her late husband and hisfathers, then the House of Gotha, in its separate existence, wouldhave passed away. 

One more drive through the hayfields and the noble fir-trees to thevast Thuringerwald, and, "with many a longing, lingering look at thepine-clad mountains, " the Queen and the Prince turned back to attend aball given in their honour by the townspeople in the theatre. 

On the following day the homeward journey was begun. After partings, rendered still more sorrowful by the fact that the age of thecherished grandmother of the delightful "dear" family party renderedit not very probable that she, for one, would see all her childrenround her again, the Duke and Duchess of Coburg went one stage withthe travellers, and then there was another reluctant if less painfulparting. 

The Queen and the Prince stopped at the quaint little town ofEisenach, which Helen of Orleans was yet to make her home. They werereceived by the Grand Duke and Hereditary Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, withwhom the strangers drove through the autumn woods to the famous oldfortress of the Wartburg, which, in its time, dealt a deadly blow toRoman Catholicism by sheltering, in the hour of need, the Protestantchampion, Luther. Like the good Protestants her Majesty and the Princewere, they went to see the great reformer's room, and looked at theink-splash on the wall--the mark of his conflict with the devil--thestove at which he warmed himself, the rude table at which he wrote andate, and above all, the glorious view over the myriads of tree-topswith which he must have refreshed his steadfast soul. But if Luther isthe hero of the Wartburg, there is also a heroine--the central figureof that "Saint's Tragedy" which Charles Kingsley was to give to theworld in the course of the next two or three years--St. Elizabeth ofThuringia, the tenderest, bravest, most tortured soul that everreceived the doubtful gain of canonization. There is the well by whichshe is said to have ministered to her sick poor, half-way up theascent to the Wartburg, and down in the little town nestling below, may be seen the remains of an hospital bearing her name. 

From Fulda, where the royal party slept, they journeyed to Goethe'stown of Frankfort, where Ludwig I. , who turned Munich into a greatpicture and sculpture gallery, and built the costly Valhalla tocommemorate the illustrious German dead, dined with her Majesty. 

At Biberich the Rhine was again hailed, and a steamer, waiting for thetravellers, carried them to Bingen, where their own little vessel, _The Fairy_, met and brought them on to Deutz, on the fartherside from Cologne. The Queen says naively that the Rhine had lost itscharm for them all--the excitement of novelty was gone, and theThuringerwald had spoilt them. Stolzenfels, Ehrenbreitstein, and theSieben-Gebirge had their words of praise, but sight-seeing had becomefor the present a weariness, and after Bonn, with its memories, hadbeen left behind, it was a rest to the royal travellers--as to mostother travellers at times--to turn away their jaded eyes, relinquishthe duty of alert observation, forget what was passing around them, and lose themselves in a book, as if they were in England. Perhaps thehome letters had awakened a little home-sickness in the couple whohad been absent for a month. At least, we are given to understandthat it was of home and children the Queen and the Prince were chieflythinking when they reached Antwerp, to which the King and Queen of theBelgians had preceded them, and re-embarked in the royal yacht_Victoria and Albert_, though it was not at once to sail forEnglish waters. In gracious compliance with an urgent entreaty ofLouis Philippe's, the yacht was to call, as it were in passing, atTréport. 

On the morning of the 8th of September the Queen's yacht again lay atanchor off the French seaport. The King's barge, with the King, hisson, and son-in-law, Prince Joinville, and Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg, and M. Guizot, once more came alongside. After the friendliestgreetings, the Queen and Prince Albert landed with their host, thoughnot without difficulty. The tide would not admit of the ordinarymanner of landing, and Louis Philippe in the dilemma fell back on abathing-machine, which dragged the party successfully if somewhatunceremoniously over the sands. 

The Queen of the French was there as before, accompanied among othersby her brother, the Prince of Salerno and his Princess, sister to theEmperor of Austria. The crowd cheered as loudly as ever; there seemedno cloud on the horizon that bright, hot day; even the plague of toomuch publicity and formality had been got rid of at Château d'Eu. TheQueen was delighted to renew her intercourse with the large, brightfamily circle--two of them her relations and fast friends. "It put meso much in mind of two years ago, " she declared, "that it was reallyas if we had never been away;" and the King had to show her his_Galerie Victoria_, a room fitted up in her honour, hung with thepictures illustrating her former visit and the King's return visit toWindsor. 

Although she had impressed on him that she wished as much as possibleto dispense with state and show on this occasion, the indefatigableold man had been at the trouble and expense of erecting a theatre, andbringing down from Paris the whole of the Opéra Comique to play beforeher, and thus increase the gaiety of the single evening of her stay. 

Only another day was granted to Château d'Eu. By the next sunset theKing was conducting his guests on board the royal yacht and seizingthe last opportunity, when Prince Albert was taking Prince Joinvilleover the _Fairy_, glibly to assure the Queen and Lord Aberdeenthat he, Louis Philippe, would never consent to Montpensier's marriageto the Infanta of Spain till her sister the Queen was married and hadchildren. 

At parting the King embraced her Majesty again and again. The yachtlay still, and there was the most beautiful moonlight reflected on thewater. The Queen and the Prince walked up and down the deck, while notthey alone, but the astute statesman Aberdeen, congratulatedthemselves on how well this little visit had prospered, in addition tothe complete success of the German tour. With the sea like a lake, andsky and sea of the deepest blue, in the early morning the yachtweighed anchor for England. Under the hot haze of an autumn noondaysun the royal travellers disembarked on the familiar beach at Osborne. The dearest of welcomes greeted them as they "drove up straight to thehouse, for there, looking like roses, so well and so fat, stood thefour children. "

The Queen referred afterwards to that visit to Germany as to one ofthe happiest times in her life. She said when she thought of it, itmade her inclined to cry, so pure and tender had been the pleasure. 

CHAPTER IV. 

RAILWAY SPECULATION--FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP--SIR ROBERT PEEL'SRESOLUTIONS--BIRTH OF PRINCESS HELENA--VISIT OF IBRAHIM PASHA. 

One thousand eight hundred and forty-five had begun with what appeareda fresh impetus to national prosperity--a new start full of life andvigour, by which the whole resources of the country should be at oncestirred up and rendered ten times more available than they had everbeen before. This was known afterwards as "the Railway Mania, " which, like other manias, if they are not mere fever-fits of speculation, butare founded on real and tangible gains, had its eager hopeful rise, its inflated disproportioned exaggeration, its disastrous collapse, its gradual recovery, and eventually its solid reasonable success. In1845 the movement was hurrying on to the second stage of its history. 

The great man of 1845 was Hudson the railway speculator, "the RailwayKing. " Fabulous wealth was attributed to him; immense power for thehour was his. A seat in Parliament, entrance into aristocraticcircles, were trifles in comparison. We can remember hearing of agreat London dinner at which the lions were the gifted Prince, thehusband of the Queen, and the distorted shadow of George Stephenson, the bourgeois creator of a network of railway lines, a Bourse ofrailway shares; the winner, as it was then supposed, of a hugefortune. It was said that Prince Albert himself had felt somecuriosity to see this man and hear him speak, and that their encounteron this occasion was prearranged and not accidental. 

The autumn of 1845 revealed another side to the country's history. Therainy weather in the summer brought to sudden hideous maturity thelurking potato disease. Any one who recalls the time and the aspect ofthe fields must retain a vivid recollection of the sudden blight thatfell upon acres on acres of what had formerly been luxuriantvegetation, under the sunshine which came late only to complete thework of destruction; the withering and blackening of the leaves of theplant, the sickening foetid odour of the decaying bulbs, which taintedthe heavy air for miles; the dismay that filled the minds of thepeople, who, in the days of dear corn, had learnt more and more todepend upon the cultivation of potatoes, to whom their failure meantruin and starvation. 

This was especially the case in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, where the year closed in gloom and apprehension; famine stalkedabroad, and doles of Indian corn administered by Government inaddition to the alms of the charitable, alone kept body and soultogether in fever-stricken multitudes. 

About this time also, like another feature of the spirit of adventurewhich sent Franklin to the North Pole, and operated to a certainextent in the flush of railway enterprise, England was talking halfchivalrously, half commercially, and alas! more than half sceptically, of Brook and Borneo, and the new attempt to establish civilization andherald Christianity under English influence in the far seas. All theseconflicting elements of new history were felt in the palace as inother dwellings, and made part of Queen Victoria's life in those days. 

A great statesman closed his eyes on this changing world. Earl Grey, who had been in the front in advocating change in his time, died. 

A brave soldier fell in the last of his battles. Sir Robert Sale, whohad been the guest of his Queen a year before, having returned toIndia and rejoined the army of the Sutlej on fresh disturbancesbreaking out in the Punjab, was killed at the battle of Moodkee. 

Something of the wit and humour of the country was quenched orundergoing a transformation and passing into other hands. Two famousEnglish humorists, Sydney Smith and Tom Hood the elder, went over tothe great majority. 

By the close of 1845 it had become clear that a change in the CornLaws was impending. In the circumstances Sir Robert Peel, who, thoughhe had been for some time approaching the conclusion, was not preparedto take immediate steps--who was, indeed, the representative of theConservative party--resigned office. Lord John Russell, the great Whigleader, was called upon by the Queen to summon a new Ministry; but inconsequence of difficulties with those who were to have been hiscolleagues, Lord John was compelled to announce himself unable to forma Cabinet, and Sir Robert Peel, at the Queen's request, resumedoffice, conscious that he had to face one of the hardest tasks everoffered to a statesman. He had to encounter "the coolness of formerfriends, the grudging support of unwilling adherents, the rancour ofdisappointed political antagonists. "

In February, 1846, the royal family spent a week at Osborne, glad toescape from the strife of tongues and the violent political contentionwhich they could do nothing to quell. The Prince was happy, "out allday, " directing the building which was going on, and laying out thegrounds of his new house; and the Queen was happy in her husband andChildren's happiness. During this short absence Sir Robert Peel'sresolutions were carried, and his Corn Bill, which was virtually therepeal of the Corn Laws, passed. He had only to await theconsequences. 

In the middle of the political excitement a single human tragedy, which Sir Robert Peel did something to prevent, reached its climax. Benjamin Haydon, the painter, the ardent advocate, both by principleand practice, of high art, took his life, driven to despair by hisfailure in worldly success--especially by the ill-success of hiscartoons at the exhibition in Westminster Hall. 

On the 25th of May a third princess was born, and on the 20th of JuneSir Robert Peel's old allies, the Tories, who had but bided their timefor revenge, while his new Whig associates looked coldly on him, conspired to defeat him in a Government measure to check assassinationin Ireland, so that he had no choice save to resign. He had sacrificedhimself as well as his party for what he conceived to be the good ofthe nation. His reign of power was at an end; but for the moment, atleast, he was thankful. 

To Lord John Russell, who was more successful than on an earlieroccasion, the task of forming a new Ministry was intrusted. Theparting from her late ministers, on the 6th of July, was a trial tothe Queen, as the same experience had been previously. "Yesterday, "her Majesty wrote to King Leopold, "was a very hard day for me. I hadto part from Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who are irreparablelosses to us and to the country. They were both so much overcome thatit quite upset me. We have in them two devoted friends. We felt sosafe with them. Never during the five years that they were with me didthey ever recommend a person or a thing that was not for my or thecountry's best, and never for the party's advantage _only_.... Icannot tell you how sad I am to lose Aberdeen; you cannot think what adelightful companion he was. The breaking up of all this intercourseduring our journeys is deplorable. "

In the separation the Queen turned naturally to a nearer and dearerfriend, whom only death could remove from her. "Albert's use to me, and I may say to the country, by his firmness and sagacity in thesemoments of trial, is beyond all belief. " And beyond all gainsayingmust have been the deep satisfaction with which the uncle, who waslike a father, heard the repeated assurance of how successful had beenhis work--what a blessing had rested upon it. 

Here is a note of exultation on the political changes from theopposite side of the House. Lord Campbell wrote: "The transfer of theministerial offices took place at Buckingham Palace on the 6th ofJuly. I ought to have been satisfied, for I received two seals, onefor the Duchy of Lancaster and one for the County Palatine ofLancaster. My ignorance of the double honour which awaited me causedan awkward accident, for, when the Queen put two velvet bags into myhand, I grasped one only, and the other with its heavy weight felldown on the floor, and might have bruised the royal toes, but PrinceAlbert good-naturedly picked it up and restored it to me. "

In July the Court again paid a short visit to Osborne, that theQueen's health might be recruited before the baptism of the littlePrincess. Her Majesty earnestly desired that the Queen of the Belgiansmight be present, as the baby was to be the godchild of the youngwidow of Queen Louise's much-loved brother, the late Duc d'Orleans. Unfortunately the wish could not be fulfilled. The child waschristened at Buckingham Palace. She received the names of "HelenaAugusta Victoria. " Her sponsors were the Duchesse d'Orleans, represented by the Duchess of Kent; the Duchess of Cambridge; and theHereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The illustrationrepresents the charming little Princess at rather a more advanced age. 

At the end of July Prince Albert was away from home for a few days. Hevisited Liverpool, which he had greatly wished to see, in order to laythe foundation-stone of a Sailors' Home and open the Albert Dock. Inthe middle of the bustle and enthusiasm of his reception he wrote tothe Queen: "I write hoping these lines, which go by the evening post, may reach you by breakfast time to-morrow. As I write you will bemaking your evening toilette, and not be ready in time for dinner. [Footnote: The Queen dressed quickly, but sometimes she relied toomuch on her powers in this respect, and failed in her wontedpunctuality. ] I must set about the same task and not, let me hope, with the same result. I cannot get it into my head that there are twohundred and fifty miles between us.... I must conclude and enclose, byway of close, two touching objects--a flower and a programme of theprocession. "

The same day the Queen wrote to Baron Stockmar: "I feel very lonelywithout my dear master; and though I know other people are oftenseparated for a few days, I feel habit could not make me getaccustomed to it. This I am sure you cannot blame. Without himeverything loses its interest.... It will always be a terrible pangfor me to separate from him even for two days. " Then she added with aring of foreboding, "And I pray God never to let me survive him. " Sheconcluded with the true woman's proud assertion, "I glory in his beingseen and heard. "

CHAPTER V. 

AUTUMN YACHTING EXCURSIONS--THE SPANISH MARRIAGES--WINTER VISITS. 

In the beginning of August the Queen and the Prince, accompanied bythe King and Queen of the Belgians, went again to Osborne. This autumnthe Queen, the Prince and their two elder children, made pleasantyachting excursions, of about a week's duration each, to old admiredscenes and new places. In one of these Baron Stockmar was with them, since he had come to England for a year's visit. He expressed himselfas much gratified by the Prince's interest and judgment in politics, and his opinion of the Queen was more favourable than ever. "The Queenimproves greatly, " he noted down as the fruits of his keenobservation, "and she makes daily advances in discernment andexperience. The candour, the tone of truth, the fairness, theconsiderateness with which she judges men and things, are trulydelightful; and the ingenuous self-knowledge with which she speaks ofherself is simply charming. " The yachting excursions includedBabbicombe, with the red rocks and wooded hills, which gave the Queenan idea of Italy, where she had never been, "or rather of a ballet orplay where nymphs are to appear;" and Torbay, where William of Orangelanded. It was perhaps in reference to that event that her Majestymade her little daughter "read in her English history. " It seems tohave been the Queen's habit, in these yachting excursions, to takeupon herself a part, at least, of the Princess Royal's education. "Beautiful Dartmouth" recalled--it might be all the more, because ofthe rain that fell there--the Rhine with its ruined castles and itsLurlei. Plymouth Harbour and the shore where the pines grew down tothe sea, led again to Mount Edgcumbe, always lovely. But first theQueen and the Prince steamed up the St. Germans and the Tamar rivers, passing Trematon Castle, which belonged to the little Duke ofCornwall, and penetrated by many windings of the stream into lake-likeregions surrounded by woods and abounding in mines, which made thePrince think of some parts of the Danube. The visitors landed atCothele, and drove up to a fine old house unchanged since Henry VII. 'stime. When they returned in the _Fairy_ to the yacht proper, theyfound it in the centre of a shoal of boats, as it had been the lasttime it sailed in these waters. 

Prince Albert made an excursion to Dartmoor, and could have believedhe was in Scotland, while her Majesty contented herself with anothervisit to Mount Edgcumbe, the master of which, a great invalid, yetcontrived to meet her near the landing-place at which his wife andsons, with other members of the family, had received the royalvisitor. The drowsy heat and the golden haze were in keeping with theromantically luxuriant glories of the drive, which the Queen took withher children and her hostess. The little people went in to luncheonwhile the Queen sketched. 

After Prince Albert's return in the afternoon, the visit was repeated. "The finest and tallest chestnut-trees in existence, " and theparticularly tall and straight birch-trees, were inspected, and SirJoshua Reynolds's portraits examined. Well might they flourish atMount Edgcumbe, since Plymouth was Sir Joshua's native town, and someof the Edgcumbe family were among his first patrons, when English artstood greatly in need of such patronage. 

The next excursion was an impromptu run in lovely weather to Guernsey, which had not been visited by an English sovereign since the days ofKing John. The rocky bays, the neighbouring islands, the half-foreigntown of St. Pierre, with "very high, bright-coloured houses, "illuminated at night, pleased her Majesty greatly. On the visitorslanding they were met by ladies dressed in white singing "God save theQueen, " and strewing the path with flowers. General Napier, a white-haired soldier, received the Queen and presented her with the keys ofthe fort. The narrow streets through which she drove were "decoratedwith flowers and flags, and lined with the Guernsey militia. " Thecountry beyond, of which she had a glimpse, was crowned with finevegetation. 

Whether or not it was to prevent Jersey, with St. Helier's, fromfeeling jealous, ten days later the Queen and the Prince, the Princeof Wales, and the Princess Royal, the usual suite, Lord Spencer, andLord Palmerston, set out on a companion trip to the sister island. Theweather was colder and the sea not so calm. Indeed, the rolling of thevessel in Alderney Race was more than the voyagers had bargained for. After it became smoother the little Prince of Wales put on a sailor'sdress made by a tailor on board, and great was the jubilation of theJack Tars of every degree. 

The whole picturesque coast of Jersey was circumnavigated in order toreach St. Helier's, which was gained when the red rocks were gildedwith the setting sun. A little later the yacht was hauled up under theglow of bonfires and an illumination. On a splendid September day, which lent to the very colouring a resemblance to Naples, the Queenpassed between the twin towers of Noirmont Point and St. Aubin, andapproached Elizabeth Castle, with the town of St. Helier's behind it. The Queen landed amidst the firing of guns, the playing of militarybands, and the roar of cheers, the ladies of the place, as before, strewing her path with flowers, and marshalling her to a canopy, underwhich her Majesty received the address of the States and the militia. The demonstrations were on a larger and more finished scale than inGuernsey, greater time having been given for preparation. 

The French tongue around her arrested the Queen's attention. So did aseat in one of the streets filled with French women from Granville, "curiously dressed, with white handkerchiefs on their heads. " TheQueen drove through the green island, admiring its orchards withoutend, though the season of russet and rosy apples was past for Jersey. The old tower of La Hogue Bie was seen, and the castle of Mont Orgueilwas still more closely inspected, the Queen walking up to it andvisiting one of its batteries, with a view across the bay to theneighbouring coast of France. Mont Orgueil is said to have beenoccupied by Robert of Normandy, the unfortunate son of William theConqueror. Her Majesty heard that it had not yet been taken, but foundthis was an error, though it was true the island of Guernsey had neverbeen conquered. 

The close of the pleasant day was a little spoilt by the heat andglare, which sent the Queen ill to her cabin. The next day saw theparty bound for Falmouth, where they arrived under a beautiful moon, with the sea smooth as glass--not an unacceptable change from therolling swell of the first part of the little voyage. 

Something unexpected and unwelcome had happened before the close ofthe excursion, while the French coast which the Queen had hailed withso much pleasure was still full in sight. Whether the news whicharrived with the other dispatches had anything to do with the fit ofindisposition that rendered the heat and glare unbearable, itcertainly marred the enjoyment of the last part of her trip. Beforequitting Jersey the Queen was made acquainted with the fact that LouisPhilippe's voluntary protestations with regard to the marriage of hisson, the Duc de Montpensier, had been so many idle words. He hadstolen a march both upon England and Europe generally. The marriage ofthe Due de Montpensier with the Infanta Luisa of Spain was announcedsimultaneously with the marriage of her sister, the Queen of Spain, toher cousin the Due de Cadiz. 

Everybody knows at this date how futile were Louis Philippe's schemesfor the aggrandisement of his family, and how he learnt by bitterexperience, as Louis XIV. Had done before him, that a coveted Spanishalliance, in the very fact of its attainment, meant disaster andhumiliation for France. 

Louis Philippe had the grace, as we sometimes say, to shrink fromwriting to announce the double marriage against which he had so oftensolemnly pledged himself to the Queen. He delegated the difficult taskto Queen Amélie, who discharged it with as much tact as might havebeen expected from so devoted a wife and kind a woman. 

The Queen of England's reply to this begging of the question is fullof spirit and dignity:--

"OSBORNE, September 10, 1846. 

"MADAME, --I have just received your Majesty's letter of the 8th, and Ihasten to thank you for it. You will, perhaps remember what passed atEu between the King and myself. You are aware of the importance whichI have always attached to the maintenance of our cordialunderstanding, and the zeal with which I have laboured towards thisend. You have no doubt been informed that we refused to arrange themarriage between the Queen of Spain and our cousin Leopold (which thetwo Queens [Footnote: The reference is to the young Queen of Spain andher mother the Queen-dowager Christina. ] had eagerly desired) solelywith the object of not departing from a course which would be moreagreeable to the King, although we could not regard the course as thebest. [Footnote: The confining of the Queen of Spain's selection of ahusband to a Bourbon prince, a descendant of Philip V. ] You willtherefore easily understand that the sudden announcement of thisdouble marriage could not fail to cause us surprise and very keenregret. 

"I crave your pardon, Madame, for speaking to you of politics at atime like this, but I am glad that I can say for myself that I havealways been _sincere_ with you. Begging you to present myrespectful regards to the King, I am, Madame, your Majesty's mostdevoted friend, "VICTORIA. "

The last yachting excursion of the season was to Cornwall. The usualparty accompanied the Queen and the Prince, the elder children, andthe ladies and gentlemen in waiting, her Majesty managing, as before, to hear her little daughter repeat her lessons. Lizard Point andLand's End were reached. At Penzance Prince Albert landed to inspectthe copper and serpentine-stone works, while the Queen sketched fromthe deck of the _Fairy_. As the Cornish boats clustered round theyacht, and the Prince of Wales looked down with surprise on the half-outlandish boatmen, a loyal shout arose, "Three cheers for the Duke ofCornwall. "

The romantic: region of St. Michael's Mount, dear to the lovers ofArthurian legends, was visited, the Queen climbing the circuitous pathup the hill to enter the castle, the Prince mounting to the towerwhere "St Michael's chair, " the rocky seat for betrothed couples, still tests their courage and endurance. Each man and woman races upthe difficult path, and the winner of the race who first sits down inthe chair claims the right to rule the future home. 

The illustration from a painting by Stanfield represents the imposingpile of the "old religious house" crowning the noble rock, the royalyacht lying off the shore commanding St. Michael's Mount, the numerousspectators on shore and in boats haunting the royal footsteps--inshort, the whole scene in the freshness and stir which broke in uponits sombre romance. 

On Sunday service was held under the awning with its curtains offlags, Lord Spencer--a captain in the navy--reading prayers "extremelywell. " On Monday there was an excursion to the serpentine rocks, wherecaves and creeks, cormorants and gulls, lent their attractions to thespot. At Penryn the corporation came on board, "very anxious to seethe Duke of Cornwall. " The Queen makes a picture in writing of thequaint interview. "I stepped out of the pavilion on deck with Bertie. Lord Palmerston told them that that was the Duke of Cornwall, and theold mayor of Penryn said he hoped 'he would grow up a blessing to hisparents and his country. '"

The party were rowed up the beautiful rivers Truro and Tregony, between banks covered with stunted oaks or woods of a more varied kinddown to the water's edge, past charming pools, creeks, and ferries, with long strings of boats on the water and carts on the shore, and agreat gathering of people cheering the visitors, especially when thelittle Duke of Cornwall was held up for them to see. The Queen tookdelight in the rustic demonstration, so much in keeping with theplace, and the simple loyalty of the people. 

Her Majesty went to Fowey, and had the opportunity of driving throughsome of the narrowest, steepest streets in England, till she reachedthe hilly ground of Cornwall, "covered with fields, and intersectedwith hedges, " and at last arrived at her little son's possession, theivy-covered ruin of the old castle of Restormel, an appanage of theDuchy of Cornwall, in which the last Earl of Cornwall had resided fivehundred years before. 

The Queen also visited the Restormel iron-mines. She was one of thecomparatively few ladies who have ventured into the nether darkness ofa pit. She saw her underground subjects as well as those above ground, and to the former no less than to the latter she bore the kindlytestimony that she found them "intelligent good people. " We can vouchfor this that these hewers and drawers of ore, in their dark-bluewoollen suits, the arms bare, and caps with the candles or lamps stuckin the front, lighting up the pallid grimy faces, would be fullyconscious of the honour done them, and would yield to no ruddy, fustian-clad ploughman or picturesque shepherd, with his maud andcrook in loyalty to their Queen. 

The Queen and the Prince got into a truck and were drawn by theminers, the mineral agent for Cornwall bringing up the rear, into thenarrow workings, where none could pass between the truck and the rock, and "there was just room to hold up one's head, and not always that. "As it is with other strangers in Pluto's domains, her Majesty feltthere was something unearthly about this lit-up cavern-like place, where many a man spent the greater part of his life. But she was notdeterred from getting out of the truck with me Prince, and scramblingalong to see the veins of ore, from which Prince Albert was able toknock off some specimens. Daylight was dazzling to the couple whenthey returned to its cheerful presence. 

The last visit paid in Cornwall was by very narrow stony lanes to"Place, " a curious house restored from old plans and drawings to afac-simile of a Cornwall house of the past as it had been defended byone of the ancestresses of the present family, the Treffrys, againstan attack made upon her, by the French during her husband's absence. The hall was lined with Cornwall marble and porphyry. 

On the 15th of September the new part of Osborne House was occupiedfor the first time by its owners. Lady Lyttelton chronicled thepleasant event and some ceremonies which accompanied it. "After dinnerwe were to drink the Queen and Prince's health as a 'house-warming. 'And after it the Prince said very naturally and simply, but seriously, 'We have a hymn' (he called it a psalm) 'in Germany for suchoccasions. It begins'--and then he repeated two lines in German, which I could not quote right, meaning a prayer to 'bless our goingout and coming in. ' It was long and quaint, being Luther's. We allperceived that he was feeling it. And truly entering a new house, anew palace, is a solemn thing to do, to those whose probable span oflife in it is long, and spite of rank, and health, and youth, down-hill now. "

Sir Theodore Martin, who quotes Lady Lyttelton's letters in the "Lifeof the Prince Consort, " gives such a hymn, which is a paraphrase ofthe 121st Psalm, as it appears in the Coburg _Gesang-Buch_, andsupplies a translation of the verse in question. 

 Unsern ausgang segne Gott, Unsern erngang gleicher massen, Segne unser taglich brod, Segne unser thun und lassen. Segne uns mit sel'gem sterben, Und mach uns zu Himmel's Erben

 * * * * *

 By Tre, Con and Pen, You may know the Cornish men God bless our going out, nor less Our coming in, and make them sure, God bless our daily bread, and bless Whate'er we do, whate'er endure, In death unto his peace awake us, And heirs of his salvation make us

"I forgot, " writes Lady Lyttelton again, "much the best part of ourbreaking in, which was that Lucy Kerr (one of the maids of honour)insisted on throwing an old shoe into the house after the Queen, asshe entered for the first night, being a Scotch superstition. Itlooked too strange and amusing. She wanted some melted lead and sundryother charms, but they were not forthcoming. I told her I would callher _Luckie_, and not _Lucy_. "

During the autumn the Princess of Prussia, who was on a visit to heraunt, Queen Adelaide, went to Windsor Castle, where Madame Bunsen mether. "I arrived here at six, " writes Madame Bunsen "and at eight wentto dinner in the great hall, hung round with Waterloo pictures, theband playing exquisitely, so placed as to be invisible, so that whatwith the large proportions of the hall and the well-subdued lights, and the splendours of plate and decorations, the scene was such asfairy tales present; and Lady Canning, Miss Stanley, and Miss Dawsonwere beautiful enough to represent an ideal queen's ideal attendants. 

"The Queen looked well and _rayonnante_, with the expression ofcountenance that she has when pleased with what surrounds her, andwhich you know I like to see. The old Duke of Cambridge failed not toask after you. 

"This morning at nine we were all assembled at prayers in the privatechapel, then went to breakfast, headed by Lady Canning, after whichMiss Stanley took the Countess Haach and me to see the collection ofgold plate. Three works of Benvenuto Cellini, and a trophy from theArmada, an immense flagon or wine-fountain, like a gigantic old-fashioned smelling-bottle, and a modern Indian work--a box given tothe Queen by an Indian potentate--were what interested me the most. Then I looked at many interesting pictures in the long corridor. 

"I am lodged in what is called the Devil's Tower, and have a view ofthe Round Tower, of which I made a sketch as soon as I was out of bedthis morning. "

In October the Queen and the Prince spent several days on a privatevisit to the Queen-dowager at her country house of Cashiobury. FromCashiobury the royal couple went on, in bad weather, to HatfieldHouse, which had once been a palace, but had long been the seat of theCecils, Marquises of Salisbury. Here more than anywhere else QueenVictoria was on the track of her great predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, while the virgin queen was still the maiden princess, considerablyoppressed by her stern sister Queen Mary. Queen Victoria inspected allthe relics of the interesting old place, "the vineyard, " thebanqueting-room fallen down into a stable, and the oak still linkedwith the name of Queen Bess. 

At Hatfield there was a laudable innovation on the usual round offestivities. From four to five hundred labourers were regaled on thelawn with a roasted ox and hogsheads of ale. 

On the 1st of December, the Queen and Prince, who had been staying atOsborne, paid the Duke of Norfolk a visit at Arundel. Not only was theDuke the premier duke and Earl-Marshal of England, but he held at thistime the high office in the Household of Master of the Horse. The oldkeep and tower at Arundel were brilliantly illuminated in honour ofthe Queen's presence, and bonfires lit up the surrounding country. TheDuke of Wellington was here also, walking about with the Queen, whilethe younger men shot with Prince Albert. On the second day of her stayher Majesty received guests in the state drawing-room. The third dayincluded the usual commemorative planting of trees in the Little Park. In the evening there was dancing, in which the Queen joined. 

There were great changes, ominous of still further transitions, in thetheatrical and literary world. Liston, the famous comedian who haddelighted a former generation, was dead, and amateur actors, led byauthors in the persons of Charles Dickens, Douglas Jerrold, &c. &c. , had come to the front, and were winning much applause, as well assolid benefits for individuals and institutions connected withliterature requiring public patronage. A man and a woman unlike ineverything save their cordial admiration for each other, bore down allopposition in the reading world: William Makepeace Thackeray, in 1846, in spite of the discouragement of publishers, started his "VanityFair, " and Charlotte Brontë, from the primitive seclusion of an old-fashioned Yorkshire parsonage, took England by storm with herimpassioned, unconventional "Jane Eyre. " The fame of these two books, while the authors were still in a great measure unknown, rang throughthe country. 

Art in England was still following the lines laid down for the lasttwenty or thirty years, unless in the case of Turner, who had enteredsome time before on the third period of his work, the period marked bydefiance and recklessness as well as by noble power. 

CHAPTER VI. 

INSTALLATION OF PRINCE ALBERT AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE. 

One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven began with the climax ofthe terrible famine in Ireland, and the Highlands, produced by thepotato disease, which, commencing in 1845, had reappeared even moredisastrously in 1846. In the Queen's speech in opening Parliament, shealluded to the famine in the land with a perceptibly sad fall of hervoice. 

In spite of bad trade and bad times everywhere, two millions wereadvanced by the Government for the relief of the perishing people, fedon doles of Indian meal; yet the mortality in the suffering districtscontinued tremendous. 

In February, 1847, Lord Campbell describes an amusing scene in theQueen's closet. "I had an audience, that her Majesty might prick asheriff for the county of Lancaster, which she did in proper style, with the bodkin I put into her hand. I then took her pleasure aboutsome Duchy livings and withdrew, forgetting to make her sign theparchment roll. I obtained a second audience, and explained themistake. While she was signing, Prince Albert said to me, 'Pray, mylord, when did this ceremony of pricking begin?' CAMPBELL. 'In ancienttimes, sir, when sovereigns did not know now to write their names. 'QUEEN, as she returned me the roll with her signature, 'But we nowshow we have been to school. '" In the course of the next month hislordship gives a lively account of dining along with his wife anddaughter at Buckingham Palace. "On our arrival, a little before eight, we were shown into the picture gallery, where the company assembled. Bowles, who acted as master of the ceremonies, arranged what gentlemenshould take what lady. He said, 'Dinner is ordered to be on the tableat ten minutes past eight, but I bet you the Queen will not be heretill twenty or twenty-five minutes after. She always thinks she candress in ten minutes, but she takes about double the time. ' Trueenough, it was nearly twenty-five minutes past eight before sheappeared; she shook hands with the ladies, bowed to the gentlemen, andproceeded to the _salle à manger_. I had to take in Lady Emily deBurgh, and was third on her Majesty's right, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar and my partner being between us. The greatest delicacy we hadwas some very nice oat-cake. There was a Highland piper standingbehind her Majesty's chair, but he did not play as at State dinners. We had likewise some Edinburgh ale. The Queen and the ladieswithdrawing, Prince Albert came over to her side of the table, and weremained behind about a quarter of an hour, but we rose within thehour from the time of our sitting down to dinner.... On returning tothe gallery we had tea and coffee. The Queen came up and talked to me. She does the honours of the palace with infinite grace and sweetness, and considering what she is both in public and domestic life, I do notthink she is sufficiently loved and respected. Prince Albert took meto task for my impatience to get into the new House of Lords, but Ithink I pacified him, complimenting his taste. A dance followed. TheQueen chiefly delighted in a romping sort of country-dance, called the_Tempête_. She withdrew a little before twelve. "

The beginning of the season in London was marked by two events in thetheatrical and operatic world. Fanny Kemble (Mrs. Pierce Butler)reappeared on the stage, and was warmly welcomed back. Jenny Lind sangfor the first time in London at the Italian Opera House in the part of"Alice" in _Roberto il Diavolo_, and enchanted the audience withher unrivalled voice and fine acting. 

In the month of May, in the middle of the Irish distress, the greatagitator of old, Daniel O'Connell, died in his seventy-second year, onhis way to Rome. The news of his death was received in Ireland as onlyone drop more in the full cup of national misery. In the same month ofMay another and a very different orator, Dr. Chalmers, the greatimpassioned Scotch divine, philosopher, and philanthropist, one of theleaders in the disruption from the Church of Scotland, died inEdinburgh, in his sixty-eighth year. 

Prince Albert had been elected Chancellor of Cambridge University--awell-deserved compliment, which afforded much gratification both tothe Queen and the Prince. They went down to Cambridge in July for theceremony of the installation, which was celebrated with all scholarlystate and splendour. 

"The Hall of Trinity was the scene of the ceremony for which the visitwas paid. Her Majesty occupied a chair of state on a dais. TheChancellor, the Prince in his official robes, supported by the Duke ofWellington, Chancellor of Oxford, the Bishop of Oxford, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, and the Heads of the Houses entered, and theChancellor read an address to her Majesty congratulatory on herarrival. Her Majesty made a gracious reply and the Prince retired withthe usual profound obeisances, a proceeding which caused her Majestysome amusement, " so says the _Annual Register_. This part of theday's proceedings seems to have made a lively impression on those whowitnessed it. 

Bishop Wilberforce gives his testimony. "The Cambridge scene was veryinteresting. There was such a burst of loyalty, and it told so on theQueen and Prince. E--- would not then have thought that he lookedcold. It was quite clear that they both felt it as something new thathe had earned, and not she given, a true English honour; and so helooked so pleased and she so triumphant. There was also some suchpretty interludes when he presented the address, and she beamed uponhim and once half smiled, and then covered the smile with a gentledignity, and then she said in her clear musical voice, 'The choicewhich the University has made of its Chancellor _has my most entireapprobation_. '" The Queen records in her Diary, "I cannot say howit agitated and embarrassed me to have to receive this address andhear it read by my beloved Albert, who walked in at the head of theUniversity, and who looked dear and beautiful in his robes, which werecarried by Colonel Phipps and Colonel Seymour. Albert went through itall admirably, almost absurd, however, as it was for us. He gave methe address and I read the answer, and a few kissed hands, and thenAlbert retired with the University. "

After luncheon a Convocation was held in the Senate House, at whichthe Queen was present as a visitor. The Prince, as Chancellor, received her at the door, and led her to the seat prepared for her. "He sat covered in his Chancellor's chair. There was a perfect roar ofapplause, " which we are told was only tamed down within the bounds ofsanity by the dulness of the Latin oration, delivered by the publicorator. Besides the princes already mentioned, and several noblemenand gentlemen, Sir George Grey, Sir Harry Smith (of Indian fame), SirRoderick Murchison, and Professor Muller, received university honours. 

Her Majesty and the new Chancellor dined with the Vice-Chancellor atCatherine Hall--probably selected for the honour because it was asmall college, and could only accommodate a select party. After dinnerher Majesty attended a concert in the Senate House--an entertainmentgot up in order to afford the Cambridge public another opportunity ofseeing their Queen. Later the Prince went to the Observatory, and herMajesty walked in the cool of the evening in the little garden ofTrinity Lodge, with her two ladies. 

The following day the royal party again went to the Senate House, thePrince receiving the Queen, and conducting her as before to her seat. With the accompaniment of a tremendous crowd, great heat, and thundersof applause, the prize poems were read, and the medals distributed bythe Prince. Then came the time for the "Installation Ode, " written atthe Prince's request by Wordsworth, the poet laureate, set to music, and sung in Trinity Hall in the presence of the Queen and PrinceAlbert with great effect. Poetry, of all created things, can least bemade to order; yet the ode had many fine passages and telling lines, besides the recommendation claimed for it by Baroness Bunsen: "TheInstallation Ode I thought quite affecting, because the selection ofstriking points was founded on fact, and all exaggeration and humbugwere avoided. "

The poem touched first on what was so prominent a feature in thehistory of Europe in the poet's youth--the evil of unrighteous and thegood of righteous war, identifying the last with the successes ofEngland when Napoleon was overthrown. 

 Such is Albion's fame and glory, Let rescued Europe tell the story

Then the measure changes to a plaintive strain. 

 But lo! what sudden cloud has darkened all The land as with a funeral pall? The rose of England suffers blight, The flower has drooped, the isle's delight Flower and bud together fall, A nation's hopes he crushed in Claremont's desolate hall

Hope and cheer return to the song. 

 Time a chequered mantle wears, Earth awakes from wintry sleep, Again the tree a blossom bears Cease, Britannia, cease to weep, Hark to the peals on this bright May morn, They tell that your future Queen is born

A little later is the fine passage--

 Time in his mantle's sunniest fold Uplifted on his arms the child, And while the fearless infant smiled Her happy destiny foretold Infancy, by wisdom mild, Trained to health and artless beauty, Youth by pleasure unbeguiled From the lore of lofty duty, Womanhood, in pure renown Seated on her lineal throne, Leaves of myrtle in her crown Fresh with lustre all their own, Love, the treasure worth possessing More than all the world beside, This shall be her choicest blessing, Oft to royal hearts denied. 

After a brief period of rest, which meant a little quiet "reading, writing, working, and drawing"--a far better sedative for excitednerves than entire idleness--the Queen and the Prince attended aflower-show in the grounds of Downing College, walking round thegardens and entering into all the six tents, "a very formidableundertaking, for the heat was beyond endurance and the crowd fearful. "In the evening there was a great dinner in Trinity Hall. "Splendid didthat great hall look, " is Baroness Bunsen's admiring exclamation;"three hundred and thirty people at various tables ... The Queen andher immediate suite at a table at the raised end of the hall, all therest at tables lengthways. At the Queen's table the names were put onthe places, and anxious was the moment before one could find one'splace. " Then the Queen gave a reception in Henry VIII. 's drawing-room, when the masters, professors and doctors, with their wives, werepresented. When the reception was over, at ten o'clock, in the softdim dusk, a little party again stole out, to see with greater leisureand privacy those noble trees and hoary buildings. Her Majesty tellsus the pedestrians were in curious costumes: "Albert in his dress-coatwith a mackintosh over it, I in my evening dress and diadem, and witha veil over my head, and the two princes in their uniforms, and theladies in their dresses and shawls and veils. We walked through thesmall garden, and could not at first find our way, after which wediscovered the right road, and walked along the beautiful avenues oflime-trees in the grounds of St. John's College, along the water andover the bridges. All was so pretty and picturesque, in particular theone covered bridge of St. John's College, which is like the Bridge ofSighs at Venice. We stopped to listen to the distant hum of the town;and nothing seemed wanting but some singing, which everywhere but herein this country we should have heard. A lattice opened, and we couldfancy a lady appearing and listening to a serenade. "

Shade of quaint old Fuller! thou who hast described with such gustoQueen Elizabeth's five days' stay at Cambridge, what wouldst thou nothave given, hadst thou lived in the reign of Victoria, to have been inher train this night? Shades more formidable of good Queen Bessherself, Bluff King Hal, Margaret Countess of Richmond, and that otherunhappy Margaret of Anjou, what would you have said of this simpleramble? In truth it was a scene from the world of romance, evenwithout the music and the lady at the lattice. An ideal Queen and anideal Prince, a thin disguise over the tokens of their magnificence, stealing out with their companions, like so many ghosts, to enjoycommon sights and experiences and the little thrill of adventure inthe undetected deed. 

On the last morning there was a public breakfast in the grounds ofTrinity College, attended by thousands of the county gentry of Cambridgeand Lincolnshire. "At one the Queen set out through the cloisters andhall and library of Trinity College, to pass through the gardens andavenues, which had been connected for the occasion by a temporary bridgeover the river, with those of St. John's. " Madame Bunsen and hercompanions followed her Majesty, and had the best opportunity of seeingeverything, and in particular "the joyous crowd that grouped among thenoble trees. " The Queen ate her _déjeuner_ in one of the tents, and onher return to Trinity Lodge, she and Prince Albert left Cambridge atthree o'clock for London. Baroness Bunsen winds up her graphicdescriptions with the statement, "I could still tell much of Cambridge--of the charm of its 'trim gardens, ' of how the Queen looked and waspleased, and how well she was dressed, and how perfect in grace andmovement. "

CHAPTER VII. 

THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OP SCOTLAND AND STAY ATARDVERIKIE. 

On the 11th of August her Majesty and Prince Albert, with the Princeof Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Prince of Leiningen, attended bya numerous suite, left Osborne in the royal yacht for Scotland. Theyfollowed a new route and succeeded, in spite of the fogs in theChannel, in reaching the Scilly Isles. The voyage, to begin with, wasnot a pleasant one. There had been a rough swell on the sea as well asfogs off shore. The children, and especially the Queen, on thisoccasion suffered from sea-sickness. However, her Majesty landed onthe tiny island of St. Mary's. 

As the royal party approached Wales the sea became calmer and thesailing enjoyable. The yacht and its companions lay in the greatharbour of Milford Haven, under the reddish-brown cliffs. PrinceAlbert and the Prince of Leiningen went to Pembroke, while the Queensat on the deck and sketched. 

On a beautiful Sunday the Queen sailed through the Menai Straits inthe _Fairy_, when the sight of "Snowdon rising splendidly in themiddle of the fields and woods was glorious. " The "grand old Castle ofCaernarvon" attracted attention; so did Plas Newydd, where her Majestyhad spent six weeks, when she had visited Wales as Princess Victoria, in one of her girlish excursions with the Duchess of Kent. The Isle ofMan, with the town of Douglas, surmounted by bold hills and cliffs, acastle and a lighthouse, looked abundantly picturesque, but thelanding there was reserved for the return of the voyagers, though itwas on this occasion that a tripping Manxman described Prince Albert, in a local newspaper, as leading the Prince Regent by the hand; a slipwhich drew from the Prince the gay rejoinder that "usually one has aregent for an infant, but in Man it seems to be precisely thereverse. "

The Mull of Galloway was the first Scotch land that was sighted, andjust before entering Loch Ryan the huge rock, Ailsa Craig, with itsmoving clouds of sea-fowl, rose to view. 

Arran and Goatfell, Bute and the Bay of Rothesay, were alike hailedwith delight. But the islands were left behind for the moment, tillmore was seen of the Clyde, and Greenock, of sugar-refining and boat-building fame, was reached. It was her Majesty's first visit to thewest coast of Scotland, and Glasgow poured "down the water" hermagistrates, her rich merchants, her stalwart craftsmen, her swarmsfrom the Gorbels and the Saut Market, the Candle-rigs and the Guse-dibs. Multitudes lined the quays. No less than forty steamers over-filled with passengers struggled zealously in the wake of royalty. "Amidst boats and ships of every description moving in alldirections, " the little _Fairy_ cut its way through, bound forDumbarton. 

On the Queen's return to Greenock she sailed past Roseneath, andfollowed the windings of Loch Long, getting a good view of theCobbler, the rugged mountain which bears a fantastic resemblance to aman mending a shoe. At the top of the loch, Ben Lomond came in sight. "There was no sun, and twice a little mist; but still it wasbeautiful, " wrote the Queen. 

On "a bright fresh morning" in August, when the hills were just"slightly tipped with clouds, " the Queen sailed through the Kyles ofBute, that loveliest channel between overtopping mountains, andentered Loch Fyne, another fine arm of the sea, of herring celebrity. 

A Highland welcome awaited the Queen at the little landing-place ofInverary, made gay and fragrant with heather. Old friends, whom shewas honouring by her presence, waited to receive her, the Duke andDuchess of Argyle--the latter the eldest daughter of the Duchess ofSutherland, who was also present with her son, Lord Stafford, herunmarred daughter, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, and her son-in-law andsecond daughter, Lord and Lady Blantyre. An innocent warder stood infront of the old feudal keep. In the course of the Queen's visit toGermany she had made the acquaintance, without dreaming of what layconcealed in the skirts of time, of one of her future sons-in-law in afine little boy of eight years. Now her Majesty was to be introduced, without a suspicion of what would be the result of the introduction, to the coming husband of another daughter still unborn. Here is theQueen's description of the son and heir of the house of Argyle, whowas yet to win a princess for his bride. "Outside, stood the Marquisof Lorne, just two years old--a dear, white, fat, fair little fellow, with reddish hair but very delicate features, like both his mother andfather; he is such a merry, independent little child. He had a blackvelvet dress and jacket, with a 'sporran, ' scarf, and Highlandbonnet. "

Her Majesty lunched at the castle, "the Highland gentlemen standingwith halberts in the room, " and returned to the _Fairy_, sailingdown Loch Fyne when the afternoon was at its mellowest, and the longshadows were falling across the hillsides. At five Lochgilphead wasreached, when Sir John Orde lent his carriage to convey the visitorsto the Crinan Canal. The next day's sail, in beautiful weather still, was through the clusters of the nearest of the western islands, up theSound of Jura, amidst a flotilla of small boats crowned with flags. Here were fresh islands and mountain peaks, until the strangers werewithin hail of Staffa. 

It is not always that an approach to this northern marvel of nature iseasy or even practicable; but fortune favours the brave. Her Majestyhas described the landing. "At three we anchored close before Staffa, and immediately got into the barge, with Charles, the children, andthe rest of our people, and rowed towards the cave. As we rounded thepoint the wonderful basaltic formation came into sight. The appearanceit presents is most extraordinary, and when we turned the corner to gointo the renowned Fingal's Cave the effect was splendid, like a greatentrance into a vaulted hall; it looked almost awful as we entered, and the barge heaved up and down on the swell of the sea. It is veryhigh, but not longer than two hundred and twenty-seven feet, andnarrower than I expected, being only forty feet wide. The sea isimmensely deep in the cave. The rocks under water were all colours--pink, blue, and green, which had a most beautiful and varied effect. It was the first time the British standard, with a queen of GreatBritain and her husband and children, had ever entered Fingal's Cave, and the men gave three cheers, which sounded very impressive there. "

On the following day the Atlantic rains had found the party, thoughfor the present the affliction was temporary. It poured for threehours, during which her Majesty drew and painted in her cabin. Theweather cleared in the afternoon; sitting on the deck was againpossible, and Loch Linnhe, Loch Eil, and the entrance to Loch Levenwere not lost. 

At Fort William the Queen was to quit the yacht and repair to thesummer quarters of Ardverikie. Before doing so she recorded her regretthat "this delightful voyage and tour among the western lochs andisles is at an end; they are so beautiful and so full of poetry andromance, traditions and historical associations. "

Rain again, more formidable than before, on Saturday, the 21st ofAugust. It was amidst a hopeless drenching drizzle, which blots outthe chief features of a landscape, that the Queen went ashore, to find"a great gathering of Highlanders in their different tartans" met todo her honour. Frasers, Forbeses, Mackenzies, Grants, replacedCampbells, Macdonalds, Macdougals, and Macleans. By a wild and lonelycarriage-road, the latter part resembling Glen Tilt, her Majestyreached her destination. 

Ardverikie, which claimed to have been a hunting-seat of Fergus, kingof the Scots, was a shooting lodge belonging to Lord George Bentinck, rented from him by the Marquis of Abercorn, and lent by the marquis tothe Queen. It has since been burnt down. It was rustic, as a shootinglodge should be, very much of a large cottage in point ofarchitecture, the bare walls of the principal rooms characteristicallydecorated with rough sketches by Landseer, among them a drawing of"The Stag at Bay, " and the whole house bristling with stags' horns ofgreat size and perfection. In front of the house lay Loch Laggan, eight miles in length. 

The Queen remained at Ardverikie for four weeks, and doubtless wouldhave enjoyed the wilds thoroughly, had it not been for the lowest deepof persistently bad weather, when "it not only rained and blew, butsnowed by way of variety. "

Lord Campbell heard and wrote down these particulars of the royal stayat Ardverikie. "The Queen was greatly delighted with the Highlands inspite of the bad weather, and was accustomed to sally for a walk inthe midst of a heavy rain, putting a great hood ever her bonnet, andshowing nothing of her features but her eyes. The Prince's invariablereturn to luncheon about two o'clock, in spite of grouse-shooting anddeer-stalking, is explained by his voluntary desire to please theQueen, and by the intense hunger which always assails him at thishour, when he likes, in German fashion, to make his dinner. "

In a continuance of the most dismally unpropitious weather, the Queenand her children left Ardverikie on the 17th of September, the Princehaving preceded her for a night that he might visit Inverness and theCaledonian Canal. The storm continued, almost without intermission, during the whole of the voyage home. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FRENCH FUGITIVES--THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER. 

Long before the autumn of 1847, the mischievous consequences of therailway mania, complicated by the failure of the potato crop, showeditself in great bankruptcies in the large towns all over the country. 

The new year came with trouble on its wings. The impending storm burstall over Europe, first in France. Louis Philippe's dynasty wasoverthrown. 

In pairs or singly, sometimes wandering aside in a little distraction, so as to be lost sight of for days, the numerous brothers and sisters, with the parent pair, reached Dreux and Eu, and thence, with theexception of the Duchesse d'Orleans and her sons, straggled toEngland. 

One can guess the feelings of the Queen and Prince Albert when theyheard that their late hosts, doubly allied to them by kindred ties, were fugitives, seeking refuge from the hospitality of a foreignnation. And the first confused tidings of the French revolution whichreached the Queen and Prince Albert were rendered more trying, by thealmost simultaneous announcement of the death of the old Dowager-Duchess of Gotha, to whom all her grandchildren were so much attached. 

The ex-King and Queen arrived at Newhaven, Louis Philippe bearing thename of Mr. Smith. Queen Victoria had already written to King Leopoldon the 1st of March: "About the King and Queen (Louis Philippe andQueen Amélie) we still know nothing.... We do everything we can forthe poor family, who are, indeed, sorely to be pitied. But you willnaturally understand that we cannot make common cause with them, andcannot take a hostile position to the new state of things in France. We leave them alone; but if a Government which has the approbation ofthe country be formed, we shall feel it necessary to recognise it inorder to pin them down to maintain peace and the existing treaties, which is of the greatest importance. It will not be pleasant to dothis, but the public good and the peace of Europe go before one'spersonal feelings. "

As soon as it could be arranged under the circumstances, the Queen hadan interview with the exiles. What a meeting after the last parting, and all that had come to pass in the interval! This interview tookplace on the 6th of March, when Louis Philippe came privately toWindsor. 

