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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6910.txt b/6910.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71f68de --- /dev/null +++ b/6910.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10741 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen +V.1., by Sarah Tytler + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen V.1. + +Author: Sarah Tytler + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6910] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA V1 *** + + + + +Produced by Arjan Moraal, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +LIFE OF HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY +THE QUEEN + +BY SARAH TYTLER +EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY +LORD RONALD GOWER, F.S.A. + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. I. + + +Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year Eighteen +Hundred and Eighty-five, by GEORGE VIRTUE, in the office of the Minister +of Agriculture. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have been asked to write a few words of preface to this work. + +If the life-long friendship of my mother with her Majesty, which gained +for me the honour of often seeing the Queen, or a deep feeling of loyalty +and affection for our sovereign, which is shared by all her subjects, be +accepted as a qualification, I gratefully respond to the call, but I feel +that no written words of mine can add value to the following pages. + +Looking over some papers lately, I found the following note on a sketch +which I had accidentally met with in Windsor Castle--a coloured chalk +drawing, a mere study of one of the Queen's hands, by Sir David Wilkie, +probably made for his picture now in the corridor of the Castle, +representing the first council of Victoria. Of this sketch I wrote as +follows:-- + +"I was looking in one of the private rooms at Windsor Castle at a chalk +sketch, by Sir David Wilkie, of a fair, soft, long-fingered, dimpled +hand, with a graceful wrist attached to a rounded arm. 'Only a woman's +hand,' might Swift, had he seen that sketch, have written below. Only a +sketch of a woman's hand; but what memories that sketch recalls! How many +years ago Wilkie drew it I know not: that great artist died in the month +of June, 1841, so that more than forty years have passed, at least, since +he made that drawing. The hand that limned this work has long ago suffered +'a sea change.' And the hand which he portrayed? That is still among the +living--still occupied with dispensing aid and comfort to the suffering +and the afflicted, for the original is that of a Queen, beloved as widely +as her realms extend--the best of sovereigns, the kindest-hearted of +women." + +To write the life of Queen Victoria is a task which many authors might +well have felt incompetent to undertake. To succeed in writing it is an +honour of which any author may well be proud. This honour I humbly think +has been realised in the work of which these poor lines may form the +preface. + +RONALD GOWER. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +VOL. I. + +CHAP. +I. Sixty-Three Years Since. +II. Childhood. +III. Youth. +IV. The Accession. +V. The Proroguing Of Parliament, The Visit To Guildhall; And The + Coronation. +VI. The Maiden Queen. +VII. The Betrothal. +VIII. The Marriage. +IX. A Royal Pair. +X. Royal Occupations.--An Attempt On The Queen's Life. +XI. The First Christening.--The Season Of 1841. +XII. Birth Of The Prince Of Wales.--The Afghan Disasters.--Visit Of The + King Of Prussia.--The Queen's Plantagenet Ball. +XIII. Fresh Attempts Against The Queen's Life.--Mendelssohn.--Death Of + The Duc D'Orleans. +XIV. The Queen's First Visit To Scotland. +XV. A Marriage, A Death, And A Birth In The Royal Family.--A Palace + Home. +XVI. The Condemnation Of The English Duel.--Another Marriage.--The + Queen's Visit To Chateau D'Eu. +XVII. The Queen's Trip To Ostend.--Visits To Drayton, Chatsworth, And + Belvoir. +XVIII. Allies From Afar.--Death And Absence.--Birthday Greetings. +XIX. Royal Visitors.--The Birth Of Prince Alfred.--A Northern Retreat. +XX. Louis Philippe's Visit.--The Opening Of The Royal Exchange. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +SIXTY-THREE YEARS SINCE. + + +The 24th of May, 1819, was a memorable and happy day for England, though +like many such days, it was little noticed at the time. Sixty-three years +since! Do many of us quite realise what England was like then; how much +it differed from the England of to-day, even though some of us have lived +as many years? It is worth while devoting a chapter to an attempt to +recall that England. + +A famous novel had for its second heading, "'Tis sixty years since." That +novel--"Waverley"--was published anonymously just five years before 1819, +and, we need not say, proved an era in literature. The sixty years behind +him to which Walter Scott--a man of forty-three--looked over his shoulder, +carried him as far back as the landing of Prince Charlie in Moidart, and +the brief romantic campaign of the '45, with the Jacobite songs which +embalmed it and kept it fresh in Scotch memories. + +The wounds dealt at Waterloo still throbbed and burnt on occasions in +1819. Many a scarred veteran and limping subaltern continued the heroes +of remote towns and villages, or starred it at Bath or Tunbridge. The +warlike fever, which had so long raged in the country, even when ruined +manufacturers and starving mechanics were praying for peace or leading +bread-riots, had but partially abated; because whatever wrong to trade, +and misery to the poor, closed ports and war prices might have meant, the +people still depended upon their armed defenders, and in the hardest +adversity found the heart to share their triumphs, to illuminate cities, +light bonfires, cheer lustily, and not grudge parliamentary grants to the +country's protectors. The "Eagle" was caged on his rock in the ocean, to +eat his heart out in less than half-a-dozen years. Still there was no +saying what might happen, and the sight of a red coat and a sword +remained cheering--especially to soft hearts. + +The commercial world was slowly recovering from its dire distress, but +its weavers and mechanics were blazing up into fierce, futile struggle +with the powers by which masses of the people believed themselves +oppressed. If the men of war had no longer anything to do abroad, there +was great fear that work might be found for them at home. All Europe was +looking on in the expectation that England was about to follow the +example of France, and indulge in a revolution on its own account--not +bloodless this time. + +Rarely since the wars of the Commonwealth had high treason been so much +in men's mouths as it was in Great Britain during this and the following +year. Sedition smouldered and burst into flame--not in one place alone, +but at every point of the compass. The mischief was not confined to a +single class; it prevailed mostly among the starving operatives, but it +also fired minds of quite another calibre. Rash, generous spirits in +every rank became affected, especially after an encounter between the +blinded, maddened mobs and the military, when dragoons and yeomanry +charged with drawn swords, and women and children went down under the +horses' hoofs. Great riotous meetings were dispersed by force at +Manchester, Birmingham, Paisley. Political trials went on at every +assize. Bands of men lay in York, Lancaster, and Warwick gaols. At +Stockport Sir Charles Wolseley told a crowd armed with bludgeons that he +had been in Paris at the beginning of the French Revolution, that he was +the first man who made a kick at the Bastille, and that he hoped he +should be present at the demolition of another Bastille. + +On the 22nd of August, 1819, Sir Francis Burdett wrote to his electors at +Westminster: "....It seems our fathers were not such fools as some would +make us believe in opposing the establishment of a standing army and +sending King William's Dutch guards out of the country. Yet would to +heaven they had been Dutchmen, or Switzers, or Russians, or Hanoverians, +or anything rather than Englishmen who have done such deeds. What! kill +men unarmed, unresisting; and, gracious God! women too, disfigured, +maimed, cut down, and trampled on by dragoons! Is this England? This a +Christian land--a land of freedom?" + +For this, and a great deal more, Sir Francis, after a protracted trial, +was sentenced to pay a fine of two thousand pounds and to be imprisoned +for three months in the Marshalsea of the Court. In the Cato Street +conspiracy the notorious Arthur Thistlewood and his fellow-conspirators +planned to assassinate the whole of the Cabinet Ministers when they were +dining at Lord Harrowby's house, in Grosvenor Square. Forgery and +sheep-stealing were still punishable by death. Truly these were times of +trouble in England. + +In London a serious difficulty presented itself when Queen Charlotte grew +old and ailing, and there was no royal lady, not merely to hold a +Drawing-room, but to lend the necessary touch of dignity and decorum to +the gaieties of the season. The exigency lent a new impetus to the famous +balls at Almack's. An anonymous novel of the day, full of society scandal +and satire, described the despotic sway of the lady patronesses, the +struggles and intrigues for vouchers, and the distinguished crowd when +the object was obtained. The earlier hours, alas! only gave longer time +for the drinking habits of the Regency. + +It is a little difficult to understand what young people did with +themselves in the country when lawn-tennis and croquet were not. There +was archery for the few, and a good deal more amateur gardening and +walking, with field-sports, of course, for the lads. + +The theatre in 1819 was more popular than it showed itself twenty years +later. Every country town of any pretensions, in addition to its assembly +rooms had its theatre, which reared good actors, to which provincial +tours brought London stars. Genteel comedy was not past its perfection. +Adaptations of the Waverley novels, with musical dramas and melodramas, +drew great houses. Miss O'Neill had just retired, but Ellen Tree was +making a success, and Macready was already distinguished in his +profession. Still the excellence and prestige of the stage had declined +incontestably since the days of Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble. Edmund +Kean, though he did much for tragedy, had a short time to do it in, and +was not equal in his passion of genius to the sustained majesty of the +sister and brother. + +In the same way, the painters' art hovered on the borders of a brilliant +epoch. For Lawrence, with his courtly brush, which preferred flattery to +truth and cloying suavity to noble simplicity, was not worthy to be named +in the same breath with Reynolds. Raeburn came nearer, but his reputation +was Scotch. Blake in his inspiration was regarded, not without reason, as +a madman. Flaxman called for classic taste to appreciate him; and the +fame of English art would have suffered both at home and abroad if a +simple, manly lad had not quitted a Scotch manse and sailed from Leith to +London, bringing with him indelible memories of the humour and the pathos +of peasant life, and reproducing them with such graphic fidelity, power, +and tenderness that the whole world has heard of David Wilkie. + +The pause between sunset and sunrise, the interregnum which signifies +that a phase in some department of the world's history has passed away as +a day is done, and a new development of human experience is about to +present itself, was over in literature. The romantic period had succeeded +the classic. Scott, Coleridge, Southey (Wordsworth stands alone), Byron, +Shelley, Keats, Campbell, Moore, were all in the field as poets, carrying +the young world with them, and replacing their immediate predecessors, +Cowper, Thompson, Young, Beattie, and others of less note. + +Sir Walter Scott had also risen high above the horizon as a poet, and +still higher as a novelist. + +A great start in periodical literature was made in 1802 by the +establishment of _The Edinburgh Review_, under Jeffrey and Sydney +Smith, and again in 1817 by the publication of _Blackmoods Magazine_, +with Christopher North for its editor, and Lockhart, De Quincey, Hogg, +and Delta among its earlier contributors. The people's friend, Charles +Knight, was still editing _The Windsor and Eton Express_. + +In 1819 Sir Humphry Davy was the most popular exponent of science, Sir +James Mackintosh of philosophy. In politics, above the thunderstorm of +discontent, there was again the pause which anticipates a fresh advance. +The great Whig and Tory statesmen, Charles James Fox and William Pitt, +were dead in 1806, and their mantles did not fall immediately on fit +successors. The abolition of the slave-trade, for which Wilberforce, +Zachary Macaulay, and Clarkson had fought gallantly and devotedly, was +accomplished. But the Catholic Emancipation Bill was still to work its +way in the teeth of bitter "No Popery" traditions, and Earl Grey's Reform +Bill had not yet seen the light. + +George III.'s long reign was drawing to a close. What changes it had seen +from the War of American Independence to Waterloo! What woeful personal +contrasts since the honest, kindly, comely lad, in his simple kingliness, +rode out in the summer sunshine past Holland House, where lady Sarah +Lennox was making hay on the lawn, to the days when the blind, mad old +king sat in bodily and mental darkness, isolated from the wife and +children he had loved so well, immured in his distant palace-rooms in +royal Windsor. + + His silver beard o'er a bosom spread + Unvexed by life's commotion, + Like a yearly lengthening snow-drift shed + On the calm of a frozen ocean: + + Still o'er him oblivion's waters lay, + Though the stream of time kept flowing + When they spoke of our King, 'twas but to say + That the old man's strength was going. + + At intervals thus the waves disgorge, + By weakness rent asunder, + A piece of the wreck of the _Royal George_ + For the people's pity and wonder. + +Lady Sarah, too, became blind in her age, and, alas! she had trodden +darker paths than any prepared for her feet by the visitation of God. + +Queen Charlotte had come with her sense and spirit, and ruled for more +than fifty years over a pure Court in England. The German princess of +sixteen, with her spare little person and large mouth which prevented +her from being comely, and her solitary accomplishment of playing on the +harpsichord with as much correctness and taste as if she had been taught +by Mr. Handel himself, had identified herself with the nation, so that +no suspicion of foreign proclivities ever attached to her. Queen +Charlotte bore her trials gravely; while those who came nearest to her +could tell that she was not only a fierce little dragon of virtue, as she +has been described, but a loving woman, full of love's wounds and scars. + +The family of George III. and Queen Charlotte consisted of seven sons and +his daughters, besides two sons who died in infancy. + +George, Prince of Wales, married, 1795, his cousin, Princess Caroline of +Brunswick, daughter of the reigning Duke and of Princess Augusta, sister +of George III. The Prince and Princess of Wales separated soon after +their marriage. Their only child was Princess Charlotte of Wales. + +Frederick, Duke of York, married, 1791, Princess Frederica, daughter of +the reigning King of Prussia. The couple were childless. + +William, Duke of Clarence, married, 1818, Princess Adelaide, of +Saxe-Meiningen. Two daughters were born to them, but both died in infancy. + +Edward, Duke of Kent, married, 1818, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, +widow of the Prince of Leiningen. Their only child is QUEEN VICTORIA. + +Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, married, 1815, Princess Frederica of +Mecklenburg-Strelitz, widow, first of Prince Frederick Louis of Prussia, +and second, of the Prince of Saliris-Braunfels. Their only child was +George V., King of Hanover. + +Augustus, Duke of Sussex, married morganatically. + +Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, married, 1818, Princess Augusta of +Hesse-Cassel, daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. They had three +children--George, Duke of Cambridge; Princess Augusta, Duchess of +Mecklenburg-Strelitz; and Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck. + +The daughters of King George and Queen Charlotte were:-- + +The Princess Royal, married, 1797, the Prince, afterwards King, of +Wurtemberg. Childless. + +Princess Augusta, unmarried. + +Princess Elizabeth, married, 1818, the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. +Childless. + +Princess Mary, married, 1816, her cousin, William, Duke of Gloucester. +Childless. + +Princess Sophia, unmarried. + +Princess Amelia, unmarried. + +In 1817 the pathetic idyl, wrought out amidst harsh discord, had found +its earthly close in the family vault at Windsor, amidst the lamentations +of the whole nation. Princess Charlotte, the candid, fearless, +affectionate girl, whose youth had been clouded by the sins and follies +of others, but to whom the country had turned as to a stay for the +future--fragile, indeed, yet still full of hope--had wedded well, known +a year of blissful companionship, and then died in giving birth to a dead +heir. It is sixty-five years since that November day, when the bonfires, +ready to be lit at every town "cross," on every hill-side, remained dark +and cold. Men looked at each other in blank dismay; women wept for the +blushing, smiling bride, who had driven with her grandmother through the +park on her way to be married not so many months before. There are +comparatively few people alive who had come to man's or woman's estate +when the shock was experienced; but we have all heard from our +predecessors the story which has lent to Claremont a tender, pensive +grace, especially for royal young pairs. + +Old Queen Charlotte nerved herself to make a last public appearance on +the 11th of July, 1818, four months before her death. It was in her +presence, at Kew, that a royal marriage and re-marriage were celebrated +that day. The Duke of Clarence was married to Princess Adelaide of +Saxe-Meiningen, and the Duke of Kent was re-married, in strict accordance +with the English Royal Marriage Act, to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, +the widowed Princess of Leiningen. The last couple had been already +united at Coburg in the month of May. The Archbishop of Canterbury and +the Bishop of London officiated at the double ceremony. The brides were +given away by the Prince Regent. The Queen retired immediately +afterwards. But a grand banquet, at which the Prince Regent presided, was +given at six o'clock in the evening. An hour later the Duke and Duchess +of Kent drove off in her brother, Prince Leopold's, carriage to +Claremont. + +Of the two bridegrooms we have glimpses from Baron Stockmar, a shrewd +observer, who was no flatterer. + +The Duke of Clarence, at fifty-three years of age, was the "smallest and +least good-looking of the brothers, decidedly like his mother, as +talkative as the rest;" and we may add that he was also endowed with a +sailor-like frankness, cordiality, and good humour, which did not, +however, prevent stormy ebullitions of temper, that recommended him to +the nation of that day as a specimen of a princely blue-jacket. Since the +navy was not considered a school of manners, he was excused for the +absence of much culture or refinement. + +"The Duke of Kent, at fifty-one, was a tall, stately man, of soldierlike +bearing, already inclined to great corpulence.... He had seen much of the +world, and of men. His manner in society was pleasant and easy. He was +not without ability and culture, and he possessed great activity. His +dependents complained of his strictness and pedantic love of order.... +The Duke was well aware that his influence was but small, but this did +not prevent him from forwarding the petitions he received whenever it was +possible, with his own recommendation, to the public departments.... +Liberal political principles were at that time in the minority in +England, and as the Duke professed them, it can be imagined how he was +hated by the powerful party then dominant. He was on most unfriendly +terms with his brothers.... The Duke proved an amiable and courteous, +even chivalrous, husband." + +Judiciously, in the circumstances, neither of the brides was in her first +youth, the future Queen Adelaide having been, at twenty-six, the younger +of the two. The Duchess of Kent, a little over thirty, had been already +married, in 1803, when she was seventeen, to Prince Emich Charles of +Leiningen. Eleven years afterwards, in 1814, she was left a widow with a +son and daughter. Four years later she married the Duke of Kent. The +brides were very different in looks and outward attractions. The Duchess +of Clarence, with hair of a peculiar colour approaching to a lemon tint, +weak eyes, and a bad complexion, was plain. She was also quiet, reserved, +and a little stiff, while she appears to have had no special +accomplishments, beyond a great capacity for carpet-work. The Duchess of +Kent, with a fine figure, good features, brown hair and eyes, a pretty +pink colour, winning manners, and graceful accomplishments--particularly +music, formed a handsome, agreeable woman, "altogether most charming and +attractive." + +But both Duchesses were possessed of qualities in comparison with which +beauty is deceitful and favour is vain--qualities which are calculated to +wear well. Queen Adelaide's goodness and kindness, her unselfish, +unassuming womanliness and devout resignation to sorrow and suffering, +did more than gain and keep the heart of her bluff, eccentric +sailor-prince. They secured for her the respectful regard of the nation +among whom she dwelt, whether as Queen or Queen-dowager. The Archbishop +of Canterbury could say of her, after her husband's death, "For three +weeks prior to his (King William's) dissolution, the Queen sat by his +bedside, performing for him every office which a sick man could require, +and depriving herself of all manner of rest and refection. She underwent +labours which I thought no ordinary woman could endure. No language can +do justice to the meekness and to the calmness of mind which she sought +to keep up before the King, while sorrow was pressing on her heart. Such +constancy of affection, I think, was one of the most interesting +spectacles that could be presented to a mind desirous of being gratified +with the sight of human excellence." [Footnote: Dr. Doran] Such graces, +great enough to resist the temptations of the highest rank, might well be +singled out as worthy of all imitation. + +The Duchess of Kent proved herself the best of mothers--as she was the +best of wives, during her short time of wedlock--in the self-renunciation +and self-devotion with which, through all difficulties, and in spite of +every opposition and misconception, she pursued the even tenor of her +way. Not for two or ten, but for well-nigh twenty years, she gave herself +up unreservedly, turning her back on her country with all its strong +early ties, to rearing a good queen, worthy of her high destiny. England +owes much to the memories of Queen Adelaide and the Duchess of Kent, who +succeeded Queen Charlotte, the one as Queen Consort, the other as mother +of the future sovereign, and not only served as the salt to savour their +royal circles, but kept up nobly the tradition of honourable women among +the queens and princesses of England, handing down the high obligation to +younger generations. + +The Duke and Duchess of Kent withdrew to Germany after their re-marriage, +and resided at the castle of Amorbach, in Bavaria, part of the +inheritance of her young son. The couple returned to England that their +child might be born there. The Duke had a strong impression that, +notwithstanding his three elder brothers, the Crown would come to him and +his children. The persuasion, if they knew it, was not likely to be +acceptable to the other Princes. Certainly, in the face of the Duke's +money embarrassments, his kinsmen granted no assistance to enable the +future Queen of England to be born in her own dominions. It was by the +help of private friends that the Duke gratified his natural and wise +wish. + +Apartments in Kensington Palace were assigned to the couple. The old +queen had died at Kew, surrounded by such of her daughters as were in the +country, and by several of her sons, in the month of November, 1818. +George III. was dragging out his days at Windsor. The Prince Regent +occupied Carlton House. + +The Kensington of 1819 was not the Kensington of today. In spite of the +palace and gardens, which are comparatively little altered, the great +crowded quarter, with its Museum and Albert Hall, is as unlike as +possible to the courtly village to which the Duke and Duchess of Kent +came, and where the Queen spent her youth. That Kensington consisted +mainly of a fine old square, built in the time of James II., in which the +foreign ambassadors and the bishops in attendance at Court congregated in +the days of William and Mary, and Anne, and of a few terraces and blocks +of buildings scattered along the Great Western Road, where coaches passed +several times a day. Other centres round which smaller buildings +clustered were Kensington House--which had lately been a school for the +sons of French _emigres_ of rank--the old church, and Holland House, +the fine seat of the Riches and the Foxes. The High Street extended a +very little way on each side of the church and was best known by its +Charity School, and its pastrycook's shop, at the sign of the +"Pineapple," to which Queen Caroline had graciously given her own recipe +for royal Dutch gingerbread. David Wilkie's apartments represented the +solitary studio. Nightingales sang in Holland Lane; blackbirds and +thrushes haunted the nurseries and orchards. Great vegetable-gardens met +the fields. Here and there stood an old country house in its own grounds. +Green lanes led but to more rural villages, farms and manor-houses. +Notting Barns was a farmhouse on the site of Notting Hill. In the +tea-gardens at Bayswater Sir John Hill cultivated medicinal plants, and +prepared his "water-dock essence" and "balm of honey." Invalids +frequented Kensington Gravel pits for the benefit of "the sweet country +air." + +Kensington Palace had been bought by William III. from Daniel Finch, +second Earl of Nottingham. His father, the first Earl, had built and +named the pile of brick-building Nottingham House. It was comparatively +a new, trim house, though Evelyn called it "patched up" when it passed +into the hands of King William, and as such might please his Dutch taste +better than the beautiful Elizabethan Holland House--in spite of the +name, at which he is said to have looked, with the intention of making it +his residence. + +The Duke of Sussex, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Kent, had +apartments in the palace. He dwelt in the portion of the southern front +understood to belong to the original building. His brother and +sister-in-law were lodged not far off, but their apartments formed part +of an addition made by King William, who employed Sir Christopher Wren as +his architect. + +The clumsy, homely structure, with its three courts--the Clock Court, the +Princes' Court, and the Princesses' Court--had many interesting +associations in addition to its air of venerable respectability. William +and Mary resided frequently in the palace which they had chosen; and both +died under its roof. Mary sat up in one of these rooms, on a dreary +December night in 1694, after she felt herself stricken with small-pox, +seeking out and burning all the papers in her possession which might +compromise others. The silent, asthmatic, indomitable little man was +carried back here after his fall from his horse eight years later, to +draw his last breath where Mary had laid down her crown. Here Anne sat, +with her fan in her mouth, speaking in monosyllables to her circle. +George I.'s chief connection with Kensington Palace was building the +cupola and the great staircase. But his successors, George II. and Queen +Caroline, atoned for the deficiency. They gave much of their time to the +palace so identified with the Protestant and Hanoverian line of +succession. Queen Caroline especially showed her regard for the spot by +exercising her taste in beautifying it according to the notions of the +period. It was she who caused the string of ponds to be united so as to +form the Serpentine; and he modified the Dutch style of the gardens, +abolishing the clipped monsters in yew and box, and introducing +wildernesses and groves to relieve the stiffness and monotony of straight +walks and hedges. The shades of her beautiful maids of honour, "sweet +Molly Lepell," Mary Bellenden, and Sophy Howe, still haunt the Broad +Walk. Molly Lepell's husband, Lord Hervey (the "Lord Fanny" of lampoons +and songs), composed and read in these rooms, for the diversion of his +royal mistress and the princesses, with their ladies and gentlemen, the +false account of his own death, caused by an encounter with footpads on +the dangerous road between London and the country palace. He added an +audacious description of the manner in which the news was received at +Court, and of the behaviour of the principal persons in the circle. + +With George II. and Queen Caroline the first glory of the palace +departed, for the early Court of George III. and Queen Charlotte took its +country pleasures at Kew. Then followed the selection of Windsor for the +chief residence of the sovereigns. The promenades in the gardens, to +which the great world of London flocked, remained for a season as a +vestige of former grandeur. In George II.'s time the gardens were only +thrown open on Saturdays, when the Court went to Richmond. Afterwards the +public were admitted every day, under certain restrictions. So late as +1820 these promenades were still a feature on Sunday mornings. + +Kensington Palace has not yet changed its outward aspect. It still +stands, with its forcing-houses, and Queen Anne's banqueting-room-- +converted into an orangery--in its small private grounds, fenced off by +a slight railing and an occasional hedge from the public gardens. The +principal entrance, under the clock-tower, leads to a plain, square, red +courtyard, which has a curious foreign aspect in its quiet simplicity, as +if the Brunswick princes had brought a bit of Germany along with them +when they came to reign here; and there are other red courtyards, equally +unpretentious, with more or less old-fashioned doors and windows. Within, +the building has sustained many alterations. Since it ceased to be a seat +of the Court, the palace has furnished residences for various members of +the royal family, and for different officials. Accordingly, the interior +has been divided and partitioned off to suit the requirements of separate +households. But the great staircase, imposing in its broad, shallow steps +of black marble and its faded frescoes, still conducts to a succession of +dismantled Presence-chambers and State-rooms. The pictures and tapestry +have been taken from the walls, the old panelling is bare. The +distinctions which remain are the fine proportions of the apartments-- +the marble pillars and niches of one; the remains of a richly-carved +chimneypiece in another; the highly-wrought ceilings, to which ancient +history and allegory have supplied grandiose figures--their deep colours +unfaded, the ruddy burnish of their gilding as splendid as ever. Here and +there great black-and-gold court-stools, raised at the sides, and +finished off with bullet heads of dogs, arouse a recollection of +Versailles or Fontainebleau, and look as if they had offered seats to +Court ladies in hoops and brocades, and gentlemen-in-waiting in velvet +coats and breeches and lace cravats. One seat is more capacious than the +others, with a round back, and in its heavy black-and-gold has the look +of an informal throne. It might easily have borne the gallant William, or +even the extensive proportions of Anne. + +There is a word dropped of "old kings" having died in the closed rooms +behind these doors. George II., in his old age? or William, worn out in +his prime? or it may be heavy, pacific George of Denmark, raised to the +kingly rank by the courtesy of vague tradition? The old chapel was in +this part of the house. Leigh Hunt tells us it was in this chapel George +I. asked the bishops to have good short sermons, because he was an old +man, and when he was kept long, he fell asleep and caught cold. It must +have been a curious old chapel, with a round window admitting scanty +light. The household and servants sat below, while a winding staircase +led round and up to a closed gallery in near proximity to the pulpit. It +was only a man's conscience, or a sense of what was due to his physical +well-being, which could convict him of slumbering in such a peaceful +retreat. It is said that her late Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent +objected to the obscurity of this place of worship, and, to meet her +objections, the present little chapel was fitted up. + +The Duchess of Kent's rooms were in an adjacent wing; spacious rooms +enough, and only looking the more habitable and comfortable for the +moderate height of the ceilings. In a room with three windows on one +side, looking out on the private grounds, the Queen was born. It was +thinking of it and its occupants that the warm-hearted, quick-witted +Duchess-mother, in Coburg, wrote: "I cannot express how happy I am to +know you, dearest, dearest Vickel, safe in your bed, with a little +one.... Again a Charlotte--destined, perhaps, to play a great part one +day, if a brother is not born to take it out of her hands. The English +like queens; and the niece (by marriage) of the ever-lamented, beloved +Charlotte, will be most dear to them." + +In another wide, low room, with white pillars, some eighteen years later, +the baby Princess, become a maiden Queen, held her first Council, +surrounded by kindred who had stood at her font--hoary heads wise in +statecraft, great prelates, great lawyers, a great soldier, and she an +innocent girl at their head. No relic could leave such an impression as +this room, with its wonderfully pathetic scene. But, indeed, there are +few other traces of the life that budded into dawning womanhood here, +which will be always linked with the memories of Kensington Palace. An +upper room, sunny and cheerful, even on a winter's day, having a pleasant +view out on the open gardens, with their straight walks and great pond, +where a child might forget sometimes that she had lessons to learn, was a +princess's school-room. Here the good Baroness who played the part of +governess so sagaciously and faithfully may have slipped into the book of +history the genealogical table which was to tell so startling a tale. In +another room is a quaint little doll's-house, with the different rooms, +which an active-minded child loved to arrange. The small frying-pans and +plates still hang above the kitchen dresser; the cook stands unwearied by +the range; the chairs are placed round the tables; the tiny tea-service, +which tiny fingers delighted to handle, is set out ready for company. But +the owner has long done with make-believes, has worked in earnest, +discharged great tasks, and borne the burden and heat of the day, in +reigning over a great empire. + + + +CHAPTER II +CHILDHOOD. + + +In the months of March and May, 1819, the following announcements of royal +births appeared in succession in the newspapers of the day, no doubt to +the satisfaction alike of anxious statesmen and village politicians +beginning to grow anxious over the chances of the succession:-- + +"At Hanover, March 26, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, of a +son; and on March 27, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Clarence, of a +daughter, the latter only surviving a few hours." + +"24th May, at Kensington Palace, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, +of a daughter." + +"27th May, at her hotel in Berlin, her Royal Highness the Duchess of +Cumberland, of a son." + +Thus her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria first saw the light in Kensington +Palace on the 24th of May, 1819, one in a group of cousins, all, save +herself, born out of England. + +The Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Wellington, and other officers of State +were in attendance on the occasion, though the probability of her +succession to the throne was then very doubtful. The Prince Regent had +already made overtures towards procuring a divorce from the Princess of +Wales. If he were to revive them, and prove successful, he might marry +again and have heirs. The Duchess of Clarence, who had just given birth to +an infant that had only survived a few hours, might yet be the joyful +mother of living children. The little Princess herself might be the +predecessor of a troop of princes of the Kent branch. Still, both at +Kensington and in the depths of rural Coburg, there was a little flutter, +not only of gladness, but of subdued expectation. The Duke of Kent, on +showing his baby to his friends, was wont to say, "Look at her well, for +she will be Queen of England." Her christening was therefore an event of +more than ordinary importance in the household. The ceremony took place a +month afterwards, on the 24th of June, and doubtless the good German +nurse, Madame Siebold, who was about to return to the Duchess of Kent's +old home to officiate on an equally interesting occasion in the family of +the Duchess's brother, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, carried +with her flaming accounts of the splendour of the ceremonial, as well as +pretty tales of the "dear little love" destined to mate with the coming +baby, whose big blue eyes were soon looking about in the lovely little +hunting-seat of Rosenau. The gold font was brought down from the Tower, +where for some time it had been out of request. The Archbishop of +Canterbury and the Bishop of London officiated, as they had done the year +before at the re-marriage of the Duke and Duchess. The godfathers were the +Prince Regent, present in person, and Alexander, Emperor of Russia, then +at the height of his popularity in England, represented by the Duke of +York. The godmothers were the Queen-dowager of Wurtemberg (the Princess +Royal), represented by Princess Augusta, and the Duchess-dowager of Coburg +(mother of the Duchess of Kent, and grandmother of both the Queen and the +Prince Consort), represented by the Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Mary). + +It is said there had been a proposal to name the little princess Georgiana +also, after her grandfather and uncle, George III. and George, Prince +Regent; but the idea was dropped because the latter would not permit his +name to stand second on the list. + +Among the other privileged guests at the christening was Prince Leopold, +destined to be the child's second father, one of her kindest and wisest +friends. It is not difficult to comprehend what the scene must have been +to the young man whose cup had been so full two years before, who was how +a widower and childless. We have his own reference to his feelings in a +letter to one of the late Princess Charlotte's friends. It had been hard +for him to be present, but he had felt it to be his duty, and he had made +the effort. This was a man who was always facing what was hard, always +struggling and overcoming in the name of right. The consequence was that, +even in his youth, all connected with him turned to him as to a natural +stay. We have a still better idea of what the victory cost him when we +read, in the "Life of the Prince Consort," it was not till a great +misfortune happened to her that Prince Leopold "had the courage to look +into the blooming face of his infant niece." With what manly pity and +tenderness he overcame his reluctance, and how he was rewarded, we all +know. + +In December, 1819, the Duke and Duchess of Kent went for sea-air to +Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth, Devonshire. + +The first baby is always of consequence in a household, but of how much +consequence this baby was may be gleaned by the circumstance that a +startling little incident concerning the child made sufficient mark to +survive and be registered by a future chronicler. A boy shooting sparrows +fired unwittingly so near the house that the shot shattered one of the +windows of the nursery, and passed close to the head of the child in the +nurse's arms. Precious baby-head, that was one day to wear, with honour, a +venerable crown, to be thus lightly threatened at the very outset! One can +fancy the terror of the nurse, the distress of the Duchess, the fright and +ire of the Duke, the horror and humiliation of the unhappy offender, with +the gradual cooling down into magnanimous amnesty--or at most dignified +rebuke, mollified by penitent tears into reassuring kindness, and just a +little quiver of half-affronted, half-nervous laughter. + +But there was no more room for laughter at false alarms at Woolbrook +Cottage. Within a month the Duke was seized with the illness which ended +his life in a few days. The particulars are simple and touching. He had +taken a long walk with his equerry and great friend, Captain Conroy, and +came in heated, tired, and with his feet so wet that his companion +suggested the propriety of immediately changing his boots. But the baby of +whom he was so fond and proud came in his way. She was eight months old, +able to stretch out her little arms and laugh back to him. He stayed to +play with her. In the evening it was evident he had caught a chill; he was +hoarse, and showed symptoms of fever. The complaint settled at once on his +lungs, and ran its course with great rapidity. We hardly need to be told +that the Duchess was his devoted nurse, concealing her anxiety and grief +to minister to him in everything. + +There is a pathetic little reference to the last illness of the Duke of +Kent in one of the Princess Hohenlohe's letters to the Queen. This elder +sister (Princess Feodora of Leiningen) was then a little girl of nine or +ten years of age, residing with her mother and stepfather. "Indeed, I well +remember that dreadful time at Sidmouth. I recollect praying on my knees +that God would not let your dear father die. I loved him dearly; he always +was so kind to me." + +On the afternoon of the 22nd his case was hopeless, and it became a +question whether he had sufficient consciousness to sign his will. His old +friend, General Wetherall, was brought up to the bed. At the sound of the +familiar voice which had always been welcome to him, the sick man, +drifting away from all familiar sounds, raised himself, collected his +thoughts for the last time, and mentioned several places and people +intelligently. The poor Duke had never been negligent in doing what he saw +to be his duty. He had been forward in helping others, even when they were +not of his flesh and blood. He heard the will read over, and with a great +effort wrote the word "Edward," looking at every letter after he wrote it, +and asking anxiously if the signature was legible. + +In this will, which left the Duchess guardian to the child, and appointed +General Wetherall and Captain Conroy trustees of his estate for the +benefit of his widow and daughter, it is noticeable that the name in each +case is given in the French version, "Victoire." Indeed so rare was the +term in England at this date, that it is probable the English equivalent +had scarcely been used before the christening of the Queen. + +The Duke died on the following day, the 23rd of January, 1820. Only six +days later, on the 29th, good old King George expired at Windsor. The son +was cut down by violent disease while yet a man in middle life, just after +he had become the head of a little household full of domestic promise, and +with what might still have been a great public career opening out before +him. The father sank in what was, in his case, the merciful decay of age, +after he had been unable for ten years to fulfil the duties and charities +of life, and after surviving his faithful Queen a year. The language of +the official announcement of the physicians was unusually appropriate: "It +has pleased the Almighty to release his Majesty from all further +suffering." To complete the disasters of the royal family this month, the +new King, George IV., who had been labouring under a cold when his father +died, was seized immediately after his proclamation with dangerous +inflammation of the lungs, the illness that had proved fatal to the Duke +of Kent, and could not be present at his brother's or father's funerals; +in fact, he was in a precarious state for some days. + +The Duke of Kent was buried, according to the custom of the time, by +torchlight, on the night of the 12th of February, at Windsor. As an +example of the difference which distance made then, it took nearly a +week's dreary travelling to convey the Duke's body from Woolbrook Cottage, +where it lay in State for some days, to Cumberland Lodge, from which the +funeral train walked to Windsor. The procession of mourning-coaches, +hearse, and carriages set out from Sidmouth on Monday morning, halting on +successive nights at Bridport, Blandford, Salisbury, and Basingstoke, the +coffin being deposited in the principal church of each town, under a +military guard, till on Friday night Cumberland Lodge was reached. The +same night a detachment of the Royal Horse Guards, every third man bearing +a flambeau, escorted a carriage containing the urn with the heart to St. +George's Chapel, where in the presence of the Dean, the officers of the +chapel, and several gentlemen appointed for the duty, urn and heart were +deposited in the niche in which the coffin was afterwards to be placed. +The body lay in State on the following day, that it might be seen by the +inhabitants of Windsor, his old military friends, and the multitude who +came down from London for the two mournful ceremonies. At eight o'clock at +night the final procession was formed, consisting of Poor Knights, pages, +pursuivants, heralds, the coronet on a black velvet cushion, the body +under pall and canopy, the supporters of the pall and canopy field-marshals +and generals, the chief mourner the Duke of York, the Dukes of Clarence, +Sussex, Gloucester, and Prince Leopold in long black cloaks, their trains +borne by gentlemen in attendance. + +These torchlight funeral processions formed a singular remnant of +mediaeval pageantry. How the natural solemnity of night in itself +increased the awe and sadness of the scene to all simple minds, we can +well understand. Children far away from Windsor remembered after they were +grown men and women the vague terror with which they had listened in the +dim lamplight of their nurseries to the dismal tolling of the bell out in +the invisible church tower, which proclaimed that a royal duke was being +carried to his last resting-place. We can easily believe that thousands +would flock to look and listen, and be thrilled by the imposing spectacle. +The show must have been weirdly picturesque when wild wintry weather, as +in this case, added to the effect, "viewed for the distance of three +miles, through the spacious Long Walk, amidst a double row of lofty trees, +whilst at intervals the glittering of the flambeaux and the sound of +martial music were distinctly seen and heard." + +The Duke's funeral only anticipated by a few days the still more +magnificent ceremonial with which a king was laid in the tomb. + +But the real mourning was down in Devonshire, in the Sidmouth cottage. It +would be difficult to conceive more trying circumstances for a woman in +her station than those in which the young Duchess--she was but little over +thirty--found herself left. She had lost a kind husband, her child would +miss a doting father. She was a foreigner in a strange country. She had +entered into a divided family, with which her connection was in a measure +broken by the death of the Duke, while the bond that remained, however +precious to all, was too likely to prove a bone of contention. The Duke +had died poor. The Duchess had previously relinquished her German +jointure, and the English settlement on her was inadequate, especially if +it were to be cumbered with the discharge of any of her husband's personal +debts. It was not realised then that the Duchess of Kent, in marrying the +Duke and becoming his widow and the guardian of their child, had given up +not only independence, but what was affluence in her own country, with its +modest ways of living--even where princes were concerned--for the +mortification and worry of narrow means, the strain of a heavy +responsibility, the pain of much unjustifiable and undeserved interference, +misconception, and censure, until she lived to vindicate the good sense, +good feeling, and good taste with which she had always acted. + +But the Duchess was not altogether desolate. Prince Leopold hurried to her +and supported her then, and on many another hard day, by brotherly +kindness, sympathy, and generous help. It was in his company that she came +back with her child to Kensington. + +One element of the Coburg character has been described as the sound +judgment and quiet reasonableness associated with the temperate blood of +the race. Accordingly, we find the Duchess not only submitting with gentle +resignation to misfortune, but rousing herself, as her brother might have +done in her circumstances--as doubtless he urged her to do--to the active +discharge of the duties of her position. On the 23rd of February, before +the first month of her widowhood was well by, she received Viscount +Morpeth and Viscount Clive, the deputation bearing to her the address of +condolence from the House of Commons. She met them with the infant +Princess in her arms. The child was not only the sign that she fully +appreciated and acknowledged the nature of the tie which united her to the +country, it was the intimation of the close inseparable union with her +daughter which continued through all the years of the Queen's childhood +and youth, till the office of sovereign forced its holder into a separate +existence; till she found another fitting protector, when the generous, +ungrudging mother gave way to the worthy husband, who became the dutiful, +affectionate son of the Duchess's declining years. + +Five months after these events the Duchess, at her own request, had an +interview with William Wilberforce, then living in the house at Kensington +Gore which was occupied later by the Countess of Blessington and Count +D'Orsay. "She received me," the good man wrote to Hannah More, "with her +fine, animated child on the floor by her side, with its playthings, of +which I soon became one. She was very civil, but, as she did not sit down, +I did not think it right to stop above a quarter of an hour; and there +being but a female attendant and a footman present, I could not well get +up any topic so as to carry on a continual discourse. _She apologised +for not speaking English well enough to talk it_; intimated a hope that +she might talk it better and longer with me at some future time. She spoke +of her situation, and her manner was quite delightful." + +The sentence in italics opens our eyes to one of the difficulties of the +Duchess to which we might not otherwise have given much consideration. We +are apt to take it for granted that, though there is no royal road to +mathematics, the power of speaking foreign languages comes to royal +personages, if not by nature, at least by inheritance and by force of +circumstances. There is some truth in this when there is a foreign father +or mother; when royal babies are brought up, like Queen Victoria, to speak +several languages from infancy, and when constant contact with foreigners +confirms and maintains the useful faculty. Even when a prince or a +princess is destined from his or her early youth to share a foreign +throne, and is brought up with that end, a provision may be made for an +adopted tongue to become second nature. But the Duchess of Kent was not +brought up with any such prospect, and during her eleven years of married +life in Germany she must have had comparatively little occasion to +practise what English she knew; while, at the date of her coming to +England, she was beyond the age when one learns a new language with +facility. Any one of us who has experienced the fettered, perturbed, +bewildered condition which results from being reduced to express ourselves +at an important crisis in our history through a medium of speech with +which we are but imperfectly acquainted, will know how to estimate this +unthought-of obstacle in the Duchess of Kent's path, at the beginning of +her widowhood. + +This was the year (1820) of the greatest eclipse of the sun which had been +seen for more than a century, when Venus and Mars were both visible, with +the naked eye, for a few minutes in the middle of the day. Whatever the +portents in the sky might mean, the signs on the earth were not +reassuring. When the Bourbon monarchy had seemed fairly restored in +France, all the world was shocked by the assassination of the Duc de Berri +at the door of the Opera-house in Paris. Three kingdoms which had but +recently been delivered from the clutch of the usurper were in revolt +against the constituted authorities--Portugal, Spain, and Naples. Of +these, the two former were on the brink of wars of succession, when the +royal uncles, Don Miguel and Don Carlos, fought against their royal +nieces, Donna Maria and Donna Isabella. At home the summer had been a sad +one to the royal family and the country. The ferment of discontent was +kept up by the very measures--executions and imprisonments--taken to +repress anarchy, and by the continuance of crushed trade, want of work, +and high prices. The Duchess of York died, making the third member of the +royal family dead since the new year; yet she, poor lady, was but a unit +in the sum, a single foreign princess who, however, kind she might have +been to the few who came near her, was nothing to the mass of the people. + +The name of another foreign princess was in every man's mind and on every +man's tongue. However, there were many reasons for the anomaly. Caroline +of Brunswick was the Queen until she should be proved unworthy to bear the +title. Her quarrel with the King had long made her notorious. Though the +story reflected little credit on her, it was so utterly discreditable to +him that it raised up friends for her where they might have been least +expected. His unpopularity rendered her popular. Her name became the +rallying-cry for a great political faction. The mob, with its usual +headlong, unreasoning appropriation of a cause and a person, elevated her +into a heroine, cheered frantically, and was ready to commit any outbreak +in her honour. + +After six years' absence from England Queen Caroline had come back on the +death of George III. to demand her rights. She had landed at Dover and +been welcomed by applauding crowds. She had been escorted through Kent by +uproarious partisans, who removed the horses from her carriage and dragged +her in triumph through the towns. London, in its middle and lower classes, +had poured out to meet her and come back in her train, till she was safely +lodged in South Audley Street, in the house of her champion, Alderman Wood. + +The King had instructed his ministers to lay before the House of Lords a +bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen which, if sustained, would +deprive her of every claim to share his rank and would annul the marriage. +The Queen was prepared with her defence, and furnished with two of the +ablest advocates in the kingdom, Mr. Brougham and Mr. Denman. In the +earlier stages of the proceedings she was present almost every day in the +House of Lords. She entered in her puce or black sarcenet pelisse and +black velvet hat, a large, not uncomely woman, a little over fifty, and +took the chair of State provided for her, the House rising to receive the +Queen whom it was trying. The trial, in its miserable details of gross +folly well-nigh incredible, lasted from July to November--four months of +burning excitement--when it collapsed from the smallness of the majority +(nine) that voted for the second reading of the bill. The animus of the +prosecution and the unworthy means taken to accomplish its purpose, +defeated the end in view. It is said that had it been otherwise the +country would have broken out into widespread insurrection. + +The Queen's supporters, of all classes, sects, and shades, indulged in a +perfect frenzy of rejoicing. Festivals, illuminations, every token of +triumph for her and condemnation for him accompanied what was equivalent +to her acquittal. She went in something like State, with her queer, motley +household--Bohemian, English and Italians--and her great ally, Alderman +Wood, to offer up thanksgiving in St. Paul's, where, at the same time, she +found her name omitted from the Church service. She wore white velvet and +ermine, and was surrounded by thousands of shouting followers, as if she +had been the most discreet of queens and best of women. The poor +passionate, wayward nature, which after all had been cruelly dealt with, +was touched as well as elated. + +On the very day after Queen Caroline's arrival in London in June, she had +dispatched Alderman Wood to Kensington, to condole with the Duchess of +Kent on her recent widowhood, and inquire after the health of the infant +princess. The message was innocent in itself, but alarming by implication; +for Queen Caroline was not a woman to be kept at a distance, or to +hesitate in expressing her sentiments if she fancied her overtures +slighted by the embarrassed Duchess. In the month of August Queen Caroline +had established herself at Brandenburg House--the Margravine of Anspach's +house, by the river at Hammersmith--near enough to Kensington Palace, to +judge from human nature, to disconcert and provoke a smile against the +smiler's will--for Caroline's extravagances would have disturbed the +gravity of a judge--in the womanly Princess at the head of the little +household soberly settled there. Never were princesses and women more +unlike than Caroline of Brunswick and Victoria of Coburg; But poor Queen +Caroline was not destined to remain long an awkward enigma--a queen and +yet no queen, an aunt and yet no aunt, a scandal and a torment in +everybody's path. + +In the summer of the following year, when the country was drawn away and +dazzled by the magnificent ceremonial of the coronation of George IV., she +exercised her last disturbing influence. She demanded to be crowned along +with her husband; but her demand was refused by the Privy Council. She +appeared at the door of Westminster Abbey, but the way was barred to her. +A fortnight afterwards, when King George had gone to Ireland to arouse the +nation's loyalty, his wife had passed where Privy Council ushers and +yeomen of the guard were powerless, where the enmity of man had no voice +in the judgment of God. She had been attacked by severe illness, and in +the course of five days she died, in the middle of a wild storm of +thunder, wind, and rain. The night before, a boatful of Methodists had +rowed up the Thames, within sound of the open windows of her sick-room, +and sung hymns to comfort her in her extremity. The heart of a large part +of the nation still clung to her because of her misfortunes and the +insults heaped upon her. The late Queen's body was conveyed back to +Brunswick. The funeral passed through Kensington, escorted by a mighty +mob, in addition to companies of soldiers. The last were instructed to +conduct the _cortege_ by the outskirts of London to Harwich, where a +frigate and two sloops of war were waiting for the coffin. The mob were +resolute that their Queen's funeral should pass through the city. The +first struggle between the crowd and the military took place at the corner +of Church Street, Kensington. The strange, unseemly, contention was +renewed farther on more than once; but as bloodshed had been forbidden, +the people had their way, and the swaying mass surged in grim +determination straight towards the Strand and Temple Bar. The captain of +the frigate into whose keeping the coffin was committed in order to be +conveyed back to Brunswick had been, by a curious, sorrowful coincidence, +the midshipman who, "more than a quarter of a century before, handed the +rope to the royal bride whereby to help her on board the _Jupiter_," +which was to bring her to England. + +One can fancy that, when that sorry tragedy was ended, and its perpetual +noisy ebullitions had sunk into silence, a sense of relief stole over the +palace-home at Kensington. + +Round the childhood and youth of sovereigns, especially popular +sovereigns, a growth of stories will gather like the myths which attend on +the infancy of a nation. Such stories or myths are chiefly valuable as +showing the later tendency of the individual or people, the character and +history of the monarch or of the subjects, in accordance with which, in +reversal of the adage that makes the child father to the man, the man is, +in a new sense, father to the child, by stamping on his infancy and nonage +traits borrowed from his mature years. Mingled with the species of +legendary lore attaching to every generation, there is a foundation more +or less of authentic annals. It is as affording an example of this human +patchwork of fancy and fact, and as illustrating the impression deeply +engraved on the popular mind, that the following incidents of the Queen's +childhood and youth are given. + +First, the people have loved to dwell on the close union between mother +and child. The Duchess nursed her baby--would see it washed and dressed. +As soon as the little creature could sit alone, her small table was placed +by her mother's at meals, though the child was only allowed the food fit +for her years. The Princess slept in her mother's room all through her +childhood and girlhood. In the entries in the Queen's diary at the time of +the Duchess of Kent's death, her Majesty refers to an old repeater +striking every quarter of an hour in the sick-room on the last night of +the Duchess's life--"a large watch in a tortoiseshell case, which had +belonged to my poor father, the sound of which brought back to me all the +recollections of my childhood, for I had always used to hear it at night, +but had not heard it for now twenty-three years." + +When the Princess was a little older, and lessons and play alternated with +each other, she was taught to attend to the thing in hand, and finish what +she had begun, both in her studies and games. One day she was amusing +herself making a little haycock when some other mimic occupation caught +her volatile fancy, and she flung down her small rake ready to rush off to +the fresh attraction. "No, no, Princess; you must always complete what you +have commenced," said her governess, and the small haymaker had to +conclude her haymaking before she was at liberty to follow another +pursuit. + +From the Princess's fifth year Dr. Davys, afterwards Bishop of +Peterborough, was her tutor. When it became clear that the little girl +would, if she lived, be Queen of England, a prelate high in the Church was +proposed to the Duchess of Kent as the successor of Dr. Davys in his +office. But the Duchess, with the mild firmness and conscientious fidelity +which ruled her conduct, declared that as she was perfectly satisfied with +the tutor who had originally been appointed (when the appointment was less +calculated to offer temptations to personal ambition and political +intrigue), she did not see that any change was advisable. If a clergyman +of higher rank was necessary, there was room for the promotion of Dr. +Davys. Accordingly he was named Dean of Chester. + +The Baroness Lehzen was another of the Queen's earliest guardians who +remained at her post throughout her Majesty's youth. Louise Lehzen, +daughter of a Hanoverian clergyman, came to England as governess to +Princess Feodora Leiningen and remained as governess to Princess Victoria, +entering on her duties in 1824. In 1827 she was raised to the rank of a +Hanoverian Baroness, by George IV., at the request of Princess Sophia. +From that time Baroness Lehzen acted also as lady in attendance. On her +death, so late as 1870, her old pupil recorded of her, in a passage in the +Queen's journal, which is given in the "Life of the Prince Consort," "My +dearest, kindest friend, old Lehzen, expired on the 9th quite gently and +peaceably.... She knew me from six months old, and from my fifth to my +eighteenth year devoted all her care and energies to me with the most +wonderful abnegation of self, never even taking one day's holiday. I +adored, though I was greatly in awe of her. She really seemed to have no +thought but for me.... She was in her eighty-seventh year." This constancy +and permanency in the family relations were in themselves inestimable +boons to the child, who thus grew up in an atmosphere of familiar +affection and unshaken trust, for the absence of which nothing in the +world could have compensated. Another lady of higher rank was of necessity +appointed governess to the Queen in 1831, when she became next heir to the +throne. This lady, the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland, appears also as +the Queen's friend in after life. + +The late Bishop Wilberforce was told by Dr. Davys an interesting anecdote +of his former pupil. "The Queen always had from my first knowing her a +most striking regard to truth. I remember when I had been teaching her one +day, she was very impatient for the lesson to be over--once or twice +rather refractory. The Duchess of Kent came in, and asked how she had +behaved. Lehzen said, 'Oh, once she was rather troublesome.' The Princess +touched her and said, 'No, Lehzen, twice, don't you remember?' The Duchess +of Kent, too, was a woman of great truth." + +It had been judged meet that the future Queen should not be made aware of +her coming greatness, which, for that matter, continued doubtful in her +earlier years. She was to grow up free from the impending care and +responsibility, happy and healthful in her unconscious girlhood--above +all, unassailed by the pernicious attempts to bespeak her favour, the +crafty flattery, the undermining insinuations which have proved the bane +of the youth of so many sovereigns. In order to preserve this reticence, +unslumbering care and many precautions were absolutely necessary. It is +said the Princess was constantly under the eye either of the Duchess of +Kent or the Baroness Lehzen. The guard proved sufficient; yet it was +difficult to evade the lively intelligence of an observant sensible child. + +"Why do all the gentlemen take off their hats to me and not to my sister +Feodora?" the little girl is said to have asked wonderingly on her return +from a drive in the park, referring to her elder half-sister, who became +Princess of Hohenlohe, between whom and the questioner there always +existed the strong sweet affection of true sisters. Perhaps the little +lady felt indignant as well as mystified at the strange preference thus +given to her, in spite of her sister's superiority in age and wisdom. We +do not know what reply was made to this puzzling inquiry, though it would +have been easy enough to say that the little Princess was the daughter of +an English royal Duke, therefore an English Princess, and the big Princess +was German on both sides of the house, while these were English gentlemen +who had saluted their young countrywoman. We all know from the best +authority that Sir Walter Scott was wrong when he fancied some bird of the +air must have conveyed the important secret to the little fair-haired +maiden to whom he was presented in 1828. The mystery was not disclosed for +years to come. + +The child, though brought up in retirement, was by no means secluded from +observation, or deprived of the change and variety so advantageous to +human growth and development. From her babyhood in the sad visit to +Sidmouth in 1820, and from 1821, when she was at that pretentious +combination of fantasticalness and gorgeousness, the Pavilion, Brighton, +she was carried every year, like any other well-cared-for child, either to +the seaside or to some other invigorating region, so that she became +betimes acquainted with different aspects of sea and shore in her island. +Ramsgate was a favourite resort of the Duchess's. The little Thanet +watering-place, with its white chalk cliffs, its inland basin of a +harbour, its upper and lower town, connected by "Jacob's Ladder," its pure +air and sparkling water, with only a tiny fringe of bathing-machines, was +in its blooming time of fresh rural peace and beauty when it was the +cradle by the sea of the little Princess. + +When she was five she was at Claremont, making music and motion in the +quiet house with her gleeful laughter and pattering feet, so happy in +being with her uncle that she could look back on this visit as the +brightest of her early holidays. "This place," the Queen wrote to the King +of the