The same intelligent chronicler, Lady Lyttelton, who gave such agraphic account of the Citizen-King's first visit to Windsor, had alsoto photograph the second. Once more she uses with reason the word"historical. " "To-day is historical, Louis Philippe having come fromClaremont to pay a private (_very_ private) visit to the Queen. She is really enviable now, to have in her power and in her path ofduty, such a boundless piece of charity and beneficent hospitality. The reception by the _people_ of England of all the fugitives hasbeen beautifully kind. "

That day the Queen wrote sadly to Baron Stockmar: "I am quite well;indeed, particularly so, though God knows we have had since the 25thenough for a whole life--anxiety, sorrow, excitement; in short, I feelas if we had jumped over thirty years' experience at once. The wholeface of Europe is changed, and I feel as if I lived in a dream. " Sheadded, with the tenderness of a generous nature, referring to the verydifferent circumstances in which her regard for the Orleans house hadbeen established, and to the alienation which had arisen between herand some of its members: "You know my love for the family; you knowhow I longed to get of terms with them again ... And you said, 'Timewill alone, but will certainly, bring it about. ' Little did I dreamthat this would be the way we should meet again and see each other, all in the most friendly way. That the Duchesse de Montpensier, aboutwhom we have been quarrelling for the last year, and a half, should behere as a fugitive and dressed in the clothes I sent her, and shouldcome to thank _me for my kindness_, is a reverse of fortune whichno novelist would devise, and upon which one could moralise for ever. "

It was a comfort to the Queen and Prince Albert that Belgium, whichhad at first appeared in the greatest danger, ended by standing almostalone on the side of its King and Government. 

The tide of revolution, which swept over the greater states, did notspare the small. The Duke of Coburg-Gotha's subjects, who had seemedso happily situated and so contented at the time of the Queen's visit, were in a ferment like the rest of their countrymen. Bellona's hotbreath was in danger of withering the flowers of that Arcadia. ThePrinces of Leiningen and Hohenlohe, the Queen's brother and brother-in-law, were practically dispossessed of seigneurial rights and lands, and ruined. The Princess of Hohenlohe wrote to her sister: "We areundone, and must begin a new existence of privations, which I don'tcare for, but for poor Ernest" (her husband) "I feel it more than Ican say. "

In the meantime, on the 18th of March a fourth English Princess wasborn. There was more than usual congratulation on the safety and well-being of mother and child, because of the great shocks which had triedthe Queen previously, and the anxiety which filled all thoughtfulminds for the result of the crisis in England. Her Majesty's couragerose to the occasion. She wrote to King Leopold in little more than afortnight: "I heard all that passed, and my only thoughts and talkwere political. But I never was calmer or quieter, or less nervous. Great events make one calm; it is only trifles that irritate mynerves. "

England had its own troubles and was in high excitement about anincreased grant of money for the support of the army and navy, and thecontinuance of the income-tax. The Chartists threatened to make agreat demonstration on Kennington Common. 

The first threat in London, for the 13th of March, a few days beforethe birth of the little Princess, ended in utter failure. The happytermination was assisted by the state of the weather, great falls ofrain anticipating the work of large bodies of police prepared toscatter the crowd. But as another demonstration, with the avowedintention of walking in procession to present to the House of Commonsa monster petition, miles long, for the granting of the People'sCharter, was announced to take place on the 10th of April, greatuncertainty, and agitation filled the public mind. It was judgedadvisable that the Queen should go to the Isle of Wight for a shortstay at Osborne, though it was still not more than three weeks sinceher confinement. 

The second demonstration collapsed like the first. Only a fraction--not more than twenty-three thousand of the vast multitude expected toappear--assembled at the meeting-place, and the people dispersedquietly. But it is only necessary to mention the precautions employedto show how great had been the alarm. The Duke of Wellington devisedand conducted the steps which were taken beforehand. On the bridgeswere massed bodies of foot and horse police, and special constables, of whom nearly two hundred thousand--one of them Prince LouisNapoleon, the future Emperor of the French--are said to have beensworn in. In the immediate neighbourhood of each bridge strong forcesof military, while kept out of sight, were ready "for instantmovement. " Two regiments of the line were at Millbank Penitentiary, twelve hundred infantry at Deptford Dockyard, and thirty pieces ofheavy field ordnance at the Tower prepared for transport by hiredsteamers to any spot where help might be required. Bodies of troopswere posted in unexpected quarters, as in the area of the untenantedRose Inn yard, but within call. The public offices at Somerset Houseand in the City were liberally supplied with arms. Places like theBank of England were "packed" with troops and artillery, and furnishedwith sand-bag parapets for their walls, and wooden barricades withloopholes for firing through, for their windows. 

"Thank God, " her Majesty wrote to the King of the Belgians, "theChartist meeting and procession have turned out a complete failure. The loyalty of the people at large, has been very striking, and theirindignation at their peace being interfered with by such wanton andworthless men immense. "

Never was cheerfulness more wanted to lighten a burden of work andcare. In this year of trouble "no less than twenty-eight thousanddispatches were received or sent out from the Foreign Office. " Allthese dispatches came to the Queen and Prince Albert, as well as toLord Palmerston, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

Across the Channel the inflammatory speeches and writings of Messrs. Mitchel, Meagher, and Smith O'Brien became so treasonable in tonethat, after the passing of a Bill in Parliament for the betterrepression of sedition, the three Irish leaders were arrested andbrought to trial, the jury refusing to commit in the case of Meagherand Smith O'Brien, but in that of Mitchel, who was tried separately, finding him guilty, and sentencing him to transportation for fourteenyears. 

On the 2nd of May the Court returned to Buckingham Palace, and thebaptism of the infant princess took place on the 13th, in the privatechapel of Buckingham Palace, when the Archbishop of Canterburyofficiated. The sponsors were Duke Augustus of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, represented by Prince Albert, and the Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen andthe Grand-Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, represented by the Queen-dowager and the Duchess of Cambridge. The names given to the childwere, "Louise Caroline Alberta, " the first and last for the child'sgrandmother on the father's side and for the royal father himself. Achorale was performed, which the Prince had adapted from an earliercomposition written to the hymn--

 In life's gay morn, ere sprightly youth By vice and folly is enslaved, Oh! may thy Maker's glorious name Be on thy infant mind engraved; So shall no shades of sorrow cloud The sunshine of thy early days, But happiness, in endless round, Shall still encompass all thy ways. 

Bishop Wilberforce describes the scene. "The royal christening was avery beautiful sight, in its highest sense of that word 'beauty. ' TheQueen, with the five royal children around her, the Prince of Walesand Princess Royal hand-in-hand, all kneeling down quietly and meeklyat every prayer, and the little Princess Helena alone, just standing, and looking round with the blue eyes of gazing innocence. "

When the statues of the royal children were executed by Mrs. Thornycroft, Princess Helena was modelled as Peace. The engraving is arepresentation of the graceful piece of sculpture, in which a slenderyoung girl, wearing a long loose robe and having sandalled feet, holdsthe usual emblematic branch and cluster--one in each hand. 

As one Princess was born, another of a former generation, whose birthhad been hailed with equal rejoicing, passed away, on the 27th of May, immediately after the Birthday Drawing-room. Princess Sophia, theyoungest surviving daughter and twelfth child of George III. And QueenCharlotte, died in her arm-chair in the drawing-room of her house atKensington, aged seventy-one. At her own request she was buried atKensal Green, where the Duke of Sussex was interred. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT BALMORAL. 

From France, in June, came the grievous news of the three days'fighting in the streets of Paris, because no Government provisioncould secure work and bread for the artisans. The insurrection wasonly put down by martial law under the Dictator, General Cavaignac. 

In Sardinia the King, Charles Albert, fighting gallantly against theAustrian rule, was defeated once and again, and driven back. 

In England, though the most swaggering of the Chartists stillblustered a little, attention could be given to more peacefulconcerns. In July Prince Albert went to York, though he could "ill bespared" from the Queen's side in those days of startling events andforeign turmoil, to be present at a meeting of the Royal AgriculturalSociety, of which he had been governor for half-a-dozen years. Theacclamations with which the Prince was received, were only the echo ofthe tempest of cheers which greeted and encouraged her Majesty everytime she appeared in public this year. 

In August strong measures had again to be taken in Ireland. Theseincluded the gathering together of a great military force in thedisturbed districts, and the assemblage of a fleet of war-steamers onthe coast. As in the previous instance, little or no resistance wasoffered. In the course of a few days the former leaders, Meagher, Smith O'Brien, and Mitchel, were arrested. They were brought to trialin Dublin, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death--asentence commuted into transportation for life. 

The Queen had the pleasure of finding her brother, the Prince ofLeiningen, appointed head of the department of foreign affairs in theshort-lived Frankfort assembly of the German states. It showed atleast the respect in which he was held by his countrymen. 

On the 5th of September the Queen went in person to prorogueParliament, which had sat for ten months. The ceremony took place inthe new House of Lords. There was an unusually large and brilliantcompany present on this occasion, partly to admire the "lavish paintand gilding, " the stained-glass windows, with likenesses of kings andqueens, and Dyce's and Maclise's frescoes, partly to enjoy theemphatically-delivered sentence in the royal speech, in which theQueen acknowledged, "with grateful feelings, the many marks of loyaltyand attachment which she had received from all classes of her people. "

The Queen and the Prince, with three of their children and the suite, sailed from Woolwich for a new destination in Scotland--a country-house or little castle, which they had so far made their own, sincethe Prince, acting on the advice of Sir James Clark, the Queen'sphysician, had acquired the lease from the Earl of Aberdeen. 

The royal party were in Aberdeen Harbour at eight o'clock in themorning of the 7th September. On the 8th Balmoral was reached. Thefirst impression was altogether agreeable. Her Majesty has describedthe place, as it appeared to her, in her Journal. "We arrived atBalmoral at a quarter to three. It is a pretty little castle in theold Scottish style. There is a picturesque tower and garden in thefront, with a high wooded hill; at the back there is a wood down tothe _Dee_, and the hills rise all around. "

During the first stay of the Court at Balmoral, the Queen haschronicled the ascent of a mountain. On Saturday, the 16th ofSeptember, as early as half-past nine in the morning, her Majesty andPrince Albert drove in a postchaise four miles to the bridge in thewood of Ballochbuie, where ponies and guides awaited them. Macdonald, a keeper of Farquharson of Invercauld's and afterwards in the serviceof the Prince, a tall, handsome man, whom the Queen describes as"looking like a picture in his shooting-jacket and kilt, " and Grant, the head-keeper at Balmoral, on a pony, with provisions in twobaskets, were the chief attendants. 

Through the wood and over moss, heather, and stones, sometimes riding, sometimes walking; Prince Albert irresistibly attracted to stalk adeer, in vain; across the stony little burn, where the faithfulHighlanders piloted her Majesty, walking and riding again, whenMacdonald led the bridle of the beast which bore so precious a burden;the views "very beautiful, " but alas! mist on the brow of Loch-na-gar. Prince Albert making a detour after ptarmigan, leaving the Queen inthe safe keeping of her devoted guides, to whom she refers so kindlyas "taking the greatest care of her. " Even "poor Batterbury, " theEnglish groom, who seems to have cut rather a ridiculous figure in histhin boots and gaiters and non-enjoyment of the expedition, "was veryanxious also" for the well-being of his royal lady, whose tastes musthave struck him as eccentric, to say the least. 

The mist intensified the cold when the citadel mountain was reached, so that it must have been a relief to try a spell of walking oncemore, especially as the first part of the way was "soft and easy, "while the party looked down on the two _lochans_, known as _NaNian_. Who that has any knowledge of the mountains cannot recallthe effect of these solitary tarns, like well-eyes in the wilderness, gleaming in the sunshine, dark in the gloom? The Prince, goodmountaineer as he was, grew glad to remount his pony and let thedocile, sure-footed creature pick its steps through the gathering fog, which was making the ascent an adventure not free from danger. 

Everything not within a hundred yards was hidden. The last andsteepest part of the mountain (three thousand seven hundred andseventy-seven feet from the sea-level) was accomplished on foot, andat two o'clock, after four hours' riding and walking, a seat in alittle nook where luncheon could be taken was found; for, unfortunately, there was no more to be done save to seek rest andrefreshment. There was literally nothing to be seen, in place of theglorious panorama which a mountain-top in favourable circumstancespresents. 

This was that "dark Loch-na-gar" whose "steep frowning glories" LordByron rendered famous, for which he dismissed with scorn, "gaylandscapes and gardens of roses. "

No doubt the snowflakes, in corries on the mountain-side, do lookdeliciously cool on a hot summer day. But such a drizzling rain asthis was the other side of the picture, which her Majesty, with ashiver, called "cold, wet, and cheerless. " In addition to the rain thewind began to blow a hurricane, which, after all, in the case of a fogwas about the kindest thing the wind could do, whether or not thespirits of heroes were in the gale. 

At twenty minutes after two the party set out on their descent of themountain. The two keepers, moving on as pioneers in the gloom, "lookedlike ghosts. " When walking became too exhausting, the Queen, "wellwrapped in plaids, " was again mounted on her pony, which she declared"went delightfully, " though the mist caused the rider "to feelcheerless. "

In the course of the next couple of hours, after a thousand feet ofthe descent had been achieved, by one of those abrupt transitionswhich belong to such a landscape, the mist below vanished as if bymagic, and it was again, summer sunshine around. 

But the world could not be altogether shut out at Balmoral, and theechoes which came from afar, this year, were of a sufficientlydisturbing character. Among the most notable, Sir Theodore Martinmentions the Frankfort riots, in which two members of the GermanStates Union were assassinated, and the startling death of theConservative leader, Lord George Bentinck, who had suddenly exchangedthe _rôle_ of the turf for that of Parliament, and come to thefront during the struggle over the abolition of the Corn Laws. 

A third strangely significant omen was the election of Prince LouisNapoleon, by five different French Departments, as a deputy to the newFrench Chamber. 

The Court left Balmoral on the 28th of September, stayed one night inLondon, and then proceeded for ten days to Osborne. On the return ofthe Queen and the Prince to Windsor, on the 9th of October, a sadaccident occurred in their sight. As the yacht was crossing on a mistyand stormy day to Portsmouth, she passed near the frigate_Grampus_, which had just come back from her station in thePacific. In their eagerness to meet their relations among the crew onboard, five unfortunate women had gone out in an open boat rowed bytwo watermen, though the foul-weather flag was flying. "A suddensquall swamped the boat" without attracting the attention of anyone onboard the _Grampus_ or the yacht. But one of the watermen, whowas able to cling to the overturned boat, was seen by the men in aCustom-house boat, who immediately aroused the indignation of LordAdolphus Fitzclarence and his brother-officers by steering, apparentlywithout any reason, right across the bows of the _Fairy_. PrinceAlbert, who was on deck, was the first to discover the cause of theinexplicable conduct of the men in the Custom-house boat. "He calledout that he saw a man in the water;" the Queen hurried out of herpavilion, and distinguished a man on what turned out to be the keel ofa boat. "Oh dear! there are more!" cried Prince Albert in horror, "which quite overcame me, " the Queen wrote afterwards. "The royalyacht was stopped and one of its boats lowered, which picked up threeof the women--one of them alive and clinging to a plank, the othersdead. " The storm was violent, and the responsibility of keeping theyacht exposed to its fury lay with Lord Adolphus. Since nothingfurther could be attempted for the victims of their own rashness, hedid not think it right that the yacht should stay for the return ofthe boat, as he held the delay unsafe, although both the Queen and thePrince, with finer instincts, were anxious this should be done. "Wecould not stop, " wrote her Majesty again, full of pity. "It was adreadful moment, too horrid to describe. It is a consolation to thinkwe were of some use, and also that, even if the yacht had remained, they could not have done more. Still, we all keep feeling we might, though I think we could not.... It is a terrible thing, and haunts mecontinually. "

The Magyar War under Kossuth was raging in Hungary. In the far-awayPunjab the Sikh War, in which Lieutenant Edwardes had borne so gallanta part in the beginning of the year, was still prolonged, with Mooltanalways the bone of contention. 

In October all aristocratic England was excited by the sale of the Arttreasures of Stowe, which lasted for forty days. Mrs. Gaskell made afine contribution to literature in her novel of "Mary Barton, " inwhich genius threw its strong light on Manchester life. 

The Queen had a private theatre fitted up this year in the RubensRoom, Windsor Castle. The first of the _dramatis personae_ in thebest London theatres went down and acted before the Court, givingrevivals of Shakespeare--which it was hoped would improve the tastefor the higher drama--varied by lighter pieces. 

On the 24th of November the Queen heard of the death of her formerMinister and counsellor William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne. "Truly andsincerely, " her Majesty wrote in her Journal, "do I deplore the lossof one who was a most disinterested friend of mine, and most sincerelyattached to me. He was, indeed, for the first two years and a half ofmy reign, almost the only friend I had, except Stockmar and Lehzen, and I used to see him constantly, daily. I thought much and talkedmuch of him all day. "

CHAPTER X. 

PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC INTERESTS--FRESH ATTACK UPON THE QUEEN. 

The Queen and the Prince were now pledged--alike by principle andhabit--to hard work. They were both early risers, but before herMajesty joined Prince Albert in their sitting-room, where theirwriting-tables stood side by side, we are told he had already, even inwinter, by the light of the green German lamp which he had introducedinto England, prepared many papers to be considered by her Majesty, and done everything in his power to lighten her labours as asovereign. 

Lord Campbell describes an audience which he had from the Queen inFebruary. "I was obliged to make an excursion to Windsor on Saturday, and have an audience before Prince Albert's lunch. I was with theQueen in her closet, _solus cum solâ_. But I should first tellyou my difficulty about getting from the station at Slough to theCastle. When we go down for a council we have a special train andcarriages provided for us. I consulted Morpeth, who answered, 'I canonly tell you how I went last--on the top of an omnibus; but the Queenwas a little shocked. ' I asked how she found it out. He said he hadtold her himself to amuse her, but that I should be quite _enrègle_ by driving up in a fly or cab. So I drove up in my one horseconveyance, and the lord-in-waiting announced my arrival to herMajesty. I was shown into the royal closet, a very small room with onewindow, and soon she entered by another door all alone. My businesswas the appointment of a sheriff for the County Palatine, which wassoon despatched. We then talked of the state of the finances of theDuchy, and I ventured to offer her my felicitations on the return ofthis auspicious day--her wedding-day. I lunched with the maids ofhonour, and got back in time to take a part in very importantdeliberations in the Cabinet. "

In February, 1849, the Queen opened Parliament in person. Perhaps thegreatest source of anxiety was now the Sikh War, in which the warliketribes were gaining advantages over the English troops, though Mooltanhad been reduced the previous month. A drawn battle was fought betweenLord Gough's force and that of Chuttar Singh at Chillianwallah. Whilethe English were not defeated, their losses in men, guns and standardswere sore and humiliating to the national pride. Sir Charles Napierwas ordered out, and, in spite of bad health, obeyed the order. But inthe meantime Lord Gough had retrieved his losses by winning atGoojerat a great victory over the Sikhs and Afghans, which in the endcompelled the surrender of the enemy, with the restoration of thecaptured guns and standards. On the 29th of March the kingdom of thePunjaub was proclaimed as existing no longer, and the State wasannexed to British India; while the beneficial influence of Edwardesand the Lawrences rendered the wild Sikhs more loyal subjects, in afuture time of need, than the trained and petted Sepoy mercenariesproved themselves. 

On the afternoon of the 19th of May, after the Queen had held one ofher most splendid Drawing-rooms, when she was driving in a carriagewith three of her children up Constitution Hill, she was again firedat by a man standing within the railings of the Green Park. PrinceAlbert was on horseback, so far in advance that he did not know whathad occurred, till told of it by the Queen when he assisted her toalight. But her Majesty did not lose her perfect self-possession. Shestood up, motioned to the coachman, who had stopped the carriage foran instant, to go on, and then diverted the children's attention bytalking to them. The man who had fired was immediately arrested. Indeed, he would have been violently assaulted by the mob, had he notbeen protected by the police. He proved to be an Irishman, namedHamilton, from Limerick, who had come over from Ireland five yearsbefore, and worked as a bricklayer's labourer and a navvy both inEngland and France. Latterly he had been earning a scanty livelihoodby doing chance jobs. There was this to distinguish him from the otherdastardly assailants of the Queen: he was not a half-crazed, morbidlyconceited boy, though he also had no conceivable motive for what hedid. He appears to have taken his measures, in providing himself withpistol and powder, from a mere impulse of stolid brutality. His pistolcontained no ball, so that he was tried under the Felon's Act, whichhad been provided for such offences, and sentenced to seven years'transportation. 

The education of their children was a subject of much thought and careto the Queen and Prince Albert. Her Majesty wrote various memoranda onthe question which was of such interest to her. Some of these arepreserved in the life of the Prince Consort. She started with the wisemaxim, "that the children should be brought up as simply and in asdomestic a way as possible; that (not interfering with their lessons)they should be as much as possible with their parents, and learn toplace their greatest confidence in them in all things. " She dwelt upona religious training, and held strongly the conviction that "it isbest given to a child, day by day, at its mother's knee. " It was amatter of tender regret to the Queen when "the pressure of publicduty" prevented her from holding this part of her children's educationentirely in her own keeping. "It is already a hard case for me, " wasthe pathetic reflection of the young mother in reference to thechildhood of the Princess Royal, "that my occupations prevent me beingwith her when she says her prayers. " At the same time the Queen andthe Prince had strong opinions on the religious training which oughtto be given to their children, and strove to have them carried out. The Queen wrote, still of the Princess Royal, "I am quite clear thatshe should be taught to have great reverence for God and for religion, but that she should have the feelings of devotion and love which ourHeavenly Father encourages His earthly children to have for Him, andnot one of fear and trembling; and that the thoughts of death and anafter life should not be represented in an alarming and forbiddingview, and that she should be made to know _as yet_ no differenceof creeds, and not think that she can only pray on her knees, or thatthose who do not kneel are less fervent and devout in their prayers. "

Surely these truly reverent, just, and liberal sentiments on thereligion to be imparted to young children must recommend themselves toall earnest, thoughtful parents. 

In the accompanying engraving the girl-Princesses, Helena and Louise, who are represented wearing lilies in the breasts of their frocks, look like sister-lilies--as fresh, pure, and sweet. 

In 1849 Mr. Birch, who had been head boy at Eton, taken high honoursat Cambridge, and acted as one of the under masters at Eton, wasappointed tutor to the Prince of Wales when the Prince was eight yearsof age. 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

Parliament was prorogued by commission, and the Queen and the Prince, with their four children, sailed on the 1st of August for Ireland. Lady Lyttelton watching the departing squadron from the windows ofOsborne, wrote with something like dramatic emphasis, "It is done, England's fate is afloat; we are left lamenting. They hope to reachCork to-morrow evening, the wind having gone down and the sky cleared, the usual weather compliment to the Queen's departure. "

The voyage was quick but not very pleasant, from the great swell inthe sea. At nine o'clock, on the morning of the 2nd, Land's End waspassed, and at eight o'clock in the evening the Cove of Cork was sonear that the bonfires on the hill and the showers of rockets from theships in the harbour to welcome the travellers, were distinctlyvisible. Unfortunately the next day was gray and "muggy"--a qualitywhich the Queen had been told was characteristic of the Irish climate. The saluting from the various ships sent a roar through the thick air. The large harbour with its different islands--one of them containing aconvict prison, another a military depot--looked less cheerful than itmight have done. The captains of the war-steamers came on board to paytheir respects; so did the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Bandon, and thecommanders of the forces at Cork. Prince Albert landed, but the Queenwrote and sketched till after luncheon. The delay was lucky, for thesun broke out with splendour in the afternoon. The _Fairy_, withits royal freight, surrounded by rowing and sailing boats, went roundthe harbour, all the ships saluting, and then entered Cove, and layalongside the gaily-decorated crowded pier. The members, for Cork, theclergymen of all denominations, and the yacht club presentedaddresses, "after which, " wrote the Queen, "to give the people thesatisfaction of calling the place 'Queenstown, ' in honour of its beingthe first spot on which I set foot upon Irish ground, I stepped onshore amid the roar of cannon (for the artillery was placed so closeas quite to shake the temporary room which we entered), and theenthusiastic shouts of the people. ". 

The _Fairy_ lay alongside the pier of Cork proper, and the Queenreceived more deputations and addresses, and conferred the honour ofknighthood on the Lord Mayor. The two judges, who were holding theircourts, came on board in their robes. 

Then her Majesty landed and entered Lord Bandon's carriage, accompanied by Prince Albert and her ladies, Lord Bandon and GeneralTurner riding one on each side. The Mayor went in front, and manypeople in carriages and on horseback joined the royal cortege, whichtook two hours in passing through the densely-crowded streets andunder the triumphal arches. Everything went well and the reception wasjubilant. To her Majesty Cork looked more like a foreign than anEnglish town. She was struck by the noisy but good-natured crowd, themen very "poorly, often-raggedly, dressed, " many wearing blue coatsand knee-breeches with blue stockings. The beauty of the womenimpressed her, "such beautiful dark eyes and hair, and such fineteeth; almost every third woman was pretty, and some remarkably so. They wear no bonnets, and generally long blue cloaks. "

Re-embarking at Cork, the visitors sailed to Waterford, arriving inthe course of the afternoon. 

The travellers sailed again at half-past eight in the morning, havingat first a rough passage, with its usual unacceptable accompaniment ofsea-sickness, but near Wexford the sea became gradually smooth, andthere was a fine evening. At half-past six Dublin Bay came in sight. The war-steamers, four in number, waiting for her Majesty, were attheir post. Escorted by this squadron, the yacht "steamed slowly andmajestically" into Kingstown Harbour, which was full of ships, whilethe quays were lined with thousands of spectators cheering lustily. The sun was setting as this stately "procession of boats" entered theharbour, and her Majesty describes in her Journal "the glowing light"which lit up the surrounding country and the fine buildings, increasing the beauty of the scene. 

Next morning, while the royal party were at breakfast, the yacht wasbrought up to the wharf lined with troops. The Lord-Lieutenant, LordClarendon, and Lady Clarendon, Prince George of Cambridge, LordsLansdowne and Clanricarde, the Archbishop of Dublin, &c. &c. , came onboard, an address was presented from the county by the Earl ofCharlemont, to which a written reply was given. At ten Lord Clarendon, bowing low, stepped before the Queen on the gangway, Prince Albert ledher Majesty on shore, the youthful princes and princesses and the restof the company following, the ships saluting so that the very groundshook with the heavy 68-pounders, the bands playing, the guard ofhonour presenting arms, the multitude huzzaing, the royal standardfloating out on the breeze. 

Along a covered way, lined with ladies and gentlemen, and strewn withflowers, the Queen proceeded to the railway station, and after aquarter of an hour's journey reached Dublin, where she was met by herown carriages, with the postillions in the Ascot liveries. 

The Queen and Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales and the PrincessRoyal, occupied one carriage, Prince Alfred and Princess Alice, withthe ladies-in-waiting, another. The Commander-in-chief of the soldiersin Ireland, Sir Edward Blakeney, rode on one side of the Queen'scarriage, Prince George of Cambridge on the other, followed by abrilliant staff and escort of soldiers. "At the entrance of the city atriumphal arch of great size and beauty had been erected, under whichthe civic authorities--Lord Mayor, town-clerk, swordbearer, &c. &c. --waited on their sovereign. " The Lord Mayor presented the keys and herMajesty returned them. "It was a wonderful and stirring scene, " shedescribed her progress in her Journal; "such masses of human beings, so enthusiastic, so excited, yet such perfect order maintained. Thenthe number of troops, the different bands stationed at certaindistances, the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the bursts of welcomethat rent the air, all made it a never-to-be-forgotten scene when onereflected how lately the country had been under martial law. "

The Queen admired Dublin heartily, and gave to Sackville Street andMerrion Square their due meed of praise. At the last triumphal arch apretty little allegory, like a bit of an ancient masque, was enacted. Amidst the heat and dust a dove, "alive and very tame, with an olive-branch round its neck, " was let down into the Queen's lap. 

The viceregal lodge was reached at noon, and the Queen was received byLord and Lady Clarendon and their household. 

On the 7th of August, a showery day, the Queen drove into Dublin withher ladies, followed by the gentlemen, but with no other escort. HerMajesty was loudly cheered as she proceeded to the bank, the oldParliament House before the Union, where Curran and Grattan and many a"Monk of the Screw" had debated, "Bloody Toler" had aroused the rageof the populace, and Castlereagh had looked down icy cold on theburning commotion. The famous Dublin schools were next visited. Theirexcellent system of education and liberal tolerant code delighted thePrince. At Trinity College, with its memories of Dean Swift and"Charley O'Malley, " the Queen and the Prince wrote their names in St. Columba's book, and inspected the harp said to have belonged to "KingO'Brian. " After their return to the lodge, when luncheon had beentaken, and Prince Albert went into Dublin again, the Queen refreshedherself with a bit of home life. She wrote and read, and heard herchildren say some of their lessons. 

At five the Queen drove to Kilmainham Hospital, Lord Clarendonaccompanying her and her ladies, while the Prince and the othergentlemen rode. The Irish Commander-in-chief and Prince Georgereceived her Majesty, who saw and no doubt cheered the hearts of theold pensioners, going into their chapel, hall, and governor's room. Afterwards she drove again into Dublin, through the older quarters, College Green--where Mrs. Delany lived when she was yet Mrs. Pendarvisand the belle of the town, and where there still stands the well-known, often maltreated statue of William III. , Stephen's Green, &c. &c. The crowds were still tremendous. 

On the 8th of August, before one o'clock, the Queen and her ladies inevening dress, and Prince Albert and the gentlemen in uniform, drovestraight to the castle, where there was to be a levee the same as atSt. James's. Her Majesty, seated on the throne, received numerousaddresses--those of the Lord Mayor and corporation, the universities, the Archbishop and bishops (Protestant and Catholic), the differentPresbyterians, and the Quakers. No fewer than two thousandpresentations took place, the levee lasting till six o'clock--somefive hours. 

On the following day there was a review of upwards of six thousandsoldiers and police in the Phoenix Park. 

The Queen and the Prince dined alone, but in the course of the eveningthey drove again into Dublin, to the castle, that she might hold aDrawing-room. Two or three thousand people were there; one thousandsix hundred ladies were presented. Then her Majesty walked through St. Patrick's Hall and the other crowded rooms, returning through thedensely-filled, illuminated streets, and the Phoenix Park aftermidnight. 

On the 10th of August, the Queen had a little respite from publicduties in a private pleasure. She and Prince Albert, in company withLord and Lady Clarendon and the different members of the suite, wenton a short visit to Carton, the seat of "Ireland's only Duke, " theDuke of Leinster. The party passed through Woodlands, with its"beautiful lime-trees, " and encountered a number of Maynooth studentsnear their preparatory college. At Carton the Queen was received bythe Duke and Duchess and their eldest son, the Marquis of Kildare, with his young wife, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, one of the daughtersof the Duchess of Sutherland. All the company walked, to the music oftwo bands, in the pretty quaint garden with its rows of Irish yews. Was it the same in 1798, when a son of the Leinster house, afterthinking to be a king, was hunted down in a poor Dublin lodging, fought like a lion for his life, was taken a wounded prisoner to thecastle, and then to Newgate to die?

The Duke led the Queen round the garden, while Prince Albert conductedthe Duchess. Her Majesty wrote warmly of her host that "he was one ofthe kindest and best of men. " After luncheon the country people dancedjigs in the park, the men in their thick coats, the women in theirshawls; one man, "a regular Irishman, with his hat on, one ear, " themusic furnished by three old and tattered pipers. Her Majestypronounced the steps of the dancers "very droll. "

The Duke and Duchess took their guests a drive, the people riding, running, and driving with the company, but continuing perfectly well-behaved, and ready to obey any word of the Duke's. It must have been acurious scene, in which all ranks took part. The Queen could not getover the spectacle of the countrymen running the whole way, in theirthick woollen coats, in the heat. 

On the Queen's departure from Kingstown she was followed by the sameenthusiasm that had greeted her on her arrival. "As the yacht approachedthe extremity of the pier near the lighthouse, where the people weremost thickly congregated and were cheering enthusiastically, the Queensuddenly left the two ladies-in-waiting with whom she was conversing, ran with agility along the deck, and climbed the paddle-box to joinPrince Albert, who did not notice her till she was nearly at his side. Reaching him and taking his arm, she waved her right hand to the peopleon the piers. " As she stood with the Prince while the yacht steamed outof the harbour, she waved her handkerchief in "a parting acknowledgment"of her Irish subjects' loyalty. As another compliment to theenthusiastic farewells of the people, the Queen gave orders "to slackenspeed. " The paddlewheels became still, the yacht floated slowly alongclose to the pier, and three times the royal standard was lowered by wayof "a stately obeisance" made in response to the last ringing cheers ofthe Irish. Lord Clarendon wrote afterwards, that "there was not anindividual in Dublin who did not take as a personal compliment tohimself the Queen's having gone upon the paddle-box and ordered theroyal standard to be lowered three times. " It was a happy thought of herown. 

The weather was thick and misty, and the storm which was feared cameon in a violent gale before the yacht entered Belfast Harbour, earlyon the morning of the 11th of August. The Mayor and other officialscame on board to breakfast, and in the course of the forenoon theQueen and the Prince, with the ladies and gentlemen in attendance, entered the barge to row to the _Fairy_. Though the row was onlyof two minutes' duration, the swell on the water was so great that theembarkation in the _Fairy_ was a matter of difficulty; and whenthe smaller yacht was gained the Queen had to take shelter in thepavilion from the driving spray. In such unpropitious circumstancesher Majesty passed Carrickfergus, the landing-place of William III. , and arrived at the capital of Ulster just as the sun came out and lentits much-desired presence to the gala. Lord Londonderry and his wifeand daughters, Lord Donegal, the proprietor of the greater part ofUlster, &c. &c. , came on board with various deputations, especially ofPresbyterians and members of the linen trade. The Queen knighted themayor, as she had knighted his brother-magistrate at Cork. 

By an odd blunder the gangway, which had been carefully constructedfor the Queen's use, was found too large. Some planks on board theyacht had to form an impromptu landing-stage; but the situation wasnot so awkward as when Louis Philippe had to press a bathing-machineinto the royal service at Tréport. The landing-place was covered inand decorated, the Londonderry carriage in waiting, and her Majesty'sonly regret was for Lord Londonderry, a big man, crowded on the rumblealong with specially tall and large sergeant-footmen. 

The Scotch-descended people of Belfast had outdone themselves infloral arches and decorations. The galleries for spectators werethronged. There was no stint in the honest warmth of the reception. But the Irish beauty, and doubtless also something of the Irish spiritand glee, had vanished with the rags and the tumbledown cabins. Thedouce, comfortable people of Ulster were less picturesque and lessdemonstrative. 

Linen Hall, the Botanic Gardens, and the new college were visited, anddifferent streets driven through in returning to the place ofembarkation at half-past six on an evening so stormy that the weatherprevented the yacht from setting sail. As it lay at anchor there wasan opportunity for seeing the bonfires, streaming in the blast, on theneighbouring heights. 

Before quitting Ireland the Queen determined to create her eldest son"Earl of Dublin, " one of the titles borne by the late Duke of Kent. 

CHAPTER XII. 

SCOTLAND AGAIN--GLASGOW AND DEE-SIDE. 

In the course of the afternoon the yacht sailed for Loch Ryan. Theobject of this second visit to the West of Scotland was not so muchfor the purpose of seeing again the beautiful scenery which had sodelighted the Queen and the Prince, as with the view of making up forthe great disappointment experienced by the townspeople of Glasgow onher Majesty's having failed to visit what was, after London, one ofthe largest cities in her empire. 

The weather was persistently bad this time, squally and disagreeable. On August 15th the _Fairy_, with the Queen and Prince on board, sailed for Glasgow, still in pouring rain and a high wind. The stormdid not prevent the people from so lining the banks that the swellfrom the steamer often broke upon them. Happily the weather cleared atlast, and the day was fine when the landing-place was reached. Asusual, the Lord Provost came on board and received the honour ofknighthood, after he had presented one of the many addresses offeredby the town, the county, the clergy of all denominations, and theHouse of Commerce. The Queen landed, with the Prince and all thechildren that had accompanied her. Sheriff Alison rode on one side ofher carriage, the general commanding the forces in Scotland on theother. The crowd was immense, numbering as many as five hundredthousand men, women, and children. The Queen admired the streets, thefine buildings, the quays, the churches. At the cathedral she wasreceived by a man who seemed as venerable as the building itself, Principal MacFarlane. He called her Majesty's attention to what wasthen the highest chimney in the world, that of the chemical works ofSt. Rollax. The inspection of the fine cathedral, which the oldProtestants of the west protected instead of pulling down, includedthe crypt. The travellers proceeded by railway to Stirling and Perth. 

Early on the morning of the 15th the party started, the Queen havingthree of the children in the carriage with herself and the Prince, onthe long drive through beautiful Highland scenery to Balmoral. 

This year her Majesty made her first stay at Alt-na-guithasach, thehut or bothie of "old John Gordon, " the situation of which had takenher fancy and that of the Prince. They had another hut built forthemselves in the immediate vicinity, so that they could at any timespend a day or a couple of days in the wilds, with a single lady-in-waiting and the most limited of suites. On the 30th of August theQueen, the Prince, and the Honourable Caroline Dawson, maid of honour, set out on their ponies, attended only by Macdonald, Grant, anotherHighlander, and an English footman. The rough road had been improved, and riding was so easy that Prince Albert could practise his Gaelic bythe way. 

The Queen was much pleased with her new possession, which meant "acharming little dining-room, sitting-room, bedroom, and dressing-roomall _en suite_; a little bedroom for Miss Dawson and one for hermaid, and a pantry. " In the other hut were the kitchen where theGordon family sat, a room where the servants dined, a storeroom, and aloft where the men slept. All the people in attendance on the smallparty were the Queen's maid, Miss Dawson's maid, Prince Albert'sGerman valet, a footman, and Macdonald, together with the old couple, John Gordon and his wife. After luncheon the visitors went to LochMuich--a name which has been interpreted "darkness" or "sorrow"--andgot into a large boat with four rowers, while a smaller boat followed, having a net. The excursion was to the head of the loch, which joinsthe _Dhu_ or Black Loch. "Real severe Highland scenery, " herMajesty calls it, and to those who know the stern sublimity of suchplaces, the words say a great deal. "The boat, the net, and the peoplein their kilts in the water and on the shore, " called for an artist'spencil. Seventy trouts were caught, and several hawks were seen. Thesailing was diversified by scrambling on shore. The return in theevening was still more beautiful. At dinner the German valet andMacdonald, the Highland forester, helped the footman to wait on thecompany. Whist, played with a dummy, and a walk round the littlegarden, "where the silence and solitude, only interrupted by thewaving of the fir-trees, were very striking, " ended the day. 

The Queen and her family left Balmoral on the 27th. Travelling byEdinburgh and Berwick, they visited Earl Grey at Howick. Derby was thenext halting-place. At Reading the travellers turned aside forGosport, and soon arrived at Osborne. 

Already, on the 16th of September, a special prayer had been read inevery church in England, petitioning Almighty God to stay the plagueof cholera which had sprung up in the East, travelled across the seas, and broken out among the people. But the dreaded epidemic had nothingto do with the sad news which burst upon the Queen and Prince Albertwithin, a few days of their return to the south. Both were muchdistressed by receiving the unexpected intelligence of the suddendeath of Mr. Anson, who had been the Prince's private secretary, andlatterly the keeper of the Queen's privy purse. 

The offices which Mr. Anson filled in succession were afterwardsworthily held by Colonel Phipps and General Grey. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

OPENING OF THE NEW COAL EXCHANGE--THE DEATH OF QUEEN ADELAIDE. 

On the 30th of October the new Coal Exchange, opposite Billingsgate, was to have been opened by the Queen in person. A slight illness--anattack of chicken-pox--compelled her Majesty to give up herintention, and forego the motherly pleasure of seeing her two elderchildren, the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, make their firstappearance in public. Prince Albert, with his son and daughter, accompanied by the Duke of Norfolk as Master of the Horse, drove fromBuckingham Palace at twelve o'clock, and embarked on the Thames in theroyal barge, "a gorgeous structure of antique design, built forFrederic, Prince of Wales, the great-great-grandfather of the Princeand Princess who now trod its deck. " It was rowed by twenty-seven ofthe ancient craft of watermen, restored for a day to the royalservice, clad in rich livery for the occasion, and commanded by LordAdolphus Fitzclarence. Commander Eden, superintendent of WoolwichDockyard, led the van in his barge. Then came Vice-Admiral Elliot, Commander-in-chief at the Nore; next the Lord Mayor's bailiff in hiscraft, preceding the Lord Mayor in the City barge, "rearing its quaintgilded poop high in the air, and decked with richly emblazoned devicesand floating ensigns.... Two royal gigs and two royal barges escortedthe State barge, posted respectively on its port and starboard bow, and its port and starboard quarter. The Queen's shallop followed; thebarges of the Admiralty and the Trinity Corporation barge brought upthe rear. " [Footnote: Annual Register. ] According to ancient customone barge bore a graceful freight of living swans to do honour to thewater procession. Such a grand and gay pageant on the river had notbeen seen for a century back. It only wanted some of the "watermusic, " which Handel composed for George II. , to render the galacomplete. 

It would be difficult to devise a scene more captivating for childrenof nine and ten, such as the pair who figured in it. Happily the day, though it was nearly the last of October, was beautiful and bright, and from the position which the royal party occupied in their bargewhen it was in the middle of the river, "not only the other barges andthe platformed steamers and lighters with their living loads, but thedensely-crowded banks, must have formed a memorable spectacle. Thevery streets running down from the Strand were so packed withspectators as to present each one a moving mass. Half a million ofpersons were gathered together to witness the unwonted sight; thebridges were hung over with them like swarms of flies, and from thethrong at intervals shouts of welcome sounded long and loud. " BetweenSouthwark and London Bridge the rowers lay on their oars for a moment, in compliment to the ardent loyalty of the scholars of QueenElizabeth's Grammar School. The most picturesque point was "at themoment the vessels emerged from London Bridge and caught sight of theamphitheatre of shipping in the Upper Pool--a literal forest of masts, with a foliage of flags more variously and brilliantly coloured thanthe American woods after the first autumn frost. Here, too, the earwas first saluted by the boom of guns, the Tower artillery firing asthe procession swept by. "

The landing-place on the Custom House Quay was so arranged, by meansof coloured canvas, as to form a covered corridor the whole length ofthe quay, to and across Thames Street, to the principal entrance tothe Coal Exchange. 

Prince Albert and the young Prince and Princess passed down thecorridor, "bowing to the citizens on either side, " a critical ordealfor the simply reared children. When the Grand Hall of the Exchangewas reached, the City procession came up, headed by the Lord Mayor, and the Recorder read aloud an address "with such emphatic solemnity, "it was remarked, that the Prince of Wales seemed "struck and almostawed by his manner. " Lady Lyttelton takes notice of the same comicaleffect produced on the little boy. Prince Albert replied. 

At two o'clock the _déjeuner_ was served, when the Lord Mayor andthe Lady Mayoress, at Prince Albert's request, sat near him. The usualtoasts were given; the health of the Queen was drunk with "loudestcheers, " that of the Queen-Dowager with "evident feeling, " calledforth by the fact that King William's good Queen, who had for longyears struggled vainly with mortal disease, was, as everybody knew, drawing near her end. The toast of the Prince of Wales and thePrincess Royal was received with an enthusiasm that must have tendedat once to elate and abash the little hero and heroine of the day. 

At three o'clock the royal party re-embarked in the _Fairy_. AsPrince Albert stepped on board, while expressing his gratificationwith the whole proceedings, he said to his children, with thegracious, kindly tact which was natural to him, "Remember that you areindebted to the Lord Mayor for one of the happiest days of yourlives. "

Before December wound up the year it was generally known that theQueen-Dowager Adelaide, who had in her day occupied a prominent placein the eyes of the nation, was to be released from the sufferings ofmany years. 

In November Queen Victoria paid her last visit to the Queen-Dowager. "I shall never forget the visit we paid to the Priory last Thursday, ", the Queen wrote to King Leopold. "There was death written in that dearface. It was such a picture of misery, of complete prostration, andyet she talked of everything. I could hardly command my feelings whenI came in, and when I kissed twice that poor dear thin hand.... I loveher so dearly; she has ever been so maternal in her affection to me. She will find peace and a reward for her many sufferings. "

Queen Adelaide died quietly on the 2nd of December, at her countryseat of Bentley Priory, in the fifty-eighth year of her age. Her will, which reflected her genuine modesty and humility, requested that sheshould be conveyed to the grave "without any pomp or state;" that sheshould have as private a funeral as was consistent with her rank;that her coffin should be "carried by sailors to the chapel;" that, finally, she should give as little trouble as possible. 

The Queen-Dowager's wishes were strictly adhered to. There was noembalming, lying in State, or torchlight procession. The funeralstarted from the Priory at eight o'clock on a winter morning, andreached Windsor an hour after noon. There was every token of respectand affection, but an entire absence of show and ostentation. Nobodywas admitted to St. George's Chapel except the mourners and thoseofficially connected with the funeral. Few even of the Knights of theGarter were present. Among the few was the old Duke of Wellington, sitting silent and sad; Prince Albert and the Duke of Cambridge alsooccupied their stalls. The Duchess of Kent and the Duchess ofCambridge, with the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and two Princesses of Saxe-Weimar, the late Queen's sister and nieces, were in the Queen'scloset. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated. Ten sailors of the Royal Navy"gently propelled" the platform on which the coffin was placed to themouth of the vault. Among the supporters of the pall were LordAdolphus and Lord Frederick Fitzclarence. The chief mourner was theDuchess of Norfolk. Prince George of Cambridge and Prince Edward andPrince Gustaf of Saxe-Weimar, nephews of the late Queen, followed. Then came the gentlemen and ladies of her household. All the gentlementaking part in the funeral were in plain black with black scarfs; eachlady had a large black veil over her head. 

After the usual psalms and lessons, Handel's anthem, "Her body isburied in peace, " was sung. The black velvet pall was removed and thecrown placed on the coffin, which, at the appropriate time in theservice, was lowered to the side of King William's coffin. Sir CharlesYoung, King-at-Arms, proclaimed the rank and titles of the deceased. The late Queen's chamberlain and vice-chamberlain broke their stavesof office amidst profound silence, and kneeling, deposited them uponthe coffin. The organ played the "Dead March in Saul, " and the companyretired. 

Long years after Queen Adelaide had lain in her grave, the publicationof an old diary revived some foul-mouthed slanders, which no one istoo pure to escape. But the coarse malice and gross falsehood of theaccusations were so evident, that their sole result was to reboundwith fatal effect on the memory of the man who retailed them. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PREPARATION FOR THE EXHIBITION--BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT--THEBLOW DEALT BY FATE--FOREIGN TROUBLES--ENGLISH ART. 

The first great public meeting in the interest of the Exhibition washeld in London in the February of this year, and on the 21st of Marcha banquet was given at the Mansion House to promote the same cause. Prince Albert was present, with the ministers and foreign ambassadors;and the mayors and provosts of all the principal towns in the UnitedKingdom were also among the guests. The Prince delivered an admirablespeech to explain his view of the Exhibition. 

It was at this time that the Duke of Wellington made the gratifyingproposal that the Prince should succeed him as Commander-in-chief ofthe army, urging the suggestion by every argument in his power, andoffering to supply the Prince with all the information and guidancewhich the old soldier's experience could command. After some quietconsideration the Prince declined the proposal, chiefly on the groundthat the many claims which the high office would necessarily make onhis time and attention, must interfere with his other and still morebinding duties to the Queen and the country. 

On May-day, 1850, her Majesty's third son and seventh child was born. The Prince, in announcing the event to the Dowager-Duchess of Coburg, says: "The little boy was received by his sisters with _jubilates_. 'Nowwe are just as many as the days of the week, ' was the cry, and then abit of a struggle arose as to who was to be Sunday. Out of well-bredcourtesy the honour was conceded to the new-comer. "

The circumstance that the 1st of May was the birthday of the Duke ofWellington determined the child's name, and perhaps, in a measure, hisfuture profession. The Queen and the Prince were both so pleased toshow this crowning mark of friendship from a sovereign to a subject, that they did not allow the day to pass without intimating theirintention to the Duke. "It is a singular thing, " the Queen wrote toBaron Stockmar, "that this so much wished-for boy should be born onthe old Duke's eighty-first birthday. May that, and his belovedfather's name, bring the poor little infant happiness and goodfortune!"

An amusing episode of the Queen's visit to Ireland had been thepassionate appeal of an old Irishwoman, "Och, Queen, dear! make one ofthem Prince Patrick, and all Ireland will die for you!" Whether or nother Majesty remembered the fervent request, Prince Arthur had Patrickfor one of his names, certainly in memory of Ireland, and William foranother, partly in honour of one of his godfathers--the presentEmperor of Germany--and partly because it would have pleased QueenAdelaide, whose sister, Duchess Ida of Saxe-Weimar, was godmother. Prince Albert's name wound up the others. The child was baptized onthe 22nd of June at Buckingham Palace. The two godfathers werepresent; so were the Duchesses of Kent and Cambridge (the Duke ofCambridge lay ill), Prince George and Princess Mary of Cambridge, thePrince of Leiningen, and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the ministersand foreign ambassadors. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops ofLondon and Oxford, &c. &c. , officiated. Prince Albert's chorale, "Inlife's gay morn, " was performed again. After the christening there wasa State banquet in the picture gallery. Prince Arthur was the finestof all the Queen's babies, and the royal nurseries still retainmemories of his childish graces. 

Before the ceremony of the christening, and within a month of thebirth of her child, her Majesty was subjected to one of the mostwanton and cowardly of all the attacks which half-crazed brainsprompted their owners to make upon her person. She had driven outabout six o'clock in the evening, with her children and Lady Jocelyn, to inquire for her uncle, the Duke of Cambridge, who was sufferingfrom his last illness. While she was within the gates of CambridgeHouse, a tall, gentlemanlike man loitered at the entrance, as itappeared with the by no means uncommon wish to see the Queen. But whenher carriage drove out, while it was leisurely turning the corner intothe road, the man started forward, and, with a small stick which heheld, struck the Queen a sharp blow on the face, crushing the bonnetshe wore, and inflicting a severe bruise and slight wound on theforehead. The fellow was instantly seized and the stick wrested fromhis grasp, while he was conveyed to the nearest police-station. 

The Queen drove home, and was able to show herself the same evening atthe Opera, where she was received with the singing of the NationalAnthem and great cheering. 

The offender was neither a boy nor of humble rank. He proved to be aman of thirty--a gentleman by birth and education. 

The Prince wrote of the miserable occurrence to Baron Stockmar thatits perpetrator was a dandy "whom you must often have seen in thePark, where he has made himself conspicuous. He maintains the closestsilence as to his motives, but is manifestly deranged. All this doesnot help to make one cheerful. "

The man was the son of a gentleman named Pate, of wealth and position, who had acted as sheriff of Cambridgeshire. The son had had acommission in the army, from which he had been requested to retire, onaccount of an amount of eccentricity that had led at least to oneserious breach of discipline. He could give no reason for his conductbeyond making the statement that he had acted on a suddenuncontrollable impulse. He was tried in the following July. The juryrefused to accept the plea of insanity, and he was sentenced, like hispredecessor, to seven years' transportation. 

At the date of the attack the minds of the Queen and the Prince, andindeed of a large portion of the civilised world, were much occupiedwith a serious foreign embroilment into which the Government had beendrawn by what many people considered the restless and interferingpolicy of Lord Palmerston, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He had gone so far as to send a fleet into Greek waters for theprotection of two British subjects claiming assistance, and in the acthe had offended France and Russia. 

Much political excitement was aroused, and there were keen andprotracted debates in both Houses of Parliament. In the House of Lordssomething like a vote of censure of the foreign policy of theGovernment was moved and carried. In the House of Commons the debatelasted five nights, and the fine speech in which Lord Palmerston, aman in his sixty-sixth year, defended his policy, was continued "fromthe dusk of one day to the dawn of the next. "

Apart from these troubles abroad, the country, on the whole, was in aprosperous and satisfactory condition. Trade was flourishing. Neitherhad literature fallen behind. Perhaps it had rarely shown a morebrilliant galaxy of contemporary names, including those of John StuartMill in logic, Herbert Spencer in philosophy, Charles Darwin innatural science, Ruskin in art criticism, Helps as an essayist. And inthis year Tennyson brought out his "In Memoriam, " and Kingsley his"Alton Lock". It seemed but natural that the earlier lights should bedying out before the later; that Lord Jeffrey, the old king ofcritics, should pass beyond the sound of reviews; and Wordsworth, after this spring, be seen no more among the Cumberland hills anddales; and Jane Porter, whose innocent high-flown romances had beenthe delight of the young reading world more than fifty years before, should end her days, a cheerful old lady, in the prosaic town ofBristol. 

In the Academy's annual exhibition the same old names of Landseer(with his popular picture of the Duke of Wellington showing hisdaughter-in-law, Lady Douro, the field of Waterloo), Maclise, Mulready, Stanfield, &c. &c. , came still to the front. But a newmovement, having a foreign origin, though in this case an Englishdevelopment, known as the pre-Raphaelite theory, with Millais, HolmanHunt, and Rossetti as its leaders, was already at work. This yearthere was a picture by Millais--still a lad of twenty-one--in supportof the protest against conventionality in the beautiful, which did notfail to attract attention, though it excited as much condemnation aspraise. The picture was "Christ in the House of His Parents, " betterknown as "The Carpenter's Shop. "

CHAPTER XV. 

THE DEATHS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, AND LOUISPHILIPPE. 

The Court had been at Osborne for the Whitsun holidays, and the Princehad written to Germany, "In our island home we are wholly given up tothe enjoyment of the warm summer weather. The children catchbutterflies, Victoria sits under the trees, and I drink the Kissingenwater, Ragotzky. To-day mamma-aunt (the Duchess of Kent) and Charles(Prince of Leiningen) are come to stay a fortnight with us; then we goto town to compress the (so-called) pleasures of the season into fourweeks. God be merciful to us miserable sinners. "

There was more to be encountered in town this year, than the hackneyedround of gaieties--from which even royalty, with all the will in theworld, could not altogether free itself. The first shock was theviolent opposition, got up alike by the press and in Parliament, toHyde Park as the site of the building required for the Exhibition. Following hard upon it came the melancholy news of the accident toSir Robert Peel, which occurred at the very door, so simply and yet sofatally. Sir Robert, who, was riding out on Saturday, the 29th ofJune, had just called at Buckingham Palace and written his name in herMajesty's visiting-book. He was going up Constitution Hill, and hadreached the wicket-gate leading into the Green Park, when he met MissEllis, Lady Dover's daughter, with whom he was acquainted, alsoriding. Sir Robert exchanged greetings with the young lady, and hishorse became restive, "swerved towards the rails of the Green Park, "and threw its rider, who had a bad seat in the saddle, sideways on hisleft shoulder. It was supposed that Sir Robert held by the reins, soas to drag the animal down with its knees on his shoulder. 

He was taken home in a carriage, and laid on a sofa in his dining-room, from which he was never moved. At his death he was in his sixty-third year. 

The vote of the House of Commons settled the question that Hyde Parkshould be the site of the Exhibition, and _Punch_'s caricature, which the Prince enjoyed, of Prince Albert as "The Industrious Boy, "cap in hand, uttering the petition--

 "Pity the troubles of a poor young Price, Whose costly scheme has borne him to your door, "

lost all its sting, when such a fund was guaranteed as warranted theraising of the structure according to Sir Joseph Paxton's beautifuldesign. 

The Queen and the Prince had many calls on their sympathy this summer. On the 8th of July the Duke of Cambridge died, aged seventy-six. Hewas the youngest of George III and Queen Charlotte's sons who attainedmanhood. He was one of the most popular of the royal brothers, notwithstanding the disadvantages of having been educated partlyabroad, taken foreign service, and held appointments in Hanover whichcaused him to reside there for the most part till the death of WilliamIV. Neither was he possessed of much ability. He had not even thescientific and literary acquirements of the Duke of Sussex, who hadpossessed one of the best private libraries in England. But the Dukeof Cambridge's good-nature was equal to his love of asking questions--a hereditary trait. He was buried, according to his own wish, at Kew. 

The House of Commons voted twelve thousand a year to Prince George, onhis becoming Duke of Cambridge, in lieu of the twenty-seven thousand ayear enjoyed by the late Duke. 

Osborne was a more welcome retreat than ever at the close of thesummer, but even Osborne could not shelter the Queen from politicalworry and personal sorrow. There were indications of renewed troublefrom Lord Palmerston's "spirited foreign policy. "

The Queen and the Prince believed they had reason to complain of LordPalmerston's carelessness and negligence, in not forwarding in timecopies of the documents passing through his department, which ought tohave been brought under the notice both of the sovereign and the PrimeMinister, and to have received their opinion, before the over-energetic Secretary for Foreign Affairs acted upon them on his ownresponsibility. 

In these circumstances her Majesty wrote a memorandum of what sheregarded as the duty of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairstowards the Crown. The memorandum was written in a letter to Lord JohnRussell, which he was requested to show to Lord Palmerston. 

Except the misunderstanding with Sir Robert Peel about the dismissalof the ladies of her suite, which occurred early in the reign, this isthe only difference on record between the Queen and any of herministers. 

During this July at Osborne, Lady Lyttelton wrote her second vividdescription, quoted in the "Life of the Prince Consort, " of PrinceAlbert's organ-playing. "Last evening such a sunset! I was sitting, gazing at it, and thinking of Lady Charlotte Proby's verses, when froman open window below this floor began suddenly to sound the Prince'sorgan, expressively played by his masterly hand. Such a modulation!Minor and solemn, and ever changing and never ceasing. From a_piano_ like Jenny Lind's holding note up to the fullest swell, and still the same fine vein of melancholy. And it came on so exactlyas an accompaniment to the sunset. How strange he is! He must havebeen playing just while the Queen was finishing her toilette, and thenhe went to cut jokes and eat dinner, and nobody but the organ knowswhat is in him, except, indeed, by the look of his eyes sometimes. "

Lady Lyttelton refers to the Prince's cutting jokes, and the Queen haswritten of his abiding cheerfulness. People are apt to forget in theirvery admiration of his noble thoughtfulness, earnestness, andtenderness of heart that he was also full of fun, keenly relishing agood story, the life of the great royal household. 

The Queen had been grieved this summer by hearing of the seriousillness of her greatest friend, the Queen of the Belgians, who wassuffering from the same dangerous disease of which her sister, Princess Marie, had died. Probably it was with the hope of cheeringKing Leopold, and of perhaps getting a glimpse of the much-lovedinvalid, that the Queen, after proroguing Parliament in person, sailedon the 21st of August with the Prince and their four elder children inthe royal yacht on a short trip to Ostend, where the party spent aday. King Leopold met the visitors--the younger of whom were muchinterested by their first experience of a foreign town. The Queen hadthe satisfaction of finding her uncle well and pleased to see her, sothat she could call the meeting afterwards a "delightful, happydream;" but there was a sorrowful element in the happiness, occasionedby the absence of Queen Louise, whose strength was not sufficient forthe journey to Ostend, and of whose case Sir James Clark, sent by theQueen to Laeken, thought badly. 

The poor Orleans family had another blow in store for them. On PrinceAlbert's thirty-first birthday, the 26th of August, which he passed atOsborne, news arrived of the death that morning, at Claremont, ofLouis Philippe, late King of the French, in his seventy-seventh year. 

The Queen and the Prince had been prepared to start with their elderchildren for Scotland the day after they heard of the death, and bysetting out at six o'clock in the morning they were enabled to pay apassing visit to the house of mourning. 

We may be permitted to remark here, by what quiet, unconscious touchesin letters and journals we have brought home to us the dual life, fullof duty and kindliness, led by the highest couple in the land. Whetherit is in going with a family of cousins to take the last look at adeparted kinsman, or in getting up at daybreak to express personalsympathy with another family in sorrow, we cannot fail to see, whileit is all so simply said and done, that no painful ordeal is shirked, no excuse is made of weighty tasks and engrossing occupations, to freeeither Queen or Prince from the gentle courtesies and tender charitiesof everyday humanity; we recognise that the noblest and busiest arealso the bravest, the most faithful, the most full of pity. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT HOLYROOD--LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS--THE DEATHOF THE QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS. 

This year the Queen went north by Castle Howard, the fine seat of theEarl of Carlisle, the Duchess of Sutherland's brother, where herMajesty made her first halt. After stopping to open the railwaybridges, triumphs of engineering, over the Tyne and the Tweed, thetravellers reached Edinburgh, where, to the gratification of animmense gathering of her Scotch subjects, her Majesty spent her firstnight in Holyrood, the palace of her Stewart ancestors. The place wasfull of interest and charm for her, and though it was late in theafternoon before she arrived, she hardly waited to rest, beforesetting out incognito, so far as the old housekeeper was concerned, toinspect the historical relics of the building. She wandered out withher "two girls and their governess" to the ruins of the chapel or oldabbey, and stood by the altar at which Mary Stewart, the fair youngFrench widow, wedded "the long lad Darnley, " and read the inscriptionson the tombs of various members of noble Scotch houses, coming to afamiliar name on the slab which marked the grave of the mother of oneof her own maids of honour, a daughter of Clanranald's. 

The Queen then visited Queen Mary's rooms, being shown, like otherstrangers, the closet where her ancestress had sat at supper on amemorable night, and the stair from the chapel up which Ruthven, risenfrom a sick-bed, led the conspirators who seized Davie Rizzio, draggedhim from his mistress's knees, to which he clung, and slew himpitilessly on the boards which, according to old tradition, still bearthe stain of his blood. After that ghastly token, authentic or non-authentic, which would thrill the hearts of the young princesses as ithas stirred many a youthful imagination, Darnley's armour and Mary'swork-table, with its embroidery worked by her own hand, must havefallen comparatively flat. 

The next morning the Queen and the Prince, with their children, tooktheir first drive round the beautiful road, then just completed, whichbears her name, and, encircling Arthur's Seat, is the goal of everystranger visiting Edinburgh, affording as it does in miniature anexcellent idea of Scotch scenery. On this occasion the party alightedand climbed to the top of the hill, rejoicing in the view. "You seethe beautiful town, with the Calton Hill, and the bay with the islandof Inchkeith stretching out before you, and the Bass Rock quite in thedistance, rising behind the coast.... The view when we gained thecarriage hear Dunsappie Loch, quite a small lake, overhung by a crag, with the sea in the distance, is extremely pretty.... The air wasdelicious. "

In the course of the forenoon the Prince laid the foundation stone ofthe Scotch National Gallery, and made his first speech (which was anundoubted success) before one of those Edinburgh audiences, noted fortheir fastidiousness and critical faculty. The afternoon drive was bythe beautiful Scott monument, the finest modern ornament of the city, Donaldson's Hospital, the High Street, and the Canongate, and thelower part of the Queen's Drive, which encloses the Queen's Park. "Abeautiful park indeed, " she wrote, "with such a view, and suchmountain scenery in the midst of it. "

In the evening there was assembled such a circle as had not beengathered in royal old Holyrood since poor Prince Charlie kept briefstate there. Her Majesty wrote in her journal, "The Buccleuchs, theRoxburghs, the Mortons, Lord Roseberry, Principal Lee, the Belhavens, and the Lord Justice General, dined with us. Everybody so pleased atour living at my old palace. " The talk seems to have been, as wasfitting, on old times and the unfortunate Queen Mary, the heroine ofHolyrood. Sir Theodore Martin thinks it may have been in remembranceof this evening that Lord Belhaven, on his death, left a bequest tothe Queen "of a cabinet which had been brought by Queen Mary fromFrance, and given by her to the Regent Mar, from whom it passed intothe family of Lord Belhaven. " The cabinet contains a lock of QueenMary's golden hair, and a purse worked by her. 

On the following day the royal party left Holyrood and travelled toBalmoral. The Queen, with the Prince and her children, and the Duchessof Kent, with her son and grandson, were at the great gala of thedistrict, the Braemar gathering, where the honour of her Majesty'spresence is always eagerly craved. 

Another amusement was the _leistering_, or spearing, of salmon inthe Dee. Captain Forbes of Newe, and from forty to fifty of his clan, on their return to Strathdon from the Braemar gathering, wereattracted by the fishing to the river's edge, when they were carriedover the water on the backs of the Queen's men, who volunteered theservice, "Macdonald, at their head, carrying Captain Forbes on hisback. " The courteous act, which was quite spontaneous, charmed theQueen and the Prince. The latter in writing to Germany gave furtherdetails of the incident. "Our people in the Highlands are altogetherprimitive, true-hearted and without guile.... Yesterday the Forbesesof Strath Don passed through here. When they came to the Dee ourpeople (of Strath Dee) offered to carry them across the river, and didso, whereupon they drank to the health of Victoria and the inmates ofBalmoral in whisky (_schnapps_), but as there was no cup to behad, their chief, Captain Forbes, pulled off his shoe, and he and hisfifty men drank out of it. "

The Forbeses got permission to march through the grounds of Balmoral, "the pipers going, in front. They stopped and cheered three timesthree, throwing up their bonnets. " The Queen describes thecharacteristic demonstration, and she then mentions listening withpleasure "to the distant shouts and the sound of the pibroch. "

There were two drawbacks to the peace and happiness of Balmoral thisyear. The one was occasioned by an unforeseen vexatious occurrence, and the complications which arose from it. General Haynau, theAustrian officer whose brutalities to the conquered and to womenduring the Hungarian war had aroused detestation in England, happenedto visit London, and was attacked by the men in Barclay's brewery. Austria remonstrated, and Lord Palmerston made a rash reply, which hadto be recalled. 

The other care which darkened the Balmoral horizon in 1850 was thegrowing certainty of a fatal termination to the illness of the Queenof the Belgians. Immediately after the Court returned to Osborne theblow fell. Queen Louise died at Ostend on the 11th of October, 1850. She was only in her thirty-ninth year, not more than eight years olderthan Queen Victoria. She was the second daughter of Louis Philippe, Princess Marie having been the elder sister. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE PAPAL BULL--THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 

In the winter of 1850 the whole of England was disturbed by the PapalBull which professed to divide England afresh into Roman Catholicbishoprics, with a cardinal-archbishop at their head. ProtestantEngland hotly resented the liberty the Pope had taken, the more sothat the Tractarian movement in the Church seemed to point totreachery within the camp. Lord John Russell took this view of it, andthe announcement of his opinion intensified the excitement whichexpressed itself, in meetings all over the county and numerousaddresses to the Queen, condemning the act of aggression and urgingresistance. The protests of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and of the Corporation of London, were presented to her Majesty in St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle, on the 10th of December. The Oxfordaddress was read by the Chancellor of Oxford, the Duke of Wellington, the old soldier speaking "in his peculiar energetic manner with greatvigour and animation. " The Cambridge address was read by theChancellor of Cambridge, Prince Albert, "with great clearness andwell-marked emphasis. " The Queen replied "with great deliberation andwith decided accents. " Her Majesty, while repelling the invasion ofher rights and the offence to the religious principles of the country, held, with the calmer judges of the situation, that no pretence, however loudly asserted, could constitute reality. The Pope might callEngland what he liked, but he could not make it Catholic. 

In January, 1851, the Court had a great loss in the retirement of LadyLyttelton from her office of governess to the royal children, whichshe had filled for eight years; while her service at Court, includingthe time that she had been a lady-in-waiting, had lasted over twelveyears. Thenceforth her bright sympathetic accounts of striking eventsin the life at Windsor and Osborne cease. The daughter of the secondEarl of Spenser married, at twenty-six years of age, the third LordLyttelton. She was forty-two when she became a lady-in-waiting, andfifty-four when she resigned the office of governess to the Queen'schildren. She desired to quit the Court because, as she said, she wasold enough to be at rest for whatever time might be left her. In thetranquillity and leisure which she sought, she survived for twentyyears, dying at the age of seventy-four in 1870. The parting in 1851was a trial to all. "The Queen has told me I may be free about themiddle of January, " wrote Lady Lyttelton, "and she said it with allthe feeling and kindness of which I have received such incessantproofs through the whole long twelve years during which I have servedher. Never by a word or look has it been interrupted. " Neither couldLady Lyttelton say enough in praise of the Prince, of "his wisdom, hisready helpfulness, his consideration for others, his constantkindness. " "In the evening I was sent for to my last audience in theQueen's own room, " Lady Lyttelton wrote again, "and I quite broke downand could hardly speak or hear. I remember the Prince's face, pale asashes, and a few words of praise and thanks from them both, but it isall misty; and I had to stop on the private staircase and have my cryout before I could go up again. "

Lady Lyttelton was succeeded in her office by Lady CarolineBarrington, sister of Earl Grey, who held the post for twenty-fouryears, till her death in 1875. She too was much and deservedlyesteemed by the Queen and the royal family. 

The Exhibition was the event in England of 1851. From the end of Marchtill the opening-day, for which May-day was fitly chosen, PrinceAlbert strove manfully day and night to fulfil his important part inthe programme, and it goes without saying that the Queen shared inmuch of his work, and in all his hopes and fears and ardent desires. 

Already the building, with its great transept and naves, lofty dome, transparent walls and roof, enclosing great trees within their amplebounds, the _chef-d'-oeuvre_ of Sir Joseph Paxton--who receivedknighthood for the feat--the admiration of all beholders, had sprungup in Hyde Park like a fairy palace, the growth of a night. Ships andwaggons in hundreds and thousands, laden by commerce, science and art, were trooping from far and near to the common destination. Great andsmall throughout the country and across the seas were planning to makethe Exhibition their school of design and progress, as well as theirholiday goal. 

It must be said that the dread of what might be the behaviour of thevast crowds of all nations gathered together at one spot, and thatspot London, assailed many people both at home and abroad. But asthose who are not "evil-doers" are seldom "evil-dreaders, " the Queenand the Prince always dismissed the idea of such a danger withsomething like bright incredulous scorn, which proved in the end wiserthan cynical suspicion and gloomy apprehension. 

The Exhibition of 1851, with its reverent motto, chosen by PrinceAlbert, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; thecompass of the world, and they that dwell therein, " is an old storynow, and only elderly people remember some of its marvels--like thecreations of the "Arabian Nights'" tales--and its works of art, which, though they may have been excelled before and since, had never yetbeen so widely seen and widely criticised. The feathery palm-trees andfalling fountains, especially the great central cascade, seemed toharmonize with objects of beauty and forms of grace on every side. TheEast contended with the West in soft and deep colours and sumptuousstuffs. Huge iron machines had their region, and trophies of cobweblace theirs; while "walking-beams" clanked and shuttles flew, workingwonders before amazed and enchanted-eyes. 

Especially never had there been seen, such modern triumphs in carvedwoodwork, in moulded iron, zinc, and bronze, in goldsmiths' work, instoneware and porcelain, in designs for damasks in silk and linen. 

The largest diamond in the world, the Koh-i-Noor or "mountain oflight, " found in the mines of Golconda, presented to the great Mogul, having passed through the hands of a succession of murderous andplundering Shahs, had been brought to England and laid at the feet ofQueen Victoria as one of the fruits of her Afghan conquests, the yearbefore the Exhibition. It was now for the first time publiclydisplayed. Like many valuable articles, its appearance, marred by badcutting, did not quite correspond with the large estimate of itsworth, about two millions. In order to increase its effect, theprecious clumsily-cut "goose's egg, " relieved against a background ofcrimson velvet in its strong cage, was shown by gas-light alone. Sincethose days, the jewel has been cut, so that its radiance may have fullplay when it is worn by her Majesty on great occasions. To keep theKoh-i-Noor in company, one of the largest emeralds and one of thelargest pearls in the world were in this Exhibition. So were "_lesaphir merveilleux_"--of amethystine colour by candle-light, oncethe property of Egalité Orleans, and the subject of a tale by MadameGenlis-and a renowned Hungarian opal. 

Hiram Powers's "Greek Slave" from America more than rivalled Monti'sveiled statue from Italy, while far surpassing both in majesty wasKiss's grand group of the "Mounted Amazon defending herself from, theattack of a Lioness, " cast in zinc and bronzed. Statues and statuettesof the Queen abounded, and must have constantly met her eye, from Mrs. Thornycroft's spirited equestrian statue to the great pedestal andstatue, in zinc, of her Majesty, crowned, in robes of State, with thesceptre in one hand and the orb in the other, modelled by Danton, which stood in the centre of the foreign nave. 

What enhanced the fascination of the scene to untravelled spectatorswas that without the deliberate contrivance brought to perfection inthe great Paris Exhibition, real Chinamen walked among their junks andpagodas, Russians stood by their malachite gates, Turks hovered abouttheir carpets. 

Women's quaint or exquisite work, whether professional or amateur, wasnot absent. It was notable in the magnificent covers for the head andfootboard of a bed which had occupied thirty girls for many weeks, andin a carpet worked in squares by a company of ladies, and presented asa tribute of their respect and love for the most unremittinglydiligent woman in England, her Majesty the Queen. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE QUEEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION. 

Of all the many descriptions of the Exhibition of 1851, which surviveafter more than thirty years, the best are those written by the Queen, which we gratefully borrow, as we have already borrowed so many of theextracts from her journal in the Prince's "Life. "

Sir Theodore Martin has alluded to the special attraction lent to theExhibition on its opening day by the excitement of the gladceremonial, the throng of spectators, the Court element with "itssplendid toilets" and uniforms, while Thackeray has a verse for thechief figure. 

 Behold her in her royal place, A gentle lady, and the hand That sways the sceptre of this land, How frail and weak Soft is the voice and fair the face; She breathes amen to prayer and hymn No wonder that her eyes are dim, And pale her cheek. 

But she has deigned to speak for herself, and no other speaks wordsso noble and tender in their simplicity. 

"May 1st. The great event has taken place, a complete and beautifultriumph, a glorious and touching sight, one which I shall ever beproud of for my beloved Albert and my country.... Yes, it is a daywhich makes my heart swell with pride and glory and thankfulness. 

"We began it with tenderest greetings for the birthday of our dearlittle Arthur. At breakfast there was nothing but congratulations.... Mamma and Victor (the Queen's nephew, son of the Princess ofHohenlohe, now well-known as Count Gleichen) were there, and all thechildren and our guests. Our humble gifts of toys were added to by abeautiful little bronze _replica_ of the 'Amazon' (Kiss's) fromthe Prince (of Prussia), a beautiful paper-knife from the Princess (ofPrussia), and a nice little clock from mamma. 

"The Park presented a wonderful spectacle, crowds streaming throughit, carriages and troops passing quite like the Coronation day, andfor me the same anxiety; no, much greater anxiety, on account of mybeloved Albert. The day was bright, and all bustle and excitement.... At half-past eleven the whole procession, in State carriages, was inmotion.... The Green Park and Hyde Park were one densely crowded massof human beings in the highest good-humour and most enthusiastic. Inever saw Hyde Park look as it did, as far as the eye could reach. Alittle rain fell just as we started, but before we came near theCrystal Palace the sun shone and gleamed upon the gigantic edifice, upon which the flags of all the nations were floating. We drove upRotten Row and got out at the entrance on that side. 

"The glimpse of the transept through the iron gates--the waving palms, flowers, statues, myriads of people filling the galleries and seatsaround, with the flourish of trumpets as we entered, gave us asensation which, I can never forget, and I felt much moved. We wentfor a moment to a little side-room, where we left our shawls, andwhere we found mamma and Mary (now Duchess of Teck), and outside whichwere standing the other Princes. In a few seconds we proceeded, Albertleading me, having Vicky at his hand, and Bertie holding mine. Thesight as we came to the middle, where the steps and chair (which I didnot sit on) were placed, with the beautiful crystal fountain in frontof it, was magical--so vast, so glorious, so touching. One felt, as somany did whom I have since spoken to, filled with devotion, more sothan by any service I have ever heard. The tremendous cheers, the joyexpressed in every face, the immensity of the building, the mixture ofpalms, flowers, trees, statues, fountains--the organ (with two hundredinstruments and six hundred voices, which sounded like nothing), andmy beloved husband the author of this peace festival, which united theindustry of all nations of the earth--all this was moving indeed, andit was and is a day to live for ever. God bless my dearest Albert, Godbless my dearest country, which has shown itself so great to-day! Onefelt so grateful to the great God who seemed to pervade all and tobless all. The only event it in the slightest degree reminded me ofwas the Coronation, but this day's festival was a thousand timessuperior. In fact it is unique and can bear no comparison, from itspeculiarity, beauty, and combination of such different and strikingobjects. I mean the slight resemblance only as to its solemnity; theenthusiasm and cheering, too, were much more touching, for in a churchnaturally all is silent. 

"Albert left my side after "God save the Queen" had been sung, and atthe head of the commissioners, a curious assemblage of political anddistinguished men, read me the report, which is a long one, and towhich I read a short answer; after which the Archbishop of Canterburyoffered up a short and appropriate prayer, followed by the "HallelujahChorus, " during which the Chinese mandarin came forward and made hisobeisance. This concluded, the procession began. It was beautifullyarranged and of great length, the prescribed order being exactlyadhered to. The nave was full, which had not been intended; but stillthere was no difficulty, and the whole long walk, from one end to theother, was made in the midst of continued and deafening cheers andwaving of handkerchiefs. Everyone's face was bright and smiling, manywith tears in their eyes. Many Frenchmen called out "_Vive laReine_!" One could, of course, see nothing but what was near in thenave, and nothing in the courts. The organs were but little heard, butthe military band at one end had a very fine effect as we passedalong. They played the march from _Athalie_.... The old Duke andLord Anglesey walked arm in arm, which was a touching sight. I sawmany acquaintances among those present. We returned to our own place, and Albert told Lord Breadalbane to declare that the Exhibition wasopened, which he did in a loud voice: 'Her Majesty commands me todeclare this Exhibition open, ' which was followed by a flourish oftrumpets and immense cheering. All the commissioners, the executivecommittee, who worked so hard, and to whom such immense praise is due, seemed truly happy, and no one more so than Paxton, who may be justlyproud; he rose from being a common gardener's boy. Everybody wasastonished and delighted, Sir George Grey (Home Secretary) in tears. 

"The return was equally satisfactory, the crowd most enthusiastic, theorder perfect. We reached the palace at twenty minutes past one, andwent out on the balcony and were loudly cheered, the Prince andPrincess (of Prussia) quite delighted and impressed. That we felthappy, thankful, I need not say; proud of all that had passed, of mydarling husband's success, and of the behaviour of my good people. Iwas more impressed than I can say by the scene. It was one that cannever be effaced from my memory, and never will be from that of anyone who witnessed it. Albert's name is immortalised, and the wickedreports of dangers of every kind, which a set of people, viz. The_soi disant_ fashionables, the most violent Protectionists, spread, are silenced. It is therefore doubly satisfactory, and thatall should have gone off so well, and without the slightest accidentor mishap.... Albert's emphatic words last year, when he said that thefeeling would be _that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for theblessings which He has bestowed on us here below_ this dayrealised.... 

"I must not omit to mention an interesting episode of this day, viz:--the visit of the good old Duke on this his eighty-second birthday tohis little godson, our dear little boy. He came to us both at five, and gave him a golden cup and some toys, which he had himself chosen, and Arthur gave him a nosegay. 

"We dined _en famille_, and then went to the Covent Garden Opera, where we saw the two finest acts of the _Huguenots_ given asbeautifully as last year. I was rather tired, but we were both sohappy, so full of thankfulness! God is indeed our kind and mercifulFather. "

In answer to Lord John Russell's statement, on the close of theExhibition, that the great enterprise and the spirit in which it hadbeen conducted would contribute "to give imperishable fame to PrinceAlbert, " the Queen asserted that year would ever remain the happiestand proudest of her life. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE QUEEN'S "RESTORATION BALL" AND THE "GUILDHALL BALL. "

The season of the first Exhibition was full of movement and gaiety, inwhich the Queen and Prince Albert joined. They had also the pleasureof welcoming their brother and sister, the Duke and Duchess of SaxeCoburg, who arrived to witness the Prince's triumph. As usual he cameforward on every occasion when his services, to which his position andpersonal gifts lent double value, were needed--whether he presided atan Academy dinner, or at a meeting of the Society for the Propagationof the Gospel, or laid the foundation of the Hospital for Consumption, or attended the meeting of the British Association, and the Queendelighted in his popularity and usefulness. 

On the 4th of May Baroness Bunsen was at Stafford House "when herthere, " and thus describes the Queen. "The Queen looked charming, and Icould not help the same reflection that I have often made before, thatshe is the only piece of _female royalty_ I ever saw who was also acreature such as almighty God has created. Her smile is a _real_ smile, her grace is _natural_; although it has received a high polish fromcultivation, there is nothing artificial about it. Princes I have seenseveral whose first characteristic is that of being _men_ rather thanprinces, though not many. The Duchess of Sutherland is the only person Ihave seen, when receiving the Queen, not giving herself the appearanceof a visitor in her own house by wearing a bonnet. "

On the 16th of May the Queen and the Prince were at Devonshire House, when Lord Lytton's comedy of "Not so Bad as we Seem" was played byDickens, Foster, Douglas Jerrold, on behalf of the new "Guild ofLiterature and Art, " in which hopes for poor authors were cheerfullyentertained. 

On the 23rd of May Lord Campbell was anticipating the Queen's thirdcostume ball with as much complacency as if the eminent lawyer hadbeen a young girl. "We are invited to the Queen's fancy ball on the13th of June, " he wrote "where we are all to appear in the charactersand costume of the reign of Charles II. I am to go as Sir MatthewHale, Chief Justice, and I am now much occupied in considering mydress, that is to say, which robe I am to wear--scarlet, purple, orblack. The only new articles I shall have to order are my black velvetcoif, a beard with moustaches, and a pair of shoes with red heels, andred rosettes. "

The period chosen for the Restoration Ball was the time midway betweenthe dates of the Plantagenet and the Powder Ball. 

As on former occasions, the Court walked in procession to the throne-room, where each quadrille passed in turn before the Queen and PrinceAlbert. 

Her Majesty's dress was of grey watered silk, trimmed with gold andsilver lace, and ornamented with bows of rose-coloured riband fastenedby bouquets of diamonds. The front of the dress was open, and theunder-skirt was made of cloth of gold embroidered in a shawl patternin silver. The gloves and shoes were embroidered alternately withroses and _fleurs-de-lys_ in gold. On the front of the body ofthe dress were four large pear-shaped emeralds of great value. TheQueen wore a small diamond crown on the top of her head, and a largeemerald set in diamonds, with pearl loops, on one side of the head;the hair behind plaited with pearls. 

Prince Albert wore a coat of rich orange satin, brocaded with gold, the sleeves turned up with crimson velvet, a pink silk epaulette onone shoulder; a baldrick of gold lace embroidered with silver for thesword; the breeches of crimson velvet with pink satin bows and goldlace, the stockings of lavender silk, the sash of white silk, goldfringed. 

There were four national quadrilles. The English Quadrille was led bythe Marchioness of Ailesbury; the Scotch Quadrille was under theguidance of the young Marchioness of Stafford, daughter-in-law of theDuke of Sutherland; the French Quadrille was led by Countess Flahault, the representative of the old barons Keith, and the wife of abrilliant Frenchman; the Spanish Quadrille was marshalled by CountessGranville. There were two more Quadrilles, the one under the controlof the Countess of Wilton, the other, called the "Rose Quadrille, " ledby Countess Grey. 

With all due deference to the opinion of the late Mr. Henry Greville, the accounts of these quadrilles leave the impression not only thatthey were arranged with finer taste, but that a considerable advancehad been made in artistic perception and sense of harmony. The ladiesin each quadrille were dressed alike, so were the gentlemen; thusthere were no harsh contrasts. In the English set the ladies wore blueand white silk gowns with trimmings of rose-colour and gold. Thegentlemen were in scarlet and gold, and blue velvet. Lady Waterfordwas in this set, and Lady Churchill, daughter of the Marquis ofConyngham, long connected with the Court. The Duke of Cambridge andPrince Edward of Saxe Weimar were among the gentlemen in the set. 

Certainly it is a little hard to decide on what principle theexceedingly piquant costume of the ladies in the Scotch Quadrille wasclassed as Scotch. The ladies wore riding-habits of pale green taffetaornamented with bows of pink ribbon, and had on grey hats with pinkand white feathers. Lady Stafford carried a jewelled riding-whip. Thegentlemen were in Highland costume. 

In the French Quadrille the ladies wore white satin with bows of lightblue ribbon opening over cloth of gold. The gentlemen were in theuniform of _Mousquetaires_. In this quadrille danced LadyClementina Villiers, with her "marble-like beauty. " She had ceased tobe a Watteau shepherdess, and she had lost her companion shepherdessof old, but her intellectual gifts and fine qualities were developingthemselves more and more. In the same dance was Lady Rose Lovell, theyoung daughter of the Duke of Beaufort, whose elopement at the age ofseventeen with a gallant one-armed soldier had been condoned, so thatshe still played her part in the Court gala. 

In the Spanish Quadrille the ladies wore black silk over grey damask, trimmed with gold lace and pink rosettes, and Spanish mantillas. Thegentlemen were in black velvet, with a Spanish order embroidered inred silk on coat and cloak, grey silk stockings, and black velvet hatswith red and yellow feathers. In this quadrille were the matronlybeauties Lady Canning, Lady Jocelyn, and Lady Waldegrave. 

After the quadrilles had been danced, the ladies falling into lines, advanced to the throne and did reverence, the gentlemen forming inlike manner and performing the same ceremony. Her Majesty, and PrinceAlbert then proceeded to the ballroom, where Lady Wilton's and LadyGrey's quadrilles were danced. In the Rose Quadrille the ladies worerose-coloured skirts over white moire, with rose-coloured bows andpearls, rose colour and pearls in the hair. Each lady wore a singlered rose on her breast. 

After the quadrilles, the Queen opened the general ball by dancing the_Polonnaise_ with Prince Albert, the Duke of Cambridge, andPrince Edward of Saxe Weimar; Prince Albert dancing next with theDuchess of Norfolk, the premier peeress present. The Queen dancedafter supper with the Prince of Leiningen. He was at the Restorationas he had been at the Powder Ball, and wore black velvet and gold lacewith orange ribbons. 

The characters seem to have been chosen with more point than before. The Countess of Tankerville personated a Duchesse de Grammont, inright of her mother-in-law, Corisande de Grammont, grand-daughter ofMarie Antoinette's friend Gabrielle de Polignac. 

Lady Ashburton was Madame de Sevigné, whose fashion of curls beginningin rings on the forehead and getting longer and longer towards theneck, was as much in demand for the ladies, as Philip Leigh'slovelocks were for the gentlemen. 

Lady Hume Campbell was "La Belle Duchesse de Bourgogne;" LadyMiddleton, Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle. Mrs. Abbot Lawrencevindicated her American nationality by representing Anna Dudley, thewife of an early governor of Massachusetts; Mr. Bancroft Davies, secretary of the United States legation, figured as William Penn. 

Lady Londonderry and Miss Burdett Coutts were still remarkable for thesplendour of their jewels. Lady Londonderry wore a girdle of diamonds, a diamond _berthe_, and a head-dress a blaze of precious stones, the whole valued roughly at a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. MissBurdett Coutts displayed a band of jewels, after the fashion of thegentlemen's baldricks, passing over one shoulder and terminating in adiamond clasp fastening back the upper skirt. After diamonds, which, like the blossom of the gorse, may be considered as always _à lamode_, the specialities of the Restoration Ball were Honiton lace, which was reckoned in better keeping with falling collars than oldpoint, and an enormous expenditure of ribbons. Some of the magnificentcollars, such as that of Lord Overton, were manufactured for theoccasion. As for ribbons, not only did ladies' dresses abound in bowsand rosettes, the gentlemen's doublets, "trunks, " and sleeves, wereprofusely beribboned. The very shirt-sleeves, exposed by the coat-sleeves terminating at the elbow, were bound and festooned withribbons; while from the ends of the waistcoat hung a waterfall ofribbons, like a Highlander's philabeg. Verily, the heart of Coventrymust have rejoiced; the Restoration Ball might have been got up forits special benefit. 

The Duke of Wellington was in the scarlet and gold uniform of theperiod, but he alone of all the gentlemen was privileged to wear hisown scanty grey hair, which rendered him conspicuous. The old manwalked between his two daughters-in-law, Lady Douro and Lady CharlesWellesley. 

Lord Galway wore a plain cuirass and gorget so severely simple that itmight have been mistaken for the guise of one of Cromwell's officers, who were otherwise unrepresented. 

Mr. Gladstone was there as Sir Leoline Jenkins, judge of the HighCourt of Admiralty in Charles's reign. His dress was copied from anengraving in the British Museum. It was quiet enough, but it isdifficult to realise "the grand old man" of to-day in a velvet coatturned up with blue satin, ruffles and collar of old point, blackbreeches and stockings, and shoes with spreading bows. 

Sir Edwin Landseer, whom Miss Thackeray has described as helping todress some of the ladies for this very ball, was so studiously plainthat it must have looked like a protest against the use of"properties" in his apparel. He wore a dress of black silk, with nocloak, no mantle, no skirts to his coat. Round his neck was a lightblue scarf, hanging low behind. He had on a grey wig, imitatingpartial baldness. There could have been no doubt of the historicalcorrectness of the dress, though there might have been some questionof its becomingness. 

There were changes of some importance in the royal household at thistime, caused by the retirement of General, afterwards Sir GeorgeBowles, the Master of the Household, and of Mr. Birch, tutor to thePrince of Vales. With the assistance of Baron Stockmar, fittingsuccessors for those gentlemen were found in Sir Thomas Biddulph andMr. Frederick Gibbes. 

The ball at Guildhall had been fixed for the 2nd of July, but the daywas changed when it was remembered that the 2nd was the anniversary ofthe death of Sir Robert Peel. The entertainment was a very splendidaffair. The city was continually progressing in taste and skill inthese matters, and the times were so prosperous as to admit of largeexpenditure without incurring the charge of reckless extravagance. TheQueen, Prince Albert, and their suite left Buckingham Palace, in Statecarriages, at nine o'clock on the summer evening, and drove throughbrilliantly illuminated streets, densely crowded with large numbers offoreigners as well as natives. 

The great hall where the ball took place was magnificently fitted up, many ideas for the decoration being borrowed from the Exhibition. Thusthere was a striking array of banners emblazoned with the arms of thenations and cities which had contributed to the Exhibition. "Above thecentre shaft of each cluster of columns, shot up towards the roof asilver palm-tree, glittering and sparkling in the brilliant light soprofusely shed around. On touching the roof these spread forth andended in long branches of bright clustering broad leaves of green andgold, from which hung pendant rich bunches of crimson and rubysparkling fruit. " The compartments beneath the balconies were filledwith pictures of the best known and most admired foreign contributionsto the Exhibition--such as the Amazon group, the Malachite gates, theGreek Slave; &c. , &c. Huge griffins had their places at the corners ofthe dais supporting the throne, while above it a gigantic plume ofPrince of Wales's feathers reared itself in spun glass. The chambersand corridors of the Mansion House were fitted up with "acres oflooking-glass, statuary, flowers, &c. , &c. , " provided for the crowd ofguests that could not obtain admittance to the hall, where little roomwas left for dancing. The supper, to which the Queen was conducted, was in the crypt. It was made to resemble a baronial hall, "figures inmediaeval armour being scattered about as the bearers of the lightswhich illuminated the chamber. " Before leaving, in thanking the LordMayor (Musgrove) for his hospitality, the Queen announced herintention of creating him a baronet. Her Majesty and the Prince tooktheir departure at one o'clock, returning to Buckingham Palace throughthe lit streets and huzzaing multitude. 

CHAPTER XX. 

ROYAL VISITS TO LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER--CLOSE OF THE EXHIBITION. 

On the 27th of August the Court left for Balmoral, travelling for themost part by the Great Northern Railway, but not, as now, making arapid night and day journey. On the contrary, the journey lasted threedays, with pauses for each night's rest between. Starting from Osborneat nine, the Royal party reached Buckingham Palace at half-pasttwelve. Halting for an hour and a half, they set off again at two. They stopped at Peterborough, where old Dr. Fisher, the Bishop, wasable to greet in his Queen the little Princess who had repeated herlessons to him in Kensington Palace. No longer a solitary figure butfor the good mother, she was herself a wife and mother, the happiestof the happy in both relations. The train stopped again at Boston andLincoln for the less interesting purpose of the presentation andreception of congratulatory addresses on the Exhibition. The sameceremony was gone through at Doncaster where the party stayed for thenight at the Angel Inn. 

Leaving before nine on the following morning, after changing the lineof railway at York, and stopping at Darlington and Newcastle, Edinburgh was reached in the course of the afternoon. Her Majesty andthe Prince, with their children, proceeded to Holyrood, and before theevening was ended drove for an hour through the beautiful town. Here, too, the Exhibition bore its fruit in the honour of knighthoodconferred on the Lord Provost. 

On the third morning the travellers left again at eight o'clock, andjourneyed as far as Stonehaven, where the royal carriages met them, and conveyed them to Balmoral, which was reached by half-past six. ThePrince had now bought the castle and estate, seven miles in length, and four in breadth, and plans were formed for a new house moresuitable for the accommodation of so large a household. 

On the day after the Queen and Prince Albert's arrival in theHighlands, he received the news of the death of his uncle, brother tothe late Duke of Coburg and to the Duchess of Kent, Duke Ferdinand ofSaxe-Coburg. 

There is little to record of the happy sojourn in the North this year, with its deer-stalking, riding and driving, except that Hallam, thehistorian, and Baron Liebig, the famous chemist, visited Sir JamesClark, the Queen's physician, at Birkhall, which he occupied, and wereamong the guests at Balmoral. 

It had been arranged that the Queen and the Prince should visitLiverpool and Manchester on their way south, in order to give thegreat cities of Lancashire the opportunity of greeting and welcomingtheir Sovereign. It was the 8th of October before the royal party setout on their homeward journey, ending the first of the shortening daysat Holyrood. 

On the following day the strangers went on to the ancient dull littletown of Lancaster, and drove to the castle, where the keys werepresented, and an address read under John O'Gaunt's gateway. The towerstairs were mounted for the view over Morcambe Bay and the Englishlake country on the one hand, and away across level lands to the seaon the other. Every native of the town "wore a red rose or a redrosette, as emblems of the House of Lancaster. "

The Queen and the Prince then proceeded to Prescot, where they leftthe railway, driving through Lord Derby's fine park at Knowsley, to bethe guests of the Earl of Sefton at Croxteth. Next morning, whenLiverpool was to be visited, a _contretemps_ occurred. Theweather was hopelessly wet; the whole party had to go as far aspossible in closed carriages; afterwards the downpour was soirresistible that the Prince's large cloak had to be spread over theQueen and her children to keep them dry. But her Majesty'scommiseration is almost entirely for the crowd on foot, "the poorpeople so wet and dirty. " They spoil her pleasure in her enthusiasticreception and the fine buildings she passes. 

The royal party drove along the docks, and in spite of the rain gotout at the appointed place of embarkation, went on board the_Fairy_, accompanied by the Mayor and other officials, and sailedalong the quays round the mouth of the Mersey, surveying the grandmass of shipping from the pavilion on deck as well as the dank mistwould permit. On landing, the Town Hall and St. George's Hall werevisited in succession. In the first the Queen received an address andknighted the Mayor. She admired both buildings--particularly St. George's, which she called "worthy of ancient Athens, " and said itdelighted Prince Albert. At both halls she presented herself onbalconies in order to gratify the multitudes below. 

The Queen left Liverpool by railway, going as far as Patricroft, whereshe was received by Lady Ellesmere and a party from Worsley, includingthe Duke of Wellington, Lord and Lady Westminster, and Lord and LadyWilton. Her Majesty was to try a mode of travelling new to her. Shehad arrived at the Bridgewater Canal, one of the greatest feats ofengineering in the last century, constructed by the public-spirited, eccentric Duke of Bridgewater, and Brindley the engineer. The Queenwent on board a covered barge drawn by four horses. She describes themotion as gliding along "in a most noiseless and dream-like manner, amidst the cheers of the people who lined the sides of the canal. "Thus she passed under the "beautifully decorated bridges" belonging toLord Ellesmere's colliery villages. 

Only at the hall-door of Worsley were Lord Ellesmere, lame with gout, and Lord Brackley, his son, "terribly delicate" from an accident inthe hunting-field, the husband of one of the beautiful CawdorCampbells, able to meet their illustrious guests. Henry Greville saysher Majesty brought with her four children, two ladies-in-waiting, twoequerries, a physician, a tutor, and a governess. Men of mechanicalscience seem to belong to Worsley, so that it sounds natural for theQueen and the Prince to have met there, during the evening, Nasmyth, the inventor of the steam-hammer, and to have examined his maps of hisinvestigations in the moon, and his landscape-drawings, worthy of hisfather's son. The Queen and Prince Albert derived great pleasure fromtheir passing intercourse with a man of varied gifts, whose sterlingqualities they could well appreciate. 

The next morning, the 10th of October, the weather was all that couldbe wished, but another and even more unfortunate complicationthreatened the success of the arrangements, on which the comfort of afew and the gratification of many thousands of persons depended. Prince Albert, never strong, was always liable to trying attacks ofsleeplessness and sickness. In the course of the night he had been"very unwell, very sick and wretched for several hours. " "I wasterrified for our Manchester visit" wrote the Queen in her journal. "Thank God! by eight o'clock he felt much better, and was able to getup" indefatigable as ever. 

At ten the party started to drive the seven miles to Manchester, escorted by Yeomanry and a regiment of Lancers, Lord Cathcart and hisstaff riding near the Queen's carriage through an ever-increasingcrowd. The Queen was greatly interested in the rows of mill-workersbetween whom she passed, "dressed in their best, ranged along thestreets, with white rosettes in their button-holes"--that patient, easily pleased crowd, which has an aspect half comical, half pathetic. Her Majesty admired the intelligent expression of both men and women, but was painfully struck with their puniness and paleness. In the PeelPark the visitors were greeted by a great demonstration, which herMajesty calls "extraordinary and unprecedented, " of no less thaneighty-two thousand school children, of every denomination, Jews aswell as Christians. The Queen received and replied to an address, fromher carriage, and the immense body of children sang "God save theQueen. "

The party then drove through the principal streets of Salford andManchester--the junction of the two being marked by a splendidtriumphal arch, under which the Mayor and Corporation (dressed for thefirst time in robes of office--so democratic was Manchester), againmet the Queen and presented her with a bouquet. At the Exchange shealighted to receive another address, to which she read an answer, andknighted the Mayor. Her Majesty missed "fine buildings, " of which, with the exception of huge warehouses and factories, Manchester hadthen none to boast; but she was particularly struck by the demeanourof the inhabitants, in addition to what she was pleased to call their"most gratifying cheering and enthusiasm. " "The order and goodbehaviour of the people, who were not placed behind any barriers, werethe most complete we have seen in our many progresses through capitalsand cities--London, Glasgow, Dublin, Edinburgh--for there never was arunning crowd, nobody moved and therefore everybody saw well, andthere was no squeezing.... " The Queen heard afterwards that she hadseen a million of human beings that day. In the afternoon her Majestyand the Prince, returned to Worsley. 

Henry Greville tells an almost piteous incident of this visit, inrelation to the Duke of Wellington and his advanced age, with theinfirmities that could no longer be repelled. After saying that inorder to prevent the procession's becoming too large, no other guestat Worsley was admitted into it, except the privileged old Duke, whomthe teller of the story describes as driving in the carriage withHenry Greville's sister, Lady Enfield, one of the ladies in attendanceon the Queen, he goes on to mention "he (the Duke) was received withextraordinary enthusiasm; notwithstanding Lady Enfield had to nudgehim constantly, to keep him awake, both going and coming, with verylittle success. " Lady Enfield adds a note to her brother's narrative. "The whole scene was one of the most exciting I ever saw in my life. Being carried away by the general enthusiasm, and feeling that thepeople would be disappointed if no notice was taken of their cheering, I at last exclaimed 'Duke, Duke, that's for _you_. ' Thereupon heopened his eyes, and obediently made his well-known salutation, twofingers to the brim of his hat. "

The next morning when the Prince had started by seven o'clock toinspect a model factory near Bolton, while there was a long and busyday before them, the Queen made a little entry in her journal whichwill find a sorrowful echo in many a faithful heart, "This day is fullof sad recollections, being the anniversary of the loss of my belovedLouise (Queen of the Belgians), that kind, precious friend, thatangelic being whose loss I shall ever feel. "

The same pleasant passage was made by the canal back to Patricroft, where the railway carriages were entered and the train steamed toStockport. Crewe, Stafford--there another old soldier, Lord Anglesey, was waiting--Rugby, Weedon, Wolverton, and Watford, then at fiveo'clock the railway journey ended. The royal carriages were inattendance, and rest and home were near at hand. The day had been hotand fatiguing, but the evening was soft and beautiful with moonlight;a final change of horses at Uxbridge, the carriage shut when thegrowing darkness prevented any farther necessity for seeing and beingseen; at half-past seven, Windsor, and the three little children stillup and at the door "well and pleased. "

From Windsor the Court went for some days to London for the closing ofthe Exhibition. The number of visitors had been six millions twohundred thousand, and the total receipts five hundred thousand pounds. There had not been a single accident, "We ought, indeed, to bethankful to God for such a success, " the Prince wrote reverently. Onthe 14th of October the Queen paid a farewell visit to the place inwhich she had been so much interested, with the regret natural on suchan occasion. "It looked so beautiful, " she wrote in her journal, "thatI could not believe it was the last time I was to see it. " But alreadythe dismantling had begun. 

The Queen refers in the next breath to a heroine of the Exhibition, anold Cornish woman named Mary Kerlynack, who had found the spirit towalk several hundreds of miles to behold the wonder of her generation. This day she was at one of the doors to see another sight, the Queen. "A most hale old woman" her Majesty thought Mary, "who was near cryingat my looking at her. "

On the 15th, a cheerlessly wet day, in keeping with a somewhatmelancholy scene, Prince Albert and his fellow commissioners closedthe Exhibition--a ceremony at which it was not judged desirable theQueen should be present, though she grieved not to witness the end aswell as the beginning. "How sad and strange to think this great andbright time has passed away like a dream, " her Majesty wrote once morein her diary. The day of the closing of the Exhibition happened to bethe twelfth anniversary of the Queen's betrothal to the Prince. 

The tidings arrived in the course of November of the death, in hiseighty-first year, in the old palace of Herrenhausen, on the 18th ofthe month, of the King of Hanover, the fifth, and last surviving sonof George III and Queen Charlotte. He had been more popular as a kingthan as a prince. 

The arrival of Kossuth in England in the autumn of 1851 had brought adisturbing element into international politics. But it was left forLouis Napoleon's _coup d'état_ in Paris on the 2nd of December, when the blood shed so mercilessly on the Boulevards was still freshin men's minds, to get Lord Palmerston into a dilemma, from whichthere was no disentanglement but the loss of office on his part. 

An impetus, great though less lasting than it seemed, was given thisyear to emigration to Australia, by the discovery in the colony ofgold in quartz beds, under much the same conditions that the preciousmetal had been found in California. The diggings, with the chance of alarge nugget, became for a time the favourite dream of adventurers. Nay, the dream grew to such an absorbing desire, that men heard of itas a disease known as "the gold fever. " And quiet people at home weretold that it was hardly safe for a ship to enter some of theAustralian harbours, on account of the certainty of the desertion ofthe crew, under whatever penalties, that they might repair to the lastEl Dorado. 

The successful ambition of Louis Napoleon and his power over theFrench army, began to excite the fears of Europe with regard to Frenchaggression, and a renewal of the desolating wars of the beginning ofthe century; before the talk about the Exhibition and the triumphs ofpeace had well died on men's lips. The Government was anxious to fallback on the old resource of calling out the militia, with certainmodifications and changes--brought before Parliament in the form of aMilitia Bill. It did not meet with the approval of the members anymore than of the Duke of Wellington, whose experience gave his opinionmuch weight. Lord Palmerston spoke with great ability against themeasure. The end was that the Government suffered a defeat, and theMinistry resigned office in February, 1852. This time Lord Derby wassuccessful in forming a new Cabinet, in which Mr. Disraeli wasChancellor of the Exchequer. A fresh Militia Bill was brought forwardand carried by the new Government, after it had received the warmadvocacy of the Duke of Wellington. The old man spoke in its favourwith an amount of vigour and clear-headedness which showed thathowever his bodily strength might be failing, his mental powerremained untouched. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

DISASTERS--YACHTING TRIPS--THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 

The month of February, 1852, was unhappily distinguished by threegreat English calamities, accompanied by extensive loss of life. Thefirst was the destruction of the West India mail steamer _Amazon_by fire, as she was entering the Bay of Biscay, in which a hundred andforty persons perished, among them Eliot Warburton, the accomplishedtraveller and author. 

The second was the wreck of her Majesty's troop-ship _Birkenhead_near the Cape of Good Hope, with the loss of upwards of four hundredlives, in circumstances when the discipline and devotion of the menwere of the noblest description. The third was the bursting of theBilberry Reservoir in midland England, with the sacrifice of nearly ahundred lives and a large amount of property. 

When the season commenced, and it was this year, as last, particularlygay, a reflection of the general prosperity of the country, with thehigh hopes inspired by the Australian gold-fields, the Queen wrote tothe King of the Belgians in order to re-assure him with regard to afear which seems to have arisen in the elderly man's mind, that shewhom he remembered at the beginning of her reign as fond of pleasureand untiring in her amusements, might be swept away in the tide. "Allow me just to say one word about the London season. The Londonseason for us consists of two State balls and two concerts. (The Stateballs and concerts are given to this day, though her Majesty, sinceher widowhood, has ceased to attend them. The Queen's place and thatof Prince Albert in these social gaieties, have been naturally takenby the Prince and Princess of Wales. ) We are hardly ever later thantwelve o'clock at night, and our only dissipation is going three orfour times a week to the play or opera, which is a great amusement andrelaxation to us both. As for going out as people do here every night, to balls and parties, and to breakfasts and teas all day long besides, I am sure no one would stand it worse than I should; so you see, dearest uncle, that in fact the London season is nothing to us. "

So much higher, and more solid and lasting, as they should have been, were the pursuits and gratifications of the woman, the wife andmother, than of the young girl. 

The Queen added that the only one who was fagged was the Prince, andthat from business and not pleasure, a result which made her oftenanxious and unhappy. Indeed, this suspicion of precarious health onPrince Albert's part was the cloud the size of a man's hand that kepthovering on the horizon in the summer sky. 

Parliament was prorogued and dissolved at the same time at anunusually early date, the first of July, so that the season itselfcame to a speedy end. 