Belgians long afterwards, "has a peculiar charm for us both, and to +me it brings back recollections of the happiest days of my otherwise dull +childhood,--when I experienced such kindness from you, dearest uncle, +kindness which has ever since continued.... Victoria plays with my old +bricks, and I see her running and jumping in the flower-garden, as +_old_, though I feel still _little_, Victoria of former days +used to do." In the autumn of 1825 the Queen's grandmother, the Dowager +Duchess of Coburg, visited England, and the whole family were together at +Claremont. + +In 1826, "the warm summer," when the Princess was seven years of age, she +was invited to Windsor to see another uncle, George IV. That was a more +formidable ordeal, but her innocent frank brightness carried her through +it successfully. It is not easy for many men to contemplate with +satisfaction their heirs, when those heirs are no offspring of theirs. It +must have been doubly difficult for the King to welcome the little girl +who had replaced his daughter, the child of his wronged brother and of a +Princess whom King George persistently slighted and deprived of her due. +But we are told his Majesty was delighted with his little niece's +liveliness and intelligence. + +In the following year, 1827, the Duke of York died, and the Princess, was +a step nearer to the throne, but she did not know it. So far from being +reared in an atmosphere of self-indulgence, the invaluable lesson was +early taught to her that if she were to be honourable and independent in +any rank, she must not buy what she could not pay for; if she were to be a +good woman she must learn to deny herself. An incident in illustration, +which made a small stir in its locality at the time, is often quoted. The +Duchess and her daughter were at Tunbridge Wells, dwelling in the +neighbourhood of Sir Philip Sidney's Penshurst, retracing the vanished +glories of the Pantiles, and conferring on the old pump-woman the +never-to-be-forgotten honour of being permitted to present a glass of +water from the marble basin to the Princess. The little girl made +purchases at the bazaar, buying presents, like any other young visitor, +for her absent friends, when she found her money all spent, and at the +same time saw a box which would suit an absent cousin. "The shop-people of +course placed the box with the other purchases, but the little lady's +governess admonished them by saying, 'No. You see the Princess has not got +the money; therefore, of course, she cannot buy the box.'" This being +perceived, the next offer was to lay by the box till it could be +purchased, and the answer was, "Oh, well, if you will be so good as to do +that." On quarter-day, before seven in the morning, the Princess appeared +on her donkey to claim her purchase. + +In the reverence, peace, and love of her pure, refined, if saddened home, +everything went well with Princess Victoria, of whom we can only tell that +we know the old brick palace where she dwelt, the playground that was +hers, the walks she must have taken. We have sat in the later chapel where +she said her prayers, a little consecrated room with high pews shutting in +the worshippers, a royal gallery, open this time, and an elderly gentleman +speaking with a measured, melodious voice. We can guess with tolerable +certainty what was the Princess's child-world of books, though from the +circumstance that in the light of the future she was made to learn more +than was usual then for English girls of the highest rank, she had less +time than her companions for reading books which were not study, but the +most charming blending of instruction and amusement. That was still the +age of Mrs. Barbauld and Miss Edgeworth. "Evenings at Home," "Harry and +Lucy," and "Frank and Rosamond," were in every well-conducted school-room. +All little girls read with prickings of tender consciences about the lady +with the bent bonnet and the scar on her hand, and came under the +fascination of the "Purple Jar." A few years later, Harriet Martineau's +bristling independence did not prevent her from feeling gratified by the +persuasion that the young Princess was reading through her tales on +political economy, and that Princess Victoria's favourite character was +Ella of the far north. + +In the Princess's Roman history one day she came to the passage where the +noble matron, Cornelia, in answer to a question as to her precious things, +pointed to her sons, and declared, "These are my jewels." "Why," cried the +ready-witted little pupil, with a twinkle in her blue eyes, "they must +have been cornelians." + +When the Princess's lessons took the form of later English history, she +was on the very spot for the study. Did her teacher tell her, we wonder, +the pretty story of "Bucky," who interrupted grave, saturnine King William +at his statescraft in one of yonder rooms? How the small dauntless +applicant wiled his father's master, great Louis's rival, into playing at +horses in the corridor? Or that sadder story of another less fortunate +boy, poor heavy-headed William of Gloucester? Tutors crammed and doctors +shook him up, with the best intentions, in vain. In his happier moments he +drilled his regiment of little soldiers on that Palace Green before his +uncle, King William. + +Was the childish passion for exploring old garrets and lumber-rooms +excited in this royal little woman by the narrative of the wonderful +discovery which Queen Caroline had made in a forgotten bureau in this very +palace? Did the little Princess roam about too, in her privileged moments, +with a grand vision of finding more and greater art-treasures, other +drawings by Holbein or Vandyke, fresh cartoons by Raphael? + +All the more valuable paintings had been removed long ago to Windsor, but +many curious pictures still remained on the walls of presence chambers and +galleries, kings' and queens' great dining-rooms and drawing-rooms, +staircases and closets. Did the pictures serve as illustrations to the +history lessons? Was the inspection made the recreation of rainy days, +when the great suites of State-rooms in which Courts were no longer held +or banquets celebrated, but which still echoed with the remembered tread +of kings' and courtiers' feet, must have appeared doubly deserted and +forlorn? + +What was known as the King's Great Drawing-room was not far from the +Duchess of Kent's rooms, and was, in fact, put at her disposal in its +dismantled, ghostly condition. Among its pictures--freely attributed to +many schools and masters--including several battle-pieces and many +portraits, there were three representations of English palaces: old +Greenwich, where Elizabeth was born; old Hampton, dear to William and +Mary; and Windsor, the Windsor of George III. and Queen Charlotte, the +Princess's grandfather and grandmother. In the next room, amidst classic +and scriptural subjects, and endless examples of "ladies with ruffs," +"heads in turbans," &c., there were occasionally family portraits--the old +King and Queen more than once; William, Duke of Gloucester; the Queen of +Wurtemberg as the girl-Princess Royal, with a dog. (She died in Wurtemberg +about this time, 1828. She had quitted England on her marriage in 1797, +and in the thirty-one years of her married life only once came back, as an +aging and ailing woman. She proved a good wife and stepmother.) A youthful +family group of an earlier generation was sure to attract a child--George +III. and his brother, Edward, Duke of York, when young, shooting at a +target, the Duke of Gloucester in petticoats, Princess Augusta (Duchess of +Brunswick, and mother of Caroline, Princess of Wales) nursing the Duke of +Cumberland, and Princess Louisa sitting in a chaise drawn by a favourite +dog, the scene in Kew Gardens, painted in 1746. Queen Elizabeth was there +as a child aged seven, A.D. 1540--three-quarters, with a feather-fan in +her hand. Did the guide of the little unconscious Princess pause +inadvertently, with a little catch of the breath, by words arrested on the +tip of the tongue, before that picture? And was he or she inevitably +arrested again before another picture of Queen Elizabeth in her prime, +returning from her palace, wearing her crown and holding the sceptre and +the globe; Juno, Pallas, and Venus flying before her, Juno dropping her +sceptre, Venus her roses, and the little boy Cupid flinging away his bow +and arrows, and clinging in discomfiture to his mother because good Queen +Bess had conquered all the three in power, wisdom, and beauty? We know the +Princess must have loved to look at the pictures. More curious than +beautiful as they were, they may have been sufficient to foster in her +that love of art which has been the delight of the Queen's maturer years. + +English princesses, even though they were not queens in perspective, were +not so plentiful in Queen Victoria's young days as to leave any doubt of +their hands and hearts proving in great request when the proper time came. +Therefore there was no necessity to hold before the little girl, as an +incentive to good penmanship, the example of her excellent grandmother, +Queen Charlotte, who wrote so fair a letter, expressed with such +correctness and judiciousness, at the early age of fifteen, that when the +said letter fell, by an extraordinary train of circumstances, into the +hands of young King George, he determined there and then to make that +painstaking and sensible Princess, and no other, a happy wife and great +Queen. There was no strict need for the story, and yet as a gentle +stimulant it may have been administered. + +Queen Victoria was educated, as far as possible, in the simple habits and +familiarity with nature which belongs to the best and happiest training of +any child, whatever her rank. There is a pleasant picture in Knight's +"Passages of a Working Life": "I delighted to walk in Kensington Gardens +in the early summer, on my way to town.... In such a season, when the sun +was scarcely high enough to have dried up the dews of Kensington's green +alleys, as I passed along the broad central walk I saw a group on the lawn +before the palace, which, to my mind, was a vision of exquisite +loveliness. The Duchess of Kent and her daughter, whose years then +numbered nine, are breakfasting in the open air, a single page attending +on them at a respectful distance, the mother looking on with eyes of love, +while the fair, soft, English face is bright with smiles. The world of +fashion is not yet astir. Clerks and mechanics passing onwards to their +occupations are few, and they exhibit nothing of vulgar curiosity." + +We have another charming description, by Leigh Hunt, of a glimpse which he +had of Princess Victoria in these gardens: "We remember well the peculiar +kind of personal pleasure which it gave us to see the future Queen, the +first time we ever did see her, coming up a cross-path from the Bayswater +Gate, with a girl of her own age by her side, whose hand she was holding +as if she loved her. It brought to our minds the warmth of our own +juvenile friendships, and made us fancy that she loved everything else +that we had loved in like measure--books, trees, verses, Arabian tales, +and the good mother who had helped to make her so affectionate. A +magnificent footman in scarlet came behind her, with the splendidest pair +of calves, in white stockings, that we ever beheld. He looked somehow like +a gigantic fairy, personating for his little lady's sake the grandest kind +of footman he could think of; and his calves he seemed to have made out of +a couple of the biggest chaise-lamps in the possession of the godmother of +Cinderella. With or without her big footman, the little Princess could +have rambled safely in the grounds which her predecessors had made for +her, could have fed the ducks which swam in the round pond before her +palace windows, could have drunk from the curious little mineral well, +where, in Miss Thackeray's 'Old Kensington,' Frank Raban met Dolly +Vanburgh, or peeped out of the little side gate where the same Dolly came +face to face with the culprits George and Rhoda. The future owner of all +could have easily strayed down the alleys among the Dutch elms which King +William brought, perhaps saplings, from the Boomjees, as far as the oak +that tradition says King Charles set in the form of an acorn taken from +his leafy refuge at Boscobel." + +The Duke of Kent had brought an old soldier-servant, called Stillman, and +established him, with his wife and family, in a cottage in one of the +Kensington lanes. It is said the Duke had recommended this former retainer +to the care of the Duchess, and that she and her daughter were in the +habit of visiting and caring for the family, in which there were a sickly +little boy and girl. + +An event happened in 1828 to the household in Kensington Palace which was +of importance to all. It was a joyful event, and the preparations for the +royal wedding, with the gala in which the preliminaries culminated, must +have formed an era in the quiet young life into which a startling +announcement and its fulfilment had broken, filling the hours of the short +winter days with wonder, admiration, and interest. + +Yet all the pleasant stir and excitement; the new member of the family +prominent for a brief space; the gifts, the trousseau, the wedding-cake, +the wedding guests, were but the deceptive herald of change and loss to +the family, whose members were so few that each became deeply precious. +The closely united circle was to be broken, and a dear face permanently +withdrawn from the group. The Duchess of Kent's elder daughter, Princess +Victoria's only sister, was about to marry. It was the most natural and +the happiest course, above all when the Princess Feodora wedded +worthily--how worthily let the subsequent testimony of the Queen and the +Prince Consort prove. It was given at the time of the Prince of +Hohenlohe's death, thirty-two years afterwards, in 1860. + +The Queen wrote to her own and her sister's uncle, the King of the +Belgians, in reference to the Prince of Hohenlohe: "A better, more +thoroughly straightforward, upright, and excellent man, with a more +unblemished character, or a more really devoted and faithful husband, +never existed." + +The Prince Consort's opinion of his brother-in-law is to be found in a +letter to the Princess William of Prussia: "Poor Ernest Hohenlohe is a +great loss. Though he was not a man of great powers of mind, capable of +taking comprehensive views of the world, still he was a great character +--that is to say, a thoroughly good, noble, spotless, and honourable man, +which in these days forms a better title to be recognised as great than do +craftiness, Machiavellism, and grasping ambition." + +At the time of his marriage the Prince of Hohenlohe was in the prime of +manhood, thirty-two years of age. + +But the marriage meant the Princess Feodora's return to Germany and her +separation from the other members of her family, with the exception of her +brother, brought up in his own country. The bride, whom we hear of +afterwards as a true and tender woman, was then a sweet maiden of twenty, +whose absence must have made a great blank to her mother and sister. +Happily for the latter, she was too young to realise in the agreeable +excitement of the moment what a deprivation remained in store for her. +There were eleven years between the sisters. This was enough difference to +mingle a motherly, protecting element with the elder sister's pride and +fondness, and to lead the younger, whose fortunes were so much higher, but +who was unaware of the fact, to look up with affectionate faith and trust +to the grown-up companion, in one sense on a level with the child, in +another with so much more knowledge and independence. + +It was a German marriage, both bride and bridegroom being German, though +the bride had been nine years--the difference between a child and a +woman--in England, and though the event occurred in an English household. +Whether the myrtle was worn for the orange-blossoms, or any of the other +pretty German wedding customs imported, we cannot tell. Anyhow, the +ordinary peaceful simplicity of the palace was replaced by much bustle and +grandeur on that February morning, the modest forerunner of another +February morning in another palace, when a young Queen plighted her troth. + +The royal family in England, with two exceptions, were at Kensington Palace +to do honour to the marriage. The absent members were the King and Princess +Augusta--the latter of whom was at Brighton. The company arrived soon after +two o'clock, and consisted of the Duke and Duchess of Clarence, the Duke of +Sussex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Sophia, the +Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, and Prince Leopold. + +At three o'clock the party walked in procession to the great saloon +adjoining the vestibule, in which a temporary altar had been fitted up. The +bride was given away by the Duke of Clarence. The ceremony was performed in +the simple Lutheran fashion by a simple Lutheran pastor, Dr. Kuper, "the +chaplain of the Royal German Chapel." + +Then came the parting, and the quiet palace-home was stiller and shadier +than ever, when the gracious maidenly presence had gone, when the opening +rose was plucked from the parent stem, and only the bud left. + +In 1830 George IV. died, and William, Duke of Clarence, succeeded to the +throne as King William IV. That summer was the last of the Princess's +ignorance of her prospects; until then not even the shadow of a throne had +been projected across the sunshiny path of the happy girl of eleven. She +was with her mother in one of the fairest scenes in England--Malvern. The +little town with its old Priory among the Worcester hills, looks down on +the plain of Worcester, the field of a great English battle. + +A dim recollection of the Duchess and the Princess is still preserved at +Malvern--how pleasant and kind they were to all, how good to the poor; how +the future Queen rode on a donkey like any other young girl at +Malvern--like poor Marie Antoinette in the forest glades of Compiegne and +Fontainebleau half a century earlier, when she was only four years older, +although already Dauphiness of France. The shadowy records do not tell us +much more; we are left to form our own conclusions whether the Queen +anticipated her later ascents of Scotch and Swiss mountains by juvenile +scrambles amongst the Worcester hills; whether she stood on the top of the +Worcester or Hereford Beacon; or whether these were considered too +dangerous and masculine exploits for a princess of tender years, growing up +to inherit a throne? She could hardly fail to enter the Wytche, the strange +natural gap between Worcestershire and Herefordshire, by which, at one +step, the wayfarer leaves wooded England behind, and stands face to face +with a pastoral corner of Wales; or to drive along the mile-long common of +Barnard's Green, with the geese, and the hay-stacks, and the little +cottages on either side, and always in front the steep ridge of hills with +the grey Priory where Piers Plowman saw his vision, nestling at their feet; +or to pull the heather and the wild strawberries in Cowleigh Park, from +which every vestige of its great house has departed. She might have been a +privileged visitor at Madresfield, where some say Charles II. slept the +night before the battle of Worcester, and where there is a relic that would +better become Kensington, in a quilt which Queen Anne and Duchess Sarah +embroidered together in silks in the days of their fast friendship. + +As it was part of the Princess's good education to be enlightened, as far +as possible, with regard to the how and why of arts and manufactures, we +make no question she was carried to Worcester, not only to see the +cathedral, but to have the potteries exhibited to her. There was a great +deal for the ingenuous mind of a royal pupil to see, learn, and enjoy in +Worcester and Warwickshire--for she was also at Guy's Cliff and Kenilworth. + +It had become clear to the world without that the succession rested with +the Duke of Kent's daughter. Long before, the Duchess of Clarence had +written to her sister-in-law in a tender, generous struggle with her +sorrow: "My children are dead, but yours lives, and she is mine too." As +the direct heir to the crown, the Princess Victoria became a person of +great importance, a source of serious consideration alike to the Government +and to her future subjects. The result, in 1830, was a well-deserved if +somewhat long-delayed testimony to the merits of the Duchess of Kent, which +must have given honest satisfaction not only at Kensington, but at +Claremont--to whose master the Belgian Revolution was opening up the +prospect of a kingdom more stable than that of Greece, for which Prince +Leopold had been mentioned. Away in the Duchess's native Coburg, too, the +congratulations were sincere and hearty. + +The English Parliament had not only formally recognised the Princess as the +next heir and increased the Duchess's income to ten thousand a year, so +relieving her from some of her difficulties; it had, with express and +flattering reference to the admirable manner in which she had until then +discharged the trust that her husband had confided to her, appointed her +Regent in the event of King William's death while the Princess was still a +minor. In this appointment the Duchess was preferred to the Duke of +Cumberland. He had become the next royal Duke in the order of descent, but +had failed to inspire confidence in his countrymen. In fact he was in +England the most uniformly and universally unpopular of all George III.'s +sons. There was even a wild rumour that he was seeking, against right and +reason, to form a party which should attempt to revive the Salic law and +aim at setting aside the Princess and placing Prince George of Cumberland +on the throne of England as well as on that of Hanover. + +The Princess had reached the age of twelve, and it was judged advisable, +after her position had been thus acknowledged, that she herself should be +made acquainted with it. The story--the authenticity of which is +established beyond question--is preserved in a letter from the Queen's +former governess, Baroness Lehzen, which her Majesty has, given to the +world. + +"I ask your Majesty's leave to cite some remarkable words of your Majesty +when only twelve years old, while the Regency Bill was in progress. I then +said to the Duchess of Kent, that now, for the first time, your Majesty +ought to know your place in the succession. Her Royal Highness agreed with +me, and I put the genealogical table into the historical book. When Mr. +Davys (the Queen's instructor, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough) was gone, +the Princess Victoria opened the book again, as usual, and seeing the +additional paper, said, 'I never saw that before.' 'It was not thought +necessary you should, Princess,' I answered. 'I see I am nearer the throne +than I thought.' 'So it is, madam,' I said. After some moments the Princess +answered, 'Now, many a child would boast, but they don't know the +difficulty. There is much splendour, but there is more responsibility.' The +Princess having lifted up the forefinger of her right hand while she spoke, +gave me that little hand, saying, 'I will be good. I understand now why you +urged me so much to learn even Latin. My aunts Augusta and Mary never did; +but you told me Latin is the foundation of English grammar and of all the +elegant expressions, and I learned it as you wished it, but I understand +all better now;' and the Princess gave me her hand, repeating, 'I will be +good.' I then said, 'But your aunt Adelaide is still young, and may have +children, and of course they would ascend the throne after their father, +William IV., and not you, Princess.' The Princess answered, 'And if it was +so, I should never feel disappointed, for I know by the love aunt Adelaide +bears me how fond she is of children.'" + +No words can illustrate better what is striking and touching in this +episode than those with which Mrs. Oliphant refers to it in her sketch of +the Queen. "It is seldom that an early scene like this stands out so +distinctly in the early story even of a life destined to greatness. The +hush of awe upon the child; the childish application of this great secret +to the abstruse study of Latin, which was not required from the others; the +immediate resolution, so simple, yet containing all the wisest sage could +have counselled, or the greatest hero vowed,' I will be good,' makes a +perfect little picture. It is the clearest appearance of the future Queen +in her own person that we get through the soft obscurity of those childish +years." The Duchess of Kent remained far from a rich woman for her station, +and the young Princess had been sooner told of her mother's straitened +income than of the great inheritance in store for herself. She continued to +be brought up in unassuming, inexpensive habits. + +In February, 1831, when Princess Victoria was twelve, she made her first +appearance in state at "the most magnificent Drawing-room which, had been +seen since that which had taken place on the presentation of Princess +Charlotte of Wales upon the occasion of her marriage." The Drawing-room was +held by Queen Adelaide, and it was to do honour to the new Queen no less +than to commemorate the approaching completion of the Princess's twelfth +year that the heiress to the throne was present in a prominent position, an +object of the greatest interest to the splendid company. She came along +with the Duchess her mother, attended by an appropriate suite, including +the Duchess of Northumberland, Lady Charlotte St. Maur, Lady Catherine +Parkinson, the Hon. Mrs. Cust, the Baroness Lehzen, and the Princess's +father's old friends, General Wetherall and Captain (now Sir John) Conroy, +with his wife, Lady Conroy. The Princess's dress was made, as the Queen's +often was afterwards, entirely of articles manufactured in the United +Kingdom. She wore a frock of English blonde, "simple, modest, and +becoming." She stood on the left of her Majesty on the throne, and +"contemplated all that passed with much dignity, but with evident +interest." We are further told, what we can well believe, that she excited +general admiration as well as interest. We can without difficulty call up +before us the girlish figure in its pure, white dress, the soft, open face, +the fair hair, the candid blue eyes, the frank lips slightly apart, showing +the white pearly teeth. The intelligent observation, the remarkable absence +of self-consciousness and consequent power of self-control and of +thought for others, which struck all who approached her in the great crisis +of her history six years afterwards, were already conspicuous in the young +girl. No doubt it was for her advantage, in consideration of what lay +before her, that while brought up in wholesome privacy, she was at the same +time inured, so far, to appear in public, to bear the brunt of many +eyes--some critical, though for the most part kind--touched by her youth +and innocence, by the circumstance that she was fatherless, and by the +crown she must one day wear. She had to learn to conduct herself with the +mingled self-respect and ease which became her station. Impulsiveness, +shyness, nervousness, are more serious defects in kings and queens than in +ordinary mortals. To use a homely phrase, "to have all their wits about +them" is very necessary in their case. If in addition they can have all +their hearts--hearts warm and considerate, nobly mindful of their own +obligations and of the claims of others--so much the better for the +sovereigns and for all who come under their influence. A certain amount of +familiarity with being the observed of all observers, with treading alone a +conspicuous path demanding great circumspection, was wanted beforehand, in +order that the young head might remain steady in the time of sudden, +tremendous elevation. + +Nevertheless, the Princess was not present at the coronation of King +William and Queen Adelaide, and her absence, as the heir-presumptive to the +throne, caused much remark and speculation, and gave rise to not a few +newspaper paragraphs. Various causes were assigned for the singular +omission. _The Times_ openly accused the Duchess of Kent of proving +the obstacle. Other newspapers followed suit, asserting that the grounds +for the Duchess's refusal were to be found in the circumstance that in the +coronation procession, marshalled by Lord A. Fitzclarence, the place +appointed for the Princess Victoria, instead of being next to the King and +Queen, according to her right, was after the remaining members of the royal +family. Conflicting authorities declared that the Prime Minister, Earl +Grey, for some occult reason, opposed the Princess's receiving an +invitation to be present at a ceremony which had so much interest for her; +or that the Duchess of Northumberland, the governess of the Princess, took +the same extraordinary course from political motives. Finally, _The +Globe_ gave, on authority, an explanation that had been offered all +along in the midst of more sensational rumours. The Princess's health was +rather delicate, and the Duchess of Kent had, on that account, got the +King's sanction to her daughter's not being exposed to unusual excitement +and fatigue. The statement on authority was unanswerable, but while it +stilled one cause of apprehension it awakened another. After the untimely +death of Princess Charlotte, the nation was particularly sensitive with +regard to the health of the heir to the crown. Whispers began to spread +abroad, happily without much foundation, of pale cheeks, and a constitution +unfit for the burden which was to be laid upon it. + + + +CHAPTER III. +YOUTH. + + +In the month of August, 1831, the Princess went with her mother to profit +by the soft, sweet breezes of the Isle of Wight. The Duchess and her +daughter occupied Norris Castle for three months, and the ladies of the +family were often on the shore watching the white sails and chatting with +the sailors. Carisbrooke and King Charles the Martyr were brought more +vividly home to his descendant, with the pathetic little tale of the +girl-Princess Elizabeth. We do not know whether the Queen then learnt to +feel a special love for the fair little island with which she has long been +familiar, but of this we are certain, that she could then have had little +idea that her chief home would be within its bounds. Even in 1831 transport +and communication by land and water continued a tedious and troublesome +business. However, the visit to the Isle of Wight was repeated in 1833. +Perhaps to dissipate the gossip and calm the little irritation which had +been created by the Princess's absence from the coronation, she made her +appearance twice in public, on the completion of her thirteenth year, in +1832. That was a year in which there was much call for oil to be cast on +the troubled waters: never since 1819, the date of the Queen's birth had +there been greater restlessness and turmoil throughout the country. For +some time public feeling had been kept at the boiling-point by the question +of the Reform Bill--groaned over by some as the first step to democracy and +destruction; eagerly hailed by others as a new dawn of freedom, peace, and +prosperity. The delay in passing the Bill had rendered the King unpopular, +and brought unmerited blame on Queen Adelaide, for having gone beyond her +prerogative in lending herself to overthrow the King's Whig principles. The +ferment had converted the old enthusiastic homage to the Iron Duke as a +soldier into fierce detestation of him as a statesman. The carrying of the +measure on which the people had set their hearts did not immediately allay +the tempest--a disappointing result, which was inevitable when the +universal panacea failed to work at once like a charm in relieving all the +woes in the kingdom. Men were not only rude, and spoke their minds, the +ringleaders broke out again into riots, the most formidable and alarming of +which were those in Bristol, that left a deep impression on more than one +chance spectator who witnessed them. But the girl Princess--praised for her +proficiency in Horace and Virgil, and her progress in mathematics--could +only hear far off the mutterings of the storm that was passing; and King +William and Queen Adelaide sought to put aside what was perplexing and +harassing them; and tried to forget that when they had shown themselves to +their people lately they had been met--here with indifference--and there +with hootings. The times were waxing more and more evil, as it seemed, to +uneasy, vexed wearers of crowns, unlike those in which old King George and +Queen Charlotte had been received with fervent acclamation wherever they +went, whatever wars were being waged or taxes imposed. The manners of the +Commons were not improving with the extension of their rights. But the King +and Queen would do their duty, which was far from disagreeable to them, in +paying proper respect to their niece and successor. Accordingly their +Majesties gave a ball on the Princess's thirteenth birthday, 24th May, +1832, at which the heroine of the day figured; and four days later, on the +28th of May, she was present for the second time at a Drawing-room. + +All the same, it is an open secret that William, living, for the most part, +in that noblest palace of Windsor, considered the Princess led too retired +a life, so far as not appearing often enough at his Court was concerned, +and that he complained of her absence and resented it as a slight to +himself. It is an equally well-established fact that, in spite of the +King's kindness of heart and Queen Adelaide's goodness, King William's +Court was not in all respects a desirable place for a Princess to grow up +in, in addition to the objection that any Court in itself formed an +unsuitable schoolroom for a young girl. + +It is doubtful, since even the most magnanimous men have jealous instincts, +whether the King's displeasure on one point would be appeased by what was +otherwise a very natural and judicious step taken by the Duchess of Kent +this year. She made an autumn tour with her daughter through several +counties of England and Wales, in the course of which the royal mother and +daughter paid a succession of visits to seats of different noblemen, taking +Oxford on the way. If there was a place in England which deserved the +notice of its future Queen, it was one of the two great universities--the +cradles of learning, and, in the case of "the most loyal city of Oxford," +the bulwark of the throne. The party proceeded early in October through +the beautiful scenery of North Wales--the Princess's first experience of +mountains--to Eaton Hall, the home of the Grosvenor family. From Eaton the +travellers drove to the ancient city of Chester, with its quaint arcades +and double streets, its God's Providence House and its cathedral. At +Chester the Princess named the new bridge which was opened on the occasion. +By the wise moderation and self-repression of those around her, the name +bestowed was not the "Victoria," but simply the "Grosvenor Bridge." + +From Eaton the Princess was taken to Chatsworth, the magnificent seat of +the Cavendishes. She stayed long enough to see and hear something of +romantic Derbyshire. She visited Hardwick, associated with Building Bess, +whose granddaughter, the unfortunate "Lady Arbell," had been a remote +cousin of this happy young Princess, and she went, like everybody else, to +Matlock. At Belper the party, in diligent search after all legitimate +knowledge, examined the great cotton-mills of the Messrs. Strutt, and the +senior partner had the honour of showing to her Royal Highness, by means of +a model, how cotton was spun. + +From Chatsworth the Duchess and her daughter repaired to Alton Abbey, where +the "Talbot tykes" still kept watch and ward; thence to Shugborough, the +seat of the Earl of Lichfield, which enabled the visitors to see another +fine cathedral and to breathe the air which is full of "the great Dr. +Johnson." + +At each of the towns the strangers were met by addresses--of course made to +the Duchess and replied to by her. How original these formal compliments +must have sounded to Princess Victoria! On the 27th of October their Royal +Highnesses were at Pitchford Hall, the residence of the Earl of Liverpool, +from which they visited Shrewsbury--another Chester--with a word of its own +for the old fateful battle in which "Percy was slain and Douglas taken +prisoner," and the Welsh power broken in Owen Glendower. After getting a +glimpse of the most picturesque portion of Shropshire, halting at more +noble seats, and passing through a succession of Worcester towns, the royal +party reached Woodstock on the 7th of November, and the same evening rested +at Wytham House, belonging to the Earl of Abingdon. There was hardly time +to realise that the memories of Alice Lee, the old knight Sir Henry, and +the faithful dog Bevis, rivalled successfully the grisly story of Queen +Eleanor and Fair Rosamond. Nay, the magician was still dogging the +travellers' steps; for had he not made the little town of Abingdon his own +by choosing it for the meeting-place of Mike Lambourne and Tressillian, and +rebuilding in its neighbourhood the ruins of Cumnor Hall, on which the dews +fell softly? Alas! the wizard would weave no more spells. A month before +that princely "progress" Sir Walter Scott, after Herculean labours to pay +his debts like an honest man had wrecked even his robust frame and +healthful genius, lay dead at Abbotsford. + +On the 8th of November the future Queen entered Oxford with something like +State, in proper form escorted by a detachment of Yeomanry. There is no +need to tell that she was received by the Vice-Chancellor of the +University, and the dons and doctors of the various colleges, in full +array. And she was told of former royal visitors: of Charles in his +tribulation; of her grandfather and grandmother, King George and Queen +Charlotte, when little Miss Barney was there to describe the festivities. +The Princess went the usual round: to superb Christ Church, at which her +sons were to graduate; to the Bodleian and Radclyffe libraries; to All +Souls, New College, &c. She proceeded to view other buildings, which, +unless in a local guide-book, are not usually included among the lions of +Oxford. But this young lady of the land was bound to encourage town as well +as gown; therefore she visited duly the Town Hall and Council Chamber. From +Oxford the tourists returned to Kensington. + +There are no greater contrasts than those which are to be found in royal +lives. When the Princess Victoria was about to set out on her pleasant +journey in peace and prosperity, the news came of the arrest of the +Duchesse de Berri, at Nantes. It was the sequel to her gallant but +unsuccessful attempt to raise La Vendee in the name of her young son, Henri +de Bordeaux, and the end to the months in which she had lain in hiding. +She was discovered in the chimney of a house in the Rue Haute-du-Chateau, +where she was concealed with three other conspirators against the +Government of her cousin, Louis Philippe. The search had lasted for several +hours, during which these unfortunate persons were penned in a small space +and exposed to almost intolerable heat. A mantelpiece had been contrived so +as to turn on a swivel and form an opening into a suffocating recess. When +the Duchesse and her companions were found their hands were scorched and +part of their clothes burnt. She was taken to the fortress of Nantes, and +thence transferred to the Castle of Blaze, where she suffered a term of +imprisonment. She had acted entirely on her own responsibility, her wild +enterprise having being disapproved alike by her father-in-law, Charles X., +and her brother and sister-in-law, the Duc and Duchesse d'Angouleme. + +In 1833, we are told, the Duchess of Kent and the fourteen years old +Princess stopped on their way to Weymouth--the old favourite watering-place +of King George and Queen Charlotte--and visited the young Queen of +Portugal, at Portsmouth. Donna Maria da Gloria had been sent from Brazil to +England by her father, Don Pedro, partly for her safety, partly under the +impression, which proved false, that the English Government would take an +active part in her cause against the usurpation of her uncle, Don Miguel. +The Government did nothing. The royal family paid the stranger some courtly +and kindly attentions. One of the least exceptional passages in the late +Charles Greville's Memoirs is the description of the ball given by the +King, at which the two young queens--to be--were present. The chronicle +describes the girls, who were of an age--having been born in the same year: +the sensible face of the fair-haired English Princess, and the extreme +dignity--especially after she had sustained an accidental fall--of the +Portuguese royal maiden, inured to the hot sun of the tropics. Don Miguel +was routed in the course of the following year (1834), and his niece was +established in her kingdom. Within the same twelve months she lost a father +and gained and lost a husband; for among the first news that reached her +English acquaintances was her marriage, before she was sixteen, and her +widowhood within three months. She had married, in January, the Duc de +Leuchtenberg, a brother of her stepmother and a son of Eugene Beauharnais. +He died, after a short illness, in the following March. She married again +in the next year, her re-marriage having been earnestly desired by her +subjects. The second husband was Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, belonging to +the Roman Catholic branch of the Coburgs, and cousin both to the Queen and +the Prince Consort. He was a worthy and, ultimately, a popular prince. +Donna Maria was grand-niece to Queen Amelie of France, and showed much +attachment to the house of Orleans. There is said to have been a project +formed by Louis Philippe, which was frustrated by the English Government, +that she should marry one of his sons, the Duc de Nemours. + +In addition to the English tours which the Princess Victoria made with her +mother, the Duchess of Kent was careful that as soon as her daughter had +grown old enough to profit by the association, she should meet the most +distinguished men of the day--whether statesmen, travellers, men of +science, letters, or art. Kensington had one well-known intellectual centre +in Holland House, presided over by the famous Lady Holland, and was soon to +have another in Gore House, occupied by Lady Blessington and Count D'Orsay; +but even if the fourteen years old Princess had been of sufficient age and +had gone into society, such _salons_ were not for her. The Duchess +must "entertain" for her daughter. In 1833 Lord Campbell mentions dining +at Kensington Palace. The company found the Princess in the drawing-room on +their arrival, and again on their return from the dining-room. He records +her bright, pleasant intelligence, perfect manners, and happy liveliness. + +In July, 1834, when the Princess was fifteen, she was confirmed in the +Chapel Royal, St. James's, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence +of the King and Queen and the Duchess of Kent. She was advancing with rapid +steps to the point at which the girl leaves the child for ever behind her, +and stretches forward to her crown of young womanhood. She had in her own +name confirmed the baptismal vow which consecrated her as a responsible +being to the service of the King of kings. Still she was a young creature, +suffered to grow up according to a gracious natural growth, not forced into +premature expansion, permitted to preserve to the last the sweet girlish +trust and confidence, the mingled coyness and fearlessness, pensive dreams +and merry laughter, which constitute the ineffable freshness and tender +grace of youth. + +If the earlier story of the purchase, or non-purchase, of the box at +Tunbridge Wells reads "like an incident out of 'Sandford and Merton,'" +there is another anecdote fitting into this time which has still more of +the good-fairy ring in it, while it sounds like a general endorsement of +youthful wisdom. Yet it may have had its origin in some eager, youthful +fancy of astonishing another girl, and giving her "the very thing she +wanted" as a reward for her exemplary behaviour. The Princess was visiting +a jeweller's shop incognito (a little in the fashion of Haroun-al-Raschid) +when she saw another young lady hang long over some gold chains, lay down +reluctantly the one which she evidently preferred, and at last content +herself with buying a cheaper chain. The interested on-looker waited till +the purchaser was gone, made some inquiries, directed that both chains +should be tied up and sent together, along with the Princess Victoria's +card, on which a few words were pencilled to the effect that the Princess +had been pleased to see prudence prevail, while she desired the young lady +to accept her original choice, in the hope that she would always persevere +in her laudable self-denial. + +In the autumn of 1835 the Duchess of Kent and the Princess went as far +north as York, visiting the Archbishop at Bishopsthorpe, studying the +minster--second only to Westminster among English abbeys--and gracing with +the presence of royalty the great York Musical Festival. On the travellers' +homeward route they were the guests of the Earl of Harewood, at Harewood +House, Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth, and the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir. +At Burghley House the Duchess and the Princess visited the Marquis of +Exeter. The late Charles Greville met them there, and gives a few +particulars of their visit. "They arrived from Belvoir at three o'clock, in +a heavy rain, the civic authorities having turned out at Stamford to escort +them and a procession of different people, all very loyal. When they had +lunched, and the Mayor and his brethren had got dry, the Duchess received +the Address, which was read by Lord Exeter, as Recorder. It talked of the +Princess as 'destined to mount the throne of these realms.' Conroy handed +the answer just as the Prime Minister does to the King. They are splendidly +lodged, and great preparations have been made for their reception. The +dinner at Burghley was very handsome; hall well lit, and all went off well, +except that a pail of ice was landed in the Duchess's lap, which made a +great bustle. Three hundred people at the ball, which was opened by Lord +Exeter and the Princess, who, after dancing one dance, went to bed. They +appeared at breakfast next morning at nine o'clock, and at ten set off to +Holkham." + +Romance was not much in Mr. Greville's way, but Burghley, apart from the +statesman Cecil and his weighty nod, had been the scene of such a romance +as might well have captivated the imagination of a young princess, though +its heroine was but a village maiden--she who married the +landscape-painter, and was brought by him to Burghley, bidden look around +at its splendour, and told + + "All of this is thine and mine." + +Tennyson has sung it--how she grew a noble lady, and yet died of the honour +to which she was not born, and how the Lord of Burghley, deeply mourning, +bid her attendants + + "Bring the dress and put it on her + Which she wore when we were wed." + +In one of those autumns which the Duchess of Kent and her daughter spent at +Ramsgate--not so rural as it had been a dozen years before, but still a +quiet enough retreat--they received a visit from the King and Queen of the +Belgians. Prince Leopold was securely established on the throne which he +filled so well and so long, keeping it when many other European sovereigns +were unseated. He was accompanied by his second wife, Princess Louise of +France, daughter of Louis Philippe. She was a good woman, like all the +daughters of Queen Amelie, while Princess Marie, in addition to goodness, +had the perilous gift of genius. The following is Baron Stockmar's opinion +of the Queen of the Belgians. "From the moment that the (Queen Louise) +entered that circle in which I for so many years have had a place, I have +revered her as a pattern of her sex. We say and believe that men can be +noble and good; of her we know with certainty that she was so. We saw in +her daily a truthfulness, a faithful fulfilment of duty, which makes us +believe in the possible though but seldom evident nobleness of the human +heart. In characters such as the Queen's, I see a guarantee of the +perfection of the Being who has created human nature." We ought to add that +Stockmar had not only the highest opinion of the character of Queen Louise, +but also of her insight and judgment, and he often expressed his opinion +that if anything were to happen to King Leopold the Regency might be +entrusted to the Queen with perfect confidence. + +How much the Queen valued Queen Louise, how she became Queen Victoria's +dearest friend, is fully shown at a later date by the extracts from the +Queen's journal, and letters in the "Life of the Prince Consort" + +About this time the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria paid a visit to +the Duke of Wellington at Walmer Castle--the old tower with fruit-trees +growing in the dry moat, and a slip from the weeping-willow which hung over +the grave in St. Helena flourishing in its garden, where the Warden of the +Cinque Ports could look across the roadstead of the Downs and count the +ships' masts like trees in a forest, and watch the waves breaking twenty +feet high on the Goodwin Sands. "The cut-throat town of Deal" which poor +Lucy Hutchinson so abhorred, pranked its quaint red houses for so +illustrious and dainty a visitor. The Duke had stood by her font, and if he +had "no small talk," he was a courteous gentleman and gentle warrior when +he fought his battles over again for the benefit of the young Princess. + +A winter was spent by the Duchess and the Princess at St. Leonard's, not +far from Battle Abbey, where the last Saxon king of England bit the dust, +and William of Normandy fought and won the great battle which rendered his +invasion a conquest. + +1836 was an eventful year in the Queen's life. We read that the Duchess of +Kent and her daughter remained at Kensington till the month of September. +There was a good reason for staying at home in the early summer. The family +entertained friends: not merely valued, kinsfolk, but visitors who might +change the whole current of a life's history and deeply influence a destiny +on which the hopes of many hearts were fixed, that concerned the well-being +of millions of the human race. Princess Victoria had not grown up solitary +in her high estate. It has been already pointed out that she was one in a +group of cousins with whom she had cordial relations. But the time was +drawing near when nature and policy alike pointed to the advisability of +forming a closer tie, which would provide the Princess with companionship +and support stretching beyond those of her mother, and, if it were well and +wisely chosen, afford the people further assurance that the first household +in the kingdom should be such as they could revere. The royal maiden who +had been educated so wisely and grown up so simply and healthfully, was +approaching her seventeenth birthday. Already there were suitors in store +for her hand; as many as six had been seriously thought of--among them, +Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, whose suit was greatly favoured by +King William; Duke Ernest of Wurtemberg; Prince Adalbert of Prussia; and +Prince George of Cambridge. Prince George of Cumberland was _hors de +combat_, apart from the Duke of Cumberland's pretensions and the +alienation caused by them. Prince George, when a baby, had lost the sight +of one eye, a misfortune which his father shared. A few years later in the +son's boyhood, as he was at play in the gardens of Windsor Castle, he began +to amuse himself with flinging into the air and catching a long silk purse +with heavy gold tassels, when the purse fell on the seeing eye, inflicting +such an injury as to threaten him with total blindness. The last +catastrophe was brought about by the blunder of a famous German oculist +after Prince George had become Crown Prince of Hanover. + +How much the Princess knew or guessed of those matrimonial prospects, how +far they fluttered her innocent heart, we cannot tell; but as of all the +candidates mentioned there was only one with whom she had any acquaintance +to speak of, it may be supposed that the generality of the proposed wooers +passed like vague shadows before her imagination. + +In the meantime the devoted friends of her whole life had naturally not +left this question--the most important of all--entirely unapproached. Her +English cousins stood to her somewhat in the room of contemporary brothers +and sisters; for her own brother and sister, however united to her in +affection, were removed from her by age, by other ties, and by residence in +a foreign country, to which in 1833 there was still no highway well trodden +by the feet of kings and queens and their heirs-presumptive, as well as by +meaner people, such as we find to-day. But there were other cousins of whom +much had been said and heard, though they had remained unseen and +personally unknown. For that very reason they were more capable of being +idealised and surrounded by a halo of romance. + +At the little ducal Court of Coburg there was the perfect young prince of +all knightly legends and lays, whom fate seemed to have mated with his +English cousin from their births within a few months of each other. When he +was a charming baby of three years the common nurse of the pair would talk +to him of his little far-away royal bride. The common grandmother of the +two, a wise and witty old lady, dwelt fondly on the future union of her +youngest charge with the "Mayflower" across the seas. + +In all human probability these grandmotherly predictions would have come to +nothing had it not been for a more potent arbiter of the fortunes of his +family. King Leopold had once filled the very post which was now vacant, +for which there were so many eager aspirants. None could know as he knew +the manifold and difficult requirements for the office; none could care as +he cared that it should be worthily filled. His interest in England had +never wavered, though he had renounced his English annuity of fifty +thousand a year on his accession to the throne of Belgium. He was deeply +attached to the niece who stood nearly in the same position which Princess +Charlotte had occupied twenty years before. Away in Coburg there was a +princely lad whom he loved as a son, and who held the precise relation to +the ducal house which he himself had once filled. What was there to hinder +King Leopold from following out the comparison? Who could blame him for +seeking to rebuild, in the interest of all, the fair edifice of love and +happiness and loyal service which had been shattered before the dawn of +those lives--that were like the lives of his children--had arisen? Besides, +look where he might, and study character and chances with whatever +forethought, he could not find such another promising bridegroom for the +future Queen of England. Young, handsome, clever, good, endowed with all +winning attributes; with wise, well-balanced judgment in advance of his +years; with earnest, steadfast purpose, gentle, sympathetic temper, and +merry humour. + +King Leopold's instinct was not at fault, as the result proved; but it was +not without the most careful consideration and many anxious consultations, +especially with his trusty old friend, Baron Stockmar, that the King +allowed himself to take the initiatory step in the matter. If the young +couple were to love and wed it was certainly necessary that they should +meet, that "the favourable impression" might be made, as the two honourable +conspirators put it delicately. For this there was no more time to be lost, +when so many suitors had already entered the lists, and the maiden only +wanted a year of the time fixed for her majority. But with conscientious +heedfulness for the feelings of the youthful pair, and for their power of +forming separately an unbiassed opinion, it was settled that when an +opportunity of becoming acquainted should be given them, the underlying +motive must be kept secret from the Princess as well as the Prince, that +they might be "perfectly at their ease with each other." This secrecy could +not, however, extinguish the previous knowledge which the Prince at least +possessed, that a marriage between the cousins had been mooted by some of +those most interested in their welfare. + +In spite of the obstacles which King William raised, an invitation was sent +by the Duchess of Kent to her brother, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg, to +pay her a visit, accompanied by his two sons, in the spring of 1836. +Accordingly, in the month which is the sweetest of the year, in spite of +inconstant skies and chill east winds, when Kensington Gardens were bowery +and fair with the tender green foliage--the chestnut and hawthorn +blossoms--the lilac and laburnum plumes of early summer, the goodly company +arrived, and made the old brick palace gay with the fresh and fitting +gaiety of youth. + +We may never know how the royal cousins met--whether the frank, kind, +unconscious Princess came down under the wing of the Duchess as far as +their entrance into the Clock Court; whether there was a little dimness of +agitation and laughing confusion, in spite of the partial secrecy, in two +pairs of blue eyes which then encountered each other for the first time; +whether the courtly company ascended in well-arranged file, or in a little +friendly disorder. It was fortunate that there were more doors and halls +and staircases than one, for it goes without saying that nobody could have +had time and attention to spare for the wonderfully elaborate staircase, +the representation in _chiaroscuro_ of horses and warlike weapons, the +frieze with heads of unicorns and masks of lions. It must have been on +another day that young heads looked up in jest or earnest at Hercules, +Diana, Apollo, and Minerva, and stopped to pick out the heterogeneous +figures in the colonnade--"ladies, yeomen of the guard, pages, a quaker, +two Turks, a Highlander, and Peter the Wild Boy," which testified to the +liberal imagination of Kent, who executed not only the architecture, but +the painting, in the reign of George I. + +The guests remained at Kensington for a month, the only drawback to their +pleasure being a little attack of bilious fever, from which Prince Albert +suffered for a few days. There is a published letter to his stepmother in +which the Prince tells his doings in the most unaffected, kindly fashion. +There were the King's levee, "long and fatiguing, but very interesting;" +the dinner at Court, and the "beautiful concert" which followed, at which +the guests had to stand till two o'clock; the King's birthday, with the +Drawing-room at St. James's Palace, where three thousand eight hundred +people passed before the King and Queen, and another great dinner and +concert in the evening. There was also the "brilliant ball" at Kensington +Palace, at which the gentlemen were in uniform and the ladies in fancy +dresses. Duke William of Brunswick, the Prince of Orange and his sons, and +the Duke of Wellington, were among the guests, and the Princes of Coburg +helped to keep up the ball till four o'clock. They spent a day with the +Duke of Northumberland at Sion House, they went to Claremont, and they were +so constantly engaged that they had to make the most of their time in order +to see at least some of the sights of London. To one of the sights the +Queen referred afterwards. The Duke of Coburg and the two Princes +accompanied the Duchess of Kent and the Princess to the wonderful gathering +of the children of the different charity schools in St. Paul's Cathedral, +where Prince Albert listened intently to the sermon. We hardly need to be +told that he was full of interest in everything, paid the greatest +attention to all he saw, and was constantly occupied. Among his pleasant +occupations were the two favourite pursuits--which the cousins +shared--music and drawing. He accompanied the Princess on the piano, and +he drew with and for her. It was a happy, busy time, though some of the +late dinners, at which, the Prince drank only water, were doubtless dull +enough of the young people, and Prince Albert, accustomed to the early +hours and simple habits of Germany, felt the change trying. He confessed +that it was sometimes with the greatest difficulty he could keep awake. The +Princess's birthday came round during her kinsman's visit. The Prince +alluded to the event and to his stay at Kensington in writing to the +Duchess of Kent three years later, when he was the proud and happy +bridegroom of his cousin. He made no note of the date as having had an +effect on their relations to each other, neither did he dwell on any good +wish or gift [Footnote: Lady Bloomfield mentions among the Queen's rings "a +small enamel with a tiny diamond in the centre, the Prince's gift when he +first came to England, a lad of seventeen."] on his part; but in compliance +with a motherly request from his aunt, the Duchess, that he would send her +something he had worn, he returned to her a ring that she had given him on +that May morning. The ring had never left his finger since then. The very +shape proclaimed that it had been squeezed in the grasp of many a manly +hand. The ring had her name upon it, but the name was "Victoria" too, and +he begged her to wear it in remembrance of his bride and himself. + +The favourable impression had been made in spite of the perversity of +fortune and the vagaries of human hearts, which, amidst other casualties, +might have led the Princess to accord her preference to the elder brother, +Prince Ernest, who was also "a fine young fellow," though not so well +suited to become prince-consort to the Queen of England. But for once +destiny was propitious, and neither that nor any other mischance befell the +bright prospects of the principal actors in the scene. When the King of the +Belgians could no longer refrain from expressing his hopes, he had the most +satisfactory answer from his royal niece. + +"I have only now to beg you, my dearest uncle," she wrote, "to take care of +the health of one now so dear to me, and to take him under your special +protection. I hope and trust that all will now go on prosperously and well +on this subject, now of so much importance to me." + +At the same time, though an affectionate correspondence was started and +maintained for a year, no further communication passed which could tend to +enlighten the Prince as to the feelings he had excited. He went away to +complete his education, to study diligently, along with his brother, at +Brussels and Bonn; to feel in full the gladness of opening life and opening +powers of no ordinary description; to rejoice, as few young men have the +same warrant to rejoice, in the days of his unstained, noble youth. + +On the King's birthday, the 21st August, the Duchess of Kent and Princess +Victoria were at Windsor Castle on a visit. In spite of some soreness over +the old grievance, the King proposed the Princess Victoria's health very +kindly at the dinner. After he had drunk the Princess Augusta's health he +said, "And now, having given the health of the oldest I will give that of +the youngest member of the royal family. I know the interest which the +public feel about her, and although I have not seen so much of her as I +could have wished, I take no less interest in her, and the more I do see of +her, both in public and private, the greater pleasure it will give me." The +whole thing was so civil and gracious that it could hardly be taken ill, +but, says Greville, "the young Princess sat opposite and hung her head with +not unnatural modesty at being thus talked of in so large a company." + +In the September of that year the Duchess and the Princess went again to +Ramsgate, and stayed there till December. It was their last visit to the +quiet little resort within a short pilgrimage of Canterbury--the great +English shrine, not so much of Thomas a Becket, slain before the altar, as +of Edward the Black Prince, with his sword and gauntlets hung up for ever, +and the inscription round the effigy which does not speak of Cressy and +Poictiers, but of the vanity of human pride and ambition. It was the last +seaside holiday which the mother and daughter spent together untrammelled +by State obligations and momentous duties, with none to come between the +two who had been all in all with each other. In their absence a storm of +wind passed over London, and wrought great damage in Kensington Gardens. +About a hundred and thirty of the larger trees were destroyed. In the +forenoon of the 29th of November "a tremendous crash was heard in one of +the plantations near the Black Pond, between Kensington Palace and the +Mount Gate, and on several persons running to the spot twenty-five limes +were found tumbled to the earth by a single blast, their roots reaching +high into the air, with a great quantity of earth and turf adhering, while +deep chasms of several yards in diameter showed the force with which they +had been torn up.... On the Palace Green, Kensington, near the +forcing-garden, two large elms and a very fine sycamore were also laid +prostrate." + +In the following summer (1837) the Princess came of age, as princesses do, +at eighteen, and it was meet that the day should be celebrated with, all +honour and gladness. But the rejoicings were damped by the manifestly +failing health of the aged King, then seventy-one years of age. He had been +attacked by hay fever--to which he had been liable every spring at an +earlier period of his life, but the complaint was more formidable in the +case of an old and infirm man, while he still struggled manfully to +transact business and discharge the duties of his position. At the Levee +and Drawing-room of the 21st May he sat while receiving the company. By +the 24th he was confined to his rooms, and the Queen did not leave him. + +At six o'clock in the morning the Union Jack was hoisted on the summit of +the old church, Kensington, and on the flagstaff at Palace Green. In the +last instance the national ensign was surmounted by a white silk flag on +which was inscribed in sky-blue letters "Victoria." The little town adorned +itself to the best of its ability. "From the houses of the principal +inhabitants of the High Street were also displayed the Royal Standard, +Union Jack, and other flags and colours, some of them of extraordinary +dimensions." Soon after six o'clock the gates of Kensington Gardens were +thrown open for the admission of the public to be present at the serenade +which was to be performed at seven o'clock under the Palace windows, with +the double purpose of awaking the Princess in the most agreeable manner, +and of reminding her that at the same place and hour, eighteen years ago, +she had opened her eyes on the May world. The sleep of youth is light as +well as sound, and it may well be that the Princess, knowing all that was +in store for her on the happy day that could not be too long, the many +goodly tokens of her friends' love and gladness--not the least precious +those from Germany awaiting her acceptance--the innumerable congratulations +to be offered to her, was wide awake before the first violin or voice led +the choir. + +The bells rang out merry peals, carriages dashed by full of fine company. +Kensington Square must have thought it was the old days of William and +Mary, and Anne, or of George II and Queen Caroline at the latest, come back +again. The last French dwellers in Edwardes Square must have talked volubly +of what their predecessors had told them of Paris before the flood, Paris +before the Orleanists, and the Bonapartists, and the Republic--Paris when +the high-walled, green-gardened hotels of the Faubourg St. Germain were +full of their ancient occupants; when Marie Antoinette was the daughter of +the Caesars at the Tuileries, and the _bergere_ Queen at le Petit +Trianon. Before the sun went down many a bumper was drunk in honour of +Kensington's own Princess, who should that day leave her girlhood all too +soon behind her. + +But London as well as Kensington rejoiced, and the festivities were wound +up with a ball given at St. James's Palace by order of the poor King and +Queen, over whose heads the cloud of sorrow and parting was hanging +heavily. We are told that the ball opened with a quadrille, the Princess +being "led off" by Lord Fitzalan, eldest son of the Earl of Surrey and +grandson of the Duke of Norfolk, Premier Duke and Earl, Hereditary Earl +Marshal and Chief Butler of England. Her Royal Highness danced afterwards +with Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, son of the Austrian Ambassador. Prince +Nicholas made a brilliant figure in contemporary annals--not because of his +own merits, not because he married one of the fairest of England's noble +daughters, whose gracious English hospitalities were long remembered in +Vienna, but because of the lustre of the diamonds in his Court suit. He +was said to sparkle from head to heel. There was a legend that he could not +wear this splendid costume without a hundred pounds' worth of diamonds +dropping from him, whether he would or not, in minor gems, just as jewels +fell at every word from the mouth of the enchanted Princess. We have heard +of men and women behind whose steps flowers sprang into birth, but Prince +Nicholas left a more glittering, if a colder, harder track. + + + +CHAPTER IV. +THE ACCESSION. + + +On the day after that on which Princess Victoria celebrated her majority. +Baron Stockmar arrived at Kensington. He came from the King of the Belgians +to assist King Leopold's niece in what was likely to be the great crisis of +her life. During Baron Stockmar's former stay in England he had been in the +character first of Physician in Ordinary to Prince Leopold, and afterwards +of Private Secretary and Comptroller of his household. In those offices he +had spent the greater part of his time in this country from 1816 to 1834. +He had accompanied his master on his ascending the Belgian throne, but had +returned to England in a few years in order to serve him better there. +Baron Stockmar was thus an old and early friend of the Princess's. In +addition he had a large acquaintance with the English political world, and +was therefore well qualified to advise her with the force of a +disinterested adviser in her difficult position. In the view of her +becoming Queen, although her three predecessors, including George III after +he became blind, had appointed and retained private secretaries, the office +was not popular in the eyes of the Government and country, and it was not +considered advisable that the future Queen should possess such a servant, +notwithstanding the weight of business--enormous in the matter of +signatures alone--which would fall on the Sovereign. Without any recognised +position, Stockmar was destined to share with the Prime Minister one +portion of the duties which ought to have devolved on a private secretary. +He was also to act as confidential adviser. + +Baron Stockmar, [Footnote: "An active, decided, slender, rather little man, +with a compact head, brown hair streaked with grey, a bold, short nose, +firm yet full mouth, and what gave a peculiar air of animation to his face, +with two youthful, flashing brown eyes, full of roguish intelligence and +fiery provocation. With this exterior, the style of his demeanour and +conversation corresponded; bold, bright, pungent, eager, full of thought, +so that amid all the bubbling copiousness and easy vivacity of his talk, a +certain purpose was never lost sight of in his remarks and +illustrations."