Before the Queen left London, she was present at the baptism and stoodsponsor for the young Hindoo Princess Gouromma, the pale, dark, slender girl whose picture looks down on the visitor at BuckinghamPalace. She had been brought to England by her father, the Rajah ofCoorg, a high-caste Hindoo, who desired that she should be brought upa Christian. He was one of the princes of Northern India, whoseinheritance had become a British possession. He lived at Benares underthe control of the East India Company, and had an allowance fromGovernment as well as a large private fortune. The little princess wasthe same age as the Princess Royal, eleven years. She was the daughterof the Rajah's favourite wife, who had died immediately after theinfant's birth. The ceremony took place in the private chapel ofBuckingham Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated. Besidesthe Queen, the sponsors were Lady Hardinge, Mr. Drummond, and SirJames Weir Hogg, the chairman of the East India Company. The littlegirl received the name "Victoria. " The Rajah returned soon afterwardsto India. 

The Court had longer time to enjoy the sea air and quiet of Osborne, where, however, sorrow intruded in the shape of the news of the deathof Count Mensdorff, the uncle by marriage both of the Queen and PrinceAlbert, to whom they were warmly attached. Though he had been noprince, only a French emigrant officer in the Austrian service, whenhe married the sister of the Duchess of Kent, he was held in highesteem by his wife's family for the distinction with which he hadserved as a soldier, and for his many good qualities. 

Princess Hohenlohe, with a son and daughter, came to Osborne as astage to Scotland and Abergeldie, where she was to visit her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and where she could also best enjoy the Queen'ssociety. The poor Princess, who made a stay of several months in thiscountry, had need of a mother's and a sister's sympathy. A heavysorrow had lately befallen her. The eldest daughter of the Hohenlohefamily, Princess Elise, a girl of great promise, had died at Venice ofconsumption in her twenty-first year. 

Yachting excursions were again made to Devonshire and Cornwall, toTorquay and the often-visited beauties of Mount Edgcumbe and the banksof the Tamar. There was a proposal of a visit to the King of theBelgians, with the Channel Islands to be touched at on the way. Onepart of the programme had to be given up, on account of thetempestuous weather. The yacht, after waiting to allow Prince Albertto pay a flying visit--the last--to the Duke of Wellington atWalmer, ran up the Scheldt in one of the pauses in the storm, and thetravellers reached Antwerp at seven o'clock on the morning of the 11thof August, "in a hurricane of wind and rain. "

But the weather is of little consequence when friends meet. KingLeopold was waiting for his welcome guests, and immediately carriedthem off to his country palace, for their visit this time was to himand not to any of the old Flemish towns. 

The Queen and Prince Albert, with their children, stayed at Laeken forthree days, returning to Antwerp in time for a visit to the cathedraland the museum, before sailing in the same unpropitious weather forFlushing. The intention was still to cross on the following morning tothe Channel Islands, but the wet, wild weather did not change, and theyacht remained where it was, the Queen indemnifying herself for thedisappointment by landing and going over an old Dutch town and afarmhouse, with which she was much pleased. 

On the 30th of August the Court went to Balmoral by Edinburgh. Soonafter her arrival the Queen had the gratifying intelligence that alarge legacy, about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, had beenleft to her and her heirs by one of her subjects--Mr. Campden Nield--a gentleman without near relatives, who had lived in the mostpenurious way, denying himself the very necessaries of life. 

The Queen's comment on the bequest to King Leopold was like her. "Itis astonishing, but it is satisfactory to see that people have so muchconfidence that it will not be thrown away, and so it certainly willnot be. " Baron Stockmar held with some justice that it was "a monumentreared to the Queen during her life, in recognition of her simple, honourable, and constitutional career. "

Her Majesty and Prince Albert went on the 16th of September for theircustomary two days' stay by Loch Muich, though they had been startledin the morning by a newspaper report of the death of the Duke ofWellington at Walmer. But the rumour had arisen so often during thesemany years that nobody believed it, now that it was true. 

The little party started in the course of the forenoon on a showeryday. Arrived at the Loch, the Queen walked up the side to Alt-na-Dearg, a "burn" and fall, then rode up the ravine hung with birch andmountain-ash, and walked again along the top of the steep hills topoints which command a view of Lord Panmure's country, "Mount Keen andthe Ogilvie Hills. "

A little farther on, while resting and looking down on the GlassaltShiel and the head of the loch, the Queen, by a curious coincidence, missed the watch which the Duke of Wellington had given her. HerMajesty sent back a keeper to inquire about her loss; in the meanwhileshe walked on and descended by the beautiful falls of the Glassalt, one hundred and fifty feet in height, which she compares to those ofthe Bruar. The cottage or shiel of the Glassalt had just been builtfor the Queen, and offered accommodation in its dainty little dining-room and drawing-room for her to rest and refresh herself. After shehad eaten luncheon, she set out again on a pony, passed anotherwaterfall, called the Burn of the Spullan, and reached the wildsolitary Dhu Loch. 

The Queen had sat down to sketch when the keeper returned to tell herthat the watch was safe at home; but that was not all. He brought aletter from Lord Derby with a melancholy confirmation of the report ofthe morning. The Duke of Wellington was dead. The Queen calls the news"fatal, " and with something of the fond exaggeration of a daughter, writes of the dead man as "England's--rather Britannia's--pride, herglory, her hero, the greatest man she ever had produced. "

We can understand it, when we remember how closely connected he waswith all her previous career, from her cradle till now. He had takenpride in her, advised her, obeyed her, with half a father's, half aservant's devotion. The King of the Belgians was hardly more hersecond father than the Duke of Wellington had been. 

Besides, the Duke was not only a soldier; he had been a statesman, triedand true as far as his vision extended; brave here no less than in thestricken field, honest with an upright man's straightforwardness, wisewith a practical man's sense of what could and could not be done, whatmust be yielded when the time came. 

The Queen might well mourn for her grey-bearded captain, her faithfulold councillor. There was one comfort, that the Duke had reached agood old age, and died after a few hours illness, without suffering. He simply fell asleep, and awoke no more in this world. His oldantagonist, Marshal Soult, had pre-deceased him only by a few months. 

The Queen sums up the position: "One cannot think of this countrywithout 'the Duke, ' our immortal hero. "

Her Majesty hastened down on foot to the head of Loch Muich, and rodeback in the rain to Alt-na-Giuthasach to write to Lord Derby and LordCharles Wellesley, who had been with his father in his last hours. Shewrote mournfully in her journal: "We shall soon stand sadly alone. Aberdeen is almost the only personal friend of that kind left to us. Melbourne, Peel, Liverpool, now the Duke, all gone!.... "

Invitations were countermanded, and the Court went into mourning. TheQueen was right that the sorrow was universal. The ships in the Thamesand in all the English ports had their flags half-mast high, thechurch bells were tolled, business was done "with the great exchangeshalf-shuttered, " garrison music was forbidden. 

The Duke had left no directions with regard to his funeral, and it wasfitting that it should receive the highest honour Sovereign and peoplecould pay. But the Queen refrained from issuing an order, preferringthat the country should take the initiative. It was necessary to waittill the 11th of November, when Parliament must meet. In the meantimethe body of the Duke was placed under a Guard of Honour at Walmer. Viscount Hardinge was appointed Commander-in-Chief. 

The Court left Balmoral on the 12th of October, about a month afterthe Duke of Wellington's death, and on the 11th--a day which the Queencalls in her journal "a very happy, lucky, and memorable one"--herMajesty and Prince Albert, with their family, household, tenants, servants, and poorer neighbours, ascended Craig Gowan, a hill nearBalmoral, for the purpose of building a cairn, which was tocommemorate the Queen and the Prince's having taken possession oftheir home in the north. At the "Moss House, " half-way up, the Queen'spiper met her, and preceded her, playing as he went. Not the leastwelcome among the company already collected were the children of thekeepers and other retainers, with whom her Majesty was familiar intheir own homes. She calls them her "little friends, " and enumeratesthem in a motherly way, "Mary Symons, and Lizzie Stewart, the fourGrants, and several others. "

The Queen laid the first stone of the cairn, Prince Albert the next. Their example was followed by the Princes and Princesses, according totheir ages, and by the members of the household. Finally every onepresent "came forward at once, each person carrying a stone andplacing it on the cairn. " The piper played, whiskey was handed round. The work of building went on for an hour, during which "some merryreels were danced on a flat stone opposite. " All the old peopledanced, apparently to her Majesty's mingled gratification anddiversion. Again the happy mother of seven fine children noticesparticularly the children and their performance. "Many of thechildren--Mary Symons and Lizzie Stewart especially--danced so nicely, the latter with her hair all hanging down. "

There is another little paragraph which is very characteristic of thelove of animals, and the faithful remembrance of old landmarks, well-known features in the Queen's character. "Poor dear old Monk, SirRobert Gordon's (the former owner of Balmoral) faithful old dog, wassitting there among us all. "

When the cairn ("seven or eight feet high") was all but finished, Prince Albert climbed to the top and deposited the last stone, whenthree cheers were given. The Queen calls it "a gay, pretty, andtouching sight, " that almost made her cry. "The view was so beautifulover the dear hills; the day so fine, the whole so _gemüthlich_. "She ends reverently, "May God bless this place, and allow us to see itand enjoy it many a long year. "

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE IRON DUKE'S FUNERAL. 

On the 11th of November the Parliament met and voted the Duke a publicfuneral in the City cathedral of St. Paul's, by the side of Nelson, the great soldier and the great sailor bearing each other company intheir resting-place, in the middle of the people whom they had savedfrom foreign dominion. 

The hearse with the body had left Walmer at seven o'clock on themorning of the 10th, minute guns being fired in succession from thecastles of Walmer, Deal, and Sandown, startling the sea-mews hoveringover the Goodwin Sands, causing the sailors in the foreign vessels inthe Downs to ask if England had gone to war. From the railway stationin London, the coffin was escorted by Life Guards to Chelsea, where itwas received by the Lord Chamberlain and conducted to the great hallfor the lying-in-state, which occupied four days. 

The fine old hospital, where so many of the Duke's soldiers had foundrefuge, which Wilkie had painted for him at the moment when thepensioners were listening to the reading of the Gazette that announcedthe victory of Waterloo, was carefully prepared for the last scene butone of a hero's life. Corridors, vestibule, and hall were hung withblack cloth and velvet, and lit with tall candles in silvercandelabra. Trophies of tattered banners, the spoils of the manyvictories of him who had just yielded to the last conqueror, weresurmounted by the royal standard; Grenadiers lined hall and vestibule, their heads bent over their reversed arms. A plumed canopy of blackvelvet and silver was raised over a dais, with a carpet of cloth ofgold, on which rested the gilt and crimson coffin. At the foot of thebier hung the mace and insignia of the late Duke's numerous orders ofknighthood; and on ten pedestals, with golden lions in front, were theeight field-marshals' batons of eight different kingdoms, which hadbeen bestowed on him. On the ninth and tenth pedestals were placed theGreat Banner and the banner of Wellesley. 

The Queen and Prince Albert came privately with their children, earlyon the first day, a windy, rainy Saturday in November, to view thelying-in-state. 

On the night before the funeral the coffin was removed to the HorseGuards, over which Wellington had so long presided, where it is saidthat in the early days of his career he met Nelson. Early next morningthe coffin was conveyed to a pavilion on the parade, whence it waslifted to the car which was to convey it to St. Paul's. 

Not later than six o'clock on the morning of the 18th, the troops inlarge numbers began to muster in Hyde Park, under the direction of theDuke of Cambridge. The streets and windows were lined with seatscovered with black cloth. Barriers were raised at the mouths of theside streets in the line of route, to prevent the danger of any siderush. In the dread of missing the sight, hundreds of people took uptheir position the night before, and kept it during the dark hours, inspite of wind and rain. All the richer classes were in mourning;indeed, whoever could bring out a scrap of black did so. There was apeculiar hush and touch of solemnity, which had its effect on theroughest in the million and a half of spectators. 

At a quarter before eight, nineteen minute guns were fired in thepark, the walls of the pavilion were suddenly drawn up, revealing thefuneral car and its sacred burden. Instantly the troops presented armsfor the last time to their late commander, and the drums beat "a longand heavy roll, increasing like the roll of thunder. " The words "toreverse arms" were then given, and the funeral procession began tomove. First came battalion after battalion of infantry, commencingwith the rifles, the bands playing "The Dead March in Saul, " thetrumpets of the cavalry taking up "the wailing notes. " "As the darkmass of the rifles appeared, and the solemn dead march was heard, thepeople were deeply affected, very many of both sexes to tears.... Great interest was felt as the Duke's regiment, the 33rd, passed. "Squadrons of cavalry were succeeded by seventeen guns; the ChelseaPensioners, old men, like him whose remains they followed, to thenumber of eighty three--his years on earth; one soldier from everyregiment in her Majesty's service, to say that none had been left out, when their leader was borne to his grave; standards and pennons;deputations from public bodies--Merchant Taylors' Company, East IndiaCompany, and the deputation from the Common Council of London, joiningthe procession at Temple Bar; more standards, high officials, Sheriffs, and Knights of the Bath; the Judges, members of theMinistry, and Houses of Parliament; the Archbishop of Canterbury; theLord Mayor of London carrying the City Sword; His Royal HighnessPrince Albert, attended by the Marquesses of Exeter and Abercorn--Lord Chamberlain and Groom of the Stole; the Great Banner, borne by anofficer, and supported by two officers on horseback; the Field-marshals' batons--each carried by a foreign officer of high rank--which every country in Europe, except France and Austria, hadentrusted to the care of the Great Duke. To the imposing scene to-dayFrance, like an honorable enemy, sent a representative; but Austria, still smarting under the affront to Haynau, was conspicuous byabsence. The English Field-marshal's baton was borne on its cushion bythe Duke's old comrade in arms, the Marquis of Anglesey. The Duke'scoronet followed. Then the pall-bearers--eight generals in mourningcoaches. At length the huge funeral car, heavily wrought andemblazoned and inscribed with the names of the Duke's battles, drawnby twelve horses, with five officers on horseback, bearing thebanneroles of the lineage of the deceased, riding on either side. Onthe car was placed the coffin, and on the coffin rested the hat andsword of the dead commander.... Every emotion, save that of solemnawe, was hushed. The massive structure moved on its course with asteady pressure, and produced a heavy dull sound, as it ground itspath over the road.... But the car, apart from its vast size, passedunnoticed, for on its highest stage rested a red velvet coffin, whichcontained all that was mortal of England's greatest son. It seemedthat a thousand memories of his great and long career were awakened atthe sight of that narrow tenement of so great a man.... The voicewhich had cried "Up, Guards, and at them!" at the critical moment onthe afternoon of that rainy Sunday at Waterloo, thirty-seven yearsbefore, was silent for ever. The sagacious and skilled brain which hadplanned so well the defence of London from the threatened outbreak ofthe Chartists, would plan no more for Queen and country. No longerwould the shouting crowd press round him on every gala, and strangerswatch patiently near the Horse Guards for one of the sights of London--the eagle face of the conqueror of him who conquered Europe. 

 "No more in soldier fashion would he greet, With lifted hand, the gazer in the street. "

Wellington was making his way from the Horse Guards for the last time, attended by such a mighty multitude as seldom waits on the steps ofKings, hardly ever with such mute reverence as they gave him that day. The "good grey head" of "the last Great Englishman" was about to belaid in the dust, and his best epitaph was Tennyson's line--

 "One that sought but duty's iron crown. "

Behind the car came the chief mourner, accompanied by his youngerbrother, with cousins and relatives to the last degree of kindred, andfriends filling a long train of mourning coaches. Then followed whatmoved the people more than all the splendour, because it came like atouch of homely nature appealing to all, in a familiar part of thelife that was gone, the late Duke's horse, led by John Mears, his agedgroom. The horse might have been "Copenhagen, " which had borne theDuke in the thick of his greatest battle, and died long since atStrathfieldsaye, so eagerly did the crowds gaze on it. More carriagesand troops closed the march. 

And she was not absent who had held the dead man in such high esteem, whom he had so loved and honoured. From two different points--as ifshe were reluctant to see the last of her old friend--from the balconyof Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Standard floated half-mast high, as the funeral passed up Constitution Hill, and again from the windowsof St. James's Palace, as the melancholy train went down St. James'sStreet, the Queen, surrounded by her children and her young cousinsfrom Belgium, looked down on the solemn pageant. 

Nearly twenty thousand privileged persons--many of them of high rank, filled St. Paul's, black-draped and gas-lit on the dark November day. After the funeral company were seated, the body, which had beenreceived at the west entrance by the Bishop of London and the otherclergy of the Cathedral, was carried up the nave to the chanting of "Iam the Resurrection and the Life. " The spurs were borne by one herald, the helmet and crest by another, the sword and target by a third, thesurcoat by a fourth, the foreign batons by their foreign bearers, theEnglish baton by Lord Anglesey. 

Among the psalms and anthems, a dirge accompanied by trumpets wassung, "And the King said to all the people that were with him, rendyour clothes and gird you with sackcloth and mourn. And the Kinghimself followed the bier. And they buried him; and the King lifted uphis voice and wept at the grave, and all the people wept. And the Kingsaid unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a greatman fallen this day in Israel. "

An affecting incident occurred, when, at the conclusion of this dirge, the body was lowered into the crypt to the "intensely mournful" soundof "The Dead March in Saul. " As the coffin with the coronet and batonslowly descended, and thus the great warrior departed from the sightof men, a sense of heavy depression came on the whole assembly. PrinceAlbert was deeply moved, and the aged Marquess of Anglesey, theoctogenarian companion in arms of the deceased, by an irresistibleimpulse stepped forward, placed his hand on the sinking coffin thatcontained the remains of his chief in many battles, and burst intotears. 

 "In the vast Cathedral leave him; God accept him, Christ receive him. "

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. AND THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE--FIRE AT WINDSOR--THE BIRTH OF PRINCE LEOPOLD. 

At the close of 1852 Mr. Disraeli announced his Budget in one famousspeech, to which Mr. Gladstone replied in another, the first of thosememorable speeches--at once a fine oration and a convincing argument--so often heard since then. The Derby Ministry, already tottering toits fall on the ground of its opposition to Free-trade principles, wasdefeated, and the same night Lord Derby resigned office, and LordAberdeen, who was able to unite the Whigs and the followers of thelate Sir Robert Peel, took his place. 

On the 2nd of December, the anniversary of the _coup d'état_, theEmpire was declared in France, and Louis Napoleon entered Paris asEmperor on the following day. 

On the 22nd of January, 1853, the Emperor of the French made publichis approaching marriage to the beautiful Eugénie de Montigo, Comtessede Théba. 

A serious fire broke out at Windsor Castle on the night of the 19th ofMarch, the very day that the Court had come down for Easter. It wasthe result of an accident from the over-heating of a flue, which mighthave been doubly disastrous. 

The scene of the fire was the upper stories of the Prince of Wales'sTower, above the Gothic dining-room, which is in the same suite withthe Crimson, Green, and White drawing-rooms, in the last of which theQueen and Prince Albert were sitting, at ten o'clock in the evening, when the smell of smoke and burning aroused an alarm. 

Besides the suite of drawing-rooms, with their costly furniture, theplate-rooms were beneath the Gothic dining-room; and on the otherside--beyond a room known as the Octagon-room--was the JewelledArmoury. The fire had taken such hold that the utmost exertions wereneeded to keep it under, and prevent it from spreading, and itremained for hours doubtful whether the rest of the Castle wouldescape. Prince Albert, the gentlemen of the household, and theservants, with seven hundred Guards brought from the barracks andstationed in the avenues to prevent further disorder, strove tosupplement the work of the fire-engines. The Gothic dining-room wasstripped of its furniture, including the gold vase or bath for wine, valued at ten thousand pounds. The Crimson drawing-room and theOctagon-room were dismantled. The plate-rooms were consideredfireproof, but the Jewelled Armoury was emptied of its treasures, among them the famous peacock of Tippoo Sahib. 

More than five hours passed before the danger was over. The Queen, inwriting to reassure the King of the Belgians, said, "Though I was notalarmed, it was a serious affair, and an acquaintance with what a fireis, and with its necessary accompaniments, does not pass from one'smind without leaving a deep impression. For some time it was veryobstinate, and no one could tell whether it would spread or not. ThankGod, no lives were lost. "

Less than three weeks after the fire, the Queen's fourth son, andeighth child, was born at Buckingham Palace on the 7th of April. Within a fortnight her Majesty was sufficiently recovered to write tothe King of the Belgians, and here the wound which had been felt sokeenly bled afresh. "My first letter is this time, as last time, addressed to you. Last time it was because dearest Louise--to whom thefirst announcement had heretofore always been addressed, was with me, alas! Now, " she goes on to remind him affectionately, "Stockmar willhave told you that Leopold is to be the name of our fourth younggentleman. It is a mark of love and affection which I hope you willnot disapprove. It is a name which is the dearest to me after Albert, one which recalls the almost only happy days of my sad childhood. Tohear "Prince Leopold" [Footnote: When Prince Leopold's title wasmerged into that of Duke of Albany, our readers may remember that somereluctance was expressed at the change, and that there was an attemptto preserve the earlier name, by arranging that his Royal Highnessshould be styled "Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. "] again will make methink of all those days. His other names will be George, Duncan, Albert, and the sponsors will be the King of Hanover, Ernest Hohenlohe(the Queen's brother-in-law), the Princess of Prussia, and Mary ofCambridge. George is after the King of Hanover, and Duncan is acompliment to dear Scotland. "

In the Royal Academy this year one of the pre-Raphaelites, who hadbeen at first treated with vehement opposition and ridicule, came sounmistakably to the front as to stagger his former critics, and renderhis future success certain. Even the previous year Millais's"Huguenot" had made a deep impression, and his "Order of Release" thisyear carried everything before it. In the same Academy exhibition wereSir Edwin Landseer's highly poetic "Night" and "Morning. "

On the Court's return from Osborne to London, the Queen and PrinceAlbert were present with their guests, the King and Queen of Hanover, and the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, on the 21st of June, in the campat Chobham, when a sham-fight and a series of military manoeuvres overbroken ground were carried out with great spirit and exactness, to theadmiration of a hundred thousand spectators. Her Majesty, as in theearly years of her reign, wore a half-military riding-habit, and wasmounted on a splendid black horse, on which she rode down the linesbefore witnessing the mock battle from an adjoining height. 

Four days afterwards Prince Albert returned to the camp to serve for acouple of days with his brigade, the Guards. The Prince experiencedsomething of the hardships of bivouacing in stormy weather, andsuffered in consequence. He came back labouring under a bad cold, tobe present at the baptism of his infant son on the 28th. All thesponsors were there in person. The Lord Chamberlain conducted thebaby-prince to the font; the Archbishop of Canterbury performed thesacred rite. The usual State banquet and evening party followed. Butillness, not very deadly, yet sufficiently prostrating, was hoveringover the royal pair and their guests. The Prince of Wales was alreadysick of measles. Prince Albert, pre-disposed by the cold he hadcaught, got the infection from his son, had a sharp attack of the samedisease, and we are told "at the climax of the illness showed greatnervous excitement, " symptomatic of a susceptible, highly-strung, rather fragile temperament. 

Though the country was unaware of the extent of the Prince's illness, we can remember the public speculation it excited, and thecontradictory assertions that the Queen would claim her wife'sprerogative of watching by her husband's sick-bed, and that she wouldbe forbidden to do so, for State reasons, her health or sickness, notto say the danger to her life, being of the utmost importance to thebody politic. It is easy to see that if such a question had arisen, itwould have been peculiarly trying to one who had been brought up toregard her duty to the country as a primary obligation, while at thesame time every act of her life showed how precious and binding wereher conjugal relations. But the matter settled itself. After thePrincess Royal and Princess Alice had also been attacked by theepidemic, the Queen was seized with it, happily in the mildest form, which was of short duration. But the mischief did not confine itselfto the English royal family. The juvenile malady of measles became fora time the scourge of princes, a little to the diversion of the world, since no great harm was anticipated, or came to pass, while theailment invaded a succession of Courts. The guests at Prince Leopold'sbaptism carried the seeds of the disease to Hanover, in the person ofthe little Hanoverian cousin, King George's son, who had been avisitor in the English royal nurseries; to Brussels, in the case ofthe Duke and Duchess of Coburg, who unconsciously handed on theunwelcome gift to King Leopold's sons, the Due de Brabant and theComte de Flandres, the former on the eve of his marriage, before theillness was taken across Germany to Coburg. 

By the 6th of August, the birthday of Prince Alfred, the Queen and thePrince were sufficiently recovered to pay a second visit with theirchildren to Chobham, when a fresh series of manoeuvres were performedprior to the breaking up of the camp. 

A great cluster of royal visitors had arrived in England, making theseason brilliant. It was, perhaps, significant that these visitorsincluded three Russian archduchesses, in spite of the fact that a warwith Russia was in the air, being only held back by the strenuousefforts of statesmen, against the wishes of the people. Other visitorswere the Crown Prince and Princess of Wurtemberg, near akin to Russia, and the Prince of Prussia--the later came from Ostend, on aninvitation to witness a sight well calculated to recommend itself tohis martial proclivities--a review, on the grandest scale, of thefleet at Spithead, on the 11th of August. The weather was fine, andthe spectacle, perfect of its kind, was seen by all the royal company, by what was in effect "the House of Commons with the Speaker at itshead, " and by multitudes in more than a hundred steamers, besides, thecrowds viewing the scene from the shores of the Isle of Wight andHampshire. On the 21st of August, a French sailor whose name hasbecome a household word in England, died far away amidst the horrorsof the north seas, in a gallant effort to rescue Sir John Franklin andhis crew. Among the brave men who sailed on this perilous quest, noneearned greater honour and love than young Bellot. 

On the 22nd of August, a marriage of some interest to the Queen wascelebrated at Brussels. King Leopold's eldest son, the Due de Brabant, was married in St. Gudule's to the Archduchess Marie Henriette ofAustria. The bridegroom was only eighteen years of age, the bride asyoung; but it was considered desirable that the heir-apparent shouldmarry, and Queen Louise's place had remained vacant while herdaughter, Princess Charlotte, was still unfit to preside over theCourt in her mother's room. 

On the 29th of August, Sir Charles Napier, the dauntless, eccentricconqueror of Scinde, follows his old commander to the grave. Thoughmore than ten year's younger, Sir Charles's last public appearance wasat the Duke's funeral. He was the grandson of Lord Napier, and theson of the beautiful Lady Sarah Lennox. 

A great art and industrial exhibition at Dublin--the first of thenumerous progeny of the Great Exhibition of two years before--was heldthis year. Naturally, the Queen and the Prince were much interested inits fortunes, and had promised to be present at the opening, but wereprevented by the outbreak of measles in June. It was possible, however, to visit the Irish Exhibition before its close, and this herMajesty and Prince Albert did on their way to Balmoral. Proceeding bytrain to Holyhead, where they were detained a day and a night by aviolent storm, the travellers sailed on the 29th of August forKingstown, which was reached next morning. On landing they werereceived by the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord St. Germains and Lady St. Germains, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Duke of Leinster, &c. , &c. , together with an immense number of people, lining the dock walls andhailing her Majesty's arrival with vociferous cheers, as on her lastvisit to Ireland. Enthusiasm, equal to what had been shown before, wasdisplayed on the railway route and the drive through the throngedstreets to the Viceregal Lodge. Not long after her arrival, the Queen, as energetic as ever, was seen walking in the Phoenix Park, and in theevening she took a drive in the outskirts of the city. At night Dublinwas illuminated. The next day the Queen and the Prince, with their twoelder sons, paid a State visit to the exhibition, full to overflowingwith eager gazers. The royal party were conducted to a dais, where theQueen, seated on the throne prepared for her, received the address ofthe commissioners thanking her for the support she had lent to theundertaking by her presence, and by her contributions to the articlesexhibited. 

The Queen replied, expressing her satisfaction that the worthyenterprise had been carried out in a spirit of energy and self-reliance, "with no pecuniary aid but that derived from the patrioticmunificence of one of her subjects. " That subject, Mr. Dargan, who haderected the exhibition building at his own expense, was present, andkissed hands amidst the cheers of the assembly. The Queen and thePrince afterwards made the circuit of the whole place, speciallycommending the Irish manufactures of lace, poplin, and pottery. 

In, the afternoon her Majesty and Prince Albert, to the highgratification of the citizens of Dublin, drove out through pouringrain to Mount Annville, the house of Mr. Dargan, saw its beautifulgrounds, and conversed with the host and hostess. His manner struckthe Queen as "touchingly modest and simple, " and she wrote in herjournal, "I would have made him a baronet, but he was anxious itshould not be done. "

Every morning during their week's stay the royal pair returnedunweariedly to the exhibition, and by their interest in itsproductions, stimulated the interest of others. The old engagements--areview, visits to the castle, and the national schools--occupied whattime was left. 

On Saturday, the 3rd of September, a beautiful day succeedingmiserable weather, the Queen drove slowly through the Dublin streets, "unlined with soldiers, " feeling quite sorry that it was the last dayafter what she called "such a pleasant, gay, and interesting tune inIreland. " Loyal multitudes waited at the station and at Kingstown, cheering the travellers. Lord and. Lady St. Germains went on board theyacht, and dined with hen Majesty and Prince Albert. 

On the following morning, the _Victoria and Albert_ crossed toHolyhead. 

A glad event at Balmoral that year was the laying of the foundation-stone of the new house. The rite was done with all the usualceremonies, Mr. Anderson, then the minister of Crathie, praying for ablessing on the work. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE EASTERN QUESTION--APPROACHING WAR--GROSS INJUSTICE TO PRINCEALBERT--DEATH OF MARIA DA GLORIA. 

The return of the Court to England was hastened by what had disturbedthe peace of the stay in the North. The beginning of a great war wasimminent. The Eastern Question, long a source of trouble, was becomingutterly unmanageable. Russia and Turkey were about to take up arms. Indeed, Russia had already crossed the Danube and occupied thePrincipalities. 

Turkey, in a fever-heat, declared war against Russia, crossed theDanube, and fought with desperate valour and some success at Oltenitzaand Kalafat; but matters were brought to a crisis by the nearly utterdestruction of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, one of the Turkish portson the shores of the Black Sea. The French and English Governmentsuttered a practical protest by informing the Czar, that if his fleetin the south made any further movement against the Turks, the Englishand French fleets already in the Dardanelles would immediately enterthe Black Sea and take active steps in defence of their ally. 

In the meantime there had been some commotion in the English Cabinet. Lord Palmerston suddenly resigned, and as quickly resumed office. Theostensible cause of difference between him and his colleagues was thenew Reform Bill; but the real motive is believed to have been theGovernment's tactics with regard to the threatened war. These changedall at once, the change coinciding with the return of Lord Palmerstonto office, and suiting the fighting mood of the people. He was oncemore the favourite of the hour, and in the popular pride andconfidence in him, a great injustice was done to another. Startled andangered by Lord Palmerston's withdrawal from the Government, the oldclamour about Court prejudice and intrigue, and German objections toLiberal statesmen, broke out afresh, and raged more hotly than ever. Prince Albert was openly mentioned as the hostile influence "behindthe throne, " and in the Cabinet of which he was a member, against theman who was prepared to assert the dignity of England in spite of allopposition; the man who had uniformly sided with the weak, and spokenthe truth of tyrants, let them be in ever so high places; the man atthe same time who had approved of the _coup d'état_. The mostunfounded charges of unfaithfulness to English interests, and personalinterference for the purpose of gaining his own ends, and working intothe hands of foreign Governments, were brought against the Queen'shusband. His birth as a German, and his connection with the King ofthe Belgians and the Orleans family, were loudly dwelt upon. It wastreated as an offence on his part that he should attend the Cabinetcounsels of which he was a member, and be in the confidence of theQueen, who was his loving wife. He was attacked alike by Liberals andProtectionists; assailed, with hardly an assumption of disguise, bothin public and private, and in many of the principal newspapers. Theman who little more than two years before, at the time of the GreatExhibition, had been hailed as a general benefactor, and praised asthe worthiest of patriots, was now almost the best-abused man inEngland, pursued with false accusations and reproaches equally false. 

"One word more about the credulity of the public, " wrote Prince Albertto Baron Stockmar; "you will scarcely credit that my being committedto the Tower was believed all over the country; nay, even 'that theQueen had been arrested!' People surrounded the Tower in thousands tosee us brought to it. "

All this ingratitude and stupidity must have been galling to itsobject, in spite of his forbearance, and, if possible, still moreexquisitely painful to the Queen, who had felt a natural and justpride, not merely in her husband's fine qualities, but in her people'sappreciation of them. The Prince wrote in the same letter, "Victoriahas taken the whole affair greatly to heart, and was exceedinglyindignant at the attacks. " And the Queen wrote with proud tender painto Lord Aberdeen, "In attacking the Prince, who is one and the samewith the Queen herself, the throne is assailed; and she must say shelittle expected that any portion of her subjects would thus requitethe unceasing labours of the Prince. "

This unscrupulous accusation was grave enough to demand a refutationin Parliament, which Lord Aberdeen and Lord John Russell were ready togive as soon as the House should meet. 

During this trying winter, the Queen heard of the melancholy death ofher sister queen and girlish acquaintance, who had become a kinswomanby marriage--Maria da Gloria. The two queens were the same in age--thirty-four--and each had become the mother of eight children, butthere the similarity ceased. At the birth of her last child--deadborn--the Queen of Portugal ended a life neither long nor happy, though she had been fortunate in her second husband. Queen Maria daGloria lacked Queen Victoria's reasonableness and fairness. The Queenof Portugal started on a wrong course, and continued with it, notwithstanding the better judgment of her husband. She supported theCabrals--the members of a noble Portuguese family, who held highoffices under her government--in ruling unconstitutionally andcorruptly. She consented to her people's being deprived of the libertyof the press, and burdened with taxes, till, though her private lifewas irreproachable, she forfeited their regard. In 1846 civil warbroke out, and the Cabrals were compelled to resign; the Count ofSoldanha and his party took the place of the former ministers. But theinsurrection spread until it was feared the Queen and her husbandwould be driven out of the country. Suddenly the tide turned; thebetter portion of the army declared for the Queen, her cause wasupheld by the English Government, and peace and the royal authoritywere restored. But in spite of a pledge that the Cabrals should beexcluded from the Government, the elder brother again became Premier, with the old abuse of power. A second revolution was accomplished bySoldanha, to whose control Maria da Gloria had to yield, much againstthe grain. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Don Pedro, still aminor, with the King-Consort his father for regent, an arrangementwhich proved satisfactory to the distracted kingdom. 

A different event was the premature death of perhaps the mostbeautiful, and the most fortunate, in the eyes of the world, of theQueen's fair bridesmaids. Lady Sarah Villiers, who had become aprincess by her marriage with the son of one of the richest, mostaristocratic subjects in Europe, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy--of diamondnotoriety, died at Torquay in her thirty-second year. 

When Parliament met in January, 1854, the Prince was triumphantlyvindicated by the leaders on both sides, but it was not till his deaththat his character was done full justice to. In the meantime the cloudhad broken, and the royal couple rejoiced unaffectedly. The Queenwrote to Baron Stockmar that there was "an immense concourse" ofpeople assembled, and they were very friendly when she went to theHouse of Lords. The anniversary of the marriage was hailed with freshgratitude and gladness, and with words written to Germany that fallpathetically on our ears to-day. "This blessed day is full of joyful, tender emotions, " are her Majesty's words. "Fourteen happy and blessedyears have passed, and I confidently trust many more will, and find usin old age as we are now, happy and devotedly united. Trials we musthave; but what are they if we are together?"

It was on this occasion that there was a family masque, of whichBaroness Bunsen, who was present, has given a full description. Shetells how, between five and six o'clock in the evening, the companyfollowed the Queen and the Prince to a room where a red curtain waslet down. They all sat in darkness till the curtain was drawn aside, "and the Princess Alice, who had been dressed to represent 'spring, 'recited some verses taken from Thomson's "Seasons, " enumerating theflowers which the spring scatters around, and she did it very well, spoke in a distinct and pleasing manner, with excellent modulation, and a tone of voice like that of the Queen. Then the curtain was drawnup, and the whole scene changed, and the Princess Royal represented'summer, ' with Prince Arthur lying upon some sheaves, as if tired withthe heat of the harvest work; the Princess Royal also recited verses. Then again there was a change, and Prince Alfred, with a crown ofvine-leaves and a panther's skin, represented 'autumn, ' and recitedalso verses and looked very well. Then there was a change to a winterlandscape, and the Prince of Wales represented 'winter, ' with a whitebeard and a cloak with icicles or snow-flakes (or what looked likesuch), and the Princess Louise, warmly clothed, who seemed watchingthe fire; and the Prince also recited well a passage altered fromThomson.... Then another change was made, and all the seasons weregrouped together, and far behind, on high, appeared the PrincessHelena, with a long veil hanging on each side down to her feet, and along cross in her hand, pronouncing a blessing on the Queen and Princein the name of all the seasons. These verses were composed for theoccasion. I understood them to say that St. Helena, remembering herown British extraction, came to utter a blessing on the rulers of hercountry; and I think it must have been so intended, because Helena themother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was said to havediscovered the remains of the cross on which our Saviour wascrucified, and so when she is painted she always has a cross in herhand. But grandpapa understood that it was meant for Britanniablessing the royal pair. At any rate, the Princess Helena looked verycharming. This was the close; but when the Queen ordered the curtainto be drawn back, we saw the whole royal family, and they were helpedto jump down from their raised platforms; and then all came into thelight and we saw them well; and the baby, Prince Leopold, was broughtin by his nurse, and looked at us all with big eyes, and wanted to goto his papa, Prince Albert. At the dinner-table the Princesses Helenaand Louise and Prince Arthur were allowed to come in and stand bytheir mamma, the Queen, as it a was festival day.... In the eveningthere was very fine music in St. George's Hall, and the Princess Royaland Princess Alice, and the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, wereallowed to stop up and hear it, sitting to the right and left of thechairs where sat the Queen and Prince Albert and the Duchess of Kent. "Some of the graceful figures in the pretty masque were given, withmodifications, by the sculptor's art. Four are reproduced in theengravings in this book, that of the Princess Royal at page 146, thatof Princess Alice at page 190, that of the Prince of Wales at page153, and that of Prince Alfred at page 224, Volume First. 

On the 7th of February Baron Brunnow, who had been Russian ambassadorin England for fifteen years, quitted London. Notes were dispatched onthe 27th from London and Paris to St. Petersburg, calling on Russia toevacuate the Principalities, a summons to which the Czar declined toreply. War was declared in a supplemental gazette, and on the 31st ofMarch the declaration was read, according to ancient usage, from thesteps of the Royal Exchange by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the City ofLondon, to a great crowd that wound up the ceremony by giving threecheers for the Queen. Part of the troops had already embarked, theirmarching and embarkation being witnessed by multitudes with the utmostinterest and enthusiasm. The chief sight was the departure of theGuards, the Grenadiers leaving by gaslight on the winter morning, theFusiliers marching to Buckingham Palace, where at seven o'clock theQueen and the Prince, with their children, were ready to say good-bye. "They formed line, presented arms, and then cheered us very heartily, and went off cheering, " the Queen wrote to the King of theBelgians.... "Many sorrowing friends were there, and one saw the shakeof many a hand. My best wishes and prayers went with them all. " It wasa famous scene, which is remembered to this day. Another episode wasthat of the Duchess of Cambridge and her daughter, the Princess Mary, taking leave of the brigade with which the Duke of Cambridge, the onlyson and brother, left. 

Her Majesty and the Prince started for Osborne in the course of thenext fortnight, to visit the superb fleet which was to sail fromSpithead under Sir Charles Napier. "It will be a solemn moment, " theQueen wrote again to Lord Aberdeen; "many a heart will be very heavy, and many a prayer, including our own, will be offered up for itssafety and glory. " In spite of the bad weather, which marred thearrangements, the Queen sailed from Portsmouth in the _Fairy_, and passing the _Victory_, with its heroic associations, wentthrough the squadron of twenty great vessels, amidst the booming ofthe guns, the manning of the yards, and the cheers of the sailors. Thefollowing day the little _Fairy_, with its royal occupants, played a yet more striking part. At the head of the outward-boundsquadron, it sailed with the ships for several miles, then stopped forthe fleet to pass by, the Queen standing waving her handkerchief tothe flag-ship. Her Majesty was, as she said, "very enthusiastic" abouther army and navy, and wished she had sons in both of them, though sheforesaw how she would suffer when she heard of the losses of her bravemen. If she had not sons in either service, her cousin, the Duke ofCambridge, was with the Guards for a time, and her young nephews, Prince Victor of Hohenlohe and Prince Ernest Leiningen, were withtheir ships. The Queen paid the same compliment of giving a farewellgreeting to the second division of the fleet. 

When the address to the Throne in reply to the Queen's messageannouncing the declaration of war was presented, her Majesty and thePrince were accompanied to the House for the first time by the Princeof Wales, a boy of thirteen. 

In the middle of the worry, the season was gay as if no life-blood wasdrained in strong currents from the country; and Varna, with itscholera swamps, where the troops had encamped on Turkish soil, was notpresent to all men's minds. The Queen set an example in keeping up thesocial circulation without which there would be a disastrous collapseof more than one department of trade. On May-day, Prince Arthur'sbirthday, there was a children's ball, attended by two hundred smallguests, at Buckingham Palace. Sir Theodore Martin quotes her Majesty'smerry note, inviting the Premier to come and see "a number of happylittle people, including some of his grandchildren, enjoyingthemselves. " Among the grandchildren of Lord Aberdeen were the youngsons of Lord Haddo--sinking under a long wasting illness--George, sixth Earl of Aberdeen, who, when he came to man's estate, served asan ordinary seaman in a merchant ship, where his rank was unsuspected, and who perished by being washed overboard on a stormy night; and theHonourable James Gordon, who died from the bursting of his gun when hewas keeping his terms at Cambridge. 

The Queen honoured Count Walewski, the French ambassador, by herpresence at one of the most brilliant of costume balls. A great Courtball was followed by a great Court concert, at which Lablache sangagain in England after an interval of many years. Among the visitorsto London in June were poor Maria da Gloria's sons, Coburgs on thefather's side, young King Pedro of Portugal, and his brother, the Dukeof Oporto, fine lads who were much liked wherever they went. 

The Queen and the Prince spent her Majesty's birthday at Osborne, andcommemorated it to their children by putting them in possession of thegreatest treasure of their happy childhood--the Swiss cottage in thegrounds, about a mile from the Castle, in which youthful princes andprincesses played at being men and women, practised the humbler dutiesof life, and kept natural history collections and geologicalspecimens, as their father and uncle had kept theirs in the museum atCoburg. Another great resource consisted of the plots of ground--amongwhich the Princess Royal's was a fair-sized garden, ultimately nine innumber, where the amateur gardeners studied gardening in the mostpractical manner, and had their tiny tool-house, with the small spadesand rakes properly grouped and duly lettered, "Prince Alfred" or"Princess Louise, " as the case might be. A third idea, borrowed likethe first from Coburg, was the miniature fort, with its mimicdefences, every brick of which was made and built, and the verycannon-balls founded, by the two sons destined to be soldiers--thePrince of Wales and Prince Arthur. 

Before the end of the season cholera broke out in London. Among itsvictims was Lord Jocelyn, eldest son of Lord Roden, and husband ofLady Fanny Cowper. He had been on guard at the palace, and died afteran illness of not more than two hours' duration in the drawing-room ofhis mother-in-law, Lady Palmerston. 

The Queen came up to town to prorogue Parliament in person. Afterwardsher Majesty and the Prince spent his birthday at Osborne, when one ofthe amusements, no doubt with a view to the entertainment of thechildren as well as of the grown-up people, was Albert Smith's "Ascentof Mont Blanc, " which was then one of the comic sights of London. 

Early in September Prince Albert, in compliment to the alliancebetween England and France, went, by the Emperor's invitation, tovisit the French camp at St. Omer, and was absent four or five days. The Prince's letters were as constant and lover-like as ever. 

On the 15th of September the Court arrived at Balmoral, and the sameday the Queen received the news of the sailing of the English andFrench soldiers for the Crimea. An anxious but brief period ofsuspense followed. Six days later came the tidings of the successfullanding, without opposition, in the neighbourhood of Eupatoria. 

Lord Aberdeen came on a visit to Balmoral, and had just left when theglad tidings arrived of the victory of the Alma, followed immediatelyby a false report of the fall of Sebastopol. 

During this year's stay in the north, her Majesty met for the firsttime a remarkable Scotchman whom she afterwards honoured with herfriendship. Both the Queen and Dr. Macleod describe the first sermonhe preached before her, on Christian life. He adds, "In the evening, after _daundering_ in a green field with a path through it whichled to the high-road, and while sitting on a block of granite, full ofquiet thoughts, mentally reposing in the midst of the beautifulscenery, I was roused from my reverie by some one asking me if I wasthe clergyman who had preached that day. I was soon in the presence ofthe Queen and Prince, when her Majesty came forward and said with asweet, kind, and smiling face, 'We wish to thank you for your sermon. 'She then asked me how my father was, what was the name of my parish, &c. ; and so, after bowing and smiling, they both continued their quietevening walk alone. " [Footnote: Life of Dr. Norman Macleod. ]

The Court returned from Balmoral by Edinburgh. At Hull, and again atGrimsby, the Queen and the Prince inspected the docks, of which he hadlaid the foundation stones. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN--FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE--THE DEATH OF THEEMPEROR NICHOLAS. 

In the beginning of November England heard with mingled triumph andpain of the repulsed attack on the English at Balaclava on the 25th ofOctober, and of the charge of the Light Brigade. 

The number of the English soldiers in the field fell lower and lower. The Queen wrote to King Leopold, "We have but one thought, and so hasthe nation, and that is--Sebastopol. Such a time of suspense, anxiety, and excitement, I never expected to see, much less to feel. "

On the 13th of November telegrams arrived with the news of the battleof Inkermann, fought against terrible odds on the 5th. 

The Queen wrote herself to Lord Raglan to tell of her "pride and joy"at receiving the intelligence of "the glorious, but alas! bloodyvictory of the 5th. " She conferred upon him the baton of a Field-Marshal. Her Majesty also addressed a kind and sympathising letter tothe widow of Sir George Cathcart. 

The Queen wrote with high indignation to the King of the Belgiansafter the battle of Inkermann: "They (the enemy) behaved with thegreatest barbarity; many of our poor officers who were only slightlywounded were brutally butchered on the ground. Several lived longenough to say this. When poor Sir G. Cathcart fell mortally wounded, his faithful and devoted military secretary (Colonel Charles Seymour)... Sprang from his horse, and with one arm--he was wounded in theother--supported his dying chief, when three wretches came andbayoneted him. This is monstrous, and requisitions have been sent bythe two commanders-in-chief to Menschikoff to remonstrate.... "

The winter of 1854-55 was a sorrowful and care-laden time. Little orno progress was made in the war, while in the meanwhile the sufferingsof the soldiers from a defective commissariat, a rigorous climate, andthe recurring ravages of cholera, were frightful. The very winds andwaves seemed to fight against the allies and to side with "HolyRussia. " Never had the Black Sea been visited by such storms andwrecks. 

From the palace to the cottage, women's fingers worked eagerly andunweariedly knitting comforters and muffatees to protect the throatsand wrists of the shivering men. We have heard that the greatest ladyin the land deigned thus to serve her soldiers. We have been told ofa cravat worked in crochet by a queen's fingers which fell to theshare of a gallant young officer in the trenches--the same brave ladwho had carried, unscathed, the colours of his regiment to the heightsof the Alma. 

The hospitals were in as disorganised a state as the commissariat, andMr. Sydney Herbert, well-nigh in despair, had the bright inspirationof sending to the seat of war Florence Nightingale, the daughter andco-heiress of a Derbyshire squire, with a staff of nurses. 

Such reformation of abuses was wrought by a capable devoted woman, such order brought out of disorder, such comfort and consolationcarried to wounded and dying men, that the experiment became atriumphant success. Many were the stories told of the soldiers'boundless reverence for the woman who had left country and friends andall the good things that wealth and rank can command to relieve herfellow-creatures; how one of them was seen to kiss her shadow on thewall of his ward as she passed; how the convalescents engaged instrange and wonderful manufactures of gifts to offer to her. 

A second large instalment of nurses was sent out after the first, thelatter led by Mary Stanley, daughter of the Bishop of Norwich, andsister of the Dean of Westminster, who had already been a sister tothe poor in her father's diocese. 

The Queen wrote again to Lord Raglan, "The sad privations of the army, the bad weather, and the constant sickness, are causes of the deepestconcern and anxiety to the Queen and the Prince. The braver her nobletroops are, the more patiently and heroically they bear all theirtrials and sufferings, the more miserable we feel at their longcontinuance. The Queen trusts that Lord Raglan will be _verystrict_ in seeing that no unnecessary privations are incurred byany negligence of those whose duty it is to watch over their wants. 

"The Queen heard that their coffee was given them green instead ofroasted, and some other things of this kind, which have distressedher, as she feels so anxious that they should be as comfortable ascircumstances can admit of. The Queen earnestly trusts that the largeamount of warm clothing sent out has not only reached Balaclava, buthas been distributed, and that Lord Raglan has been successful inprocuring the means of hutting for the men. Lord Raglan cannot thinkhow much we suffer for the army, and how painfully anxious we are toknow that their privations are decreasing.... The Queen cannotconclude without wishing Lord Raglan and the whole of the army, in thePrince's name and her own, a happy and _glorious_ new year. "

No sooner had Parliament reassembled than Mr. Roebuck brought forwardhis famous motion for the appointment of a committee to inquire intothe state of the army and the management of the War Department of theGovernment. 

Lord John Russell resigned office, and there was a threatenedresignation of the whole Ministry, an ill-timed step, which was onlydelayed till Mr. Roebuck's motion was carried, by a large majority, not amidst the cheers, but to the odd accompaniment of the derisivelaughter of the Liberal members who had voted for the motion. LordAberdeen's Ministry immediately resigned office; and after an abortiveattempt on the part of Lord Derby, at the request of the Queen, toform a new Ministry, Lord Lansdowne and Lord John Russell were insuccession asked to take the leadership, but each in his turn had toown his inability to get the requisite men to act under him. Insummoning Lord John Russell to become Premier, the Queen had expresseda wish that Lord Palmerston--the man to whom the country looked as theonly proper war minister--should take office. The wish, especiallyflattering and acceptable to Lord Palmerston, because it indicatedthat old differences were forgotten, was in marked keeping with acertain magnanimity and candour--excellent qualities in a sovereign--which have been prominent features in her Majesty's character. 

Lord John Russell having been as unsuccessful as his predecessors informing a Ministry, Lord Palmerston was sent for by the Queen andoffered the premiership, and the most popular minister of the day wassoon able, to the jubilation of the country, to construct a Cabinet. 

On the 10th of February, the anniversary of the Queen's marriage-day, there was this year, as usual, a home festival, with the nursery dramaof "Little Red Riding Hood" performed by the younger members of thefamily, and appropriate verses spoken by Princess Alice, who seems tohave been the chosen declaimer among the princes and princesses. Butbeneath the rejoicing there were in the elders anxiety, sympatheticsuffering, and the endurance of undeserved suspicion. The committeecarrying out the inquiry proposed by Mr. Roebuck's motion, conceivedmost unjustly that the Prince's hostile influence prevented them fromobtaining the information they desired. The Queen's health wassuffering from her distress on account of the hardships experienced byher soldiers, so that when Lord Cardigan returned to England, repairedto Windsor, and had the royal children upon his knee, they said, "Youmust hurry back to Sebastopol and take it, else it will kill mamma!"

On the 2nd of March the strange news burst upon Europe, excitingrather a sense of solemnity than any less seemly feeling, of thesudden death of the Emperor Nicholas, former guest and fervent friendof the Queen--for whom she seems to have retained a lingering, ruefulregard--grasper at an increase of territory, disturber of the peace ofEurope, dogged refuser of all mediation. He had an attack ofinfluenza, but the real cause of his death is said to have been bitterdisappointment and mortification at his failure to drive the alliesout of the Crimea. The "Generals, January and February, " on whom hehad counted to work his will, laid him low. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

INSPECTION OF THE HOSPITAL AT CHATHAM--VISIT OF THE EMPEROR ANDEMPRESS OF THE FRENCH--DISTRIBUTION OF WAR MEDALS. 

On the 3rd of March, the Queen and the Prince, with the Prince ofWales, Prince Alfred and the Duke of Cambridge, visited the hospitalat Chatham, to which many of the wounded and sick soldiers had beenbrought home. The whole of the invalids who were in a condition toleave their beds "were drawn up on the lawn, " each having a cardcontaining his name and services, his wounds, and where received. HerMajesty passed along the line, saying a few kind words to thosesufferers who particularly attracted her notice, or to those whoseservices were specially commended. It is easy to imagine how thehaggard faces would brighten and the drooping figures straightenthemselves in that royal and gentle presence. 

In the course of the month, at an exhibition and sale of water-colourdrawings and pictures by amateurs, in aid of a fund for the widows andorphans of officers in the Crimea, the artistic talent of which therehave been many proofs in the Queen's and the Prince's children, wasfirst publicly shown. A water-colour drawing by the Princess Royal, already a fine girl of fifteen--whose marriage was soon to be mooted, in which she had represented a woman weeping over a dead grenadier, displayed remarkable merit and was bought for a large price. 

On the 16th of April the Emperor and Empress of the French arrived inEngland on a visit to the Queen. The splendid suite of rooms inWindsor Castle which includes the Rubens, Zuccarelli, and Vandyckrooms, were destined for the imperial guests. And we are told that, bythe irony of fate, the Emperor's bedroom was the same that had beenoccupied on previous occasions by the late Emperor Nicholas and KingLouis Philippe. Sir Theodore Martin refers to a still more patheticcontrast which struck the Queen. He quotes from her Majesty's journala passage relating to a visit paid by the old Queen Amélie to Windsortwo or three days before. "It made us both so sad to see her driveaway in a plain coach with miserable post-horses, and to think thatthis was the Queen of the French, and that six years ago her husbandwas surrounded by the same pomp and grandeur which three days hencewould surround his successor. "

Prince Albert received the travellers at Dover in the middle of athick mist which had delayed the _corvette_, hidden the Englishfleet, and somewhat marred what was intended to have been thesplendour of the reception. After the train had reached London, thedrive was through densely crowded streets, in which there was no lackof enthusiasm for the visitors. 

The strangers did not reach Windsor till past seven. The Queen hadbeen waiting for them some time in one of the tapestry rooms near theguard-room. "The expectation and agitation grew more intense, " herMajesty wrote in her diary. "The evening was fine and bright. Atlength the crowd of anxious spectators lining the road seemed to move;then came a groom; then we heard a gun, and we moved towards thestaircase. Another groom came. Then we saw the advanced guard of theescort; then the cheers of the crowd burst forth. The outridersappeared, the doors opened, I stepped out, the children and Princesclose behind me; the band struck up "Partant pour la Syrie, " thetrumpets sounded, and the open carriage, with the Emperor and Empress, Albert sitting opposite to them, drove up, and they got out. 

"I cannot say what indescribable emotions filled me, how much allseemed like a wonderful dream. These great meetings of sovereigns, surrounded by very exciting accompaniments, are always very agitating. I advanced and embraced the Emperor, who received two salutes oneither cheek from me, having first kissed my hand. I next embraced thevery gentle, graceful, and evidently very nervous Empress. Wepresented the Princes (the Duke of Cambridge and the Prince ofLeiningen, the Queen's brother) and our children (Vicky, with veryalarmed eyes, making very low curtsies); the Emperor embraced Bertie;and then we went upstairs, Albert leading the Empress, who in the mostengaging manner refused to go first, but at length with gracefulreluctance did so, the Emperor leading me, expressing his greatgratification at being here and seeing me, and admiring Windsor. "[Footnote: Life of the Prince Consort. ]

Her Majesty was pleased with the Emperor; his low soft voice and quietmanner were very attractive. She was delighted with the Empress, ofwhom she repeatedly wrote with admiration and liking. "She is fullcourage and spirit, " the Queen described her visitor, "yet so gentle, with such innocence and _enjouement_, that the _ensemble_ ismost charming. With all her great liveliness, she has the prettiestand most modest manner. " There were morning walks during thevisitors' stay, and long conversations about the war. A deputationfrom the Corporation of London came down to Windsor, and presented theEmperor with an address. There was a review of the Household troops inthe Great Park, to which the Queen drove with the Empress. TheEmperor, the Prince, and the Duke of Cambridge rode. There was atremendous enthusiastic crowd in the Long Walk, and considerablepushing at the gates. The Queen was alarmed because of the spiritedhorse the Emperor rode. 

The day ended with a ball in the Waterloo Room, when the Queen danceda quadrille with the Emperor, who, she wrote, "danced with greatdignity and spirit. How strange" she added "to think that I, thegrand-daughter of George III. , should dance with the Emperor Napoleon, nephew of England's great enemy, now my nearest and most intimateally, in the Waterloo Room, and this ally only sixteen years agoliving in this country in exile, poor and unthought of. "

A Council of War was held the day after the Emperor's arrival, atwhich the Queen was not present. It was attended by the Emperor, thePrince, Lords Palmerston, Panmure, Hardinge, Cowley (Englishambassador in Paris), Count Walewski (French ambassador in London), Marshal Vaillant, &c. , &c. It met at eleven, and had not separated attwo, the hour of luncheon, after which a chapter of the Order of theGarter--for which special toilettes were indispensable, was to beheld. The Empress went and told Lord Cowley how late it was, in vain. She advised the Queen to go to them. "I dare not go in, but yourMajesty may; it is your affair. " The Queen passed through theEmperor's bedroom, which was next to the council-room, knocked, andentered to ask what was to be done, perhaps a solitary instance of aqueen having to go in search of her guests. Both the Emperor and thePrince rose and said they would come, but business was so enchainingthat still they delayed, and the ladies had to take luncheon alone. 

The Emperor was invested with the Order of the Garter in the Throne-room. The forms were the same as those followed in the investiture ofLouis Philippe, and no doubt the one scene recalled the other vividlyenough. Bishop Wilberforce was present and gives some particulars: "Avery full chapter. The Duke of Buckingham (whose conduct had not beenvery knightly) came unsummoned, and was not asked to remain to dinner. The Emperor looked exulting and exceedingly pleased. " After thechapter, the Emperor sent for the Bishop, that he might be presented. His lordship's opinion was that Louis Napoleon was "rather mean-looking, small, and a tendency to _embonpoint_; a remarkable way, as it were, of swimming up a room, with an uncertain gait; a smallgrey eye, looking cunning, but with an aspect of softness about ittoo. The Empress, a peculiar face from the arched eye-brows, blondecomplexion; an air of sadness about her, but a person whosecountenance at once interests you. The banquet was magnificent. Atnight, " ends Bishop Wilberforce, "the Queen spoke to me. 'All went offvery well, I think; I was afraid of making some mistake; you would notlet me have in writing what I was to say to him. Then we put theriband on wrong, but I think it all went off well on the whole. '"

The Emperor and Empress were invited to a banquet at Guildhall. Theywent from Buckingham Palace, to which the Queen and Prince Albert hadaccompanied them. The Queen wrote in her journal that their departurefrom Windsor made her sad. The passing through the familiar rooms anddescending the staircase to the mournful strains of "Partant pour laSyrie" (composed by the Emperor's mother, Queen Hortense, and heard byher Majesty fourteen different times that April day), the sense thatthe visit about which there had been so much excitement was nearlyover, the natural doubt how and when the group would meet again, touched her as with a sense of foreboding. 

The Emperor and Empress drove from Buckingham Palace to Guildhall insix of the Queen's State carriages, the first drawn by the famouscream-coloured horses. The whole route was packed with people, whogave the visitors a thorough ovation. The City hall was decorated withthe flags of England, France, and Turkey; and the lion and the eagleconjointly supported devices which bore the names "Alma, Balaclava, and Inkermann. " At the _déjeuner_ sherry was served which hadreached the venerable age of one hundred and nine years, was valued at£600 the butt, and had belonged to the great Napoleon. The sameevening, the Queen and the Prince, with their guests, went in State tothe Italian Opera, where _Fidelio_ was performed. "We literallydrove through a sea of human beings, cheering and pressing near thecarriage. " The illuminated streets bore many devices--of N. E. AndV. A. , which the Emperor remarked made the word "Neva"--a coincidenceon which he appears to have dwelt with his share of the superstitionof the Buonapartes. The Opera-house and the royal box were richlydecorated for the occasion. On entering, her Majesty led the Emperor, and Prince Albert the Empress, to the front of the box, amidst greatapplause. The audience was immense, a dense mass of ladies andgentlemen in full dress being allowed to occupy a place behind thesingers on the stage. 

The next day, a beautiful April day, the Queen discovered was theforty-seventh birthday of the Emperor; and when she went to meet himin the corridor, she wished him joy and gave him a pencil-case. Hesmiled and kissed her hand, and accepted with empressment two violets--the Buonapartes' flower--brought to him by Prince Arthur. All alongthe thronged road to Sydenham, cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" and "Vivel'Impératrice!" alternated with cheers for the Queen. The public werenot admitted while the royal party were in the palace, but theygathered twenty thousand strong on the terrace; and when her Majesty, with her guests, came out on the balcony to enjoy the beautiful view, such shouts of loyalty and welcome filled the spring air as struckeven ears well accustomed to public greetings. After luncheon theQueen and her visitors returned to the Palace, having to pass throughan avenue of people lining the nave, to reach the balcony from whichthe strangers were to see the fine spectacle of the fountains playing. The Queen owned afterwards she was anxious; yet, she added, "I felt asI leant on the emperor's arm, that I was possibly a protection forhim. All thoughts of nervousness for myself were lost. I thought onlyof him; and so it is, Albert says, when one forgets oneself, one losesthis great and foolish nervousness. " A sentence worthy of him and ofher. 

Alas for fickle fortune and the changes which time brings! The presentwriter was accidentally present on the occasion of the Emperor andEmpress's last visit to the Crystal Palace. They came from Chislehurstwithout any announcement, when they were not expected, on an ordinaryshilling day in autumn, the company happening to be few. A slight stirand one or two policemen coming to the front, suggested that sometheft had been committed, and that the offender was about to be takeninto custody and removed from the building. Then an official walkedbareheaded down the cleared nave, and behind him came a little yellow-skinned shrunken man in plain clothes, on whose arm a lady in a simpleblack silk walking-dress and country hat leant lightly, as if she weregiving instead of receiving support. He made a slight attempt toacknowledge the faint greetings of the spectators, some of themignorant of the identity of the visitors, all of them taken bysurprise. She smiled and bowed from side to side, a littlemechanically, as if anxious to overlook no courtesy and to act forboth. It was not long after the battle of Sedan and the imprisonmentat Wilhelmshohe, and the hand of death was already upon him. Thecouple hurried on, as if desirous of not being detained, and could nothave tarried many minutes in the building when a few straggling cheersannounced their departure. 

In the afternoon of the 20th of April a second council relating to thewar in the Crimea was held, at which the Queen was present. With herlarge interest in public affairs, her growing experience, and herhealthy appetite for the work of her life, she enjoyed it exceedingly. "It was one of the most interesting scenes I was ever present at, " shewrote in her journal. "I would not have missed it for the world. "

On Saturday, the 21st of April, the visitors left, after the Emperorhad written a graceful French sentence in the Queen's album, and anadmonitory verse in German, which had originally been written forhimself, in the Prince of Wales's autograph book. The Queenaccompanied her visitors to the door, and parted from them with kindlyregret. As they drove off she "ran up" to see the last of thetravellers from the saloon they had just quitted. "The Emperor andEmpress saw us at the window, " she wrote, "turned round, got up, andbowed.... We watched them, with the glittering escort, till they couldbe seen no more.... " The Prince escorted the Emperor and Empress toDover. The Queen wrote in a short memorandum her view of the Emperor'scharacter, and what she expected from the visit in a political light. Through the good sense of the paper one can see how the confidingfriendly nature had survived the rough check given to it by LouisPhilippe's manoeuvres and dissimulation. 

On the 1st of May the Academy opened with Millais's "Rescue ofchildren from a burning house, " and with a remarkable picture by ayoung painter who has long since vindicated the reception it met with. It was Mr. F. Leighton's "Procession conveying Cimabue's Madonnathrough the streets of Florence. "

On the 18th of May her Majesty distributed medals to some of theheroes of the war still raging. The scene was both picturesque andpathetic, since many of the recipients of the honour were barelyrecovered from their wounds. The presentation took place in the centreof the parade of the Horse Guards, where a dais was erected for theceremony, while galleries had been fitted up in the neighbouringpublic offices for the accommodation of members of the royal familyand nobility. Barriers shut off the actors in the scene, and a greatgathering of officers, from the crowd which filled every inch of openspace and flowed over into St. James's Park. 

The Queen, the Prince, with many of the royal family, the Court, theCommander-in-Chief, the Secretary for War, and "a host of generalsand admirals, " arrived about eleven o'clock. The soldiers who kept theground formed four deep, making three sides of a square, and the mento be decorated passed up the open space, until "the Queen stood faceto face with a mass of men who had suffered and bled in her cause. "

The Deputy-Adjutant-General read over the list of names, and eachperson, answering to the call, presented to an officer a card on whichwas inscribed his name, rank, wounds, and battles. As the soldierspassed in single file before the Queen, Lord Panmure handed to herMajesty the medal, which she gave in turn to the medal-holder. Hesaluted and passed to the rear, where friends and strangers gatheredround him to inspect his trophy. 

The first to receive the medal were the Queen's cousin andcontemporary, the Duke of Cambridge, Lords Lucan, Cardigan, Major-General Scarlett, Sir John Burgoyne, Sir De Lacy Evans, and Major-General Torrens. It is needless to say how keenly the public weremoved by the sight of their brave defenders, several of them scarredand mutilated, many tottering from weakness, some wearing on theirsleeves bands of crape, tokens of mourning for kinsmen lying inRussian earth. 

To every wounded man, officer or private, her Majesty spoke, some ofthose addressed blushing like girls under their bronze, and the tearscoming into their eyes. The idea of personally presenting the medalsto the soldiers was the Queen's own, and she must have been amplyrewarded by the gratification she bestowed. 

Three officers unable to walk were wheeled past her Majesty in bath-chairs. Among them was young Sir Thomas Troubridge, both of whose feethad been carried off by a round shot, while he had continuedcommanding his battery till the battle was over, refusing to be takenaway, only desiring his shattered limbs to be raised in order to checkthe loss of blood. The Queen leant over Sir Thomas's chair and handedhim his medal, while she announced to him his appointment as one ofher aides-de-camp. He replied, "I am amply repaid for everything. "

CHAPTER XXVII. 

DEATH OP LORD RAGLAN--VISIT OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT TO THEEMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH--FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. 

A Sardinian contingent had now, by a stroke of policy on the part ofCount Cavour, the Sardinian Minister, joined the English and French inarms in the Crimea; but an unsuccessful attack, made with heavy lossby the combined forces of the English and French on Sebastopol, filledthe country with disappointment and sorrow. The attack was made on the18th of June, a day which, as the anniversary of Waterloo, had beenhitherto associated with victory and triumph. 

Lord Raglan had never approved of the assault, but he yielded to theurgent representations of General Pelissier. The defeat was the lastblow to the old English soldier, worn by fatigue and chagrin. He wasseized with illness ending in cholera, and died in his quarters on the29th of June, eleven days after the repulse. He was in his sixty-seventh year. The Queen wrote to Lady Raglan the day after the tidingsof the death reached England. 

During the summer the Queen received visits from King Leopold and hisyounger children, and from her Portuguese cousins. During the stay ofthe former in England scarlet fever broke out in the royal nurseries. Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and finally PrincessAlice, were attacked; but the disease was not virulent, and theremaining members of the family escaped the infection. 

In the early morning of the 16th of August, the Russians marched uponthe French lines, and were completely routed in the battle of theTchernaya, which revived the allies' hopes of a speedy termination ofthe war. 

In the meantime, the Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by thePrince of Wales and the Princess Royal, paid a visit to the Emperorand Empress of the French, near Paris. The palace of St. Cloud was setapart for the use of the Queen and the Prince. 

Her Majesty landed at Boulogne during the forenoon of the 18th ofAugust. She was received by the Emperor, who met her on the gangway, first kissed her hand, and then kissed her on both cheeks. He led heron shore, and rode by the side of her carriage to the railway station. 

Paris, where no English sovereign had been since the baby Henry VI. Was crowned King of France, was not reached till evening. The city hadbeen _en fête_ all day with banners, floral arches, and at lastan illumination. Amidst the clatter of soldiers, the music of brassbands playing "God save the Queen, " and endless cheering, her Majestydrove through the gathering darkness by the Bois de Boulogne to St. Cloud. To the roar of cannon, the beating of drums, and the echoing of_vivats_, she was greeted and ushered up the grand staircase bythe Empress and the Princess Mathilde. Everybody was "most civil andkind, " and in the middle of the magnificence all was "very quiet androyal. "

The next day was Sunday, and after breakfast there was a drive withthe Emperor through the beautiful park, where host and guests werevery cheerful over good news from Sebastopol. The English Churchservice was read by a chaplain from the Embassy in one of the palacerooms. In the afternoon the Emperor and the Empress drove with theirguests to the Bois de Boulogne, and to Neuilly--so closely associatedwith the Orleans family--lying in ruins. General Canrobert, justreturned from the Crimea, was an addition to the dinner party. 

On Monday the weather continued lovely. The Emperor fetched his gueststo breakfast, which, like luncheon, was eaten at small round tables, as in her Majesty's residences in England. She remarked on the cookerythat it was "very plain and very good. " After breakfast the partystarted in barouches for Paris, visiting the Exposition des Beaux Artsand the Palais d'Industrie, passing through densely crowded streets, amidst enthusiastic shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive la Reined'Angleterre!" At the Elysée the _corps diplomatique_ werepresented to the Queen. In the meantime, the Emperor himself drove theboy Prince of Wales in a curricle through Paris. Afterwards the Queenand Prince Albert, in the company of the Emperor, visited thebeautiful Sainte Chapelle and the Palais de Justice. On the way theEmperor pointed out the _conciergerie_ as the place where he hadbeen imprisoned. 

Nôtre Dame, where the Archbishop of Paris and his clergy met thevisitors, and the Hôtel de Ville, followed in the regular order ofsightseeing. 

The Queen dwells not only on the kindness but on the quietness of theEmperor as a particular "comfort" on such an occasion. 

_Les Demoiselles de St. Cyr_ was acted in the evening. In theSalle de Mars all the company passed before the Queen, the Empresspresenting each in turn. The Emperor and Empress, preceded by theirgentlemen, always took the Queen and the Prince to their rooms. 

On, Tuesday Versailles was the visitors' destination. They went inmany carriages. Troops and national guards, and especially gendarmes, were to be seen everywhere. The gardens and the fountains, withthrongs of company, were much admired. 

The Queen visited the two Trianons. At the larger the Emperor showedher the room and bed provided for her, in the expectation of hervisiting Paris, by "poor Louis Philippe;" Madame Maintenon's sedan-chair, by which Louis XIV. Was wont to walk; and the little chapel inwhich "poor Marie (Louis Philippe's daughter) was married to Alexanderof Wurtemberg in 1838, " two years before the Queen's marriage. 

At Little Trianon the Empress (who had a passion for every relic ofMarie Antoinette) joined the party, and luncheon was eaten in one ofthe cottages where princes and nobles were wont to play at beingpeasants. 

In the evening the Emperor, with his guests, paid a State visit to theopera-house in the Rue Lepelletier. Part of the performance was arepresentation of Windsor Castle, with the Emperor's reception there, when "God save the Queen" was splendidly sung, and received withacclamation. The Emperor's happy animation, in contrast to his usualimpassiveness, was remarked by the audience. 

Wednesday's visit, in the continuously fine August weather, was to theFrench Exhibition, which the Queen and the Prince were so wellcalculated to appreciate. They rejoiced in the excellent manner inwhich England was represented, particularly in pottery. The speciallyFrench productions of Sèvres, Goblins, and Beauvais were carefullystudied. The Queen also examined the French Crown jewels, the crownbearing the renowned Regent diamond, which, though less large than theKoh-i-noor, is more brilliant. The Emperor presented the Prince with amagnificent Sèvres vase, a souvenir of the Exhibition of 1851. TheTuileries was visited, and luncheon taken there in rooms containingpictures and busts or Napoleon I. , Josephine, &c. , &c. The Queenreceived the Prefect and consented to attend the ball to be given inher honour. 

After a visit to the British Embassy, the Queen and the Prince, withthe Princess Royal and one of the ladies of the suite, took a driveincognito through Paris, which they enjoyed exceedingly. They went inan ordinary _remise_, the three ladies wearing common bonnets andmantillas, and her Majesty having a black veil over her face. 

On Thursday morning the Queen rested, walking about the gardens withher young daughter, and sketching the Zouaves at the gate. Theafternoon was spent at the Louvre, where the Queen mentions the heatas "tropical. "

After dinner at the Tuileries, the party stood laughing together at anold-fashioned imperial cafetière which would not let down the coffee, listening to the music, the carriages, and the people in the distance, and talking of past times; as how could people fail to talk at theTuileries! The Emperor spoke of having known Madame Campan (to whoseschool his mother was sent for a time), and repeated some of the oldcourt dresser's anecdotes of Marie Antoinette and the GreatRevolution. 

In her Majesty's full dress for the ball given to her by the City ofParis, she wore a diadem in which the Koh-i-noor was set. Through theilluminated, crammed streets, the Queen proceeded to the Hotel deVille, and entered among flags, flowers, and statues, "like theArabian Nights, " the Emperor said. 

The royal visitors occupied chairs on a dais. One quadrille and onevalse were danced, the Emperor being the Queen's partner, while PrinceAlbert danced with Princess Mathilde (the Empress was in delicatehealth); Prince Napoleon and Madame Haussman (the wife of the Prefectof the Seine), and Prince Adalbert of Bavaria and Lady Cowley (wife ofthe English ambassador) completing the set. 

Several Arabs in long white burnouses were among the guests, andkissed the hands of the Queen and the Emperor. Her Majesty made thetour of the stately suite of rooms, lingering in the one in which"Robespierre was wounded, Louis Philippe proclaimed, and from thewindows of which Lamartine spoke for so many hours in 1848. "

On Friday there was a second visit to the Exhibition, and in theafternoon a grand review of troops in the Champ de Mars, which theQueen admired much, regretting that she had not been on horseback, though the day was not fine. From the Champ de Mars the visitors droveto the Hôtel des Invalides, and there occurred the most striking scenein the memorable visit, of which the passages from the Queen's journalin the "Life of the Prince Consort, " give so many graphic, interestingdetails. Passing between rows of French veterans, the Queen and thePrince went to look by torchlight at the great tomb, in which, however, all that was mortal of Napoleon I. Had not yet been laid. Thecoffin still rested in a side chapel, to which her Majesty was takenby the Emperor. The coffin was covered with black velvet and gold, andthe orders, hat, and sword of "le Petit Caporal" were placed at thefoot. The Queen descended for a few minutes into the vault, the air ofwhich struck cold on the living within its walls. 

The Emperor took his guests in the evening to the Opéra Comique. Itwas not a State visit, but "God save the Queen" was sung, and herMajesty had to show herself in front of the Emperor's private box. OnSaturday the royal party went to the forest of St. Germain's, and ahalt was made at the hunting-lodge of La Muette. The _GrandVeneur_ and his officials in their hunting-dress of dark-greenvelvet, red waistcoats, high boots, and cocked hats, received thecompany. The dogs were exhibited, and a _fanfare_ sounded on thehuntsmen's horns. 

The strangers repaired to the old palace of St. Germain's, where herMajesty saw the suite of rooms which had served as a home for herunhappy kinsman, James II. It is said she went also to his tomb, andstood by it in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. On the returndrive to St. Cloud detours were made to Malmaison, where the Emperorremembered to have seen his grandmother, the Empress Josephine, and tothe fortress of St. Valérien. 

The same night there was a State ball at Versailles. At the top of thegrand staircase stood the Empress--"like a fairy queen or nymph, " herMajesty writes, "in a white dress trimmed with bunches of grass anddiamonds, ... " wearing her Spanish and Portuguese orders. Theenamoured Emperor exclaimed in the hearing of his guests, "Comme tu esbelle!" (how beautiful you are!) The long Galerie de Glaces, full ofpeople, was blazing with light, and had wreaths of flowers hangingfrom the ceiling. From the windows the illuminated trellis was seenreflected in the splashing water of the fountains. The balconiescommanded a view of the magnificent fireworks, among which WindsorCastle was represented in lines of light. 

The Queen danced two quadrilles, with the Emperor and Prince Napoleon, Prince Albert dancing with Princess Mathilde and the Princess ofAugustenburg. Among the guests presented to her Majesty was CountBismarck, Prussian Minister at Frankfort. 

The Queen waltzed with the Emperor, and then repaired to the famousOeil-de-Boeuf, hung with Beauvais tapestry. After the company had goneto supper, the Queen and the Emperor's procession was formed, andheaded by guards, officers, &c. &c, they passed to the theatre, wheresupper was served. The whole stage was covered in, and four hundredpeople sat in groups of ten, each presided over by a lady, at fortysmall tables. Innumerable chandeliers and garlands of flowers made thescene still gayer. The boxes were full of spectators, and an invisibleband was playing. The Queen and Prince Albert, with their son anddaughter, the Emperor and the Empress, Prince Napoleon, PrincessMathilde, and Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, sat at a small table in thecentral box. Her Majesty seems to have been much struck with thisVersailles ball, which was designed and arranged by the Empress from aplate of the time of Louis XV. It was said there had been no ball atVersailles since the time of Louis XVI. The last must have been theball in the Orangery, on the night that the Bastille fell. 

Sunday was Prince Albert's birthday, which was not forgotten amongthese brilliant doings. Loving hands laid out the flower-decoratedtable with its gifts. At luncheon the Emperor presented the Princewith a picture by Meissonier. The Empress gave a _pokal_, ormounted cup, carved in ivory. During a quiet drive with the Emperorthrough the park in the morning, the Queen, with her characteristicsincerity, courageously approached a topic which was a burden on hermind, on which Baron Stockmar had long advised her to act as she wasprepared to do. She spoke of her intercourse with the Orleans family, on which the French ambassador in London had laid stress as likely todisplease the Emperor. She said they were her friends and relations, and that she could not drop them in their adversity, but that politicswere never touched upon between her and them. He professed himselfperfectly satisfied, and sought in his turn to explain his conduct inthe confiscation and forced sale of the Orleans property. 

The English Church service was read in a room at St. Cloud as before. In the afternoon the Emperor took his guests to the memorial Chapellede St. Ferdinand, erected on the spot where the late Duc d'Orleans waskilled. 

On Monday, the 27th of August, the Queen wrote in her diary her deepgratitude for "these eight happy days, for the delight of seeing suchbeautiful and interesting places and objects, " and for the receptionshe had met with in Paris and France. The Emperor arrived to say theEmpress was ready, but could not bring herself to face the parting, and that if the Queen would go to her room it would make her come. "When we went in, " writes her Majesty, "the Emperor called her:'Eugénie, here is the Queen, ' and she came, " adds her Majesty, "andgave me a beautiful fan, and a rose and heliotrope from the garden, and Vicky a beautiful bracelet, set with rubies and diamonds, containing her hair.... "

The morning was beautiful as the travellers, accompanied by theEmperor and Empress, drove for the last time through the town of St. Cloud, with its Zouaves and wounded soldiers from the Crimea, underthe Arc de Triomphe, where the ashes of the great Napoleon had passed, to Paris and the Tuileries. There was talk of future meetings atWindsor and Fontainbleau. (And now of the places which the Queenadmired so much, St. Cloud and the Tuileries are in ruins likeNeuilly, while the Hôtel de Ville has perished by the hands of its ownchildren. ) Leave was taken of the Empress not without emotion;

At the Strasbourg railway station the Ministers and municipalauthorities were in attendance, and the cordiality was equal to therespect shown by all. 

Boulogne, to which the Emperor accompanied his guests, was reachedbetween five and six in the afternoon. There was a review of thirty-six thousand infantry, besides cavalry, on the sands. The Queendescribes the beautiful effect of the background of calm, blue sea, while "the glorious crimson light" of the setting sun was gilding thethousands of bayonets, lances, &c. It was the spot where Napoleon I. Inspected the army with which he was prepared to invade England; whileNelson's fleet, which held him in check, occupied the anchorage wherethe Queen's squadron lay. Before embarking, her Majesty and PrinceAlbert drove to the French camps in the neighbourhood. 

At last, when it was only an hour from midnight, in splendidmoonlight, through a town blazing with fireworks and illuminations, with bands playing, soldiers saluting, and a great crowd cheering asif it was noonday, the Queen and the Prince returned to their yacht, accompanied by the Emperor. As if loth to leave them, he proposed togo with them a little way. The parting moment came, the Queen and theEmperor embraced, and he shook hands warmly with the Prince, thePrince of Wales, and the Princess Royal. Again at the side of thevessel, her Majesty pressed her late host's hand, and embraced himwith an, "Adieu, sire. " As he saw her looking over the side of theship and watching his barge, he called out, "Adieu, Madame, aurevoir, " to which the Queen answered, "Je l'espère bien. "

On the 6th of September the Court went to Scotland, staying a night atHolyrood, as usual in those years. On the Queen's arrival she drovethrough the old castle of Balmoral, the new house being habitable, though much of the building was still unfinished. An old shoe wasthrown after her Majesty, Scotch fashion, for luck, as she entered thenorthern home, where everything charmed her. 

On the 10th of September the Duchess of Kent, who was staying atAbergeldie, dined with the Queen. At half-past ten despatches arrivedfor her Majesty and Lord Granville, the Cabinet Minister inattendance. The Queen began reading hers, which was from LordClarendon, with news of the destruction of Russian ships. LordGranville said, "I have still better news, " on which he read, "'FromGeneral Simpson. Sebastopol is in the hands of the allies. '" "God bepraised for it, " adds the Queen. 

Great was the rejoicing. Prince Albert determined to go up Craig Gowanand light the bonfire which had been ready the year before, had beenblown down on the day of the battle of Inkermann, and was at last onlywaiting to be lit. All the gentlemen, in every species of attire, allthe servants, and gradually the whole population of the littlevillage, keepers and gillies, were aroused and started, in the autumnnight, for the summit of the hill. The happy Queen watched from belowthe blazing light above. Numerous figures surrounded it, "somedancing, all shouting; Ross (the Queen's piper) playing his pipes(surely the most exultant of pibrochs), and Grant and Macdonald firingoff guns continually, " the late Sir E. Gordon's old Alsatian servantstriving to add his French contribution to the festivities by lightingsquibs, half of which would not go off. When Prince Albert returned hedescribed the health-drinking in whiskey as wild and exciting. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL--QUEEN'S SPEECH TO THE SOLDIERSRETURNED FROM THE CRIMEA--BALMORAL. 

An event of great importance to the Queen and her family was nowimpending. A proposal of marriage for the Princess Royal--still onlyfifteen years of age--had been made by the Prince of Prussia, the heirof the childless king, in the name of the Prince's only son, PrinceFrederick William, a young man of four-and-twenty, nearly ten yearsthe Princess's senior. From the friendship which had long existedbetween the Queen and the Prince and the Princess of Prussia, theirson was well-known and much liked in the English royal family, and theyouthful Princess Royal was favourably inclined to him. The proposalwas graciously received, on certain conditions. Of course the marriageof the young Princess could not take place for some time. She had noteven been confirmed. She ought to be allowed to know her mind fully. The couple must become better acquainted. It was agreed at first thatnothing should be said to the Princess Royal on the subject till afterher confirmation. But when the wooer arrived to pay a delightfullyprivate visit to the family in their Highland retreat, the lastinterdict was judged too hard, and he was permitted to plead his causeunder the happiest auspices. 

We have pleasant little glimpses in her Majesty's journal, and PrinceAlbert's letters, of what was necessarily of the utmost moment to allconcerned; nay, as the contracting parties were of such high estate, excited the lively sympathies of two great nations. The Prince writesin a half tender, half humorous fashion, of the young couple to BaronStockmar, "The young man, 'really in love, ' 'the little lady' doingher best to please him. " The critical moment came during a ridingparty up the heathery hill of Craig-na-Ban and down Glen Girnock, when, with a sprig of white heather for "luck" in his hand, like anyother trembling suitor, the lover ventured to say the decisive words, which were not repulsed. Will the couple ever forget that spot on theScotch hillside, when they fill the imperial throne of Charlemagne?They have celebrated their silver wedding-day with loud jubilees, maytheir golden wedding still bring welcome memories of Craig-na-Ban andits white heather. 

The Court had travelled south to Windsor, and in the following month, in melancholy contrast to the family circumstances in which all hadbeen rejoicing, her Majesty and the Prince had the sorrowfulintelligence that her brother, the Prince of Leiningen, while stillonly in middle age, just over fifty, had suffered from a severeapoplectic attack. 

In November the King of Sardinia visited England. His warm welcome wasdue not only to his patriotic character, which made Victor Emmanuel'sname a household word in this country, but to the fact that theSardinians were acting along with the French as our allies in theCrimea. He was royally entertained at Windsor, saw Woolwich andPortsmouth, received an address at Guildhall, and was invested withthe Order of the Garter. He left before five the next morning, when, in spite of the early hour, the intense cold, and a snowstorm, theQueen took a personal farewell of her guest. 

In the beginning of 1896 the Queen and the Prince were again woundedby newspaper attacks on him, in consequence of his having signed hisname, as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, among the other officers ofthe Guards, to a memorial to the Queen relating to the promotion andretirement of the officers. 

On the 31st of January her Majesty opened Parliament amidst muchenthusiasm, in a session which was to decide the grave question ofpeace or war. In March the welcome news arrived that the Empress ofthe French had given birth to a son. 

On the 20th of March the ceremony of the confirmation of the PrincessRoyal took place in the private chapel, Windsor. The Archbishop ofCanterbury and the Bishop of Oxford, Lord High Almoner, officiated, in the presence of the Queen and the royal family, the Ministers, Officers of State, &c. Prince Albert led in the Princess; herGodfather, King Leopold, followed with the Queen. Bishop Wilberforcemade a note of the scene in a few words. "To Windsor Castle. Theconfirmation of Princess Royal. Interesting. She devout, composed, earnest. Younger sister much affected. The Queen and Prince also. "

On the 30th of March peace was signed. London became aware of it bythe firing of the Park and the Tower guns at ten o'clock at night. Thenext morning the Lord Mayor, on the balcony of the Mansion House, reada despatch from the Secretary of State, to a large crowd assembled inthe street, who received the tidings with loud cheers. At noon hisLordship, preceded by the civic functionaries, went on foot to theExchange and read the despatch there. 

The Tower guns were again fired, the church-bells rang merry peals, flags were hung out from all the public buildings. A few daysafterwards the Queen conferred on Lord Palmerston the Order of theGarter--a frank and cordial acknowledgment of his services, which thehigh-spirited statesman received with peculiar pleasure. 

On the 18th of April her Majesty and Prince Albert went to Aldershotto commemorate the completion of the camp and review the troops, whenthe Queen spent her first night in camp, in the pavilion prepared forher use. On one of the two days she wore a Field-Marshal's uniform, with the Star and Order of the Garter, and a dark blue riding habit. Within a week, in magnificent weather, Her Majesty and Prince Albertinspected a great fleet at Spithead. 

After Easter Lord Ellesmere, in his last appearance in the House ofLords, moved the address to the Queen on the peace, and spoke thefeelings of the nation when he expressed in the words of a poet thecountry's deep debt of gratitude to Florence Nightingale. On the 8thof May the Lords and Commons went in procession to Buckingham Palaceto present their addresses to the Queen. The same evening she gave aState ball--the first in the new ball-room--to celebrate the peace. 

Lord Dalhousie returned in this month of May from India, where he hadbeen Governor-General. He was a hopeless invalid, while still only inhis forty-fifth year. The moment the Queen heard of his arrival, shewrote to him a letter of welcome, for which her faithful servantthanked her in simple and touching words, as for "the crowning honourof his life. " He could not tell what the end of his illness might be, but he ventured to say that her Majesty's most gracious words would bea balm for it all. 

On the 19th of May the Queen laid the foundation of the militaryhospital at Netley, which she had greatly at heart. 

In June a serious accident, which might have been fatal, occurred tothe Princess Royal while her promised bridegroom was on a visit tothis country. Indeed he was much in England in those days, appearingfrequently in public along with the royal family, to the gratificationof romantic hearts that delighted to watch young royal lovers. She wassealing a letter at a table when the sleeve of her light muslin dresscaught fire and blazed up in a moment. Happily she was not alone. ThePrincess's governess, Miss Hildyard, was at the same table, andPrincess Alice was receiving a lesson from her music-mistress in theroom. By their presence of mind in wrapping the hearthrug round thePrincess Royal, who herself showed great self possession under theshock and pain of the accident, her life was probably saved. The armwas burnt from below the elbow to the shoulder, though not so as to bepermanently disfigured. Lady Bloomfield has a pretty story about thisaccident. She has been describing the Princess as "quite charming. Hermanners were so perfectly unaffected and unconstrained, and she wasfull of fun. " The writer goes on to say, "When she, the Princess, burnt her arm, she never uttered a cry; she said 'Don't frightenmamma--send for papa first. '" She wrote afterwards to her music-mistress, dictating the letter and signing it with her left hand, totell how she was, because she knew the lady, who had been present whenthe accident happened, would be anxious. 

King Leopold, his younger son, and his lovely young daughter, PrincessCharlotte, were among the Queen's visitors this summer, and a littlelater came the Prince and Princess of Prussia to improve theiracquaintance with their future daughter-in-law. 

In July the Queen and the Prince were again at Aldershott to reviewthe troops returned from the Crimea. But the weather, persistentlywet, spoilt what would otherwise have been a joyous as well as aglorious scene. During a short break in the rain, the Crimeanregiments formed three sides of a square round the carriage in whichthe Queen sat. The officers and four men of each of the troops thathad been under fire "stepped out, " and the Queen, standing up in thecarriage, addressed them. "Officers, non-commissioned officers, andsoldiers, I wish personally to convey through you to the regimentsassembled here this day my hearty welcome on their return to Englandin health and full efficiency. Say to them that I have watchedanxiously over the difficulties and hardships which they have so noblyborne, that I have mourned with deep sorrow for the brave men who havefallen in their country's cause, and that I have felt proud of thatvalour which, with their gallant allies, they have displayed on everyfield. I thank God that your dangers are over, while the glory of yourdeeds remains; but I know that should your services be again required, you will be animated with the same devotion which in the Crimea hasrendered you invincible. "

When the clear, sweet voice was silent, a cry of "God save the Queen!"sprang to every lip. Helmets, bearskins, and shakos were thrown intothe air; the dragoons waved their sabres, and a shout of loyalacclamation, caught up from line to line, rang through the ranks. 

The next day, in summer sunshine, the Queen and her City of Londonwelcomed home the Guards. In anticipation of a brilliant review in thepark, she saw them march past from the central balcony of BuckinghamPalace, as she had seen them depart on the chill February morning morethan two years before: another season and another scene--notunchastened in its triumph, for many a once-familiar face was absent, and many a yearning thought wandered to Russian hill and plain andTurkish graveyard, where English sleepers rested till the greatawakening. 

An old soldier figured before the Queen and the Prince incircumstances which filled them with sorrow and pity. Lord Hardinge, the Commander-in-Chief, was having an audience with the Queen, when hewas suddenly struck by paralysis. He resigned his post, to which theDuke of Cambridge was appointed. Lord Hardinge died a few monthsafterwards. 

After several yachting excursions, marred by stormy weather, the Courtwent north, and reached Balmoral on the 30th of August. The tower andthe offices, with the terraces and pleasure-grounds, were finished, and every trace of the old house had disappeared. The Balmoral of to-day, though it still lacked what has become some of its essentialfeatures, stood before the Queen. We are fain to make it stand beforeour readers as it is now. 

The road to Balmoral may be said to begin with the Strath at Aberdeen. The farther west the railway runs, the higher grow the mountains andthe narrower waxes the valley. Yet the Highlands proper are held tocommence only at Ballater, the little northern town with its graysquare, and its pleasant inn by the bridge over the rushing Dee. Thewhole is set between the wooded hills of Pannanich and Craigendarroch, the last-named from the oak wood which crowns its summit. The Princeof Wales's house, Birkhall, stands back from the road on a greeneminence with the mountain rising behind, and in front the river Muichrunning down to join the Dee. 

At Ballater the railway ends, and two picturesque roads follow thecourse of the river, one on each side, the first passing Crathie, theother going through the fir and birch woods of Abergeldie on the sameside as Balmoral. Both command grand glimpses of the mountains, whichbelong to the three great ranges of the district--Cairngorm, Glengairn, and Loch-na-Gar. 

Approaching on the Crathie side, the stranger is struck with thefrequent tokens of a life that was once the presiding genius of thisplace, which passing away in its prime, has left the shadow of a greatgrief, softened by the merciful touch of time. The haunting presence, mild in its manliness and gentle in its strength, of a princelybenefactor common to all, has displaced the grim phantoms of oldchieftains and reigns in their stead. It hovers over the dearly lovedHighland home with its fitting touch of stateliness in the middle ofits simplicity, over the forest where a true sportsman stalked thedeer, over the streams and lochs in which he fished, and the paths hetrod by hill and glen. We are made to remember that Balmoral was thePrince Consort's property, that he bought it for his possession, asOsborne was the Queen's, and that it was by a bequest in his will thatit came, with all its memories, to his widow. Three differentmonuments to the Prince, on as many elevations above the castle, atonce attract the eye. The highest and most enduring, seen from manyquarters and at considerable distances, is a gable-like cairn on thesummit of a hill. It is here that such of the Prince's sons as are inthe neighbourhood, and all the tenantry and dependents who can complywith the invitation, assemble on the Prince Consort's birthday anddrink to his memory. 

Lower down stands a representation of the noble figure of the Prince, attended by his greyhound, Eos. On another spur of the same hill is anobelisk, erected by the tenantry and servants to the master who hadtheir interests so deeply at heart. 

The castle, like its smaller predecessor of which this pile ofbuilding has taken the place, stands in a haugh or meadow at the footof a hill, within a circle of mountain-tops. The porter's ledge andgate might belong to the hunting-seat of any gentleman of taste andmeans; only the fact that, even when her Majesty is not in residence, a constable of police is in attendance, marks the difference betweensovereign and subject. 

Within the gate the surroundings are still wild and rural, in keepingwith nature free and unshackled, and have a faint flavour of Germanparks where the mowing-machine is not always at work, but a sweetmath of wild flowers three or four feet high is supposed to cheat thedweller in courtly palaces into a belief that he too is at liberty tobreathe the fresh air without thought or care, and roam where he will, free from the fetters of form and etiquette. 

Great innocent moon-daises, sprightly harebells, sturdy heather, bloomprofusely and seem much at home within these royal precincts, underthe brow of the hills and within sight and sound of the flashing Dee. Gradually the natural birch wood shows more traces of cultivation, andis interspersed with such trees and shrubs as suit the climate, andthe rough pasture gives place to the smooth lawn, with a knot ofbright flower-beds on one side. 

The house is built of reddish granite in what is called the baronialstyle, with a sprinkling of peaked gables and pepper-box turrets, anda square tower with a clock which is said to keep the time all overthe parish. Above the principal entrance are the coats of arms, carved, coloured, and picked out with gold. There are two bas-reliefsserving to indicate the character of the building--a hunting-lodgeunder the patronage of St. Hubert, supported by St. Andrew of Scotlandand St. George of England, the stag between whose antlers the sacredcross sprang, forming part of the representation. The other bas-reliefshows groups of men engaged in Highland games. 

Within doors many a relic of the chase appears in antlered headssurmounting inscriptions in brass of the date of the slaying of thestag and the name of the slayer. The engravings on the walls aremostly of mountain landscapes and sporting scenes, in which Landseer'shand is prominent, and of family adventures in making this ascent orcrossing that ford. 

The furniture is as Scotch as may be--chairs and tables, with fewexceptions, of polished birch hangings and carpets with the tartancheck on the velvet pile, the royal "sets" in all their bewilderingvariety: "royal Stewart, " strong in scarlet; "Victoria, " with thecheck relieved on a white ground; "Albert, " on a deep blue, and"hunting Stewart, " which suddenly passes into a soft vivid green, crossed by lines of red and yellow. 

Drawing-room, dining-room, billiard-room, and library are spaciousenough for royalty, while small enough for comfort when royalty is inhappy retreat in little more than a large family circle rusticatingfrom choice. The corridors look brown and simple, like the rest of thehouse, and lack the white statuary of Osborne, and the superb vases, cabinets, and pictures of Buckingham Palace and Windsor. By thechimney-piece in the entrance hall rest the tattered colours onceborne through flood and field by two famous regiments, one of them"the Cameronians. "

In the drawing-room is a set of chairs with covers in needlework sewedby a cluster of industrious ladies-in-waiting. In the library hangs arichly wrought wreath of flowers in porcelain, an offering fromMessrs. Minton to the Queen. On the second story are the private roomsof her Majesty and the different members of the royal family. Perhapsthe ballroom, a long hall, one story in height, running out from thebuilding like an afterthought, is one of the most picturesque featuresof the place. The decorations consist of devices placed at intervalson the walls. These devices are made up of Highland weapons, Highlandplaids, Highland bonnets bearing the chief's feather or the badge ofthe clan. Doubtless tufts of purple heather and russet bracken, withbunches of the coral berries of the rowan, will supplement otheradornments as the occasion calls for them; and when the lights gleam, the pipers strike up, and the nimble dancers foot it with grace andglee through reel [Footnote: "Yesterday we had the Gillies' Ball, atwhich Arthur distinguished himself and was greatly applauded in theHighland reels. Next to Jamie Gow, he was the 'favourite in theroom. '"--Extract from one of the Prince Consort's letters. ] and sword-dance, the effect must be excellent of its kind. For long years theballs at Balmoral have been mostly kindly festivals to the humblefriends who look forward to the royal visits as to the galas of theyear, the greater part of which is spent in a remote solitude notwithout the privations which accompany a northern winter. 

The parish church of Crathie, a little, plain, white building, wellsituated on a green, wooded knoll, looks across the Dee to Balmoral. The church is notable for its wide, red-covered gallery seats, towhich the few plain pews in the area below bear a small proportion. The Queen's arms are in front of the gallery, which contains her seatand that of the Prince of Wales. Opposite are two stained-glasswindows, representing King David with his harp, and St. Paul with thesword of the Spirit and the word of God, gifts of the Queen in memoryof her sister, the Princess of Hohenlohe, and of Dr. Norman Macleod. Famous speakers and still more famous hearers have worshipped togetherin this simple little country church. Macleod, Tulloch, Caird, Macgregor--the foremost orators in the Church of Scotland--have takentheir turn with the scholarly parish minister, while in the pews, bearing royalty company, have sat statesmen and men of letters of whomthe world has heard: Lord Derby, Mr. Gladstone, Dean Stanley, SirArthur Helps, &c. , &c. 

The old churchyard in which John Brown, the Queen's trusty Scotchservant, faithful as a squire of old, sleeps, lies down in the lowland near the Dee. John Brown's house, solid and unpretending like theman himself, which he only occupied once, when his coffin lay for anight in the dining-room, is in the neighbourhood. 

The Queen has white cottages not far from the castle gate, built onthe model of the Osborne cottages, pretty and convenient homes ofkeepers, keepers' widows, &c. , &c. , with the few artisans whoseservices are necessary for the small population. There are othercottages of the old, homely sort, containing no more than "the buttand the benn" of stereotyped Scotch architecture, with the fire madeof "peats" or of sticks on the hearth-floor. In some of these, thewalls of the better rooms are covered with good plates and photographsof every member of the royal family, with whose lineaments we arefamiliar, from the widowed Queen to the last royal couple among hergrandchildren. These likenesses are much-valued gifts from theoriginals. 

As a nucleus to the cottages, there is _the_ shop or Highlandstore with a wide door and a couple of counters representing twobranches of trade in the ordinarily distinct departments of groceriesand haberdashery. Probably this is the one shop in her Majesty'sdomains in which, as we have evidence in her journal, [Footnote: "Lifein the Highlands"--Queen's journal. "Albert went out with Alfred forthe day, and I walked out with the two girls and Lady Churchill, stopped at the shop and made some purchases for poor people andothers. Drove a little way, got out and walked up the hill to_Balnacroft_, Mrs. P. Farquharson's, and she walked round with usto some of the cottages to show me where the poor people lived, and totell them who I was.... I went into a small cabin of old Kitty Kear's, who is eighty-six years old, quite erect, and who welcomed us with agreat air of dignity. She sat down and spun. I gave her, also, a warmpetticoat; she said, 'May the Lord ever attend ye and yours, here andhereafter, and may the Lord be a guide to ye and keep ye from allharm. ' ... We went into three other cottages--to Mrs. Symons's(daughter-in-law to the old widow living next door) who had an 'unwellboy, ' then across a little burn to another old woman's, and afterwardspeeped into Blair's, the fiddler. We drove back and got out again tovisit old Mrs. Grant (Grant's mother), who is so tidy and clean, andto whom I gave a dress and a handkerchief; and she said, 'You're tookind to me, you're over kind to me, ye give me more every year, and Iget older every year. ' After talking some time to her, she said, 'I amhappy to see ye looking so nice. ' She had tears in her eyes, andspeaking of Vicky's going said, 'I'm very sorry, and I think she issorry hersel'. '... "] she avails herself of the feminine privilege ofshopping. For the Queen can live the life of a private lady--can showherself the most considerate and sympathetic of noble gentlewomen inthis primitive locality. She can walk or drive her ponies, or visit onfoot her commissioner or her minister, or look in at her school, orcall on her sick, aged, and poor, and take to them the comforts shehas provided for them, the tokens of her remembrance they prize somuch. She can enjoy their simple friendliness and native shrewdness. She can read to them words of lofty promise and tender consolation. She can do all as if she were not crowned Queen and ruler of a greatkingdom. In hardly any other part of her empire would such pleasantfamiliar intercourse and gentle personal charities be possible forher. The association has been deepened and strengthened by a durationof more than thirty years. The Queen came while still a young wife toBalmoral, and she has learnt to love and be loved by her neighbours inthe long interval which leaves her a royal widow of threescore. Herchildren were fair-haired little boys and girls, making holiday here, playing at riding and shooting, getting into scrapes like otherchildren, [Footnote: There is a story told of one of the littleprinces having chased an old woman's hen and been soundly scolded byher for the offence. Her neighbours remonstrated with her, and herheart failed her when, a few days afterwards, she saw the PrinceConsort coming up the path to her house leading the small offender. But the visit was one of courteous deprecation, in order that thelittle hunter of forbidden game might personally apologise for hisdelinquency. ] prattling to the old women in "mutches" and "shortgowns, " whose houses were so charmingly queer and convenient, with thefires on the hearths to warm cold little toes, and the shadowy nooksready for hide-and-seek. These children are now older than theirmother was when she first came up Dee-side, heads of houses in theirturn, but they have not forgotten the friends of their youth. 

The rustic community is pervaded in an odd and fascinating manner withthe fine flavour of a Court. It has, as it were, a touch of Arcady. Among tales of the great storms and fragments of old legends, curiousreflections of high life and gossip of lords and ladies crop up. Notonly are noble names and distinguished personages, everyday sounds andfriendly acquaintances in this privileged region, but when the greatworld follows its liege lady here, it is to live in _villiagiatura_, tocopy her example in adapting itself to the ways of the place and incultivating the natives. Courtiers are only courtly in being frankly atease with the whole human race. Ladies-in-waiting and maids of honourlose their pride of rank and worldly ambition--if they ever had any, stroll about, drop into this or that cottage at will, and have theircronies there as in loftier localities. We hear of this or thatmarriage, which has yet to be announced in the _Morning Post_; how anoble duke, who was conveniently in attendance on the Prince, oncewalked with a fair and gentle lady, whose father was in waiting on theQueen, through the birch woods and by the brawling Dee, and a marriage, only too shortlived, came of it. And we end by listening to the piteousdetails of the swift fading away of the much-loved young duchess. Othernames, with which the Court Calendar has made us familiar, areconstantly coming to the surface in the conversation, generally inassociation with some act of cheery good fellowship. The son of an earlfound a dog for his mother at one of these cottage hearths, and neverreturned to the neighbourhood without punctually reporting himself totell its old mistress how well her former pet was thriving--that it hadits dinner with the family in the dining-room, and drove every day withthe countess in her carriage. 

The fine old white house of Abergeldie, with its single-turretedtower, has become the Scotch home of a genial prince and a beautifulprincess, who, we may remember, remained steadfastly settled thereduring the darkening, shortening days of a gloomy autumn, in devotedwatch over her lady-in-waiting lying sick, nigh unto death with fever. Abergeldie has another cherished memory, that of the good old Duchessof Kent, for whom Prince Albert first rented the castle, who oftenstayed in it, accompanied by her son, the Prince of Leiningen, herdaughter, the Princess of Hohenlohe, or some member of their families. The peculiar cradle which used to be swung across the Dee here, conveying passengers as well as parcels, has been removed inconsequence of the last disaster which befell its progress. An earliertragedy of a hapless bride and bridegroom who perished in making thepassage is still remembered. Remoter traditions, like that of theburning of a witch on Craig-na-Ban, linger in the neighbourhood. 

Beyond Balmoral, in the Braemar direction, stretches the fine deer-forest--a great fir-wood on broken ground--of Ballochbuie, a remnant ofthe old forest of Mar, where a pretended hunting expedition meant aprojected rebellion. It is said an earl of that name bestowed it on aFarquaharson in exchange for so small a matter as a plaid. It is nowpart of the estate of Balmoral. The hills of Craig Nortie and MealAlvie lie not far off, while on the opposite side rise Craig-na-Banand Craig Owsel. 