--_Friedrich Carl Meyer_.] who was at this time a man +of fifty, was no ordinary character. He was sagacious, warm-hearted, +honest, straightforward to bluntness, painstaking, just, benevolent to a +remarkable degree; the friend of princes, without forfeiting his +independence, he won and kept their perfect confidence to the end. He loved +them heartily in return, without seeking anything from them; on the +contrary, he showed himself reluctant to accept tokens of their favour. +While lavishing his services on others, and readily lending his help to +those who needed it, he would seem to have wanted comfort himself. An +affectionate family man, he consented to constantly recurring separation +from his wife and children in order to discharge the peculiar functions +which were entrusted to him. For he played in the background--contented, +nay, resolute to remain there--by the lawful exercise of influence alone, +no small part in the destinies of several of the reigning houses in Europe, +and through them, of their kingdoms. Like Carlyle, he suffered during his +whole life from dyspepsia; like Carlyle, too, he was a victim to +hypochondria, the result of his physical state. To these two last causes +may be attributed some whimsicalities and eccentricities which were readily +forgiven in the excellent Baron. + +Baron Stockmar did not come too soon; in less than a month, on the 20th of +June, 1837, after an illness which he had borne, patiently and reverently, +King William died peacefully, his hand resting where it had lain for hours, +on the shoulder of his faithful Queen. + +The death took place at Windsor, at a little after two o'clock in the +morning. Immediately afterwards the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Howley, +and the Lord Chamberlain, the Marquis of Conyngham, together with the Earl +of Albemarle, the Master of the Horse, and Sir Henry Halford, the late +King's physician, started from Windsor for Kensington. All through the rest +of the summer night these solemn and stately gentlemen drove, nodding with +fatigue, hailing the early dawn, speaking at intervals to pronounce +sentence on the past reign and utter prognostications, of the reign which +was to come. Shortly before five, when the birds were already in full +chorus in Kensington Gardens, the party stood at the main door, demanding +admission. This was another and ruder summons than the musical serenade +which had been planned to wile the gentle sleeper sweetly from her slumbers +and to hail her natal day not a month before. That had been a graceful, +sentimental recognition of a glad event; this was an unvarnished, well-nigh +stern arousal to the world of grave business and anxious care, following +the mournful announcement of a death--not a birth. From this day the +Queen's heavy responsibilities and stringent obligations were to begin. +That untimely, peremptory challenge sounded the first knell to the light +heart and careless freedom of youth. + +Though it had been well known that the King lay on his death-bed, and +Kensington without, as well as Kensington within, must have been in a high +state of expectation, it does not appear that there were any watchers on +the alert to rush together at the roll of the three royal carriages. +Instead of the eager, respectful crowd, hurrying into the early-opened +gates of the park to secure good places for all that was to be seen and +heard on the day of the Princess's coming of age, Palace Green seems to +have been a solitude on this momentous June morning, and the individual the +most interested in the event, after the new-made Queen, instead of being +there to pay his homage first, as he had offered his congratulations on the +birthday a year before, was far away, quietly studying at the little +university town on the Rhine. + +"They knocked, they rang, they thumped for a considerable time before they +could rouse the porter at the gate," says Miss Wynn, in the "Diary of a +Lady of Quality," of these importunate new-comers. "They were again kept +waiting in the courtyard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where +they seemed forgotten by everybody. They rang the bell and desired that the +attendant of the Princess Victoria might be sent to inform Her Royal +Highness that they requested an audience on business of importance. After +another delay and another ringing to inquire the cause, the attendant was +summoned, who stated that the Princess was in such a sweet sleep that she +could not venture to disturb her. Then they said, 'We are come on business +of State to the QUEEN, and even her sleep must give way to that.' It did; +and, to prove that she did not keep them waiting, in a few minutes she came +into the room in a loose white nightgown and shawl, her nightcap thrown +off, and her hair falling upon her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears +in her eyes, but perfectly collected and dignified." + +In those days, when news did not travel very fast, and was not always +delivered with strict accuracy, a rumour got abroad that the Queen was +walking in the Palace Garden when the messengers came to tell her she had +succeeded to the Crown. A great deal was made of the poetic simplicity of +the surroundings of the interesting central figure--the girl in her tender +bloom among the lilies and roses, which she resembled. We can remember a +brilliant novel of the time which had a famous chapter beginning with an +impassioned apostrophe to the maiden who met her high destiny "in a palace, +in a garden." Another account asserted that the Queen saw the Archbishop of +Canterbury alone in her ante-room, and that her first request was for his +prayers. + +The Marquis of Conyngham was the bearer to the Queen of a request from the +Queen-dowager that she might be permitted to remain at Windsor till after +the funeral. In reply, her Majesty wrote an affectionate letter of +condolence to her aunt, begging her to consult nothing but her own health +and convenience, and to stay at Windsor just as long as she pleased. The +writer was observed to address this as usual "To the Queen of England." A +bystander interposed, "Your Majesty, you are Queen of England." "Yes," +answered the unelated, considerate girl-Queen, "but the widowed Queen is +not to be reminded of the fact first by me." + +Their message delivered, the messengers returned to London, and the next +arrival was that of the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, who appeared at +nine o'clock, had an interview with the Queen, which lasted for half an +hour, when he also took his leave to issue summonses for a Privy Council, +to he held in the course of the next two hours at Kensington Palace, and +not at St. James's, as had been anticipated. + +The little town of Kensington must now have been up and about, for, +perhaps, never had there been such a day in its annals, as far transcending +the birthday celebration as a great reality surpasses the brightest +promise; and Kensington might hug the day with all its might, for it was to +be nearly the last of its kingly, queenly experience. The temporary Court +was to pass away presently, never to come back. No more kings and queens +were likely to be born or to die at the quiet spot, soon to become a great +noisy suburb of great London. No later Sovereign would quit the red-brick +palace of Mary and Anne, and the First George, to reign at Buckingham or +Windsor; no other Council be held in the low-browed, white-pillared room to +dispute the interests of the unique Council which was to be held there this +day. + +The first Council of any Sovereign must awaken many speculations, while the +bearing of the principal figure in the assumption of new powers and duties +is sure to be watched with critical curiosity; but in the case of Queen +Victoria the natural interest reached its utmost bounds. The public +imagination was impressed in the most lively manner by the strong contrast +between the tender youth and utter inexperience of the maiden Queen and the +weighty and serious functions she was about to assume--an anomaly best +indicated by the characteristic speech of Carlyle, that a girl at an age +when, in ordinary circumstances, she would hardly be trusted to choose a +bonnet for herself, was called upon to undertake responsibilities from +which an archangel might have shrunk. More than this, the retirement in +which the young Queen had grown up left her nature a hidden secret to those +well-trained, grey-bearded men in authority, who now came to bid her rule +over them. Thus, in addition to every other doubt to be solved, there was +the pressing question as to how a girl would behave under such a tremendous +test; for, although there had been queens-regnant, popular and unpopular +before, Mary and Elizabeth had been full-grown women, and Anne had attained +still more mature years, before the crown and sceptre were committed to the +safe keeping of each in turn. Above all, how would this royal girl, on +whose conduct so much depended, demean herself on this crucial occasion? +Surely if she were overcome by timidity and apprehension, if she were +goaded into some foolish demonstration of pride or levity, allowance must +be made, and a good deal forgiven, because of the cruel strain to which she +was subjected. + +Shortly after eleven o'clock, the royal Dukes and a great number of Privy +Councillors, amongst whom were all the Cabinet Ministers and the great +officers of State and the Household, arrived at Kensington Palace, and were +ushered into the State apartments. A later arrival consisted of the Lord +Mayor, attended by the City Marshals in full uniform, on horseback, with +crape on their left arms; the Chamberlain, Sword-bearer, Comptroller, Town +Clerk, and Deputy Town Clerk, &c., accompanied by six aldermen. These City +magnates appeared at the Palace to pay their homage to her Majesty. The +Lord Mayor attended the Council. + +We have various accounts--one from an eye-witness wont to be cool and +critical enough--of what passed. "The first thing to be done," writes +Greville, "was to teach her her lesson, which, for this purpose, Melbourne +had himself to learn. I gave him the Council papers and explained all that +was to be done, and he went and explained all this to her. He asked her if +she would enter the room accompanied by the great officers of State, but +she said she would come in alone. When the Lords were assembled, the Lord +President (Lord Lansdowne) informed them of the King's death, and +suggested, as they were so numerous, that a few of them should repair to +the presence of the Queen, and inform her of the event, and that their +lordships were assembled in consequence; and accordingly the two royal +Dukes (the Duke of Cumberland, by the death of William, King of Hanover, +and the Duke of Sussex--the Duke of Cambridge was absent in Hanover), the +two Archbishops, the Chancellor, and Melbourne went with him. The Queen +received them in the adjoining room alone." + +It was the first time she had to act for herself. Until then she had been +well supported by her mother, and by the precedence which the Duchess of +Kent took as her Majesty's guardian. But the guardianship was over and the +reign begun. There could be no more sheltering from responsibility, or +becoming deference to, and reliance on, the wisdom of another and a much +older person. In one sense the stay was of necessity removed. The Duchess +of Kent, from this day "treated her daughter with respectful observance as +well as affection." The time was past for advice, instruction, or +suggestion, unless in private, and even then it would be charily and warily +given by the sensible, modest mother of a Queen. Well for her Majesty that +there was no more than truth in what one of the historians of the reign has +said, in just and temperate language, of her character: "She was well +brought up. Both as regards her intellect and her character her training +was excellent. She was taught to be self-reliant, brave, and systematical." + +As soon as the deputation had returned, the proclamation was read; "Whereas +it has pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy our late Sovereign Lord, +King William the Fourth, of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease +the imperial Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is +solely and rightfully come to the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina +Victoria, saving the rights of any issue of his late majesty, King William +the Fourth, which may be born of his late Majesty's consort; we, therefore, +the lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being here assisted with +these of his late Majesty's Privy Council, with numbers of others, +principal gentlemen of quality, with the Lord Mayor, aldermen and citizens +of London, do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, +publish and proclaim that the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria +is now, by the death of our late Sovereign, of happy memory, become our +only lawful and rightful liege Lady, Victoria, by the grace of God Queen of +the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, +saving, as aforesaid: To whom, saving as aforesaid, we do acknowledge all +faith and constant obedience, with all hearty and humble affection, +beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to bless the royal +Princess Victoria with long and happy years to reign over us. + +"Given at the Court of Kensington this 20th day of June, 1837. (Signed by +all the Lords of the Privy Council present). God Save the Queen." + +"Then," resuming Mr. Greville's narrative, "the doors were thrown open, +and the Queen entered, accompanied by her two uncles, who advanced to meet +her. She bowed to the Lords, took her seat (an arm-chair improvised into a +throne, with a footstool), and then read her speech in a clear, distinct, +and audible voice, and without any appearance of fear or embarrassment:-- + +"'The severe and afflicting loss which the nation has sustained by the +death of his Majesty, my beloved uncle, has devolved upon me the duty of +administering the Government of this empire. This awful responsibility is +imposed upon me so suddenly, and at so early a period of my life, that I +should feel myself utterly oppressed by the burden were I not sustained by +the hope that Divine Providence, which has called me to this work, will +give me strength for the performance of it, and that I shall find in the +purity of my intentions, and in my zeal for the public welfare, that +support and those resources which usually belong to a more mature age and +to longer experience. + +"'I place my firm reliance upon the wisdom of Parliament and upon the +loyalty and affection of my people. I esteem it also a peculiar advantage +that I succeed to a Sovereign whose constant regard for the rights and +liberties of his subjects, and whose desire to promote the amelioration of +the laws and institutions of the country, have rendered his name the object +of general attachment and veneration. + +"'Educated in England, under the tender and enlightened care of a most +affectionate mother, I have learned from my infancy to respect and love +the Constitution of my native country. + +"'It will be my unceasing study to maintain the reformed religion as by law +established, securing at the same time to all the full enjoyment of +religious liberty; and I shall steadily protect the rights and promote, to +the utmost of my power, the happiness and welfare of all classes of my +subjects.'" + +Her Majesty's speech was after the model of English royal speeches; but one +can feel at this day it was spoken in all ingenuousness and sincerity, and +that the utterance--remarkable already for clearness and distinctness--for +the first time, of the set words, ending in the solemn promise to do a +Sovereign's duty, must have thrilled the hearts both of speaker and +hearers. + +A critical listener was not wanting, according to the testimony of the +witness who, on his own account, certainly did not object to chronicle +detraction of every kind. "The speech was admired, except by Brougham, who +appeared in a considerable state of excitement. He said to Peel (whom he +was standing near, and with whom he was not in the habit of communicating), +'"amelioration;" that is not English. You might perhaps say "melioration," +but "improvement" is the proper word.' + +"'Oh!' said Peel, 'I see no harm in the word; it is generally used.' + +"'You object,' said Brougham, 'to the sentiment; I object to the grammar.' + +"'No,' said Peel, 'I don't object to the sentiment.' + +"'Well, then, she pledges herself to the policy of _our_ Government,' +said Brougham. + +"She was quite plainly dressed, and in mourning. After she had read her +speech, and taken and signed the oath (administered by the Archbishop of +Canterbury) for the security of the Church of Scotland, the Privy +Councillors were sworn, the two royal Dukes first by themselves." + +The days of violence were ended, and whatever private, hopes he might once +have entertained, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, was the first to hail his +niece as the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria, to whom the +imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland had solely and rightfully +come--the first to proclaim her, with one voice and consent of tongue and +heart, on the part of himself and his peers, his only lawful and rightful +liege Lady Victoria, to whom he acknowledged all faith and rightful +obedience, with all hearty and humble affection. It may be, the fact that +he had succeeded to the throne of Hanover rendered the step less difficult. +His name was also the first in the signatures of princes, Privy +Councillors, peers, and gentlemen affixed in the next room to the +proclamation. His brother, the Duke of Sussex, followed. They were both +elderly men, with the younger older in infirmities than in years. The King +of Hanover was sixty-six, the Duke of Sussex sixty-four years of age. + +"And as these two old men, her uncles, knelt before her, swearing +allegiance and kissing her hand," Greville went on, with a sense of pathos, +curious for him, in the scene, "I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she +felt the contrast between their civil and their natural relations, and this +was the only sign of emotion which she evinced. Her manner to them was very +graceful and engaging; she kissed them both, and rose from her chair and +moved towards the Duke of Sussex, who was farthest from her, and too infirm +to reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the multitude of men who were +sworn, and who came one after another to kiss her hand, but she did not +speak to anybody, nor did she make the slightest difference in her manner, +or show any in her countenance, to any individual of any rank, station, or +party. I particularly watched her when Melbourne and the Ministers, and the +Duke of Wellington and Peel approached her. She went through the whole +ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when she had +any doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, and with perfect coolness +and self-possession, but at the same time with a graceful modesty and +propriety particularly interesting and ingratiating. When the business was +done she retired as she had entered, and I could see that nobody was in the +adjoining room." + +Mr. Greville's comment on the scene was singularly enthusiastic from such a +man. "Never was anything like the first impression she produced, or the +chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner and +behaviour, and certainly not without justice. It was something very +extraordinary, and something far beyond what was looked for." He quoted Sir +Robert Peel's and the Duke of Wellington's opinions in accordance with his +own. "He (Sir Robert) likewise said how amazed he was at the manner and +behaviour, at her apparent deep sense of her situation, her modesty, and at +the same time her firmness. She appeared, in fact, to be awed, but not +daunted; and afterwards, the Duke of Wellington told me the same thing, and +added, that if she had been his own daughter he could not have desired to +see her perform her part better." + +We can understand the fatherly reference of the Duke, and the sort of +personal pride he took in his young Queen. He had been present at her birth +in this very Palace of Kensington; he had known her at every stage of her +life hitherto. She was doing credit not only to herself and her mother, but +to every friend she had, by her perfect fulfilment of what was required of +her. Lord Campbell was equally eulogistic. "As soon as I heard that King +William had expired I hurried to Kensington, to be present at the first +Council of the new Sovereign. This, I think, was the most interesting scene +I have ever witnessed.... I am quite in raptures with the deportment of the +young Queen. Nothing could be more exquisitely proper. She looked modest, +sorrowful, dejected, diffident, but at the same time she was quite cool and +collected, and composed and firm. Her childish appearance was gone. She +was an intelligent and graceful young woman, capable of acting and thinking +for herself. Considering that she was the only female in the room, and that +she had no one about her with whom she was familiar, no human being was +ever placed in a more trying situation." + +What was most conspicuous in the Queen had been already remarked upon and +admired in the young girl at Queen Adelaide's Drawing-room. Here were the +same entire simplicity, with its innate dignity only further developed; the +power of being herself and no other, which left her thoughtful of what she +ought to do--not of how she should look and strike others--and rendered her +free to consider her neighbours; the docility to fit guidance, and yet the +ability to judge for herself; the quick sense all the time of her high +calling. + +That first Council at Kensington has become an episode in history--a very +significant one. It has been painted, engraved, written about many a time, +without losing its fascination. Sir David Wilkie made a famous picture of +it, which hangs in a corridor at Windsor In this picture the artist used +certain artistic liberties, such as representing the Queen in a white +muslin robe instead of a black gown, and the Privy Councillors in the +various costumes of their different callings--uniforms with stars and +ribands, lawyers' gowns and full-bottomed wigs, bishops' lawn, instead of +the ordinary morning dress of the gentlemen of their generation. It must +have tickled Wilkie as he worked to come to an old acquaintance of his +boyhood and youth in John, Lord Campbell, and to recognise how +bewilderingly far removed from the bleak little parish of Cults and the +quiet little town of Cupar was the coincidence which summoned him, the +distinguished painter, in the execution of a royal commission, to draw the +familiar features of his early playmate in those of the Attorney-General, +who appeared as a privileged member of the illustrious throng. + +We still turn back wistfully to that bright dawn of a beneficent reign. We +see the slight girlish figure in her simple mourning filling her place +sedately at the head of the Council table. At the foot, facing her Majesty, +sits the Duke of Sussex, almost venerable in his stiffness and lameness, +wearing the black velvet skull-cap by which he was distinguished in those +days. We look at the well-known faces, and think of the famous names among +the crowd of mature men, each of whom was hanging on the words and looks of +his mistress. There is Copley the painter's son, sagacious Lyndhurst, who +lived to be the Nestor of the bench and the peerage; there is his great +opponent, Robertson the historian's grand-nephew, Brougham, a tyrant of +freedom, an illustrious Jack-of-all-trades, the most impassioned, most +public-spirited, most egotistical of men. He was a contradiction to himself +as well as to his neighbours. His strongly-marked face, with its shaggy +brows, high cheek-bones, aggressive nose, mouth drooping at the corners, +had not lost its mobility. He was restless and fault-finding in this +presence as in any other. The Duke of Wellington's Roman nose lent +something of the eagle to his aspect. It was a more patrician attribute +than Sir Robert Peel's long upper lip, with its shy, nervous compression, +which men mistook for impassive coldness, just as the wits blundered in +calling his strong, serviceable capacity, noble uprightness, and patient +labour "sublime mediocrity." William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, was the type +of an aristocrat, with brains and heart. He was still a very handsome man +at fifty-eight, as he was also "perhaps the most graceful and agreeable +gentleman of the generation." His colleague--destined to marry Lord +Melbourne's sister, the most charming woman who ever presided in turn over +two Ministerial _salons_, Lord Palmerston, in spite of his early +achievements in waltzing at Almack's, was less personally and mentally +gifted. He had rather an indiarubber-like elasticity and jauntiness than +stateliness, or dignity, or grace. His irregular-featured face was comical, +but he bore the bell in exhaustless spirits, which won him, late in life, +the reputation of perennial juvenility, and the enviable if not altogether +respectful sobriquet of "the evergreen Palm." Lord John Russell, with his +large head and little body, of which _Punch_ made stock, with his +friendship for Moore and his literary turn, as well as his ambition to +serve his country like a true Russell, was at this date wooing and wedding +the fair young widow, Lady Ribblesdale, his devotion to whom had drawn from +the wags a profane pun. They called the gifted little lord "the widow's +mite." When the marriage ceremony was being performed between him and Lady +Ribblesdale the wedding-ring fell from the bride's finger--an evil omen +soon fulfilled for the marriage tie was speedily broken by her early death. +"Plain John Campbell" was a very different man. The son of a minister of +the Church of Scotland, in a presbytery which included among its members +the father of Sir David Wilkie, his Scotch tongue, Scotch shrewdness, +healthy appetite for work, and invulnerable satisfaction with himself and +his surroundings, caused themselves to be felt in another sphere than that +to which he was born. + +"The Cabinet Ministers tendered to the Queen the seals of their respective +offices, which her Majesty was most graciously pleased to return, and they +severally kissed hands on their reappointment." The last business done was +to arrange for the public proclamation of the Queen, and to take her +pleasure with regard to the time, which she fixed for the day following, +Wednesday, the 21st of June, at ten o'clock. When Lord Albemarle, for whom +she had sent, went to her and told her he was come to take her orders, she +said, "I have no orders to give. You must know this so much better than I +do, that I leave it all to you. I am to be at St. James's at ten to-morrow, +and must beg you to find me a conveyance proper for the occasion." We are +further informed that the Queen, in the course of the morning, received a +great many noble and distinguished personages. So finished a busy and +exciting day; the herald of many other days crowded with engagements and +excitement. + +The Palace of St. James's, where the proclamation was to take place, had +been for a long time the theatre of all the principal events in the lives +of the kings and queens of England. Even the young Queen already viewed it +in this light, for though she had been baptized at Kensington, she had been +confirmed at St. James's. She had attended her first Drawing-rooms, and +celebrated her coming-of-age ball there. St. James's is a brick building, +like Kensington Palace, but is far older, and full of more stirring and +tragic associations. It has an air of antiquity about it, if it has few +architectural claims on the world's interest; but at least one front, that +which includes the turreted gateway into St. James's Street, is not without +picturesque beauty. The situation of the palace, considering that it is in +the middle of a great city, is agreeable. It has its park, with a stretch +of pleasant water on one side, and commands the leafy avenue of the Mall +and the sweep of Constitution Hill. As a royal residence it dates as far +back as Henry VIII., whose daughter Mary ended her sad life here. Both of +the sons of James I. received it as a dwelling, and were connected with it +in troubled days. Prince Henry fell into his pining sickness and died here. +Charles, after bringing Henrietta Maria under its roof, and owning its +shelter till three of his children were born, was carried to St. James's as +a prisoner. He was taken from it in a sedan-chair to undergo his trial at +his new palace of Whitehall. He was conveyed back under sentence of death. +Here Bishop Juxon preached the last sermon to which the King listened, and +administered to him the Sacrament; and here Charles took leave of his +children--the little Duke of Gloucester and the girl-Princess Elizabeth. +From St. James's the King went to the scaffold on the bitter January +morning, followed by the snowy night in which "the white King" was borne to +his dishonoured burial. Other and less tragic scenes were enacted within +its bounds. A familiar figure in connection with Kensington +Palace--Caroline of Anspach, wife of George II.--died like herself here. +Her King had fallen into a stupor of sorrow across the bed where she lay in +her last agony, and she forbade his being disturbed. She told those who +were praying to pray aloud, that she might hear them; then raising herself +up and uttering the single German word of acquiescence, "_So_," her +brave spirit passed away. + +When the Queen arrived, accompanied by her mother and her ladies, and +attended by an escort, on the June morning of her proclamation, she was +received by the other members of the royal family, the Household, and the +Cabinet Ministers. Already every avenue to the Palace and every balcony and +window within sight were crowded to excess. In the quadrangle opposite the +window where her Majesty was to appear a mass of loyal ladies and gentlemen +was tightly wedged. The parapets above were filled with people, conspicuous +among them the big figure of Daniel O'Connell, the agitator, waving his hat +and cheering with Irish effusion. + +"At ten o'clock," says the _Annual Register_, "the guns in the park +fired a salute, and immediately afterwards the Queen made her appearance at +the window of the tapestried ante-room adjoining the ante-chamber, and was +received with deafening cheers. She stood between Lords Melbourne and +Lansdowne, in their State dresses and their ribands, who were also cheered, +as was likewise her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. At this and the two +other windows we recognised the King of Hanover, the Dukes of Sussex, +Wellington, and Argyle; Lords Hill, Combermere, Denbigh, Duncannon, +Albemarle, and Winchester; Sir E. Codrington, Sir William Houston, and a +number of other lords and gentlemen, with several ladies. + +"Her Majesty looked extremely fatigued and pale, but returned the repeated +cheers with which she was greeted with remarkable ease and dignity. She was +dressed in deep mourning, with a white tippet, white cuffs, and a border of +white lace under a small black bonnet, which was placed far back on her +head, exhibiting her light hair in front simply parted over the forehead. +Her Majesty seemed to view the proceedings with considerable interest. Her +Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent was similarly dressed to the Queen." + +"In the courtyard were Garter-King-at-Arms with heralds and pursuivants in +their robes of office, and eight officers of arms on horseback bearing +massive silver maces; sergeants-at-arms with their maces and collars; the +sergeant-trumpeter with his mace and collar; the trumpets, drum-major and +drums, and knights'-marshal and men." + +"On Her Majesty showing herself at the Presence Chamber window, +Garter-Principal-King-at-Arms having taken his station in the courtyard +under the window, accompanied by the Duke of Norfolk as Earl-Marshal of +England, read the proclamation containing the formal and official +announcement of the demise of King William IV., and of the consequent +accession of Queen Alexandrina Victoria to the throne of these realms ... +'to whom we acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all humble +and hearty affection, beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to +bless the Royal Princess Alexandrina Victoria with long and happy years to +reign. God save the Queen.' At the termination of this proclamation the +band struck up the National Anthem, and a signal was given for the Park and +Tower guns to fire in order to announce the fact of the proclamation being +made. During the reading of the proclamation her Majesty stood at the +Presence Chamber window, and immediately upon its conclusion the air was +rent with the loudest acclamations by those within the area, which were +responded to by the thousands without." + +The scene drew from Elizabeth Barrett Browning the following popular +verses:-- + + O, maiden, heir of kings, + A king has left his place; + The majesty of death has swept + All other from his face; + And thou upon thy mother's breast + No longer lean adown, + But take the glory for the rest, + And rule the land that loves thee best. + The maiden wept, + She wept to wear a crown. + + * * * * * + + God bless thee, weeping Queen, + With blessings more divine, + And fill with better love than earth + That tender heart of thine; + That when the thrones of earth shall be + As low as graves brought down, + A pierced hand may give to thee + The crown which angels shout to see. + Thou wilt not weep + To wear that heavenly crown. + +A maiden Queen in her first youth, wearing the crown and wielding the +sceptre, had become _un fait accompli_ and the news spread over the +length and breadth of the land. We have seen how it touched the oldest +statesmen, to whom State ceremonials had become hackneyed--who were perhaps +a little sceptical of virtue in high places. It may be imagined, then, how +the knowledge, with each striking and picturesque detail, thrilled and +engrossed all the sensitive, romantic young hearts in the Queen's +dominions. It seemed as if womanhood and girlhood were exalted in one woman +and girl's person--as if a new era must be inaugurated with such a reign, +and every man worthy of the name would rally round this Una on the throne. + +The prosaic side of the question was that the country was torn by the +factions of Whig and Tory, which were then in the full bloom of party +spirit and narrow rancorous animosity. The close of the life of William +IV. had presented the singular and disastrous contradiction of a King in +something like open opposition to his Ministers. William had begun by being +a liberal in politics, but alarmed by the progress of reform, he had hung +back resisted, and ended by being dragged along an unwilling tolerator of a +Whig _regime_. The Duke of Kent had been liberal in his opinions when +liberality was not the fashion. The Duchess was understood to be on the +same side; her brother and counsellor, the King of the Belgians, was +decidedly so. Accordingly, the Whigs hailed the accession of Queen Victoria +as their triumph, likely to secure and prolong their tenure of office. They +claimed her as their Queen, with a boasting exultation calculated to wound +and exasperate every Tory in the kingdom. Lord Campbell, who, though a +zealous Whig, was comparatively cool and cautious, wrote in his journal, +after the Queen's first Council, "We basked in the full glare of royal +sunshine;" and this tone was generally adopted by his party. They met with +some amount of success in their loud assertion, and the consequence was a +strain of indignant bitterness in the Tory rejoinder. A clever partisan +inscribed on the window-pane of an inn at Huddersfield: + + "The Queen is with us," Whigs insulting say, + "For when she found us in, she let us stay." + It may be so; but give me leave to doubt + How long she'll keep you _when she finds you out._ + +There was even some cooling of Tory loyalty to the new Queen. Chroniclers +tell us of the ostentatious difference in enthusiasm with which, at Tory +dinners, the toasts of the Queen, and the Queen-dowager were received. + +As a matter of course, Lord Melbourne became the Queen's instructor in the +duties of her position, and as she had no private secretary, he had to be +in constant attendance upon her--to see her, not only daily, but sometimes +three or four times a day. The Queen has given her testimony to the +unwearied kindness and pleasantness, the disinterested regard for her +welfare, even the generous fairness to political opponents, with which her +Prime Minister discharged his task. It seems as if the great trust imposed +on him drew out all that was most manly and chivalrous in a character +which, along with much that was fine and attractive, that won to him all +who came in close contact with him, was not without the faults of the +typical aristocrat, correctly or incorrectly defined by the popular +imagination. Lord Melbourne, with his sense and spirit, honesty and +good-nature, could be haughtily, indifferent, lazily self-indulgent, +scornfully careless even to affectation, of the opinions of his social +inferiors, as when he appeared to amuse himself with "idly blowing a +feather or nursing a sofa-cushion while receiving an important and perhaps +highly sensitive deputation from this or that commercial interest." The +time has come when it is fully recognised that whatever might have been +Lord Melbourne's defects, he never brought them into his relations with the +Queen. To her he was the frank, sincere, devoted adviser of all that it was +wisest and best for her to do. "He does not appear to have been greedy of +power, or to have used any unfair means of getting or keeping it. The +character of the young Sovereign seems to have impressed him deeply. His +real or affected levity gave way to a genuine and lasting desire to make +her life as happy and her reign as successful as he could. The Queen always +felt the warmest affection and gratitude for him, and showed it long after +the public had given up the suspicion that she could be a puppet in the +hands of a Minister. "But men--especially Lord Melbourne's political +adversaries--were not sufficiently large-minded and large-hearted to put +this confidence in him beforehand. They remembered with wrath and disgust +that, even in the language of men of the world, "his morals were not +supposed to be very strict." He had been unhappy in his family life. The +eccentricities and follies of Lady Caroline Lamb had formed the gossip of +several London seasons long years before. Other scandals had gathered round +his name, and though they had been to some extent disproven, it was +indignantly asked, could there be a more unsuitable and undesirable guide +for an innocent royal girl of eighteen than this accomplished, bland +_roue_ of threescore? Should he be permitted to soil--were it but in +thought--the lily of whose stainlessness the nation was so proud? The +result proved that Lord Melbourne could be a blameless, worthy servant to +his Sovereign. + +In the meantime the great news of Queen Victoria's accession had travelled +to the princely student at Bonn, who responded to it in a manly, modest +letter, in which he made no claim to share the greatness, while he referred +to its noble, solemn side. Prince Albert wrote on the 26th of June: "Now +you are Queen of the mightiest land of Europe; in your hand lies the +happiness of millions. May Heaven assist you and strengthen you with its +strength in that high but difficult task. I hope that your reign may be +long, happy, and glorious, and that your efforts may be rewarded by the +thankfulness and love of your subjects." To others he expressed his +satisfaction at what he heard of his cousin's astonishing self-possession, +and of the high praise bestowed on her by all parties, "which seemed to +promise so auspiciously for her reign." But so far from putting himself +forward or being thrust forward by their common friends as an aspirant for +her hand, while she was yet only on the edge of that strong tide and giddy +whirl of imposing power and dazzling adulation which was too likely to +sweep her beyond his grasp, it was resolved by King Leopold and the kindred +who were most concerned in the relations of the couple, that, to give time +for matters to settle down, for the young Queen to know her own mind--above +all, to dissipate the premature rumour of a formal engagement between the +cousins which had taken persistent hold of the public mind ever since the +visit of the Saxe-Coburg princes to Kensington Palace in the previous year, +Prince Albert should travel for several months. Accordingly, he set out, in +company with his brother, to make an enjoyable tour, on foot, through +Switzerland and the north of Italy. To a nature like his, such an +experience was full of keen delight; but in the midst of his intoxication +he never forgot his cousin. The correspondence between them had been +suffered to drop, but that she continued present to his thoughts was +sufficiently indicated by the souvenirs he collected specially for her: the +views of the scenes he visited, the _Alpenrosen_ he gathered for her +in its native home, Voltaire's autograph. + +The Queen left Kensington, within a month of her uncle's death, we do not +need to be told "greatly to the regret of the inhabitants." She went on the +13th of July to take up her residence at Buckingham Palace. "Shortly after +one o'clock an escort of Lancers took up a position on the Palace Green, +long previous to which an immense concourse of respectable persons had +thronged the avenue and every open space near the Palace." About half-past +one an open carriage drawn by four greys, preceded by two outriders, and +followed by an open barouche, drawn by four bays, drove up from her +Majesty's mews, Pimlico, and stopped before the grand entrance to the +Duchess of Kent's apartments. The Queen, accompanied by the Duchess of +Kent and Baroness Lehzen, almost immediately got into the first carriage. +There was a tumult of cheering, frankly acknowledged. It is said the young +Queen looked "pale and a little sad" at the parting moment. Then with a +dash the carriages vanished in a cloud of July dust, and the familiar +Palace Green, with its spreading trees and the red chimneys beyond--the +High Street--Kensington Gore, were left behind. Kensington's last brief +dream of a Court was brought to an abrupt conclusion. What was worse, +Kensington's Princess was gone, never to return to the changed scene save +for the most fleeting of visits. + +We should like to give here one more story of her Majesty's stay at +Kensington--a story that refers to these last days. We have already spoken +of an old soldier-servant of the Duke of Kent's, said to have been named +Stillman, who was quartered with his family--two of them sickly--in a +Kensington cottage of the period, visited by the Duchess of Kent and the +Princess Victoria. The little boy had died; the ailing girl still lived. +The girl's clergyman, a gentleman named Vaughan, went to see her some days +after the Queen had quitted the Palace, and found the invalid looking +unusually bright. He inquired the reason. "Look there!". said the girl, +and drew a book of Psalms from under her pillow, "look what the new Queen +has sent me to-day by one of her ladies, with the message that, though now, +as Queen of England, she had to leave Kensington, she did not forget me." +The lady who had brought the book had said the lines and figures in the +margin were the dates of the days on which the Queen herself had been +accustomed to read the Psalms, and that the marker, with the little peacock +on it, was worked by the Princess's own hand. The sick girl cried, and +asked if this act was not beautiful? + + + +CHAPTER V. +THE PROROGUING OF PARLIAMENT, THE VISIT TO GUILDHALL, AND THE CORONATION. + + +Buckingham Palace had been a seat of the Duke of Buckingham's, which was +bought by George II., and in the next reign was settled on Queen Charlotte +instead of Somerset House, and called the "Queen's House." It was rebuilt +by George IV. but not occupied by him, and had been rarely used by King +William. Besides its gardens, which are of some extent, it shares with St. +James's, which it is near, the advantage of St. James's Park, one of the +most agreeable in London, and full of historic memories. Though it, too, +was modernised by George IV., its features have still much interest. It +was by its canal, which has been twisted into the Serpentine, that the +Merry Monarch strolled alone, lazily playing with his dogs, feeding his +ducks, and by his easy confidence flattering and touching his good citizens +of London. On the same water his gay courtiers practised their foreign +accomplishment of skating, which they had brought back with them from the +Low Countries. In the Mall both Charles and his brother, the Duke of York, +joined in the Court game of Palle Malle, when a ball was struck with a +mallet through an iron ring down a walk strewn with powdered cockle-shells. +At a later period the Mall was the most fashionable promenade in London. +While dinners were still early on Sunday afternoons, the fashionable world +walked for an hour or two after dinner in the Mall. An eyewitness declared +that he had seen "in one moving mass, extending the whole length of the +Mall, five thousand of the most lovely women in this country of female +beauty, all splendidly attired, and accompanied by as many well-dressed +men." For, as Mr. Hare, in his "Walks in London," points out, the +frequenters of the Mall were very different in one respect from the company +in the Row: "The ladies were in full dress and gentlemen carried their hats +under their arms." + +One relic of the past survives intact in the park--that is, the cow-stalls, +which formerly helped to constitute "Milk Fair." Mr. Hare tells us "the +vendors are proud of the number of generations through which the stalls +have been held in their families." + +From Buckingham Palace the Queen went in State on the 17th of July to close +Parliament. The carriage, with the eight cream-coloured horses, was used. +As far as we can judge, this was the first appearance in her Majesty's +reign of "the creams," so dear to the London populace. The carriage was +preceded by the Marshalmen, a party of the Yeomen of the Guard in State +costumes, and runners. The fourth carriage, drawn by six black horses, +contained the Marchioness of Lansdowne, the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke +of Argyle, Lord Steward and Gold Stick in Waiting. The Queen was +accompanied by the Earl of Albemarle, Master of the Horse, and the Countess +of Mulgrave, the Lady-in-Waiting. The procession, escorted by a squadron of +the Horse Guards, moved into Whitehall, and was cheered in Parliament +Street by deafening shouts from a mass of spectators lining the streets and +covering the house-tops. On arriving opposite the entrance of the House of +Lords her Majesty was received by a battalion of the Grenadier Guards, +whose splendid band, when she alighted, played the National Anthem. + +Thus heralded, the young Queen entered the old Houses of Parliament, seated +herself on the throne of her ancestors, and accorded her maiden reception +to her loyal Lords and faithful Commons. This was the first occasion in a +great assembly that people remarked the natural gift which has proved a +valuable possession to her Majesty, and has never failed to awaken the +admiration of the hearers. We allude to the peculiar silvery clearness, as +well as sweetness, of a voice which can be heard in its most delicate +modulations through the whole House. In reply to the Speaker of the House +of Commons' assurance of the Commons' cordial participation in that strong +and universal feeling of dutiful and affectionate attachment which +prevailed among the free and loyal people of which they were the +representatives, the Queen read her speech in an unfaltering voice, +thanking the Parliament for its condolence upon the death of his late +Majesty, and for its expressions of attachment and affection to herself, +announcing her determination to preserve all the rights, spiritual and +civil, of her subjects, touching on the usual topics in a royal speech in +its relation to home and foreign affairs, and making the solemn assertion: +"I ascend the throne with a deep sense of the responsibility which is +imposed upon me, but I am supported by the consciousness of my own right +intentions and by my dependence on the protection of Almighty God." Fanny +Kemble was present at this memorable scene, and has given her impression of +it. Her testimony, as a public speaker, is valuable. "The Queen was not +handsome, but very pretty, and the singularity of her great position lent a +sentimental and poetical charm to her youthful face and figure. The serene, +serious sweetness of her candid brow and clear soft eyes gave dignity to +the girlish countenance, while the want of height only added to the effect +of extreme youth of the round but slender person, and gracefully moulded +hands and arms. The Queen's voice was exquisite, nor have I ever heard any +spoken words more musical in their gentle distinctness than "My Lords and +Gentlemen," which broke the breathless silence of the illustrious assembly +whose gaze was riveted on that fair flower of royalty. The enunciation was +as perfect as the intonation was melodious, and I think it is impossible to +hear a more excellent utterance than that of the Queen's English by the +English Queen." + +The accession of Queen Victoria almost coincided with a new era in English +history, art and letters, new relations in politics at home and abroad, new +social movements undreamt of when she was born. In spite of the strong +party spirit, the country was at peace within and without. France, the +foreign neighbour of most importance to England, was also at peace under a +so-called "citizen-king." The "Tractarian" movement at Oxford was startling +the world with a proposed return to the practices of the primitive Church, +while it laid the foundation of the High Church and Ritualistic parties in +the modern Church of England. The names of Newman and Pusey especially were +in many mouths, spoken in various terms of reprobation and alarm, or +approval and exultation. Next to Tractarianism, Chartism--the people's +demand for a charter which should meet their wants--was a rising force, +though it had not reached its full development. Arnold was doing his noble +work, accomplishing a moral revolution in the public schools of England. +Milman and Grote had arisen as historians. Faraday was one of the chief +lights of science. Sir John Herschel occupied his father's post among the +stars. Beautiful modest Mary Somerville showed what a woman might do with +the Differential Calculus; Brewster had taken the place of Sir Humphry +Davy. Murchison was anticipating Robert Dick and Hugh Miller in geology. +Alfred Tennyson had already published two volumes of poems; Browning had +given to the world his "Paracelsus," and this very year (1837) his +_Strafford_ had been performed at Covent Garden, while it was still on +the cards that his calling might be that of a great dramatist. Dickens, the +Scott of the English lower-middle classes, was bringing out his "Pickwick +Papers." Disraeli had got into the House of Commons at last, and his +"Vivian Grey" was fully ten years old. So was Bulwer's "Pelbam"--the author +of which also aided in forming the literary element of the House of Commons +in the Queen's first Parliament. Mrs. Gore, Mrs. Trollope, Miss Mitford, +Mrs. S. C. Hail, and Harriet Martinean represented under very different +aspects the feminine side of fiction. Macready remained the stage king, but +he shared his royalty with the younger Kean. A younger Kemble had also +played Juliet well, but the stage queen was Helen Faucit. In painting, +Turner was working in his last style; Stanfield's sea-pieces were famous. +Mulready and Leslie were in the front as _genre_ painters. Maclise was +making his reputation; Etty had struggled into renown, while poor Haydon +was sinking into despair. Landseer was already the great animal painter. +Sir C. Eastlake had court commissions. Wilkie, too, still had royal +commissions, but his best work was done, and he was soon to set out on his +last travels in a vain search after health and strength. + +Withal the world was a light-hearted world enough--not so hurried as it is +to-day, though railways were well established, and the electric telegraph +had been hit upon in this same 1837. Young blood continued hot, and play +was apt to be riotous. Witness the fantastic frolics of the Marquis of +Waterford--public property in those years. He had inherited the +eccentricities of the whole Delaval race, and not content with tickling his +peers in England, carried his whims and pranks into Scotland and Ireland +and across the Channel. Various versions of his grotesque feats circulated +and scintillated through all classes, provoking laughter, and tempting to +clumsy imitation, till the gentleman may be said to have had a species of +world-wide reputation in a madly merry way. + +The Queen held a review at Windsor on the 28th of September, 1837. She had +dwelt at Windsor before as a cherished guest; but what must it not have +been to her to enter these gates as the Queen? The rough hunting-seat of +William Rufus had long been the proudest and fairest palace in England. St +George's Tower and battlements are the most royal in these realms. St. +George's Hall and St. George's Chapel are the best examples of ancient and +modern chivalry. The stately terrace commanding the red turrets of Eton and +the silvery reaches of the Thames, where George III. and Queen Charlotte, +with their large family and household, were wont to promenade on Sunday +afternoons for the benefit of their Majesties' loyal subjects, where the +blind old King used to totter along supported by two of his faithful +Princesses; the green alleys and glades of the ancient forest, with the +great boles of the venerable oaks--Queen Elizabeth's among them; Virginia +Water sparkling in the sunshine or glimmering in the moonlight, all make up +such a kingly residence, as in many respects cannot be surpassed. What must +it not have been to enter the little Court town, another Versailles or +Fontainebleau, as its liege Lady, to be hailed and welcomed by the goodly +throng of Eton lads--those gay and gallant attendants on royal Windsor +pageants--to pass through these halls as their mistress, and fairly +recognise that all the noble surroundings were hers, with all England, all +Britain and many a great dependency and colony on which the sun never +sets--hers to rule over, hers to bless if she would? + +At the review, in compliment to her soldiers whom she saw marshalled in +their disciplined masses, and saluting her as the Captain of their +Captains--even of Wellington himself--the Queen wore a half-military +dress--a tight jacket with deep lappels, the blue riband of the Garter +across one shoulder, and its jewelled star upon her breast, a stocklike +black neckerchief in stiff folds holding up the round throat, and on the +head--hiding nearly all the fair hair--a round, high, flatcap with a broad +black "snout"; beneath it the soft, open, girlish face, with its +single-hearted dignity. + +In this month of September the Queen heard that her sister-queen and girl +friend, Donna Maria da Gloria, had received consolation for the troubles of +her kingdom in becoming the youthful mother of a son and heir, Prince +Ferdinand of Portugal. + +By November the Court was back at Buckingham Palace, and on the 9th the +Queen paid her first visit to the City of London, which received her with +magnificent hospitality. + +Long before the hour appointed for her Majesty's departure for Guildhall, +all the approaches to the palace and the park itself presented dense crowds +of holiday folks. At two o'clock the first carriage of the procession +emerged from the triumphal arch, and in due time came the royal State +carriage, in which sat the Queen, attended by the Mistress of the Robes and +the Master of the Horse. Her Majesty's full-dress was a "splendid pink +satin shot with silver." She wore a queenly diamond tiara, and, as we are +told, looked remarkably well. Her approach was the signal for enthusiastic +cheering, which increased as she advanced, while the bells of the city +churches rang out merry peals. The fronts of the houses were decorated with +bright-coloured cloth, green boughs, and such flowers as November had +spared. Devices in coloured lamps waited for the evening illumination to +bring them out in perfection. Venetian masts had not been hoisted then in +England, but "rows of national flags and heraldic banners were stretched +across the Strand at several points, and busts and portraits of her Majesty +were placed in conspicuous positions." The only person in the Queen's train +who excited much interest was the Duke of Wellington, and he heard himself +loudly cheered. The mob was rapidly condoning what they had considered his +errors as a statesman, and restoring him to his old eminence, in their +estimation, as the hero of the long wars, the conqueror of Bonaparte. +Applause or reprobation the veteran met with almost equal coolness. When he +had been besieged by raging, threatening crowds, calling upon him to do +justice to Queen Caroline, as he rode to Westminster during the wild days +of her trial, he had answered "Yes, yes," without a muscle of his face +moving, and pushed on straight to his destination. For many a year he was +to receive every contrite huzza, as he had received every fierce hiss, with +no more than the twinkling of an eyelid or the raising of two fingers. + +The gathering at Temple Bar--real, grim old Temple Bar, which had borne +traitors' heads in former days--was so great that a detachment of Life +Guards, as well as a strong body of police, had work to do in clearing a +way for the carriages. The aldermen had to be accommodated with a room in +Child's old banking-house, founded by the typical industrious apprentice +who married his master's daughter. It sported the quaint old sign of the +"Marigold," and was supposed to hold sheaves of papers containing noble, +nay, royal secrets, as well as bushels of family jewels, in its strong +boxes. It had even a family romance of its own, for did not the great Child +of his day pursue his heiress in her flight to Gretna with the heir of the +Villiers, who, leaning, pistol in hand, from his postchaise in front, sent +a bullet into the near horse of the chaise behind, and escaped with his +prize? + +Undisturbed by these exciting stories, the aldermen waited in the dim +interior--charged with other than money-lending mysteries, till the worthy +gentlemen were joined by the Lord Mayor and sheriffs, when they proceeded +to mount their chargers in Temple Yard--perhaps the most disturbing +proceeding of any, with the riders' minds a little soothed by the +circumstance that the horses had been brought from the Artillery barracks +at Woolwich, and each was led by the soldier to which it belonged, in the +capacity of groom. + +"A few minutes before three the approach of the Queen was announced. The +Lord Mayor dismounted, and, taking the City sword in his hand, stood on the +south side of Temple Bar. As soon as the Queen's carriage arrived within +the gateway it stopped, and then, unfortunately, it began to rain." The +Queen's weather, which has become proverbial, of which we are given to +boast, did not attend her on this occasion. Perhaps it would have been too +much to expect of the clouds when the date was the 9th of November. +Regardless of the weather, "the Lord Mayor delivered the keys of the City +to the Queen, which her Majesty restored in the most gracious manner." At +this time the multitude above, around, and below, from windows, +scaffolding, roofs, and parapets, cheered long and loud. The Lord Mayor +remounted, and, holding the City sword aloft, took his place immediately +before the royal carriage, after which the aldermen, members of the Common +Council, and civic authorities formed in procession. + +Rather a curious ceremony was celebrated in front of St. Paul's. Booths and +hustings had been erected in the enclosure for the accommodation of members +of the different City companies and the boys of Christ's Hospital. "The +royal carriage having stopped in the middle of the road, opposite the +cathedral gate, a platform was wheeled out, on which were Mr. Frederick +Gifford Nash, senior scholar of Christ's Hospital, and the head master and +treasurer. The scholar, in conformity with an old usage, delivered an +address of congratulation to her Majesty, concluding with an earnest prayer +for her welfare. 