Of all the Queen's haunts, that which she has made most her own, whereshe has stayed for a day or two at a time, seeming to prefer to do sowhen the hills have received their first powdering of snow, [Footnote:"A little shower of snow had fallen, but was succeeded by brilliantsunshine. The hills covered with snow, the golden birch-trees on thelower brown hills, and the bright afternoon sky, were indescribablybeautiful"--Extract from the Queen's journal. ] almost every yearduring her residence in Aberdeenshire, is that which includes Alt-na-Giuthasach and the Glassalt Shiel. This retreat is now reached by agood carriage-road over a long tract of moorland among brown hills, opening now and then in different directions to show vistas closed inby the giant heads and shoulders--here of dark Loch-na-Gar, there ofBen Macdhui, both of them presenting great white splashes on theirseamed and scarred sides--wide patches of winter snow on this Julyday, far more than usual at the season, which will not melt now whilethe year lasts. "Burns, " the Girnoch and the Muich, trot by turnsalong with us, singing their stories, half blythe, half plaintive. Once or twice a lowly farmhouse has a few grass or oat-fields spreadout round it, with the solitude of the hills beyond. A cross-road tosuch a house was so bad that a dog-cart brought up to it, had beenunyoked and left by the side of the main road, while its occupantstrudged to their destination on foot, leading with them the horse, which needed rest and refreshment still more than its masters. Theblue waters of Loch Muich come in sight with bare precipitous hillsround; a little wood clothes the mouth of the pass and the loch, andhelps to shelter Alt-na-Ginthasach. The hut is now the Prince ofWales's small shooting-lodge. The modest blue stone building, with itsbrown wooden porch and its offices behind, is built on a knoll, andcommands a beautiful view of the loch and the steep rocky crags tothose who care for nature at the wildest. The only vestige of softgreen is the knoll on which the hut stands. All the rest is bleak andbrown, or purple when the heather is in bloom. The hills, torn by thewinter torrents, are glistening after a summer shower with a hundredsilver threads in the furrows of the watercourses. 

There are fences and gates to the royal domicile, but there is hardlyan attempt to alter its character within, unless by a round plot ofrhododendrons offering a few late blossoms. But all nature, howeverstern and savage, smiles on a July day. The purple heather-bell is inbloom, the tiny blue milkwort and the yellow rock-rose help to make asummer carpet which is rendered still gayer by many a pale peach-coloured orchis and by an occasional spray of wild roses, deeper inthe rose than the same flower is in the low countries, or by a tallwhite foxglove. Loch Muich may be desolation itself when the heatherand bracken are sere, when the lowering sky breathes nothing savegloom, and chill mist-wreaths creep round its precipices; but when theair is buoyant in its tingling sharpness, when the dappled whiteclouds are reflected in water--blue, not leaden, and there is enoughsunshine to cast intermittent shadows on the hillsides and the loch, though a transient darkness and a patter of raindrops vary the scene, it has its day and way of blossoming. 

The Queen's house or shiel of the Glassalt stands near the head of thetwo miles long loch, just beyond the point where the Glassalt burncomes leaping and dashing down the hillside. Here, too, is a smallsheltering fir and birch plantation, though not large enough to hidethe full view of the sentinel hills. A "roundel" of _Alpenrosen_, or dwarf rhododendrons, is the only break in the growth of moss andheather. The loch is so near the house that a stone thrown by achild's hand from the windows of the principal rooms would fall intothe watery depths. 

The interior is almost as simple and limited in accommodation as Alt-na-Giuthasach was when the Queen described it in her journal. Thedining-room and drawing-room might, in old fashioned language, becalled "royal closets"--cosy and sweet with chintz hangings and coversto chairs and couches, a small cottage piano, a book-tray in whichHill Burton's "History of Scotland" and Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of aGrandfather, " find their place among Scotch poetry old and new. Theengravings on the walls tell of that fidelity to the dead whichimplies truth to the living. There are likenesses of the Prince--whodied before this house was built, as in the great palaces; the Duchessof Hesse--best known in the north as Princess Alice; the Princess ofHohenlohe, with her handsome matronly face, full of sense andkindness, and her young daughter, Princess Elise, who passed away inthe springtime of her life. In these rustic sitting-rooms and theadjacent bedrooms and dressing-rooms we come again on many a portraitof the humble friends of the family--the dogs which we seem to know sowell; the early group of little Dash and big Nero, and Hector with theparrot Lorey; Cairnach, Islay, Deckel, &c. [Footnote: An anecdote ofthe royal kennels states that when no notice has been given, theservants shall know of her Majesty's presence in the vicinity, andwill say among themselves, "The Queen is at Frogmore" by the actionsof the dogs, the stir and excitement, the eager listening, sniffing ofthe air, wagging of tails, and common desire to break bounds andscamper away to greet their royal mistress. ]

Behind the house a winding footpath leads up the hill to the rockycleft from which issues in a succession of white and foamy twists anddownward springs, the Falls of the Glassalt. Turning round from thespectacle, the stranger looks down on the loch in its semicircle ofmountains. Gaining the crest of the hill and descending the edge onthe opposite side, the foot of the grim giant Loch-na-Gar is reached. 

Among the visitors at Balmoral in 1858 was Florence Nightingale. TheQueen had before this presented her with a jewel in remembrance of herservices in the Crimea. The design was as follows: a field of whiteenamel was charged with a St. George's cross in ruby red enamel, fromwhich shot rays of gold. This field was encircled by a black bandbearing the scroll "Blessed are the merciful. " The shield was set in aframework of palm-branches in green enamel tipped with gold, andunited at the bottom by a riband of blue enamel inscribed "Crimea" ingold letters. The cypher V. R. Surmounted by a crown in diamonds, wascharged upon the centre of the cross. On the back was a gold tabletwhich bore an inscription from the hand of her Majesty. 

While the Queen was in Scotland the marriage in Germany of one of thedaughters of the Princess of Hohenlohe took place. Princess Adelaide, like her sister Princess Elise, possessed of many attractions, becamethe wife of Prince Frederick of Schleswig Holstein Sonderberg-Augustenberg, the brother of Prince Christian, destined to become thehusband of Princess Helena. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

DEATH OF THE PRINCE Of LEININGEN--BIRTH OF PRINCESS BEATRICE--BESTOWALOF THE VICTORIA CROSS--INDIAN MUTINY. 

The court returned to Windsor in October, and in November a severeblow struck the Queen in the death of her brother, the Prince ofLeiningen. A second fit of apoplexy ended his life while his sister, the Princess of Hohenlohe, watched by his death-bed. Prince Leiningenwas fifty-two years of age. He had served in the Bavarian army, andwas a man of recognised influence among his countrymen in the Germantroubles of 1848, which cost him his principality. He had married in1829, when he was twenty-seven years of age and when the Queen wasonly a little girl of ten, Marie (née) Countess of Kletelsberg. Heleft two sons, the eldest of whom, Prince Ernest, entered the Englishnavy. 

Her Majesty's references to the death in her letters to King Leopoldare very pathetic. "Oh! dearest uncle, this blow is a heavy one, mygrief very bitter. I loved my dearest, only brother, most tenderly. "And again, "We three were particularly fond of each other, and neverfelt or fancied that we were not real _geschwister_ (children ofthe same parents). We knew but one parent, _our_ mother, sobecame very closely united, and so I grew up; the distance whichdifference of age placed between us entirely vanished.... " The agedDuchess of Kent was "terribly distressed, but calm and resigned. "

Baron Stockmar was with the royal family at this time. It was his lastvisit to England. His company, always earnestly coveted, especially bythe Prince, was apt to be bestowed in an erratic fashioncharacteristic of the man. Some one of the royal children wouldunexpectedly announce, "Papa, do you know the Baron is in his room, "which was the first news of his arrival. 

During the stay of the Court at Osborne in December, the graceful giftof the _Resolute_ was made by the Americans to the Queen, andaccepted by her Majesty in person, with marked gratification. The_Resolute_ was one of the English ships which had gone to thenorth seas in search of Sir John Franklin. It had been abandoned inthe ice, found by an American vessel, taken across the Atlantic, refitted, and by a happy thought offered as a suitable token to theQueen. 

On the 14th of April, 1857, the Queen's fifth daughter and ninth andlast child was born at Buckingham Palace. A fortnight afterwards theDuchess of Gloucester, the last of George the III. And QueenCharlotte's children, died in her eighty-third year. The Queen wroteof her to King Leopold, who must have been well acquainted with her inhis youth, "Her age, and her being a link with bygone times andgenerations, as well as her great kindness, amiability, andunselfishness, rendered her more and more dear and precious to us all, and we all looked upon her as a sort of grandmother. " Sixty-two yearsbefore, when the venerable Princess was a charming maiden of eighteen, she had gloried in the tidings of her princely cousin's laurels, wonon the battlefields of Flanders. More than twenty years afterwards, when Princess Charlotte descended the staircase of Carlton House afterher marriage with Prince Leopold, "she was met at the foot with openarms by the Princess Mary, whose face was bathed in tears. " The firstwedding had removed the obstacle to the second, which was celebrated afew weeks later. The Duchess lived for eighteen years happily with herhusband, then spent more than twenty years in widowhood. She ended herlong life at Gloucester House, Park Lane. At her earnest request, shewas buried without pomp or show with her people in the family vault atWindsor. 

Before the late Duchess of Gloucester's funeral, Prince Albert, according to a previous pledge, opened, on the 5th of May, the greatArt Exhibition at Manchester, to which the Queen contributed largely. 

On the announcement to Parliament of the Princess Royal's approachingmarriage, the House of Commons voted in a manner gratifying to theQueen and the Prince a dowry of forty thousand, with an annuity ofeight thousand a year to the Princess. 

At Osborne the Queen had a flying visit from one of her recentenemies, the Archduke Constantine, the Admiral-in-Chief of the Russiannavy. 

On the 14th of June, the young Archduke Maximilian of Austria arrived. He was an object of peculiar interest to the Queen and the Prince, asthe future husband of their young cousin, Princess Charlotte ofBelgium. He seemed in every way worthy of the old king's carefulchoice for his only daughter. Except in the matter of looks, he wasall that could have been wished--good, clever, kind. But man proposesand God disposes; so it happened that the marriage attended by suchbright and apparently well-founded hopes resulted in one of the mostpiteous tragedies that ever befell a noble and innocent royal pair. Another bridegroom, Prince Frederick William, was in England to meetthe Archduke, and a third was hovering in the background in the personof Don Pedro of Portugal, whose marriage with Princess Stephanie ofHohenzollern Prince Albert had been requested to negotiate. Marriage-bells were in the air, and that must indeed have been a joyouschristening at which two of the bridegrooms were present. PrinceFrederick William of Prussia acted as godfather to his future littlesister-in-law, while his betrothed bride was one of the godmothers. The infant was named as her Majesty explained to King Leopold: "She isto be called Beatrice, a fine old name, borne by three of thePlantaganet princesses, and her other names will be Mary (after poorAunt Mary), Victoria (after mamma and Vicky, who with Fritz Wilhelmare to be the sponsors), and Feodore (the Queen's sister). " HerMajesty's last baby was a beautiful infant, soon to exhibit bright andwinning ways, the pet plaything of her brothers and sisters, andespecially of her father. 

On the 25th of June the Queen conferred on Prince Albert, by letterspatent, the title of "Prince Consort. " The change was desirable, toinsure the proper recognition of his rank, as her Majesty's husband, at foreign courts. 

On the following day, the 26th, the interesting ceremony of the firstbestowal of the Victoria Cross took place in Hyde Park before manythousands of spectators. The idea was to provide a decoration whichmight be earned by officers and soldiers alike, as it should beconferred for a single merit--the highest a soldier could possess, yetin its performance open to all--devoted, unselfish courage. Thus arosethe most coveted and honourable of English orders, which confers moreglory on its wearer than the jewelled star of the Order of the Gartergives distinction. In excellent keeping with the motive of thecreation, the Maltese cross is of the plainest material, iron from thecannon taken at Sebastopol; in the centre is the crown, surmounted bythe lion; below it the scroll "For Valour. " On the clasp are branchesof laurel; the cross hangs suspended from it by the letter V--a redriband being for the army, a blue for the navy. The decorationincludes a pension of ten pounds a year. The arrangements for theceremony were similar to those at the distribution of the medals, except that her Majesty was on horseback. She rode a grey roan, andwore a scarlet jacket with a black skirt. Stooping from her seat onhorseback, she pinned the cross on each brave man's breast, while thePrince saluted him with "a gesture of marked respect. " [Footnote:"Life of the Prince Consort. "] Prince Frederick William was with theroyal party. 

A few days afterwards, the Queen, the Prince, their two elderdaughters and two elder sons and Prince Frederick William of Prussia, a large party, paid a visit to Manchester, staying two nights atWorsley Hall. They inspected the great picture exhibition, receivedaddresses, and traversed the streets to Peel Park, where a statue toher Majesty had been recently erected, the whole amidst muchrejoicing. 

In the end of June, King Leopold arrived with his daughter on afarewell visit before her marriage, so that there were two youngbrides comparing experiences and anticipating what the coming yearswould bring, under her Majesty's wing. The princesses were nearly ofan age, neither quite seventeen. They had been playmates and friendssince childhood, but the fates in store for them were very different. 

In the second week of July the freedom of the City of London waspresented to Prince Frederick William of Prussia; the Prince Consortwas sworn in master of the Trinity House, and the Queen and the Princevisited the camp at Aldershott. On the 27th the marriage of thePrincess Charlotte of Belgium and the Archduke Maximilian wascelebrated at Brussels. The Prince went abroad for a few days, to makeone in the group of friends and relations, among whom was the oldFrench Queen Amélie, the grandmother of the bride. Queen Victoriawrote to King Leopold, that she was present with them in spirit, andthat she could not have given a greater proof of her love than she hadshown in urging her husband to go. "You cannot think how much thiscosts me, " she added, "or how completely forlorn I am and feel when heis away, or how I count the hours till he returns. All the numerouschildren are as nothing to me when he is away. It seems as if thewhole life of the house and the home were gone. "

On the 6th of August, the Emperor of the French's yacht, with theEmperor and Empress on board, arrived on the English coast, and aprivate visit of a few days' length was paid to the Queen and thePrince at Osborne. On the 19th of August Her Majesty and the Prince, with six of their children, in the royal yacht, paid an equallyprivate visit to Cherbourg, in the absence of the Emperor and Empress. During the short stay there was a long country drive to an oldchateau, when darkness overtook the adventurous party, and all wasagreeably fresh and foreign. 

By the beginning of September terrible tidings arrived from India. Themassacre of the English women and children at Cawnpore, after thesurrender of the fort, and the perilous position of the garrison atLucknow, darkened the usually joyous stay at Balmoral, to which thePrincess Royal was paying her last visit. Another source of distressto the Queen and the Prince, when the mutiny began to be put down, wasthe indiscriminate vengeance which a section of the rulers in Indiaseemed inclined to take on the natives for the brutalities of therebels. At length Lucknow was relieved, and England breathed freelyagain, though the country had to mourn the death of Havelock. SirColin Campbell completed the defeat of the enemy, and the first stepswere taken to put an end to the complications of government in India, by bringing the great colony directly under the rule of the Queen, andcausing the intermediate authority of the East India Company to cease. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL. 

In the end of 1857 there were many preparations for the marriage ofthe Princess Royal in the month of January in the coming year. In theinterval a calamity occurred at Claremont which revived therecollection of the great disaster in the early years of the century, and was deeply felt by the Queen and the Prince Consort. The prettyand gentle Victoire, Duchesse de Nemours, the Queen and the PrinceConsort's cousin, and his early playfellow, had given birth to aprincess, and appeared to be recovering, in spite of her presentimentto the contrary. The Queen had gone to see and congratulate her. Theold Queen Amélie and the Duc de Nemours had been at Windsor full ofthankfulness for the happy event. The Duchess was sitting up in bed, looking cheerfully at the new dress in which she was to rejoin thefamily circle next day, when in a second she fell back dead. 

Another shock was the news of the Orsini bomb, which exploded close tothe Emperor and Empress of the French as they were about to enter theopera-house. 

The marriage of the Princess Royal was fixed for the 25th of January, 1858. On the 15th the Court left Windsor for Buckingham Palace, whenthe Queen's diary records the sorrow with which the young briderelinquished many of the scenes and habits of her youth. One sentencerecalls vividly the kindly family ties which united the royalchildren. Her Majesty writes, "She slept for the last time in the sameroom with Alice. " In the course of the next few days all the guestshad assembled, including, King Leopold and his sons, the Prince andPrincess of Prussia, the Duke of Saxe Coburg, with minor princes andprincesses, to the number of nearly thirty, so that even BuckinghamPalace was hardly large enough to hold the guests and their suites. Atthe nightly dinner party from eighty to ninety covers were laid. Butone old friend was absent, to the regret of all, and not least so ofthe bride. Baron Stockmar was too ill to accept the invitation to bepresent at the ceremony. One of his sons was to accompany the Princessto Berlin as her treasurer. 

"Such bustle and excitement, " wrote the Queen, and then she describesan evening party with a "very gay and pretty dance" on the 18th, whenErnest, Duke of Coburg, said, "It seemed like a dream to him to seeVicky dance as a bride, just as I did eighteen years ago, and I amstill (so he said) looking very young. In 1840 poor dear papa (lateDuke of Coburg) danced with me, as Ernest danced with Vicky. " Intruth, neither the father nor the mother of the bride of seventeen hadreached the age of forty. 

The first of the public festivities were three of the four Statevisits to Her Majesty's Theatre, "when the whole of the boxes on oneside of the grand tier had been thrown into one" for the royal companygracing the brilliant audience--which, as on a former occasion, filledthe back of the stage as well as the rest of the house. The plays andoperas were, _Macbeth_, in which Helen Faucit acted, [Footnote:Another great actress had just passed away in her prime. MademoiselleRachel had died in the beginning of this month, near Cannes. ] _TwiceKilled, The Rose of Castille, Somnambula_. At the firstperformance, the Queen sat between the King of the Belgians and thePrince of Prussia. After the play, "God save the Queen" was sung withmuch enthusiasm. 

As when her own marriage had occurred, all the nation sympathised withHer Majesty. It was as if from every house a cherished young daughterwas being sent with honour and blessing. The Princess Royal, alwaysmuch liked, appealed especially to the popular imagination at thistime because of her extreme youth, her position as a bride, and thecircumstance that she was the first of the Queen's children thus toquit the home-roof. But, indeed, we cannot read the published passagesin the Queen's journal that refer to the marriage without a livelyrealisation of the touch of nature which makes the whole world kin, without a sense that good true hearts beat alike everywhere, and thatstrong family affection--an elixir of life--is the same in the palaceas in the cottage. 

In fine frosty weather, on Saturday, the 23rd, the Prince Consort, after a walk in Buckingham Palace Gardens with the Queen and the childso soon to be parted from them, started to bring the bridegroom, whohad landed in England that morning. He arrived in the middle of theday, and was received in the presence of the Court. The Queen foundhim looking pale and nervous, but no doubt alive to her warm greeting, at the bottom of the grand staircase. At the top a still sweeterreward awaited him, for the Princess Royal, with her fifteen years'old sister, Princess Alice, to keep her company, stood there. 

On the 24th, all the gifts to the young couple, which the Queen calls"splendid, " were shown in the large drawing-room--the Queen's, thePrince Consort's, the Duchess of Kent's, &c. , on one table; thePrussian and other foreign gifts on another. Of the bride-groom'sgift--a single string of large pearls, said to have been worth fivethousand pounds, her Majesty remarks that they were the largest sheever saw. The Queen gave a necklace of diamonds, the Prince Consort aset of diamonds and emeralds, the Prince of Wales a set of diamondsand opals, the King and Queen of Prussia a diamond tiara, the Princeof Prussia a diamond and turquoise necklace, King Leopold a Brusselslace dress, valued at a thousand pounds. On a third table were thecandelabra which the Queen and the Prince gave to their son-in-law. The near relations of the bride and bridegroom brought the youngcouple into the room, and witnessed their pleasure at the magnificentsight. Before the Sunday service the Princess Royal gave the Queen abrooch with the Princess's hair, clasping her mother in her arms asshe did so, and telling her--precious words for such a mother to hear, nobly fulfilled in the days to come--that she hoped to be worthy to beher child. 

Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, preached an eloquent sermon. 

"Very busy, interrupted and disturbed every instant, " the record runson. Many can enter into the feelings which prompted the Queen and thePrince, after the duties of hospitality were discharged, to accompanytheir child to her room for the last time, and to kiss and bless herwhile she clung to them. It is necessary to remember that every rankhas its privations. Not the least penalty of such a station as thatwhich the Princess Royal was to occupy arose from the fact that itsmany and weighty obligations precluded the hope of her returningfrequently or for any length of time to the home where she had been sohappy, which she was so grieved to quit, though social customs haveimproved in this respect, and royal marriages no longer mean, as amatter of course, banishment for life from the bride's native country. 

On the wedding morning, the Queen declared very naturally that shefelt as if she were being married over again herself, "only much morenervous, " since now it was for another, and a dearer than herself, that her heart was throbbing. Besides, she said, she had not "thatblessed feeling, elevating and supporting, of giving herself up forlife to him whom she loved and worshipped--then and ever. " She wascomforted by her daughter's coming to her while the Queen wasdressing, showing herself quiet and composed. The day was fine, with awinter sun shining brightly, as all England, especially all Londonknew, for many a pleasure-seeker was abroad betimes to enjoy theholiday. The marriage was to take place, like the Queen's marriage, inthe little Chapel Royal of St. James's. Before setting out, a finaldaguerreotype was taken of the family group, father, mother, anddaughter, "but I trembled so, " the Queen writes, "my likeness has comeout indistinct. "

In the drive from Buckingham Palace to St James's, the Princess Royalin her wedding dress was in the carriage with her Majesty, sittingopposite to her, when "the flourish of trumpets and the cheering ofthousands" made the Queen's motherly heart sink. In the bride'sdressing-room, fitted up for the day, to which the Queen took thePrincess, were the Prince Consort and King Leopold, both in field-marshals' uniform, and carrying batons, and the eight bridesmaids, "looking charming in white tulle, with wreaths and bouquets of pinkroses and white heather. "

Her Majesty left the bride and repaired to the royal closet, where shefound the Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of Cambridge with her sonand daughter. Old and new relations were claiming the Queen at thesame time. Her thoughts were perpetually straying back to that formerwedding-day. She spared attention from her daughter to bestow it onher mother, "looking so handsome in violet velvet, trimmed with ermineand white silk and violets. " And as the processions were formed, herMajesty exclaimed, perhaps with a vague pang, referring to the goodold Duchess still with her, and still able to play her part in thejoyful ceremony, "How small the _old_ royal family has become!"Indeed, there were but two representatives--the Duchesses of Kent andCambridge. The Princess Mary of Cambridge, the farthest removed fromthe throne, walked first of the English royal family, her train borneby Lady Arabella Sackville West; then the Duke of Cambridge; theDuchess of Cambridge followed, her train borne by Lady GeraldineSomerset. The Duchess of Kent, with her train borne the Lady AnnaMaria Dawson, walked next to the present royal family. They werepreceded by Lord Palmerston, bearing the sword of state. The Prince ofWales, and Prince Alfred, fresh from his naval studies, lads ofsixteen and fourteen, in Highland costumes, were immediately beforethe Queen, who walked between Prince Arthur and Prince Leopold, children of eight and five years of age. Her Majesty's train was oflilac velvet, petticoat of lilac and silver moiré--antique, with aflounce of Honiton lace; corsage ornamented with diamonds, the Koh-i-noor as a brooch; head-dress, a magnificent diadem of diamonds andpearls. The three younger princesses--Alice, Helena, and Louise, girlsof fifteen, twelve, and ten--went hand-in-hand behind their mother. They wore white lace over pink satin, with daisies and bluecornflowers in their hair. 

Most of the foreign princes were already in the chapel, which was fullof noble company, about three hundred peers and peeresses beingaccommodated there. White and blue prevailed in the colours of theladies dresses, blue in compliment to Prussia. At the altar, set outwith gold plate of Queen Anne's reign, were the Archbishop ofCanterbury, the Bishops of London, Oxford, and Chester, and the Deanof Windsor. As the Queen entered, she and the Princess of Prussiaexchanged profound obeisances. Near her Majesty were her young princesand princesses; behind her the Duchess of Kent; opposite her thePrincess of Prussia, with the foreign princes behind her. 

The drums and trumpets and the organ played as the bridegroom's andthe bride's processions approached, and the Queen describes thethrilling effect of the music drawing nearer and nearer. Thebridegroom entered between his supporters, his father and brother-in-law, the Prince of Prussia and Prince William of Baden. PrinceFrederick William, soldierly and stately, wore the blue uniform of aPrussian general, with the insignia of the Black Eagle, and carried inhis hand his polished silver helmet. He looked pale and agitated, butwas quite master of himself. He bowed low to the Queen and to hismother, then knelt with a devotion which attracted attention. Thebride walked as at her confirmation, between her father and godfather--her grand-uncle King Leopold. Her blooming colour was gone, and shewas pale almost as her white dress of moiré and Honiton lace, withwreaths of orange and myrtle blossoms. Her train was borne by eightbridesmaids--daughters of dukes, marquises, and earls--Lady SusanClinton, Lady Emma Stanley, Lady Susan Murray, Lady Victoria Noel, Lady Cecilia Gordon Lennox, Lady Katherine Hamilton, Lady ConstanceVilliers, and Lady Cecilia Molyneux. 

One can well conceive that the young princess looked "very touchingand lovely, with such an innocent, confiding, and serious expression, her veil hanging back over her shoulders. "

As the Princess advanced to the altar, she paused and made a deepobeisance to her mother, colouring high as she did so, and the same tothe Princess of Prussia. The bridegroom when he took the bride's handbent one knee. 

Once more as the Prince Consort gave her daughter away, her Majestyhad a bright vision of her own happy marriage on that very spot; againshe was comforted by her daughter's self-control, and she couldrealise that it was beautiful to see the couple kneeling there withhands joined, the bridesmaids "like a cloud of maidens hovering nearher (the bride) as they knelt. "

When the ring was placed on the Princess's finger cannon were fired, and a telegram was sent off to Berlin that the same compliment mightbe paid to the pair there. The close of the "Hallelujah Chorus" wassung at the end of the ceremony. 

The usual congratulations followed. The bride flung herself into hermother's arms and was embraced by her again and again, then by herbridegroom and her father. Prince Frederick William kissed first thehand and then the cheek of his father and mother, saluted the PrinceConsort and King Leopold foreign fashion, and was embraced by theQueen. Princess Frederick William would have kissed her father-in-law's hand, but was prevented by his kissing her cheek. The bride andbridegroom left the chapel hand-in-hand to the sound of Mendelssohn's"Wedding March. " The register was signed in the Throne-room first bythe young couple, then by their parents, and afterwards by all theprinces and princesses--including the Maharajah Duleep Singh"resplendent in pearls. "

The newly wedded pair drove to Buckingham Palace, to which the Queenand the Prince Consort followed, with the Prince and Princess ofPrussia, through an immense multitude, amidst ringing cheers. Thewhole party showed themselves on the balcony before the window overthe grand archway, where the Queen had appeared on so many memorableoccasions. First her Majesty with her children came out, then theQueen led forward the bride, who stood hand-in-hand with herbridegroom; afterwards the rest of the circle joined them. It was amatter of lively satisfaction to her Majesty and the Prince Consort towitness the loyal, affectionate interest which the people took intheir daughter, and the Queen and the Prince were ready to gratify themultitude by what is dear to every wedding crowd, "a sight of thebride and bridegroom. "

The wedding cake was six feet high. The departure of the couple forWindsor, where they were to spend their honeymoon, was no more than aforeshadowing of that worse departure a week later. The Queen and thePrincess of Prussia accompanied their children to the grand entrance;the Prince Consort escorted his daughter to her carriage. The bridewore a while _épinglé_ dress and mantle trimmed with grebe, awhite bonnet with orange blossoms, and a Brussel's lace veil. 

At the family dinner after the excitement and fatigue of the day wereover, the Queen felt "lost" without her eldest daughter. In theevening a messenger arrived from Windsor, bringing a letter from thebride telling how the Eton boys had dragged the carriage from thestation to the castle, though she might not know that they, had flungup their hats in the air, many of them beyond recovery, the wearersreturning bareheaded to their college. When the Queen and the Princeread this letter all London was illuminated, and its streets filledwith huzzaing spectators. At the palace the evening closed quietlywith a State concert of classic music. 

The Princess Royal's honeymoon so far as a period of privacy wasconcerned, did not last longer than the Queen's. Two days after themarriage the Court followed the young couple to Windsor, where achapter of the Order of the Garter was held, and Prince FrederickWilliam was created a knight, a banquet being held in the WaterlooGallery. On the 29th of January, the Court-including the newly marriedpair-returned to Buckingham Palace, and in the evening the fourthstate visit was paid to Her Majesty's Theatre, when _The Rivals_and _The Spitalfields Weaver_ were given. The bride was in blueand white, the Prussian colours, and wore a wreath of sweet peas onher hair. 

On the 30th of January, the addresses from the City of London andother cities and towns of the Empire, many of them accompanied bywedding gifts, were received, and there was a great and of coursespecially brilliant Drawing-room, which lasted for four hours. OnSunday the thought of the coming separation pressed heavily on thoseloving hearts, "but God will carry us through, as He did on the 25th, "wrote the Queen reverently, "and we have the comfort of seeing thedear young people so perfectly happy. "

On Monday, the Queen in noting that it was the last day of their dearchild's being with them, admitted she was sick at heart, and the pooryoung bride confided to her mother, "I think it will kill me to takeleave of dear papa. "

Tuesday, the 2nd of February, was dark and cold, with snow beginningto fall, unpropitious weather for a long journey, unless in the Scotchsaying which declares that a bride is happy who goes "a white gate"(road:) All were assembled in the hall, not a dry eye among them, theQueen believed. "I clasped her in my arms, and blessed her, and knewnot what to say. " The royal mother shared all good mother's burdens. "I kissed good Fritz, and pressed his hand again and again. He wasunable to speak, and the tears were in his eyes. " One more embrace ofher daughter at the door of the open carriage, into which the PrinceConsort and the Prince of Wales went along with the Prince andPrincess Frederick William, the band struck up, and they were gone. 

The embarkation was at Gravesend. The Londoners assembled in crowds tosee the last of their Princess on her route to the coast by theStrand, Cheap, and London Bridge. Many persons recall to this day thesorrowful scene in the cheerless snowy weather. This was the reverseside of all the splendid wedding festivities-the bride of seventeenquitting family, home, and native country, sitting grave and sadbeside her equally pale, and silent father--the couple so tenderlyattached, on the eve of the final parting. At Gravesend, where younggirls, in spite of the snow, strewed flowers before the bride's steps, the Prince waited to see the ship sail--not without risk in thesnowstorm--for Antwerp. But no daughter appeared for a last look; thepassionate sorrow of youth hid itself from view. 

Away at Buckingham Palace the Queen could not bear to look at thefamiliar objects--all linked with one vanished presence. The very babyprincess, so great a darling in the household, only brought thethought of how fond her elder sister had been of her; how butyesterday the two had played together. 

The Princess wrote home from the steamer, and every telegram andletter, together with the personal testimony of Lady Churchill andLord Sydney, who had accompanied the travellers to Berlin, conveyedthe most gratifying and consoling intelligence of the warm welcome thestranger had met with, and how well she bore herself in difficultcircumstances. "Quiet and dignified, but with a kind word to say ofeverybody; on the night of her public entry into Berlin and receptionat Court, when she polonaised with twenty-two princes in succession. "[Footnote: Lady Bloomfield. ] The Princess Frederick William continuedto write "almost daily, sometimes twice a day, " to her mother, andregularly once a week to her father. And another fair young daughterwas almost ready to take the Princess Royal's place at the Queen'sside. From the date of her sister's marriage, the Prince Consort'sletters and the Queen's journal tell that the Princess Alice, with herfine good sense and unselfishness, almost precocious at her age, was agreat help and comfort in the royal circle. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

DEATH OF THE DUTCHESS D'ORLEANS--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TOGERMANY--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO PRINCE AND PRINCESSFREDERICK WILLIAM AT BABELSBERG. 

In February, Lord Palmerston's ministry resigned after a defeat on theConspiracy Bill, and Lord Derby, at the Queen's request, formed ashort-lived Cabinet. The Prince of Wales was confirmed on MaundyThursday in the chapel at Windsor. 

In April, the young Queen of Portugal, Princess Stéphanie ofHohenzollern, visited England with her father on her way to herhusband--to whom she had been married by proxy--and her future home. Her charm and sweetness greatly attracted the Queen and the Prince. InMay, only seven months after the death of Victoire, Duchesse deNemours, the sympathies of her Majesty and the Prince Consort wereawakened afresh for the Orleans family. Helene, Duchesse d'Orleans, died suddenly from the effects of influenza at Cranbourne House, Richmond. How many of the large family party with which the Queen hadbeen so delighted when she visited Chateau d'Eu had already passedaway--the old King, Queen Louise, the Duchesse de Nemours, and now theDuchesse d'Orleans! Her two young sons--the elder the Comte de Paris, not yet twenty--were specially adopted by Queen Amélie. 

In the end of May the Prince started for a short visit to Germany, with the double intention of getting a glimpse of his daughter, andrevisiting his country for the first time after thirteen yearsabsence. He accomplished both purposes, and heard "the watchman'shorn" once more before he retired to rest in the old home. He sentmany a loving letter, and tender remembrance to England inanticipation of his speedy return. On his arrival in London he was metby the Queen at the Bricklayers' Arms station. 

In the course of a very hot June, the Queen and the Prince went toWarwickshire, which she had known as a young girl, in order to pay aspecial visit to Birmingham. They were the guests for two nights ofLord and Lady Leigh, at Stoneleigh. Her Majesty had the privilege ofseeing Birmingham without a particle of smoke, while a mightymultitude of orderly craftsmen, with their wives and children, stoodmany hours patiently under the blazing sun, admiring their banners andflags, and cheering lustily for their Queen. One of the objects of thevisit was that her Majesty might open a people's museum and park atAston for the dwellers in the Black country. The royal party drovenext day to one of the finest old feudal castles in England--WarwickCastle, with its noble screen of woods, mirroring itself in the Avon--and were entertained at luncheon by Lord and Lady Warwick. In theevening, in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, the Queen and thePrince returned to Buckingham Palace. 

This season as usual, there was a visit from the King of the Belgiansand several of his family. 

The first Atlantic cable was laid, and lasted just long enough for theexchange of messages of proud congratulation on the wonderfulannihilation of distance between Europe and America, so far as thethoughts of men were concerned. 

After a month's stay at Osborne, during one of the warmest Julys everknown in this country, when the condition of the river Thamesthreatened to drive the Parliament from Westminster, the Queen and thePrince Consort, with the Prince of Wales and their suites, paid astate visit to Cherbourg. The great fort was nearly completed, and theharbour was full of French war-vessels as her Majesty steamed in, onthe evening of the 4th of August, receiving such a salute from theships and the fortress itself as seemed to shake earth and sky. TheEmperor and Empress, who arrived the same day, came on board at eighto'clock, and were cordially received by the Queen and the Prince, though the relations between France and England were not quite soassured as when their soldiers were brothers-in-arms in the Crimea. After the visitors left, the Queen's journal records that she wentbelow and read, and nearly finished "that most interesting book 'JaneEyre. '"

When the Queen and the Prince landed next day, which was fine, theywere received by the Emperor and Empress, entered with them one of theimperial carriages, and drove through the town to the Prefecture, where the party breakfasted or rather lunched. In the afternoon thefort with its gigantic ramparts and magnificent views was visited. There was a State dinner in the evening, in the French ship_Bretagne_. The Emperor received the Queen at the foot of theladder. The dinner was under canvas on deck amidst decorations offlowers and flags. The Queen sat between the Emperor and the Duke ofCambridge; the Empress sat between the Prince Consort and the Princeof Wales. The speechmaking, to which one may say all Europe waslistening, was a trying experience. The Emperor, though he changedcolour, spoke well "in a powerful voice, " proposing the health of theQueen, the Prince, and the royal family, and declaring his adherenceto the French alliance with England. The Prince replied. "He did itvery well, though he hesitated once, " the Queen reported. "I satshaking, with my eyes riveted to the table. " The duty done, a greatrelief was felt, as the speechmakers, with the Queen and the Empress, retired to the privacy of the cabin, shook hands, and compared noteson their nervousness. 

A splendid display of fireworks was witnessed from the deck of the_Bretagne_. In the middle of it the Queen and the Prince returnedto the yacht, escorted by the Emperor and Empress, when they tooktheir departure in turn. They were followed by showers of Englishrockets and rounds of English cheers. 

The next morning the Emperor and Empress paid a farewell visit onboard the yacht, which sailed at last under "heavy salutes. " At fiveo'clock in the afternoon the beach at Osborne was reached. The sailorPrince, whose fourteenth birthday it was, stood on the pier. All thechildren, including the baby, were at the door. The dogs added theirwelcome. The young Prince's birthday-table was inspected. There wasstill time to visit the Swiss Cottage, to which Princess Alice and theQueen drove the other members of the family. The children's castle, where they had lunched in honour of the day, was gay with flags. Prince Alfred with Princess Alice was promoted to join the royaldinner party. The little princes, Arthur and Leopold, appeared atdessert. "A band played, " writes the Queen, "and after dinner wedanced, with the three boys and the three girls and the company, amerry country-dance on the terrace--a delightful finale to theexpedition! It seemed a dream that this morning at twelve we shouldhave been still at Cherbourg, with the Emperor and Empress on boardour yacht. "

On the 11th of August, the Queen and the Prince arrived in the yachtat Antwerp, on their way to Germany, to pay their first eagerlyanticipated visit to the Princess Royal--then a wife of six monthsstanding--in her Prussian home. 

The travellers proceeded by railway to Malines, where they were met byKing Leopold with his second son, and escorted to Verviers in aprogress which was to be as far as possible without soldiers, salutes, addresses; and at Aix-la-Chapelle the Prince of Prussia joined theparty. The halt for the night was at Dusseldorf, where the Prince andPrincess of Hohenzollern were waiting. The Queen and the PrinceConsort quitted their hotel to dine with the Hohenzollern family, inwhose members they were much interested. The Queen made theacquaintance of a young son who is now Prince of Roumania, and ahandsome girl-princess who has become the wife of the Comte deFlanders, King Leopold's younger son. 

The next day, long looked forward to as that which was to bring abouta reunion with the Princess Royal, was suddenly overclouded by thenews of the sad, unexpected death of the Prince's worthy valet, "Cart, " who had come with him to England, and been in his servicetwenty-nine years--since his master was a child of eight The Princeentered the room as the Queen was dressing, carrying a telegram, andsaying "My poor Cart is dead. " Both felt the loss of the old friendacutely. "All day long, " wrote the Queen, "the tears would rush intomy eyes. " She added, "He was the only link my loved one had about himwhich connected him with his childhood, the only one with whom hecould talk over old times. I cannot think of my dear husband withoutCart. " It was no day for sorrow, yet the noble, gentle hearts bledthrough all their joys. 

Before seven the royal party, including the Prince of Prussia, were ontheir way through Rhenish Prussia. As the train rushed by the railwayplatform at Buckeburg there stood the aged Baroness Lehzen, theQueen's good old governess, waving her handkerchief. In the station atHanover were the King and Queen of Hanover, Princess Frederick Charlesof Prussia, and her Majesty's niece, the Princess Feodore ofHohenlohe, a charming girl of nineteen, with her betrothed husband, the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, a widower of thirty-two. 

The Queen then made the acquaintance of one of the cradles of herrace, driving out to the country palace of Herrenhausen, which hadbeen the home of the Electress Sophia, and where George I. Wasresiding when he was summoned to be king of England. At five o'clock, in the heat and the dust, her Majesty resumed her journey, "with aracking headache. " At Magdeburg Prince Frederick William appeared, "radiant, " with the welcome intelligence that his Princess was at theWildpark station. "There on the platform stood our darling child, witha nosegay in her hand. " The Queen described the scene. "She steppedin, and long and warm was the embrace, as she clasped me in her arms;so much to say, and to tell, and to ask, yet so unaltered; lookingwell, quite the old Vicky still! It was a happy moment, for which Ithank God!" It was eleven o'clock at night before the party reachedBabelsberg--a pleasant German country house, with which her Majestywas much pleased. It became her headquarters for the fortnight duringwhich her visit lasted. In addition to enjoying the society of herdaughter, the Queen became familiar with the Princess's surroundings. Daily excursions were made to a succession of palaces connected withthe past and present Prussian royal family. In this manner her Majestylearnt to know the King's palace in Berlin, while the poor King, awreck in health, was absent; Frederick the Great's Schloss at Potsdam;his whimsical Sans Souci with its orange-trees, the New Palais, andCharlottenburg with its mausoleum. The Queen also attended two greatreviews, gave a day to the Berlin Museum, and met old Humboldt morethan once. Among the other guests at Babelsberg were the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Baron Stockmar. The Prince Consort's thirty-ninth birthdaywas celebrated in his daughter's house. At last with struggling tearsand a bravely said "_Auf baldiges wiedersehn_" (to a speedymeeting again), the strongly attached family party separated. Thepeculiar pang of separation to the Queen, she expressed in words whichevery mother will understand. "All would be comparatively easy were itnot for the one thought, that I cannot be with her (the PrincessRoyal), at that very critical moment when every other mother goes toher child. "

The royal travellers stayed over the Sunday at Deutz, and again sawCologne illuminated, the cathedral like "a mass of glowing red fire. "On reaching Osborne on the 31st of August, the Queen and the Princewere met by Prince Alfred--who had just passed his examination andbeen appointed to a ship--"in his middy's jacket, cap, and dirk. "

On their way to Scotland the Queen and the Prince Consort, accompaniedby the Princesses Alice and Helena, visited Leeds, for the purpose ofopening the Leeds Town Hall. The party stayed at Woodley House, theresidence of the mayor, who is described in her Majesty's journal as a"perfect picture of a fine old man. " In his crimson velvet robes andchain of office he looked "the personification of a Venetian doge. "The Queen as usual made "the tour of the town amidst a great concourseof spectators. " She remarked on the occasion, "Nowhere have I seen thechildren's names so often inscribed. On one large arch were even'Beatrice and Leopold, ' which gave me much pleasure.... " a resultwhich, had they known it, would have highly gratified the loyalclothworkers. After receiving the usual addresses, the Queen knightedthe mayor, and by her command Lord Derby declared the hall open. 

While her Majesty was at Balmoral, the marriages of a niece and nephewof hers took place in Germany--Princess Feodore, the youngest daughterof the Princess of Hehenlohe, married the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; andErnest, Prince of Leiningen, the eldest son of the late Prince ofLeiningen, who was in the English navy, married Princess Marie Amélieof Baden. 

More of the English royal children were taking flight from the parentnest. Mr. Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, was appointed Governor to thePrince of Wales, and was about to set out with him on a tour in Italy. Prince Alfred was with his ship at Malta. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

BIRTH OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA--DEATH OF PRINCE HOHENLOHE--VOLUNTEER REVIEWS--SECOND VISIT TO COBURG--BETROTHAL OF PRINCESSALICE. 

One of the beauties of the Queen's early Court, Lady ClementinaVilliers, daughter of the Earl of Jersey, died unmarried at herfather's seat of Middleton Park in 1858. She was as good and clever asshe was beautiful. Like her lovely sister, Princess NicholasEsterhazy, Lady Clementina died in the prime of life, being onlythirty-four years of age. 

On the 27th of January, 1859, the Queen and the Prince received thegood news of the birth of their first grandchild, a fine boy, aftergreat suffering on the part of the young mother. He had forty-twogodfathers and godmothers. 

In April Princess Alice was confirmed. Her Majesty's estimate of herdaughter's character was amply borne out in the years to come. "She isvery good, gentle, sensible, and amiable, and a real comfort to me. "Without her sister, the Princess Royal's, remarkable intellectualpower, Princess Alice had fine intelligence. She was also fair to seein her royal maidenhood. The two elder sons were away. The Prince ofWales was in Italy, Prince Alfred with his ship in the Levant. At homethe volunteer movement, which has since acquired such largeproportions, was being actively inaugurated. The war between Austriaand France, and a dissolution of Parliament, made this spring a busyand an anxious time. The first happy visit from the Princess Royal, who came to join in celebrating her Majesty's birthday at Osborne, would have made the season altogether joyous, had it not been for asudden and dangerous attack of erysipelas from which the Duchess ofKent suffered. The alarm was brief, but it was sharp while it lasted. 

In June her Majesty opened the new Parliament, an event which wasfollowed in a fortnight by the resignation of Lord Derby's Ministry, and Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister with a strong Cabinet. 

At the close of the season the sad news arrived of the sudden deathfrom diphtheria of the year-old wife, the young Queen of Portugal. 

In August the Queen and the Prince made one of their yachtingexcursions to the Channel Islands. The Duchess of Kent's seventy-thirdbirthday was kept at Osborne. During the autumn stay of the Court atBalmoral, the Prince presided over the British Association for thePromotion of Science, which met that year at Aberdeen. He afterwardsentertained two hundred members of the association, filling fouromnibuses, in addition to carriages, at a Highland gathering atBalmoral. The day was cold and showery, but with gleams of sunshine. It is unnecessary to say that the attendance was large, and the gamesand dancing were conducted with much spirit. In honour of the country, the Prince and his sons appeared in kilts, the Queen and thePrincesses in royal Stewart tartan skirts and shawls over black velvetbodices. 

In 1859 the Queen made no less than three successful ascents ofHighland mountains, Morvem, Lochnagar, and at last Ben Macdhui, thehighest mountain in Scotland, upwards of four thousand feet. On thereturn of the royal party they went from Edinburgh to Loch Katrine, inorder to open the Glasgow Waterworks, the conclusion of a greatundertaking which was marred not inappropriately by a very wet day. The Queen and the Prince made a detour on their homeward route, asthey had occasionally done before, visiting Wales and Lord Penryn atPenryn Castle. 

This year saw the publication of a memorable book, "Adam Bede, " forwhich even its precursor, "Scenes from Clerical Life, " had notprepared the world of letters. The novel was much admired in the royalcircle. In one of the rooms at Osborne, as a pendant to a picture fromthe "Faery Queen, " there hangs a representation from a very differentmasterpiece in English literature, of the young Squire watching Hettyin the dairy. 

In the beginning of winter the Prince suffered from an unusuallysevere fit of illness. In November the Princess Royal again visitedEngland, accompanied by her husband. 

There were cheery winter doings at Osborne, when the great household, like one large family, rejoiced in the seasonable snow, in a slide"used by young and old, " and in a "splendid snow man. " The new yearwas joyously danced in, though the children who were wont to assembleat the Queen's dressing-room door to call in chorus "_Prosit NeuJahr_, " were beginning to be scattered far and wide. 

In January, 1860, the Queen opened Parliament in person, when for thefirst time the Princesses Alice and Helena were present. 

On the twentieth anniversary of the Queen's wedding-day she wrote toBaron Stockmar, "I wish I could think I had made one as happy as hehas made me. "

In April the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenberg, the Queen's brother-in-law, who was now an old man, died at Baden, after a long illness. Hehad been an upright, unlucky German prince, trusted by hiscontemporaries, a good husband and father--whose loss was severelyfelt by the widowed Princess. Her sorrow was reflected in the Queen'ssympathy for her sister. 

This year's Academy Exhibition contained Millais's "BlackBrunswicker, " Landseer's "Flood in the Highlands, " and Phillips's"Marriage of the Princess Royal, " now in the great corridor at WindsorCastle. "The Idyls of the King, " much admired by the Prince, were thepoems of the year. 

Among the guests at Windsor Castle for Ascot week, in addition to KingLeopold, who came to look once more on the old scene, were PrinceLouis of Hesse and his younger brother. In a letter of the PrinceConsort's, written soon afterwards, he alludes to an apparent "liking"between Prince Louis and Princess Alice. 

Sir Arthur Helps, whose subsequent literary relations with the Queenwere so friendly, was sworn in Clerk of the Council on the 23rd ofJune. 

The first great volunteer review took place in Hyde Park this summer. The Queen was present, driving with Princess Alice, Prince Arthur, andKing Leopold, while the Prince Consort rode. The display of the twentythousand citizen soldiers, at that time reckoned a large volunteerforce, was in every respect satisfactory. As a sequel her Majesty wasalso present during fine weather, in an exceptionally wet summer, atthe first meeting of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon, whenthe first shot was fired by the Queen, the rifle being so arrangedthat a touch to the trigger caused the bullseye to be hit, when theshooter scored three points. 

At the close of the season the Prince of Wales sailed for Canada, after he had accepted the President of the United States' invitationto visit him at Washington. At the same time another distant colonywas to be graced by the presence of royalty; it was settled thatPrince Alfred was to land at the Cape of Good Hope. The Queen's sonswere to serve her by representing her race and rule in her far distantdominions. 

In July the Princess Royal became the medium, in a letter home, of theovertures of the Hesse family for a marriage between Prince Louis andPrincess Alice--overtures favourably received by the Queen and thePrince, who were much attracted by the young suitor. Immediatelyafterwards came the intelligence of the birth of the Princess Royal'ssecond child--a daughter. 

The eyes of all Europe began to be directed to Garibaldi as thechampion of freedom in Naples and Sicily. 

In August the Court went North, staying longer than usual in Edinburghfor the purpose of holding a volunteer review in the Queen's Park, which was even a greater success than that in Hyde Park. The summerday was cloudless; the broken nature of the ground heightened thepicturesqueness of the spectacle. There was much greater variety inthe dress and accoutrements of the Highland and Lowland regiments, numbering rather more than their English neighbours. The martialbearing of many of the men was remarkable, and the spectators crowdingArthur's Seat from the base to the summit were enthusiastic in theirloyalty. The Queen rejoiced to have the Duchess of Kent by her side inthe open carriage. The old Duchess had not appeared at any publicsight for years, and her presence on this occasion recalled formerdays. She was not venturing so far as Abergeldie, but was staying atCramond House, near Edinburgh. Soon after the Queen and the Prince'sarrival at Balmoral the news reached them of the death of their aunt, the Duchess of Kent's only surviving sister, the widow of the Grand-Duke Constantine of Russia. 

This year the Queen and the Prince, with the Princesses Alice andHelena, made, in fine weather, a second ascent of Ben Macdhui. 

The success of such an excursion led to a longer expedition, whichmeant a night spent on the way at what was little better than avillage inn. Such a step was only possible when entire secrecy, andeven a certain amount of disguise, were maintained. Indeed, the littleinnocent mystery, with all the amusement it brought, was part of thepleasure. The company consisted of the Queen and the Prince, LadyChurchill and General Grey, with two keepers for attendants. Theirdestination, reached by driving, riding, and walking through the shielof the Geldie, Glen Geldie, Glen Fishie, &c, was Grantown, where theparty spent the night, and were waited on, in all unconsciousness, bya woman in ringlets in the evening and in curl-papers in the morning. But before Grantown was left, when the truth was known, the samebenighted chambermaid was seen waving a flag from the window of thedining and drawing-room in one, which had been lately so honoured, while the landlady on the threshold made a vigorous use of her pocket-handkerchief, to the edification and delight of an excited crowd inthe street. 

The Court returned to Osborne, and on the 22nd of September the Queen, the Prince, and Princess Alice, with the suite, sailed from Gravesendfor Antwerp _en route_ for Coburg, where the Princess Royal wasto meet them with her husband and the child-prince, whom hisgrandparents had not yet seen. 

The King of the Belgians, his sons and daughter-in-law met thetravellers with the melancholy intelligence that the Prince'sstepmother, the Duchess-Dowager of Coburg, who had been ill for sometime, but was looking forward to this visit, lay in extremity. AtVerviers a telegram announced that she had died at five o'clock thatmorning--a great shock to those who were hastening to see her andreceive her welcome once more. Royal kindred met and greeted the partyat each halting-place, as by Aix-la-Chapelle, Frankfort, where theyslept, the valley of the Maine and the Thuringen railway, thetravellers approached Coburg. Naturally the Queen grew agitated at thethought of the arrival, so different from what she had expected andexperienced on her last visit, fifteen years before. At the stationwere the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Prince Frederick William of Prussia, in deep mourning. Everything was quiet and private. At the door of thepalace, in painful contrast to the gala faces and dresses of herearlier reception, stood the Grand Duchess and the Princess Royal inthe deepest German mourning, with long black veils, the point hangingover the forehead. Around were the ladies and gentlemen of the suites. "A tender embrace, and then we walked up the staircase, " wrote theQueen; "I could hardly speak, I felt so moved, and quite trembled. "Her room was that which had formerly belonged to the Duchess of Kentwhen she was a young Coburg princess. One of its windows looked up apicturesque narrow street with red roofs and high gables, leading tothe market-place. His English nurse led in the Queen's firstgrandchild, aged two years, "in a little white dress with black bows. "He was charming to his royal grandmother. She particularised hisyouthful attractions--"A beautiful white soft skin, very fineshoulders and limbs, and a very dear face, ... Very fair curly hair. "The funeral of the Dowager-Duchess took place at seven o'clock on themorning of the 27th September, at Gotha, and was attended by thegentlemen of the party, while the ladies in deep mourning, wearing thepointed veils, were present at a commemorative service in the SchlossKirche at Coburg. 

Then followed a quiet happy time, among the pleasures of which werethe daily visits from the little grandchild, the renewal ofintercourse with Baron Stockmar, whom Germans called the familiarspirit of the house of Coburg; the acquaintance of the great novelist, Auerbach; a visit to Florrschutz, the Prince's old tutor, in thepretty house which his two pupils had built for him. 

The holiday was alarmingly interrupted by what might have been a graveaccident to the Prince Consort. He was driving alone in an opencarriage with four horses, which took fright and dashed along at fullgallop in the direction of the railway line, where a waggon stood infront of a bar, put up to guard a level crossing. Seeing that a crashwas inevitable, the Prince leapt out, escaping with several bruisesand cuts, while the driver, who had remained with the carriage, wasthrown out when it came in contact with the railway-bar, and seriouslyhurt. One of the horses was killed, the others rushed along the roadto Coburg. They were met by the Prince's equerry, Colonel Ponsonby, who in great anxiety procured a carriage and drove with two doctors tothe spot, where he found the Prince lending aid to the injured man. Colonel Ponsonby was sent to intercept the Queen as she was walkingand sketching with her daughter and sister-in-law, to tell her of theaccident and of the Prince's escape, before she could hear a garbledversion of the affair from other quarters. 

In deep gratitude for the Prince's preservation, her Majestyafterwards set aside the sum deemed necessary--rather more than athousand pounds--to found a charity called the "Victoria Stift, " whichhelps a certain number of young men and women of good character intheir apprenticeship, in setting them up in trade, and marriage. 

The royal party returned at the end of a fortnight by Frankfort andMayence. At Coblentz, where they spent the night, her Majesty wasattacked by cold and sore throat, though she walked and drove out nextday, inspecting every object she was asked to see in suffering anddiscomfort. It was her last day with the Princess Royal and "thedarling little boy, " whom his grandmother was so pleased to have withher, running about and playing in her room. The following day was coldand wet, and the Queen felt still worse, continuing her journey soworn out and unwell that she could only rouse herself before reachingBrussels, where King Leopold was at the station awaiting her. By theorder of her doctor, who found her labouring under a feverish coldwith severe sore throat, she was confined to her room, where she hadto lie down and keep quiet. Never in the whole course of her Majesty'shealthful life, save in one girlish illness at Ramsgate, of which theworld knew nothing, had she felt so ailing. Happily a night's restrestored her to a great extent; but while a State dinner which hadbeen invited in her honour was going on, she had still to stay in herroom, with Lady Churchill reading to her "The Mill on the Floss, " andthe door open that the Queen might hear the band of the Guides. 

On the 17th of October the travellers left Brussels, and on the 17tharrived at Windsor, where they were met by the younger members of thefamily. 

On the 30th of October the great sea captain, Lord Dundonald, closedhis chequered life in his eighty-fifth year. 

In December two gallant wooers were at the English Court, as a fewyears before King Pedro, the Arch-Duke Maximilian, and PrinceFrederick William were all young bridegrooms in company. On thisoccasion Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt came to win Princess Alice, and the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern Seigmaringen was on his wayto ask the hand of Donna Antoine, sister of King Pedro. Lord Campbellpaid a visit to Windsor at this time, and made his comment on theroyal lovers. "My stay at Windsor was rather dull, but was a littleenhanced by the loves of Prince Louis of Hesse and the Princess Alice. He had arrived the night before, almost a stranger to her" (amistake), "but as her suitor. At first they were very shy, but theysoon reminded me of Ferdinand and Miranda in the _Tempest_, and Ilooked on like old Prospero. "

The betrothal of Princess Alice occurred within the week. Her Majestyhas given an account in the pages of her journal, transferred to the"Life of the Prince Consort, " how simply and naturally it happened. "After dinner, whilst talking to the gentlemen, I perceived Alice andLouis talking before the fireplace more earnestly than usual, and whenI passed to go to the other room both came up to me, and Alice in muchagitation said he had proposed to her, and he begged for my blessing. I could only squeeze his hand and say 'Certainly, ' and that we wouldsee him in our room, later. Got through the evening work as well as wecould. Alice came to our room ... Agitated but quiet.... Albert sentfor Louis to his room, went first to him, and then called Alice and mein.... " The bride was only seventeen, the bridegroom twenty-threeyears of age--but nearly two years were to elapse, with, alas! sadchanges in their course, before the marriage thus happily settled wascelebrated. 

This winter her Majesty's old servant and friend, Lord Aberdeen, died. 

In December the Empress of the French, who had recently lost hersister, the Duchess of Alba, in order to recover health andcheerfulness, paid a flying visit in private to England and Scotland. From Claridge's Hotel she went for a day to Windsor to see the Queenand the Prince. Towards the close of the year the Prince had a briefbut painful attack of one of the gastric affections becoming so commonwith him. 

In January, 1861, the Queen received the news of the death of theinvalid King of Prussia at Sans Souci. His brother, the Crown Prince, who had been regent for years, succeeded to the throne, of which thehusband of the Princess Royal was now the next heir. 

In the beginning of the year the Prince of Wales matriculated atCambridge. 

In February the Queen opened Parliament. The twenty-first anniversaryof the royal wedding-day falling on a Sunday, it was celebratedquietly but with much happiness. The Queen wrote to her uncle, KingLeopold, "Very few can say with me that their husband, at the end oftwenty-one years, is not only full of the friendship, kindness, andaffection which a truly happy marriage brings with it, but of the sametender love as in the very first days of our marriage. "

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT. 

The Duchess of Kent was now seventy-five years of age. For the lastfew years she had been in failing health, tenderly cared for by herchildren. When she had been last in town she had not gone to her ownhouse, Clarence House, but had stayed with her daughter in thecheerful family circle at Buckingham Palace. 

A loss in her household fell heavily on the aged Duchess. Sir GeorgeCooper, her secretary, to whose services she had been used for manyyears, a man three years her junior, died in February, 1860. 

In March the Duchess underwent a surgical operation for a complaintaffecting her right arm and rendering it useless, so that the habitsof many years had to be laid aside, and she could no longer withoutdifficulty work, or write, or play on the piano, of which her musicaltalent and taste had made her particularly fond. The Queen and thePrince visited the Duchess at Frogmore on the 12th of March, and foundher in a suffering but apparently not a dangerous condition. 

On the 15th good news, including the medical men's report and a letterfrom Lady Augusta Bruce, the Duchess of Kent's attached lady-in-waiting, came from Frogmore to Buckingham Palace, and the Queen andthe Prince went without any apprehension on a visit to the gardens ofthe Horticultural Society at Kensington. Her Majesty returned alone, leaving the Prince to transact some business. She was "resting quitehappily" in her arm-chair, when the Prince arrived with a message fromSir James Clark that the Duchess had been seized with a shivering fit--a bad symptom, from which serious consequences were apprehended. 

In two hours the Queen, the Prince, and Princess Alice were atFrogmore. "Just the same, " was the sorrowful answer given by theladies and gentlemen awaiting them. 

The Prince Consort went up to the Duchess's room and came back withtears in his eyes; then the Queen knew what to expect. With atrembling heart she followed her husband and entered the bedroom. There "on a sofa, supported by cushions, the room much darkened, " satthe Duchess, "leaning back, breathing heavily in her silk dressing-gown, with her cap on, looking quite herself"

For a second the sight of the dear familiar figure, so little changed, must have afforded a brief reprieve, and lent a sense of almost gladincredulity to the distress which had gone before. But the well-meantwhisper of one of the attendants of "_Ein sanftes ende_"destroyed the passing illusion. "Seeing that my presence did notdisturb her, " the Queen wrote afterwards, "I knelt before her, kissedher dear hand and placed it next my cheek; but though she opened hereyes, she did not, I think, know me. She brushed my hand off, and thedreadful reality was before me that for the first time she did notknow the child she had ever received with such tender smiles. I wentout to sob.... I asked the doctors if there was no hope; they saidthey feared none whatever, for consciousness had left her.... It wassuffusion of water on the chest which had come on. "

The long night passed in sad watching by the unconscious sufferer, andin vain attempts at rest in preparation for the greater sorrow thatwas in store. 

A few months earlier, on the death of the King of Prussia, the PrinceConsort had written to his daughter that her experience exceeded his, for he had never seen any person die. The Queen had been equallyunacquainted with the mournful knowledge which comes to most evenbefore they have attained mature manhood and womanhood. Now the lovingdaughter knelt or stood by the mother who was leaving her without asign, or lay painfully listening to the homely trivial sounds whichbroke the stillness of the night--the crowing of a cock, the dogsbarking in the distance; the striking of the old repeater which hadbelonged to the Queen's father, that she had heard every night in herchildhood, but to which she had not listened for twenty-three years--the whole of her full happy married life. She wondered with the vaguepiteous wonder--natural in such a case--what her mother, would havethought of her passing a night under her roof again, and she not toknow it?

In the March morning the Prince took the Queen from the room in whichshe could not rest, yet from which she could not remain absent. Whenshe returned windows and doors were thrown open. The Queen sat down ona footstool and held the Duchess's hand, while the paleness of deathstole over the face, and the features grew longer and sharper. "I fellon my knees, " her Majesty wrote afterwards, "holding the beloved handwhich was still warm and soft, though heavier, in both of mine. I feltthe end was fast approaching, as Clark went out to call Albert andAlice, I only left gazing on that beloved face, and feeling as if myheart would break.... It was a solemn, sacred, never-to-be-forgottenscene. Fainter and fainter grew the breathing; at last it ceased, butthere was no change of countenance, nothing; the eyes closed as theyhad been for the last half-hour.... The clock struck half-past nine atthe very moment. Convulsed with sobs I fell on the hand and covered itwith kisses. Albert lifted me up and took me into the next room, himself entirely melted into tears, which is unusual for him, deep ashis feelings are, and clasped me in his arms. I asked if all was over;he said, "Yes. " I went into the room again after a few minutes andgave one look. My darling mother was sitting as she had done before, but was already white. Oh, God! how awful, how mysterious! But what ablessed end. Her gentle spirit at rest, her sufferings over. "

By the Prince's advice the Queen went at once to the late Duchess'ssitting-room, where it was hard to bear the unchanged look ofeverything, "Chairs, cushions ... All on the tables, her very work-basket with her work; the little canary bird which she was so fond of, singing!"

In one of the recently published letters of Princess Alice to theQueen, the former recalled after an interval of eight years the wordswhich her father had spoken to her on the death of her grandmother, when he brought the daughter to the mother and said, "Comfort mamma, "a simple injunction which sounded like a solemn charge in the sadmonths to come. 

The melancholy tidings of the loss were conveyed by the Queen's handto the Duchess's elder daughter, the Princess of Hohenlohe; to theDuchess's brother, the King of the Belgians--the last survivor of hisfamily--and to her eldest grand-daughter, the Crown Princess ofPrussia. 

The moment the Princess Royal heard of the death she started forEngland, and arrived there two days afterwards. 

The unaffected tribute of respect paid by the whole country, led bythe Houses of Parliament, to the virtues of the late Duchess, was verywelcome to the mourners. The Duchess of Kent by her will bequeathedher property to the Queen, and appointed the Prince Consort her soleexecutor. "He was so tender and kind, " wrote the Queen, "so pained tohave to ask me distressing questions, but spared me so much. Everything done so quickly and feelingly. "

The funeral took place on the 25th of March, in the vault beneath St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The Prince Consort acted as chief mourner, and was supported by two of the grandchildren of the late Duchess, thePrince of Wales and the Prince of Leiningen. The pallbearers were sixladies; among whom was Lady Augusta Bruce. Neither the Queen nor herdaughters were present. They remained, in the Queen's words, "to prayat home together, and to dwell on the happiness and peace of her whowas gone. " On the evening of the funeral the Queen and the Princedined alone; afterwards he read aloud to her letters written by hermother to a German friend, giving an account of the illness and deathof the Duke of Kent more than forty years before. The Queen continuedthe allowances which the Duchess of Kent had made to her elderdaughter, the Princess Hohenlohe, and to two of the duchess'sgrandsons, Prince Victor Hohenlohe and Prince Edward Leiningen. HerMajesty pensioned the Duchess's servants, and appointed Lady AugustaBruce, who had been like a daughter to the dead Princess, residentbedchamber woman to the Queen. 

Frogmore had been much frequented by Queen Charlotte and herdaughters, and was the place where they held many of their familyfestivals. It had been the country house of Princess Augusta for morethan twenty years. On her death it was given to the Duchess of Kent. It is an unpretending white country house, spacious enough, and withall the taste of the day when it was built expended on the grounds, which does not prevent them from lying very low, with the inevitablesheet of water almost beneath the windows. Yet it is a lovely, bowery, dwelling when spring buds are bursting and the birds are filling theair with music; such a sheltered, peaceful, home-like house as anageing woman well might crave. On it still lingers, in spite of aperiod when it passed into younger hands, the stamp of the oldDuchess, with her simple state, her unaffected dignity, heraffectionate interest in her numerous kindred. The place is but abowshot from the old grey castle of Windsor. It was a chosen resort ofthe royal children, to whom the noble, kind, grandame was all thatgracious age can be. Here the Queen brought the most distinguished ofher guests to present them to her mother, who had known so many of thegreat men of her time. Here the royal daughter herself came often, leaving behind her the toils of government and the ceremonies of rank, where she could always be at ease, was always more than welcome. Hereshe comes still, after twenty years, to view old scenes--the chair bywhich she sat when the Duchess of Kent occupied it, the piano she knewso well, the familiar portraits, the old-fashioned furniture, suitingthe house admirably, the drooping trees on the lawn, under which theQueen would breakfast in fine weather, according to an old Kensington--an old German--custom. 

The long verandah was wont to contain vases of flowers and statues ofthe Duchess's grandchildren, and formed a pleasant promenade for anold lady. Within the smaller, cosier rooms, with the softly tintedpink walls covered with portraits, was led the daily life which as itadvanced in infirmity necessarily narrowed in compass, while the Staterooms remained for family and Court gatherings. The last use made ofthe great drawing-room by its venerable mistress was after her death, when she lay in state there. 

Half-length portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Kent are in the placeusually occupied by the likenesses of the master and mistress of thehouse. Among the other pictures are full-length portraits of the Queenand Prince Albert in their youth, taken soon after their marriage--like the natural good end to the various pictures of her Majesty inher fair English childhood and maidenhood, with the blonde hairclustering about the open innocent forehead, the fearless blue eyes, the frank mouth. The child, long a widow in her turn, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, must look with strange mingledfeelings on these shadows of her early, unconscious self. 

There are innumerable likenesses of the Queen's children such as aloving grandmother would delight to accumulate, from the baby PrincessRoyal with the good dog Eos curled round by her side, the child's tinyfoot on the hound's nose, to the same Princess a blooming girl-brideby the side of her bridegroom, Prince Frederick William of Prussia. 

The Duchess's other children and grandchildren are here on canvas, with many portraits of her brothers and sisters and their children. Afull-length likeness of the former owner of Frogmore, PrincessAugusta, Fanny Burney's beloved princess, hangs above a chimneypiece;while on the walls of another room quaintly painted floral festoons, the joint work of the painter, Mary Moser, and the artistic PrincessElizabeth, are still preserved. 

Frogmore was for some years the residence of Princess Christian ofSchleswig-Holstein. When she removed to Cumberland House, thefurniture which had belonged to the Duchess of Kent was brought back, and the place restored as much as possible to the condition in whichshe had left it, which implies the presence of many cherished relics--such as the timepiece which was the last gift of the Queen and thePrince, and a picture said to have been painted by both representingItalian peasants praying beside a roadside calvary. There are numeroustokens of womanly tastes in the gay, bright fashion of the Duchess'stime, among them a gorgeously tinted inlaid table from the firstExhibition, and elaborate specimens of Berlin woolwork, offerings fromfriends of the mistress of the house and from the ladies of her suite. In one of the simply furnished bedrooms of quiet little Frogmore, asit chanced, the heir of the Prince of Wales first saw the light. Forhere was born unexpectedly, making a great stir in the littlehousehold, Prince Victor Albert of Wales. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

LAST VISIT TO IRELAND--HIGHLAND EXCURSIONS--MEETING OF THE PRINCE OFWALES AND THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF DENMARK--DEATH OF THE KINO OFPORTUGAL AND HIS BROTHERS

In the retirement of Osborne the Queen mourned her mother with thetender fidelity which her people have learnt to know and reverence. 

In April the Court returned to Buckingham Palace, when the Queenannounced the marriage of the Princess Alice to the Privy Council Itwas communicated to Parliament, and was very favourably received. ThePrincess had a dowry of thirty thousand, and an annuity of sixthousand pounds from the country. 

The Queen's birthday was celebrated at Osborne without the usualfestivities. During the Whitsun holidays Prince Louis, who was withthe family, had the misfortune to be attacked by measles, which hecommunicated to Prince Leopold. The little boy had the diseaseseverely, and it left bad results. 

In June King Leopold and one of his sons paid the Queen a lengthenedvisit of five weeks. The Princess Royal, with her husband andchildren, arrived afterwards, and there was a happy family meeting, tinged with sorrow. 

In July the most exalted Order of the Star of India was instituted, and conferred first on the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, Lord Clyde, SirJohn Lawrence, &c. , &c. That summer saw the death of two statesmen whohad been men of mark in the Crimean war--Count Cavour, the SardinianPrime Minister, and Lord Herbert of Lea. The royal visitors in Londonand at Osborne included the Archduke Maximilian and his young wife, and the King of Sweden and his son. 

Towards the close of August the Queen went to Frogmore with the Princeand Princess Alice, in order to keep the birthday of the late Duchessof Kent, whose remains had been already removed from St. George'schapel to the mausoleum prepared for them in the grounds of her formerhome. The Queen wrote of the first evening at Frogmore as "terriblytrying;" but it comforted her in the beautiful morning to visit thegrand simple mausoleum, and to help to place on the granitesarcophagus the wreaths which had been brought for the purpose. 

The day after the return of Prince Alfred from the West Indies, theQueen and the Prince, their second son and the Princesses Alice andHelena, sailed from Holyhead in the _Victoria and Albert_ forKingstown. This visit to Ireland meant also the royal presence on afield-day in the Curragh camp, where the Prince of Wales was serving, and a run down to Killarney in very hot weather. At the lakes theQueen was the guest of Lord Castleross and Mr. Herbert. The wildluxuriant scenery, the size and beauty of the arbutus-trees, and theenthusiastic shriek of the blue-cloaked women, made their dueimpression. In a row on one of the lakes her Majesty christened apoint. The Prince's birthday came round during the stay in Ireland, and was marked by the usual loving tokens, though the Queen notedsadly the difference between this and other anniversaries: the lack offestivities, the absence from home, the separation from the youngerchildren, and the missing the old invariable gift from the Duchess ofKent. 

Balmoral was reached in the beginning of September. Prince Louis camespeedily, and another welcome guest, Princess Hohenlohe, who travellednorth with Lady Augusta Bruce. Dr. Norman Macleod gives a glimpse ofthe circumstances and the circle. He preached to the Queen, and shethanked him for the comfort he gave her. Lady Augusta Bruce talked tohim of "that noble, loving woman, the Duchess of Kent, and of theQueen's grief. " He found the Queen's half-sister "an admirable woman"and Prince Alfred "a fine gentlemanly sailor. "

The Queen's greatest solace this year was in long days spent on thepurple mountains and by the sides of the brown lochs, and in a secondprivate expedition, like that of the previous year to Grantown, whenshe slept a night at the Ramsay Arms in the village of Fettercairn, and Prince Louis and General Grey were consigned to the TemperanceHotel opposite. The whole party walked out in the moonlight and werestartled by a village band. The return was by Blair, where the Queenwas welcomed by her former host and hostess, the Duke and Duchess ofAthole. Her Majesty had a look at her earlier quarters, at the room inwhich the little Princess Royal had been put to bed in two chairs, andsaw Sandy Macara, grown old and grey. 

After an excursion to Cairn Glaishie, her Majesty recorded in herjournal, "Alas! I fear our last great one. " Six years afterwards thesorrowful confirmation was given to words which had been written witha very different meaning, "It was our last one. "

The Prince of Wales was on a visit to Germany, ostensibly to witnessthe manoeuvres of the Prussian army, but with a more delicate missionbehind. He was bound, while not yet twenty, to make the acquaintanceof the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, not quite seventeen, with theprobability of their future marriage--a prospect which, to the greatregret of the Prince Consort, got almost immediately into thenewspapers. The first meetings of the young couple took place atSpeyer and Heidelberg, and were altogether promising of the mutualattachment which was the desired result. 

On the 18th of October the King of Prussia was crowned at Könisburg--asplendid ceremonial, in which the Princess Royal naturally, as theCrown Princess, bore a prominent part. 

On the return of the Court to Windsor, Prince Leopold, then betweeneight and nine years of age, was sent, with a temporary household, tospend the winter in the south of France for the sake of his health. 

Suddenly a great and painful shock was given to the Queen and thePrince by the news of the disastrous outbreak of typhoid fever inPortugal among their royal cousins and intimate friends, the sons ofMaria de Gloria. When the tidings arrived King Pedro's brother, PrinceFerdinand, was already dead, and the King ill. Two more brothers, theDuke of Oporto and the Duke of Beja, were in England, on their wayhome from the King of Prussia's coronation. The following day stillsadder news arrived--the recovery of the young king, not more thantwenty-five, was despaired of. His two brothers started immediatelyfor Lisbon, but were too late to see him in life. The younger, theDuke of Beja, was also seized with the fatal fever and died in thecourse of the following month. The Queen and the Prince lamented theKing deeply, finding the only consolation in the fact that he hadrejoined the gentle girl-wife for whose loss he had been inconsolable. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. 

The news of the terrible mortality in the Portuguese royal family, especially the death of the King, to whom the Prince was warmlyattached, had seriously affected his health, never strong, and for thelast few years gradually declining, with gastric attacks becoming morefrequent and fits of sleeplessness more confirmed. At the same timethe Prince's spirit was so unbroken, his power of work and even ofenjoyment so unshaken, while the patience and unselfishness whichtreated his own bodily discomfort as a matter of little moment hadgrown so much the habit of his mind, that naturally those nearest tohim failed in their very love to see the extent of the physicalmischief which was at work. Nevertheless there is abundant evidencethat the Queen was never without anxiety on her husband's account, andBaron Stockmar expressed his apprehensions more than once. 

Various causes of care troubled the Prince, among them theindisposition contracted by the Princess Royal at the coronation ofher father-in-law, the King of Prussia, and the alarming illness atCannes of Sir Edward Bowater, who had been sent to the south of Francein charge of Prince Leopold. After a fortnight of sleeplessness, rheumatic pains, loss, of appetite, and increasing weakness, thePrince drove in close wet weather to inspect the building of the newMilitary Academy at Sandhurst, and it is believed that he therecontracted the germs of fever. But he shot with the guests at theCastle, walked with the Queen to Frogmore and inspected the mausoleumthere, and visited the Prince of Wales at Cambridge afterwards. 

Then the affair of the _Trent_ suddenly demanded the Prince'sclose attention and earnest efforts to prevent a threatened warbetween England and America. In the course of the civil war ragingbetween the Northern and Southern states the English steamer_Trent_ sailed with the English mails from Savannah to England, having on board among the other passengers several American gentlemen, notably Messrs. Mason and Slidell, who had run the blockade fromCharlestown to Cuba, and were proceeding to Europe as envoys sent bythe Confederates to the Courts of England and France. A federal vesselfired on the English steamer, compelling her to stop, when theAmerican Captain Wilkes, at the head of a large body of marines, demanded the surrender of Mason and Slidell, with their companions. Inthe middle of the remonstrances of the English Government agent at theinsult to his flag and to the neutral port from which the ship hadsailed, the objects of the officer's search came forward andsurrendered themselves, thus delivering the English commander from hisdifficulty. 

But the feeling in England was very strong against the outrage whichhad been committed, and it was only the most moderate of any politicalparty who were willing to believe--either that the American Governmentmight not be cognisant of the act done in its name, or that it mightbe willing to atone by honourable means for a violation ofinternational law--enough to provoke the withdrawal of the Englishambassador from Washington, and a declaration of war between the twocountries. 

Cabinet councils were summoned and a dispatch prepared. A draft of thedispatch was forwarded to Windsor to be read by the Queen, when itstruck both her and, the Prince that it was less temperate andconciliatory than it might have been, while still consistent withperfect dignity. The Prince Consort's last public work for his Queenand country was to amend this draft. He rose as usual at seveno'clock, and faint and ill as he was, scarcely able to hold a pen, drew out an improved version of the dispatch, which was highlyapproved of by the Ministers and favourably received by the AmericanGovernment. As the world knows, the President, in the name of hiscountrymen, declared that Captain Wilkes had acted without officialinstructions, and ordered the release of the gentlemen who had beentaken prisoners. 

In the meantime the shadows were darkening round the royal home whichhad been so supremely blest. The Prince was worse. Still he walked outon one of the terraces, and wrapped in a coat lined with fur hewitnessed a review of the Eton College volunteers, from which hisabsence would have been remarked. The ill-omened chilly feelingcontinued, but there were guests at the Castle and he appeared atdinner. On Sunday, the 1st of December, the Prince walked out again onthe terrace and attended service in the chapel, insisting "on goingthrough all the kneeling, " though very unwell. 

Next morning something was said by the doctors of low fever. No wonderthe Queen was distressed after the recent calamity at Lisbon, butconcealing her feelings as such watchers must, she strove to sootheand amuse her sick husband. The members of the household who had beenat Lisbon arrived with the particulars of the young King of Portugal'sdeath. After listening to them the Prince said "that it was well hisillness was not fever, as that, he felt sure, would be fatal to him. "

One of the guests at the Castle was Lord Palmerston. In spite of hisnatural buoyancy of temperament he became so much alarmed by what heheard that he suggested another physician should be called in. HerMajesty had not been prepared for this step, and when she appealed tothe two medical men in attendance, Sir James Clark and Dr. Jenner, they comforted her by their opinion that there was nothing to alarmher, and that the low fever which had been feared might pass off. 

The next few days were spent in alternations of hope and fear. Whichof us is so happy as not to have known that desperate faith when todoubt would be to despair? The Prince liked to be read to, but "nobook suited him. " The readers were the Queen and Princess Alice, whosought to cheat themselves by substituting Trollope for George Eliot, and Lever for Trollop, and by speaking confidently of trying SirWalter Scott "to-morrow. " To-morrow brought no improvement. Sir JamesClark, though still sanguine, began to drop words which were notwithout their significance. He _hoped_ there would be no fever, which all dreaded, with too sure a presentiment of what would follow. The Prince _must_ eat, and he was to be told so; his illness waslikely to be tedious, and completely starving himself would not do. 

As if the whole atmosphere was heavy with sorrow, and all the tidingswhich came from the world without in these days only reflected theache of the hearts within, the news came from Calcutta of the death ofthe wife of the Governor-General, beautiful, gifted Lady Canning, solong the Queen's lady-in-waiting and close companion. 

The doctors began to sit up with the patient, another stage of theterrible illness. When her Majesty came to the Prince at eight in themorning she found him sitting up in his dressing-room, and was struckwith "a strange wild look" which he had, while he talked in a baffledway, unlike him, of what his illness could be, and how long it mightlast. But that day there was a rally; he ate and slept a little, rested, and liked to be read to by Princess Alice. He was quitehimself again when the Queen came in with his little pet child, Princess Beatrice, in whom he had taken such delight. He kissed her, held her hand, laughed at her new French verses, and "dozed off, " asif he only wanted sleep to restore him. 

The doctor in attendance was anxious that the Prince should undressand go to bed, but this he would not do. Throughout the attack, withhis old habit of not giving way and of mastering his bodily feelingsby sheer force of will, he had resisted yielding to his weakness andsubmitting to the ordinary routine of a sick-room. After it was toolate the doctor's compliance with the Prince's wishes in this respectwas viewed by the public as rash and unwise. On this particularoccasion he walked to his dressing-room and lay down there, saying hewould have a good night--an expectation doomed to disappointment. Hisrestlessness not only kept him from sleeping, it caused him to changehis room more than once during the night. 

The morning found him up and seated in his sitting-room as before. Buthe was worse, and talked with a certain incoherence when he told theQueen that he had been listening to the little birds, and they hadreminded him of those he had heard at the Rosenau in his childhood. She felt a quick recoil, and when the doctors showed that theirfavourable opinion of the day before had undergone a change, she wentto her room and it seemed to her as if her heart would break. 

Fever had now declared itself unmistakably. The fact was gently brokento the Queen, and she was warned that the illness must run its course, while the knowledge of its nature was to be kept from the Prince. Shecalled to mind every thought that could give her courage; and PrincessAlice, her father's true daughter, capable of rising to heights ofduty and tenderness the moment she was put to the test, grew brave inher loving demotion, and already afforded the support which thehusband and father was no longer fit to give. 

Happily for her Majesty, the daily duties of her position as asovereign, which she could not lay aside though they were no longershared by the friend of more than twenty years, still occupied aconsiderable portion of her time. But she wrote in her diary that infulfilling her task she seemed to live "in a dreadful dream. " Do wenot also know, many of us, this cruel double life in which theobligations which belong to our circumstances and to old habitscontend for mastery with new misery? When she was not thus engaged theQueen sat by her husband, weeping when she could do so unseen. 

On the 8th of December the Prince appeared to be going on well, thoughthe desire for change continued strong in him, and he was removed athis earnest request to larger and brighter rooms, adjoining those hehad hitherto occupied. According to Lady Bloomfield one of the rooms--certainly called "the Kings' rooms"--into which the Prince wascarried, was that in which both William IV. And George IV. Had died;and the fact was remembered and referred to by the new tenant, when hewas placed where he too was destined to die. The Queen had only onceslept there, when her own rooms were being painted, and as ithappened, that single occasion was on the night before the day whenthe Duchess of Kent had her last fatal seizure. 

The Prince was pleased with the greater space and light and with thewinter sunshine. For the first time since his illness he asked formusic, "a fine chorale. " A piano was brought into the room, and hisdaughter played two hymns--one of them "_Ein fester burg ist unserGott_" to which he listened with tears in his eyes. 

It was Sunday, and Charles Kingsley preached at the Castle. The Queenwas present, but she noted sadly that she did not hear a word. 

The serious illness of the Prince Consort had become known and excitedmuch alarm, especially among the Cabinet Ministers. They united inurging that fresh medical aid should be procured. Dr. Watson and SirHenry Holland were called in. These gentlemen concurred with the otherdoctors in their opinion of the case as grave, but not presenting anyvery bad symptoms. The increased tendency of the Prince to wander inhis mind was only what was to be expected. The listlessness andirritability characteristic of the disease gave way to pleasure atseeing the Queen and having her with him, to tender caresses, such asstroking her cheek, and simple loving words, fondly cherished, "_Liebes frauchen, gutes weibchen_. " [Footnote: "Dear littlewife, good little wife. "] The changes rung on the relationship whichhad been so perfect and so satisfying. 

On the 10th and the 11th the Prince was considered better. He waswheeled into the next room, when he called attention to a picture ofthe Madonna of which he was fond; he said that the sight of it helpedhim through half the day. 

On the evening of the 11th a slight change in the Prince's breathingwas perceptible and occasioned uneasiness. On the 12th it was tooevident the fever and shortness of breathing had increased, and on the13th Dr. Jenner had to tell the Queen the symptom was serious, andthat there was a probability of congestion of the lungs. When the sickman was wheeled into the next room as before, he failed to notice hisfavourite picture, and in place of asking to be placed with his backto the light as he had hitherto done, sat with his hands clasped, gazing abstractedly out of the window. That night the Prince of Waleswas summoned from Cambridge, it was said by his sister, PrincessAlice, who took upon her the responsibility of bringing him toWindsor. 

All through the night at hourly intervals reports were brought to theQueen that the Prince was doing well. At six in the morning Mr. Brown, the Windsor medical attendant of the family for upwards of twentyyears, who was believed to be well acquainted with the Prince'sconstitution, came to the Queen with the glad tidings "that he had nohesitation in saying he thought the Prince was much better, and thatthere was ground to hope the crisis was over. " There are fewexperiences more piteous than that last flash of life in the socketwhich throws a parting gleam of hope on the approaching darkness ofdeath. 

When the Queen entered the sick-room at seven o'clock on a fine wintermorning, she was struck with the unearthly beauty--another notunfamiliar sign--of the face on which the rising sun shone. The eyesunusually bright, gazing as it were on an unseen object, took nonotice of her entrance. 

The doctors allowed they were "very, very anxious, " but still theywould not give up hope. The Queen asked if she might go out for abreath of air, and received an answer with a reservation--"Yes, justclose by, for a quarter of an hour. " She walked on one of the terraceswith Princess Alice, but they heard a military band playing in thedistance, and at that sound, recalling such different scenes, the poorQueen burst into tears, and returned to the Castle. 

Sir James Clark said he had seen much worse cases from which there hadbeen recovery. But both the Queen and the doctors remarked the duskyhue stealing over the hands and face, and there were acts which lookedlike strange involuntary preparations for departure--folding of thearms, arranging of the hair, &c. 

The Queen was in great distress, and remained constantly either in thesick-room or in the apartment next to it, where the doctors triedstill to speak words of hope to her, but could no longer conceal thatthe life which was as her life was ebbing away. In the course of theafternoon, when the Queen went up to the Prince, after he had beenwheeled into the middle of the room, he said the last loving words, "_Gutes frauchen_, " [Footnote: "Good little wife. "] kissed her, and with a little moaning sigh laid his head on her shoulder. He dozedand wandered, speaking French sometimes. All his children who were inthe country came into the room, and one after the other took his hand, Prince Arthur kissing it as he did so, but the Prince made no sign ofknowing them. He roused himself and asked for his private secretary, but again slept. Three of the gentlemen of the household, who had beenmuch about the Prince's person, came up to him and kissed his handwithout attracting his attention. All of them were overcome; only shewho sat in her place by his side was quiet and still. 

So long as enough air passed through the labouring lungs, the doctorswould not relinquish the last grain of hope. Even when the Queen foundthe Prince bathed in the death-sweat, so near do life and death stillrun, that the attendant medical men ventured to say it might be aneffort of nature to throw off the fever. 

The Queen bent over the Prince and whispered "_Es ist kleinsFrauchen_. " He recognised the voice and answered by bowing his headand kissing her. He was quite calm, only drowsy, and not caring to bedisturbed, as he had been wont to be when weary and ill. 

The Queen had gone into the next room to weep there when Sir JamesClark sent Princess Alice to bring her back. The end had come. Withhis wife kneeling by his side and holding his hand, his childrenkneeling around, the Queen's nephew, Prince Ernest Leiningen, thegentlemen of the Prince's suite, General Bruce, General Grey, and SirCharles Phipps, the Dean of Windsor, and the Prince's favourite Germanvalet, Lohlein, reverently watching the scene, the true husband andtender father, the wise prince and liberal-hearted statesman, thenoble Christian man, gently breathed his last. It was a quarter toeleven o'clock on the 14th of December, 1861. He was aged forty-twoyears. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE WITHDRAWAL TO OSBORNE--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S FUNERAL. 

The tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's, borne on the wintrymidnight air, thrilled many a heart with grief and dismay, as Londonwas roused to the melancholy fact of the terrible bereavement whichhad befallen the Queen and the country. 

To the Prince indeed death had come without terror, even withoutrecoil. Some time before he had told the Queen that he had not herclinging to life, that if he knew it was well with those he cared for, he would be quite ready to die to-morrow. He was perfectly convincedof the future reunion of those who had loved each other on earth, though he did not know under what circumstances it would take place. During one of the happy Highland excursions in 1861, the Prince hadremarked to one of the keepers when talking over with him the choiceand planting of a deer-forest for the Prince of Wales, "You and I maybe dead and gone before that. " "He was ever cheerful, but ever readyand prepared, " was the Queen's comment on this remark. 

But for the Queen, "a widow at forty-two!" was the lamenting cry ofthe nation which had been so proud of its young Queen, of her love-match, of her happiness as a wife. Now a subtler touch than any whichhad gone before won all hearts to her, and bowed them before her feetin a very passion of love and loyalty. It was her share in the commonbirthright of sorrow, with the knowledge that she in whose joy so manyhad rejoiced was now qualified by piteous human experience to weepwith those who wept--that thenceforth throughout her wide dominionsevery mourner might feel that their Queen mourned with them as only afellow-sufferer can mourn. [Footnote: "The Queen wrote my mother, LadyNormanby, such a beautiful letter after Normanby's death, saying thathaving drunk the dregs of her cup of grief herself, she knew how tosympathise with others. "--LADY BLOOMFIELD. ] All hearts went out to herin the day of her bitter sorrow. Prayers innumerable were put up forher, and she believed they sustained her when she would otherwise havesunk under the heavy burden. 

On the Sunday which dawned on the first day of her Majesty'swidowhood, when the news of her bereavement--announced in a similarfashion in many a city cathedral and country church, was conveyed tothe people in a great northern city by Dr. Norman MacLeod's prayingfor the Queen as a widow, a pang of awe and pity smote every hearer;the minister and the congregation wept together. 

The disastrous tidings had to travel far and wide: to the PrincessRoyal, the daughter in whom her father had taken such pride, who hadso grieved to part from him when she left England a happy young bride, who had been so glad to greet him in his own old home only a fewmonths before; to the sailor son on the other side of the globe; tothe delicate little boy so lately sent in search of health, whosenatural cry on the sorrowful tale being told to him was, "Take me tomamma. "

Deprived in one year of both mother and husband, alone where familyrelations were concerned, save for her children; with her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, a lad of not more than twenty years, the devotedservants of the Queen rallied round her and strove to support andcomfort her. 

In the absence of the Princess Royal and the Princess of Hohenlohe, the Duchess of Sutherland, one of the Queen's oldest friends, herselfa widow, was sent for to be with her royal mistress. Lady AugustaBruce watched day and night by the daughter as she had watched by themother. The Queen's people did not know how sore was the struggle, hownear they were to losing her. Princess Alice wrote years afterwards ofthat first dreadful night, of the next three terrible days, with aspecies of horror, and wondered again and again how she and her mothersurvived that time. The Queen's weakness was so great that her pulsecould hardly be felt. "She spoke constantly about God's knowing best, but showed herself broken-hearted, " Lady Bloomfield tells us. It was asensible relief to the country when it was made public that the Queenhad slept for some hours. 

The doctors urgently advised that her Majesty should leave Windsor andgo to Osborne, but she shrank unconquerably from thus quitting allthat was mortal of the Prince till he had been laid to rest. The oldKing of the Belgians, her second father, afflicted in her afflictionas he had gloried in her happiness, added his earnest entreaty to, themedical men's opinion, in vain, till the plea was brought forward thatfor her children's sake--that they might be removed from the fever-tainted atmosphere, the painful step ought to be taken. Even then itwas mainly by the influence of the Princess Alice that the Queen, whohad proved just and reasonable in all her acts, who had been confirmedby him who was gone in habits of self-control and self-denial, who wasthe best of mothers, gave up the last sad boon which the poorest mightclaim, and consented to go immediately with her daughters to Osborne. 

But first her Majesty visited Frogmore, where the Duchess of Kent'smausoleum had been built, that she might choose the spot for anotherand larger mausoleum where the husband and wife would yet lie side byside. It was on the 18th of December that the Queen, accompanied byPrincess Alice, drove from the Castle on her melancholy errand. Theywere received at Frogmore by the Prince of Wales, Prince Louis ofHesse, who had arrived in England, Sir Charles Phipps, and Sir JamesClark. Her Majesty walked round the gardens leaning on her daughter'sarm, and selected the place where the coffin of the Prince would befinally deposited. Shortly afterwards the sad party left for Osborne, where a veil must be drawn over the sorrow which, like the love thatgave it birth, has had few parallels. 

The funeral was at Windsor on the 23rd of December. Shortly beforetwelve o'clock the cortège assembled which was to conduct the remainsof the late Prince Consort the short distance from the state entranceof Windsor Castle, through the Norman Tower Gate to St. George'sChapel. Nine mourning-coaches, each drawn by four horses, conveyed thevalets, foresters, riders, librarian, and doctors; the equerries, ushers, grooms, gentlemen, and lords in waiting of his late RoyalHighness; and the great officers of the Household. One of the Queen'scarriages drawn by six horses contained the Prince's coronet borne byEarl Spencer, and his baton, sword, and hat by Lord George Lennox. Thehearse, drawn by six horses, was escorted by a detachment of LifeGuards. 

The carriages of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke ofCambridge, and the Duchess of Cambridge followed. The company whichhad received commands to be present at the ceremony, including theforeign ambassadors, the Cabinet Ministers, the officers of thehousehold, and many of the nobility and higher clergy, entered St. George's Chapel by the Wolsey door and were conducted to seats in thechoir. The Knights of the Garter occupied their stalls. The royalfamily, with their guests, came privately from the Castle andassembled in the chapter-room. The members of the procession moved upthe nave in the same order in which they had been driven to the Southporch. Among them were the representatives of all the foreign statesconnected by blood or marriage with the late Prince, the choir, canons, and Dean of Windsor. After the baton, sword, and crown, carried on black velvet cushions, came the comptroller in theChamberlain's department, Vice-Chamberlain, and Lord Chamberlain, thenthe crimson velvet coffin, the pall borne by the members of the latePrince's suite. Garter-King-at-Arms followed, walking before the chiefmourner, the Prince of Wales, who was supported by Prince Arthur, alittle lad of eleven, and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and attended byGeneral Bruce. Behind came the son-in-law, the Crown Prince ofPrussia, the cousins--the sons of the King of the Belgians--with theDuc de Nemours, Prince Louis of Hesse, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the Queen's nephew, Count Gleichen, and the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh. The gentlemen in waiting on the foreign princes wound up theprocession. 

When the coffin arrived within the choir, the crown, baton, sword, andhat were placed on it. That morning a messenger had come from Osbornewith three wreaths and a bouquet. The wreaths were simple garlands ofmoss and violets woven by the three elder princesses; the bouquet ofviolets, with a white camellia in the centre, was from the Queen. These were laid between the heraldic insignia. The Prince of Waleswith his brother and uncle stood at the head, the Lord Chamberlain atthe foot, the other mourners and the pallbearers around. Minute-gunswere fired at intervals by Horse Artillery in the Long Walk. A guardof honour of the Grenadier Guards, of which the Prince Consort hadbeen colonel, presented arms on the coming of the body and when it waslowered into the grave. During the service the thirty-ninth Psalm, Luther's Hymn, and two chorales were sung. 

The Prince of Wales bore up with a brave effort, now and then seekingto soothe his young brother, who, with swollen eyes and tear-stainedface, when the long wail of the dirge smote upon his ear, sobbed as ifhis heart were breaking. At the words--

 "To fall asleep in slumber deep, Slumber that knows no waking, "

part of a favourite chant of the Prince Consort's, both his sons hidtheir faces and wept. The Duke of Coburg wept incessantly for thecomrade of his youth, the friend of his mature years. 

Garter-King-at-Arms proclaimed the style and title of the deceased. When he referred to her Majesty with the usual prayer, "Whom God blessand preserve with long life, health, and happiness, " for the firsttime in her reign the word "happiness" was omitted and that of"honour" substituted, and the full significance of the change went tothe hearts of the listeners with a woeful reminder of what had comeand gone. The Prince of Wales advanced first to take his last lookinto the vault, stood for a moment with clasped hands and burst intotears. In the end Prince Arthur was the more composed of the twofatherless brothers. 

As the company retired, the "Dead March in Saul" was pealed forth. 

The whole ceremony was modelled on the precedent of other royalfunerals, but surely rarely was mourning so keen or sorrow so deep. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE FIRST MONTHS OF WIDOWHOOD--MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES, ETC. , ETC. 

The Princess of Hohenlohe arrived in England on the 20th of December, and immediately joined the Queen at Osborne before the funeral of thePrince. The old King of the Belgians came to Osborne on the 29th ofDecember--one can imagine his meeting with the widowed Queen. 

On the 10th of January, 1862, occurred the terrible Hartley Collieryaccident, by which upwards of two hundred miners perished. The Queen'sgrief for the Prince was not a month old when she telegraphed fromOsborne her "tenderest sympathy for the poor widows and mothers. "

The Prince of Wales left Osborne on the 6th of February in strictprivacy to accomplish the tour in the East projected for him by hisfather. The Prince was accompanied by Dean Stanley, General Bruce, &c. 

In the Queen's solitude at Osborne Princess Alice continued to be thegreat medium of communication between her Majesty and her Ministers. (_Times_. )

The opening of the second great Exhibition in the month of May musthave been full of painful associations. At the State ceremony on thefirst day the royal carriages with mourning liveries were empty, butfor the Crown Prince of Prussia, Prince Oscar of Sweden, and theDuchess of Cambridge with her daughters. Tennyson's ode was sung. Itcontained the pathetic lines--

 "O silent father of our kings to be, Mourned in this golden hour of jubilee, For this, for all we weep our thanks to thee. "

It was decided that the Queen's birthday should be spent at Balmoral, a practice which became habitual. Dr. Norman Macleod was summonednorth to give what consolation he could to his sorrowing Queen. He hasleft an account of one of their interviews. "May 14th. After dinner Iwas summoned unexpectedly to the Queen's room; she was alone. She metme, and, with an unutterable expression which filled my eyes withtears, at once began to speak about the Prince.... She spoke of hisexcellences, his love, his cheerfulness, how he was everything to her;how all now on earth seemed dead to her.... "

On the 4th of June the Prince of Wales arrived in England from hiseastern tour. A melancholy incident occurred on his return--GeneralBruce, who had been labouring under fever, died soon after reachingEngland on the 24th of June. Another sad death happened four dayslater--that of Lord Canning, Governor-General of India. He had alsojust come back to England. He survived his wife only six months. 

Princess Alice's marriage, which had been delayed by her father'sdeath, took place at Osborne at one o'clock on the afternoon of the1st of July, in strict privacy. The ceremony was performed by theArchbishop of York in room of the sick Archbishop of Canterbury. TheQueen in deep mourning appeared only for the service. Near her was theCrown Princess of Prussia--already the mother of three children--andher Majesty's four sons. 

The father and mother, brothers and sister of the bridegroom, andother relatives, were present. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg in the PrinceConsort's place led in the bride. Her unmarried sisters, PrincessesHelena, Louise, and Beatrice, and the bridegroom's only sister, Princess Anna of Hesse, were the bridesmaids. Prince Louis wassupported by his brother, Prince Henry. 

The guests were all gone by four o'clock. No contrast could be greaterthan that of the brilliant and glad festivities at the PrincessRoyal's wedding and the hush of sorrow in which her sister wasmarried. The young couple went for three days to St. Clare, near Ryde, and left England in another week. The English people never forgot whatPrincess Alice had proved in the hour of need, and her departure wasfollowed by prayers and blessings. 

In August the Queen was at Balmoral with all her children who were inthis country. On the 21st she drove in a pony carriage, accompanied bythe elder Princes and Princesses on foot and on ponies, to the top ofCraig Lowrigan, and each laid a stone on the foundation of the PrinceConsort's cairn. On the late Prince's birthday another sad tenderpilgrimage was made to the top of Craig Gowan to the earlier cairncelebrating the taking of the Malakoff. 

Her Majesty, whose health was still shaken and weakened, sailed on the1st of September for Germany. She was accompanied by the Prince ofWales, Prince Arthur, and Prince Leopold, Princesses Helena, Louise, and Beatrice, and the Princess Hohenlohe. During the Queen's stay withher uncle, King Leopold, at Laeken, in passing through Belgium, shehad her first interview with her future daughter-in-law, PrincessAlexandra of Denmark. The Princess with her father and mother drovefrom Brussels to pay a private visit to her Majesty. 

The Queen's destination in Germany was Reinhardtsbrunn, the lovelylittle hunting-seat among the Thuringian woods and mountains, whichhad so taken her fancy on her first happy visit to Germany. There shewas joined by the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia and theirchildren, Prince Louis and Princess Alice, and Prince Alfred. 

Her Majesty could not quit Germany without revisiting Coburg, hard asthe visit must have been to her. One of the chief inducements was togo to one who could no longer come to her, the aged Baron Stockmar, whose talk was still of "the dear good Prince, " and of how soon theold man would rejoin the noble pupil cut off in the prime of his giftsand his usefulness. 

Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse spent the winter with the Queen inEngland, and in the month of November Princess Alexandra of Denmarkpaid a short visit to her Majesty, when the Princess's youthful beautyand sweetness won all hearts. 

Early in the morning on the 18th of December the Prince Consort'sremains were removed from the entrance of the vault beneath St. George's Chapel to the mausoleum already prepared for them atFrogmore. The ceremony, which was attended by the Prince of Wales, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and Prince Louis of Hesse, was quiteprivate. Prince Alfred had a severe attack of fever in theMediterranean. 

The Duchess of Sutherland presented the Queen with a Bible from "manywidows of England, " and to "all those kind sister widows" her Majestyexpressed the deep and heartfelt gratitude of "their widowed Queen. "

As a consequence of the failure of the cotton crop in America, causedby the civil war rending the country asunder, the Lancashireoperatives were in a state of enforced idleness and famine, callingfor the most strenuous efforts to relieve them. 

When Parliament was opened by commission on the 5th of February, 1863, the Queen's speech announced the approaching marriage of the Prince ofWales. On the 7th of March Princess Alexandra, accompanied by herfather and mother, brother and sister, arrived at Gravesend, where thePrince of Wales met her. Bride and bridegroom drove, on the chillspring day which ended in rain, through decorated and festive London, where great crowds congregated to do the couple honour. 

In the afternoon at Windsor the Queen was seen seated with her twoyounger daughters at a window of the castle which commanded theentrance drive. The little party waited there in patient expectationtill it grew dark. 

On Tuesday, the 10th of March, the marriage took place in St. George'sChapel. The Queen in her widow's weeds occupied the royal closet, fromwhich she could look down on the actors in the ceremony. She wasattended by the widow of General Bruce. Among the English royal familywere Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, and the Crown Princess ofPrussia leading her little son, Prince William. 

The Prince of Wales, who wore a general's uniform with the star of theGarter, was supported by the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and the Crown Princeof Prussia. 

Princess Alexandra came in the last carriage with her father, PrinceChristian of Denmark, and the Duke of Cambridge. The bride's dress wasof white satin, and Honiton lace, with a silver moiré train. She had awreath of orange-blossoms and myrtle. She wore a necklace, earrings, and brooch of pearls and diamonds, the gift of the Prince of Wales, rivières of diamonds, the City of London's gift, an opal and diamondbracelet, presented by the Queen, &c. , &c. The bride's train was borneby eight unmarried daughters of English dukes, marquises, and earls. 

Princess Alexandra was in her nineteenth, the Prince of Wales in histwenty-second year. 

On reaching the _haut pas_, the bride made a deep reverence tothe Queen. During the service her Majesty was visibly affected. Indeedan interested spectator, Dr. Norman Macleod, remarked as acharacteristic feature of the marriage that all the English princesseswept behind their bouquets to see--not the Prince of Wales, not thefuture king, but their brother, their father's son, standing alonebefore the altar waiting for his bride. 

The bride and bridegroom on leaving the chapel occupied the second ofthe twelve carriages, and were preceded by the Lord Chamberlain, &c. , &c. Her Majesty received her son and new daughter at the grandentrance. The wedding breakfast for the royal guests was in thedining-room, for the others in St. George's Hall. At four the Princeand Princess of Wales left in an open carriage drawn by four cream-coloured horses for the station, where the Crown Princess of Prussiahad already gone to bid her brother and his bride good-bye, as theystarted for Osborne to spend their honeymoon. 

That night there were great illuminations in London and in all thetowns large and small in the kingdom. Thousands of hearts echoed thepoet-laureate's eloquent words--

 Sea kings daughter from over the sea, Alexandra. Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, But all of us Danes in our welcome to thee, Alexandra. 

Among the Princess of Wales's wedding presents was a parure ofsplendid opals and brilliants from a design by the late PrinceConsort, given in his name as well as in the Queen's. 

The town and country houses selected for the Prince and Princess ofWales were Marlborough House and Sandringham. 

On the 4th of April Princess Alice's first child, a daughter, was bornat Windsor. 

On the 8th of May the Queen paid a visit to the military hospital atNetley, in which the Prince Consort had been much interested. 

Her Majesty left England on the 11th of August for Belgium andGermany. She was accompanied by the Princes Alfred and Leopold and thePrincesses Helena and Beatrice. Their destination was Rosenau, nearCoburg, where the Queen was again joined by the Crown Prince andPrincess of Prussia and Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse. In thehouse which was so dear and so sad, the late Prince's birthplace, hiswidow and children spent his birthday. During the Queen's stay inCoburg she went to see the widow of Baron Stockmar, and Mr. Florschütz, the late Prince's tutor. The venerable superintendentMeyer was still alive and able to preach to her. Her Majesty's healthcontinued feeble, but she was able to receive visits at Rosenau fromthe King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria. She quitted Coburg onthe 7th of September, spending the 8th at Kranichstein, nearDarmstadt, the country house of Princess Alice and her husband. 

Later on in autumn the Queen with nearly the whole of her family wasat Balmoral and Abergeldie. The cairn on Craig Lowrigan was finished. It formed a pyramid of granite thirty feet high, seen for many a mile. The inscription was as follows:--

 "TO THE BELOVED MEMORY

 of

 ALBERT, THE GREAT AND GOOD, PRINCE CONSORT, RAISED BY HIS BROKEN-HEARTED WIDOW, VICTORIA B. , AUGUST 21, 1862. 

 He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time, for his soul pleased the Lord, therefore hastened He to take him away from among the wicked. 

 _Wisdom of Solomon, iv. 13, 14. _

The appropriate verse is said to have been suggested by the PrincessRoyal. 

Immediately after her Majesty's arrival at Balmoral she went to Blairto see the Duke of Athole, who was hopelessly ill with cancer in thethroat. The poor Duke bore up bravely. He had to receive the Queen inhis own room, "full of his rifles and other implements and attributesof sport now for ever useless to him. " But he was able to present thewhite rose, the old tribute from the Lords of Athole to theirsovereign, and he was gratified by the gracious and kindly mark ofattention shown in her Majesty's visit. He insisted on accompanyingher to the station, where she gave him her hand, saying, "Dear Duke, God bless you. " He had asked permission that the same men who had gonewith the Queen and the Prince Consort through the glen two yearsbefore might give her a cheer. "Oh! it was so dreadfully sad, " was theQueen's comment in her journal. 