'God Save the Queen' was then sung by the scholars and a +great part of the multitude." + +But already the dreariness and discomfort of a dark and wet November +afternoon had been too much even for the staunchest loyalty, and had +dispersed the feebler spirits among the onlookers. The Lord Mayor assisted +her Majesty to alight at the door of the Guildhall, where the Lady Mayoress +was waiting to be presented by her husband. We have a full description of +the Council-room and retiring-room, with their draperies of crimson and +gold, including the toilet-table, covered with white satin, and embroidered +with the initials V. R., a crown and wreath in gold, at which the maiden +Queen was understood to receive the last touches to her toilet, while she +was attended by such distinguished matrons as the Duchess of Kent, the +Duchess of Gloucester, and the Duchess of Cambridge. In the drawing-room +the address of the City of London was read by the Recorder, and replied to +by the Queen. At twenty minutes past five dinner was announced, and the +Queen, preceded by the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress, and conducted by +the Lord Chamberlain, in "respectful silence," descended into the hall +where the banquet was prepared. The great old hall, with its "glorious +timber roof," could hardly have known itself. Gog and Magog--compared by +Nathaniel Hawthorne to "playthings for the children of giants"--must have +looked down with goggle eyes at the transformation. These were different +days from the time when Anne Ascue, of Kelsey, was tried there for heresy, +and the brave, keen-witted lady told her judges, when examined on the +doctrine of transubstantiation, she had heard that God made man, but that +man made God she had never heard; or when gallant Surrey encountered his +enemies; or melodious Waller was called to account. It was on the raised +platform at the east end of the hall that the Common Council had expended +its strength of ornament and lavished its wealth. Here London outdid +itself. The throne was placed there. "It was surmounted by an entablature, +with the letters V. R. supporting the royal crown and cushion. In the front +was an external valance of crimson velvet, richly laced and trimmed with +tassels. The back-fluting was composed of white satin, relieved with the +royal arms in gold. The curtains were of crimson velvet, trimmed with lace +and lined with crimson silk. The canopy was composed of crimson velvet, +with radiated centre of white satin enamelled with gold, forming a gold ray +from which the centre of velvet diverged; a valance of crimson velvet, +laced with gold, depended from the canopy, which was intersected with +cornucopia, introducing the rose, thistle, and shamrock, in white velvet. +Beneath this splendid canopy was placed the State-chair, which was richly +carved and gilt, and ornamented with the royal arms and crown, including +the rose, thistle, and shamrock, in crimson velvet. Its proportions were +tastefully and judiciously diminished to a size that should in some sort +correspond with the slight and elegant figure of the young Sovereign for +whom it was provided. The platform on which the throne stood was covered +with ermine and gold carpeting of the richest description." ... In front +of the throne was placed the royal table, extending the whole width of the +platform. It was thirty-four feet long and eight wide, and was covered with +a cloth of the most exquisite damask, trimmed with gold lace and fringe. +The sides and front of the platform were decked with a profusion of the +rarest plants and shrubs. The royal table was on a dais above the level of +the hall. A large mirror at each side of the throne reflected the gorgeous +scene. From the impromptu dais four long tables extended nearly half-way +down the hall, where the Lord and Lady Mayoress presided over the company +of foreign ambassadors, Cabinet Ministers, nobility, aldermen, and members +of the Common Council. The "royal avenue" led up the middle of the hall to +the throne, with the tables on each side. The Queen took her seat on the +throne; the Lord and Lady Mayoress stood on either side of her Majesty, but +were almost immediately bidden be seated at their table. + +The company had now time to study the central figure, the cause and +culmination of the assembly. Over her pink and silver she wore the riband +and order of the Garter, with the George appended. Besides her diamond +tiara she had a stomacher of brilliants, and diamond ear-rings. She sat in +the middle of a regal company, only two of the others young like herself. +To the rest she must have been the child of yesterday; while to each and +all she preserved in full the natural relations, and was as much the +daughter, niece, and cousin as of old; yet, at the same time, she was every +inch the Queen. What a marvel it must have seemed--still more to those who +sat near than to those who stood afar. The Queen was supported by the Dukes +of Sussex and Cambridge, the Duchesses of Kent, Gloucester, Cambridge, and +Sutherland; and there were present her two cousins, Prince George and +Princess Augusta Of Cambridge. + +After dinner, _Non Nobus Domine_ was sung; and then, preceded by a +flourish of trumpets, the common crier advanced to the middle of the hall +and said, "The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor gives the health of our most +gracious Sovereign, Queen Victoria." + +The company simultaneously rose and drank the toast with enthusiasm. "God +Save the Queen" was sung, after which her Majesty rose and bowed repeatedly +with marked goodwill.... The common crier then shouted, "Her Majesty gives +the Lord Mayor and Prosperity to the City of London." Bishop's "When the +Wind Blows" was sung. The only other toast was, "The Royal Family," given +by the Lord Mayor. + +At half-past eight her Majesty's carriage was announced. The weather was +unpleasant, the streets were unusually dirty, but a vast crowd once more +greeted her. On arriving at the end of Cheapside, she was hailed out of the +glimmering illumination and foggy lamplight by "God Save the Queen," again +sung by many hundred voices, accompanied by a band of wind instruments, the +performance of the Harmonic Society, and the music was followed all the way +by enthusiastic cheering. The Baroness Bunsen remarked of such a scene long +afterwards, "I was at a loss to conceive how any woman's sides can 'bear +the beating of so strong a throb' as must attend the consciousness of being +the object of all that excitement, and the centre of attraction for all +those eyes. But the Queen has royal strength of nerve." Not so much +strength of nerve, we should say, as strength of single-heartedness and +simple sense of duty which are their own reward, together with the +comparative immunity produced by long habit. + +Still it is a little relief to turn from so much State and strain to a +brief glimpse of the girl-Queen in something like the privacy of domestic +life. In the month of November, 1837, the Attorney-General, Lord Campbell, +with his wife, Lady Stratheden, received an invitation to Buckingham +Palace, to dine with her Majesty at seven, and one of the guests wrote thus +of the entertainment: "I went, and found it exceedingly agreeable, although +by no means so grand as dining at Tarvit with Mrs. Rigg. The little Queen +was exceedingly kind to me, and said she had heard from the Duchess of +Gloucester that I had the most beautiful children in the world. She asked +me how many we had, and when she heard _seven_, seemed rather +appalled, considering this a number which she would never be able to reach. +She seems in perfect health, and is as merry and playful as a kitten." + +Amongst the other innumerable engagements which engrossed every moment of +the Queen from the time of her accession, she had been called on to sit for +her portrait to many eager artists--among them Hayter and Sir David Wilkie. +The last has recorded his impression of her in his manly, unaffected, +half-homely words. "Having been accustomed to see the Queen from a child, +my reception had a little the air of that of an early acquaintance. She is +eminently beautiful, her features nicely formed, her skin smooth, her hair +worn close to her face in a most simple way, glossy and clean-looking. Her +manner, though trained to act the Sovereign, is yet simple and natural. She +has all the decision, thought, and self-possession of a queen of older +years, has all the buoyancy of youth, and from the smile to the +unrestrained laugh, is a perfect child. While I was there she was sitting +to Pistrucci for her coin, and to Hayter for a picture for King Leopold." + +The mention of the coin recalls the "image and superscription" on the gold, +silver, and copper that passes through our hands daily, which we almost +forget to identify with the likeness of the young Queen. About this time +also commenced the royal patronage of Landseer, which resulted later in +many a family group, in which numerous four-footed favourites had their +place. At the exhibition of Landseer's works after his death, the sight of +these groups recalled to elderly men and women who had been his early +neighbours, the days when a goodly cavalcade of ladies and gentlemen, with +their grooms, on horseback, used to sweep past the windows, and the word +went that the young Queen was honouring the painter by a visit to his +studio. + +On the 20th of November the Queen went in State to the House of Lords to +open Parliament for the first time, with as great a crowd of members and +strangers present as had flocked to witness the prorogation in July. In the +course of the month of December the bills were passed which fixed the +Queen's income at three hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds a year, and +further raised the Duchess of Kent's annuity from twenty-two thousand, +which it had been latterly, to thirty thousand a year. On the 23rd of +December the Queen went to give her assent to the bills, and thank her +Parliament personally, according to old custom on such an occasion. On +presenting the bill the Speaker observed that it had been framed in "a +liberal and confiding spirit." The Queen simply bowed her acknowledgement. + +Lord Melbourne, "with the tears in his eyes," told Lord Campbell that in +one of his first interviews with the Queen she had said to him, "My +father's debts must be paid." Accordingly the late Duke of Kent's debts +were paid by his daughter, in the name of herself and her mother, in the +first year of Queen Victoria's reign. In the second year she discharged the +debts which the Duchess of Kent had incurred in meeting the innumerable +heavy calls made upon her, not only as the widow of one of the Royal Dukes, +but as the mother of the future Sovereign. + +The summer of 1838 was gay with the preparations for the Queen's +coronation. All classes took the greatest interest in it, so that splenetic +people pronounced the nation "coronation mad." Long before the event +coronation medals were being struck, coronation songs and hymns written, +coronation ribands woven. Every ingenious method by which the world could +commemorate the joyful season was put in practice. The sentiment was not +confined to the inhabitants of the United Kingdom. "Foreigners of various +conditions, and from all quarters of Europe, flocked in to behold the +inauguration of the maiden monarch of the British Empire. In the Metropolis +for some weeks anterior to the event the excitement was extreme. The +thousand equipages which thronged the streets, the plumed retainers of the +ambassadors, the streams of swarthy strangers, and the incessant din of +preparation, which resounded by night as well as by day, along the intended +line of the procession, constituted by themselves a scene of no ordinary +animation and interest, and sustained the public mind in an unceasing +stretch of expectation." + +Some disappointment was experienced on the knowledge that the ancient +custom of a royal banquet in Westminster Hall on the coronation day was to +be dispensed with. But the loss was compensated by a procession--a +modification of the old street pageant--on the occasion. + +On the morning of the 28th of June the weather was not promising. It was +cold for the season, and some rain fell; but the shower ceased, and the day +proved fresh and bright, with sunshine gilding the darkest cloud. The Tower +artillery awoke the heaviest City sleepers. It is needless to say a great +concourse, in every variety of vehicle and on foot, streamed from east to +west through the "gravelled" streets, lined with soldiers and policemen, +before the barriers were put up. "The earth was alive with men," wrote an +enthusiastic spectator; "the habitations in the line of march cast forth +their occupants to the balconies or the house-tops; the windows were lifted +out of their frames, and the asylum of private life, that sanctuary which +our countrymen guard with such traditional jealousy, was on this occasion +made accessible to the gaze of the entire world." + +At ten o'clock the Queen left Buckingham Palace in the State coach, to the +music of the National Anthem and a salute of guns, and passed beneath the +Royal Standard hoisted on the marble arch. A marked feature of the +procession was the magnificent carriages and escorts of the foreign +ambassadors: the splendid uniform of the German Jagers delighted the +populace. A deeper and subtler feeling was produced by the sight of one of +Napoleon's marshals, Soult, Wellington's great adversary, rearing his white +head in a coach the framework of which had belonged to the State carriage +of the Prince de Conde, and figured in the _beaux jours_ of Louis XVI. +The consciousness that this worthy foe had come to do honour to the young +Queen awoke a generous response from the crowd. Soult was cheered lustily +along the whole route, and in the Abbey itself, so that he returned to +France not only full of personal gratification at the welcome he had +received, but strongly convinced of the goodwill of John Bull to Frenchmen +in general. How the balls of destiny roll! Soult feted in London, Ney dead +by a traitor's death, filling his nameless grave in Pere la Chaise. The +procession, beginning with trumpeters and Life Guards, wound its way in +relays of foreign ambassadors, members of the royal family and their +suites--the Duchess of Kent first--the band of the Household Brigade, the +Queen's bargemaster and her forty-eight watermen--honorary servants for +many a day--twelve carriages with her Majesty's suite, a squadron of Life +Guards, equerries, gentlemen riders and military officials, the royal +huntsmen, yeomen-prickers, and foresters, six of her Majesty's horses, with +rich trappings, each horse led by two grooms; the Knight-Marshal, +marshalmen, Yeomen of the Guard, the State coach--drawn by eight +cream-coloured horses, attended by a Yeoman of the Guard at each wheel, and +two footmen at each door--the Gold Stick, Viscount Combermere, and the +Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, the Earl of Ilchester, riding on either +side. In the coach sat the Queen, the Mistress of the Robes (the Duchess of +Sutherland), the Master of the Horse (the Earl of Albemarle), and the +Captain-General of the Royal Archers (the Duke of Buccleugh). The whole was +wound up by a squadron of Life Guards. In this order of stately march, +under the June sky, emerging from the green avenues of the park, the +procession turned up Constitution Hill, traversed Piccadilly, St. James's +Street, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street, and by Charing Cross, Whitehall, and +Parliament Street, reached the west door of Westminster Abbey-- + + Where royal heads receive the sacred gold. + +At the Abbey door, at half-past eleven, the Queen was received by the great +officers of State, the noblemen bearing the regalia, the bishops carrying +the patina, the chalice, and the Bible. Her Majesty proceeded to the +robing-room, and there was a hush of expectation in the thronged interior, +where the great persons who were to play a part in the ceremony and the +privileged ticket-holders had been waiting patiently for long hours. + +Underneath the galleries and below the platform were ranged lines of Foot +Guards. The platform (under the central tower) was the most conspicuous +object. It was covered with cloth of gold, and bore the chair of homage, or +throne, facing the altar. Farther on, within the altar-rails, was "St. +Edward's Chair," or the chair decorated by "William the Painter" for +Edward. Enclosed within it is the "Stone of Destiny," or Fatal Stone of +Scone--a sandy stone, supposed to have formed the pillow on which Jacob +slept at Bethel, and long used in the coronation of the Scotch kings. In +this chair all the kings of England, since the time of Edward I., have been +crowned. The altar was covered with massive gold plate. + +The galleries of the Abbey were arranged for the members of the House of +Commons, the foreign ambassadors, the judges, Knights of the Bath, members +of the Corporation, &c. &c. The floor of the transepts was occupied by +benches for the peers and peeresses, who may be said to be in their glory +at a coronation; the space behind them was for the ticket-holders. + +Harriet Martineau has preserved some of the splendours and "humours" of the +coronation with her usual clever power of observation and occasional +caustic commentary. "The maids called me at half-past two that June +morning, mistaking the clock. I slept no more, and rose at half-past three. +As I began to dress the twenty-one guns were fired, which must have +awakened all the sleepers in London. When the maid came to dress me she +said numbers of ladies were already hurrying to the Abbey. I saw the grey +old Abbey from the window as I dressed, and thought what would have gone +forward within it before the sun set upon it. My mother had laid out her +pearl ornaments for me. The feeling was very strange of dressing in crape, +blonde, and pearls at five in the morning.... The sight of the rapidly +filling Abbey was enough to go for. The stone architecture contrasted +finely with the gay colours of the multitude. From my high seat I commanded +the whole north transept, the area with the throne, and many portions of +galleries, and the balconies which were called the vaultings. Except a mere +sprinkling of oddities, everybody was in full dress. In the whole +assemblage I counted six bonnets. The scarlet of the military officers +mixed in well, and the groups of the clergy were dignified; but to an +unaccustomed eye the prevalence of Court dresses had a curious effect. I +was perpetually taking whole groups of gentlemen for Quakers till I +recollected myself. The Earl-Marshal's assistants, called Gold Sticks, +looked well from above, lightly fluttering about in white breeches, silk +stockings, blue laced frocks, and white sashes. The throne--an arm-chair +with a round back, covered, as was its footstool, with cloth of gold--stood +on an elevation of four steps in the centre of the area. The first peeress +took her seat in the north transept opposite, at a quarter before seven, +and three of the bishops came next. From that time the peers and their +ladies arrived faster and faster. Each peeress was conducted by two Gold +Sticks, one of whom handed her to her seat, and the other bore and arranged +her train on her lap, and saw that her coronet, footstool, and book were +comfortably placed. I never saw anywhere so remarkable a contrast between +youth and age as in these noble ladies." Miss Martineau proceeds to remark +in the strongest and plainest terms on the unbecoming effect of full dress, +with "hair drawn to the top of the head, to allow the putting on of the +coronet" on these venerable matrons. She goes on to express her admiration +of a later generation of peeresses. "The younger were as lovely as the aged +were haggard.... About nine the first gleams of the sun slanted into the +Abbey and presently travelled down to the peeresses. I had never before +seen the full effect of diamonds. As the light travelled each peeress shone +like a rainbow. The brightness, vastness, and dreamy magnificence of the +scene produced a strange effect of exhaustion and sleepiness.... The great +guns told when the Queen had set forth, and there was renewed animation. +The Gold Sticks flitted about, there was tuning in the orchestra, and the +foreign ambassadors and their suites arrived in quick succession. Prince +Esterhazy crossing a bar of sunshine was the most prodigious rainbow of +all. He was covered with diamonds and pearls, and as he dangled his hat it +cast a dancing radiance all round. + +"At half-past eleven the guns told that the Queen had arrived, but as there +was much to be done in the robing-room, there was a long pause before she +appeared." + +A little after twelve the grand procession of the day entered the choir. +The Prebendaries and Dean of Westminster and Officers-at-Arms, the +Comptroller, Treasurer, Vice-Chamberlain, and Lord Steward of her Majesty's +Household, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord President, the Lord Chancellor of +Ireland, came first. When these gentlemen were peers their coronets were +carried by pages. The Treasurer bore the crimson bag with the medals; the +Vice-Chancellor was attended by an officer from the Jewel Office, +conveying, on a cushion, the ruby ring and the sword for the offering. Then +followed the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Armagh, with the Lord +Chancellor, each archbishop in his rochet, with his cap in his hand; the +princesses of the blood royal, all in "robes of estate" of purple velvet +and wearing circlets of gold; the Duchess of Cambridge, her train borne by +Lady Caroline Campbell and a gentleman of her household, her coronet by +Viscount Villiers; the Duchess of Kent, her train borne by Lady Flora +Hastings, and her coronet by Viscount Morpeth; the Duchess of Gloucester, +her train borne by Lady Caroline Legge, and her coronet by Viscount Evelyn. +(The royal generation next that of George III. was fast dwindling away when +these three ladies represented the six daughters and the wives of six of +the sons of the old King and Queen. But there were other survivors, though +they were not present to-day. The Queen-dowager; Princess Augusta, an aged +woman of seventy; Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, nearly +as old, and absent in Germany; the Queen as well as the King of Hanover, +who had figured formerly as Duke and Duchess of Cumberland; and Princess +Sophia, who was ten years younger than Princess Augusta, and resident in +England, but who was an invalid.) The regalia came next, St. Edward's +staff, borne by the Duke of Roxburgh, the golden spurs borne by Lord Byron, +the sceptre with the cross borne by the Duke of Cleveland, the third sword +borne by the Marquis of Westminster, Curtana borne by the Duke of +Devonshire, the second sword borne by the Duke of Sutherland, each +nobleman's coronet carried by a page, Black Rod and Deputy-Garter walking +before Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, Lord Great Chamberlain of England, with +page and coronet. + +The princes of the blood royal were reduced to two. The Duke of Cambridge, +in his robe of estate, carrying his baton as Field-Marshal, his coronet +borne by the Marquis of Granby, his train by Sir William Gomm; the Duke of +Sussex, his coronet carried by Viscount Anson, his train by the Honourable +Edward Gore. + +The High Constable of Ireland, the Duke of Leinster; the High Constable of +Scotland, the Earl of Errol, with their pages and coronets. The +Earl-Marshal of England, the Duke of Norfolk, with his staff, attended by +two pages; the sword of State, borne by Viscount Melbourne, with his page +and coronet; the Lord High Constable of England, the Duke of Wellington, +with his staff and baton as Field-Marshal, attended by two pages. The +sceptre with the dove, borne by the Duke of Richmond, page and coronet; St. +Edward's crown, borne by the Lord High Steward, the Duke of Hamilton, +attended by two pages; the orb, borne by the Duke of Somerset, page and +coronet. The patina, borne by the Bishop of Bangor; the Bible, borne by the +Bishop of Winchester; the chalice, borne by the Bishop of London. + +At last the Queen entered, walking between the Bishops of Bath and Wells +and Durham, with Gentlemen-at-Arms on each side. She was now a royal maiden +of nineteen, with a fair, pleasant face, a slight figure, rather small in +stature, but showing a queenly carriage, especially in the pose of the +throat and head. She wore a royal robe of crimson velvet furred with ermine +and bordered with gold lace. She had on the collars of her orders. Like the +other princesses, she wore a gold circlet on her head. Her train was borne +by eight "beautiful young ladies," as Sir David Wilkie called them, all +dressed alike, some of them destined to officiate again as the Queen's +bridesmaids, when the loveliness of the group attracted general attention +and admiration. These noble damsels were Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Fanny +Cowper, Lady Anne Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Lady Mary Grimston, Lady Caroline +Gordon Lennox, Lady Mary Talbot, Lady Catherine Stanhope, Lady Louisa +Jenkinson. The Ladies of her Majesty's Household came next in order, the +Duchess of Sutherland, the Mistress of the Robes, walking first, followed +by Lady Lansdowne as first Lady of the Bed-chamber. Other ladies of the +Bed-chamber, whose names were long familiar in association with that of the +Queen, included Ladies Charlemont, Lyttelton, Portman, Tavistock, Mulgrave, +and Barham. The Maids of Honour bore names once equally well known in the +_Court Circular_, while the office brought with it visions of old +historic Maids prominent in Court gossip, and revealed to this day +possibilities of sprightliness reined in by Court etiquette, and innocent +little scrapes condoned by royal graciousness and kindness. The Maids of +Honour at the Queen's coronation were the Honourable Misses Margaret +Dillon, Cavendish, Lister, Spring Rice, Harriet Pitt, Caroline Cocks, +Matilda Paget, and Murray. One has heard and read less of the Women of the +Bed-chamber, noble ladies also, no doubt, but by the time the superb +procession reached them, with the gathering up of the whole in Goldsticks, +Captains of the Royal Archers, of the Yeomen of the Guard, of the +Gentlemen-at-Arms, though pages and coronets still abounded, the strained +attention could take in no more accessories, but was fain to return to the +principal figure in the pageant, and dwell with all eyes on her. + +"The Queen looked extremely well, and had an animated countenance." The +scene within the choir on her entrance was so gorgeous, that, it is said, +even the Turkish Ambassador, accustomed we should say to gorgeousness, +stopped short in astonishment. As the Queen advanced slowly toward the +centre of the choir, she was received with hearty plaudits, everybody +rising, the anthem, "I was glad," sung by the musicians, ringing through +the Abbey. "At the close of the anthem, the Westminster boys (who occupied +seats at the extremity of the lower galleries on the northern and southern +sides of the choir) chanted _Vivat Victoria Regina._ The Queen moved +towards a chair placed midway between the chair of homage and the altar, on +the carpeted space before described, which is called the theatre." Here she +knelt down on a faldstool set for her before her chair, and used some +private prayers. She then took her seat in the chair and the ceremonial +proceeded. + +First came "the Recognition" by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who advanced +to the Queen, accompanied by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chamberlain, the +Lord High Constable, and the Earl-Marshal, preceded by the Deputy-Garter, +and repeated these words: "Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Victoria, +the undoubted Queen of this realm, wherefore all you who are come this day +to do your homage, are you willing to do the same?" Then burst forth the +universal cry from the portion of her Majesty's subjects present, "God save +Queen Victoria." The Archbishop, turning to the north, south, and west +sides of the Abbey, repeated, "God save Queen Victoria," the Queen turning +at the same time in the same direction. + +"The Bishops who bore the patina, Bible, and chalice in the procession, +placed the same on the altar. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops +who were to read the Litany put on their copes. The Queen, attended by the +Bishops of Durham and Bath and Wells, and the Dean of Westminster, with the +great officers of State and noblemen bearing the regalia, advanced to the +altar, and, kneeling upon the crimson velvet cushion, made her first +offering, being a pall or altar-cloth of gold, which was delivered by an +officer of the Wardrobe to the Lord Chamberlain, by his lordship to the +Lord Great Chamberlain, and by him to the Queen, who delivered it to the +Archbishop of Canterbury, by whom it was placed on the altar. The Treasurer +of the Household then delivered an ingot of gold, of one pound weight, to +the Lord Great Chamberlain, who having presented the same to the Queen, her +Majesty delivered it to the Archbishop, by whom it was put into the +oblation basin. + +"The Archbishop delivered a prayer in the prescribed form. The regalia were +laid on the altar by the Archbishop. The great officers of State, except +the Lord Chamberlain, retired to their respective places, and the Bishops +of Worcester and St. David's read the Litany. Then followed the Communion +service, read by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Rochester +and Carlisle. The Bishop of London preached the sermon from the following +text, in the Second Book of Chronicles, chapter xxxiv. verse 31: 'And the +king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after +the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his +statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words +of the covenant which are written in this book.' + +"In the course of his sermon from this text, the Bishop praised the late +king for his unfeigned religion, and exhorted his youthful successor to +follow in his footsteps. At the conclusion of the sermon 'the oath' was +administered to the Queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The form of +swearing was as follows: The Archbishop put certain questions, which the +Queen answered in the affirmative, relative to the maintenance of the law +and the established religion; and then her Majesty, with the Lord +Chamberlain and other officers, the sword of State being carried before +her, went to the altar, and laying her right hand upon the Gospels in the +Bible carried in the procession, and now brought to her by the Archbishop +of Canterbury, said, kneeling: + +"'The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep. So +help me God.' + +"The Queen kissed the book and signed a transcript of the oath presented to +her by the Archbishop. She then kneeled upon her faldstool, and the choir +sang '_Veni, Creator, Spiritus._' + +"'The Anointing' was the next part of the ceremony. The Queen sat in King +Edward's chair; four Knights of the Garter--the Dukes of Buccleugh and +Rutland, and the Marquesses of Anglesea and Exeter--held a rich cloth of +gold over her head; the Dean of Westminster took the ampulla from the +altar, and poured some of the oil it contained into the anointing spoon, +then the Archbishop anointed the head and hands of the Queen, marking them +in the form of a cross, and pronouncing the words, 'Be thou anointed with +holy oil, as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed; and as Solomon was +anointed king by Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, so be you +anointed, blessed, and consecrated Queen over this people, whom the Lord +your God hath given you to rule and govern, in the name of the Father, and +of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.' + +"The Archbishop then said the blessing over her. + +"The spurs were presented by the Lord Chamberlain, and the sword of State +by Viscount Melbourne, who, however, according to custom, redeemed it with +a hundred shillings, and carried it during the rest of the ceremony. Then +followed the investing with the 'royal robes and the delivery of the orb,' +and the 'investiture _per annulum et baculum,_' by the ring and +sceptre. + +"The Coronation followed. The Archbishop of Canterbury offered a prayer to +God to bless her Majesty and crown her with all princely virtues. The Dean +of Westminster took the crown from the altar, and the Archbishop of +Canterbury, with the Archbishops of York and Armagh, the Bishops of London, +Durham, and other Prelates, advanced towards the Queen, and the Archbishop +taking the crown from the Dean reverently placed it on the Queen's head. +This was no sooner done than from every part of the crowded edifice arose a +loud and enthusiastic cry of 'God save the Queen,' mingled with lusty +cheers, and accompanied by the waving of hats and handkerchiefs. At this +moment, too, the Peers and Peeresses present put on their coronets, the +Bishops their caps, and the Kings-of-Arms their crowns; the trumpets +sounding, the drums beating, and the Tower and park guns firing by signal." + +Harriet Martineau, who, like most of the mere spectators, failed to see and +hear a good deal of the ceremony, was decidedly impressed at this point. +"The acclamation when the crown was put on her head was very animating; and +in the midst of it, in an instant of time, the Peeresses were all +coroneted--all but the fair creature already described." The writer refers +to an earlier paragraph in which she had detailed a small catastrophe that +broke in upon the harmonious perfection of the scene. "One beautiful +creature, with transcendent complexion and form, and coils upon coils of +light hair, was terribly embarrassed about her coronet; she had apparently +forgotten that her hair must be disposed with a view to it, and the large +braids at the back would in no way permit the coronet to keep on. She and +her neighbours tugged vehemently at her braids, and at last the thing was +done after a manner, but so as to spoil the wonderful effect of the +self-coroneting of the Peeresses." + +To see "the Enthronement," the energetic Norwich woman stood on the rail +behind her seat, holding on by another rail. But first "the Bible was +presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Queen, who delivered it +again to the Archbishop, and it was replaced on the altar by the Dean of +Westminster. + +"The Benediction was delivered by the Archbishop, and the _Te Deum_ +sung by the choir. At the commencement of the _Te Deum_ the Queen went +to the chair which she first occupied, supported by two Bishops; she was +then 'enthroned,' or 'lifted,' as the formulary states, into the chair of +homage by the Archbishops, Bishops, and Peers surrounding her Majesty. The +Queen delivered the sceptre with the cross to the Lord of the Manor of +Worksop (the Duke of Norfolk), and the sceptre with the stone to the Duke +of Richmond, to hold during the performance of the ceremony of homage. The +Archbishop of Canterbury knelt and did homage for himself and other Lords +Spiritual, who all kissed the Queen's hand. The Dukes of Sussex and +Cambridge, removing their coronets, did homage in these words:-- + +"'I do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and +faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner +of folks, so help me God.' + +"They touched the crown on the Queen's head, kissed her left cheek, and +then retired. It was observed that her Majesty's bearing towards her +uncles was very kind and affectionate. The Dukes and other Peers then +performed their homage, the senior of each rank pronouncing the words; as +they retired each Peer kissed her Majesty's hand. The Duke of Wellington, +Earl Grey, and Lord Melbourne were loudly cheered as they ascended the +steps to the throne. Lord Rolle, "who was upwards of eighty, stumbled and +fell on going up the steps. The Queen immediately stepped forward and held +out her hand to assist him, amidst the loudly expressed admiration of the +entire assembly." + +"While the Lords were doing homage, the Earl of Surrey, Treasurer of the +Household, threw coronation medals, in silver, about the choir and lower +galleries, which were scrambled for with great eagerness. + +"At the conclusion of the homage the choir sang the anthem, 'This is the +day which the Lord hath made.' The Queen received the two sceptres from the +Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond; the drums beat, the trumpets sounded, and +the assembly cried out--'God save Queen Victoria!'" [Footnote: Annual +Register.] + +Harriet Martineau, from her elevated perch, says, "Her small dark crown +looked pretty, and her mantle of cloth of gold very regal; she, herself, +looked so small as to appear puny." (At a later stage of the proceedings +the same keen critic notes that the enormous train borne by her ladies made +the figure of the Queen look still less than it really was.) "The homage +was as pretty a sight as any: trains of Peers touching her crown, and then +kissing her hand. It was in the midst of that process that poor Lord +Rolle's disaster sent a shock through the whole assemblage. It turned me +very sick. The large infirm old man was held up by two Peers, and had +nearly reached the royal footstool when he slipped through the hands of his +supporters, and rolled over and over down the steps, lying at the bottom +coiled up in his robes. He was instantly lifted up, and he tried again and +again, amidst shouts of admiration of his valour. The Queen at length spoke +to Lord Melbourne, who stood at her shoulder, and he bowed approval; on +which she rose, leaned forward, and held out her hand to the old man, +dispensing with his touching the crown. He was not hurt, and his +self-quizzing on his misadventure was as brave as his behaviour at the +time. A foreigner in London gravely reported to his own countrymen, what he +entirely believed on the word of a wag, that the Lords Rolle held their +title on the condition of performing the feat at every coronation." + +Sir David Wilkie, who was present at the coronation, wrote simply, "The +Queen looked most interesting, calm, and unexcited; and as she sat upon the +chair with the crown on, the sun shone from one of the windows bright upon +her." + +Leslie, another painter who witnessed the scene, remarked, "I was very near +the altar, and the chair on which the Queen was crowned, when she signed +the coronation oath. I could see that she wrote a large, bold hand.... I +don't know why, but the first sight of her in her robes brought tears into +my eyes, and it had this effect on many people; she looked almost like a +child." + +"The Archbishop of Canterbury then went to the altar. The Queen followed +him, and giving the Lord Chamberlain her crown to hold, knelt down at the +altar. The Gospel and Epistle of the Communion service having been read by +the Bishops, the Queen made her offering of the chalice and patina, and a +purse of gold, which were laid on the altar. Her Majesty received the +sacrament kneeling on her faldstool by the chair." + +Leslie afterwards painted this part of the ceremony for her Majesty. In his +picture are several details which are not given elsewhere. The Peers and +Peeresses who had crowned themselves simultaneously with the coronation of +the Queen, removed their crowns when she laid aside hers. Among the +gentlemen of the royal family was the Duc de Nemours. + +After receiving the communion, the Queen put on her crown, "and with her +sceptres in her hands, took her seat again upon the throne. The Archbishop +of Canterbury proceeded with the Communion service and pronounced the final +blessing. The choir sang the anthem, 'Hallelujah! for the Lord God +omnipotent reigneth.' The Queen then left the throne, and attended by two +Bishops and noblemen bearing the regalia and swords of State, passed into +King Edward's chapel, the organ playing. The Queen delivered the sceptre +with the dove to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who laid it on the altar. +She was then disrobed of her imperial robe of State and arrayed in her +royal robe of purple velvet by the Lord Chamberlain. The Archbishop placed +the orb in her left hand. The gold spurs and St. Edward's staff were +delivered by the noblemen who bore them to the Dean of Westminster, who +placed them on the altar. The Queen then went to the west door of the Abbey +wearing her crown, the sceptre with the cross being in the right and the +orb in the left hand.... It was about a quarter to four o'clock when the +royal procession passed through the nave, in the same order as before, at +the conclusion of the ceremony in the Abbey." + +The coronation lasted three hours, and must have been attended with great +fatigue of mind and body to the young girl who bore the burden of the +honours. Even the mere spectators, who, to be sure, had been in their +places from dawn of day, the moment the stimulus of excitement was removed, +awoke to their desperate weariness. "I watched her (the Queen) out at the +doors," said Harriet Martineau, "and then became aware how fearfully +fatigued I was. I never remember anything like it. While waiting in the +passages and between the barriers, several ladies sat or lay down on the +ground. I did not like to sink down in dust half a foot deep, to the +spoiling of my dress and the loss of my self-respect, but it was really a +terrible waiting till my brothers appeared at the end of the barrier." + +But the day's business was not ended for the great world, high and low. The +return of the procession, though the line was broken, had the special +attraction that the Queen wore her crown, and the Peers and Peeresses their +coronets. The Queen's crown was a mass of brilliants, relieved here and +there by a large ruby or emerald, encircling a purple velvet cap. Among the +stories told of the coronation, foremost and favourite of which was the +misadventure of poor Lord Rolle, and the pretty gentle way in which the +young Queen did her best to help the sufferer; an incident was reported +which might have had its foundation in the difficulties described by Miss +Martineau as besetting the fair Peeress in the Abbey. It was said that the +Queen's crown was too cumbrous, and disturbed the arrangement of those soft +braids of hair, the simple, modest fashion of which called forth Sir David +Wilkie's praise, and that as her Majesty drove along in her State carriage, +she was seen laughingly submitting to the good offices of her beautiful +companion seeking with soft hands to loop up afresh the rebellious locks +which had broken loose. Leslie, from whom we have already quoted, gives an +anecdote of the Queen on her coronation-day, which serves at least to show +how deeply the youthfulness of their sovereign was impressed on the public +mind. He had been informed that she was very fond of dogs, and that she +possessed a favourite little spaniel which was always on the look-out for +her. She had been away from him longer than usual on this particular day. +When the State coach drove up to the palace on her return, she heard his +bark of joy in the hall. She cried, "There's Dash!" and seemed to forget +crown and sceptre in her girlish eagerness to greet her small friend. +[Footnote: In the list of Sir Edwin Landseer's pictures there is one, the +property of the Queen, which was painted in 1838. It includes "Hector," +"Nero," "Dash," and "Lorey" (dogs and parrot).] + +In spite of the ordeal her Majesty had undergone, she entertained a party +of a hundred to dinner, and witnessed from the roof of Buckingham Palace +the grand display of fireworks in the Green Park and the general +illumination of London. The Duke of Wellington gave a ball at Apsley House, +followed next day by official dinners on the part of the Cabinet ministers. +The festivities lasted for more than a week in the metropolis. Prominent +among them was a fancy fair held for the space of four days in Hyde Park, +and visited by the Queen in person. On the 9th of July, a fine, hot day +there was a review in Hyde Park. The Queen appeared soon after eleven in an +open barouche, with her aides-de-camp in full uniform. The Dukes of +Cambridge and Wellington, the Duc de Nemours, Marshal Soult, Prince +Esterhazy, Prince Schwartzenburg, Count Stragonoff, were present amidst a +great crowd. The Queen was much cheered. The country's old gallant foe, +Soult, was again hailed with enthusiasm, though there was just a shade of +being exultingly equal to the situation, in the readiness with which, on +his having the misfortune to break a stirrup, a worthy firm of saddlers +came forward with a supply of the stirrups which Napoleon had used in one +of his campaigns. And there might have been something significant to the +visitor, in the rapturous greeting which was bestowed on the Iron Duke, +round whose erect, impassive figure the multitude pressed, the nearest men +and women defying his horse's hoofs and stretching up to shake hands with +"the Conquering Hero" amidst a thunder of applause. + +The rejoicings pervaded every part of the country from John o' Groat's to +Land's End, from the Scilly Isles to Sark. There was merry-making among the +English residents in every foreign place, as far as the great colonies in +the still remote continents. + +To many simple people the Queen did not seem to reign, hardly to exist, +till she had put on her crown and taken up her sceptre. It was to do the +first honour to their youthful liege lady that June garlands were swung +over every village street, bonfires gleamed like carbuncles on mountain +cairns, frightening the hill foxes, or lit up the coast-line and were flung +back in broken reflections from the tossing waves, scaring the very fish in +the depths of the sea, where hardy islanders had kindled the token on some +rock of the ocean. + +Pen and pencil were soon busy with the great event of the season. Elizabeth +Barrett Browning wrote later:-- + + The Minster was alight that day, but not with fire, I ween, + And long-drawn glitterings swept adown that mighty aisled scene; + The priests stood stoled in their pomp, the sworded chiefs in theirs, + And so the collared knights--and so the civil ministers; + And so the waiting lords and dames--and little pages best + At holding trains--and legates so, from countries east and west; + So alien princes, native peers, and high-born ladies bright + Along whose brows the Queen's new crown'd, flashed coronets to light. + And so, the people at the gates, with priestly hands on high, + Which bring the first anointing to all legal majesty; + And so, the Dead--who lay in rows beneath the Minster floor, + There verily an awful state maintaining evermore-- + The statesman, with no Burleigh nod, whate'er court tricks may be; + The courtier, who, for no fair Queen, will rise up to his knee; + The court-dame, who for no court tire will leave her shroud behind; + The laureate, who no courtlier rhymes than "dust to dust" can find; + The kings and queens who having ta'en that vow and worn that crown, + Descended unto lower thrones and darker, deeper adown; + "Dieu et mon Droit," what is't to them? what meaning can it have? + The king of kings, the dust of dust--God's judgment and the grave. + And when betwixt the quick and dead the young fair Queen had vowed, + The living shouted, "May she live! Victoria, live!" aloud, + And as these loyal shouts went up, true spirits prayed between, + The blessings happy monarchs have, be thine, O Crowned Queen! + +In the autumn and winter of 1838 Leslie went down to Windsor to get +sittings for his picture of the coronation. He had been presented to the +Queen on her first visit to the Academy after her accession, as he mentions +in one of his pleasant letters to his kindred in America. He was now to +come into nearer contact with royalty. He slept at the Castle Inn, Windsor, +and went up daily to the Castle. If he found her Majesty and any other +sitter engaged, he improved the occasion by copying two of the Queen's fine +Dutch pictures, a De Hooghe and a Nicholas Maas. He wrote his experience to +his wife in London, and his sister in America. To the latter he said, "I +came here on the 29th of last month by appointment to have a sitting of the +Queen, and with little expectation of having more than one.... I have been +here ever since, with the exception of a day or two in town (I perform the +journey in an hour by the railroad), and the Queen has sat five times. She +is now so far satisfied with the likeness, that she does not wish me to +touch it again. She sat not only for the face, but for as much as is seen +of the figure, and for the hands with the coronation-ring on her finger. +Her hands, by-the-bye, are very pretty, the backs dimpled, and the fingers +delicately shaped. She was particular also in having her hair dressed +exactly as she wore it at the ceremony, every time she sat. She has +suggested an alteration in the composition of the picture, and I suppose +she thinks it like the scene, for she asked me where I sat, and said, 'I +suppose you made a sketch on the spot.' + +"The Duchess of Kent and Lord Melbourne are now sitting to me, and last +week I had sittings of Lord Conyngham and Lady Fanny Cowper [Footnote: +Daughter of a beautiful and popular mother, Lady Palmerston, by her first +husband, Earl Cowper.] (a very beautiful girl, and one of the Queen's +train-bearers), who was here for a few days on a visit to her Majesty. +Every day lunch is sent to me, which, as it is always very plentiful and +good, I generally make my dinner. The best of wine is sent in a beautiful +little decanter, with a V.R. and the crown engraved on it, and the +table-cloth and napkins have the royal arms and other insignia on them as a +pattern. + +"I have two very good friends at the Castle--one of the pages, and a little +man who lights the fires. The Queen's pages are not little boys in green, +but tall and _stout gentlemen_ from forty to fifty years of age. My +friend (Mr. Batchelor) was a page in the time of George III, and was then +twenty years old; George IV died in his arms, he says, in a room adjoining +the one I am painting in. Mr. Batchelor comes into the room whenever there +is nobody there, and admires the picture to my heart's content. My other +friend, the fire-lighter, is extremely like Peter Powell, only a size +larger. He also greatly admires the picture; he confesses he knows nothing +about the robes, and can't say whether they are like or not, but he +pronounces the Queen's likeness excellent." [Footnote: Leslie's +Autobiography.] + + + +CHAPTER VI. +THE MAIDEN QUEEN. + + +When the great event of the coronation was over the Queen was left to +fulfil the heavy demands of business and the concluding gaieties of the +season. It comes upon us with a little pathetic shock, to think of one whom +we have long known chiefly in the chastened light of the devoted unflagging +worker at her high calling, of our lady of sorrows, as a merry +girl--girl-like in her fondness, in spite of her noble nature and the +serious claims she did not neglect, of a racket of perpetual excitement. We +read of her as going everywhere, as the blithest and most indefatigable +dancer in her ball-room, dancing out a pair of slippers before the night +was over; we hear how reluctant she was to leave town, how eager to return +to it. + +Inevitably the old and dear friends most interested in her welfare were now +regarding this critical period in the Queen's career with anxious eyes. In +looking back upon it in after life, she has frankly and gravely +acknowledged its pitfalls; "a worse school for a young girl, or one more +detrimental to all natural feeling and affection, cannot well be imagined, +than the position of a queen at eighteen, without experience, and without a +husband to guide and support her. This the Queen can state from painful +experience, and she thanks God that none of her dear daughters are exposed +to such danger." + +The King of the Belgians sought to abridge the period of probation by +renewing the project of the worthy marriage to which his niece had been +well inclined two years before. But either from the natural coyness and +the strain of perversity which are the privilege and the danger of +girlhood, or simply because, as she has, stated, "the sudden change from +the secluded life at Kensington to the independence of her position as +Queen Regnant, at the age of eighteen, put all ideas of marriage out of her +head," the bride in prospect demurred. She declared, with the unhesitating +decision of her age, that she had no thought of marriage for years to come. +She objected, with some show of reason, that both she and Prince Albert +were too young, and that it would be better for him to have a little more +time to perfect his English education. + +The princely cousin who had won her first girlish affections, and the +tender sweetness of love in the bud, were by no means forgotten. The idea +of marriage never crossed the Queen's mind without his image presenting +itself, she has said, and she never thought of herself as wedded to any +other man. But every woman, be she Queen or beggar-maid, craves to exercise +one species of power at one era of her life. It is her prerogative, and +though the ruth of love may live to regret it, and to grudge every passing +pang inflicted, half wilfully half unwittingly, on the true heart, it may +be questioned whether love would flourish better, whether it would attain +its perfect stature, without the test of the brief check and combat for +mastery. + +But if a woman desires to prove her power, a man cannot be expected to +welcome the soft tyranny; the more manly, the more sensitive he is, the +more it vexes and wounds him. Here the circumstances were specially trying, +and while we have ample sympathy with the young Queen--standing out as much +in archness as in imperiousness for a prolonged wooing--we have also +sympathy to spare for the young Prince, with manly dignity and a little +indignant pain, resisting alike girlish volatility and womanly despotism, +asserting what was only right and reasonable, that he could not wait much +longer for her to make up her mind--great queen and dear cousin though she +might be. It was neither just nor generous that he should be kept hanging +on in a condition of mortifying uncertainty, with the risk of his whole +life being spoilt, after it was too late to guard against it, by a final +refusal on her part. That the Queen had in substance made up her mind is +proved by the circumstance that it was by her wish, and in accordance with +her written instructions--of which, however, Prince Albert seems to have +been ignorant--that Baron Stockmar, on quitting England in 1838, joined the +Prince, who had just endured the trial of being separated from his elder +brother, with whom he had been brought up in the closest and most brotherly +relations, so that the two had never been a day apart during the whole of +their previous lives. Prince Albert was to travel in Italy, and Baron +Stockmar and Sir Francis (then Lieutenant) Seymour were appointed his +travelling companions, visiting with him, during what proved a happy tour, +Rome and Naples. + +At home, where Baroness Lehzen retained the care of purely personal matters +and played her part in non-political affairs and non-political +correspondence, Lord Melbourne, with his tact and kindness, discharged the +remaining offices of a private secretary. But things did not go altogether +well. Party feeling was stronger than ever. The Queen's household was +mainly of Whig materials, but there were exceptions, and the lady who had +borne the train of the Duchess of Kent at the coronation belonged to a +family which had become Tory in politics. + +Lady Flora Hastings was a daughter of the Marquis of Hastings and of Flora, +Countess of Loudoun, in her own right. The Countess of Loudoun in her youth +chose for her husband Earl Moira, one of the plainest-looking and most +gallant officers in the British army. The parting shortly after their +marriage, in order that he might rejoin his regiment on active service, was +the occasion of the popular Scotch song, by Tannahill, "Bonnie Loudoun's +woods and braes." Earl Moira, created Marquis of Hastings, had a +distinguished career as a soldier and statesman, especially as +Governor-General of India. When he was Governor-General of Malta he died +far from Loudoun's woods and braes, and was buried in the little island; +but in compliance with an old promise to his wife, who long survived him, +that their dust should rest together, he directed that after death his +right hand should be cut off, enclosed in a casket, and conveyed to the +family vault beneath the church of Loudoun, where the mortal remains of his +widow would lie. + +Lady Flora Hastings was good, clever and accomplished, dearly loved by her +family and friends. But whether she, nevertheless, possessed capabilities +of offending her companions in office at Court; whether her conduct in any +respect rebuked theirs, and provoked dislike, suspicion, and a desire to +find her in the wrong; whether the calamity was sheerly due to that mortal +meanness in human nature, which tempts people not otherwise unworthy to +receive the most unlikely and injurious evil report of their neighbour, on +the merest presumptive evidence, the unhappy sequel remains the same. Lady +Flora had been attacked by an illness which caused so great a change in her +personal appearance, as to lend colour to a whispered charge that she had +been secretly guilty of worse than levity of conduct. The cruel whisper +once breathed, it certainly became the duty of every person in authority +round a young and maiden Queen to guard her Court jealously from the +faintest suspicion of such a reproach. The fault lay with those who uttered +the shameful charge on slight and, as it proved, totally mistaken +inferences. + +When the accusation reached the ears of Lady Flora--last of all, no +doubt--the brave daughter of a brave man welcomed such a medical +examination as must prove her innocence beyond dispute. Her name and fame +were triumphantly cleared, but the distress and humiliation she had +suffered accelerated the progress of her malady, and she died shortly +afterwards, passionately lamented by her friends. They sought fruitlessly +to bring punishment on the accusers, which could not be done since there +was no evidence of deliberate insincerity and malice on the part of the +circulators of the scandal. The blame of the disastrous gossip fell on two +of the Whig Ladies of the Bed-chamber; and just before the sad climax, the +other event, which angry Tory eyes magnified to the dignity of a +conspiracy, drew double attention to both catastrophes. + +In May, 1839, the Whig Government had been defeated in a crucial measure, +and the ministry under the leadership of Lord Melbourne resigned office. +The Queen sent for the Duke of Wellington, and he recommended that Sir +Robert Peel should be called upon to form a new Cabinet. It was the first +time that the Queen had experienced a change of Ministers, and she was +naturally dismayed at the necessity, and reluctant to part with the friend +who had lent her such aid on her accession, whom she trusted implicitly, +who in the requirements of his office had been in daily communication with +her for the last two years. In her interview with Sir Robert Peel, who in +his shyness and constraint appeared to have far fewer personal +recommendations for a young Queen's counsellor, she told him with a simple +and girlish frankness that she was sorry to have to part with her late +Minister, of whose conduct she entirely approved, but that she bowed to +constitutional usage. [Footnote: Justin Macarthy.] Sir Robert took the +impulsive speech in the straightforward spirit in which it was spoken, +while time was to show such a good understanding and cordial regard +established between the Queen and her future servant, as has rarely been +surpassed in the relations of sovereigns and their advisers. But in the +meanwhile a _contretemps_, which was more than half a blunder, +occurred. "The negotiations went on very smoothly as to the colleagues Peel +meant to recommend to her Majesty, until he happened to notice the +composition of the royal household, as regarded the ladies most closely in +attendance on the Queen. For example, he found that the wife of Lord +Normanby and the sister of Lord Morpeth were the two ladies in closest +attendance on her Majesty. Now it has to be borne in mind--it was +proclaimed again and again during the negotiations--that the chief +difficulty of the Conservatives would necessarily be in Ireland, where +their policy would be altogether opposed to that of the Whigs. Lord +Normanby had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under the Whigs, and Lord +Morpeth, whom we can all remember as the amiable and accomplished Lord +Carlisle of later time, Irish Secretary. It certainly would not be +satisfactory for Peel to try to work a new Irish policy, whilst the closest +household companions of the Queen were the wife and sister of the displaced +statesmen, who directly represented the policy he had to supersede. Had +this point of view been made clear to the sovereign at first, it is hardly +possible that any serious difficulty could have arisen. The Queen must have +seen the obvious reasonableness of Peel's request, nor is it to be supposed +that the two ladies in question could have desired to hold their places +under such circumstances. But unluckily some misunderstanding took place at +the very beginning of the conversations on this point. Peel only desired to +press for the retirement of the ladies holding the higher offices, +[Footnote: This has been the rule in subsequent changes of Ministry.] he +did not intend to ask for any change affecting a place lower in official +rank than that of Lady of the Bed-chamber. But somehow or other he conveyed +to the mind of the Queen a different idea. She thought he meant to insist +as a matter of principle upon the removal of all her familiar attendants +and household associates. Under this impression she consulted Lord John +Russell, who advised her on what he understood to be the facts. On his +advice the Queen stated in reply, that she could not "consent to a course +which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and is repugnant to her +feelings." Sir Robert Peel held firm to his stipulation, and the chance of +his then forming a Ministry was at an end. Lord Melbourne and his +colleagues had to be recalled, and at a Cabinet meeting they adopted a +minute declaring it "reasonable, that the great offices of the Court, and +situations in the household held by members of Parliament, should be +included in the political arrangements made on a change in the +Administration; but they are not of opinion that a similar principle should +be applied or extended to the offices held by ladies in her Majesty's +household." + +As an instance of the garbled impression received, and the unhesitating +exultation manifested by some of the Whig leaders, we quote from Lord +Campbell: "House of Commons, Friday, May 10, 1839. What do you think? Peel +has quarrelled with the Queen, and for the present we are all in again. He +insisted on her removing all her ladies, which she peremptorily refused. +Peel sent his final answer yesterday evening, which she received at dinner, +saying that on consulting his colleagues they could not yield, and that his +commission was at an end. She then sent for Melbourne, who had not seen her +since his resignation. At eleven a meeting of the old Cabinet was called. +To-day Melbourne has been with her, and, Bear Ellis says, agreed to go on +with the government. Reports differ as to the exact conditions. Our people +say that she was willing to give up the wives of Peers; Sir George Clerk +asserts she insisted on keeping all, _inter alias_ the Marchioness of +Normanby. There never was such excitement in London. I came with hundreds +of others to the House of Lords, which met to-day, in the expectation that +something would be said, but all passing off in silence." [Footnote: The +explanation was made later.] + +"Brooks's, Saturday, May 11, 1839. The Cabinet is still sitting, and we +know nothing more to-day.... I was several hours at the Queen's ball last +night, a scene never to be forgotten. The Queen was in great spirits, and +danced with more than usual gaiety. She received Peel with great civility; +but after dancing with the Russian Bear, took for her partner Lady +Normanby's son. The Tories looked inconceivably foolish--such whimsical +groups." + +Calm onlookers, including Stockmar, condemned Lord Melbourne for the +position, in which he had allowed the young Queen to be placed, and +considered that he had brought discredit on his Government by the +circumstances in which he and his colleagues had resumed office. The +melancholy death of Lady Flora Hastings following on this overthrow of the +ordinary arrangements, intensified the wrath of the Tories, and helped to +arouse a sense of general dissatisfaction and doubt. + +In the month of July, 1839, an Act of Parliament was passed which was of +great consequence to the mass of the people. In 1837 Sir Rowland Hill +published his post-office reform pamphlet, and in 1839 the penny-post +scheme was embodied in an Act of Parliament. + +What stories clustered round the early miniature "heads" of her Majesty in +the little dull red stamp! These myths ranged from the panic that the +adhesive gum caused cancer in the tongue, to the romance that a desperate +young lady was collecting a huge supply of used stamps for the purpose of +papering a room of untold dimensions. This feat was the single stipulation +on the part of a tyrannical parent, on compliance with which the hapless +maiden would be allowed to marry her faithful lover. + + + +CHAPTER VII. +THE BETROTHAL. + + +The Queen's remaining unmarried was becoming the source of innumerable +disturbing rumours and private intrigues for the bestowal of her hand. To +show the extent to which the public discussed the question in every light, +a serious publication like the _Annual Register_ found space in its +pages for a ponderous joke on the subject which was employing all tongues. +Its chronicle professes to report an interview between her Majesty the +Queen and Lord Melbourne, in which the Premier gravely represents to his +sovereign the advisability of her marriage, and ventures to press her to +say whether there is any man for whom she might entertain a preference. Her +Majesty condescends to acknowledge there is one man for whom she could +conceive a regard. His name is "Arthur, Duke of Wellington." + +Altogether, King Leopold was warranted in renewing his efforts to +accomplish the union which would best secure the happiness of his niece and +the welfare of a kingdom. He adopted a simple, and at the same time, a +masterly line of policy. He sent the Prince, whose majority had been +celebrated along with his brother's a few months before, over again to +England in the autumn of 1839; Prince Ernest of Saxe-Coburg went once more +with Prince Albert, in order to show that this was not a bridegroom come to +plead his suit in person; this was a mere cousinly visit of which nothing +need come. Indeed, the good king rather overdid his caution, for it seems +he led the Prince to believe that the earlier tacit understanding between +him and his cousin had come to an end, so that Prince Albert arrived more +resolved to relinquish his claims than to urge his rights. In his honest +pride there was hardly room for the thought of binding more closely and +indissolubly the silken cord of love, which had got loosened and warped in +the course of the three years since the pair had parted--a long interval at +the age of twenty. All the same, one of the most notably and deservedly +attractive young men of his generation was to be brought for the second +time, without the compulsory strain of an ulterior motive--declared or +unjustifiably implied--into new contact with a royal maiden, whom a +qualified judge described as possessing "a keen and quick apprehension, +being straightforward, singularly pure-hearted, and free from all vanity +and pretension." In the estimation of this sagacious well-wisher, she was +fitted beforehand "to do ample justice both to the head and heart of the +Prince." + +It was at half-past seven on the evening of Thursday, the 10th of October, +that the princely brothers entered again on the scene, no longer young lads +under the guidance of their father, come to make the acquaintance of a +girl-princess, their cousin, who though she might be the heir to a mighty +kingdom, was still entirely under the wing of the Duchess, their aunt and +her mother, in the homely old Palace of Kensington. These were two young +men in the flower of their early manhood, who alighted in due form under +the gateway of one of the stateliest of castles that could ever have +visited their dreams, and found a young Queen as well as a kinswoman +standing first among her ladies, awaiting them at the top of the grand +staircase. However cordial and affectionate, and like herself, she might +be, it had become her part, and she played it well, to take the initiative, +to give directions instead of receiving them, to command where she had +obeyed. It was she, and not the mother she loved and honoured, who was the +mistress of this castle; and it was for her to come forward, welcome her +guests, and graciously conduct them to the Duchess. + +King Leopold had furnished the brothers with credentials in the shape of a +letter, recommending them, in studiously moderate terms, as "good, honest +creatures," deserving her kindness, "not pedantic, but really sensible and +trustworthy," whom he had told that her great wish was they should be at +ease with her. + +Both of these simply summed-up guests were fine young men, tall, manly, +intelligent, and accomplished. Prince Albert was very handsome and winning, +as all his contemporaries must remember him, with a mixture of thought and +gentleness in his broad forehead, deep-blue eyes, and sweet smile. + +The first incident of the visit was a trifle disconcerting, but not more so +than happy, privileged people may be permitted to surmount with a laughing +apology; even to draw additional light-hearted jests from the misadventure. +The baggage of the Princes by some chance was not forthcoming; they could +not appear at a Court dinner in their morning dress, but etiquette was +relaxed for the strangers to the extent that later in the evening they +joined the circle, which included Lord Melbourne, Lord Clanricarde, Lord +and Lady Granville, Baron Brunnow and Lord Normanby, as visitors at Windsor +at the time. The pleasant old courtier, Lord Melbourne, immediately told +the Queen that he was struck with the resemblance between Prince Albert and +herself. + +"The way of life at Windsor during the stay of the Princes was much as +follows:--the Queen breakfasting at this time in her own room, they +afterwards paid her a visit there; and at two o'clock had luncheon with her +and the Duchess of Kent. In the afternoon they all rode--the Queen and +Duchess and the two Princes, with Lord Melbourne and most of the ladies and +gentlemen in attendance, forming a large cavalcade. There was a great +dinner every evening, with a dance after it, three times a week." +[Footnote: "Early Years of the Prince Consort."] Surely an ideal palace +life for the young--born to the Stately conditions, bright with all the +freshness of body and sparkle of spirit, unexhausted, undimmed by years and +care. Surely a fair field for true love to cast off its wilful shackles, +and be rid of its half-cherished misunderstandings, to assert itself master +of the situation. And so in five days, while King Leopold was still writing +wary recommendations and temperate praise, the prize which had been deemed +lost was won, and the Queen who had foredoomed herself to years of maidenly +toying with happiness and fruitless waiting, was ready to announce her +speedy marriage, with loyal satisfaction and innocent fearlessness, to her +servants in council. + +At the time, and for long afterwards, there were many wonderful little +stories, doubtless fanciful enough, but all taking colour from the one +charming fact of the royal lovers. How the Queen, whose place it was to +choose, had with maidenly grace made known her worthy choice at one of +these palace "dances," in which she had waltzed with her Prince, and +subsided from the liege lady into the loving woman. She had presented him +with her bouquet in a most marked and significant manner. He had accepted +it with the fullest and most becoming sense of the distinction conferred +upon him, and had sought to bestow her token in a manner which should prove +his devotion and gratitude. But his tight-fitting foreign uniform had +threatened to baffle his desire, till, in the exigency of the moment, he +took out a pocket-knife (or was it his sword from its sheath?) and cut a +slit in the breast of his coat on the left side, over the heart, where he +put the flowers. Was this at the end of that second day after the brothers' +arrival, on which, as the Prince mentions, in detailing to a friend the +turn of the tide, "the most friendly demonstrations were directed towards +me?" + +On the 14th of October, the Queen told her fatherly adviser, Lord +Melbourne, that she had made her choice; at which he expressed great +satisfaction, and said to her (as her Majesty has stated in one of the +published portions of her Journal), "I think it will be very well received, +for I hear that there is an anxiety now that it should be, and I am very +glad of it;" adding, in quite a paternal tone, "you will be much more +comfortable, for a woman cannot stand alone for any time in whatever +position she may be." + +In the circumstances, the ordinary role was of necessity strangely +reversed, and the ordeal of the declaration fell to the maiden and not to +the young man. But the trial could not have come to a better pair. Innate +good sense and dignity, and single-hearted affection on the one hand, and +manly, delicate-minded tenderness on the other, made all things possible, +nay, easy. An intimation was conveyed to the Prince through an old friend, +who was in the suite of the brothers on this visit to England, Baron +Alvensleben, Master of the Horse to the Duke of Coburg, that the Queen +wished to speak to Prince Albert next day. Doubtless, the formality and +comparative length of the invitation had its significant importance to the +receiver of the message, and brought with it a tumult and thrill of +anticipation. But he was called on to show that he had outgrown youthful +impetuosity and impatience, and to prove himself worthy of trust and honour +by perfect self-restraint and composure. So far as the world knows, he +awaited his lady's will without a sign of restlessness or disturbance. If +blissful dreams drove away sleep from the pillows on which two young heads +rested in Royal Windsor that night, none save the couple needed to know of +it. It was not by any means the first time that queenly and princely heads +had courted oblivion in vain beneath the tower of St. George, and under the +banner of England, but never in more natural, lawful, happy wakefulness. + +On the morning of the 15th, behaving himself as if nothing had happened, or +was going to happen, according to the code of Saxon Englishmen, Prince +Albert went out early, hunting with his brother, but came back by noon, and +"half an hour afterwards obeyed the Queen's summons to her room, where he +found her alone. After a few minutes' conversation on other subjects, the +Queen told him why she had sent for him." + +The Prince wrote afterwards to the oldest of his relations: "The Queen sent +for me alone to her room a few days ago, and declared to me, in a genuine +outburst of love and affection, that I had gained her whole heart, and +would make her intensely happy if I would make her the sacrifice of sharing +her life with her, for she said she looked on it as a sacrifice; the only +thing that troubled her was, that she did not think she was worthy of me. +The joyous openness of manner with which she told me this quite enchanted +me, and I was quite carried away by it." + +"The Prince answered by the warmest demonstration of kindness and +affection." + +The affair had been settled by love itself in less time than it has taken +to tell it. + +There is an entry in her Majesty's Journal of this date, which she has, +with noble and tender confidence, in the best feelings of humanity, +permitted her people to read. + +"How I will strive to make him feel, as little as possible, the great +sacrifices he has made! I told him it _was_ a great sacrifice on his +part, but he would not allow it." + +This record has been enthusiastically dwelt upon for its thorough +womanliness; and so it is truly womanly, royally womanly. But it seems to +us that less weight has been put on the fine sympathetic intuition of the +Queen which enabled her to look beyond herself, beyond mere outward +appearance and worldly advantages, and see the fact of the sacrifice on the +part of such a man as Prince Albert, which he made with all his heart, +cheerfully, refusing so much as to acknowledge it, for her dear sake. For +the Queen was wisely right, and the Prince lovingly wrong. He not only gave +back in full measure what he got, but, looking at the contract in the light +of the knowledge which the Queen has granted to us of a rare nature, we +recognise that for such a man--so simple, noble, purely scholarly and +artistic; so capable of undying attachment; so fond of peaceful household +charities and the quiet of domestic life; so indifferent to pomp and show; +so wearied and worried in his patience by formality, parade, and the vulgar +strife and noise, glare and blare of the lower, commoner ambitions--it +_was_ a sacrifice to forsake his fatherland, his father's house, the +brother whom he loved as his own soul, the plain living and high thinking, +healthful early hours and refined leisure--busy enough in good thoughts and +deeds--of Germany, for the great shackled responsibility which should rest +on the Queen's husband, for the artificial, crowded, high-pressure life of +an England which did not know him, did not understand him, for many a day. +If Baron Stockmar was right, that the physical constitution of the Prince +in his youth rendered strain and effort unwelcome, and that he was rather +deficient in interest in the ordinary work of the world, and in the broad +questions which concern the welfare of men and nations, than overendowed +with a passion for mastering and controlling them, then the sacrifice was +all the greater. + +But he made it, led by what was, in him, an overruling sense of right, and +by the sweetest compelling motive, for highest duty and for her his Queen. +Having put his hand to the plough he never looked back. What his hand found +to do, that he did with all his might, and he became one of the hardest +workers of his age. In seeing what he resigned, we also see that the +fullness of his life was rendered complete by the resignation. He was +called to do a grand, costly service, and he did well, at whatever price, +to obey the call. Without the sacrifice his life would have been less +honourable as an example, less full, less perfect, and so, in the end, less +satisfying. + +When the troth was plighted, the Queen adds, "I then told him to fetch +Ernest, who congratulated us both and seemed very happy. He told me how +perfect his brother was." + +There were other kind friends to rejoice in the best solution of the +problem and settlement of the vexed question. The good mother and aunt, the +Duchess of Kent, rendered as secure as mortal mother could be of the future +contentment and prosperity of her child; the attached kinsman beyond the +Channel; the father of the bridegroom; his female relations; trusty Baron +Stockmar; an early comrade, were all to be told and made happy, and in some +cases sorry also, for the promotion of Prince Albert to be the Queen's +husband meant exile from Germany. + +The passages given from the Queen's and Prince's letters to King Leopold +and Baron Stockmar are not only very characteristic, the words express what +those who loved the writers best would have most wished them to say. The +respective utterances are radiant with delight softened by the modest, firm +resolves, the humble hearty conscientiousness which made the proposed +marriage so auspicious of all it was destined to prove. + +The King of the Belgians was still in a state of doubt, writing his earnest +but studiously measured praise of his nephews to the Queen. "I am sure you +will like them the more, the longer you see them. They are young men of +merit, and without that puppy-like affectation which is so often found with +young gentlemen of rank; and though remarkably well informed, they are very +free from pedantry. + +"Albert is a very agreeable companion. His manners are so quiet and +harmonious that one likes to have him near one's self. I always found him +so when I had him with me, and I think his travels have still improved +him. He is full of talent and fun, and draws cleverly." + +At last there is a plainer insinuation. "I trust they will enliven your +_sejour_ in the old castle, and may Albert be able to strew roses +without thorns on the pathway of life of our good Victoria. He is well +qualified to do so...." + +On the very day this letter was written, the Queen was addressing her +uncle. "My dearest uncle, this letter will I am sure give you pleasure, for +you have always shown and taken so warm an interest in all that concerns +me. My mind is quite made up, and I told Albert this morning of it. The +warm affection he showed me on learning this, gave me great pleasure. He +seems perfection, and I think I have the prospect of very great happiness +before me. I love him more than I can say, and shall do everything in my +power to render this sacrifice (for such is my opinion it is) as small as I +can.... It is absolutely necessary that this determination of mine should +be known to no one but yourself and to Uncle Ernest, until after the +meeting of Parliament, as it would be considered, otherwise, neglectful on +my part not to have assembled Parliament at once to inform them of it.... +Lord Melbourne has acted in this business as he has always done towards me, +with the greatest kindness and affection. We also think it better, and +Albert quite approves of it, that we should be married very soon after +Parliament meets, about the beginning of February." + +The King's reply from Wiesbaden is like the man, and is pathetic in the +depth of its gratification. "My dearest Victoria, nothing could have given +me greater pleasure than your dear letter. I had, when I learnt your +decision, almost the feeling of Old Simeon: 'Now lettest thou thy servant +depart in peace.' Your choice has been for these last years my conviction +of what might and would be best for your happiness; and just because I was +convinced of it, and knew how strangely fate often changes what one tries +to bring about as being the best plan one could fix upon--the maximum of a +good arrangement--I feared that it would not happen." + +In Prince Albert's letter to Baron Stockmar, written without delay, as he +says, "on one of the happiest days of my life to give you the most welcome +news possible," he goes on to declare that he is often at a loss to believe +that such affection should be shown to him. He quotes as applicable to +himself from Schiller's "Song of the Bell," of which the Prince was very +fond-- + + Das Auge sieht den Himmel offen, + Es schwimmt das Herz in seligkeit. + +The passage from which these lines are taken is the very beautiful one thus +rendered in English by the late Lord Lytton:-- + + And, lo! as some sweet vision breaks + Out from its native morning skies, + With rosy shame on downcast cheeks, + The virgin stands before his eyes: + A nameless longing seizes him! + From all his wild companions flown; + Tears, strange till then, his eyes bedim, + He wanders all alone. + Blushing he glides where'er she moves, + Her greeting can transport him; + To every mead to deck his love, + The happy wild-flowers court him. + Sweet hope--and tender longing--ye + The growth of life's first age of gold, + When the heart, swelling, seems to see + The gates of heaven unfold. + Oh, were it ever green! oh, stay! + Linger, young Love, Life's blooming may. + +In a later letter to Stockmar the Prince writes: "An individuality, a +character which shall win the respect, the love, and the confidence of the +Queen and of the nation, must be the groundwork of my position.... If +therefore I prove a 'noble' Prince in the true sense of the word, as you +call upon me to be, wise and prudent conduct will become easier to me, and +its results more rich in blessings;" and to his stepmother he makes the +thoughtful comment, "With the exception of my relation to her (the Queen), +my future position will have its dark sides, and the sky will not always be +blue and unclouded. But life has its thorns in every position, and the +consciousness of having used one's powers and endeavours for an object so +great as that of promoting the good of so many will surely be sufficient to +support me." + +The brothers remained at Windsor for a happy month, [Footnote: Lady +Bloomfield describes a beautiful emerald serpent ring which the Prince gave +the Queen when they were engaged.] when the royal lovers saw much of each +other, and as a matter of course often discussed the future, particularly +with reference to the Prince's position in his new country, and what his +title was to be. One can easily fancy how interesting and engrossing such +talks would become, especially when they were enlivened by the bright +humour, and controlled by the singular unselfishness, of the object of so +many hopes and plans. It was already blustering wintry weather, but there +was little room to feel the depressing influence of the grey cloudy sky or +the chill of the shrilly whistling wind and driving rain. Prince Ernest had +the misfortune to suffer from an attack of jaundice, but it was a passing +evil, sure to be lightened by ample sympathy, and it did not prevent the +friend of the bridegroom from rejoicing greatly at the sound of the +bridegroom's voice. + +Perhaps the fact that a form of secrecy had to be kept up till her Majesty +should announce her marriage to the Council only added an additional +piquant flavour to the general satisfaction. But this did not cause the +Queen to fail in confidence towards the members of her family, for she +wrote herself to the Queen-dowager and to the rest of her kindred +announcing her intended marriage, and receiving their congratulations. + +On the 2nd of November there was a review of the battalion of the Rifle +Brigade quartered at Windsor under Colonel, afterwards Sir George Brown, of +Crimean fame, in the Home Park. The Queen was present, accompanied by +Prince Albert, in the green uniform of the Coburg troops. What a picture, +full of joyful content, independent of all accidents of weather, survives +of the scene! "At ten minutes to twelve I set off in my Windsor uniform and +cap (already described) on my old charger 'Leopold,' with my beloved Albert +looking so handsome in his uniform on my right, and Sir John Macdonald, the +Adjutant-General, on my left, Colonel Grey and Colonel Wemyss preceding me, +a guard of honour, my other gentlemen, my cousin's gentlemen, Lady Caroline +Barrington, &c., for the ground. + +"A horrid day. Cold, dreadfully blowing, and, in addition, raining hard +when we had been out a few minutes. It, however, ceased when we: came to +the ground. I rode alone down the ranks, and then took my place as usual, +with dearest Albert on my right and Sir John Macdonald on my left, and saw +the troops march past. They afterwards manoeuvred. The Rifles looked +beautiful. It was piercingly cold, and I had my cape on, which dearest +Albert settled comfortably for me. He was so cold, being 'EN GRANDE TENUE,' +with high boots. We cantered home again, and went in to show ourselves to. +poor Ernest, who had seen all from a window." + +The Princes left Windsor on the 14th of November, visiting the King of the +Belgians on their way home, so that King Leopold could write to his niece, +"I find them looking well, particularly Albert. It proves that happiness is +an excellent remedy to keep people in better health than any other. He is +much attached to you, and modest when speaking of you. He is besides in +great spirits, full of gaiety and fun." + +The bridegroom also sent kind words to his aunt and future mother-in-law, +as well as tender words to his cousin and bride. "Dearest aunt, a thousand +thanks for your two kind letters just received. I see from them that you +are in close sympathy with your nephew--your son-in-law soon to be--which +gratifies me very, very much.... What you say about my poor little bride +sitting all alone in her room, silent and sad, has touched me to the heart. +Oh, that I might fly to her side to cheer her!" + +"For 'the poor little bride' there was no lack of those sweet words, +touched with the grateful humility of a manly love, to receive which was a +precious foretaste to her of the happiness of the years to come." "That I +am the object of so much love and devotion often comes over me as something +I can hardly realise," wrote the Prince. "My prevailing feeling is, What am +I that such happiness should be mine? For excess of happiness it is to me +to know that I am so dear to you." Again, in referring to his grandmother's +regret at his departure he added, "Still she hopes, what I am convinced +will be the case, that I may find in you, my dear Victoria, all the +happiness I could possibly desire. And so I SHALL, I can truly tell her for +her comfort." And once more he wrote from "dear old Coburg," brimming over +with loyal joy, "How often are my thoughts with you! The hours I was +privileged to pass with you in your dear little room are the radiant points +of my life, and I cannot even yet clearly picture to myself that I am to be +indeed so happy as to be always near you, always your protector." Last and +most touching assurance of all, touching as it was solemn, when he +mentioned to the Queen that in an hour he was to take the sacrament in +church at Coburg, and went on, "God will not take it amiss, if in that +serious act, even at the altar, I think of you, for I will pray to Him for +you and for your soul's health, and He will not refuse us His blessing." + +In the meantime there was much to do in England. On the 20th of November +the Queen, with the Duchess of Kent, left Windsor for Buckingham Palace. On +the 23rd, the Council assembled there in the Bow-room on the ground floor. +The ceremony of declaring her proposed marriage was a mere form, but a very +trying form to a young and modest woman called to face alone a gathering of +eighty-three elderly gentlemen, and to make to them the announcement which +concerned herself so nearly. Of the Privy Councillors some, like the Duke +of Wellington, had known the Queen all her life, some had only served her +since she came to the throne, but all were accustomed to discuss very +different matters with her. How difficult the task was to the Queen we may +judge from the significant note. The Queen always wore a bracelet with the +Prince's picture, "and it seemed," she wrote in her Journal, "to give me +courage at the Council." Her own further account of the scene is as +follows: "Precisely at two I went in. The room was full, but I hardly knew +who was there. Lord Melbourne I saw looking kindly at me with tears in his +eyes, but he was not near me. I then read my short declaration. I felt my +hands shook, but I did not make one mistake. I felt most happy and thankful +when it was over. Lord Lansdowne then rose, and in the name of the Privy +Council asked that this most gracious and most welcome communication might +be printed. I then left the room, the whole thing not lasting above two or +three minutes. The Duke of Cambridge came into the small library where I +was standing and wished me joy." + +The Queen's declaration was to this effect: "I have caused you to be +summoned at the present time in order that I may acquaint you with my +resolution in a matter which deeply concerns the welfare of my people and +the happiness of my future life. + +"It is my intention to ally myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Deeply impressed with the solemnity of the +engagement which I am about to contract, I have not come to this decision +without mature consideration, nor without feeling a strong assurance that, +with the blessing of Almighty God, it will at once secure my domestic +felicity and serve the interests of my country. + +"I have thought fit to make this resolution known to you at the earliest +period, in order that you may be apprised of a matter so highly important +to me and to my kingdom, and which, I persuade myself, will be most +acceptable to all my loving subjects." + +The Queen returned to Windsor with the Duchess of Kent the same evening. + +On the 16th of January, 1840, the Queen opened Parliament in person, and +made a similar statement. "Since you were last assembled I have declared my +intention of allying myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. I humbly implore that the Divine blessing may +prosper this union, and render it conducive to the interests of my people +as well as to my own domestic happiness, and it will be to me a source of +the most lively satisfaction to find the resolution I have taken approved +by my Parliament. The constant proofs which I have received of your +attachment to my person and family persuade me that you will enable me to +provide for such an establishment as may appear suitable to the rank of the +Prince and the dignity of the Crown." + +To see and hear the young Queen, still only in her twenty-first year, when +she went to tell her people of her purpose, multitudes lined the streets +and cheered her on her way that wintry day, and every seat in the House +"was filled with the noblest and fairest of the land" ready to give her +quieter but not less heartfelt support. It is no mere courtly compliment to +say that Queen Victoria's marriage afforded the greatest satisfaction to +the nation at large. Not only was it a very desirable measure on political +grounds, but it appealed to the far deeper and wider feelings of humanity. +It had that touch of nature which makes the whole world kin. Sir Robert +Peel's words, when he claimed the right of the Opposition to join with the +Government in its felicitations to both sovereign and country, were not +required to convince the people that their Queen was not only making a +suitable alliance, but was marrying "for love," according to the oldest, +wisest, best plan. They knew the glad truth as if by instinct, and how +heartily high and low entered into her happiness and wished her joy! It is +said there is one spectacle which, whether the spectators own it or not, +hardly ever palls entirely even on the most hardened and worldly, the most +weary and wayworn, the poorest and most wretched--perhaps, least of all on +the last. It is a bridegroom rejoicing to leave his chamber, and a bride +blushing in her sweet bliss. There are after all only three great events in +human history which, projected forward or reflected backward, colour all +the rest--birth, marriage, and death. The most sordid or sullen population +will collect in knots, brighten a little, forget hard fate or mortal wrongs +for a moment, in the interest of seeing a wedding company go by. The +surliest, the most whining of the onlookers will spare a little relenting, +a happier thought, for "two lunatics," "a couple of young fools whose eyes +will soon be opened," "a pore delooded lad," "a soft silly of a gal;" who +are still so enviable in their brief bright day. + +What was it then to know of a pair of royal lovers--a great Queen and her +chosen Prince--well mated! It softened all hearts, it made the old young +again, with a renewing breath of late romance and tenderness. And, oh! how +the young, who are old now, gloried in that ideal marriage! What tales they +told of it, what wonderful fancies they had about it! How it knit the +hearts of the Queen and her subjects together more strongly than anything +else save common sorrow could do! for when it comes to that, sorrow is more +universal than joy, sinks deeper, and in this world lasts longer. + +Indeed, at this stage, as at every other, it was soon necessary to descend +from heaven to earth; and for the royal couple, as for the meanest of the +people, there were difficulties in connection with the arrangements, +troubles that proved both perplexing and vexatious. It may be said here +that the times were not very propitious for asking even the most just and +reasonable Parliamentary grants. The usual recurring sufferings from +insufficient harvests and from stagnation of trade were depressing the mind +of the country. Parliament was called on to act on the occasion of the +Queen's marriage, and the House was not only divided into two hostile +parties, the hostility had been envenomed by recent _contretemps_, +notably that which prevented Sir Robert Peel and the Tories from taking +office and kept in the Whig Government. The unpalatable fruits of the +embroilment had to be eaten and digested at the present crisis. Accordingly +there were carping faultfinding, and resistance--even defeat--on every +measure concerning the Prince brought before the Lords and Commons. + +The accusation of disloyal retaliation was made against the Tories. On the +other hand the Whigs in power showed such a defiant attitude, in the +absence of any attempt to conciliate their antagonists, even when the +welfare of the Government's motions, and the interests and feelings of the +Queen and the Prince demanded the first consideration, that Lord +Melbourne's party were suspected of a crafty determination to let matters +take their course for the express purpose of prejudicing Prince Albert +against the Tories, and alienating him from them in the very beginning. + +Lord Melbourne at least did not deserve this accusation. Whatever share he +had in the injudicious attitude of the Government, or in the blunders it +committed, must be attributed to the sort of high-handed carelessness which +distinguished the man. His singular fairness in the business is thus +recorded by Baron Stockmar. "As I was leaving the Palace, I met Melbourne +on the staircase. He took me aside and used the following remarkable and +true words, strongly characteristic of his great impartiality: 'The Prince +will doubtless be very much irritated against the Tories. But it is not the +Tories alone whom the Prince has to thank for the curtailment of his +appanage. It is the Tories, the Radicals, and _a good many of our own +people_.' I pressed his hand in approbation of his remarkable frankness. +I said, 'There's an honest man! I hope you will yourself say that to the +Prince.'" [Footnote: Lord Melbourne and Baron Stockmar were always on +excellent terms. At the same time the English Prime Minister was not +without a little jealousy of any suspicion of his Government being dictated +to by King Leopold.] + +Umbrage was taken by the Duke of Wellington at no mention being made of +Prince Albert's Protestantism on the notification of the marriage. With +regard to the income and position to be secured to the Prince, the nearest +precedent which could be found to guide the discussion was that of Prince +George of Denmark, husband to Queen Anne. It was halting in many respects, +such as the fact that he had married the Princess long before she was +Queen, nay, while her succession to the throne was problematical. Besides, +his character and position in the country were only respectable for their +harmlessness, and did not recommend him by way of example of any kind, +either to Queen or people. Statesmen turned rather to the settlement and +dignity accorded to Prince Leopold, when he married Princess Charlotte; but +neither was that quite a case in point. The fittest reference, so far as +income was concerned, seemed to be to the private purses allowed to the +Queen Consorts of the reigning sovereigns of England. To the three last +Queens--Caroline, Charlotte, and Adelaide, the sum of fifty thousand +pounds a year had been granted. This also was the annuity settled on +Prince Leopold. Therefore fifty thousand was the amount confidently asked +by the Government. + +After a good deal of wrangling and angry debate, in which, however, the +Queen's name was studiously respected, she and the Prince had the +mortification to learn that the country, by its representatives, had +refused the usual allowance, and voted only thirty thousand a year to the +Queen's husband. + +The same ill-fortune attended an attempt to introduce into the bill for the +naturalisation of the Prince, before the House of Lords, a clause which +should secure his taking precedence of all save the Queen. The Duke of +Sussex opposed the clause, in the interest of the King of Hanover, and so +many jealous objections were urged that it was judged better to let the +provision drop than risk a defeat in the House of Lords similar to that in +the House of Commons. The awkward alternative remained that Prince Albert's +position, so far as it had to do with the Lord Chamberlain and the Heralds' +Office, was left undecided and ambiguous. It was only by the issue of +letters patent on the Queen's part, at a later date, that any certainty on +this point could be attained even in England. + +The formation of the Prince's household, which one would think might have +been left to his own good feeling and discretion, or at least to the +Queen's judgment in acting for him, proved another bone of contention +calling forth many applications and implied claims. + +Baron Stockmar came to England in January, to see to this important element +in the Prince's independence and comfort, as well as to the signing of the +marriage contract. But in spite of the able representative, the Prince's +written wishes, judicious and liberal-minded as might have been expected, +and the Queen's desire to carry them out, at least one of the offices was +filled up in a manner which caused Prince Albert anxiety and pain. The +gentleman who had been private secretary to Lord Melbourne was appointed +private secretary to the Prince, without regard to the circumstance that +the step would appear compromising in Tory eyes--the very result which +Prince Albert had striven to avoid, and that the official would be forced, +as it were, on the Prince's intimacy without such previous acquaintance as +might have justified confidence. It was only the sterling qualities of both +Prince and secretary which obviated the natural consequences of such an +ill-judged proceeding, and ended by producing the genuine liking and honest +friendship which ought to have preceded the connection. The grudging, +suspicions, selfish spirit thus manifested on all hands, was liable to +wound the Queen in the tenderest point, and the disappointment came upon +her with a shock, since she had been rashly assured by Lord Melbourne that +there would be no difficulty either as regarded income or precedence. The +indications were not encouraging to the stranger thus met on the threshold. +But his mission was to disarm adverse criticism, to shame want of +confidence and pettiness of jealousy, to confer benefits totally +irrespective of the spirit in which they might be taken. And even by the +irritated party-men as well as by the body of the people, the Prince was to +be well received for the Queen's sake, with his merits taken for granted, +so far as that went, since the heart of the country was all right, though +its Whig and Tory temper might be at fault. + +On the 10th of January, 1840, a death instead of a marriage took place in +the royal family, but it was that of an aged member long expatriated. +Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse Homburg, died at Frankfort. It was +twenty-two years since she had married and quitted England, shortly before +the old Queen's death, a year before the birth of Queen Victoria. The +Landgravine had returned once, a widow of sixty-four, and then had gone +back to her adopted country. She had survived her husband eleven years, and +her sister, resident like herself in Germany, the Princess Royal, Queen of +Wurtemberg, twelve years. The Landgravine as Princess Elizabeth showed +artistic talent. She was famous in her middle age for her great +_embonpoint_; as she was also tall she waxed enormous. Baroness +Bunsen, when Miss Waddington, saw Princess Elizabeth, while she was still +unmarried, dressed for a Drawing-room, with five or six yellow feathers +towering above her head, and refers to her huge dimensions then. It was +alleged afterwards that it required a chain of her husband's faithful +subjects in Homburg to encompass his consort. She accommodated herself +wonderfully, though she was an elderly woman before she had ever been out +of England, to the curious quaint mixture of State and homeliness in the +little German town in which she was held in much respect and regard. The +Landgravine was seventy years of age at the time of her death. After her +widowhood she resided in Hanover, where her brother, King William, gave her +a palace, and then at Frankfort, where she died. Out of her English income +of ten thousand a year, it was said she spared six thousand for the needs +of Hesse Homburg. Its castle and English garden still retain memories of +the English princess who made her quiet home there and loved the place. + +The marriage of the Queen was fixed for the 10th of February, and many +eager, aspiring young couples throughout the country elected that it should +be their wedding-day, also. They wished that the gala of their lives should +fit in with hers, and that all future "happy returns of the day" might have +a well-known date to go by, and a State celebration to do them honour. + +Lord Torrington and Colonel--afterwards General--Grey set out for Gotha to +escort the bridegroom to England. They carried with them the Order of the +Garter, with which Prince Albert was invested by his father, himself a +Knight of the Order, amidst much ceremony. + +All the world knows that the Order of the Garter is the highest knightly +order of England, dating back to the time of Edward III., and associated +by a gay and gallant tradition with the beautiful Countess of Salisbury. +The first Chapter of the Order was held in 1340, when twenty-five knights, +headed by the King, walked in solemn procession to St. George's Chapel, +founded for their use, and for the maintenance of poor knightly brethren to +pray for the souls of the Knights-Companions--hence "the Poor Knights of +Windsor." The first Knights-Companions dedicated their arms to God and St. +George, and held a high festival and tournament in commemoration of the act +in presence of Queen Philippa and her ladies. The habit of the knights was +always distinguished by its colour, blue. Various details were added at +different times by different kings. Henry VIII. gave the collar and the +greater and lesser medallions of St. George slaying the dragon. Charles +II. introduced the blue riband. It is scarcely necessary to say that the +full dress of the knights is very magnificent. "There are the blue velvet +mantle, with its dignified sweep, the hood of crimson velvet, the heron and +ostrich-plumed cap, the gold medallion, the blazing star, the gold-lettered +garter, to all which may be added the accessories that rank and wealth have +it in their power to display; as, for example, the diamonds worn by the +Marquis of Westminster, at a recent installation, on his sword and badge +alone were Worth the price of a small kingdom; or richer still her present +Majesty's jewels, that seem to have been showered by some Eastern fairy +over her habit of the Order, among, which the most beautiful and striking +feature is, perhaps, the ruby cross in the centre of the dazzling star of +St. George." [Footnote: Knight's "Old England."] + +The whole court of Gotha was assembled to see Prince Albert get the Garter; +a hundred and one guns were fired to commemorate the auspicious occasion. +The younger Perthes, under whom the Prince had studied at Bonn, wrote of +the event, "The Grand-ducal papa bound the Garter round his boy's knee +amidst the roar of a hundred and one cannon" (the attaching of the Garter, +however, was done, not by Prince Albert's father, but by the Queen's +brother, the Prince of Leiningen, another Knight of the Order). "The +earnestness and gravity with which the Prince has obeyed this early call to +take a European position, give him dignity and standing in spite of his +youth, and increase the charm of his whole aspect." + +The investiture was followed by a grand dinner, when the Duke proposed the +Queen's health, which was drunk by all the company standing, accompanied by +several distinct flourishes of trumpets, the band playing "God save the +Queen," and the artillery outside firing a royal salute. Already the Prince +had written to the Queen, when the marriage was officially declared at +Coburg, that the day had affected him very much, so many emotions had +filled his heart. Her health had been drunk at dinner "with a tempest of +huzzas." The joy of the people had been so great that they had gone on +firing in the streets, with guns and pistols, during the whole night, so +that one might have imagined a battle was going on. This was a repetition +of that earlier festival, only rendered more emphatic and with a touch of +pathos added to it by the impending departure of Prince Albert, to lay hold +of his high destiny. The leave-takings were earnest and prolonged, with +many pretty slightly fantastic German ceremonies, and must have been hard +upon a man whose affections were so tender and tenacious. Especially +painful was the farewell to his mother's mother, the Dowager Duchess of +Gotha, who had partly reared the princely lad. She was much attached to +him, and naturally saw him go with little hope of their meeting again in +this world. + +The Prince was accompanied by his father and brother, with various friends +in their train, who, after the celebration of the marriage, were to return +to Germany. But Prince Albert carried with him--to remain in his near +neighbourhood--two old allies, whose familiar faces would be doubly welcome +in a foreign country. The one was his Swiss valet, Cart, a faithful, +devoted servant, "the best of nurses," who, had waited on his master since +the latter was a boy of seven years of age. The other was the beautiful +greyhound, Eos, jet black with the exception of a narrow white streak on +the nose and a white foot. Her master had got her as a puppy of six weeks +old, when he was a boy in his fourteenth year, and had trained the loving, +graceful creature in all imaginable canine, sagacity and cleverness. She +had been the constant companion of his youth. She had already come to +England with him, on the decisive visit of the previous autumn, and was +known and dear to his royal mistress. + +It was severe wintry weather when the great cavalcade, in eight travelling +carriages, set out for England, and took its way across Germany, Belgium, +and the north of France, to the coast The whole journey assumed much of the +character of a festive procession. At each halting-place crowds turned out +to do the princes honour. Every court and governing body welcomed them +with demonstrations of respect and rejoicing. But at Aix-la-Chapelle, in a +newspaper which he came across, Prince Albert read the debates and votes in +the Houses of Parliament that cut down the ordinary annuity of the English +sovereign's consort, and left unsettled the question of his position in the +country. The first disappointment told in two ways. Young and +sensitive--though he was also resolute and cheerful-minded--he had been a +little nervous beforehand about the reception which might be accorded to +him in England; he now received a painful impression that the marriage was +not popular with the people. He had indulged in generous dreams of the +assistance and encouragement which he would be able to bestow on men of +letters and artists, when he suddenly found his resources curtailed to +nearly half the amount he had been warranted in counting upon. However, at +Brussels, the next halting-place, in writing to the Queen, and frankly +admitting his mortification at the words and acts of the majority of the +members of both English Houses of Parliament, he could add with perfect +sincerity, "All I have time to say is, that while I possess your love they +cannot make me unhappy." + +And King Leopold was there with his sensible, calming counsel, while Baron +Stockmar had been careful to have a letter awaiting the Prince, which +explained the undercurrent of political, not personal, motives that had +influenced the debates. + +In fact, so far from being unpopular, the Prince, who was the Queen's +choice, was really the most acceptable of all her suitors in the eyes of +her people. The sole serious objection urged against him in those days was +that of his youth, a fault which was not only daily lessening, but was +speedily forgotten in the conviction of the manly and serious attention to +duty on his part which he quickly inspired. + +On the 5th of February the party arrived at Calais. Lord Clarence Paget had +been sent over with the _Firebrand_ to await their arrival, but the +usual difficulties of an adverse tide and an insufficient French harbour +presented themselves, and the company had to sail on the morning of the 6th +in one of the ordinary Dover packet-boats, under a strong gale from the +south-east, with a heavy sea, which rendered the horrors of the Channel +crossing, at the worst, what only those who have experienced them can +realise. + +The Prince, like most natives of inland Germany, had been little inured to +sailing, and his constitution rendered him specially liable to +sea-sickness. As a lad of seventeen, facing the insidious and repulsive foe +for the first time, he had expressed his own and his brother's dread of the +unequal encounter. Now he was doomed to feel its ignoble clutch to the last +moment. "The Duke had gone below, and on either side of the cabin staircase +lay the two princes in an almost helpless state." + +It was in such unpropitious circumstances that Prince Albert had to rise, +pull himself together, and bow his acknowledgements to the crowds on the +pier ready to greet him. Who that has rebelled against the calm +superiority of the comfortable; amused onlookers at the haggard, giddy +sufferers reeling on shore from the disastrous crossing of a stormy ferry, +cannot comprehend the ordeal! + +The Prince surmounted it gallantly, anticipating the time when, at the call +of work or duty, he was known to rise to any effort, to shake off fatigue +and indisposition as if he had been the most muscular of giants, and to +make a brave fight to the last against deadly illness. He had his reward. +The raw inclement day, the disabling, discomfiting malady--which had +appeared in themselves a bad beginning, an inhospitable introduction to his +future life--the recent misgivings he had entertained, were all forgotten +in the enthusiastic reception he received before he put foot on land. A +kind heart responds readily to kindness, and the Prince felt, in spite of +parliamentary votes, the people were glad to see him, with an overflowing +gladness. + +It had been fixed that the Prince should not arrive at Buckingham Palace +till the 8th. Accordingly there was time for the much-needed rest and +refreshment, and for a leisurely conclusion of the long journey. The +travellers stayed that night at Dover, the next at Canterbury, the Prince +beginning the long list of fatiguing ceremonials which he was to undergo in +the days to come, by receiving addresses, holding a reception, and showing +himself on the balcony, as well as by the quieter, more congenial interlude +of attending afternoon service in Canterbury Cathedral with his brother. +The weather was still bad; pouring rain had set in, but it could not damp +the spirit of the holiday-makers. As for the hero of the holiday, he was +chafing, lover-like, at the formal delay which was all that interposed +between him and a blissful reunion. He wrote to the Queen before starting +for Canterbury, "Now I am once more in the same country with you. What a +delightful thought for me. It will be hard for me to have to wait till +to-morrow evening. Still, our long parting has flown by so quickly, and +to-morrow's dawn will soon be here.... Our reception has been most +satisfactory. There were thousands of people on the quays, and they saluted +pus with loud and uninterrupted cheers.". + +From Canterbury Prince Albert sent on his valet, Cart, with the greyhound +Eos. "Little Dash," if Dash still lived, was to have a formidable rival, +and the Queen speaks in her Journal of the pleasure which the sight of +"dear Eos," the evening before the arrival of the Prince, gave her." +[Footnote: Early Years of the Prince Consort.] Words are not wanted to +picture the bright little scene, the light interruption to "affairs of the +State," always weighty, often harassing, the gay reaction, the hearty +unceremonious recognition on both sides, the warm welcome to the gentle +_avant courier._ This was not a great queen, but a gleeful girl at the +height of her happiness, who stroked with white taper hand the sleek black +head, looked eagerly into the fond eyes, perhaps went so far as to hug the +humble friend, stretching up fleet shapely paws, wildly wagging a slender +tail, uttering sharp little yelps of delight to greet her. What wealth of +cherished associations, of thrice happy realisation, the mere presence +there, once more of "only a dog," brought to the mistress of the palace, +the lady of the land! + +On Saturday, the 8th of the month, Prince Albert proceeded to London, being +cordially greeted along the whole road by multitudes flocking from every +town and village to see him and shout their approval. At half-past four, in +the pale light of a February afternoon, the travellers arrived at +Buckingham Palace, "and were received at the hall door by the Queen and the +Duchess of Kent, attended by the whole household," to whom a worthy master +had come. The fullness of satisfaction and perfect joy of the meeting to +two in the company are sacred. + +An hour after his arrival the oath of naturalisation was administered to +the Prince, "and the day ended with a great State dinner. Sunday was a rest +day. Divine service was performed by the Bishop of London in the Bow-room +on the ground floor--the same room in which the Queen had met her assembled +Council in the course of the previous November, and announced to them her +intended marriage. Afterwards the Prince drove out and paid the visits +required of him to the different members of the royal family. In spite of +the season and weather, throngs of Londoners surrounded the Palace, and +watched and cheered him as he went and came. That day the Queen and Prince +exchanged their wedding gifts. She gave him the star and badge of the +Garter and the Garter set in diamonds, and he gave her a sapphire and +diamond brooch. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +THE MARRIAGE. + + +The 10th of February rose dark and foggy, with a lowering sky discharging +at frequent intervals heavy showers. But to many a loyal heart far beyond +the sound of Bow bells the date brought a thrill of glad consciousness +which was quite independent of the weather. What mattered dreary skies or +stinging sleet! This was the day on which the young Queen was to wed the +lover of her youth, the man of her choice. + +The marriage was to take place at noon, not in the evening, like former +royal weddings, and the change was a great boon to the London public. +During the busy morning, Prince Albert found time for a small act, which +was nevertheless full of manly reverence for age and weakness, of mindful, +affectionate gratitude for old and tender cares which had often made his +childhood and youth happy. He wrote a few lines to the loving, venerable +kinswoman who had performed the part of second mother to him, who had +grieved so sorely over their parting. + +"In less than three hours I shall stand before the altar with my dear +bride. In these solemn moments I must once more ask your blessing, which I +am well assured I shall receive, and which will be my safeguard and my +future joy. I must end. God help me (or, rather, God be my stay!), your +faithful Grandson." The Prince wrote a similar letter, showing how +faithfully he recollected her on the crowning day of his life, to his good +stepmother, the Duchess of Coburg. + +Among the innumerable discussions on the merits or demerits of the Prince +when he was first proposed as the husband for the Queen of England, there +had not been wanting in a country where religion is generally granted to be +a vital question, and where religious feuds, like other feuds, rage high, +sundry probings as to the Prince's Christianity--what form he held, whether +he might not be a Roman Catholic, whether he were a Christian at all, and +might not rather be an infidel? Seeing that the Prince belonged to a +Christian and to one of the most Protestant royal families in Europe, that +he had been regularly trained in Christian and Lutheran doctrines, and had +made a public profession of his belief in the same--a profession which his +practice had in no way contradicted--these suppositions were, to say the +least, uncalled for, and not remarkable for liberality or charity. It is +easy to answer them substantially. The Prince, reserving his Protestant +right of private judgment on all points of his belief, was a deeply +religious man, as indicated throughout his career, at every stage, in every +event of his life. It is hardly possible even for an irreligious man to +conceive that Prince Albert could have been what he was without faith and +discipline. His biographer has with reason quoted the "God be my stay!" in +the light of the sincerity of the man, in a letter written in the flush of +his joy and the very fruition of his desires, as one of the innumerable +proofs that the Prince lived consciously and constantly under the +all-seeing eye of an Almighty Father. + +There were two main points from which out-of-door London could gaze its +fill on the gala. The one was St. James's Park, from which the people could +see the bride and bridegroom drive from Buckingham Palace to St. James's, +where the marriage was to take place, according to old usage, and back +again to Buckingham Palace for the wedding breakfast; the other was the +Green Park, Constitution Hill, Hyde Park, and Piccadilly, by which most of +the guests were to arrive to the wedding. The last point also commanded the +route which the young couple would take to Windsor. + +It was said that, never since the allied sovereigns visited London in 1814 +had such a concourse of human beings made the parks alive, as on this wet +February morning, when a dismal solitude was changed to an animated scene, +full of life and motion. _The Times_ described the mass of spectators +wedged in at the back of Carlton Terrace and the foot of Constitution Hill, +and the multitude of chairs, tables, benches, even casks, pressed info. The +service, and affording vantage-ground to those who could pay for the +accommodation. The dripping trees were also rendered available, and had +their branches so laden with human fruit, that brittle boughs gave way, +while single specimens and small clusters of men and boys came rattling +down on the heads and shoulders of confiding fellow-creatures; but such +misadventures were without serious accident, and simply afforded additional +entertainment to the self-invited, light-hearted wedding guests. + +Parties of cavalry and infantry taking their places, with "orderlies +dashing to and fro," lent colour and livelier action to the panorama. At +the same time the military were not a very prominent feature in the +picture, and the State element was also to some extent wanting. Some state +was inevitable, but after all the marriage of the sovereign was not so much +a public ceremonial as a private event in her life. As early as eight +o'clock in the morning the comparatively limited number of invited guests +began to contribute to the satisfaction of the great uninvited by driving +up beneath the triumphal arch, and presenting their pink or white cards for +inspection. A body of Foot Guards marched forwards, followed by a +detachment of the Horse Guards Blue, with their band discoursing wedding +music appropriate to the occasion, cheering the hearts of the cold, soaked +crowd, and awaking an enthusiastic response from it. Then appeared various +members of the nobility, including the Duke of Norfolk, coming always to +the front as Grand Marshal, wearing his robe and carrying his staff of +office, when the rest of the world were in comparative undress, as more or +less private individuals. But this gentleman summed up in his own person +"all the blood of all the Howards," and recalled his ancestors great and +small--the poet Earl of Surrey, those Norfolks to whom Mary Tudor and Mary +Stuart were alike fatal, and that Dicky or Dickon of Norfolk who lent a +humorous strain to the tragic tendency of the race. + +The Ministers and Foreign Ambassadors came singly or in groups. The +Ministers, with one or two exceptions, wore the Windsor uniform, blue +turned up with an oak-leaf edging in gold. Viscount Morpeth, Lord John +Russell, the Marquis of Normanby, Lord Palmerston, Lord Holland, Lord +Melbourne, were well-known figures. The good-natured Duke of Cambridge +arrived with his family and suite in three royal carriages. He wore the +Orders of the Garter, and the Bath, and carried his baton as Field-Marshal. +The Duke of Sussex was in the uniform of Captain-General of the Artillery +Company, and wore the Orders of the Garter, the Bath, and St. Andrew. He +had on his black skull-cap as usual, and drove up in a single carriage. He +had opposed the clause relating to Prince Albert's taking precedence of +all, save the Queen, in the Naturalisation Bill. He was to make further +objection to the husband's occupying his natural place by the side of his +wife when the Queen opened and prorogued Parliament, and to the Prince's +rights in the Regency Bill. All the same, by right of birth and years, the +Duke of Sussex was to give away his royal niece. + +Before eleven o'clock, the Gentlemen and Ladies of the Household were in +readiness at Buckingham Palace. The Ladies started first for St. James's. +The Gentlemen of the foreign suites--Prince Albert's, and his father's, and +brother's--in their dark-blue and dark-green uniforms, mustered in the +hall, and dispatched a detachment to receive the Prince on his arrival at +the other palace. At a quarter to twelve notice was sent to Prince Albert +in his private apartments, and he came forth "like a bridegroom," between +his royal supporters, traversed the State-rooms, and descended the grand +staircase, preceded by the Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain, Comptroller of +the Household, equerries and ushers. He was received with eager clappings +of hands and wavings of handkerchiefs. The Prince was dressed in the +uniform of a British Field-Marshal, and wore only one decoration, that of +the Garter, with the collar surmounted by two white rosettes, and his +bride's gifts of the previous day, the George and Star set in diamonds, on +his breast, and the diamond-embroidered Garter round his knee. His pale, +handsome face, with its slight brown moustache, his slender yet manly +figure would have become any dress. Indeed, his general appearance, full of +"thoughtful grace and quiet dignity," impressed every honest observer most +favourably. We can imagine Baron Stockmar watching keenly in the background +to catch every furtive glance and remark, permitting himself to rub his +hands and exclaim, with sober exultation, "He is liked!" + +Prince Albert's father and brother, his dearest friends hitherto, walked +beside him. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with his fatherly heart +swelling high, must have looked like one of the quaint stately figures out +of old German prints in his long, military boots, the same as those of the +Life Guards, and his dark-green uniform turned up with red. He, too, wore +the collar and star of the Garter, and the star of his own Order of Coburg +Gotha. On the other side of the bridegroom walked Prince Ernest. The +wedding was next in importance to him to what it was to his brother, while +to the elder playing the secondary part of the couple so long united in +every act of their young lives, the marriage ceremony of his other self, +which was to deal the decisive blow in the cleaving asunder of the old +double existence, must have been full of very mingled feelings of joy and +sorrow, pleasure and pain. Prince Ernest was a fine young man, in whose +face, possibly a little stern in its repressed emotion, _The Times_ +reporter imagined he saw more determination than could be found in the +milder aspect of Prince Albert, not guessing how much strength of will and +patient steadfastness might be bound up with gentle courtesy. Prince Ernest +was in a gay light-blue and silver uniform, and carried his helmet in his +hand. + +When the group came down the stairs, some privileged company, including a +few ladies, stationed behind the Yeoman Guard and about the entrance, +clapped their hands and waved their congratulations, and as Prince Albert +entered the carriage which was to take him and his father and brother to +St. James's, he received for the first time all the honours paid to the +Queen. Trumpets sounded, colours were lowered, and arms presented. A +squadron of Life Guards attended the party, but as the carriage was closed +its occupants were not generally recognised. + +As soon as the Lord Chamberlain had returned from escorting the Prince, six +royal carriages, each with two horses, were drawn up before the entrance to +Buckingham Palace, and his Lordship informed the Queen that all was ready +for her. Accordingly, her Majesty left her room leaning on the arm of Lord +Uxbridge, the Lord Chamberlain. She was supported by her mother, the +Duchess of Kent, and followed by a page of honour. The various officers of +the Household--the Earl of Belfast, Vice-Chamberlain; the Earl of +Albemarle, Master of the Horse; Lord Torrington, Comptroller and Treasurer, +&c., walked in advance. + +The Queen wore a bride's white satin and orange blossoms, a simple wreath +of orange blossoms on her fair hair. Her magnificent veil of Honiton lace +did not cover the pale face, but fell on each side of the bent head. Her +ornaments were the diamond brooch which had been the gift of the +bridegroom, diamond earrings and necklace, and the collar and insignia of +the Garter. She looked well in her natural agitation, for, indeed, she was +a true woman at such a moment. She was shy and a little shrinking as became +a bride, and her eyes were swollen with recent tears--an illustration of +the wise old Scotch proverb, "A greetin' (weeping) bride's a happy bride." +Here were no haughty indifference, no bold assurance, no thoughtless, +heartless gaiety, + + A creature breathing thoughtful breath, + A traveller 'twixt life and death. + +A maiden leaving one stage of her life, with all its past treasures of +affection and happiness, for ever behind her, and going forward, in loving +hope and trust, no doubt, yet still in uncertainty of what the hidden +future held in store for her of weal and woe, to meet her wifely destiny. +As she came down into her great hall she was welcomed with fervent +acclamations, but for once she was absorbed in herself, and the usual +frank, gracious response was not accorded to the tribute. Her eyes were +fixed on the ground; "a hurried glance round, and a slight inclination of +the head," were all the signs she gave. + +The Duchess of Kent, the good mother who had opened her heart to her nephew +as to a son, from the May-day when he came to Kensington, who had every +reason to rejoice in the marriage, still shared faithfully in her +daughter's perturbation. However glad the Duchess might be, it was still a +troubled gladness, for she had long experience. She knew that this day +closed the morning glory of a life, brought change, a greater fullness of +being, but with the fullness increased duties and obligations, more to +dread, as well as more to hope, a heavier burden, though there was a true +friend to share it. Illusions would vanish, and though reality is better +than illusion to all honest hearts, who would not spare a sigh to the +bright dreams of youth--too bright with a rainbow-hued radiance and a +golden mist of grand expectations, dim in their grandeur, ever to be +fulfilled in this work-a-day world? And the Duchess was conscious that the +mother who gives a daughter away, even to the best of sons, resigns the +first place in that daughter's heart, the first right to her time, +thoughts, and confidence. Queen Victoria belonged to her people, but after +that great solemn claim she had till now belonged chiefly to her mother. +Little wonder that the kind Duchess looked "disconsolate" in the middle of +her content! + +The Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of Sutherland drove in the carriage +with her Majesty "at a slow pace," for the royal bride, even on her +bridal-day, owed herself to her subjects, while a strong escort of +Household cavalry prevented the pressure of the shouting throng from +becoming overpowering. + +On the arrival of the Queen at St. James's Palace she proceeded to her +closet behind the Throne-room, where she remained, attended by her maids of +honour and train-bearers, until the Lord Chamberlain announced that all was +ready for the procession to the chapel. + +Old St. James's had been the scene of many a royal wedding. Besides that of +Queen Mary, daughter of James II. and Anne Hyde, who was married to William +of Orange at eleven o'clock at night in her bedchamber, Anne and George of +Denmark were married, in more ordinary fashion, in the chapel. Following +their example, the daughters of George II. and Queen Caroline--another +Anne, the third English princess who was given to a Prince of Orange, and +who was so ready to consent to the contract that she declared she would +have him though he were a baboon, and her sister Mary, who was united to +the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, were both married here; so was their +brother, Frederick, Prince of Wales, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Coburg. +Prince Albert was the third of the Coburg line who wedded with the royal +house of England. Already there were two strains of Saxe-Coburg blood in +the veins of the sovereign of these realms. The last, and probably the most +disastrous, marriage which had been celebrated in St. James's was that of +George Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Caroline of Brunswick. + +The portions of the palace in use for the marriage included the Presence +Chamber, Queen Anne's Drawing-room, the Guard-room, the Grand Staircase, +with the Colonnade, the Chapel Royal, and the Throne-room. On the Queen's +marriage-day, rooms, staircase, and colonnade were lined with larger and +smaller galleries for the accommodation of privileged spectators. The seats +had crimson cushions with gold-coloured fringe, warming up the cold light +and shade of a February day, while the white and gay-coloured dresses of +the ladies and the number of wedding favours contributed to the gaiety of +the scene. A Queen's wedding favours were not greatly different from those +of humbler persons, and consisted of the stereotyped white riband, silver +lace, and orange blossoms, except where loyalty indulged in immense +bouquets of riband, and "massive silver bullion, having in the centre what +might almost be termed branches of orange blossoms." The most eccentrically +disposed favours seem to have been those of the mace-bearers, whose white +"knots" were employed to tie up on the wearers' shoulders the large gold +chains worn with the black dress of the officials. The uniformity of the +gathering was broken by "burly Yeomen of the Guard, with their massive +halberts, slim Gentlemen-at-Arms with their lighter 'partisans,'.... +elderly pages of State, almost infantile pages of honour, officers of the +Lord Chamberlain's Office, officers of the Woods and Forests, embroidered +heralds and shielded cuirassiers, robed prelates, stoled priests, and +surpliced singing-boys." + +Among the guests, though not in the procession, loudly cheered as on other +occasions, was the Duke of Wellington, who had seen the bride christened. +People thought they noticed him bending under his load of years, tottering +to the last step of all, but the old soldier was still to grace many a +peaceful ceremony. In his company, far removed this day from the smoke of +cannon and the din of battle, walked more than one gallant brother-in-arms, +the Marquis of Anglesey, Lord Hill, &c. + +The chapel was also made sumptuous for the occasion. Its carved and painted +roof was picked out anew. The space within the chancel was lined and hung +with crimson velvet, the communion-table covered with magnificent gold +plate. + +The Queen's procession began with drums and trumpets, and continued with +pursuivants, heralds, pages, equeries, and the different officers of the +Household till it reached the members of the Royal Family. These ranged +from the farthest removed in relationship, Princess Sophia of Gloucester, +through the Queen's young cousins in the Cambridge family, with much +admiration bestowed on the beautiful child, Princess Mary, and the +exceedingly attractive young girl, Princess Augusta, to another and a +venerable Princess Augusta--one of the elder daughters of George III., an +aged lady upwards of seventy, who then made her final appearance in public. +Doubtless she had been among the company who were present at the last royal +marriage in St. James's, on the night of the 8th of April, 1795, forty-five +years before, a marriage so widely removed in every particular from this +happy wedding. The two royal Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex walked next, the +Lord Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain, with Lord Melbourne between, bearing +the Sword of State before the Queen. + +Her Majesty's train was carried by twelve unmarried ladies, her +bridesmaids. Five of these, Lady Fanny Cowper, Lady Mary Grimston, Lady +Adelaide Paget, Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox, and Lady Catherine Stanhope, +had been among her Majesty's train-bearers at the coronation. Of the three +other fair train-bearers on that occasion, one at least, Lady Anne +Wentworth Fitzwilliam, was already a wedded wife. The remaining seven +bridesmaids were Lady Elizabeth West, Lady Eleanor Paget, Lady Elizabeth +Howard, Lady Ida Hay, Lady Jane Bouverie, Lady Mary Howard, and Lady Sarah +Villiers. These noble maidens were in white satin like their royal +mistress, but for her orange blossoms they wore white roses. Still more +than on their former appearance together, the high-bred English loveliness +of the party attracted universal admiration. + +The Master of the Horse and the Mistress of the Robes, the Ladies of the +Bedchamber, Maids of Honour, and Women of the Bedchamber followed, closed +in by Yeomen of the Guard and Gentlemen-at-Arms. + +In the chapel there had been a crowd of English nobility and foreign +ambassadors awaiting the arrival of Prince Albert, when at twenty minutes +past twelve he walked up the aisle, carrying a prayer-book covered with +green velvet. He advanced, bowing to each side, followed by his supporters +to the altar-rail, before which stood four chairs of State, provided for +the Queen, the Prince, and, to right and left of them, Queen Adelaide and +the Duchess of Kent. The Queen-dowager was in her place, wearing a dress of +purple velvet and ermine; the bridegroom kissed her hand and entered into +conversation with her, while his father and brother took their seats near +him. + +The Queen entered the chapel at twenty-five minutes to one, and immediately +proceeded to her chair in front of the altar-rails. She knelt down and +prayed, and then seated herself. Her mother was on her left side. Behind +her stood her bridesmaids and train-bearers. On stools to right and left +sat the members of the Royal Family. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the +Bishop of London were already at the altar. In a few minutes the Queen and +the Prince advanced to the communion-table. The service was the beautiful, +simple service of the Church of England, unchanged in any respect. In reply +to the question, "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" the +Duke of Sussex presented himself. The Christian-names "Albert" and +"Victoria" were all the names used. Both Queen and Prince answered +distinctly and audibly. The Prince undertook to love, comfort, and honour +his wife, to have and to hold her for better, for worse, for richer, for +poorer; the Queen promised to obey as well as to love and cherish her +husband till death them did part, like any other pair plighting their +troth. When the ring was put on the finger, at a concerted signal the Park +and Tower guns fired a royal salute and all London knew that her Majesty +was a married woman. + +The usual congratulations were exchanged amongst the family party before +they re-formed themselves into the order of procession. The Duke of Sussex +in his character of father kissed his niece heartily on the cheek besides +shaking her by the hand. The Queen stepped quickly across and kissed her +aunt, Queen Adelaide, whose hand Prince Albert saluted again. The +procession returned in the same order, except that the bride and bridegroom +walked side by side and hand in hand, the wedding-ring being seen on the +ungloved hand. Her Majesty spoke once or twice to Lord Uxbridge, the Lord +Chamberlain, as if expressing her wishes with regard to the procession. Her +paleness had been succeeded by a little flush, and she was smiling +brightly. On the appearance of the couple they were received with clapping +of hands and waving of handkerchiefs. In the Throne-room the marriage was +attested and the register signed "on a splendid table prepared for the +purpose." + +The whole company then repaired to Buckingham Palace, Prince Albert driving +in the carriage with the Queen. The sight of the pair was hailed everywhere +along the short route with loud cheering, to the joyous sound of which "the +Queen walked up the grand staircase, in the presence of her court, leaning +on her husband's arm." + +An eye-witness--the Dowager Lady Lyttelton, who, both as a Lady of the +Bedchamber and Governess to the royal children, knew the Queen and Prince +well--has recorded her impression of the chief actor in the scene. "The +Queen's look and manner were very pleasing, her eyes much swollen with +tears, but great happiness in her countenance, and her look of confidence +and comfort at the Prince when they walked away as man and wife was very +pleasing to see. I understand she is in extremely high spirits since; such +a new thing to her to _dare_ to be unguarded in conversation with +anybody, and, with her frank and fearless nature, the restraints she has +hitherto been under from one reason or another with everybody must have +been most painful." The wedding-breakfast with the toast of the day +followed, then the departure for Windsor, on which the skies smiled, for +the clouds suddenly cleared away and the sun shone out on the journey and +the many thousand spectators on the way. + +The Queen and Prince drove in one of the five carriages--four of which +contained the suite inseparable from a couple of such rank. The first +carriage conveyed the Ladies in Waiting, succeeded by a party of cavalry. +The travelling chariot came next in order, and was enthusiastically hailed, +bride and bridegroom responding graciously to the acclamations. Her +Majesty's travelling dress was bridal-like: a pelisse of white satin +trimmed with swans' down, a white satin bonnet and feather. The Prince was +in dark clothes. The party left before four, but did not arrive at Windsor +till nearly seven--long after darkness had descended on the landscape. Eton +and Windsor were in the height of excitement, in a very frenzy of +rejoicing. The travellers wended their way through a living mass in +brilliantly illuminated streets, amidst the sending up of showers of +rockets, the ringing of bells, the huzzaing of the people, the glad +shouting of the Eton boys. Her Majesty was handed from the carriage by the +Prince, she took his arm and the two entered the castle after a right royal +welcome home. + +Elizabeth Barrett Browning celebrated this event also in her eloquent +fashion. + + "She vows to love who vowed to rule, the chosen at her side, + Let none say 'God preserve the Queen,' but rather 'Bless the Bride.' + None blow the trump, none bend the knee, none violate the dream + Wherein no monarch but a wife, she to herself may seem; + Or if you say, 'Preserve the Queen,' oh, breathe it inward, low-- + She is a _woman_ and _beloved_, and 'tis enough but so. + Count it enough, thou noble Prince, who tak'st her by the hand, + And claimest for thy lady-love our Lady of the land. + And since, Prince Albert, men have called thy spirit high and rare, + And true to truth and brave for truth as some at Augsburg were, + We charge thee by thy lofty thoughts and by thy poet-mind, + Which not by glory and degree takes measure of mankind, + Esteem that wedded hand less dear for sceptre than for ring, + And hold her uncrowned womanhood to be the royal thing." + +Up in London and all over the country there were feasts and galas for rich +and poor. There was a State banquet, attended by very high and mighty +company, in the Banqueting-room at St. James's. Grand dinners were given by +the members of the Cabinet; the theatres were free for the night to great +and small; at each the National Anthem was sung amidst deafening applause; +at Drury Lane there was a curious emblematical ballet--like a revival of +the old masques, ending with a representation of the Queen and Prince +surrounded by fireworks, which no doubt afforded immense satisfaction to +the audience. + +The Queen's wedding-cake was three hundred pounds in weight, three yards in +circumference, and fourteen inches in depth. In recognition of the national +interest of the wedding, the figure of Hymen, on the top, was replaced by +Britannia in the act of blessing the royal pair, who, as a critic observed, +were represented somewhat incongruously in the costume of ancient Rome. At +the feet of the image of Prince Albert, several inches high, lay a dog, the +emblem of fidelity. At the feet of the image of her Majesty nestled a pair +of turtle-doves, the token of love and felicity. A Cupid wrote in a volume, +spread open on his knees, for the edification of the capering Cupids +around, the auspicious "10th of February, 1840," the date of the marriage; +and there were the usual bouquets of white flowers, tied with true lovers' +knots of white riband, to be distributed to the guests at the wedding +breakfast and kept as mementoes of the event. + +There were other trophies certain to be cherished and preserved among +family treasures, and perhaps shown to future generations, as we sometimes +see, turning up in museums and art collections, relics of the marriages of +Mary Tudor and Catharine of Aragon. These were the bridesmaids' brooches. +They were the royal gift to the noble maidens, several of whom had, two +years before, received rings from the same source to commemorate the +services of the train-bearers at the Coronation. These brooches were in the +shape of a bird, the body being formed entirely of turquoises, the eyes +were rubies, and the beak a diamond, the claws were of pure gold, and +rested on pearls of great size and value. The design and workmanship were +according to the Queen's directions. + +The twelve beautiful girls who received the gifts have since fulfilled +their various destinies--each has "dreed her weird," according to the +solemn, sad old Scotch phrase. Some, perhaps the happiest, have passed +betimes into the silent land; the survivors are elderly women, with +granddaughters as lovely as they themselves were in their opening day. One +became a princess--Lady Sarah Villiers married Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. +Two are duchesses--Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, Duchess of Bedford; and +Lady Catherine Stanhope, married first to Lord Dalmeny, eldest son of the +Earl of Rosebery, and secondly to the Duke of Cleveland. Three are +countesses--Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox, Countess of Bessborough; Lady Mary +Grimston, Countess of Radnor; and Lady Ida Hay, Countess of Gainsborough. +Lady Fanny Cowper, whose beauty was much admired by Leslie, the painter, +married Lord Jocelyn, eldest son of the Earl of Roden. Lord Jocelyn was +one of the victims to cholera in 1854. He was seized while on duty at +Buckingham Palace, and died after two hours' illness in Lady Palmerston's +drawing-room. Lady Mary Howard became the wife of Baron Foley. One +bridesmaid, Lady Jane Bouverie, married a simple country gentleman, Mr. +Ellis, of Glenaquoich. + + + +CHAPTER IX. +A ROYAL PAIR. + + +The Queen and the Prince were only one whole day holding state by +themselves at Windsor. It is not given to a royal couple to flee away into +the wilds or to shut themselves up from their friends and the world like +meaner people; whether a prolonged interval of retirement be spent in +smiling or in sulking, according to cynical bachelors and spinsters, it is +not granted to kings and queens. On the single day of grace which her +Majesty claimed she wrote to Baron Stockmar the emphatic estimate of the +man of her choice. "There cannot exist a dearer, purer, nobler being in the +world than the Prince." A young bride's fond judgment; but to her was given +the deep joy of finding that time only confirmed the proud and glad +conviction of that first day of wedlock. + +On Wednesday, the 12th, the royal couple at Windsor were rejoined by the +Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Coburg, the hereditary Prince, and the whole +Court. Then two more days of holiday were spent with something of the +heartiness of old times, when brides and bridegrooms did not seem either as +if they were ashamed of their happiness or too selfish to share it with +their friends. No doubt there were feasting and toasting, and there was +merry dancing each night. + +On Friday, the 14th, the Court returned to London, that the principal +person might gratify the people by appearing in public and that she might +take up once more the burden of a sovereign's duties. Addresses were +received from the Houses of Parliament. The theatres were visited in +state. On the 19th of the month the Queen held her first levee after her +marriage, when the Prince took his place at her left hand. On Sunday, the +20th, the newly-married couple attended divine service together in the +Chapel Royal, St. James's, and were loudly cheered on their way through the +Park. + +Buckingham Palace was to continue the Queen's town residence, but St. +James's, by virtue of its seniority in age and priority in historical +associations, remained for a considerable time the theatre of all the State +ceremonials which were celebrated in town until gradually modifications of +the rule were established. A chapel was fitted up in Buckingham Palace, +which accommodated the household in comparative privacy, and prevented the +inconvenience of driving in all states of the health and the weather for +public worship at the neighbouring palace chapel. It was found that there +was better accommodation for holding Drawing-rooms, and less crowding and +inconvenience to the ladies attending them, when the Drawing-rooms were +held at Buckingham Palace instead of St. James's. The levees are nearly all +that is left to St. James's, in addition to the fact that it contains the +offices of the Lord Chamberlain, &c. But the place where her Majesty was +proclaimed Queen and wedded deserves a parting word. + +The visitor to St. James's passes up the great staircase, which has been +trodden by the feet of so many generations, bound on such different +errands. Here and there, from a picture-frame high up on the wall, a +painted face looks down immovably on the comings and goings below. The +Guard-room has a few stands of glittering arms and one or two women's +portraits; altogether a different Guard-room from what it must have been +when it received its name. Beyond is the Armoury, where arms bristle in +sheaves and piles, surmounted by hauberks and casques, smooth and polished +as if they had never been dinted in battle or rusted with blood. Queen +Anne's Drawing-room, spacious and stately, is resplendent in yellow satin. +Old St. James's has sustained a recent renovation, its faded gorgeousness +has been renewed, not without a difficult compromise between the +unhesitating magnificence of the past and the subdued taste of the present +day. The compromise is honourable to the taste of the decorator, for there +is no stinting of rich effect, stinting which would have been out of place, +in the great doors, picked out and embossed, the elaborately devised and +wrought walls and ceilings, the huge chandeliers, &c. But warm, deep +crimson is relieved by cool pale green, and sage wainscot meets the dull +red of feathery leaves on other walls. The Queen's Closet, which misses its +meaning when it is called a boudoir, with the steel-like embroidery on its +walls, matching the grey blue of its cut velvet hangings, recalls the +natural pauses in a busy life, when the Queen awaits the call of public +duty, or withdraws for a breathing space from the pressure of fatiguing +obligations. + +In more than one of the principal rooms there are low brass screens or +railings drawn across the room, to be used as barricades; and the +uninitiated hears with due respect that behind those the ambassadors are +supposed to congregate, while these fence the approach to the throne. + +In spite of such precautions, large Drawing-rooms became latterly +hard-pressed crowds struggling to make their way, and the State-rooms of +Buckingham Palace were put in request as affording better facilities for +these ceremonies. + +There is a picture gallery where a long row of Kings and Queens, in their +full-length portraits, stand like Banquo's descendants. The portraits begin +with that of bluff King Hal, very bluff and strident. According to Mr. +Hare's account, which he has taken from Holinshed, Henry VIII. got St. +James's when it was an hospital for "fourteen maidens that were leprous," +and having pensioned off the sisters, "reared a fine mansion and park" in +the room of the hospital. The picture of his young son is a quaint, slim +edition of his father. There is a sad and stiff Mary Tudor, who laid down +her embittered and brokenhearted life in this palace, and by her side, as +she seldom was in the flesh, a high-ruffed, yellow-haired, peaked-chinned +Elizabeth--a noble shrew. The British Solomon has the sword-proof padding +of his doublet and trunk hose very conspicuous. A wide contrast is a +romantic, tragic King Charles, with a melancholy remembrance in his long +face and drooping eyes of the day when he bade farewell to the world at St. +James's and left it for the scaffold at Whitehall. His swarthy periwigged +sons balance the sister queens, Mary and Anne. St. James's, like Kensington +and Hampton Court, seems somehow peculiarly associated with them. Though +other and more striking royal figures dwelt there both before and after the +two last of the reigning Stuarts, they have left a distinct impression of +themselves, together with a Sir Peter Lely and a Sir Godfrey Kneller +flavour about all the more prominent quarters of the palace. The likenesses +of Mary and Anne occur as they must have appeared before they lost the +comeliness of youth, when St. James's was their home, the house of their +father, the Duke of York and Anne his Duchess, where the two sisters wedded +in turn a princely hero and a princely nobody. + +In the Throne-room, amidst the portraits of later sovereigns to which royal +robes and the painter's art have supplied an adventitious dignity, there +are fine likenesses of the Queen and Prince Albert, which must have been +taken soon after their marriage, when they were in the first bloom of their +youth and happiness. Her Majesty wears a royal mantle and the riband of the +Garter, like her compeers; behind her rise the towers of Windsor. + +In the double corridor, along which two streams of company flow different +ways to and from the Presence-chamber, as the blood flows in the veins and +arteries, are more pictures--those of some charming children. A stout +little Prince Rupert before he ever smelt the smoke of battle or put pencil +to paper. Representations of almost equally old-world-looking children of +the Georgian era by their royal mother's knee, one child bearing such a bow +as figures often in the hands of children in the portraits of the period; a +princely boy in miniature robes of State, with a queen's hand on his +shoulder; a little solitary flaxen-haired child with a tambourine. The bow +has long been unbent, the royal mother and child are together again, the +music of the tambourine is mute. + +In the Banqueting-room there are great battle-pieces by land and sea from +Tournay to Trafalgar, like a memory of the Hall of Battles at Versailles. + +The Chapel Royal, where the Queen was made a wife, has ceased in a measure +to be a royal place of worship. Still within its narrow bounds and plain +walls a highly aristocratic congregation have, if they choose, a right to +the services of the dean and sub-dean and the five-and-thirty +chaplains--not to say of the bishops duly appointed to officiate on special +occasions. Not only is the royal closet still in readiness furnished with +its chairs of State, there are other closets or small galleries for the +Household, peeresses and their daughters, &c. The simplest pew below +belongs to the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Steward, peers and their sons, or +members of Parliament, &c. The Chapel Royal, like the State-rooms, is fresh +and spruce from renewal. It has, however, wisely avoided all departure from +the original character of the building, which has nothing but the carved +roof and the great square window to distinguish it from any other chapel of +the same size and style. It is difficult to realise that it was here Queen +Mary listened attentively to Bishop Burnet, and Queen Caroline was guilty +of talking, while Princess Emily brought her little dog under her arm. Nor +is it easy to fancy the brilliance of the scene in the quiet place when it +was lined from floor to ceiling with tier upon tier of seats for the +noblest in the land, when every inch of standing-room had its fit occupant, +and a princely gathering was grouped before the glittering altar to hear a +Queen plight her troth. + +St. James's has still a royal resident in the sole surviving member of the +great family of George III., the venerable Duchess of Cambridge, who lives +in the north wing of the palace. Marlborough House and Clarence House are +in the immediate vicinity, indeed the last is so near that it is reached by +a covered way. And as if to make the sense of the neighbourhood of a +cluster of royal establishments more vivid, and the thought of the younger +generation of the Royal Family more present in the old place, as the +visitor passes through its corridors the cannon in the park peals forth the +announcement of the birth of the last of her Majesty's grandchildren. + +On the 28th of February, a little more than a fortnight after the marriage, +came the Prince's first practical experience of its cost to him. His father +left on his return to Coburg. "He said to me," the Queen wrote in her +Journal, "that I had never known a father, and could not therefore feel +what he did. His childhood had been very happy. Ernest, he said, was now +the only one remaining here of all his earliest ties and recollections; but +if I continued to love him as I did now, I could make up for all.... Oh! +how I did feel for my dearest, precious husband at this moment! Father, +brother, friends, country, all has he left, and all for me. God grant that +I may be the happy person, the _most_ happy person to make this +dearest, blessed being happy and contented. What is in my power to make +him happy I will do." + +Prince Ernest remained in England nearly three months after his father had +left. + +Early in March a step was taken to render the Prince's position clearer and +more secure. Letters patent were issued conferring on him precedence next +to the Queen. How necessary the step was, even in this country, towards a +conclusion which appears to us to-day so natural as to be beyond dispute, +may be gathered from the circumstance that, even after the marriage, +objections were made to the Prince's sitting by the Queen's side in the +State carriage on State occasions, and to his occupying a chair of State +next the throne when she opened and prorogued Parliament. + +Prince Albert proposed for himself a wise and generous course, which he +afterwards embodied in fitting words--"to sink his own individual existence +in that of his wife, to aim at no power by himself or for himself, to shun +all ostentation, to assume no separate responsibility before the public; +continually and anxiously to watch every part of the public business in +order to be able to advise and assist her at any moment, in any of the +multifarious and difficult questions brought before her--sometimes +political, or social, or personal--as the natural head of the family, +superintendent of her household, manager of her private affairs, her sole +confidential adviser in politics and only assistant in her communications +with the affairs of the Government." In fact, the Prince was the Queen's +private secretary in all save the name, uniting the two departments, +political and social, of such an office which had hitherto been held +separately by Lord Melbourne and Baroness Lehzen. + +Prince Albert discharged the double duty with the authority of his rank and +character, and especially of his relations to the Queen. He expressed his +object very modestly in writing to his father: "I endeavour quietly to be +of as much use to Victoria in her position as I can." The post was a most +delicate and difficult one, and would have been absolutely untenable, had +it not been for the perfect confidence and good understanding always +existing between the Queen and the Prince, and for his remarkable command +of temper, and manly forbearance and courtesy, under every provocation, to +all who approached him. Perhaps a still more potent agent was a quality +which was dimly felt from the beginning, and is fully recognised +to-day--his sincerity of nature and honesty of purpose. In the painful +revelations which, alas! time is apt to bring of double-dealing and +self-seeking on the part of men in power, no public character of his day +stands out more honourably in the strong light which posterity is already +concentrating on the words and actions of the past, than does Prince Albert +for undeniable truthfulness and disinterestedness. Men may still cavil at +his conclusions, and maintain that he theorised and systematised and was +tempted to interfere too much, but they have long ceased to question his +perfect integrity and single-heartedness, his rooted aversion to all +trickery and to deceit in every form. "He was an honest man and a noble +prince who did good work," is now said universally of the Queen's husband; +and honesty is not only the highest praise, it is a great power in dealing +with one's fellows. + +But it was not in a day or without many struggles that anything approaching +to his aim was achieved. The inevitable irritation caused by the transfer +of power and the disturbance of existing arrangements on the part of a new +comer, the sensitive jealousy which even the Prince's foreign birth +occasioned, had to be overcome before the first approach to success could +be attained. + +We can remember that some of the old Scotch Jacobite songs--very sarcastic +where German royal houses were concerned--experienced a temporary revival, +certainly more in jest than in earnest, and with a far higher appreciation +of the fun than of the malice of the sentiment. The favourite was "The wee, +wee German Lairdie," and began in this fashion:-- + + Wha the Diel hae we gotten for a King, + But a wee, wee German Lairdie? + And when they gaed to bring him hame + He was delvin' in his little kail-yardie. + +The last verse declared:-- + + He'a pu'ed the rose o'English blooms, + He's broken the harp o'Irish, clowns, + But Scotia's thistle will jag his thoomba, + The wee, wee German Lairdie. + +A prophecy honoured in its entire breach. + +Even tried and trusty friends grown old in Court service could not make up +their minds at once to the changed order of affairs, or resign, without an +effort to retain it, their rule when it came into collision with the wishes +of the new head of the household; Prince Albert, in writing frankly to his +old comrade Prince Lowenstein, said he was very happy and contented, but +the difficulty in filling his place with proper dignity was that he was +only the husband and not the master of the house. The Queen had to assert, +like a true woman, when appealed to on the subject, that she had solemnly +engaged at the altar to obey as well as to love and honour her husband, and +"this sacred obligation she could consent neither to limit nor define." + +It may be stated that, in spite of the fidelity and devotion of those who +surrounded the Queen, the old system under which the arrangements of the +palaces were conducted stood in great need of reform. Anything more +cumbrous, complicated, and inconvenient than the plan adopted cannot +easily be conceived. The great establishments were not subject to one +independent, responsible rule, they were divided into various departments +under as many different controlling bodies. Rights and privileges, +sinecures and perquisites, bristled on all sides, and he who would reform +them must face the unpopularity which is almost always the first +experience of every reformer. There is a graphic account of the situation +in the "Life of the Prince Consort," and "Baron Stockmar's Memoirs." "The +three great Officers of State, the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, and +the Master of the Horse, all of them officials who varied with each change +of the Ministry, and were appointed without regard to any special +qualifications for their office, had each a governing voice in the +regulation of the household.... Thus one section of the palace was +supposed to be under the Lord Chamberlain's charge, another under that of +the Lord Steward, while as to a third it was uncertain whose business it +was to look after it. These officials were responsible for all that +concerned the interior of the building, but the outside had to be taken +care of by the office of Woods and Forests. The consequence was, that as +the inside cleaning of the windows belonged to the Lord Chamberlain's +department, the degree of light to be admitted into the palace depended +proportionably on the well-timed and good understanding between the Lord +Chamberlain's Office and that of Woods and Forests. One portion of the +_personnel_ of the establishment again was under the authority of the +Lord Chamberlain, another under that of the Master of the Horse, and a +third under the jurisdiction of the Lord Steward." "The Lord Steward," +writes Baron Stockmar, "finds the fuel and lays the fire, and the Lord +Chamberlain lights it.... In the same manner the Lord Chamberlain provides +all the lamps, and the Lord Steward must clean, trim, and light them. +Before a pane of glass or a cupboard door could be mended, the sanction of +so many officials had to be obtained, that often months elapsed before the +repairs were made." + +One is irresistibly reminded of the dilemma of the unfortunate King of +Spain, who died from a feverish attack brought on by a prolonged exposure +to a great fire, because it was not etiquette for the monarch to rise, and +the grandee whose prerogative it was to move the royal chair happened to +be out of the way. + +"As neither the Lord Chamberlain nor the Master of the Horse has a regular +deputy residing in the palace, more than two-thirds of all the male and +female servants are left without a master in the house. They can come on +and go off duty as they choose, they can remain absent hours and hours on +their days of waiting, or they may commit any excess or irregularity; +there is nobody to observe, to correct, or to reprimand them. The various +details of internal arrangement whereon depend the well-being and comfort +of the whole establishment, no one is cognisant of, or responsible for. +There is no officer responsible for the cleanliness, order, and security +of the rooms and offices throughout the palace." + +Doubtless, it was under this remarkable condition of the royal household +that a considerable robbery of silver plate from an _attic_ in which +it was stored took place at Windsor Castle in 1841. Massive silver +encasings of tables, borders of mirrors, fire-dogs and candelabra, +together with the silver ornaments of Tippoo Saib's tent, disappeared in +this way. + +It took years to remedy such a state of matters, and it was only by the +exercise of the greatest tact, which, to be sure, was comparatively easy +to the Prince, that the improvement was effected. The necessary reforms +were made to proceed from the officers of State themselves, and the +enforcement of the new regulations was carried out by a Master of the +Household, who resided permanently in the palace which the Queen occupied. +Eventually each royal establishment was brought to a high average of order +and efficiency. If possible, still greater caution had to be practised in +the Prince's dealing with political affairs, for here the jealousy of +foreign influence was national, and among the most deeply rooted of +insular prejudices. In the beginning of their married life the Prince was +rarely with the Queen at her Cabinet Councils, though no objection had +been made to his presence, and he did not take much share in business, +though Lord Melbourne, especially, urged his being made acquainted with it +in all its details. Both in its public and private relations, the path at +starting was not an easy one, while the Prince and the Queen shared its +anxieties and worries. Happily for all, the two, who were alike in sense, +good feeling, and trusting affection, stood firm, and gradually surmounted +the contradictions in their brilliant lot. But it was probably under +these influences that Baron Stockmar, always exacting in the best +interests of those he loved, fancied--even while he had no hesitation in +recording the Prince behaved in his difficult position very well--that a +friend had reason to dread in the young man not yet twenty-one, the old +defects of dislike to intellectual exertion and indifference to politics. +No efforts were wanting on the part of the good old mentor, who in his +absence kept up a constant correspondence with the Prince, to preserve the +latter's "ideal aspirations." Sometimes, the keen observer feared that the +object of his dreams and cares was losing courage for his self-imposed +Herculean labours, but the brave will and loyal heart proved triumphant. + +That spring and the next two springs and summers were gay seasons in +London--and London life meant then to the Queen and the Prince an +overwhelming amount of engagements, besides the actual part in the +government of the country. "Levees, Drawing-rooms, presentations of +addresses, great dinners, State visits to the theatre" swelled the long +list. The Prince, like most Germans, was fond of the play, and had a +great admiration of Shakespeare, whose plays were revived at Covent Garden +in 1840, Charles Kemble giving a last glimpse of the glory of the early +Kemble performances. The couple presided over many little balls and dances +which became a Court where the sovereigns were in the heyday of their +youth and happiness. Lady Bloomfield, who as the Hon. Miss Liddell was one +of the Queen's Maids of Honour a little later, gives a pleasant account of +an episode at one of these dances. "One lovely summer's morning we had +danced till dawn, and the quadrangle being then open to the east, her +Majesty went out on the roof of the portico to see the sun rise, which was +one of the most beautiful sights I ever remember. It rose behind St. +Paul's, which we saw quite distinctly; Westminster Abbey and the trees in +the Green Park stood out against a golden sky." + +All this innocent gaiety was consecrated by the faithful discharge of duty +and the reverent observance of sacred obligations. At Easter, which was +spent at Windsor, the Queen and the Prince took the Sacrament together for +the first time. "The Prince," the Queen has said, "had a very strong +feeling about the solemnity of the act, and did not like to appear in +company either the evening before or on the day on which, he took it, and +he and the Queen almost always dined alone on these occasions." Her +Majesty has supplied a brief record, in the "Early Years of the Prince +Consort," of one such peaceful evening. "We two dined together. Albert +likes being quite alone before he takes the Sacrament; we played part of +Mozart's Requiem, and then he read to me out of _Stunden den Andacht_ +(Hours of Devotion) the article on _Selbster Kentniss_ (Self-knowledge.)" +The whole sounds like a sweet, solemn, blessed pause in the crowded busy +life. + +A sudden shock, which was only that of a great danger happily averted, +broke in on the flush of all that was best worth having and doing in +existence, and seemed to utter a warning against the instability of life +at its brightest and fairest. There was stag-hunting on Ascot Heath, at +which the Queen and the Prince were to be present. He was to join in the +hunt and she was to follow with Prince Ernest in a pony phaeton. As she +stood by a window in Windsor Castle, she saw Prince Albert canter past on +a restless and excited horse. In vain the rider turned the animal round +several times, he got the bit between his teeth and started at the top of +his speed among the trees of the Park; very soon he brushed against a +branch and unseated the Prince, who fell, without, however, sustaining any +serious injury. The Queen saw the beginning but not the end of the +misadventure, and her alarm was only relieved by the return of one of the +grooms in waiting, who told the extent of the accident. _Noblesse +oblige._ The Prince mounted a fresh horse and proceeded to the hunt, +and the Queen joined him. "Albert received me on the terrace of the large +stand and led me up," the Queen wrote in her Journal. "He looked very +pale, and said he had been much alarmed lest I should have been frightened +by his accident.... He told me he had scraped the skin off his poor arm, +had bruised his hip and knee, and his coat was torn and dirty. It was a +frightful fall." + +On the 20th of April, an event took place in France which at this time +naturally was particularly interesting both to the Queen and the Prince. +The Duc de Nemours, second son of Louis Philippe and brother to the Queen +of the Belgians, married Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg, only daughter +of the head of the Catholic branch of the family, sister of the King +Consort of Portugal, and first cousin both to the Queen and Prince Albert. +This marriage drew many intertwined family ties still more closely +together. Princess Victoire was a pretty golden-haired girl, and is +described afterwards as a singularly sweet, affectionate, reasonable +woman. She had spent much of her youth at Coburg, and been a favourite +playmate of Prince Albert, whose junior she was by three years. She was +the friend of the Queen from girlhood. "We were like sisters," wrote her +Majesty, "bore the same name, married the same year.... There was in short +a similarity between us, which, since 1839, united us closely and +tenderly." The Duc de Nemours, without the intellectual gifts of some of +his brothers, resembled his good mother, Queen Amelie, in many respects. +He had quiet, domestic tastes, and was affectionately attached to his +wife. + + + +CHAPTER X. +ROYAL OCCUPATIONS.--AN ATTEMPT ON THE QUEEN'S LIFE. + + +The family arrangements in the marriage of the Queen and Prince Albert +appear to have been made with the kindest, most judicious consideration +for what was due to former ties, that all the relations of life might be +settled gradually and naturally, on the footing which it was desirable +they should assume. The connection between the Queen and the Duchess of +Kent was very close. It was that of a mother and child who had been nearly +all in all to each other, who, till Queen Victoria's marriage, had not +been separated for a day. Since the Duchess of Kent's arrival in England, +she had never dwelt alone. It was now deemed advisable that she should +have a separate house, which was, however, to be in constant communication +with the Queen's, the intercourse between the two continuing to be of the +most intimate character, mother and daughter meeting daily and sharing the +most of their pleasures. In April, two months after the marriage, the +Duchess removed to Ingestrie House, Belgrave Square. + +In another month, on the 7th of May, Prince Ernest left England. The +parting between the brothers was a severe trial to both. They bade +farewell, German student fashion, singing together beforehand the parting +song _Abschied_. + +The young couple were now left in a greater measure to themselves to form +their life, and lead it to noble conclusions. They spent the Queen's +birthday in private at Claremont--a place endeared to her by the happiest +associations of her childhood, and very pleasant to him because of its +country attractions. There the pair could wander about the beautiful +grounds and neighbourhood, as another royal pair had wandered before them, +and do much as they pleased, like simple citizens or great folks living +_in villeggiatura_. The custom was then established of thus keeping +the real birthday together in retirement, while another day was set apart +for public rejoicing. + +There is a story told of the Queen and Prince Albert's early visits to +Claremont--a story certainly not without its parallel in the lives of +other popular young sovereigns in their honeymoons, but probable enough in +this case. The couple were caught in a shower, during one of their longer +rambles, and took refuge in a cottage--the old mistress of which was +totally unacquainted with the high rank of her guests. She entertained +them with many extraordinary anecdotes of Princess Charlotte and Prince +Leopold, the original heroine and hero of Claremont. At last the dame +volunteered to give her visitors the loan of her umbrella, with many +charges to Prince Albert that it should be taken care of and returned to +its owner. The Queen and the Prince started on their homeward way under +the borrowed shelter, and it was not for some time that the donor knew +with whom she had gossipped, and to whom she had dealt her favours. + +The Prince's first appearance as an art patron took place in connection +with the Ancient Music Concerts. He had already been named one of the +directors who arrange in turn each concert. He made the selections for his +concert on the 29th of April, and both he and the Queen appeared at the +rehearsal on the 27th. Perhaps the gentle science was what he loved above +every other, being a true German in that as in all else. At this time he +played and sang much with the Queen; the two played together often on the +organ in one of his rooms. Lady Lyttelton has described the effect of his +music. "Yesterday evening, as I was sitting here comfortably after the +drive by candlelight, reading M. Guizot, suddenly there arose from the +room beneath, oh, such sounds! It was Prince Albert, dear Prince Albert, +playing on the organ; and with such master skill, as it appeared to me, +modulating so learnedly, winding through every kind of bass and chord, +till he wound up with the most perfect cadence, and then off again, louder +and then softer. No tune, as I was too distant to perceive the execution +or small touches so I only heard the harmony, but I never listened with +much more pleasure to any music. I ventured at dinner to ask him what I +had heard. 'Oh! my organ, a new possession of mine. I am so fond of the +organ! It is the first of instruments; the only instrument for expressing +one's feelings' (I thought, are they not good feelings that the organ +expresses?), 'and it teaches to play; for on the organ a mistake, oh! such +misery;' and he quite shuddered at the thought of the _sostenuto_ +discord." + +But while the Prince was an enthusiastic musician, he was likewise fond of +painting; his taste and talent in this respect also having been carefully +cultivated. In these sunshiny early days, sunshiny in spite of their +occasional clouds, he still possessed a moderate amount of leisure, +notwithstanding the late hours night and morning, of which the Queen took +the blame, declaring it was her fault that they breakfasted at ten, +getting out very little--a practice quite different from their later +habits. He seized the opportunity of starting various pursuits which +formed afterwards the chief recreation of his and the Queen's laborious +days. He tried etching, which afforded the two much entertainment, and he +began his essays in landscape gardening, developing a delightful faculty +with which she had the utmost sympathy. + +On the 1st of June the Prince took the initiatory step in identifying +himself with moral and social progress, and in placing himself, as the +Queen's representative, at the head of those humane and civilising +movements which recommended themselves to his good judgment and +philanthropic spirit. He complied with the request that he should be +chairman at a meeting to promote the abolition of the slave trade, and +made his first public speech in advocacy of justice between man and man. +This speech was no small effort to a young foreigner, who, however +accomplished, was certainly not accustomed to public speaking in a foreign +tongue. It was like delivering a maiden speech under great difficulties, +and as it was of importance that he should produce a good impression, he +spared no preparation for the task. He composed the speech himself, learnt +it by heart, and repeated it to the Queen in the first instance. + +Among the crowd present was the young Quaker lady, Caroline Fox, whose +"Memories" have been given to the world. She wrote at the time: "The +acclamations attending his (the Prince's) entrance were perfectly +deafening, and he bore them all with calm, modest dignity, repeatedly +bowing with considerable grace. He certainly is a very beautiful young +man, a thorough German, and a fine poetic specimen of the race. He uttered +his speech in a rather low tone and with the prettiest foreign accent." + +On the 18th of the same month great horror and indignation were excited by +the report of an attempt to assassinate the Queen. About six o'clock on +the June evening, her Majesty was driving, according to her usual custom, +with Prince Albert. The low open phaeton, attended by two equeries, was +proceeding up Constitution Hill, on its way first to the house of the +Duchess of Kent in Belgrave Square and afterwards to Hyde Park. Suddenly a +little man leaning against the park railing drew a pistol from under his +coat and fired at her Majesty, who was sitting at the farther side from +him. He was within six yards of the phaeton--so near, in fact, that the +Queen, who was looking another way, neither saw him nor comprehended for a +moment the cause of the loud noise ringing in her ears. But Prince Albert +had seen the man hold something towards them, and was aware of what had +occurred. The horses started and the carriage stopped. The Prince called +to the postillions to drive on, while he caught the Queen's hands and +asked if the fright had not shaken her, but the brave royal heart only +made light of his alarm. He looked again, and saw the same man still +standing in a theatrical attitude, a pistol in each hand. The next instant +the fellow pointed the second pistol and fired once more. Both the Queen +and the Prince saw the aim, as well as heard the shot, on this occasion, +and she stooped, he pulling her down that the ball might pass over her +head. In another moment the man, who still leant against the railing, +pistols in hand, with much bravado and without any attempt to escape, was +seized by a bystander. In the middle of the consternation and wrath of the +gathering crowd, the Queen and the Prince went on to the Duchess of Kent +that they might be the first to tell her what had happened and assure her +of the safety of her daughter. A little later, in order to show the people +that the Queen had not lost her confidence in them, the couple carried out +their original intention of taking a drive in Hyde Park. There they were +received with a perfect ovation, a crowd of nobility and gentry in +carriages and on horseback forming a volunteer escort on the way back to +Buckingham Palace, where another multitude awaited them, vehemently +cheering, as the Queen, pale but smiling and bowing, re-entered her +palace. The wretched lad who was the author of the attack did not deny it, +but seemed rather sorry that it had failed to inflict any injury, though +he had no motive to allege for such a crime. In spite of the strictest +search no ball could be found, which left the question doubtful whether or +not the pistols had been loaded. On further examination it proved that the +lad, Edward Oxford--not above eighteen years of age, was a discharged +barman from a public-house in Oxford Street. His father, who was dead, had +been a working jeweller in Birmingham. + +"It would be difficult to describe the state of loyal excitement into +which the Metropolis has been thrown by this event," says the _Annual +Register_. "It seems as if only the dastardly deed had been wanted to +bring out the full love and devotion of the people to their young Queen," +the happy wife and expectant mother, whose precious life might have been +cut short by the unlooked-for shot of an assassin. At the different +theatres and concerts that evening "God save the Queen" was sung with +passionate fervour. When the Queen and Prince Albert drove out the next +afternoon in the same phaeton, at the same hour, in Hyde Park, the +demonstration of the previous day was repeated with effusion. The crowd +was immense, the cheering was again vociferous. An improvised body-guard +of hundreds of gentlemen on horseback surrounded the couple. "The line of +carriages (calling at Buckingham Palace to make inquiries) extended a +considerable way down the Mall." The calls were incessant till the +procession from the Houses of Parliament arrived. Thousands of people +assembled to witness it. The Sheriffs of London came first in four +carriages. Then the Grenadier Guards with their band marched through the +gateway, on which the royal standard was hoisted, and took up their +position in the entrance court. The Cabinet Ministers and chief Officers +of the Household followed. The State carriage of the Speaker led the +hundred and nine carriages filled with Members of the House of Commons. +The Peers' carriages were upwards of eighty in number. The occupants, +beginning with the Barons, rose in rank till they reached the Royal Dukes, +and wound up with the Lord Chancellor. "Many of the Lords wore splendid +uniforms and decorations and various orders; the Duke of Wellington +especially was attired with much magnificence.... The terrace in front of +the house was crowded with distinguished persons in grand costume," as on +a gala-day. The Queen received the address of congratulation on her escape +seated on the throne. What a strange contrast between the scene and its +origin--the emphatically stately and dignified display, and the miserable +act which gave rise to it! What blended feelings cause and effect must +have produced in the principal performers--the inevitable pain and shame +for the base reason, the well-warranted pride and pleasure in the +honourable result! + +The first time the Queen went to the opera afterwards she wrote in her +Journal that the moment she and the Prince entered the box "the whole +house rose and cheered and waved hats and handkerchiefs, and went on so +for some time. 'God save the Queen' was sung.... Albert was called for +separately and much cheered." + +The trial of Oxford came on during the following month. The question of +bullets or no bullets in the pistols was transferred to the jury. Evidence +of symptoms of insanity and of confirmed insanity in the prisoner, his +father, and grandfather, was shown, and after some difficulty in dealing +with the first question the jury found the prisoner guilty, while he was +at the same time declared insane. Therefore Oxford, like every other +prisoner shielded by the irresponsibility of madness, was delivered up to +be dealt with according to her Majesty's pleasure, which signified his +imprisonment so long as the Crown should see fit. + +The sole reason for the outrage on the Queen proved to be the morbid +egotism of an ill-conditioned, ignorant, half-crazy lad; showing that one +more danger exists for sovereigns--a peril born entirely of their high and +solitary rank with its fascination for envious, irritable, distempered +minds. + +The following routine of the Queen's life at this time is given in the +"Early Years of the Prince Consort": "They breakfasted at nine, and took a +walk every morning soon afterwards." + +In London, their walks were in Buckingham Palace gardens, fifty acres in +extent, part of which was once the pleasant "Mulberry Gardens" of James I. +The lake, not far from the palace, covers five acres. Looking across the +velvet sward away to the masses of shady trees, it is hard to realise that +one is still in London. The Prince had already enlivened these gardens +with different kinds of animals and aquatic birds, a modified version of +the _Thier-Garten_ so often found in connection with royal residences +in Germany. + +The Queen mentions that, "in their morning walks in the gardens, it was a +great amusement to the Prince to watch and feed these birds. He taught +them to come when he whistled to them from a bridge connecting a small +island with the rest of the gardens. + +"Then came the usual amount of business (far less heavy, however, then +than now), besides which they drew and etched a great deal together, which +was a source of great amusement, having the plates bit in the house. +Luncheon followed at the usual hour of two o'clock. Lord Melbourne, who +was generally staying in the house, came to the Queen in the afternoon, +and between five and six the Prince usually drove her out in a pony +phaeton. If the Prince did not drive the Queen he rode, in which case she +drove with the Duchess of Kent or the ladies. The Prince also read aloud +most days to the Queen. The dinner was at eight o'clock, and always with +the company. In the evening the Prince frequently played at double chess, +a game of which he was very fond, and which he played extremely well." + +The Prince would return "at a great pace" from his morning rides, which +took him into all the districts of London where improvements were going +on, and "would always come through the Queen's dressing-room, where she +generally was at that time, with that bright loving smile with which he +ever greeted her, telling her where he had been, what new buildings he had +seen, what studios he had visited." + +Her Majesty objected to the English custom of gentlemen remaining in the +dining-room after the ladies had left the table. But, by the advice of +Lord Melbourne, in which the Prince concurred, no direct change was made +in what was almost a national institution. The hour when the whole party +broke up, however, was seldom later than eleven. + +The story got into circulation that the Queen's habit was to stand +conversing with the ladies till the gentlemen joined them, and that +knowing her practice, the dining-room was soon left empty. Lord Campbell +gives his experience of this portion of a royal dinner some years after +the Queen's marriage. "The Queen and the ladies withdrawing, Prince Albert +came over to her side of the table, and we remained behind about a quarter +of an hour, but we rose within the hour from the time of our sitting down. +A snuff-box was twice carried round and offered to all the gentlemen. +Prince Albert, to my surprise, took a pinch." + +The Prince, who was an exceedingly temperate man at table, rather grudged +the time spent in eating and drinking, just as he disliked riding for mere +exercise, without any other object. Yet he was a bold and skilled rider, +and could, without any privilege of rank, come in first in the +hunting-field. It amused the Queen and her husband to find that this +accomplishment, more than any other, was likely to make him popular among +English gentlemen. But though he liked hunting as a recreation, he did not +understand how it or any other sport could be made the business of a man's +life. + +By the month of July, the prospect of an heir to the throne rendered it +advisable that provision should be made for the Queen's possible death, or +lengthened disqualification for reigning. The Regency Bill was brought +forward with more caution and better success than had attended on the +Prince's Annuity Bill. In accordance with the prudent counsels of Baron +Stockmar, the Opposition as well as the Ministry were taken into account +and consulted. The consequence was that the Duke of Wellington, the +mouthpiece of the Tories on the former occasion, was altogether propitious +in the name of himself and his party, and it was agreed that the Prince +was the proper person to appoint as Regent in case of any unhappy +contingency. The Bill was passed unanimously and without objection in both +Houses, except for a speech made by the Duke of Sussex in the House of +Lords. + +This conclusion was gratifying in all respects, not the least so in its +testimony to the respect which the Prince's conduct had already called +forth. "Three months ago they would not have done it for him," Lord +Melbourne told the Queen. "It is entirely his own character." It was also +a pleasant proof of the goodwill of the Tories, whom the Prince had done +everything in his power to conciliate, employing his influence to impress +upon the young Queen the constitutional attitude of impartiality and +neutrality towards all political parties. + +There was a corresponding withdrawal of the absurd opposition to Prince +Albert's taking his place by the Queen's side on all State occasions. "Let +the Queen put the Prince where she likes and settle it herself, that is +the best way," said the Duke of Wellington cordially. A lively example of +the great Duke's want of toleration for the traditions of Court etiquette +is given in a note to the "Life of the Prince Consort." The late Lord +Albemarle, when Master of the Horse, was very sensitive about his right in +that capacity to sit in the sovereign's coach on State occasions. "The +Queen," said the Duke, when appealed to for his opinion, "can make Lord +Albemarle sit at the top of the coach, under the coach, behind the coach, +or wherever else her Majesty pleases." + +On the 11th of August the Queen prorogued Parliament, accompanied by her +husband for the first time. The following day the Court left for Windsor. +The Prince was very fond of the country, and gladly went to it. The Queen, +in her early womanhood, had been, as she said, "too happy to go to London, +and wretched to leave it." But from the time of her marriage she shared +her husband's tastes, and could have been "content and happy never to go +to town." How her Majesty has retained the love of nature, which is a +refuge of sorrow as well as a crown of happiness, we all know. + +In the mornings at Windsor there were shooting in the season, and a wider +field for landscape gardening for the Prince before he took to farming. In +the evening there were occasional great dinners and little dances as in +London. The young couple dispensed royal hospitality to a succession of +friendly visitors, who came to see with their own eyes the bright palace +home. The King and the Queen of the Belgians rejoiced in the fruits of his +work. The Princess of Hohenlohe, herself a happy wife and mother, arrived +with her children to witness her sister's felicity. Queen Adelaide did not +shrink from revisiting Windsor, and seeing a beloved niece fill well King +William and his consort's place. + +Prince Albert's birthday was celebrated in England for the first time; +there were illuminations in London; down at Windsor the day was kept, for +the most part, in the simple family fashion, which is the best. The Prince +was awakened by a musical reveille; a German chorale, chosen with loving, +ungrudging care, as the first thing which was to greet him, was most +certain, on that day of all others, to carry him back in spirit to his +native country. + +The family circle breakfasted by themselves in a favourite cottage in the +park. Princess Feodora's children were in masquerade as Coburg peasants, +doubtless hailing the Coburg Prince with an appropriate greeting. In the +afternoon, in the fine weather, the Prince drove out the Queen; in the +evening, "there was rather a larger dinner than usual." + +On the 11th of September the Prince was formally sworn a member of her +Majesty's Privy Council. And so conscientiously anxious was he to +discharge worthily every duty which could be required of him, that, in the +greater leisure of Windsor, he not only read "Hallam's Constitutional +History" with the Queen, he began to read English law with a barrister. + +In the meantime, an old historical figure, Princess Augusta of England, +who had appeared at the Queen's marriage, lay terribly ill at Clarence +House. She died on the 22nd of September, having survived her sister, +Princess Elizabeth, the Landgravine of Hesse Homburg, only eight months. +Princess Augusta carried away with her many memories of the Court of +George III. By a coincidence, the lady who may almost be called the +Princess's biographer, at least whose animated sketches and affectionate +praises of her "dear Princess Augusta" were destined to give the world of +England its principal knowledge of an amiable princess, died at a great +age the same year. Madame D'Arblay, as Miss Burney, the distinguished +novelist, had been appointed in 1786, in a somewhat whimsical +acknowledgement of her talents and services to the reading world, one of +the keepers of Queen Charlotte's wardrobe. In this office she resided at +Court for five years, and she has left in her diary the most graphic +account which we have of the English royal life of the day. "Evelina" and +"Cecilia" were old stories even in 1840; it was more than fifty years +since Madame D'Arblay had taken royal service, and now her best-beloved +young patroness had passed away an aged woman, only a few months later +than the gifted and vivacious little keeper of the robes, whose duties, to +be sure, had included reading habitually to the Queen when she was +dressing, and sometimes to the Court circle. Princess Augusta's funeral +went from her house of Frogmore at seven o'clock in the evening of the 2nd +of October, one of the last of the night funerals of a past generation, +and she was buried with the customary honours in St. George's Chapel, +Windsor. Frogmore became from that time the country residence of the +Duchess of Kent. + +In November the Court returned to Buckingham Palace for the Queen's +accouchement. Baron Stockmar, at the Prince's earnest entreaty, came to +England for the event, though he remained then as always in the +background. On the 21st of November the Princess Royal was born, the good +news being announced to London by the firing of the Tower guns. The +Cabinet Ministers and Officers of State were in attendance in an adjoining +room, and the new-born child, wrapped in flannel, was carried by the +nurse, escorted by Sir James Clark, into the presence of those who were to +attest her birth, and laid for a moment on a table before them. Both +mother and child were well, and although a momentary disappointment was +felt at the sex of the infant, it did not detract from the general +rejoicing at the Queen's safety with a living successor to the throne. It +was said at the time, kindly gossips dwelling on the utterance with the +utmost pleasure, that on the Prince expressing a fear that the people +might be disappointed, the Queen reassured him in the most cheerful +spirit, "Never mind, the next shall be a boy," and that she hoped she +might have as many children as her grandmother, Queen Charlotte. + +A fresh instance of a diseased appetite for notoriety, grafted on vagrant +youthful curiosity and restless love of mischief, astonished and +scandalised the English world. On the day after the birth of the Princess +Royal a rascally boy named Jones was discovered concealed under a sofa in +a room next to the Queen's. The offender was leniently dealt with in +consideration of his immature years, but again and again, at intervals of +a few months, the flibbertigibbet turned up in the most unlooked-for +quarters, impudently asserting, on being questioned, that he had entered +"the same way as before," and that he could, any time he pleased, find his +way into the palace. It was supposed that he climbed over the wall on +Constitution Hill and crept through one of the windows. But he could +hardly have done so if it had not been for the confused palace management, +for which nobody was responsible, with its inevitable disorder, that had +not yet been overcome. The boy had to be committed to the House of +Correction as a rogue and vagabond for three months. Afterwards he served +on board one of her Majesty's ships, where his taste for creating a +sensation seems to have died a natural death. + +In the Queen's weakness the young husband and father was continually +developing new traits of manly tenderness. "His care and devotion were +quite beyond expression." He declined to go anywhere, that he might be +always at hand to do anything in his power for her comfort "He was content +to sit by her in a darkened room, to read to her and write for her." "No +one but himself ever lifted her from her bed to her sofa, and he always +helped to wheel her on her bed or sofa into the next room. For this +purpose he would come instantly when sent for from any part of the house." +"His care for her was like that of a mother, nor could there be a kinder, +wiser, more judicious nurse." Happy Queen! + +The Queen made an excellent recovery, and the Court was back at Windsor +holding Christmas and New Year relieved from all care and full of +thankfulness. The peace and goodwill of the season, with the interchange +of kindly gifts, were celebrated with pleasant picturesque German, in +addition to old English customs. We have all heard wonderful tales of the +baron of beef, the boar's head, the peacock with spread tail, the plum +soup for which there is only one recipe, and that a royal one. There were +fir-trees in the Queen's and the Prince's rooms and in humbler chambers. +There was a great gathering of the household in a special corridor, where +the Queen's presents were bestowed. + +A new year dawned with bright promise on an expectant world. This last +year had been so good in one sense that it could hardly be surpassed. What +had it not done for the family life! It had given a good and loving wife +to a good and loving husband, and a little child, with undreamt-of +possibilities in its slumbering eyes and helpless hands. The public +horizon was tolerably clear. The Welsh riots had been quelled and other +acts of insubordination in the manufacturing districts put down--not +without the use of force--but there was room for trust that such mad +tumults would not be repeated. Father Matthews was reforming Ireland. +There were far-away wars both with China and Afghanistan, certainly, but +the wars were far away in more respects than one, distant enough to have +their origin in the English protection of the opium trade, and +interference--now with a peaceful, timidly conservative race--and again +with fiercely jealous and warlike tribes, slurred over and forgotten, and +only the successes of the national arms dwelt upon with pride and +exultation. + +Across "the silver streak" of the Channel there were more remarkable +events, marked by a curious inconsistency, than the suitable marriage of +the Duc de Nemours. Prince Louis Napoleon Buonaparte landed on the French +coast with a handful of men prepared to invade the country, and was +immediately overpowered and arrested. He was tried and condemned to +imprisonment in the fortress of Ham, from which he escaped in due time, +having earned for himself during long years the sobriquet of "the madman +of Boulogne." The very same year Prince de Joinville, Louis Philippe's +sailor son, was commissioned to bring the ashes of Napoleon from St. +Helena to France. The coffin was conveyed in the Prince's frigate, _La +Belle Poule_, to Cherbourg, whence a steamboat sailed with the solemn +freight up the Seine to Paris. The funeral formed a splendid pageant, +attended by the royal family, the ministers, and a great concourse of +spectators. The dust of _le petit caporal_ was deposited in a +magnificent tomb in the Hotel des Invalides, before the eyes of a few +survivors of his Old Guard. + +Spain and Portugal were still the theatres of civil wars--now smouldering, +now leaping up with brief fury. In Spain the Queen Regent, Christina, was +driven from the kingdom, and had to take refuge in France for a time. In +Portugal, in the middle of a political crisis, Maria da Gloria gave birth +to a daughter, which died soon after its birth, while for days her own +life was despaired of. + + + +CHAPTER XI +THE FIRST CHRISTENING.