About three weeks afterwards, on the 7th of October, the Queen had analarming accident. She was returning from Altnagiuthasach with two ofher daughters in the darkness of an autumn evening, when the carriagewas upset in the middle of the moorland. Her Majesty was thrown withher face on the ground, but escaped with some bruises and a hurt toone of her thumbs. No one else was injured. The ladies sat down in theoverturned carriage after the traces had been cut and the coachmandespatched for assistance. There was no water to be had, nothing butclaret to bathe the Queen's hand and face. In about half an hourvoices and horses' hoofs were heard. It was the ponies which had beensent away before the accident, but the servant who accompanied them, alarmed by the non-appearance of the Queen and by the sight of lightsmoving about, rode back to reconnoitre. Her Majesty and the Princessesmounted the ponies, which were led home. At Balmoral no one knew whathad happened; the Queen herself told the accident to her two sons-in-law who were at the door awaiting her. 

Six days afterwards the Queen made her first appearance in publicsince the Prince's death a year and nine months before, at theunveiling of his statue in Aberdeen. She was accompanied by the CrownPrince and Princess of Prussia, Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, Princesses Helena and Louise, and Princes Arthur and Leopold. The daywas one of pouring rain, and the long silent procession was sad andstrange. The Queen was trembling; she had no one as on formeroccasions to direct and support her. She received the Provost'saddress, and returned a written reply. She conferred the honour ofknighthood on the magistrate, the first time she had performed theceremony "since all was ended. "

On the 14th of December the Queen and her family visited themausoleum, [Footnote: Dr. Norman Macleod describes an earlier visit inMarch, 1863 "I walked with Lady Augusta to the mausoleum to meet theQueen. She was accompanied by Princess Alice. She had the key, andopened it herself, undoing the bolts, and alone we entered and stoodin silence beside Marochetti's beautiful statue of the Prince. I wasvery much overcome. She was calm and quiet. "] to which she wentconstantly on every return to Windsor. Princess Alice in her publishedletters calls the sarcophagus--with the exquisite decorations whichwere in progress, and cost more than two hundred thousand pounds paidfrom her Majesty's private purse--"that wonderfully beautiful tomb" bywhich her mother prayed. It became the practice to have a religiousservice celebrated there in the presence of the Queen and the royalfamily on the anniversary of the Prince's death. 

In December Lady Augusta Bruce left the Queen's service on hermarriage with Dean Stanley. On the night of the 23rd of DecemberThackeray died. 

Prince Albert Victor of Wales was born unexpectedly at Frogmore, wherethe Prince and Princess of Wales then resided occasionally, on the 8thof January, 1864. The child was baptised in the chapel at BuckinghamPalace on the first anniversary of his parents' marriage, as thePrincess Royal had been baptised there on the first anniversary of theQueen and Prince Albert's marriage. The Queen and the old King of theBelgians were present among the sponsors. 

When the Queen went north this year she was accompanied by the Dukeand Duchess of Saxe-Coburg. 

On the 14th of March, 1865, her Majesty visited the Hospital forConsumption at Brompton, walking over the different wards and speakingto the patients. 

The news of the assassination of President Lincoln reached England inApril, when the Queen became, as she has so often been, the mouthpieceof her subjects, writing an autograph letter expressing her horror, pity, and sympathy to Mrs. Lincoln. 

Prince Alfred on the 6th of August, his twenty-first birthday, wasformally acknowledged heir to his childless uncle, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. 

Two days later the Queen embarked with Prince Leopold, the threeyounger Princesses, the Duchess of Roxburgh, Lady Churchill, &c. , &c. , at Woolwich for Germany. She arrived at Coburg on the 11th and went toRosenau. On the 26th, the birthday of the Prince Consort, perhaps themost interesting of all the inaugurations of monuments to his memorytook place at Coburg. A gilt-bronze statue ten feet high was unveiledwith solemn ceremony in the square of the little town which PrinceAlbert had so often traversed in his boyhood. After the unveiling, theQueen walked across the square at the head of her children and handedto the Duke of Saxe-Coburg flowers which he laid on the pedestal. Eachof her sons and daughters followed her example, till "the fragrantmass" rose to the feet of the statue. Princess Alice writes of "theterrible sufferings" of the first three years of the Queen'swidowhood, but adds that after the long storm came rest, so that thedaughter could tenderly remind the mother, without reopening thewound, of the happy silver wedding which might have been this yearwhen the royal parents would have been surrounded by so manygrandchildren in fresh young households. 

While the Queen was in the Highlands during the autumn, her journal, in its published portions, records a few days spent with the widowedDuchess of Athole at her cottage at Dunkeld. This visit was somethingvery different from the old royal progresses. It was a private tokenof friendship from the Queen to an old friend bereaved like herself. There was neither show, nor gaiety, nor publicity. The life was evenquieter than at Balmoral. Her Majesty breakfasted with the daughterwho accompanied her, lunched and dined with the Princess, the Duchess, and one or more ladies. There were long drives, rides, and rows on thelochs--sometimes in mist and rain, among beautiful scenery, like thatwhich had been a solace in the days of deepest sorrow, tea among thebracken or the heather or in some wayside house, friendly chats, peaceful readings. 

This year Princess Helena was betrothed to Prince Christian ofSchleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, a brother of the husband of her cousin, Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe. The family connection and the personalcharacter of the bridegroom were high recommendations, while themarriage would permit the Princess to remain in England near hermother. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

DEATHS OF LORD PALMERSTON AND THE KING OF THE BELGIANS--THE QUEENAGAIN OPENS PARLIAMENT IN PERSON, &C. , &C. 

The Prime Minister so long connected with the Queen, Lord Palmerston, energetic to the last, died at Brockett Hall on the 18th of October. 

A still greater loss befell her Majesty in the month of December--amarked month in her history. King Leopold died on the 9th at Laeken, within a few days of attaining his seventy-sixth year, the last of afamily of nine sons and daughters. He had been cured of a deadlydisease by a painful and dangerous operation two years before. He hadsuffered afterwards from a slight shock of paralysis, which had notprevented him from coming to England to be present at the baptism ofPrince Victor of Wales, the fifth generation, counting that of GeorgeIII. , which King Leopold had known in connection with the Englishthrone. In addition to his fine mental qualities, he was singularlyactive in his habits to the end. He walked thirty miles, and shot forsix hours in winter snow, after he had entered his seventy-fifth year. Though the Queen must have been prepared for the event, and his deathwas peaceful, it was a blow to her--much of her early past perishedwith her life-long friend and counsellor. 

In 1866 the Queen opened Parliament in person for the first time sincethe death of the Prince Consort, and there was a great assemblage tohail her reappearance when she entered, not by the State, but by thePeers' entrance. There were none of the flourishes of trumpets whichhad formerly announced her arrival--solemn silence prevailed. She didnot wear the robes of state, they were merely laid upon the throne. Her Majesty was accompanied by the Princesses Helena and Louise. Whenthe Queen was seated on the throne the Prince of Wales took his seaton her right, while the Princesses stood on her left. Behind the Queenwas the Duchess of Wellington, as mistress of the robes, and a lady inwaiting. Her Majesty's dress was dark purple velvet bordered withermine; she wore a tiara of diamonds with a white gauze veil fallingdown behind. The speech, which in one passage announced the comingmarriage of Princess Helena and Prince Christian (who sat near the endof one of the ambassadors' benches) was read by the Lord Chancellor. The Parliament granted to Prince Alfred an annuity of fifteen thousandpounds--voted in turn to each of his younger brothers on their comingof age--and to Princess Helena a dowry of thirty thousand and anannuity of six thousand pounds, similar to what had been granted toPrincess Alice and was to be voted to Princess Louise. 

In March the Queen instituted the "Albert Medal, " as a decoration forthose who had saved life from shipwreck and from peril at sea, and forthe first time during five-years revisited the camp at Aldershot andreviewed the troops. She was accompanied by Princess Helena and thePrincess Hohenlohe, who was on a visit to England. 

Queen Amélie died at Claremont on the 24th of March, aged eighty-threeyears. 

On the 25th of May Prince Alfred was created Earl of Ulster, Earl ofKent, and Duke of Edinburgh. 

The Princess Mary of Cambridge was married to the Prince of Teck onthe 12th of June, in the presence of the Queen, in the parish churchof Kew, where the bride had been confirmed, "among her own people. "Parliament granted her an annuity of five thousand pounds. 

Another marriage, that of Princess Helena, was celebrated in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, by the Archbishop of Canterbury and theBishop of London, on the 7th of July. The bridegroom was supported byPrince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar. The bride entered between her Majesty and the Prince of Wales. The usual eight noble bridesmaids followed. Prince Christian was inhis thirty-sixth, Princess Helena in her twenty-first year. Their homehas been first at Frogmore and afterwards at Cumberland Lodge. 

While the German war which had Schleswig-Holstein for a bone ofcontention was still only threatening, the Crown Princess of Prussialost a fine child, Prince Sigismund. 

Afterwards the Queen had the pain of seeing her married children, withtheir unfailing family affection, inevitably ranged on different sidesin the war. Princess Alice trembled before the fear of a widowhoodlike her mother's as the sound of the firing of the Prussian army, which lay between the wife at home and the husband in the field, washeard in Darmstadt. The quiet little town fell into the hands of theenemy, and was at once poverty and pestilence stricken, small-pox andcholera having broken out in the hospitals, where the Princess waslabouring devotedly to succour the wounded. In such circumstances, while the standard of her husband's regiment lay hidden in her room, Princess Louis's third daughter was both. Happily peace was soonproclaimed. In honour of it the baby, Princess Irene, whose godfatherswere the officers and men of her father's regiment, received her name. 

This year Hanover ceased to be an independent state, and becameannexed to Prussia. 

Dr. Norman Macleod has a bright little picture of an evening atBalmoral in 1866. "The Queen sat down to spin at a nice Scotch wheelwhile I read Robert Burns to her, 'Tam o' Shanter, ' and 'A man's a manfor a' that'--her favourite. "

Her Majesty sent her miniature with an autograph letter to theAmerican citizen, Mr. Peabody, in acknowledgment of his magnificentgift of model lodging-houses to the Working people of London. 

In 1867 the Queen again opened Parliament in person, her speech beingread by the Lord Chancellor. 

The grievous accident of the breaking of the ice in Regent's Park, when it was covered with skaters and spectators, took place on the15th of January. 

"The Early Tears of the Prince Consort, " the first instalment of his"Life, " brought out under the direction of General Grey, with much ofthe information supplied by the Queen, was published, and afforded anobler memorial to the Prince than any work in stone or metal. 

On the 20th of May her Majesty laid the foundation of the Albert Hall. She was accompanied by the Princesses Louise and Beatrice, PrinceLeopold, and Prince Christian, and received by the Lord Steward, theLord Chamberlain, and the Queen's elder sons. The latter presented herwith a bouquet, which she took, kissing her sons. In reply to thePrince of Wales's speech her Majesty spoke in accents singularlyinaudible for her. She mentioned the struggle she had undergone beforeshe had brought herself to take part in that day's proceedings, butsaid she had been sustained by the thought that she was thus promotingher husband's designs. 

In June and July the Queen of Prussia and the Sultan of Turkey came inturn to England. The latter was with her Majesty in her yacht at agreat naval review held in most tempestuous weather off Spithead. Inthe end of July the Empress of the French paid a short private visitto her Majesty at Osborne. 

On the 20th of August the Queen left for Balmoral. On her way northshe spent a few days with the Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh at Fleurs, when her Majesty visited Melrose and Abbotsford. After inspecting withgreat interest the memorials of Sir Walter Scott, who had beenpresented to her when she was a little girl at Kensington Palace, shecomplied with a request that she should write her name in the greatauthor's journal, adding the modest comment in her own journal thatshe felt it presumption in her to do so. 

During the autumn the Queen paid an informal visit to the Duke ofRichmond's shooting lodge in Glen Fiddich. On the first evening of herstay the break with the luggage failed to appear, and her Majesty hadto suffer some of the half-comical inconveniences of ordinarytravellers. She had to dine in her riding skirt, with a borrowed blacklace veil arranged as a head-dress, and she had to go to bed withoutthe necessary accompaniments to her toilette. 

In 1867 the terrible news from Mexico that the Emperor Maximilian(Archduke of Austria and husband of the Queen's cousin, PrincessCharlotte of Belgium) had been shot by his rebel subjects, while hiswife was hopelessly insane, rendered it a mercy to all interested inthe family that old King Leopold had not lived to see the wreck of somany hopes. 

In 1868 the Queen gave to her people the first "Leaves" from herjournal in the Highlands, which afforded most pleasant glimpses of thewonderfully happy family life, the chief holidays of which had beenspent at Balmoral. Her Majesty sent a copy to Charles Dickens, withthe graceful inscription that it was the gift of "one of the humblestof writers to one of the greatest. "

On the 13th of May the Queen laid the foundation stone of St. Thomas'sHospital, and on the 20th she held a great review of twenty-seventhousand volunteers in Windsor Park. Instead of her mother or herlittle children, her daughter-in-law and grown-up daughters, thePrincess of Wales, Princess Christian, and Princess Louise, were inthe carriage with her, while in room of her husband and her brother orcousin, her two soldier sons rode one on each side of the carriage. 

On the 5th of July her Majesty, whose health required change of airand scene, left for Switzerland, which must have possessed a greatattraction to so ardent an admirer of mountain scenery. She wentincognito as Countess of Kent. She was accompanied by Prince Leopoldand the Princesses Louise and Beatrice. The Queen travelled in heryacht to Cherbourg, and thence by railway to Paris, where she stayedall day in seclusion in the house of the English Ambassador, receivingonly a private visit from the Empress Eugénie--a different experienceof Paris from the last. The Queen continued her journey in the eveningto Basle, and from Basle to Lucerne, where for nearly two months sheoccupied the Pension Wallis, delightfully situated on the HillGibraltar above the lake. She made numerous enjoyable excursions onher pony "Sultan" to the top of the Rhigi, and in the little steamboat_Winkelried_ on the lovely lake of the Four Cantons, under theshadow of Pilatus, to William Tell's country--she even ventured as faras the desolate, snow-crowned precipices of the Engelberg. Her Majestyreturned by Paris, driving out to St. Cloud, and being much affectedas she walked in the grounds, but not venturing to enter the house, where she had lived with the Prince during her happy fortnight's visitto her ally in the Crimean war. 

Three days after her arrival in England the Queen proceeded as usualto Balmoral, where she took a lively interest in all the rural anddomestic affairs which stood out prominently in the lives of herhumbler neighbours. The passages from her journal in this and insubsequent years are full of graphic, appreciative descriptions of thestirring incidents of "sheep-juicing, " "sheep-shearing, " thetorchlight procession on "Hallowe'en, " a "house-warming;" of the gravesolemnity of a Scotch communion, and the kindliness and pathos of morethan one cottage "kirstenin, " death-bed, and funeral, with the simplepiteous tragedy of "a spate" in which two little brothers weredrowned. 

Considerable excitement was caused in the House of Commons during thedebate on the disestablishment of the Irish Church, by the Premier, Mr. Disraeli, mentioning the Queen's name in connection with aninterview he had with her on his resignation of office and on thedissolution of Parliament. The conduct of Mr. Disraeli was stigmatisedas unconstitutional both in advising a dissolution of Parliament andin apparently attempting to shift the responsibility of the situationfrom the Government to the Crown. 

The Queen lost by death this year her old Mistress of the Robes, oneof the earliest and most attached of her friends, Harriet, Duchess ofSutherland. 

In September, 1869, her Majesty, with the Princesses Louise andBeatrice, paid a ten days' visit to Invertrosachs, occupying LadyEmily Macnaghten's house, and learning to know by heart Loch Katrine, Loch Lomond, &c. , &c. 

In November the Queen was in the City after a long absence, for thedouble purpose of opening Blackfriars Bridge and the Holborn Viaduct. Happily for the cheering multitudes congregated on the occasion theday was bright and fair though cold, so that she could drive in anopen carriage accompanied by her younger daughters and Prince Leopold. The Queen still wore deep mourning after eight years of widowhood, andher servants continued to have a band of crape on one arm. Her Majestywas received by the Lord Mayor, &c. , &c. After Blackfriars Bridge hadbeen declared open for traffic her carriage passed across it, followedby his. The same ceremony was performed at the Holborn Viaduct. 

This season the Prince of Wales revisited the East, accompanied by thePrincess. 

In 1870 the Queen signed the order in council resigning the royalprerogative over the army. 

On the 11th May her Majesty opened the University of London. She wasreceived by Earl Granville and Mr. Grote. Baboo Keshub Shunder Sen wasconspicuous among the company. The Queen received an address, said ina clear voice "I declare this building open, " and the silver trumpetssounded. 

Charles Dickens died on the 9th of June. 

The Franco-German war, in which the Crown Prince of Prussia and PrinceLouis of Hesse were both engaged with honour, happily this time on thesame side, was filling the eyes of Europe; and before many months hadpassed since "_Die Wacht am Rhein_" had resounded through thelength and breadth of Germany, the Empress of the French arrived inEngland as a fugitive, to be followed ere long by the Emperor. 

In the autumn at Balmoral, Princess Louise, with the Queen's consent, became engaged to the Marquis of Lorne, eldest son of the Duke ofArgyle. The proposal was made and accepted during a walk from theGlassalt Shiel to the Dhu Loch. 

In November the Queen visited the Empress at Chislehurst. 

During the war, while the number of the French wounded alone inDarmstadt amounted to twelve hundred, and Princess Alice was visitingthe four hospitals daily, her second son was born. 

The death of Sir James Clark, at Bagshot, was the snapping to theQueen of another of the links which connected the present with thepast. 

In 1871 the Queen again opened Parliament in person, with her speechread by the Lord Chancellor. As described by an eye-witness, herMajesty sat "quite still, her eyes cast down, only a slight movementof the face. " The approaching marriage of the Princess Louise wasannounced, and reference was made to the fact that the King of Prussiahad become Emperor of Germany. 

For the first time since the death of the Prince Consort, the Queenspent the anniversary of their marriage-day at Windsor. 

On the 21st of March Princess Louise was married in St George'sChapel, Windsor, to the Marquis of Lorne. The bridegroom was supportedby Earl Percy and Lord Ronald Leveson-Gower. The bride walked betweenthe Queen and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Her Majesty by a gesture gaveaway her daughter. Princess Louise was twenty-three, Lord Lornetwenty-six years of age. The Princess has rooms in Kensington Palacefor her London residence. 

Eight days afterwards the Queen opened the Albert Hall. 

On the 3rd of April her Majesty visited the Emperor of the French atChislehurst--a trying interview. 

On the 21st of June the Queen opened St. Thomas's Hospital, knightingthe treasurer. 

This summer the Emperor and Empress of Brazil visited London, whilethe Tichborne trial was running its long course. 

On the Queen's return from Balmoral in November, she was met by thealarming tidings that the Prince of Wales lay ill of typhoid fever atSandringham. The Queen went to her son on the 29th and remained for afew days. The disease seemed progressing favourably, and she returnedto Windsor in the beginning of December, leaving the invalid devotedlynursed by the Princess of Wales and Princess Alice--who had beenstaying with her brother when the fever showed itself, and by the Dukeof Edinburgh. On the 8th there was a relapse, when the Queen and thewhole of the royal family were sent for to Sandringham. During manydays the Prince hovered between life and death. The sympathy was deepand universal. The reading of the bulletins at the Mansion House was asight to be remembered. A prayer was appointed by the Archbishop ofCanterbury for "Albert Edward Prince of Wales, lying upon the bed ofsickness, " and for "Victoria our Queen and the Princess of Wales inthis day of their great trouble. " Supplications were sent up alike inCatholic churches and Jewish synagogues. On the night of Wednesday the14th, a date which had been dreaded as that of the Prince Consort'sdeath ten years before, a slight improvement took place, sleep at lastwas won, and gradual recovery established. The Queen returned toWindsor on the 19th, and wrote on the 26th of December to thank herpeople for their sympathy. 

On the 8th of February, 1872, the Governor-General of India, LordMayo, was assassinated. 

The 27th was the Thanksgiving Day for the Prince of Wales's recovery. No public sight throughout her Majesty's reign was more moving thanher progress with the Prince and Princess of Wales and PrincessBeatrice to and from St. Paul's. The departure from Buckingham Palacewas witnessed by the Emperor and Empress of the French, who stood on abalcony. The decorated streets were packed with incredible masses ofpeople, the cheering was continuous. The Queen wore white flowers inher bonnet and looked happy. The Prince insisted on lifting his hat inreturn for the people's cheers. The royal party were met at Temple Barby the Lord Mayor and a deputation from the Common Council. The Citysword was presented and received back again, when the chief magistrateof London remounted and rode before the Queen to St. Paul's. Thirteenthousand persons were in the City cathedral. The pew for the Queen andthe Prince was enclosed by a brass railing. The _Te Deum_ wassung by a picked choir. There was a special prayer, "We praise andmagnify Thy glorious name for that Thou hast raised Thy servant AlbertEdward Prince of Wales from the bed of sickness. " The sermon waspreached by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The return was led by theLord Mayor and Aldermen to the bounds of the City. When BuckinghamPalace was reached the Queen showed herself with the Prince for amoment on the central balcony. There was an illumination in theevening. 

On the 29th of February, as the Queen was returning from a drive inthe Park, having come down Constitution Hill and entered thecourtyard, when about to alight, a lad with a paper in one hand and apistol in the other rushed first to the left and then to the rightside of the carriage, with arms extended to the Queen, who sat quiteunmoved. Her Majesty's attendant, John Brown, seized the assailant. Hewas a half-witted Irish lad, named Arthur O'Connor, about seventeenyears of age, who had been a clerk to an oil and colour merchant. Hehad climbed over the railings. There was no ball in the pistol, whichwas broken. The paper was a petition for the Fenians. The publicindignation was great against the miserable culprit, who was dealtwith as in former outrages of the kind, according to the nature of theoffence and with reference to the mental condition of the offender. The Queen, who had been about to institute a medal as a reward forlong and faithful service among her domestics, gave a gold medal andan annuity of twenty-five pounds to John Brown for his presence ofmind and devotion on this occasion. 

Her Majesty had gone to Balmoral for her birthday, and was still thereon the 16th of June when she heard of the death of her valued friend, Dr. Norman Macleod. He had preached to her and dined with her sorecently as the 26th of May. What his loss was to her she hasexpressed simply and forcibly in a passage in her journal.... "When Ithought of my dear friend Dr. Macleod and all he had been to me--howin 1862, '63, '64, he had cheered and comforted and encouraged me--howhe had ever sympathised with me ... And that this too like so manyother comforts and helps was for ever gone, I burst out crying. "

On the 1st of July the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh andPrince Leopold and the two younger princesses, visited the AlbertMemorial, Hyde Park, which was complete save for the statue. 

Three days afterwards, in very hot weather, her Majesty was present ata great review at Aldershot. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

STAY AT HOLYROOD--DEATHS OF PRINCESS HOHENLOHE AND OF PRINCE FREDERICKOF DARMSTADT--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. 

The Queen arrived at Holyrood on the 14th of August, and made a stayof a few days in Edinburgh for the first time during eleven years. Asuite of rooms called the "Argyle rooms" had been freshly arranged forher occupation. She went over Queen Mary's rooms again for thegratification of Princess Beatrice, and with the Princess and PrinceLeopold took the old drives to Dalkeith and Leith which her Majestyhad first taken thirty years before. 

A favourite project in the past had been that her Majesty should go sofar north as to visit Dunrobin, and rooms had been prepared for herreception. When the visit was paid the castle was in the hands ofanother generation, and the Queen laid the foundation stone of a crosserected to the memory of the late Duchess. 

Soon after her Majesty's return to Balmoral, on the 23rd September, she had the grief to receive a telegram announcing the death of hersister, Princess Hohenlohe. Though not more than sixty-five years ofage the Princess had been for some time very infirm. She had receiveda great shock in the previous spring from the unexpected death byfever, at the age of thirty-three, of her younger surviving daughter, Princess Feodore, the second wife of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. 

The Emperor Napoleon III, who had long been labouring under soredisease, laid down his wearied and vanquished life at Chislehurst onthe 9th of January, 1873. 

The coming marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh to the Grand DuchessMarie of Russia was announced to Parliament. 

On the 2nd of April the Queen was present at the opening of theVictoria Park. Prince Arthur was created Duke of Connaught. 

A fatal accident to the younger son of Prince and Princess Louis ofHesse happened at Darmstadt on the 29th of May. The nurse had broughtthe children to see the Princess while she was in bed, and had leftthe two little boys playing beside her. The windows of the bedroom andof a dressing-room beyond were open. Princess Louis, hearing PrinceErnest, the elder brother, go into the dressing-room, leapt out of bedand hurried after him. In her momentary absence Prince Frederick, between two and three years of age, leant out of one of the bedroomwindows, lost his balance, and fell on the pavement below, receivingterrible injuries, from which he died in a few hours, to the greatsorrow of his parents. 

In September the Queen and Princess Beatrice, with Lady Churchill andGeneral Ponsonby, spent a week at Inverlochy, occupying the house ofLord Abinger at the foot of Ben Nevis, among the beautiful scenerywhich borders the Caledonian Canal, and is specially associated withPrince Charlie--in pity for whom her Majesty loved to recall the dropsof Stewart blood in her veins. 

This year more than one figure, well-known in different ways to theQueen in former years, passed out of mortal sight--Bishop Wilberforce, Landseer, Macready. 

In January, 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh was married at the WinterPalace, St. Petersburg, to the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. The Dukewas in his thirtieth, the Grand Duchess in her twenty-first year. Theroyal couple arrived at Gravesend on March 7th, and entered London onMarch 12th in a heavy snowstorm. In spite of the weather the Queen andthe Duchess, with the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Beatrice seatedopposite, drove slowly through the crowded streets in an open carriagedrawn by six horses. The Prince and Princess of Wales, PrincessLouise, &c. , were at the windows of Buckingham Palace. The Queen wentout with the Duke and Duchess on the balcony. The Duke and Duchess'stown and country houses are Clarence House and Eastwell Park. 

In March her Majesty, accompanied by all her family in England, reviewed the troops returned from the Ashantee War in Windsor GreatPark, and gave the orders of St. Michael and St. George to Sir GarnetWolseley and the Victoria Cross to Lord Gifford. 

The first volume of the "Life of the Prince Consort, " by Sir TheodoreMartin, came out and made a deep impression on the general public. 

Her Majesty had for many years honoured with her friendship M. AndMadame Van de Weyer, who were the Queen's near neighbours at Windsor, the family living at the New Lodge. In addition they had come forseveral seasons to Abergeldie, when the Court was at Balmoral. M. Vande Weyer was not only the trusted representative of the King of theBelgians, he was a man highly gifted morally and intellectually. Thisyear the friendship was broken by his death. 

On the 15th of October the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's son--wasborn. 

The news of Livingstone's death reached England. 

Early in 1875 Prince Leopold, then twenty-two years of age, sufferedfrom typhoid fever. So great were the fears entertained for his lifethat the Queen was prevented from opening Parliament in person. Already Princess Alice in her letters had referred to her youngestbrother as having been three times given back to his family from thebrink of the grave. 

During the spring the Queen was deprived by death of her Clerk to theCouncil and literary adviser in her first book, Sir Arthur Helps. Charles Kingsley, whose work was much admired by the Prince Consort, died also. 

On the 18th of August, when the Queen was sitting on the deck of theroyal yacht as it crossed from Osborne to Gosport, the yacht_Mistletoe_ ran across its bows and a collision took place, the_Mistletoe_ turning over and sinking. The sister-in-law of theowner of the yacht was drowned. The master, an old man, who was struckby a spar, died after he had been picked up. The rest of the crew wererescued. Her Majesty, who was greatly distressed, aided personally inthe vain efforts to restore one of the sufferers to consciousness. 

In September the Queen, in paying a week's visit to the Duke andDuchess of Argyle at Inverary, had the pleasure of seeing PrincessLouise in her future home. It was twenty-eight years since her Majestyhad been in the house of MacCallummore, and then her son-in-law of to-day had been a little fellow of two years, in black velvet and faircurls. 

Towards the end of the year the Prince of Wales left for hislengthened progress through her Majesty's dominions in India, whichwas accomplished with much éclat and success. 

In 1876 the Queen opened Parliament in person. 

On the 25th of February her Majesty, accompanied by the Princess ofWales, Princess Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, and received by the Dukeof Edinburgh, attended a state concert given in the morning at theAlbert Hall. Since 1866 the Queen had been able gradually to hear andenjoy again the music in which she had formerly delighted, but she hadtaken the gratification in her domestic life. Her royal duties hadbeen only intermitted for the briefest space. Every act of beneficenceand gracious queenliness had been long ago resumed. But no place ofpublic amusement had seen the face of the widowed Queen. 

Lady Augusta Stanley died, after a lingering illness, on the 1st ofMarch. It was the close--much lamented from the highest to the lowest--of a noble and beautiful life. The Queen afterwards erected amemorial cross to Lady Augusta Stanley's memory in the grounds atFrogmore. 

On the 7th of March her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Beatrice, opened a new wing of the London Hospital. 

Two days afterwards the statue of the Prince Consort in the AlbertMemorial was unveiled without any ceremony. The whole memorial thuscompleted stood, as it stands to-day, one of the most splendid tokens--apart from its artistic merit--of a nation's gratitude and a Queen'slove. Opinions may differ on the use of gilding and colours, as theyhave been rarely employed in this Country, upon the towering facadesand pinnacles, and on the choice of the central gilt figure of thePrince, colossal, in robes of state. But there can hardly be a doubtas to the striking effect of the magnificent monument takenaltogether, especially when it has the advantage of a blue sky andbrilliant sunshine, and of the charm of the four white marble groupswhich surround the pedestal, seen in glimpses through the lavish greenof Kensington Gardens. An engraving of the statue of the Prince isgiven in Vol. I. , p. 172. 

In the end of the month the Queen, travelling incognito as Countess ofKent, having crossed to Cherbourg, arrived at Baden-Baden accompaniedby Princess Beatrice. Her Majesty visited the Princess Hohenlohe'sgrave. She continued her journey to Coburg. In passing through Parison her return to England towards the end of April, her Majesty had aninterview with the President of the French Republic. 

On the 1st of May the Queen was proclaimed Empress of India. 

In the season the Empress of Germany and the ex-royal family ofHanover visited England. On the 17th of August the Queen, with thePrinces Arthur and Leopold and Princess Beatrice, stayed two nights atHolyrood for the purpose of unveiling the equestrian statue to thelate Prince in Charlotte Square. Her Majesty recalled the coincidencethat the last public appearances of both her husband and mother werein Edinburgh--the Prince Consort in laying the foundation stone of thenew post-office in October, 1861, only six weeks before his death, theDuchess of Kent at the summer volunteer review in 1860. The town wasgay and bright and crowded with company. In Charlotte Square the Dukeof Buccleuch, chairman of the committee, read the address, to whichthe Queen read a reply. On her return to the palace she knighted thesculptor, Sir John Steel, and Professor Oakeley, the composer of thechorale which was sung on the occasion. In the evening there was oncemore a great dinner at Holyrood--Scotts, Kerrs, Bruces, Primroses, Murrays, &c. , &c, being gathered round their Queen. 

A month afterwards at Ballater, amidst pouring rain, her Majestypresented new colours to the 79th regiment, "Royal Scots, " of whichher father was colonel when she was born. She spoke a few kind wordsto the soldiers, and accepted from them the gift of the old colours, which are in her keeping. 

On the 15th December the Queen and the Princess Beatrice paid a visitto Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden, lunched, and remained two hours, during which the royal visitors planted trees on the lawn. 

In consequence of fever in the Isle of Wight her Majesty held herChristmas at Windsor for the first time since the death of the PrinceConsort. 

On New Year's day, 1877, the Queen was proclaimed Empress of India atDelhi. Her Majesty opened Parliament on the 8th of February. 

In September, when the war between Russia and Turkey was raging, herMajesty, Princess Beatrice, the Duchess of Roxburgh, &c. , spent a weekat Loch Maree Hotel, enjoying the fine Ross-shire scenery, makingdaily peaceful excursions, to which such a telegram as told of thebombardment of Plevna must have been a curious accompaniment. 

In February, 1878, the Queen's grandchild, Princess Charlotte ofPrussia, was married at Berlin to the hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, at the same time that her cousin, Princess Elizabeth ofPrussia, was married to the hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg. 

On the 12th June the Queen's cousin, who had been the blind King ofHanover, died in exile at Paris. His body was brought to England andwas buried in the royal vault below St. George's Chapel, Windsor. 

The Queen saw a naval review off Spithead in August. In the end of themonth the Queen, with Princess Beatrice and Prince Leopold, stopped atDunbar on the way north in order to pay a visit to the Duke andDuchess of Roxburgh at Broxmouth. During her Majesty's stay she heardof the death of Madame Van de Weyer at the New Lodge, and wrote in herjournal, "Another link with the past gone! with my beloved one, withdearest Uncle Leopold, and with Belgium. "

In September a terrible accident occurred in the Thames off Woolwich, when the _Princess Alice steamboat_ on a pleasure trip was rundown by the _Bywell Castle_, and about six hundred passengersperished. 

In the end of the month the Queen had the misfortune to lose her oldand faithful servant Sir Thomas Biddulph, who died at AbergeldieMains. When she went to see him in his last illness and took his hand, he said, "You are very kind to me, " to which she answered, pressinghis hand, "You have always been very kind to me. "

The Marquis of Lorne had been appointed Governor-General of Canada, for which he and Princess Louise sailed, arriving at Ottawa on the23rd of November. 

Already the Queen, who was still at Balmoral, had heard of thedisastrous outbreak of diphtheria in the Darmstadt royal family. Itattacked every member in succession, the youngest, Princess Marie, achild of four years of age, dying on the 16th of November. It wassupposed that the Duchess had caught the infection from having once, in an abandonment of sorrow for the death of her little daughter, forgotten the necessary precautions, and rested her head on the Duke'spillow. Her case was dangerous from the first, and she gave orderslest she should die, but did not seem to expect death. In her sleepshe was heard to murmur, "Four weeks--Marie--my father. " On themorning before she died she read a letter from her mother. Her lastwords when waking from sleep, she took the refreshment offered her, were, "Now I will again sleep quietly for a longer time. " Then shefell back into the slumber from which she never awoke. She died on the14th December, exactly four weeks from the death of her child, andseventeen years from the death of her father. She was thirty-fiveyears of age. Princess Alice was a woman of rare qualities andremarkable benevolence. 

The Prince of Wales and Prince Leopold went to Darmstadt and followedthe funeral from the church to the Rosenhöhe, where all that wasmortal of Princess Alice rests beside the dust of her children. A finefigure in white marble of the Princess, recumbent, clasping her littledaughter to her breast, has been placed close to the spot as a tokenof the loving remembrance of her brothers and sisters. The engravingrepresents this beautiful piece of monumental sculpture. 

In 1879 the Zulu war broke out. On the 11th of March Princess Louiseof Prussia arrived in England, and on the 13th she was married in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in the presence of the Queen and all themembers of the royal family and the bride's father and mother, Princeand Princess Frederick Charles of Prussia. The bridegroom wassupported by his brothers, the Prince of Wales and the Duke ofEdinburgh. The bride walked between her father and the Crown Prince ofGermany, and was followed by eight noble bridesmaids. The Duke ofConnaught was in his twenty-ninth and Princess Louise of Prussia inher nineteenth year. Their residence is Bagshot Park. 

Twelve days later the Queen left with Princess Beatrice and, travelling by Cherbourg and Paris, reached Lake Maggiore on the 28th. Immediately after their arrival the news came of the death, fromdiphtheria of one of the Crown Princess of Germany's sons, PrinceWaldemar of Prussia, a fine boy of eleven years of age. 

Her Majesty left on the 23rd of April, and returned by Milan, Turin, Paris, and Cherbourg, to England. 

CHAPTER XL. 

BIRTH OF THE FIRST GREAT-GRANDCHILD--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY--CONCLUSION. 

The Queen's first great-grandchild, the child of the Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, was born on the 12th of May. 

On her Majesty's arrival at Balmoral on the 22nd of May she went tosee the granite cross erected to the "dear memory" of Alice, Duchessof Hesse, by her "sorrowing mother"

The Queen remained at Balmoral till after the 19th of June, when themelancholy tidings arrived that the Prince Imperial had been killed inthe Zulu war. Her Majesty left on the 20th, and crossed over the TayBridge, which was destroyed in the terrible gale of the 29th Decemberof the same year. 

In 1880 the Queen opened Parliament in person. Her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Beatrice, left Windsor on the 25th of Marchfor Baden-Baden and Darmstadt. The Queen was present at theconfirmation of the Princesses Victoria and Elizabeth, and visited theRosenhöhe, where their mother was buried. 

About the same time the ex-Empress Eugénie embarked at Southampton forthe Cape of Good Hope, that she might see the place where her son fellon the anniversary of his death. 

On the 24th of April the Princess Frederica of Hanover, elder daughterof the late King, was married to Baron von Pawel-Rammingen, who hadbeen equerry to her father, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The Queenand several members of the royal family witnessed the ceremony. 

In September the Duke of Connaught and his bride were welcomed toBalmoral, and a visit paid to the cairn erected in their honour whentheir healths were drunk with "three times three" in the presence ofthe Queen, Princess Beatrice, and the ladies and gentlemen of thehousehold. Later in the autumn the childless widow, the EmpressEugénie, stayed for a little time at Abergeldie. 

At the close of 1880 Lord Beaconsfield published his last novel of"Endymion. " George Eliot died on the 22nd December, and in 1881 ThomasCarlyle died, on the 5th of February, in the eighty-sixth year of hisage. 

Her Majesty's eldest grandson, Prince William of Prussia, was marriedat Berlin on the 27th of February to Princess Augusta Victoria ofSchleswig-Holstein. The bride was the granddaughter of the Queen'ssister, Princess Hohenlohe, and the niece of Prince Christian. 

On March 13th the Emperor of Russia was assassinated. 

Lord Beaconsfield died on the 19th of April at his house in CurzonStreet. Ten days later the Queen and Princess Beatrice visitedHughenden while the vault was still open, and placed flowers on thecoffin. 

In June Prince Leopold took his seat in the House of Peers on hiscreation as Duke of Albany. 

On the 19th of September President Garfield died, after a longstruggle, with the effects of his assassination, when the Queen wroteto Mrs. Garfield her indignation and pity as she had expressed them tothe widow of President Lincoln. 

In 1882 a monument was erected in Hughenden Church to LordBeaconsfield "by his grateful and affectionate sovereign and friend, "VICTORIA R. I. 

 Kings love him that speaketh right. 

 PROVERBS xvi 13. "

The Queen's speech on the opening of Parliament in 1882 announced theapproaching marriage of the Duke of Albany to Princess Helen ofWaldeck. 

On the 2nd of March, as her Majesty was entering her carriage atWindsor station, she was fired at by a man named Roderick Maclean, theball passing between her Majesty and Princess Beatrice. The criminal, who proved to be of respectable antecedents, was arrested andcommitted for high treason. He was tried, found not guilty on the pleaof insanity, and sentenced to be confined during her Majesty'spleasure. Much sympathy and indignation were felt, and addresses werevoted by both Houses of Parliament. 

The Queen left with Princess Beatrice, twelve days afterwards, byPortsmouth, Cherbourg, and Paris for Mentone, where her Majesty stayeda fortnight. 

Princess Helen of Waldeck, accompanied by her parents, arrived on the25th of April. The King and Queen of the Netherlands, the bride'sbrother-in-law and sister, came next day, and the marriage wascelebrated on the 27th of April in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, before the Queen and the royal family. The Duke of Albany was in histwenty-ninth, and Princess Helen in her twenty-first year. Claremontwas assigned to the young couple as their future residence. Eight daysafter the marriage a sad event broke in on the marriage rejoicings;the bride's sister, Princess William of Wurtemberg, died in childbirthat the age of twenty-three. 

On the 6th of May the Queen, with Princess Beatrice, went in state toEpping Forest, where they were received by the Lord Mayor, theSheriffs, and the Duke of Connaught as ranger of the forest. After anaddress the Queen declared the forest dedicated to the people's use. 

On the same day Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke wereassassinated in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. 

Garibaldi died at Caprera on the 2nd of June. 

The Egyptian war broke out, and among the officers who sailed with thetroops under Sir Garnet Wolseley in August was the Duke of Connaught. The Duchess and her little daughter were with the Queen at Balmoral, where anxious days were spent as mother and wife waited for the newsof battle. Successive telegrams announced that an attack wasdetermined on, that the army had marched, that fighting was going on, and that the enemy had been routed with heavy loss at Tel-el-Kebir. The Queen wrote in her journal "How anxious we felt I need not say, but we tried not to give way.... I prayed earnestly for my darlingchild, and longed for to-morrow to arrive. Read Korner's beautiful, '_Gebet vor der Schlacht_, ' '_Vater ich rufe Dich_, ' ('Prayerbefore the Battle, ' 'Father, I call on Thee'). My beloved husband usedto sing it often.... "

At last came the welcome telegram, "A great victory, Duke safe andwell, " and a further telegram with details and the concludingsentence, "Duke of Connaught is well and behaved admirably, leadinghis brigade to the attack, " and great was the joy and thankfulness. 

In the meantime the Duke and Duchess of Albany had been expected ontheir first visit after their marriage, and were met at Ballater. Whentheir healths were drunk with Highland honours, the happy Queen askedher son to propose another toast "to the victorious army in Egypt"coupled with the Duke of Connaught's name, and the health was drunk inthe hearing of his proud wife and his unconscious infant in hernurse's arms. 

In November the Queen reviewed the troops returned from Egypt in St. James Park, and afterwards distributed war medals to the officers andmen. 

On the 4th December her Majesty opened the New Law Courts. She wasreceived by the judges and the representatives of the Bar. LordChancellor Selborne was raised to the rank of an earl, and knighthoodwas conferred on the Governors of the Inns of Court. 

The Duke of Connaught, accompanied by the Duchess, went to fill amilitary post in India. 

We have seen that Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, her Majesty's fourthand youngest son, who was born on the 7th of April, 1853, had adelicate childhood and boyhood. He suffered from a tendency tohaemorrhage on the slightest provocation. Ailments in the joints areapt to accompany such constitutional weakness, and one of PrinceLeopold's knees was affected. As he grew up he was again and againbrought to the brink of the grave by sudden and violent fits ofindisposition. It is hardly necessary to say that the precariousnessof Prince Leopold's health, combined as it was with an amiabledisposition and intellectual gifts, only served to endear him the moreto his family and friends. 

The bodily weakness which set the Duke of Albany apart from his elderbrothers and from lads of his age, which prevented his being regularlytrained either as a soldier or a sailor, in the two professions whichhave been long held fit for princes, made him peculiarly the home-sonof the Queen, and caused him to be much longer associated with herthan he might otherwise have been, in her daily life and in her publicappearances during the later years of her reign. 

It did not follow from this circumstance that Prince Leopoldrelinquished an independent career or led an idle life. In 1872, whenhe was in his twentieth year, he matriculated at Oxford, where he kepthis terms with credit alike to his original abilities and hisconscientious diligence. His honourable and pleasant connection withhis university remained a strong tie to the end of his short life, andit was doubtless in relation to Oxford that he came sensibly under theinfluence of Mr. Buskin. 

On leaving college Prince Leopold continued to lead the quiet yet busylife of a scholarly and somewhat artistic young man to whom robusthealth has been denied. In addition to the many dignities of his rank, including four orders of knighthood, belonging to the Garter, theThistle, the Star of India, and the Order of St. Michael and St. George, he became a D. O. L. Of Oxford in 1876, and in the followingyear a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. A less characteristic honour givenhim was the rank of a colonel in the army. 

It was a marked feature in Prince Leopold's individuality, as it hadbeen in that of the Prince Consort, that he sought to turn all hisgifts and pursuits to practical use, not only in the interests ofscience and art, but in order to improve the condition and increasethe happiness of the Queen his mother's people. His speeches on theincreasing occasions when he took the chair at public meetings in aidof the objects he had at heart, were remarkable in so young a man, notonly for good taste and for the amount of carefully acquired knowledgethey displayed, but for the spirit of enlightened humanity andbenevolence which breathed through them. Gradually but surely PrinceLeopold's graceful, well-considered, kindly utterances, with which hewas ready whenever his services were required, were making a mostfavourable and permanent impression on the public which was too soonto mourn his loss. The extension of education and of innocentamusements through all classes, the Kyrle Society for the fostering ofArt among the homeliest surroundings, the higher and more generalcultivation of music, the introduction of lessons in cookery into thepoorest schools; were among the schemes which the Duke of Albanywarmly advocated. 

The Duke's marriage took place, as we have recorded, on the 27th ofApril, 1882, and in 1883 a daughter was born to him, who received thedear and hallowed name of "Alice. "

In March, 1884, the Duke of Albany went to Cannes in order to escapethe spring east winds, leaving the Duchess, who was in a delicatestate of health, behind him at Claremont. He appeared to profit by hisstay of a few weeks in the south of France, was unusually well inhealth and in excellent spirits, entering generally into the societyof the place. But on the 27th of March, in ascending a stair at theCercle Nautique, he slipped and fell, injuring his ailing knee in amanner in which he had hurt it several times before. He was conveyedin a carriage to the Villa Nevada, at which he was residing, and nodanger was apprehended, the Duke writing with his own hand to theDuchess, making light of the accident. During the following night, however, he was observed to breathe heavily, was found to be in a fit, and in a few minutes afterwards, early on the morning of the 28th ofMarch, 1884, he died in the arms of his equerry, Captain Perceval. Themelancholy news was telegraphed to Windsor, and broken to the Queen bythe Master of her Household, Sir Henry Ponsonby. Under the shock andgrief, with which the whole country sympathised, her Majesty's firstand constant thought seems to have been for the young widow atdesolate Claremont. 

The Prince of Wales started for Cannes, and accompanied the remains ofhis brother to England, the royal yacht _Osborne_ landing them atPortsmouth. On the arrival of the melancholy cavalcade at Windsor, onFriday, the 4th of April, the Queen went with her daughters, PrincessChristian and Princess Beatrice, to the railway station to meet thebody of the beloved son who had been the namesake of King Leopold, hersecond father, and the living image in character of the husband shehad adored. The coffin was carried by a detachment of the SeaforthHighlanders through the room in which her Majesty awaited theprocession, and conveyed to the chapel, where a short service wasafterwards held in the presence of the Queen and the near relatives ofthe dead, and where the nearest of all, the widowed Duchess, paid onebrief last visit to the bier. 

On the following day, Saturday, the 5th of April, towards noon, thefuneral took place, with all the pomp of the late Prince's rank, andall the sorrow which his untimely end and many virtues might well callforth. The Prince of Wales, as chief mourner, was supported by theCrown Prince of Germany, the Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince Christianof Schleswig-Holstein, Prince Albert Victor of Wales, and the Duke ofCambridge. The coffin, with its velvet pall nearly hidden by flowers, was again borne by a party of the Seaforth Highlanders to the solemnmusic of Chopin's "Funeral March" and the firing of the minute-guns, to the principal entrance of St. George's Chapel. Among the samecompany that had been assembled when the Duke of Albany had beenmarried not two years before, were his father-in-law and sister-in-law, the Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, and the Queen of Holland. 

While the dirge-like music and the booming of the cannon filled theair, the Queen in deep mourning entered, leaning on the arm of thePrincess of Wales, and followed by Princess Christian, the PrincessesLouise and Beatrice, and Princess Frederica of Hanover, the royalparty being conducted by the Lord Chamberlain to seats near the choirsteps. The Duchess of Albany and the Duchess of Edinburgh were unable, from the state of their health, to attend the funeral. As the coffin, every movement of which was regulated by the word of command spoken bythe officer appointed for the duty, passed through the screen andentered the choir, the Queen and Princesses rose as if to greet himwho came thus for the last time among them. The rest of the companyhad remained standing from the moment of the Queen's entrance. TheDean of Windsor read the Funeral Service. When the choir sang theanthem, "Blessed are the Departed, " the Queen again rose. Lord Brooke, a young man like the Prince who was gone, who had been with him atOxford, was one of the most intimate of his friends, and had beennamed one of the executors of his will, threw, with evident emotion, the handful of earth on the coffin while the Dean recited "Earth toearth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. "

After the singing of the hymn, "Lead kindly light, " during which herMajesty stood, she and the Princesses quitted the chapel. Garter-King-at-Arms having proclaimed the style and titles of the deceased, thecoffin was lowered into the vault below St. George's Chapel, thePrince of Wales gazing sadly on its descent. The Queen, with her longdiscipline of sorrow, had in the middle of her affliction preservedher coolness throughout the trying ceremony. Prince Leopold, Duke ofAlbany, had almost completed his thirty-first year. The anniversary ofhis birthday was on the second day after his funeral. 

The Queen has left her mark on the palaces and humbler houses whichhave been her homes. In indicating it we have nothing to do with greyWindsor in its historical glories, or even in its more picturesquelights. We leave behind the Waterloo Gallery, the Garter-room and thequaint cottages of the Poor Knights in order to point out the toucheswhich are the tokens of Queen Victoria's presence. Though she dwelthere principally in the bright days of her early reign, the chiefsigns which she will leave behind her are those of her widowhood andof the faithful heart which has never forgotten its kindred dead. Themost conspicuous work of the Queen's is the restoration andrechristening of the Wolsey Chapel. As the Albert Chapel, thebeautiful little building is fall of the thought of him who was oncemaster here. Its rich mosaics, stained glass, "pictures for eternity"fretted in marble, scriptural allegories of all the virtues--the verymedallions of his children which surmount these unfading pictures, areall in his honour. Specially so is the pure white marble figure of thePrince, represented as a knight in armour, lying sword in hand, hisfeet against the hound--the image of loyalty, while round the pedestalis carved his name and state, and the place of his burial, with theepitaph which fits him well, "I have fought the good fight, I havefinished my course. "

In St. George's Chapel her Majesty has erected five monuments. Arecumbent marble figure on an alabaster sarcophagus is to her father, who was so fond of the infant daughter whom he left a helpless baby. Awhite marble statue, larger than life, in royal robes, is to the manwho took the Duke of Kent's place, Leopold I. , King of the Belgians, of whom his niece could cause to be written with perfect truth "whowas as a father to her, and she was to him as a daughter. " This statueis reared near the well-known monument to the dead King's neverforgotten first wife, Princess Charlotte of Wales. [Footnote: PrincessAlice mentions in one of her published letters that King Leopold hadentertained a wish that he might be buried in England. ] The third andfourth monuments are to the Queen's aunt and cousin, the good Duchessof Gloucester and the late King of Hanover. The last was executed bythe Queen's nephew, Count Gleichen (Prince Victor Hohenlohe). Theinscription has several pathetic allusions. "Here has come to restamong his kindred, the royal family of England, George V. , the lastKing of Hanover. " "Receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. " "Inthis light he shall see light. " The fifth monument has been raised toa young eastern prince, son of Theodore, King of Abyssinia, who cameto England as a lad and died here "I was a stranger and ye took me in"is the epitaph. 

At the entrance to the fine corridor which runs round two sides of thequadrangle of the Castle, and forms a matchless in-door promenade, isTheed's beautiful group of the Queen and the Prince, conceived andworked out after his death, with the solemn parting of two heartstenderly attached as the motive of the whole. The figures are not onlyideally graceful while the likeness in each is carefully preserved, the expression is beyond praise. The wife clings, in devotion soperfect that impassioned hope contends with chill despair, to the armof the husband who looks down on her whom he loves best, with fondencouragement and the peace of the blessed already settling on thestainless brow. The inscription is from Goldsmith's "DesertedVillage"--

 "Allur'd to brighter worlds and led the way, "

It is part of an exquisite passage:--

 "And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way. "

The corridor, among its innumerable vases, cabinets, and pictures ofkings and great men--including a fine portrait of Sir Walter Scott--has a whole series of pictures illustrating, the leading events of herMajesty's life, from her "First Council, " by Wilkie, through hermarriage, the baptisms of the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales, the first reception of Louis Philippe, &c. , &c. , to the PrincessRoyal's marriage. 

The white drawing-room, said to be a favourite room of her Majesty's, is not far from her private sitting-room on the south-east side of thequadrangle which looks out on the Long Walk and Windsor Forest, thewhite drawing-room commanding the Home Park. 

Going down the stately double avenue of elms called the Long Walk, alodge and side walk at no great distance lead to Frogmore, with itsmausoleum half hidden in luxuriant foliage. In the octagonal building, which forms a cross, and is richly decorated with coloured marbles, isthe famous recumbent figure of the Prince in white marble by BaronMarochetti. When the Queen's time comes, which her people pray maystill be far distant, she will rest by her husband's side, and asimilar statue to his will mark where she lies. Memorials of PrincessAlice and of her Majesty's dead grandchildren are also here. 

The late Duchess of Kent is buried in a separate vault beneath a domesupported by pillars of polished granite and surrounded by a parapetwith balconies. In the upper chamber, lit from the top by stainedglass, is a statue of the Duchess, by Theed.