--THE SEASON OF 1841. + + +The Queen was able to open Parliament in person at the end of January. + +The first christening in the royal household had been fixed to take place +on the 10th of February, the first anniversary of the Queen's wedding-day, +which was thus a double gala in 1841. The day before the Prince again had +a dangerous accident. He was skating in the presence of the Queen and one +of her ladies on the lake in the gardens of Buckingham Palace when the ice +gave way a few yards from the bank, where the water was so deep that the +skater had to swim for two or three minutes before he could extricate +himself. The Queen had the presence of mind to lend him instant +assistance, while her lady was "more occupied in screaming for help," so +that the worst consequences of the plunge were a bad cold. + +The christening took place at six in the evening in Buckingham Palace. The +ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the +Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Norwich, and the +Dean of Carlisle. The sponsors were the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, +represented by the Duke of Wellington, King Leopold, the Queen-dowager, +the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent, and the Duke of Sussex, +the most of whom had been present at the baptism of her Majesty, and were +able to compare royal child and royal mother in similar circumstances. +The Duke of Cambridge and his son, Prince George, with Prince Edward of +Saxe-Weimar, were among the company. The infant was named "Victoria +Adelaide Mary Louisa." + +The _Annual Register_ for the year has an elaborate description of +the new silver-gilt font used on the occasion. It was in the shape of a +water-lily supporting a shell, the rim of which was decorated with smaller +water-lilies. The base bore, between the arms of the Queen and Prince +Albert, the arms of the Princess Royal, surmounted by her Royal Highness's +coronet. The water had been brought from the river Jordan. + +A simple description of the event was given by Prince Albert in a letter +to his grandmother, the Dowager-Duchess of Gotha. "The christening went +off very well; your little great-granddaughter behaved with great +propriety and like a Christian. She was awake, but did not cry at all, +and seemed to crow with immense satisfaction at the lights and brilliant +uniforms, for she is very intelligent and observing. The ceremony took +place at half-past six P.M. After it there was a dinner, and then we had +some instrumental music. The health of the little one was drunk with great +enthusiasm." + +The lively noticing powers of the Princess Royal when she was between two +and three months of age is in amusing contradiction to a report which we +remember as current at the time. It was mentioned in order to be denied by +Leslie, who was commissioned to paint the royal christening, and worked at +the picture so diligently in the long days of the following summer that he +was often occupied with the work from nine in the morning till seven or +eight in the evening. He wrote in his "Recollections": "In 1841 I painted +a second picture for the Queen, the christening of the Princess Royal. I +was admitted to see the ceremony, and made a slight sketch of the royal +personages as they stood round the font in the room. I made a study from +the little Princess a few days afterwards. She was then three months old, +and a finer child of that age I never saw. It is a curious proof of the +readiness with which people believe whatever they hear to the disadvantage +of those placed high in rank above them, that at the time at which I made +the sketch it was said everywhere but in the palace and by those who +belonged to the royal household, that the Princess was born blind, and by +many it was even believed that she was born without feet. The sketch was +shown at a party at Mr. Moon's, the evening after I made it, and the +ladies all said, 'What a pity so fine a child should be entirely blind!' +It was in vain I told them that her eyes were beautifully clear and +bright, and that she took notice of everything about her. I was told that, +though her eyes looked bright, and though she might appear to turn them to +every object, it was _certain_ she was blind." + +What Leslie attributes to a species of envy, we think may be more justly +regarded as having its foundation in the love of sensationalism to which +human nature is prone--sensationalism which appears to become all the +racier when it finds its food in high quarters. The particular direction +the tendency took was influenced by the blindness of George III. and of +his grandson, the Crown Prince of Hanover, which seemed to lend a +plausibility to the absurd rumour. + +Baron Stockmar states that the Princess Royal was a delicate child, +causing considerable apprehension for her successful rearing during the +first year of her life. It was only by judicious care that she developed a +splendid constitution. Charles Leslie goes on to say: "The most agreeable +part of my task in painting the christening of the Princess Royal was in +studying the fine head of the wisest and best of living Kings, Leopold, a +man whom the people he reigns over scarcely seem to deserve. Nothing could +be more agreeable than his manner, and that of his amiable Queen, who was +in the room all the time he sat. He speaks English very well, and she also +spoke it. After I had painted for some time, she said, "May I look?" and +suggesting some alterations, she said, "You must excuse me, I speak +honest; but if I am wrong, don't mind me." + +In those years the King and Queen of the Belgians were such frequent +visitors of her Majesty, who may be said to have been his adopted child, +that a whole floor of Buckingham Palace which was set apart for their use +is still known as "the Belgian Floor." The portraits of both are in the +Palace, and so is his likeness when he was many years younger, and one of +the handsomest men in Europe. The last is hanging beside a full-length +portrait of his first wife, Princess Charlotte, with her fair face and +striking figure. In the summer of 1841 the Queen was farther and longer +separated from her mother than she had ever been previously. The Duchess +of Kent, secure in her daughter's prosperity and happiness, went to her +native Germany, for the first time since she had come to England +twenty-two years before. She was warmly received wherever she went. She +visited, among other places, Amorbach, the seat of her son, the Prince of +Leiningen, in Bavaria, where the Duchess had resided with the Duke of Kent +in the first years of their married life. "It is like a dream that I am +writing to you from this place," she addressed her daughter. "He (the +Prince of Leiningen) has made many alterations in the house. Your father +began them just before we left in March, 1819." + +A threatened change of Ministry and a general election were pending; but +amidst the political anxieties which already occupied much of the Queen +and Prince Albert's thoughts, it was a bright summer, full of many +interests and special sources of pleasure. + +Mademoiselle Rachel, the great French actress, arrived in England. She had +already established her empire in Paris by her marvellous revival of +Racine's and Corneille's masterpieces. She was now to exercise the same +fascination over an alien people, to whom her speech was a foreign tongue. +She made her first appearance in the part of Hermione in Racine's +_Andromaque_ at the Italian Opera-house. Few who witnessed the +spectacle ever forgot the slight figure, the pale, dark, Jewish face, the +deep melody of the voice, the restrained passion, the concentrated rage, +especially the pitiless irony, with which she gave the poet's meaning. + +The Queen and the Prince shared the general enthusiasm. For that matter +there was a little jealousy awakened lest there might be too much generous +_abandon_ in the royal approval of the great player. Perhaps this +feeling arose in the minds of those who, dating from Puritan days, had a +conscientious objection to all plays and players, and waxed hotter as +time, alas! proved how, in contrast to the honourable reputation of the +English Queen of Tragedy, Sarah Siddons, the character and life of the +gifted French actress were miserably beneath her genius. There was a +little vexed talk, which probably had small enough foundation, of the +admission of Rachel into the highest society; of the Duchess of Kent's +condescending to give her shawl to the shivering foreigner; of a bracelet +with the simple inscription, "From Victoria to Rachel," as if there could +be a common meeting-ground between the two, though the one was a queen in +art and the other a queen in history. But if there was any imprudence, it +might well have been excused as a fault of noble sympathy with art and +cordial acknowledgement of it, which leant to virtue's side, a fault which +had hitherto been not too common in England. The same year a Kemble, the +last of the family who redeemed for a time the fallen fortunes of Covent +Garden Theatre, Adelaide, the beautiful and accomplished younger daughter +of Charles Kemble, brother to John Kemble and Sarah Siddons, came out as +an operatic-singer in the part of "Norma." She was welcomed as her sweet +voice, fine acting, and the traditions of her family deserved. She was +invited to sing at the palace. From girlhood the Queen had been familiar +with the Kembles in their connection with the English stage. The last time +she visited the Academy as Princess Victoria, just before the death of +King William, Leslie mentions, she asked that Charles Kemble might be +presented to her, when the gentleman had the opportunity of making his +"best genteel-comedy bow." Now it was on the younger generation of the +Kembles that the Queen bestowed her gracious countenance. These were +halcyon days for society as well as for the stage, when, in Mrs. +Oliphant's words, "the Queen was in the foreground of the national life, +affecting it always for good, and setting an example of purity and virtue. +The theatres to which she went, and which both she and her husband +enjoyed, were purified by her presence, evils which had been the growth of +years disappearing before the face of the young Queen...." + +On the 13th of June the Queen revisited Oxford in company with her +husband, in time for Commemoration. Her Majesty and the Prince stayed at +Nuneham, the seat of the Archbishop of York, and drove in to the +University city. The Prince was present at a banquet in St. John's and +attended divine service at New Inn Hall. + +On the 21st of June the Queen and Prince Albert were at Woolwich, for the +launch of the good ship _Trafalgar_. Nothing so gay had been seen at +the mouth of the river since King William and Queen Adelaide came down to +Greenwich to keep the anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. The water +was covered with vessels, including every sort of craft that had been seen +"since the building of Noah's Ark." The shore was equally crowded with an +immense multitude of human beings finding standing-ground in the most +unlikely places. The Queen drove down to the Dockyard in a +travelling-carriage and four. She was received with a royal salute and +glad bursts of cheering. + +It is hardly necessary to say that the young Queen was exceedingly popular +with the blue-jackets. In the course of a visit to Portsmouth she had gone +over one of her ships. She was shown through the men's quarters, the +sailors being under orders to remain perfectly quiet and abstain from +cheering. Her Majesty tasted the men's coffee and pronounced it good. She +asked if they got nothing stronger. A glass of grog was brought to her. +She put it to her lips, and Jack could contain himself no longer; a burst +of enthusiastic huzzas made the ribs of the ship ring. + +At Woolwich a discharge of artillery announced the moment when the great +vessel slipped from her stays, and "floated gallantly down the river" till +she was brought up and swung round with her stern to London. + +The King and Queen of the Belgians paid their second visit this year, the +Queen remaining six weeks, detained latterly by the illness of her son in +England. The long visit confirmed the tender friendship between the two +queens. "During this stay, which had been such a happiness for me, we +became most intimate," Queen Victoria wrote in her Journal, and she +grudged the necessity of having to set out with Prince Albert on a royal +progress before the departure of her cherished guest. "To lose four days +of her stay, of which, I repeat, every hour is precious, is dreadful," her +Majesty told King Leopold. + +The short summer progress was otherwise very enjoyable. The Queen and +Prince Albert visited the Duke of Bedford at the Russells' stately seat of +Woburn Abbey, with its park twelve miles in extent. From Woburn the royal +couple went to Panshanger, Earl Cowper's, and Brocket Hall, Lord +Melbourne's, returning by Hatfield, the Marquis of Salisbury's. At Brocket +the Queen was entertained by her Prime Minister. At Hatfield there were +many memories of another Queen and her minister, since the ancient +country-house had been a palace of Queen Elizabeth's, passing, in her +successor's reign, by an exchange of mansions, from the hands of James I +into those of the son and representative of Lord Burleigh, little crooked, +long-headed Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury. In Hatfield Park there +is an oak still standing which bears the name of "Queen Elizabeth's Oak." +It is said Princess Elizabeth was sitting in its shade when the news was +brought to her of the death of her sister, Queen Mary, and her own +accession to the throne of England. + +The only difficulty--a pleasant one after all--which was experienced in +these progresses, proceeded from the exuberant loyalty of the people. At +straw-plaiting Dunstable a volunteer company of farmers joined the regular +escort and nearly choked the travellers with the dust the worthy yeomen +raised. On leaving Woburn Abbey the same dubious compliment was paid. In +the Queen's merry words, "a crowd of good, loyal people rode with us part +of the way. They so pressed and pushed that it was as if we were hunting." + +The recent election had returned a majority of Conservative members, and +soon after the reassembling of Parliament in August a vote of +non-confidence in Lord Melbourne's Ministry was carried. The same evening +the Prime Minister went to Windsor to announce his resignation. He acted +with his natural fairness and generosity, giving due honour to his +adversaries, and congratulating the Queen on the great advantage she +possessed in the presence and counsel of the Prince, thus softening to her +the trial of the first change of Ministers in her reign. He only regretted +the pain to himself of leaving her. "For four years I have seen you every +day; but it is so different from what it would have been in 1839. The +Prince understands everything so well, and has a clever, able head." The +Queen was much affected in taking leave of a "faithful and attached +friend," as well as Minister, while her words were, that his praise of the +Prince gave her "great pleasure" and made her "very proud." + +In anticipation of the change of Ministry it had been arranged, with Sir +Robert Peel's concurrence, that the principal Whig ladies in the Queen's +household--the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duchess of Bedford, and Lady +Normanby--should voluntarily retire from office, and that this should be +the practice in any future change of Ministry, so that the question of +Ministerial interference in the withdrawal or the appointment of the +ladies of the Queen's household might be set at rest. [Footnote: The +retirement from office is now limited to the Mistress of the Robes.] + +On the 3rd of September the new Ministers kissed hands on their +appointment at a Cabinet Council held at Claremont. Lord Campbell gives +some particulars. "I have just seen here several of our friends returned +from Claremont. Both parties met there at once. They were shown into +separate rooms. The Queen sat in her closet, no one being present but +Prince Albert. The _exaunters_ were called in one by one and gave up +the seals or wands of their offices and retired. The new men by mistake +went to Claremont all in their Court costume, whereas the Queen at Windsor +and Claremont receives her Ministers in their usual morning dress. +Nonnanby says taking leave of the Queen was very affecting." + +Whatever momentary awkwardness may have attended the substitution of Sir +Robert Peel as Prime Minister, it did not at all interfere--thanks to the +candid, liberal nature of all concerned--with the friendly goodwill which +it is so desirable should exist between sovereign and minister. We read in +the "Life of the Prince Consort," "Lord Melbourne told Baron Stockmar, who +had just returned from Coburg, that Sir Robert Peel had behaved most +handsomely, and that the conduct of the Prince had throughout been most +moderate and judicious." + +Sir Robert had experienced considerable embarrassment at the recollection +of his share in the debates on the Royal Annuity Bill, but the Prince did +not show an equally retentive memory. His seeming forgetfulness of the +past and cordiality in the present did more than reassure, it deeply +touched and completely won a man who was himself capable of magnanimous +self-renunciation. + +Sir Robert Peel had the pleasure, in his early days in office, of +suggesting to the Prince the Royal Commission to promote and encourage the +fine arts in the United Kingdom, with reference to the rebuilding of the +two Houses of Parliament. Sir Robert proposed that Prince Albert should be +placed at the head of the Commission. This was not only a movement after +the Prince's own heart, on which he spared no thought and labour for years +to come, it was an act in which Prince and Minister--both of them lovers +of art--could co-operate with the greatest satisfaction. + + + +CHAPTER XII. +BIRTH OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.--THE AFGHAN DISASTERS.--VISIT OF THE KING OF +PRUSSIA.--"THE QUEEN'S PLANTAGENET BALL." + + +On the 9th of November, 1841, the happiness of the Queen and Prince was +increased by the birth of the Prince of Wales. The event took place on the +morning of the Lord Mayor's Day, as the citizens of London rejoiced to +learn by the booming of the Tower guns. In addition to the usual calls of +the nobility and gentry, the Lord Mayor and his train went in great state +to offer their congratulations and make their inquiries for the +Queen-mother and child. + +The sole shadow on the rejoicing was the dangerous illness of the +Queen-dowager. She had an affection of the chest which rendered her a +confirmed invalid for years. At this time the complaint took an aggravated +form, and her weakness became so great that it was feared death was +approaching. But she rallied--a recovery due in a great measure, it was +believed, to her serene nature and patient resignation. She regained her +strength in a degree and survived for years. + +The public took a keen interest in all that concerned the heir to the +crown, though times were less free and easy than they had been--all the +world no longer trooped to the Queen's House as they had done to taste the +caudle compounded when royal Charlotte's babies were born. There was at +least the cradle with the nodding Prince of Wales feathers to gossip +about. The patent creating the Duke of Cornwall Prince of Wales and Earl +of Chester was issued on the 8th of December, when the child was a month +old. It was a quaint enough document, inasmuch as the Queen declared in it +that she ennobled and invested her son with the Principality and earldom +by girting him with a sword, by putting a coronet on his head and a gold +ring on his finger, and also by delivering a gold rod into his hand, that +he might preside there, and direct and defend these parts. The Royal +Nursery had now two small occupants, and their wise management, still more +than that of the household, engaged the serious consideration of the Queen +and the Prince's old friend, Baron Stockmar, and engrossed much of the +attention of the youthful parents. They took great delight in the bright +little girl, whom her mother named "Pussy," and the charming baby who was +so near her in age. + +"To think," wrote the Queen in her Journal this Christmas, "that we have +two children now, and one who enjoys the sight already" (referring to the +Christmas-tree); "it is like a dream." + +"This is the dear Christmas Eve on which I have so often listened with +impatience to your step which was to usher us into the gift-room," the +Prince reminded his father. "To-day I have two children of my own to make +gifts to, who, they know not why, are full of happy wonder at the German +Christmas-tree and its radiant candles." + +On this occasion the New Year was danced into "in good old English +fashion. In the middle of the dance, as the clock finished striking +twelve, a flourish of trumpets was blown, in accordance with a German +custom." The past year had been good also, and fertile in blessings on +that roof-tree, though in the world without there were the chafings and +mutterings of more than one impending crisis. The corn-laws, with the +embargo they laid on free trade, weighed heavily on the minds both of +statesmen and people. In Scotland Church and State were struggling keenly +once more, though, bloodlessly this time, as they had struggled to the +death in past centuries, for mastery where what each considered its rights +were in question. + +Among the blows dealt by death in 1841, there had been heavy losses to art +in the passing away of Chantrey and Wilkie. + +In January, 1842, events happened in Afghanistan which brought bitter +grief to many an English home, and threw their shadow over the palace +itself in the next few months. The fatal policy of English interference +with the fiery tribes of Northern India in support of an unpopular ruler +had ended in the murder of Sir Alexander Burns and Sir William Macnaghten, +and the evacuation of Cabul by the English. This was not all. The march +through the terrible mountain defiles in the depth of winter, under the +continual assaults of an unscrupulous and cruel enemy, meant simply +destruction. The ladies of the party, with Lady Sale, a heroic woman, at +their head, the husbands of the ladies who were with the camp, and finally +General Elphinstone, who had been the first in command at Cabul, but who +was an old and infirm man, had to be surrendered as hostages. They were +committed to the tender mercies of Akbar Khan, the son of the exiled Dost +Mahomed, the moving spirit of the insurrection against the native puppet +maintained by English authority, and the murderer, with his own hand, of +Sir William Macnaghten, whose widow was among the prisoners. The surrender +of hostages was partly a matter of necessity, in order to secure for the +most helpless of the party the dubious protection of Akbar Khan, partly a +desperate measure to prevent what would otherwise have been +inevitable--the perishing of the women and children in the dreadful +hardships of the retreat. The captives were carried first to Peshawur and +afterwards to a succession of hill-forts in the direction of the Caucasus, +while their countrymen at home, long before they had become familiar with +the tragedy of the Indian Rebellion, burned with indignation and thrilled +with horror at the possible fate of those victims of a treacherous, +vindictive Afghan chief. In the meantime the awful march went on, amidst +the rigours of winter, in wild snowy passes, by savage precipices, while +the most unsparing guerilla warfare was kept up by the furious natives at +every point of vantage. Alas! for the miserable end which we all know, +some of us recalling it, through the mists of years, still fresh with the +wonder, wrath, and sorrow which the news aroused here. Out of a company of +sixteen thousand that left Cabul, hundreds were slain or died of +exhaustion every day, three thousand fell in an ambush, and after a +night's exposure to such frost as was never experienced in England. At +last, on the 13th of January, 1842, one haggard man, Dr. Brydon, rode up, +reeling in his saddle, to the gates of Jellalabad. The fortress was still +in the keeping of Sir Robert Sale, who had steadfastly refused to retire. +It is said his wife wrote to him from her prison, urging him to hold out, +because she preferred her own and her daughter's death to his dishonour. + +But the Afghan disasters were not fully known in England for months to +come. In the interval, the christening of the Prince of Wales was +celebrated with much splendour in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on the +25th of January. The King of Prussia came over to England to officiate in +person as one of the Prince's godfathers. The others were the child's two +grand-uncles, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, +uncle of the Queen and of Prince Albert, and father of the King Consort of +Portugal and the Duchesse de Nemours. The godmothers were the Duchess of +Kent, proxy for the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, Prince Albert's stepmother; +the Duchess of Cambridge, proxy for the child's great-grandmother, the +Duchess of Saxe-Gotha; and the Princess Augusta of Cambridge, proxy for +the Princess Sophia of England. + +The ambassadors and foreign ministers, the Cabinet ministers with their +wives in full dress, the Knights of the Garter in their mantles and +collars, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, +Winchester, Oxford, and Norwich assembled in the Waterloo Gallery; the +officers and the ladies of the Household awaited the Queen in the +corridor. At noon, certain officers of the Household attended the King of +Prussia, who was joined by the other sponsors at the head of the grand +staircase, to the chapel. + +The Queen's procession included the Duke of Wellington, bearing the Sword +of State between the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl De la Warr, and the Lord +Steward, the Earl of Liverpool, the three walking before her Majesty and +Prince Albert, who were supported by their lords-in-waiting, and followed +by the Duke of Sussex, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Edward of +Saxe-Weimar, Prince Augustus and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, sons of +Prince Ferdinand and cousins of the Queen and Prince Albert. + +When the sponsors had taken their places, and the other company were +seated near the altar, the Lord Chamberlain, accompanied by the Groom of +the Stall to Prince Albert, proceeded to the Chapter-house, and conducted +in the infant Prince of Wales, attended by the lord and groom in waiting. +The Duchess of Buccleugh, the Mistress of the Robes, took the infant from +the nurse, and put him in the Archbishop's arms. The child was named +"Albert" for his father, and "Edward" for his maternal grandfather, the +Duke of Kent. The baby, on the authority of _The Times_, "behaved +with princely decorum." After the ceremony, he was reconducted to the +Chapter-house by the Lord Chamberlain. By Prince Albert's desire "The +Hallelujah Chorus," which has never been given in England without the +audience rising simultaneously, was played at the close of the service. + +The Queen afterwards held a Chapter of the Order of the Garter, at which +the King of Prussia, "as a lineal descendant of George I.," was elected a +Knight Companion, the Queen buckling the garter round his knee. There was +luncheon in the White Breakfast-room, and in the evening there was a +banquet in St. George's Hall. The table reached from one end of the hall +to the other, and was covered with gold plate. Lady Bloomfield, who was +present, describes an immense gold vessel--more like a bath than anything +else, capable of containing thirty dozens of wine. It was filled with +mulled claret, to the amazement of the Prussians. Four toasts were +drunk--that to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales taking precedence; +toasts to his Majesty the King of Prussia, the Queen and Prince Albert +followed. A grand musical performance in the Waterloo Gallery wound up the +festivities of the day. + +The presence of the King of Prussia added additional dignity to the +proceedings. He was a great ally whose visit on the occasion was a +becoming compliment. Besides, his personal character was then regarded as +full of promise, and excited much interest. His attainments and +accomplishments, which were really remarkable, won lively admiration. His +warm regard for a man like Baron Bunsen seemed to afford the best augury +for the liberality of his sentiments. As yet the danger of +impracticability, discouragement, confusion, and paralysis of all that had +been hoped for, was but faintly indicated in the dreaminess and +fancifulness of his nature. + +Lady Bloomfield describes the King as of middle size, rather fat, with an +excellent countenance and little hair. The Queen met him on the grand +staircase, kissed him twice, and made him two low curtseys. Her Majesty +says in her Journal: "He was in common morning costume, and complained +much of appearing so before me.... He is entertaining, agreeable, and +witty, tells a thing so pleasantly, and is full of amusing anecdotes." + +Madame Bunsen, who was privileged to see a good deal of the gay doings +during the King of Prussia's visit, has handed down her experience. "28th +January, 1842, came by railway to Windsor, and found that in the York +Tower a comfortable set of rooms were awaiting us. The upper housemaid +gave us tea, and bread and butter--very refreshing; when dressed we went +together to the corridor, soon met Lord De la Warr, the Duchess of +Buccleugh, and Lord and Lady Westmoreland--the former showed us where to +go--that is, to walk through the corridor (a fairy scene--lights, +pictures, moving figures of courtiers unknown), the apartments which we +passed through one after another till we reached the magnificent ball-room +where the guests were assembled to await the Queen's appearance. Among +these guests stood our King himself, punctual to quarter-past seven +o'clock; soon came Prince Albert, to whom Lord De la Warr named me, when +he spoke to me of Rome. We had not been there long before two gentlemen +walking in by the same door by which we had entered, and then turning and +making profound bows towards the open door, showed that the Queen was +coming. She approached me directly and said, with a gracious smile, 'I am +very much pleased to see you,' then passed on, and after speaking a few +moments to the King took his arm and moved on, 'God save the Queen' having +begun to sound from the Waterloo Gallery, where the Queen has always dined +since the King has been with her. Lord Haddington led me to dinner, and +one of the King's suite sat on the other side. The scene was one of fairy +tales, of undescribed magnificence, the proportions of the hall, the mass +of light in suspension, the gold plate, and the table glittering with a +thousand lights in branches of a proper height not to meet the eye. The +King's health was drunk, then the Queen's, and then the Queen went out, +followed by all her ladies. During the half-hour or less that elapsed +before Prince Albert and the King followed the Queen, she did not sit, but +went round to speak to the different ladies. She asked after my children, +and gave me an opportunity of thanking her for the gracious permission to +behold her Majesty so soon after my arrival. The Duchess of Kent also +spoke to me, and I was very glad of the notice of Lady Lyttelton, who is +very charming. As soon as the King came the Queen went into the ball-room +and made the King dance a quadrille with her, which he did with all +suitable grace and dignity, though he has long ceased to dance. At +half-past eleven, after the Queen had retired, I set out on my travels to +my bed-chamber. I might have looked and wandered about some miles before I +had found my door of exit, but was helped by an old gentleman, I believe +Lord Albemarle." + +The same thoughtful observer was present when the King of Prussia saw the +Queen open Parliament. "February, 1842, Thursday. The opening of the +Parliament was the thing from which I expected most, and I was not +disappointed; the throngs in the streets, in the windows, in every place +people could stand upon, all looking so pleased; the splendid Horse +Guards, the Grenadiers of the Guard--of whom might be said as the King +said on another occasion--'An appearance so fine, you know not how to +believe it true;' the Yeomen of the Body Guard; then in the House of +Lords, the Peers in their robes, the beautifully-dressed ladies with very +many beautiful faces; lastly, the procession of the Queen's entry and +herself, looking worthy and fit to be the converging-point of so many rays +of grandeur. It is self-evident that she is not tall, but were she ever so +tall, she could not have more grace and dignity, a head better set, a +throat better arching; and one advantage there is in her looks when she +casts a glance, being of necessity cast up and not down, that the effect +of the eyes is not lost, and they have an effect both bright and pleasing. +The composure with which she filled the throne while awaiting the Commons, +I much admired--it was a test, no fidget, no apathy. Then her voice and +enunciation cannot be more perfect. In short it could not be said that she +_did well,_ but that she was _the Queen_--she was, and felt +herself to be, the descendant of her ancestors. Stuffed in by her +Majesty's mace-bearers, and peeping over their shoulders, I was enabled to +struggle down the emotions I felt, at thinking what mighty pages in the +world's history were condensed in the words so impressively uttered by +that soft and feminine voice. Peace and war--the fate of +millions--relations and exertions of power felt to the extremities of the +globe! Alterations of corn-laws, birth of a future sovereign, with what +should it close, but the heartfelt aspiration, God bless her and guide her +for her sake, and the sake of all." + +Lady Bloomfield, who was also present, mentions that when the Queen had +finished speaking and descended from the throne, she turned to the King of +Prussia and made him a low curtsey. The same eye-witness refers to one of +the "beautiful faces" which Madame Bunsen remarked; it was that of one of +the loveliest and most accomplished women of her time: "Miss Stewart +(afterwards Marchioness of Waterford) was there, looking strikingly +handsome. She wore a turquoise, blue velvet which was very becoming, and +she was like one of the Madonnas she is so fond of painting." + +The Queen and the Prince's hearts were gladdened this spring by the news +of the approaching marriage of his brother, Prince Ernest, to Princess +Alexandrine of Baden. In a family so united such intelligence awoke the +liveliest sympathy. The Queen wrote eagerly on the subject to her uncle, +and the uncle of the bridegroom, King Leopold. "My heart is full, very +full of this marriage; it brings back so many recollections of our dear +betrothal--as Ernest was with us all the time and longed for similar +happiness... I have entreated Ernest to pass his honeymoon with us, and I +beg you to urge him to do it, for he witnessed _our_ happiness and +_we must therefore witness his_." + +There were warm wishes for Prince Albert's presence at the ceremony at +Carlsruhe on the 3rd of May; but though his inclination coincided with +these wishes, he believed there were grave reasons for his remaining in +England, and, as was usual with him, inclination yielded to duty. The +times were full of change and excitement. The people were suffering. +Rioting had occurred in the mining districts, both in England and +Scotland. Lord Shaftesbury, then Lord Ashley, a champion of hard-pressed +humanity, was able to obtain an Act of Parliament which redeemed women +from the degradation and slavery of their work as beasts of burden in the +mines, and he was pushing forward his "Factories Bill," to release little +children from the unchildlike length of small labour, which was required +from them in mills. The Anti-corn Law League was stirring up the country +through its length and breadth. The twin names of Cobden and Bright, men +of the people, were becoming associated everywhere with eloquent +persistent appeals for "Free Trade"--cheap bread to starving multitudes. +Fears were entertained of the attitude of the Chartists. The true state of +matters in Afghanistan began to break on the public. America was sore on +what she considered the tampering with her flag in the interests of the +abolition of the slave trade. Sir Robert Peel's income-tax, in order to +replenish an ill-filled exchequer, was pending. Notwithstanding, the +season was a gay one, though the gaiety might be a little forced in some +quarters. Certainly an underlying motive was an anxious effort to promote +trade by a succession of "dinners, concerts, and balls." + +One famous ball is almost historical. It is still remembered as "the +Queen's Plantagenet Ball." It was a very artistic and wonderfully perfect +revival, for one night at Buckingham Palace, of the age of Chaucer and the +Court of Edward III. and Queen Philippa. + +Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm with which the idea was taken up in +the great world. All aristocratic London set themselves to study the pages +of Chaucer and Froissart. At the same time, though the Court was to be +that of Edward III and his Queen, no limit was put to the periods and +nationalities to be selected by the guests. The ball was to be a masque, +and perhaps it would have lost a little of its motley charm had it been +confined entirely to one age in history, and to one country of the world. +A comical petition had to be presented, that the masquers might remain +covered before the Queen, lest the doffing of hats should cause the +displacement of wigs. + +The great attraction lay in the fact that not only did her Majesty +represent one of her predecessors, an ancestress however remote, but that +many of the guests were enabled to follow her example. They appeared--some +in the very armour of their forefathers, others in costumes copied from +family pictures, or in the dress of hereditary offices still held by the +representatives of the ancient houses. For it was the sons and daughters +of the great nobles of England that held high revelry in Buckingham Palace +that night. There was an additional picturesqueness, as well as a curious +vividness, lent to the pageant by the circumstance that in many cases the +blood of the men and the women represented ran in the veins of the +performers in the play. + +The wildest rumours of the extent and cost of the ball circulated +beforehand. It was said that eighteen thousand persons were engaged in it. +The Earl of Pembroke was to wear thirty-thousand pounds' worth of +diamonds--the few diamonds in his hat alone would be of the value of +eighteen thousand pounds. He was to borrow ten thousand pounds' worth of +diamonds from Storr and Mortimer at one per cent, for the night. These +great jewellers' stores were reported to be exhausted. Every other +jeweller and diamond merchant was in the same condition. It almost seemed +as if the Prince of Esterhazy must be outdone, even though the report of +his losses from falling stones on the Coronation-day had risen to two +thousand pounds. One lady boasted that she would not give less than a +thousand pounds for her dress alone. Lord Chesterfield's costume was to +cost eight hundred pounds. Plain dresses could not be got under two +hundred; the very commonest could not be bought under fifty pounds. A new +material had been invented for the occasion--gold and silver blonde to +replace the heavy stuffs of gold and silver, since the nineteenth century +did not always furnish strength or endurance to bear such a burden in a +crowded ball-room on a May night. Truly one description of trade must have +received a lively impetus. + +Both _The Times_ and the _Morning Post_ give full accounts of +the ball. "The leading feature.... was the assemblage and meeting of the +Courts of Anne of Brittany (the Duchess of Cambridge) and Edward III. and +Philippa (her Majesty and Prince Albert). A separate entrance to the +Palace was set apart for the Court of Brittany, the Duchess of Cambridge +assembling her Court in one of the lower rooms of the Palace, while the +Queen and Prince Albert, surrounded by a numerous and brilliant circle, +prepared to receive her Royal Highness in the Throne-room, which was +altered so as to be made as much as possible to harmonize with the period. +The throne was removed and another erected, copied from an authentic +source of the time of Edward III. It was lined (as well as the whole +alcove on which the throne was placed) with purple velvet, having worked +upon it in gold the crown of England, the cross of St. George, and +emblazoned shields with the arms of England and France. The State chairs +were what might be called of Gothic design, and the throne was surmounted +with Gothic tracery. At the back of the throne were emblazoned the royal +arms of England in silver. Seated on this throne, her Majesty and Prince +Albert awaited the arrival of the Court of Anne of Brittany." + +Her Majesty's dress was entirely composed of the manufactures of +Spitalfields. Over a skirt with a demi-train of _ponceau_ velvet +edged with fur there was a surcoat of brocade in blue and gold lined with +miniver (only her Majesty wore this royal fur). From the stomacher a band +of jewels on gold tissue descended. A mantle of gold and silver brocade +lined with miniver was so fastened that the jewelled fastening traversed +the jewelled band of the stomacher, and looked like a great jewelled cross +on the breast. Her Majesty's hair, folded _a la Clovis_, was +surmounted by a light crown of gold; she had but one diamond in her crown, +so large that it shone like a star. It was valued at ten thousand pounds. + +Prince Albert, as Edward III., wore a cloak of scarlet velvet, lined with +ermine and trimmed with gold lace--showing oak-leaves and acorns, edged +with two rows of large pearls. The band connecting the cloak was studded +with jewels; so was the collar of the full robe, or under-cloak, of blue +and gold brocade slashed with blue velvet. The hose were of scarlet silk, +and the shoes were richly jewelled. The Prince had on a gold coronet set +with precious stones. + +The suite were in the costume of the time. The Hon. Mrs. Anson and Mrs. +Brand, Women of the Bedchamber, had dresses bearing the quarterings of the +old arms of England, with lions and _fleurs-de-lys_. The Maids of +Honour had dresses and surcoats trimmed with gold and silver. The Duke of +Buccleugh figured as one of the original Knights of the Garter. The +Countess of Rosslyn appeared as the beautiful Countess of Salisbury. + +About half-past ten, the heralds marshalled the procession from the lower +suite of rooms up the grand white marble staircase, and by the Green +Drawing-room to the Throne-room, all the State-rooms having been thrown +open and brilliantly illuminated. The Duchess of Cambridge entered +magnificently dressed as Anne of Brittany, led by the Duke of Beaufort, +richly clad as Louis XII., and followed by her court. It included the Earl +of Pembroke as the Comte d'Angouleme, with Princess Augusta of Cambridge +as Princess Claude; Prince George of Cambridge as Gaston de Foix, with the +Marchioness of Ailesbury as the Duchesse de Ferrare; Lord Cardigan as +Bayard, with Lady Exeter as Jeanne de Conflans; Lord Claud Hamilton as the +Comte de Chateaubriand, with Lady Lincoln as Ann de Villeroi.... The +Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar represented two +French Chatelaines of the period. Each gentleman, leading a lady, passed +before the Queen and Prince Albert, and did obeisance. + +Among the most famous quadrilles which followed that of France were the +German quadrille, led by the Duchess of Sutherland, and the Spanish +quadrille, led by the Duchess of Buccleugh. There were also Italian, +Scotch, Greek and Russian quadrilles, a Crusaders' quadrille led by the +Marchioness of Londonderry, and a Waverley quadrille led by the Countess +De la Warr. + +One of the two finest effects of the evening was the passing of the +quadrilles before the Queen, a ceremony which lasted for an hour. On +leaving the Throne-room, the quadrille company went by the Picture Gallery +to join the general company in the ballroom. The Queen and the Prince +then headed their procession, and walked to the ballroom, taking their +places on the _haut pas_ under a canopy of amber satin, when each +quadrille set was called in order, and danced in turn before the Queen, +the Scotch set dancing reels. The court returned to the Throne-room for +the Russian mazurkas. The Russian or Cossack Masquers were led by Baroness +Brunnow in a dress of the time of Catherine II., a scarlet velvet tunic, +full white silk drawers, and white satin boots embroidered with gold, a +Cossack cap of scarlet velvet with heron's feathers. The appearance of the +Throne-room with its royal company and brilliant picturesque groups, when +the mazurkas were danced, is said to have been striking and beautiful. + +The diamonds of the Queen, the Duchess of Cambridge, and the Marchioness +of Londonderry outshone all others. Lady Londonderry's very gloves and +shoes were resplendent with brilliants. The Duke and Duchess of +Beaufort--the one as Louis XII. of France, the other as Isabelle of +Valois, Queen of Spain, in the French and Spanish quadrilles, were +magnificent figures. + +Among the beauties of the evening, and of Queen Victoria's earlier reign, +were Lady Clementina Villiers as Vittoria Colonna; Lady Wilhelmina +Stanhope as her ancestress, Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset; Lady +Frances and Lady Alexandrina Vane as Rowena and Queen Berengaria; and the +Ladies Paget in the Greek quadrille led by the Duchess of Leinster. +Another group of lovely sisters who took part in three different +quadrilles, were the Countess of Chesterfield, Donna Florinda in the +Spanish quadrille; the Honourable Mrs. Anson, Duchess of Lauenburg in the +German quadrille; and Miss Forrester, Blanche de St. Pol in the French +quadrille. + +Of the ladies and gentlemen who came in the guise of ancient members of +their families, or in the costumes of old hereditary offices, Lady De la +Warr appeared as Isabella Lady De la Warr, daughter of the Lord High +Treasurer of Charles I.; Lady Colville as the wife of Sir Robert Colville, +Master of the Horse to James IV. of Scotland; Viscountess Pollington, +daughter of the Earl of Orford, as Margaret Rolle, Baroness Clinton, in +her own right, and Countess of Orford; and the Countess of Westmorland as +Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt and wife of Ralph Neville, first +Earl of Westmoreland. Earl De la Warr wore the armour used by his ancestor +in the battle of Cressy, and the Marquis of Exeter the armour of Sir John +Cecil at the siege of Calais. The Earl of Warwick went as Thomas +Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, Marshal-General of the army at the battle of +Poietiers; the Duke of Norfolk as Thomas Howard, Earl-Marshal in the reign +of Elizabeth; the Earl of Rosslyn as the Master of the Buckhounds; the +Duke of St. Albans as Grand Falconer-hereditary offices. + +Mr. Monckton Milnes, the poet, presented himself as Chaucer. The +historical novelist of the day, Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, contented +himself with a comparatively humble anonymous dress, a doublet of dark +velvet slashed with white satin. The Duke of Roxburgh as David Bruce, the +captive King of Scotland, encountered no rival royal prisoner, though a +ridiculous report had sprung up that a gentleman representing John of +France was to form a prominent feature of the pageant, to walk in chains +past the Queen. This stupid story not only wounded the sensitive vanity of +the French, to whom the news travelled, it gave rise to a witty +_canard_ in the _Morning Chronicle_ professing to give a debate +on the affront, in the Chamber of Deputies. + +The tent of Tippoo Saib was erected in the upper or Corinthian portico +communicating with the Green Drawing-room, and used as a refreshment-room. +At one o'clock, the Earl of Liverpool, the Lord High Steward, as an +ancient seneschal, conducted the Queen to supper, which was served in the +dining-room. The long double table was covered with shields, vases, and +tankards of massive gold plate. Opposite the Queen, where she sat at the +centre of the horseshoe or cross table, a superb buffet reached almost to +the roof, covered with plate, interspersed with blossoming flowers. After +supper her Majesty danced in a quadrille with Prince George of Cambridge, +opposite the Duke of Beaufort and the Duchess of Buccleugh. The Queen left +the ball-room at about a quarter to three o'clock, and dancing was +continued for an hour afterwards. Thus ended the most unique and splendid +fete of the reign. About a fortnight afterwards, the Queen and the Prince +went in state to a ball given at Covent Garden Theatre, for the relief of +the Spitalfields weavers. Society followed the Queen's example. There was +another fancy ball at Stafford House, and a magnificent rout at Apsley +House. Fanny Kemble was present at both, and retained a vivid remembrance +of "the memorable appearance" of two of the belles of the evening at the +last fete, "Lady Douro and Mdlle. D'Este, [Footnote: Daughter of the Duke +of Sussex, by his morganatic marriage with Lady Augusta Murray. Mdlle. +D'Este became the wife of Lord Chancellor Truro.] who, coming into the +room together, produced a most striking effect by their great beauty and +their exquisite dress. They both wore magnificent dresses of white lace +over white satin, ornamented with large cactus flowers, those of the +blonde Marchioness being of the sea-shell rose colour, and the dark +Mademoiselle D'Este's of deep scarlet, and in the bottom of each of those +large veined blossoms lay, like a great drop of dew, a single splendid +diamond. The women were noble samples of fair and dark beauty, and their +whole appearance, coming in together attired with such elegance and +becoming magnificent simplicity, produced an effect of surprise and +admiration on the whole brilliant assembly." Of this year's Drawing-rooms +we happen to have two characteristic reports. Baroness Bunsen attended one +on April 8th, and wrote: "I was extremely struck with the splendour of the +scene at the Drawing-room, and had an excellent place near enough to see +everybody come up to the Queen [Footnote: "At a Levee or Drawing-room it +is his (the Lord Chamberlain's) duty to stand next to the Queen and read +out the names of each one approaching the royal presence.... Any peeress +on presentation, as also daughters of dukes, marquises, and earls, have +the privilege of being kissed by her Majesty; all other ladies make the +lowest Court curtsey they can, and lifting the Queen's hand, which she +offers, on the palm of their hand, it is gently kissed.... It seems +unnecessary to say that of course the right-hand glove is removed before +reaching the Presence Chamber."--"_Old Court Customs and Modern Court +Rule," by the Hon. Mrs. Armytage_.] and pass off again. I was very much +entertained, and admired a number of beautiful persons. But nobody did I +admire more than Mrs. Norton, whom I had never seen before, and Lady +Canning's face always grows upon me." Fanny Kemble also attended a +Drawing-room and described it after her fashion. "You ask about my going +to the Drawing-room, which happened thus. The Duke of Rutland dined some +little time ago at the Palace, and speaking of the late party at Belvoir, +mentioned me, when the Queen asked why I didn't have myself presented? The +Duke called next day, at my house, but we did not see him, and he being +obliged to go out of town, left a message for me with Lady Londonderry to +the effect that her Majesty's interest about me (curiosity would have been +the more exact word I suspect) rendered it imperative that I should go to +the Drawing-room; and indeed Lady Londonderry's authoritative 'Of course +you'll go,' given in her most gracious manner, left me no doubt whatever +as to my duty in that respect...." + +"You ask me how I managed about diamonds to go to Court in?" she wrote +afterwards in reply to a friend's question. "I used a set of the value of +seven hundred pounds, which I also wore at the fete at Apsley House; they +were only a necklace and earrings, which I wore ... stitched on scarlet +velvet and as drops in the middle of scarlet velvet bows in my hair, and +my dress being white satin and point lace, trimmed with white Roman +pearls, it all looked nice enough. + +"I suffered agonies of nervousness, and I rather think did all sorts of +awkward things; but so I dare say do other people in the same predicament, +and I did not trouble my head much about my various mis-performances. One +thing, however, I can tell you, if her Majesty has seen me, I have not +seen her, and should be quite excusable in cutting her wherever I met her. +'A cat may look at a king,' it is said; but how about looking at the +Queen? In great uncertainty of mind on this point I did not look at my +sovereign lady. I kissed a soft white hand which I believe was hers; I saw +a pair of very handsome legs in very fine silk stockings, which I am +convinced were not hers, but am inclined to attribute to Prince Albert; +and this is all I perceived of the whole Royal family of England, for I +made a sweeping curtsey to the 'good remainders of the Court' and came +away, with no impression but that of a crowded mass of full-dressed +confusion, and neither know how I got in or out of it." + +We might furnish a third sketch of a Drawing-room from one of the letters +of Bishop, then Archdeacon, Wilberforce, who was often at Court about this +time. In the early part of 1842 he paid a visit to Windsor, of which he +has left a graphic account. "All went on most pleasantly at the Castle. My +reception and treatment throughout was exceedingly kind. The Queen and the +Prince were both at church, as was also Lord Melbourne, who paid his first +visit at the same time. The Queen's meeting with him was very interesting. +The exceeding pleasure which lighted up her countenance was quite +touching. His behaviour to her was perfect--the fullest attentive +deference of the subject with a subdued air of 'your father's friend' that +was quite fascinating. It was curious to see (for I contemplated myself at +the moment objectively--and free from the consciousness of subjectivity), +sitting round the Queen's table, (1) the Queen, (2) the Prince, (3) Lord +Melbourne, (4) Archdeacon, (5) Lady F. Howard, (6) Baron Stockmar, (7) +Duchess of Kent, (8) Lady Sandwich, in the evening, discussing Coleridge, +German literature, &c., with 2 and 3, and a little with 4 and 6, who is a +very superior man evidently. The remarks of 3 were highly characteristic, +his complaints of 'hard words,' &c., and 2 showed a great deal of interest +and taste in German and English literature, and a good deal of +acquaintance with both. I had orders to sit by the Duchess of Kent at +dinner, just opposite to 1 and 2, 3 sitting at l's right, and the +conversation, especially after dinner, was much more general across the +table on etymology," &c. &c. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +FRESH ATTEMPTS AGAINST THE QUEEN'S LIFE.--MENDELSSOHN.--DEATH OF THE DUC +D'ORLEANS. + +On the 30th of May a renewed attempt to assassinate the Queen, almost +identical in the circumstances and the motive--or no motive, save morbid +vanity--with the affair of Oxford, awoke the same disgust and +condemnation. This was a double attack, for on the previous day, Sunday, +at two o'clock, as the Queen and the Prince were driving home from the +Chapel Royal, St. James's, in passing along the Mall, near Stafford House, +amidst a crowd of bowing, cheering spectators, the Prince saw a man step +out and present a pistol at him. He heard the trigger snap, but the pistol +missed fire. The Queen, who had been bowing to the people on the opposite +side, neither saw nor heard anything. On reaching the Palace the Prince +questioned the footmen in attendance, but neither had they noticed +anything, and he could judge for himself that no commotion, such as would +have followed an arrest, had taken place. He was tempted to doubt the +evidence of his senses, though he thought it necessary to make a private +statement before the Inspector of Police. Confirmation came in the story +of a stuttering boy named Pearse. He had witnessed the scene, and after a +little delay arrived of his own accord at the Palace, to report what had +happened. Everybody concerned was now convinced of the threatened danger, +but it was judged best to keep it secret. The Prince, writing afterwards +to his father, mentions in his simple straightforward fashion that they +were both naturally much agitated, and that the Queen was very nervous and +unwell; as who would not be with the sword of Damocles quivering ready to +fall on the doomed head? Her Majesty's doctor wished that she should go +out, and the wish coincided with the quiet courage and good sense of the +Royal couple. To have kept within doors might have been to shut +themselves up for months, and the Queen said later, "she never could have +existed under the uncertainty of a concealed attack. She would much +rather run the immediate risk at any time than have the presentiment of +danger constantly hovering over her." But the brave, generous woman, a +true queen in facing the dastardly foe, was careful to save others from +unnecessary exposure. The _Annual Register_ of the year mentions that +she did not permit her female attendants to accompany her according to her +usual practice, on that dangerous drive. Lady Bloomfield, who as Miss +Liddell was one of the Maids of Honour in waiting, amply confirms the +statement. No whisper of what was expected to occur had reached the ladies +of the Household. They waited at home all the afternoon counting on being +summoned to drive with the Queen. Contrary to her ordinary habit and to +her wonted consideration for them, they were neither sent for to accompany +her, nor apprised in time that they were not wanted, so that they might +have disposed of their leisure elsewhere. The Queen went out alone with +Prince Albert. When she returned and everybody knew what she had +encountered, she said to Miss Liddell: "I dare say, Georgy, you were +surprised at not driving with me this afternoon, but the fact was that as +we returned from church yesterday, a man presented a pistol at the +carriage window, which flashed in the pan; we were so taken by surprise +that we had not time to escape, so I knew what was hanging over me, and +was determined to expose no life but my own." The young Maid of Honour, in +speaking warmly of the Queen's courage and unselfishness, shrewdly reminds +her readers that had three ladies driven rapidly by instead of one, the +would-be assassin might have been bewildered and uncertain in his aim. The +Queen and the Prince had driven in the direction of Hampstead in "superb +weather," with "hosts of people on foot" around them--a strange contrast +in their ease and tranquillity to the beating hearts and watchful eyes in +the Royal carriage. There had been no misadventure and nothing suspicious +observed, though every turn, almost every face was scanned, till on the +way home, between the Green Park and the garden wall, at the same spot, +though on the opposite side from where Oxford had stood two years before, +a shot was fired about five paces off. The Prince immediately recognised +the man who had aimed at him the day before, "a little swarthy ill-looking +rascal," who had been already seized, though too late to stop the shot, by +a policeman close at hand. + +When the worst was over without harm done, "We felt as if a load had been +taken off our hearts," wrote the Prince, "and we thanked the Almighty for +having preserved us a second time from so great a danger." The Prince +added, "Uncle Mensdorff [Footnote: The Duchess of Kent's eldest sister +married a private gentleman, originally a French _emigre_, afterwards +a distinguished officer in the Austrian service. His sons were Prince +Albert's early companions and intimate friends.] and mamma were driving +close behind us. The Duchess Bernhard of Weimar was on horseback--not +sixty paces from us." + +It was said that when the Queen arrived at the Palace and met the Duchess +of Kent, whom Count Mensdorff had conducted thither, the poor mother was +deeply affected and fell upon her daughter's neck with a flood of tears, +"while the Queen endeavoured to reassure her with cheerful words and +affectionate caresses." Indeed the Queen was greatly relieved, and in the +reaction she recovered her spirits. She wrote to the King of the Belgians +the day afterwards, "I was really not at all frightened, and feel very +proud at dear Uncle Mensdorff calling me 'very courageous,' which I shall +ever remember with peculiar pride, coming from so distinguished an officer +as he is." We may mention that the general impression made on the public +by the Queen's bearing under these treacherous attacks was that of her +utter fearlessness and strength of nerve; a corresponding idea, which we +think quite mistaken, was that the Prince showed himself the more nervous +of the two. + +A great crowd assembled to cheer the Queen when she drove out on the +following day. "One long shout of hurrahs," with waving of hats and +handkerchiefs, greeted her. She bowed and smiled and appeared calm and +collected, though somewhat flushed; but when she came back from what is +described as like a triumphal progress, it was observed that, in spite of +her gratification, she looked pale and not so well as she had done on the +day preceding the attack. The bravest heart in a woman's breast could not +surmount unmoved such an ordeal; she was at the Italian Opera the same +evening, however, and heard the national anthem interrupted at every line +by bursts of cheering. + +In this case, as in the other, the offender was a mere lad, little over +twenty, named John Francis. He was the son of a stage-carpenter, and had +himself been a young carpenter who had led an irregular life, and been +guilty of dishonesty. He behaved at first with much coolness and +indifference, jeering at the magistrates. Francis was tried in the month +of June for high treason, and sentenced to death, when his bluster ceased, +and he fell back in a fainting fit in the arms of the turnkey. + +The Queen was exceedingly anxious that the sentence should not be +executed, though "fully conscious of the encouragement to similar +attempts--which might follow from such leniency," and the sentence of +death was commuted to banishment for life. + +On the very day after the commutation of the sentence had been announced, +Sunday, the 3rd of July, the Queen was again fired at as she sat by the +side of her uncle, King Leopold, on her way to the Chapel Royal, St. +James's. The pistol missed fire, and the man who presented it, a +hunchback, was seized by a boy of sixteen called Dasset. So ridiculous did +the group seem, that the very policemen pushed away both captor and +captive as actors in a bad practical joke. Then the boy Dasset, who +retained the pistol, was in danger of being taken up as the real culprit, +trying to throw the blame upon another. At last several witnesses proved +the true state of the case. The pistol was discovered to contain only +powder, paper, and some bits of a tobacco-pipe rammed together. On +examination it was found that the hunchback, another miserable lad named +Bean, was a chemist's assistant, who had written a letter to his father +declaring that he "would never see him again, as he intended doing +something which was not dishonest, but desperate." + +The Queen was not aware of Bean's attempt till she came back from St. +James's, "when she betrayed no alarm, but said she had expected a +repetition of the attempts on her life, so long as the law remained +unaltered by which they could be dealt with only as acts of high treason." + +"Sir Robert Peel hurried up from Cambridge on hearing what had occurred, +to consult with the Prince as to the steps to be taken. During this +interview her Majesty entered the room, when the Minister, in public so +cold and self-controlled, in reality so full of genuine feeling, out of +his very manliness, was unable to control his emotion, and burst into +tears;" [Footnote: "Life of the Prince Consort"] an honourable sequel to +the difficulties and misunderstanding which had heralded the Premier's +entrance on office. + +It was, indeed, high time that a suitable provision should be made to meet +what seemed likely to be a new and base abuse of Royal clemency. + +In the meantime, Prince Albert's fair and fearless treatment of the whole +matter was very remarkable. He wrote that he could imagine the +circumstance of Bean's attempt being made the day after Francis received +his pardon would excite much surprise in Germany. But the Prince was +satisfied that Bean's letter making known his intention had been written +days before. Prince Albert was convinced that, as the law then stood, +Francis's execution, notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, would have +been nothing less than a judicial murder, as it was essential that the act +should be committed with intent to kill or wound, and in Francis's case +this, to all appearance, was not the fact; at least it was open to grave +doubt. There was no proof that Francis's pistol was loaded. "In this calm +and wise way," observes Mr. Justin M'Carthy, "did the husband of the +Queen, who had always shared with her whatever of danger there might be in +the attempts, argue as to the manner in which they ought to be dealt +with." The historian adds, "The ambition which moved most or all the +miscreants who thus disturbed the Queen and the country, was that of the +mountebank rather than the assassin." It merited contempt no less than +severity. A bill was brought forward on the 12th of July, and passed on +the 16th, making such attacks punishable, as high misdemeanours, by +transportation for seven years, or imprisonment with or without hard +labour for a term not exceeding three years; the culprit to be publicly or +privately whipped as often and in such manner and form as the court shall +direct, not exceeding thrice. Bean was tried by this law on the 25th of +August, and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment. + +One of the attractions of the season was the reappearance of Rachel, +ravishing all hearts by her acting of Camille in _Les Horaces_, and +winning ovations of every kind up to roses dropped from the Queen's +bouquet. + +Mendelssohn was also in London, and went to Buckingham Palace. He has left +a charming account of one of his visits in a letter to his mother. "I must +tell you," he writes, "all the details of my last visit to Buckingham +Palace.... It is, as G. says, the one really pleasant and thoroughly +comfortable English house where one feels _a son aise_. Of course I +do know a few others, but yet on the whole I agree with him. Joking apart, +Prince Albert had asked me to go to him on Saturday at two o'clock, so +that I might try his organ before I left England; I found him alone, and +as we were talking away, the Queen came in, also alone, in a simple +morning-dress. She said she was obliged to leave for Claremont in an hour, +and then, suddenly interrupting herself, exclaimed, 'But, goodness, what a +confusion!' for the wind had littered the whole room, and even the pedals +of the organ (which, by the way, made a very pretty picture in the room), +with leaves of music from a large portfolio that lay open. As she spoke +she knelt down, and began picking up the music; Prince Albert helped, and +I too was not idle. Then Prince Albert proceeded to explain the stops to +me, and she said that she would meanwhile put things straight. + +"I begged that the Prince would first play me something, so that, as I +said, I might boast about it in Germany. He played a chorale by heart, +with the pedals, so charmingly, and clearly, and correctly, that it would +have done credit to any professional; and the Queen, having finished her +work, came and sat by him and listened, and looked pleased. Then it was +my turn, and I began my chorus from _St. Paul_, "How lovely are the +messengers." Before I got to the end of the first verse they both joined +in the chorus, and all the time Prince Albert managed the stops for me so +cleverly--first a flute, at the _forte_ the great organ, at the D +major part the whole register, then he made a lovely _diminuendo_ +with the stops, and so on to the end of the piece, and all by heart--that +I was really quite enchanted. Then the young Prince of Gotha came in, and +there was more chatting; and the Queen asked if I had written any new +songs, and said she was very fond of singing my published ones. 'You +should sing one to him,' said Prince Albert, and after a little begging +she said she would try the 'Fruhlingslied' in B flat. 'If it is still +here,' she added, 'for all my music is packed up for Claremont.' Prince +Albert went to look for it, but came back saying it was already packed. +'But one might, perhaps, unpack it,' said I. 'We must send for Lady +----,' she said (I did not catch the name). So the bell was rung, and the +servants were sent after it, but without success; and at last the Queen +went herself, and while she was gone, Prince Albert said to me, 'She begs +you will accept this present as a remembrance,' and gave me a little case +with a beautiful ring, on which is engraved 'V. R., 1842.' + +"Then the Queen came back and said, ' Lady ---- is gone, and has taken all +my things with her. It really is most annoying.' You can't think how that +amused me. I then begged that I might not be made to suffer for the +accident, and hoped she would sing another song. After some consultation +with her husband, he said, 'She will sing you something of Gluck's.' +Meantime, the Princess of Gotha had come in, and we five proceeded through +various corridors and rooms to the Queen's sitting-room. The Duchess of +Kent came in too, and while they were all talking, I rummaged about +amongst the music, and soon discovered my first set of songs; so, of +course, I begged her rather to sing one of those than the Gluck, to which +she very kindly consented; and which did she choose? '_Schoner und +schoner schmuck sich_,' sang it quite charmingly, in strict time and +tune, and with very good execution. Only in the line '_Der Prosa Lasten +und muh_,' where it goes down to D, and then comes up again by +semi-tones, she sang D sharp each time, and as I gave her the note the two +first times, the last time she sang D, where it ought to have been D +sharp. But with the exception of this little mistake it was really +charming, and the last long G I have never heard better, or purer, or more +natural, from any amateur. Then I was obliged to confess that Fanny had +written the song (which I found very hard; but pride must have a fall), +and to beg her to sing one of my own also. 'If I would give her plenty of +help she would gladly try,' she said, and then she sang +'_Pilgerspruch_,' '_Lass dich nur_,' really quite faultlessly, +and with charming feeling and expression. I thought to myself, one must +not pay too many compliments on such an occasion, so I merely thanked her +a great many times, upon which she said. 'Oh, if only I had not been so +frightened! generally I have such long breath.' Then I praised her +heartily, and with the best conscience in the world; for just that part +with the long C at the close, she had done so well, taking it and the +three notes next to it all in the same breath, as one seldom hears it +done, and therefore it amused me doubly that she herself should have begun +about it.' + +"After this Prince Albert sang the '_Arndle-lied_,' '_Es ist ein +schnitter_,' and then he said I must play him something before I went, +and gave me as themes the chorale which he had played on the organ, and +the song he had just sung. If everything had gone as usual I ought to have +improvised dreadfully badly, for it is almost always so with me when I +want it to go well, and then I should have gone away vexed with the whole +morning. But just as if I were to keep nothing but the pleasantest, most +charming recollection of it, I never improvised better; I was in the best +mood for it, and played a long time, and enjoyed it myself so much that, +besides the two themes, I brought in the songs that the Queen had sung +quite naturally; and it all went off so easily, that I would gladly not +have stopped; and they followed me with so much intelligence and +attention, that I felt more at my ease than I ever did in improvising to +an audience. The Queen said several times she hoped I would soon come to +England again, and pay them a visit, and then I took leave; and down below +I saw the beautiful carriages waiting, with their scarlet outriders, and +in a quarter of an hour the flag was lowered, and the _Court +Circular_ announced, 'Her Majesty left the palace at twenty minutes +past three.'" + +The Queen and the Prince were enjoying the company of Prince Albert's +brother, Prince Ernest, the hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and +his newly-wedded wife, who were both with the Court during its short stay +at _Claremont_. There the news reached her Majesty of the sad and +sudden death of the Duc d'Orleans, the eldest son of Louis Philippe, and +the favourite brother of the Queen of the Belgians. The Duc d'Orleans had +been with the King and Queen of France at Neuilly, from which he was +returning in order to join the Duchesse d'Orleans at Plombieres, when the +horses in his carriage started off near the Porte Maillot. Fearing that he +should be overturned the Prince rashly leaped out, when his spurs and his +sword caught in his cloak and helped to throw him to the ground with great +violence. The result was concussion of the brain, from which he died +within three hours, never recovering consciousness. The Duc d'Orleans was +a young man of great promise, and his death was not only a source of deep +distress to all connected with him, it was in the end, so far as men can +judge, fatal to the political interests of his family. Many of us can +recollect still something of the agonised prayer of the poor mother by the +dying Prince, "My God, take me, but save my child!" and the cry of the +bereaved father, the first time he addressed the Chamber afterwards, when +he broke down and could utter nothing save the passionate lamentation of +David of old, "My son, my son!" The Queen and Prince Albert were doubly +and trebly allied to the Orleans family by the marriages of the Queen of +the Belgians, the Duc de Nemours, and later of Princess Clementine, to +three members of the Coburg family--the uncle and two of the cousins of +Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They felt much for the unhappy family in +their terrible bereavement. The Queen grieved especially for her +particular friend, Queen Louise, and for the young widow, a cultured, +intellectual German Princess, with her health already broken. "My poor +dearest Louise, how my heart bleeds for her. I know how she loved poor +Chartres, [Footnote: The Duc de Chartres was the earlier title of the Duc +d'Orleans, which he bore when his father was still Duc d'Orleans, before +he became King of France as "Louis Philippe." Apparently the son continued +"Chartres" to his intimate friends.] and deservedly, for he was so noble +and good. All our anxiety now is to hear how poor dear frail Helene (the +Duchesse d'Orleans) has borne this too dreadful loss. She loved him so, +and he was so devoted to her." + +During the night of the 27th of July this year, London was visited by the +most violent thunderstorm which had been experienced for many summers. It +lasted for several hours. The fine spire of the church of St. +Martin-in-the-Fields was struck by the lightning and practically +destroyed. + +On the 9th of August the Queen prorogued Parliament, when the Prince and +Princess of Saxe-Coburg Gotha witnessed the interesting ceremony, +occupying chairs near the chair of State, kept vacant for the Prince of +Wales to the right of the Queen, while Prince Albert sat in the chair to +her left. + +The Prince of Wales was still at a considerable distance from the +occupancy of that chair. Even as we see him here, in a copy of Mrs. +Thornycroft's graceful statue, he is in the character of a shepherd lad, +like David of old, and not in that of the heir-apparent to the throne. + +At the close of this season, the Queen's old friend and servant Baroness +Lehzen withdrew from Court service and retired to Germany to end her days +in her native country, in the company of a sister. Lady Bloomfield saw the +Baroness Lehzen in her home at Buckeburg, within a day's journey of +Hanover, a few years subsequently. "She resided with her sister in a +comfortable small house, where she seemed perfectly contented and happy. +She was as much devoted to the Queen as ever, and her rooms were filled +with pictures and prints of her Majesty." The Prince and Princess of +Buckeburg were very kind to her, and she had as much society as she liked +or desired. What a change from the great monarchy of England to the tiny +princedom of Buckeburg! But the Baroness was a German, and could reconcile +the two ideas in her mind. She was also an ageing woman, to whom the rest +and freedom of domestic life were sweet and the return to the customs of +her youth not unacceptable.. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO SCOTLAND. + + +The Queen had never been abroad. It was still well-nigh an +unconstitutional step for a sovereign of England to claim the privilege, +enjoyed by so many English subjects, of a foreign tour, let it be ever so +short. However, this year the proposal of a visit to her uncle King +Leopold at Brussels, where several members of Louis Philippe's family were +to have met her, was made. But the lamentable death of the Duc d'Orleans +put an end for the present to the project. Neither were affairs at home in +so flourishing a condition as to encourage any great departure from +ordinary rule and precedent. The manufacturing districts were in a most +unsettled state. The perpetually recurring riots--so long as the corn laws +stood in the way of a sure and abundant supply of grain, which meant cheap +bread, and as the people believed prosperous trade--had broken out afresh +in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midland counties. The aspect of +Manchester alone became so threatening, that all the soldiers who could be +spared from London, including a regiment of the Guards, were dispatched to +the North of England. Happily, the disturbances were quelled, though not +without bloodshed; and it was resolved, notwithstanding the fact that +similar rioting had taken place in Lanarkshire, the Queen and the Prince +should pay their first visit to Scotland, a country within her dominions, +but different in physical features and history from the land in which she +had been born and bred. How much the royal visitors were gratified, has +been amply shown; but to realise what the Queen's visit was to the Scotch +people, it is necessary to go back to the nation's loyalty and to the +circumstance that since the exile of the Stewarts, nay, since the days +when James VI. left his ancient capital to assume the crown of England, +the monarchs had shown their faces rarely in the north; while in the cases +of Charles I. and Charles II. there had been so much of self-interest and +compulsion in their presence as to rob it of its grace. George IV. had +come and gone certainly, but though he was duly welcomed, it was difficult +even for his most zealous supporters to be enthusiastic about him. At the +proposed arrival of the young Queen, who was well worthy of the most +ardent devotion, the "leal" heart of Scotland swelled with glad +anticipation. The country had its troubles like the rest of the world. In +addition to vexed questions between perplexed mill-masters, shipbuilders, +and mine-owners on the one side, and on the other, penniless mechanics and +pitmen, the crisis which more than all others rent the Covenanting church, +so dear to the descendants of the old Whigs, was close at hand. All was +forgotten for the hour in the strange resemblance which exists between one +strain of the character of the staid Scotch, and a vein in the nature of +the impulsive French, two nations that used to be trusty allies. There is, +indeed, a bond to unite "Caledonia stern and wild" and "the sunny land of +France;" a weft of passionate poetry crosses alike the woof of the simple +cunning of the Highlander and the slow canniness of the Lowlander. +Scotland as well as France has been + + The chosen home of chivalry, the garden of romance. + +The news that the Queen and the Prince were coming, travelled with the +rapidity of the ancient clansmen's fiery cross from the wan waters of the +south to the stormy friths of the north, and kindled into a blaze the +latent fire in every soul. The fields, the pastures, the quarries, the +shootings, were all very well, and the Kirk was still better; but the +Queen was at the door--the Queen who represented alike Queen Mary, King +Jamie--all the King Jamies,--King William, the good friend of religious +liberty, and of "Cardinal Carstairs," "Bonnie Prince Charlie," at once +pitied and condemned, and King George, "honest man!" not unfair or +unmerciful, whatever his minister Walpole might advise. The Queen was, +above all, herself the flower of her race. Who would not hurry to meet and +greet her, to give her the warmest reception? + +All the traditions, all the instincts of the people thrilled and impelled +them. Multitudes formed of broadly and picturesquely contrasting elements +flocked to Edinburgh to hail her Majesty's landing. Manifold preparations +were made for her entrance into the capital, the one regret being that she +was not to dwell in her own beautiful palace of Holyrood--unoccupied by +royal tenants since the last French exiles, Charles X., the Dauphin and +the Dauphiness (the Daughter of the Temple), and the Duchesse de Berri, +with her two children, the young Duc de Bourdeaux and his sister, found a +brief refuge within its walls. The Queen, like her uncle George IV., was +to be in the first place the guest of the Duke of Buccleugh at Dalkeith +Palace. + +Her Majesty and the Prince left Windsor at five o'clock on the morning of +the 29th August, 1842, and after journeying to London and Woolwich, +embarked on board the _Royal George_ yacht under a heavy shower of +rain. The yacht was attended by a squadron of nine vessels, the Trinity +House steamer, and a packet, besides being followed for some distance, in +spite of the unpropitious weather, by innumerable little pleasure-boats. +The squadron was both for safety and convenience; certain vessels conveyed +the ladies and gentlemen of the suite, and one took the two dogs, the +chosen companions of their master and mistress, "Eos," and another +four-footed favourite, "Cairnach." [Footnote: Sir Edwin Landseer painted +these two dogs for the Queen, "Eos" with the Princess Royal in 1841, "Eos" +alone, a sketch for a large picture in 1842, "Cairnach" in 1841. In 1838, +the great animal painter had painted for her Majesty "little Dash" along +with two other dogs, and "Lorey," a pet parrot belonging to the Duchess of +Kent.] + +The voyage was both tedious and trying, the sea was rough, and the royal +voyagers were ill. On the morning of the 31st they were only coasting +Northumberland, when the Queen saw the Fern Islands, where Grace Darling's +lighthouse and her heroic story were still things of yesterday. Before her +Majesty's return to England, she heard what she had not known at the time, +that the brave girl had died within twenty-four hours of the royal yacht's +passing the lighthouse station. + +The Queens first remark on the Scotch coast, though it happened to be the +comparatively tame east coast, was "very beautiful--so dark, rocky, bold, +and wild--totally unlike our coast." All her observations had the naive +freshness and sympathetic willingness to be pleased, of an unexhausted, +unvitiated mind. She noticed everything, and was gratified by details +which would have signified nothing to a sated, jaded nature, or, if they +had made an impression, would only have called forth more weariness, +varied by contemptuous criticism. The longer light in the north, that dear +summer gloaming which is neither night nor day, but borrows something from +both--from the silence and solemn mystery of the latter, and from the +clear serenity of the former--a leisure time which is associated from +youth to age with a host of happy, tender associations; the pipes playing +in one of the fishing-boats; the reel danced on board an attendant +steamer; the bonfires on the coast--nothing was too trivial to escape the +interested watcher, or was lost upon her, Queen though she was. + +The anchor of the royal yacht was let down in Leith Roads at midnight. At +seven o'clock on the morning of the 1st of September the Queen saw before +her the good town of Leith, where Queen Mary had landed from France; and +in the background, Edinburgh half veiled in an autumn fog, lying at the +foot of its semicircle of hills--the grim couchant lion of Arthur's seat; +Salisbury Crags, grey and beetling; the heatherly slopes of the Pentlands +in the distance. A little after eight her Majesty landed at Granton Pier, +amidst the cheers of her Scotch subjects. The Duke of Buccleugh, whose +public-spirited work the pier was, stood there to receive his sovereign, +when she put her foot on shore, as he had already been on board the yacht +to greet her arrival in what was once called Scotland Water. + +When Queen Mary landed at Leith, it took her more than one day, if we +remember rightly, to make a slow progress to her capital. Things are done +faster in the nineteenth century; a few minutes by railway now separate +Granton from Edinburgh. But the Edinburgh and Granton railway did not +exist in 1842. Her Majesty and the Prince drove in a barouche, followed by +the ladies and gentlemen of her suite in other carriages, and escorted by +the Duke of Buccleugh and several gentlemen on horseback, to the ancient +city of her Stewart ancestry. An unfortunate misconception robbed the +occasion of the dignified ceremony and the exhibition of fervent personal +attachment which had awaited it. All the previous day the authorities and +the crowd had been on the look-out for the great event, and in the delay +had passed the time quite happily in watching the preparations, and the +decorations and devices for the coming illumination. The Lord Provost, Sir +James Forrest, had taken the precaution to send a carriageful of bailies +over night, or by dawn of day, to catch the first sign of the Queen's +landing, and drive with it, post-haste, to the chief magistrate, who with +his fellows was to be stationed at the barrier erected in the High Street, +to present the keys of the city to the sovereign claiming admittance. But +whether the bailies blundered over their instructions or slept at their +post, or lost their way, no warning of the Queen's approach reached the +Provost and his satellites in time. They were calm in the confident +persuasion that the Queen would not arrive till noon--at the soonest--a +persuasion which was based on the conviction that the event was too great +to be hurried over, and which left out of sight the consideration of the +disagreeable sea-voyage, and the natural desire to be on solid ground, and +at rest, on the part of the travel-tossed voyagers. "We both felt +dreadfully tired and giddy," her Majesty wrote of herself and the Prince +when they reached Dalkeith. + +The result was that these gentlemen in office were seated at breakfast as +usual, or were engaged in getting rid betimes of some of the numerous +engagements which beset busy men on a busy day, when the cry arose that +the Queen was there, in the midst of them, with nobody to meet her, no +silver keys on a velvet cushion to be respectfully offered and graciously +returned. The ancient institution of the Royal Archer Guard, one of the +chief glories of the situation, was only straggling by twos and threes to +its muster-ground. The Celtic Society was in a similar plight, headed in +default of the Duke of Argyle by the Marquis of Lorn, a golden-haired +stripling in a satin kilt of the Campbell set, who looked all the slighter +and more youthful, with more dainty calves in his silken hose, because of +the big burly chieftains--Islay conspicuous among them--whom he led. The +stands, the windows, the very grand old streets were half empty as yet, in +the raw September morning. No King or Queen had visited Edinburgh for a +score of years, and when at last the Queen of Hearts did come, the +citizens were found napping--a sore mortification with which her Majesty +deals very gently in her Journal, scarcely alluding to the inopportune +accident. In truth only a moiety of early risers--those mostly country +folks who had trooped into the town--restless youthful spirits, ardent +holiday-makers, who could not find any holiday too long--or gallant +devoted innocent Queen-worshippers, sleepless with the thought that the +Queen was so near and might already be stirring--were abroad and intent +on what was passing, looking at the vacant places, speculating on how they +would be choke full in a couple of hours, amusing themselves easily with +the idlest trifles, by way of whetting the appetite for the great sight, +which they were to remember all their lives. These spectators were +startled by seeing a gentleman, said afterwards to have been Lord John +Scott, the popular but somewhat madcap brother of the Duke of. Buccleugh, +gallop up the street bareheaded, waving his hat above his head and +shouting "The Queen, the Queen!" The listeners looked at each other and +laughed. How well the hoax was gone about; but who would presume to play +such a trick, it was too much even from Lord John--did not somebody say it +was Lord John? On the line of route too! What were the police thinking of? + +Then swift corroboration followed, in the train of carriages rolling up, +the first attended by a few of the Royal Archers, in their picturesque +costumes of green and gold, each with his bow in one hand and his arrows +in his belt. But the calmest had his equanimity disturbed by the +consciousness that the main body of his comrades, all noblemen and +gentlemen of Scotland, were running pell-mell behind, in a desperate +effort to form into rank and march in due order. One eager confused +glance, one long-drawn breath, one vehement heart-throb for her who was +the centre of all, and the disordered pageant had swept past. + +The Queen wrote in her Journal that the Duke of Roxburgh and Lord Elcho +were the members of the Body Guard on her side of the carriage, and that +Lord Elcho, whom she did not know at the time, pointed out the various +monuments and places of interest. + +Both the Queen and Prince Albert were much struck by the beautiful town, +the massive stone houses, the steep High Street, the tall buildings, "and +the Castle on the grand rock in the middle of the town, and Arthur's Seat +in the background, a splendid spectacle." + +On the country road to Dalkeith, the cottages built of stone, the walls +("dry stane dykes") instead of fences, the old women in their close caps +("sou-backed mutches"), the girls and children of the working classes, +with flowing hair, often red, and bare feet, all the little individual +traits, which impress us on our first visit to a foreign country, were +carefully noted down. The Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh proved a noble +host and hostess, but they could provide no such cicerone for the Queen as +was furnished for George IV., when Sir Walter Scott showed him Edinburgh, +and for the Governor of the Netherlands, when Rubens introduced him to +Antwerp. Neither did any peer or chief appear on the occasion of the +Queen's visit, with such a telling accompaniment as that ruinous "tail" of +wild Highlanders, attached to Glengarry, when he waited on the King. + +On the "rest day," which succeeded that of her Majesty's arrival at +Dalkeith, she had three fresh experiences, chronicled in her Journal. She +tasted oatmeal porridge, which she thought "very good," and "Finnan +haddies," of which she gave no opinion, and she was stopped and turned +back in her drive by "a Scotch mist." Indeed, not all the Queen's +proverbial good luck in the matter could now or at any future time greatly +modify the bane of open-air enjoyment amidst the beautiful scenery of +Scotland--the exceedingly variable, even inclement, weather which may be +met with at all seasons. + +Saturday, the 3rd of September, afforded abundant compensation for all +that had been missed on the Queen's entrance into Edinburgh. She paid an +announced and formal visit from Dalkeith Palace to the town, in order to +accomplish the balked ceremony of the presentation of the keys and to see +the Castle on its historic rock. By Holyrood Chapel and Holyrood Palace, +which the Queen called "a royal-looking old place," but where she did not +tarry now, because there was fever in the neighbourhood; up the old world +Cannon-gate, and the High Street, where the Setouns and the Leslies had +their brawl, and the Jacobites went with white cockades in their cocked +hats and white roses at their breasts, braving the fire of the Castle, to +pay homage to Prince Charlie; on to the barrier. Edinburgh was wide awake +this time. The streets were densely crowded, every window, high and low, +in the tall grey houses framed a galaxy of faces, stands had been erected, +and platforms thrown out wherever stand and platform could find space. The +very "leads" of the public buildings bore their burden of sightseers. The +Lord Provost and his bailies stood ready, and the Queen came wearing the +royal Stewart tartan, "A' fine colours but nane o' them blue," to show +that she was akin to the surroundings. She heard and replied to the speech +made to her by the representative of the old burghers, and gave him back +the token of his rule. She reached the Castle, after having passed the +houses of Knox and the Earl of Moray. She saw the Scotch regalia, and +heard anew how it had once been saved by a minister's brave wife, who +carried it hidden in a bundle of yarn in her lap, out of the northern +castle, which was in the hands of the enemy; and how it had been concealed +again--only too well, forgotten in the course of a generation or two, and +actually lost sight of for a hundred years. She entered the room, "such a +very, very small room," she wrote, in her wonder at the rude and scanty +accommodation of those days, in which James VI. was born. No doubt "Mons +Meg," the old Flemish cannon and grim darling of the fortress, was +presented to her. But what seems to have moved her most was the +magnificent view, which included the rich Lothians and the silver shield +of the Frith, and stretched, but only, when the weather was fine enough, +in the direction of Stirlingshire, to the round-backed Ochils and the blue +giants, the Grampians, while at her feet lay the green gardens of Princes +Street and the handsome street itself--once the Nor' Loch and the Burgh +Muir--Allan Ramsay's house and Heriot's Hospital, or "Wark," the princely +gift of the worthy jeweller to his native town. + +A little incident, the motive of which was unknown to her Majesty, +occurred on her drive back to Dalkeith. An enthusiastic active young +fellow, who had seen the presentation of the keys, hurried out the length +of a mile on the country road to Dalkeith, and choosing a solitary point, +stationed himself on the summit of a wall, where he was the only watcher, +and awaited the return of the carriages. The special phaeton drove up with +the young couple, talking and laughing together in the freedom of their +privacy. The single spectator took off his hat at the risk of losing his +precarious footing, and in respectful silence, bowed, or "louted +low"--another difficult proceeding under the circumstances. Prince +Albert, who was sitting with his arms crossed on his breast, treated the +demonstration as not meant for him. The smiling Queen inclined her head, +and the eager lad had what he sought, a mark of her recognition given to +him alone. To the day of his death no more loyal heart beat for his Queen +throughout her wide dominions. + +The Queen drove to Leith on another day, and she and the Prince were still +more charmed with the view, which he called "fairylike." After the fashion +of most strangers, the travellers had their attention attracted by the +Newhaven fish-wives, who offered a curious contrast to the rest of the +population. Their Flemish origin announced itself, for her Majesty +pronounced them "very clean and very _Dutch_-looking with their white +caps and bright-coloured petticoats." It was about this time that a great +author made them all his own, by "choosing a fit representative for his +heroine, and describing a fisherman's marriage on the island of Inchcolm. + +On Sunday, Dean Kamsay, whose memory is so linked with Scotch stories, +read prayers. + +On Monday, the Queen held a Drawing-room at Dalkeith Palace. It was an +antiquarian question whether there had been another Drawing-room since the +Union. Well might the stay-at-home ladies of Scotland plume themselves. +Afterwards, her Majesty received addresses from the Magistrates of +Edinburgh, the Scotch Church, and Universities. + +The Queen's stay at Dalkeith was varied by drives about the beautiful +grounds on the two Esks, and short visits to neighbouring country seats, +characteristic and interesting, Dalmeny, Dalhousie, &c. &c. In the +evening, it is said, Scotch music was frequently given for her Majesty's +delectation, and that among the songs were some of the satires and +parodies poured forth on the unfortunate Lord Provost and bailies, who had +robbed the town of the full glory of the Queen's arrival. The cleverest of +these was an adaptation of an old Jacobite ditty, itself a cutting satire +which a hundred years before had taunted the Georgian general, Sir John +Cope, with the excess of caution that led him to shun an engagement, +withdraw his forces over night, and leave the country open to the +Pretender to march southward. The mocking verses thus challenged the +defaulter-- + + Hey! Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin' yet? + Or are your drums a-beatin' yet? + +Now, with a slight variation on the words the measure ran-- + + Hey! Jamie Forrest, are ye waukin' yet? + Or are your bailies snorin' yet? + +Then, after proceeding to run over the temptations which might he supposed +to have overmastered the party, the writer dwelt with emphasis on a +favourite breakfast dish in Scotland-- + + For kipper it is savoury food, + Sae early in the mornin'. + +Common rumour would have it that Lord John Scott, whose good qualities +included a fine voice and a love for Scotch songs, to which his wife +contributed at least one exquisite ballad, sang this squib to her Majesty. +An improvement on the story, which is at least strictly in keeping with +the Prince's character, added, that when another song was suggested, and +the "Flowers of the Forest" mentioned, Prince Albert, unacquainted with +the song in question, and misled by a word in the title, exclaimed kindly, +"No, no; let the poor man alone, he has had enough of this sort of thing." + +From Dalkeith the Queen and the Prince started for the Highlands, on a +bright, clear, cold, frosty morning. They crossed the Forth and landed at +Queen's Ferry, which bore its name from another queen when she was going +on a very different errand; for there it is said the fugitive Margaret, +the sister of the Atheling, after she had been wrecked in Scotland Water, +landed and took her way on foot to Dunfermline to ask grace of Malcolm +Cean Mohr, who made her his wife. Queen Victoria only saw Dunfermline and +the abbey which holds the dust of King Robert the Bruce from a distance, +as she journeyed by Kinross and Loch Leven, getting a nearer glimpse of +Queen Mary's island prison, to Perthshire. + +At Dupplin the 42nd Highlanders, in their kilts, were stationed +appropriately. Perth, with its fair "Inches" lying on the brimming Tay, in +the shadow of the wooded hills of Kinnoul and Moncrieff, delighted the +royal strangers, and reminded Prince Albert of Basle. + +The old Palace of Scone, under the guardianship of Lord Mansfield, was the +restingplace for the night. Next day the Queen saw the mound where the +early kings of Scotland were crowned. A sort of ancient royal visitors' +book was brought out from Perth to her Majesty, and the Queen and the +Prince were requested to write their names in it. The last names written +were those of James VI. and Charles I. Her Majesty and Prince Albert gave +their mottoes as well as their names. Beneath her signature she wrote, +"_Dieu et mon Droit_;" beneath his he wrote, "_Treu und Fest._" + +From Scone the party proceeded to Dunkeld, passing through Birnam Pass, +the first of the three "Gates," into the Highlands, where the prophecy +against Macbeth was fulfilled, and entered what is emphatically "the +Country" by the lowest spur of the mighty Grampians. + +The romantic, richly-wooded beauty of Dunkeld was increased by a +picturesque camp of Athole Highlanders, to the number of a thousand men, +with their piper in attendance. They had been called out for her +Majesty's benefit by the late Duke of Athole, then Lord Glenlyon, who was +suffering from temporary blindness, so that he had to be led about by Lady +Glenlyon, his wife. At Dunkeld the Queen lunched, and walked down the +ranks of Highland soldiers. The piper played, and a reel and the ancient +sword-dance, over crossed swords--the nimble dancer avoiding all contact +with the naked blades--were danced. The whole scene--royal guests, noble +men and women, stalwart clansmen in their waving dusky tartans--must have +been very animated and striking in the lovely autumn setting of the +mountains when the ling was red, the rowan berries hung like clusters of +coral over the brown burns, and a field of oats here and there came out +like a patch of gold among the heather. To put the finishing-touch to the +picture, the grey tower of Gawin Douglas's Cathedral, still and solemn, +kept watch over the tomb of the Wolf of Badenoch. + +But Dunkeld was not the Queen's destination. She was going still farther +into the Highlands. She left the mountains of Craig-y-barns and +Craig-vinean behind her, and travelled on by Aberfeldy to Taymouth, the +noble seat of the Marquis of Breadalbane. Lord Glenlyon's Highlanders +gave place to Lord Breadalbane's, the Murrays, in their particular set of +tartan with their juniper badge, to the Campbells and the Menzies, in +their dark green and red and white kilts, with the tufts of bog myrtle and +ash in their bonnets. The pipers were multiplied, and a company of the +92nd Highlanders replaced the 42nd, in kilts like their neighbours. "The +firing of the guns," wrote the Queen, "the cheering of the great crowd, +the picturesqueness of the dresses, the beauty of the surrounding country +with its rich background of wooded hills, altogether formed one of the +finest scenes imaginable. It seemed as if a great chieftain in olden +feudal times was receiving his sovereign. It was princely and romantic." + +Such a "sovereign" of such a "chief" is the crowned lady, every inch a +queen, represented in Durham's bust reproduced in the illustration. + +Lord Breadalbane was giving his Queen a royal welcome. Lady Breadalbane, a +childless wife, had been one of the beautiful Haddington Baillies, +descendants of Grizel Baillie; she was suffering from wasting sickness, +and her beauty, still remarkable, was "as that of the dead." Some of the +flower of the Scotch nobility were assembled in the house to meet the +Queen and the Prince--members of the families of Buccleugh, Sutherland, +Abercorn, Roxburgh, Kinnoul, Lauderdale &c. &c. The Gothic dining-room was +dined in for the first time; the Queen was the earliest occupant of her +suite of rooms. After dinner, the gardens were illuminated, the hills were +crowned with bonfires, and Highlanders danced reels to the sound of the +pipes by torchlight in front of the house. "It had a wild and very gay +effect." + +The whole life, with its environment, was like a revelation of new +possibilities to the young English Queen who had never been out of England +before. It was at the most propitious moment that she made her first +acquaintance with the Scotch Highlands which she has learned to love so +well; she enjoyed everything with the keen sense of novelty and the +buoyance of unquenched spirits. Looking back upon it all, long afterwards, +she wrote with simple pathos, "Albert and I were then only twenty-three, +young and happy." + +At Taymouth there was shooting for the Prince; and there was much pleasant +driving, walking, and sketching for the Queen--with the drives walks, and +sketches unlike anything that she had been accustomed to previously. The +weather was not always favourable; the sport was not always so fortunate +as on the first day, when the Prince shot nineteen roe-deer, several hares +and pheasants, three brace of grouse, and wounded a capereailzie, which +was afterwards brought in; but the travellers made the best of everything +and became "quite fond of the bagpipes," which were played in perfection +at breakfast, at luncheon, whenever the royal pair went out and in, and +before and during dinner. One evening there was a ball for the benefit of +the county people, at which the Queen danced a quadrille with Lord +Breadalbane; Prince Albert and the Duchess of Buccleugh being the +_vis-a-vis_. + +On September 10th, a fine morning, the Queen left Taymouth. She was rowed +up Loch Tay, past Ben Lawers with Benmore in the distance. The pipers +played at intervals, the boatmen sang Gaelic songs, and the representative +of Macdougal of Lorn steered. At Auchmore, where the party lunched, they +were rejoined by the Highland Guard. As her Majesty drove round by Glen +Dochart and Glen Ogle, the latter reminded her of the fatal Kyber Pass +with which her thoughts had been busy in the beginning of the year. By the +time Loch Earn was reached, the fine weather had changed to rain. By +Glenartney and Duneira, earthquake-haunted Comrie, Ochtertyre, where grows +"the aik," and Crieff with the "Knock," on which the last Scotch witch was +burnt, the travellers journeyed to Drummond Castle, belonging to Lady +Willoughby d'Eresby, where her Majesty was to make her next stay. Lady +Willoughby was a chieftainess in her own right, the heiress of the old +Drummonds, Earls of Perth. Lord Willoughby was the representative of the +lucky English Burrells and the Welsh Gwydyrs, one of whom had married a +Maid of Honour to Catharine of Aragon, and come to grief, because, unlike +her royal mistress, she and her husband adopted the Protestant religion, +and fell into dire disgrace in the reign of Bloody Mary. The Drummonds. +like the Murrays and unlike the Campbells, had been staunch Jacobites. +The mother of the first and last Duke of Perth caused the old castle to be +blown up after her two sons had joined the rebellion in the '45, lest the +keep should fall into the hands of King George's soldiers. [Footnote: She +is said to have been the heroine of the popular Jacobite song, "When the +King comes over the water."] The Queen alludes in her Journal to the steep +ascent to the castle. The long narrow avenue leads up by the side of the +fine castle rock, tufted with wild strawberries, ferns, and heather, to +the courtyard. Her Majesty also mentions the old terraced garden; "like an +old French garden," or like such an Italian garden as was a favourite +model for the gardens of its day. + +The Willoughby Highlanders, wearing the Drummond tartan and the holly +badge, were now the Queen's guard. The lady of the castle and her +daughters wore the Drummond tartan and the holly when they met the Queen. + +It was at Drummond Castle that Prince Albert made his first attempt at +deer-stalking, under the able guidance of Campbell of Moonzie. The +Prince's description of the sport was that it was "one of the most +interesting of pursuits," in which the sportsman, clad in grey, in order +to remain unseen, had to keep under the hill, beyond the possibility of +scent, and crawl on hands and knees to approach his prey. + +There was a story told at the time of the Prince and Campbell of Moonzie. +Prince Albert had arranged to return at a particular hour to drive with +the Queen. Moonzie, who was the most ardent and agile deer-stalker in the +neighbourhood, had got into the swing of the sport, till then +unsuccessful, when, as the men lay crouching among the heather, waiting +intently for the herd expected to come that way, the Prince said it was, +time to return. + +"But the deer, your Royal Highness," faltered the Highlander, looking +aghast, and speaking in the whisper which the exigencies of the case +required. + +The Prince explained that the Queen expected him. + +It is to be feared the Highlander, in the excitement of the moment, and +the marvel that any man--not to say any prince--could give up the sport at +such a crisis, suggested that the Queen might wait, while the deer +certainly would not. + +"The Queen commands," said her true knight, with a quiet smile and a +gentle rebuke. + +In the evening there was company, as at Taymouth, some in kilts. Campbell +of Moonzie showed himself as great in reels as in deer-stalking. (Ah! the +wild glee and nimble grace of a Highland reel well danced.) The Queen +danced one country dance with Lord Willoughby, while Prince Albert had the +eldest daughter of the house, Lady Carington, for his partner. + +The next day the royal party, starting as early as nine on a hazy morning, +reached Stirling and visited the castle, which figures so largely in the +lives of the old Stewart kings. The Queen saw the room in which James II. +slew Douglas, John Knox's pulpit, the field of Bannockburn, which saved +Scotland from a conquest, and the Knoll or "Knowe" where the Scotch Queens +and the Court ladies sat to look down on their knights "Riding the Ring" +or playing at the boisterously boyish game of "Hurleyhacket." But the +autumn mists shut out the "Highland hills," already receding in the +background, and the Links of Forth, where the river winds like the meshes +of a chain through the fertile lowlands to the sea. Soon Drummond Castle +and Taymouth, with their lochs and mountains and "plaided array," would be +like a wonderful dream, to be often recalled and recounted at Windsor and +Buckingham Palace. + +From Stirling the Queen travelled back to Dalkeith, where she arrived the +same night. During her Majesty's last day in Scotland, which she expressed +herself as "very sorry to leave," she drove to Roslin Chapel, where twenty +"barons bold" of the house of St. Clair wear shirts of mail for shrouds, +then went on to storied Hawthornden--a wooded nest hung high over the +water, where the poet Drummond entertained his English brother-of-the-pen, +Ben Jonson. + +On Thursday, the 15th of September, the Queen embarked in the +_Trident_, a large steamboat, likely to be swifter than the _Royal +George_, and surrounded by the flotilla, which, with the exception of +one, fell behind, and out of sight in the course of the voyage, sailed for +England, past Berwick Law, Tantallon, the ruined keep of the Douglases, +and the Bass, where a gloomy state prison once frowned on a rock, now +given up to seagulls and Solan geese. The weather was favourable and the +moonlight fine. The voyage became enjoyable as the young couple ate a +"pleasant little dinner on deck in a tent, made of flags," or paced the +deck in the moonlight, or read the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," and played +on the piano in the cabin. Notwithstanding the good time, winds and waves +are not to be trusted, and the roar of the guns which announced that the +vessel was at the Nore was a welcome awakening at three o'clock on the +morning of Saturday, the 17th. The sun smiled through a slight haze on +the sail up the river, among the familiar English sights and sounds. The +tour, which had delighted the pair, was over; but home, where a loving +mother and little children awaited them, was sweet. + + + +CHAPTER XV. +A MARRIAGE, A DEATH, AND A BIRTH IN THE ROYAL FAMILY.--A PALACE HOME. + + +The rest of the autumn and early winter passed in busy quiet and domestic +happiness. In November, the Queen honoured the Duke of Wellington by a +second visit to Walmer. She was no longer the girl-princess--a solitary +figure, but for her devoted mother, she was the Queen-wife, taking with +her not only her good and noble husband, but her two fine children, to +show her old servant, the great soldier of a former generation, who had +known her from her childhood, how rich she had become in all womanly +blessings. During her stay her Majesty went to Dover, and included the +guardian castle of England, on the chalk cliffs which overlook the coast +of France, among the venerable fortresses she had inspected this year. + +In the meantime, the agitation for Free Trade was exciting the country in +one direction, and O'Connell was thundering for a repeal of the union +between England and Ireland in another. On the 20th of January, 1843, a +public crime was committed which shocked the whole nation and aroused the +utmost sympathy of the Queen and Prince Albert. A half-crazy man named +Macnaughten, who conceived he had received a political injury from Sir +Robert Peel, planned to waylay and shoot the Premier in Downing Street. +The man mistook his victim, and fatally wounded Sir Robert's private +secretary, Mr. Drummond, who perished in the room of his chief. The plea +of insanity accepted by the jury on the trial was so far set aside by the +judges. + +The descendants of the numerous family of George III. and Queen Charlotte, +in the third generation, only numbered five princes and princesses. Apart +from her German kindred, the Queen had only four cousins--her nearest +English relations after her uncles and aunts. Of these the Crown Prince of +Hanover, German born but English bred as Prince George of Cumberland, and +long regarded as, in default of Princess Victoria, the heir to the crown, +married at Hanover, on the 18th of February, Princess Mary of +Saxe-Altenburg. The Crown Prince was then twenty-four years of age. +Though he had no longer any prospect of succeeding to the throne of +England, he was the heir to a considerable German kingdom. But the +terrible misfortune which had cost him his eyesight did not terminate his +hard struggle with fate. His father, whose ambition had been built upon +his son from his birth, appeared to have more difficulty in submitting to +the sore conditions of the Prince's loss than the Prince himself showed. +By a curious self-deception, the King of Hanover never acknowledged his +son's blindness, but persisted in treating him, and causing others to +treat him, as if he saw. The Queen of Hanover, once a bone of contention +at the English Court, and Queen Charlotte's _bete noire_, as the +divorced wife of one of her two husbands prior to her third marriage with +the Duke of Cumberland, had died two years before. It was desirable in +every light that she should find a successor--a princess--to preside over +the widowed Court, and be the mother to the future kings of Hanover, +supposing Hanover had remained on the roll of the nations. A fitting +choice was made, and the old King took care that the marriage should be +celebrated with a splendour worthy of the grandson of a King of England. +Twenty-four sovereigns and princes, among them the King of Prussia, graced +the ceremony. The bride wore cloth of silver and a profusion of jewels, +and whatever further troubles were in store for the blind bridegroom, +whose manly fortitude and uprightness of character--albeit these qualities +were not without their alloy of pride and obstinacy--won him the respect +of his contemporaries, Providence blessed him on that February day with a +good, bright, devoted wife. + +On the 25th of March, the Thames Tunnel, which at the time was fondly +regarded as the very triumph of modern engineering, and a source of the +greatest convenience to London, was opened for foot-passengers by a +procession of dignitaries and eminent men, including in their ranks the +Lord Mayor, Sir Robert Inglis, Lord Lincoln, Joseph Hume, Messrs. Babbage +and Faraday, &c. &c. The party descended by one staircase, shaft, and +archway which carried them to Wapping, and, ascending again, returned by +the other archway to Rotherhithe. Some of the Thames watermen hoisted +black flags as a sign that they considered their craft doomed. + +For the first time since her accession, the Queen had been unable, from +the state of her health, to open Parliament or to hold the usual spring +levees. Prince Albert relieved her of this, as of so many of her burdens, +and Baron Stockmar paid a visit to England, at the Prince's urgent +request, that the Baron's sagacity and experience might be brought to bear +on what remained of the arduous task of getting a Queen's household into +order and directing a royal nursery. The care of the Queen's Privy Purse +had been transferred to the Prince on the departure of Baroness Lehzen. +These various obligations, together with his rapidly increasing interest +in public affairs, and the number of persons who claimed his attention, +especially when he was in London, become a serious tax on his strength, a +tax which the Queen even at this early date feared and sought to guard +against. Baron Stockmar was greatly pleased with the aspect of the family. +He proudly proclaimed that the Prince was quickly showing what was in him, +among other things that he was rich in that very practical talent in which +the Baron had feared the young man might be deficient; at the same time +the old family friend remarked that the Prince, in the midst of his +industry and happiness, frequently looked "pale, worried, and weary." + +An instance of Prince Albert's cordial interest in the welfare of the +humbler ranks is to be found in one of Bishop Wilberforce's letters, dated +March, 1843: "After breakfast with the Prince, for three-quarters of an +hour talked about Sunday. Told him that I thought 'Book of Sports' did +more than anything to shock the English mind. He urged want of amusements +for common people of an innocent class--no gardens. In Coburg, with ten +thousand inhabitants, thirty-two gardens, frequented by different sorts of +people, who meet and associate in them. 'I never heard a real _shout_ +in England. All my servants marry because they say it is so dull here, +nothing to interest-good living, good wine, but there is nothing to do but +turn rogue or marry.'" + +On the 20th of April, Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg was married to +Princess Clementine of France, the youngest daughter of Louis Philippe. On +the following day, the 21st, the Queen's uncle, the Duke of Sussex, who +had long been infirm, and for a little time seriously ailing, died at +Kensington Palace, at the age of seventy years. The body lay in state +there on the 3rd of May, all persons in decent mourning being admitted to +witness the sight. Twenty-five thousand persons availed themselves of the +permission. On the following morning, the funeral of the first of the +Royal Dukes, who was buried by daylight and not in the royal vault at +Windsor, took place. There was a great procession, a mile in length, +beginning and ending with detachments of Horse and Foot Guards, their +bands playing at intervals the "Dead March in Saul," in acknowledgement of +the military rank of the deceased. The hearse, drawn by eight black +horses, was preceded and followed by twenty-two mourning-coaches and +carriages, each with six horses, and upwards of fifty private carriages, +one of these containing Sir Augustus d'Este, the son of the dead Duke and +of Lady d'Ameland (Lady Augusta Murray). [Footnote: The Duke of Sussex +made a second morganatic marriage, after Lady d'Ameland's death, with Lady +Cecilia Buggin, daughter of the second Earl of Arran, and widow of Sir +George Buggin. She was created Duchess of Inverness. She survived the Duke +of Sussex thirty years.] The Duke of Cambridge acted as chief mourner. The +cortege passed along the High Street to Kensal Green Cemetery, where +Prince Albert, Prince George of Cambridge, and the Grand Duke of +Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whose son was about to become the husband of +Princess Augusta of Cambridge, awaited its arrival. The service was read +by the Bishop of Norwich in the cemetery chapel, and the coffin was +deposited in the vault prepared for it. It was observed of Prince Albert +that "he seemed to be more affected than any person at the funeral." + +An old face, once very familiar, had passed away: a young life had dawned. +In the interval between the Duke of Sussex's death and funeral, five days +after the death, on the 24th of April, 1843, a second princess was born. +The Queen was soon able to write to King Leopold that the baby was to be +called "Alice," an old English name, "Maud," another old English name, and +"Mary," because she had been born on the birthday of the Duchess of +Gloucester. The godfathers were the Queen's uncle, the King of Hanover, +and Prince Albert's brother, by their father's retirement, already Duke of +Coburg. The King of Hanover came to England, though, unfortunately, too +late to be present at the christening, so that one likes to think of the +Princess, whose name is associated with all that is good and kind, as +having served from the first in the light of a messenger of peace to heal +old feuds. The godmothers were the Princess of Hohenlohe and Princess +Sophia Matilda of Gloucester. + +In the illustration Princess Alice is given as she represented "Spring" in +the family mask in 1854. + +On the 18th of May, 1843, the prolonged contest between the civil and +ecclesiastical courts in Scotland reached its climax--in many respects +striking and noble, though it may be also one-sided, high-handed, and +erring. The chief civil law-court in Scotland--the Court of Session--had +overruled the decisions of the chief spiritual court--the General Assembly +of the Church of Scotland--and installed, by the help of soldiers, in the +parishes, which patronage had presented to them, two ministers, disliked +by their respective congregations, and resolutely rejected by them, though +neither for moral delinquencies nor heretical opinions. The Government, +after a vain attempt to heal the breach and reconcile the contending +parties, not only declined to interfere, but asserted the authority of the +law of the land over a State church. + +Once more the representatives of the Scotch clergy and laity, of all +shades of opinion, met, as their forefathers had done for centuries, in +the Assembly Hall, in Edinburgh, in the month of May. Then, after the +usual introductory ceremonies, the moderator, or chairman, delivered a +solemn protest against the State's interference with the spiritual rights +of the Church, declared that the sovereignty of its Divine Head was +invaded, and, in the name of himself and his brethren, rejected, a union +which compelled submission to the civil law on what a considerable +proportion of the population persisted in regarding as purely spiritual +questions. Four hundred and seventy ministers of one of the poorest +churches in Christendom had appended their names to the protest. Churches, +manses, livings were laid down, the mass following their leaders. Among +them, though many a good and gifted man remained with equal +conscientiousness behind, there were men of remarkable ability as well as +Christian worth; and there was one, Dr. Chalmers, with a world-wide +reputation for genius, eloquence, and splendid benevolence. The band +formed themselves into a procession of black-coated soldiers of a +King--not of this world--marched along the crowded streets of Edinburgh, +hailed and cheered by an enthusiastic multitude, and entering a building +temporarily engaged for the purpose, constituted themselves a separate +church, and flung themselves on the liberality of their portion of the +people, on whom they were thenceforth entirely dependent for maintenance. +And their people, who, with their compatriots, are regarded among the +nations as notably close-fisted and hard-headed, responded generously, +lavishly, to the impassioned appeal. All Scotland was rent and convulsed +then, and for years before and after, by the great split in what lay very +near its heart--its church principles and government. These things were +not done in a corner, and could not fail to arouse the interest of the +Queen and Prince, whatever verdict their judgment might pronounce on the +dispute, or however they might range themselves on the constitutional side +of the question, as it was interpreted by their political +advisers--indeed, by the first statesmen, Whig or Tory, of the day. + +Six years later, Sir Edwin Landseer painted the picture called "The Free +Kirk," which became the property of her Majesty. + +The Royal Commission on the Fine Arts, at the head of which was Prince +Albert, in view of the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament, had an +exhibition of prize cartoons in Westminster Hall during the summer of +1843. Great expectations were entertained of the effect of such patronage +on painting in its higher branches. Many careful investigations were +made into the best processes of fresco painting, of which the Prince had a +high opinion, and this mode of decoration was ultimately adopted, +unfortunately, as it proved, for in spite of every precaution, and the +greatest care on the part of the painters--some of whom, like Dyce, were +learned in this direction, while others went to Italy to acquire the +necessary knowledge--the result has been to show the perishable nature of +the means used, in this climate at least, since the pictures on the walls +of the Houses of Parliament have become but dim, fast-fading shadows of +the original representations. In the early days of the movement the +Prince, in order the better to test and encourage a new development of art +in this country, gave orders for a series of fresco paintings from +Milton's "Comus," in eight lunettes, to decorate a pavilion in the grounds +of Buckingham Palace. Among the painters employed were Landseer, Maclise, +Leslie, Uwins, Dyce, Stanfield, &c. &c. Two of them--Leslie and +Uwins--record the lively interest which the Queen and the Prince took in +the painting of the pavilion, how they would come unannounced and without +attendants twice a day, when the Court was at Buckingham Palace, and watch +the painters at work. Uwins wrote, that in many things the Queen and her +husband were an example to the age. "They have breakfasted, heard morning +prayers with the household in the private chapel, and are out some +distance from the Palace, talking to us in the summer-house, before +half-past nine o'clock--sometimes earlier. After the public duties of the +day, and before the dinner, they come out again, evidently delighted to +get away from the bustle of the world to enjoy each other's society in the +solitude of the garden.... Here, too, the royal children are brought out +by the nurses, and the whole arrangement seems like real domestic +pleasure." + +The square of the Palace, with a park on either hand, and its main +entrance fronting the Mall, has green gardens of its own, velvet turf, +shady trees, shining water--now expanding into a great round pond, like +that in Kensington Gardens, only larger--now narrowing till it is crossed +by a rustic bridge. These cheat the eye and the fancy into the belief +that the dwellers in the Palace have got rid of the town, and furnish +pleasant paths and pretty effects of landscape gardening within a limited +space. + +But the Palace has a public as well as a private side. The former looks +out on the parks and drives, which belong to all the world, and in the +season are crowded with company. + +The great white marble staircase leads to many a stately corridor, with +kings and queens looking down from the walls, to many a magnificent room +with domed and richly fretted roofs, ball-room with a raised dais for +court company, and a spot where royal quadrilles are danced, +banqueting-room, music-room, white, crimson, blue, and green +drawing-rooms, crimson and gold throne-room. There are finely-wrought +white marble chimney-pieces with boldly-carved heads, angelic figures, and +dragons in full relief. There are polished pillars of purple-blue, and +red scagliola, hugs china vases--oriental, Dresden, unpolished Sevres--and +glittering timepieces of every shape and device. + +King George and Queen Charlotte in shadowy form preside once and again, as +well they may, seeing this was her house when it was named the Queen's +House. Their family, too, still linger in their portraits. George IV. in +very full-blown kingly state, the Duke of York and his Duchess, the Duke +of Kent and his Duchess, the King of Hanover, King William and Queen +Adelaide, the Duke of Sussex. But not one of their lives is so linked with +the place as the life of Queen Victoria has been, especially the double +life of the Queen and the Prince Consort in their "blooming time." +Buckingham Palace was their London home, to which they came every season +as regularly as Park Lane and Piccadilly, with the squares and streets of +Belgravia, find their fitting occupants. From this Palace the girl-Queen +drove to Westminster, to be crowned, and returned to watch in the soft +dusk of the summer evening all London illuminated in her honour. Here she +announced her intended marriage to her Lords in Council; here she met her +princely bridegroom come across the seas to wed her. From that gateway she +drove in her bridal white and orange blossoms, and it was up these steps +she walked an hour-old wife, leaning on the arm of her husband. Most of +their children were born here. The Princess Royal was baptized here, and +she went from Buckingham Palace to St. James's, like her mother before +her, to be married. In the immediate neighbourhood occurred some of the +miserable attempts on the Queen's life, and it was round Buckingham Palace +that nobility and people thronged to convince themselves of her Majesty's +safety, and assure her of their hot indignation and deep sympathy. On that +balcony she has shown herself, to the thousands craving for the sight, on +the opening-day of the first Exhibition and on the morning when the Guards +left for the Crimea. Through these corridors and drawing-rooms streamed +the princely pageant of the Queen's Plantagenet Ball. Kingly and courtly +company, the renowned men and the fair women of her reign, have often held +festival here. Along these quiet garden walks the Queen was wont to stroll +with her husband-lover; from that rustic bridge he would summon his +feathered favourites around him; in yon sheet of water he swam for his +life among the broken ice, the day before the christening of the Princess +Royal. In the little chalet close to the house the Queen loved to carry on +her correspondence on summer-days, rather than to write within palace +walls, because she, whose life has been pure and candid as the day, has +always loved dearly the open air of heaven. In the pavilion where the +first English artists of the time strove to do their Prince's behest, +working sometimes from eight in the morning to six or seven in the +evening, her Majesty and the Prince delighted to watch Maclise put in +Sabrina releasing the Lady from the enchanted chair, and Leslie make Comus +offering the cup of witchery. + +As in the case of King George and Queen Charlotte, it is well that +portraits and marble statues of the Queen and the Prince, in the flower of +their age, should remain here as unfailing links with the past which was +spent within these walls. + +In later years the widowed Queen has dwelt little at Buckingham Palace, +coming rarely except for the Drawing-rooms, which inaugurate the season +and lend the proper stamp to the gilded youth of the kingdom. What tales +that Throne-room could tell of the beating hearts of _debutantes_ and +the ambitious dreams of care-laden chaperons! The last tale is of the kind +consideration of the liege lady. From the room where the members of the +royal family assemble apart, she walks, not to take her seat on the +throne, but to stand in front of the steps which lead to it, that the +ladies who advance towards her in single file may not have to climb the +steps with stumbling feet, often caught in their trailing skirts, till the +wearers were in danger of being precipitated against the royal knees as +the ladies bent to kiss the Queen's hand. In the same manner, the slow and +painful process of walking backwards with long trains, of which such +stories were told in Queen Charlotte's day, is graciously dispensed with. +A step or two, and the trains are thrown over their owners' arms by the +pages in waiting, while the ladies are permitted to retire, like ordinary +mortals, in a natural, easy, and what is really a more seemly fashion. A +royal chapel has for a considerable time taken the place of a great +conservatory, so that the Queen and the Prince could worship with their +household, without the necessity of repairing to the neighbouring Chapel +Royal of St. James's. + +There are other suites of rooms besides the private apartments, notably +the Belgian floor, full of memories of King Leopold and Queen Louise. + +Among the portraits of foreign sovereigns, the correctly beautiful face of +the Emperor Alexander of Russia, and the likeness of his successor, +Nicholas, occur repeatedly. The portraits of the Emperor and Empress of +Germany, when as Prince and Princess of Prussia they won the cordial +friendship of the Queen, are here. There is a pleasant picture of Queen +Victoria's girl friend, Maria da Gloria, and a companion picture of her +husband, the Queen and the Prince's cousin. The burly figure of Louis +Philippe appears in the company of two of his sons. Another ruler of +France, the Emperor Napoleon III., looks sallow and solemn beside his +Empress at the height of her loveliness. Other royal portraits are those +of the King of Saxony, the present King and Queen of the Belgians, as Duke +and Duchess of Brabant; the late blind King of Hanover and his devoted +Queen; the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now blind also, and his Duchess, +who was the handsome and winning Princess Augusta of Cambridge; her not +less charming sister, Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck; the familiar face of +their soldierlike brother, the Duke of Cambridge; the Maharajah Dhuleep +Singh, in his slender youth and eastern dress, &c. &c. + +In the sister country of France, one has a feeling that there are blood +stains on all the palaces. Let us be thankful that, as a rule, it is not +so in England. But there are tragic faces and histories here too, mocking +the glories of rank and State. There is a fine picture of Matilda of +Denmark, to whom--but for the victim's fairer hair--her collateral +descendant, Queen Victoria, is said to bear a great resemblance. The +Queen's ancestress was herself a princess and a queen, yet she was fated +to fall under an infamous, unproven charge, and to pine to an early death +in a prison fortress. + +Here, with a pathos all her own, in her pale dark girlish face and slight +figure, is the Queen's Indian god-daughter, Princess Gouromma, the child +of the Rajah of Coorg. She was educated in England, and married a Scotch +gentleman named Campbell. But the grey northern skies and the bleak +easterly winds were cruel to her, as they would have been to one of her +native palm-trees, and she found an early grave. + +A graceful remembrance of a peculiarly graceful tribute to the faithful +service and devotion of a lifetime appears in a picture of the old Duke of +Wellington--after whom the Queen named her third son--presenting his +godfather's token of a costly casket to the infant Prince Arthur, seated +on the royal mother's knee. Another laughing child, in the arms of another +happy mother, is the Queen herself, held by the Duchess of Kent. + +The long picture gallery contains valuable specimens of Dutch and Flemish +art, a remnant of George IV.'s collection, and a portion, of the Queen's +many fine examples of these schools. Here are Tenierses, full of riotous +life; exquisite Metzus, Terburgs, and Gerard Dows; cattle by Paul Potter; +ships by Van de Velde; skies by Cuyp; landscapes, with white horses, by +Wouvermanns; driving clouds and shadow-darkened plains by Ruysdael, who, +though he died in a workhouse, yet lives in his pictures in kings' +palaces. + +Lady Bloomfield has given the world a delightful glimpse of what the life +at Windsor and Buckingham Palace was from 1842 to 1845; how much real +friendliness existed in it; what simplicity and naturalness lay behind its +pomp and magnificence. Dissipation and extravagance found no place there. +That palace home--whether in town or country, where all sacred obligations +and sweet domestic affections reigned supreme, where noble work had due +prominence and high-minded study paved the way for innocent pleasure--was, +indeed, a pattern to every home in the kingdom. The great household was +like a large family, with a queenly elder sister and a royal brother at +its head; for the Queen and the Prince were still in their first prime, +and very kindly, as well as very wise, were their relations with old and +young. It is good to read of the tenderly-united pair; of their +well-regulated engagements--punctually performed as clockwork, and rarely +jostling each other; of their generous consideration for others, their +faithful regard for old friends, so that to this day the ranks of the +Queen's household are replenished from the households of her youth. It has +been pointed out how rarely the Duchess of Kent allowed any change in the +little Princess's guardians and teachers. In like manner, as whoever will +examine Court calendars may learn for themselves, this middle-aged +Mistress of the Robes, or that elderly Lady in Waiting, was in former +times a young Maid of Honour, and the youngest page of to-day is very +likely the grandson of a veteran courtier, and has a hereditary interest +in his surroundings. + +When her Majesty was still young, there was the frankest sympathy with the +young girls who were so proud to be in their Queen's service--a sympathy +showing itself in a thousand unmistakable ways; in concern for each noble +maiden's comfort and happiness; in interest in her friends pursuits, and +prospects; by the kindly informal manner in which each member of the +girlish suite was addressed by her familiar christian-name, sometimes with +its home abbreviation; by the kiss with which she was greeted on her +return from her six months' absence. We do not always connect such lovable +attributes with kings' and queens' courts, and it is an excellent thing +for us to know that the greatest, towards whom none may presume, can also +he the most ready to oblige, the least apt to exact, the most cordial and +trustful. + +We hear from Lady Bloomfield that the sum total of a Maid of Honour's +obligations, when she is in residence, like a canon, is to give the Queen +her bouquet before dinner every other day. In reality, the young lady and +her companions, as well as the older and more experienced Ladies and Women +of the Bedchamber, are in waiting to drive, ride, or walk with the Queen +when she desires their society, to sit near her at dinner, to share her +occupations--such as reading, music, drawing, needlework--when she wishes +it, to help to make up any games, dances, &c. &c. These favoured damsels +enjoy a modest income of three hundred a year, and wear a badge--the +Queen's picture, surrounded with brilliants on a red bow--such as the +public may have seen in the portraits of several of the Maids of Honour +belonging to the Queen which were exhibited on the walls of the Academy +within recent years. The hours of "the Maids" never were so early as those +of their royal mistress, while their labours, like their responsibilities, +have been light as thistledown in comparison with hers. + +The greatest restriction imposed on these youthful members of the +Household, when Lady Bloomfield as Miss Liddell figured among them, seems +to have been that they were expected to be at their posts, and they were +not at liberty to entertain all visitors in their private sitting-rooms, +but had to receive some of their friends in a drawing-room which belonged +to the ladies in common. + +The routine of the Palace passes before us, unpretentious in its dignity +as the actual life was led: the waiting of the ladies in the corridor to +meet the Queen when she left her apartments and accompany her to dinner; +the talk at the dinner-table; the round game of cards--_vingt-et-un_, +or some other in the evening, for which the stakes were so low, that the +players were accustomed to provide themselves with a stock of new +shillings, sixpences, and fourpenny pieces, and the winnings were now +threepence, now eightpence; the workers and talkers in the background. In +spite of different times and different manners, there is a slight flavour +of Queen Charlotte's drawing-room, in Miss Burney's day, about the whole +scene. + +The ordinary current was broken by varying eddies of royal visits and +visitors, with their accompanying whirl and bubble of excitement, and by +ceremonies, like the opening and proroguing of Parliament, State visits to +the City, royal baptisms. In addition there were the more tranquil and +homely diversions of the festivals of the seasons and family festivals. +There was Christmas, when everybody gave and received Christmas-boxes; and +this happy individual had a brooch, "of dark and light blue enamel, with +two rubies and a diamond in the shape of a bow;" and another had a +bracelet, with the Queen's portrait; while to all there were pins, rings, +studs, shawls, &c. &c. Or it was the Duchess of Kent's birthday, when the +Court went to dine and dance, and wish the kind Duchess many happy returns +of the day, at Frogmore. On one occasion the little ball ended in a +curious dance, called "Grand-pere," a sort of "Follow my Leader." "The +Prince and the Duchess of Kent led the way, and it was great fun, but +rather a romp." Solemn statesmen, hoary soldiers, reverent churchmen, +foreign diplomatists, were frequently consigned for companionship and +entertainment to the "ladies of the Household," and relaxed and grew +jocular in such company, under the spring sunshine of girlish smiles and +laughter. + +More mature and distinguished figures stood out among the women, to match +the men--whose names will be household words so long as England keeps her +place among the nations. Sagacious Baroness Lehzen, the incomparable early +instructress and guide of the Queen, so good to all the young people who +came under her influence, before she retired to her quiet home at +Buckeburg; Lady Lyttelton, who had been with the Queen as one of the +ladies-in-waiting ever since her Majesty came to the throne, who, after +the most careful selection, was appointed governess to the Royal children, +and was well qualified to discharge an office of such consequence to the +Queen and the nation. It is impossible to read such portions of her +letters as have been published without being struck by their wise +womanliness and gentle motherliness. Beautiful Lady Canning, with her +artist soul, was another star in an exalted firmament. + +Little feet pattered amongst the brilliant groups. The Princess Royal was +a remarkably bright, lively child; the Prince of Wales a beautiful +good-tempered baby, in such a nautilus-shell cradle as Mrs. Thorneycroft +copied in modelling the likeness of Princess Beatrice. We have the pretty +fancy before us: the exquisite curves of the shell, its fair round-limbed +occupant, one foot and one arm thrown out with the careless grace of +childhood, as if to balance and steer the fairy bark, the other soft hand +lightly resting on the breast, over which the head and face, full of +infant innocence and peace, are inclined. + +Both children were fond of music, as the daughter and son of parents so +musical might well be. When the youthful pair were a little older they +would stand still and quiet in the music-room to hear the Prince-father +discourse sweet sounds on his organ, and the Queen-mother sing with one of +her ladies, "in perfect time and tune," with a fine feeling for her songs, +as Mendelssohn has described her. The small people furnished a +never-ending series of merry anecdotes and witticisms all their own, and +would have gone far to break down the highest dead wall of stiffness and +reserve, had such a barrier ever existed. Now it was the little Princess, +a quaint tiny figure "in dark-blue velvet and white shoes, and, yellow kid +gloves," keeping the nurseries alive with her sports, showing off the new +frocks she had got as a Christmas-box from her grandmamma, the Duchess of +Kent, and bidding Miss Liddell put on one. Now it was the Queen offending +the dignity of her little daughter by calling her "Missy," and being told +in indignant remonstrance, "I'm not Missy--I'm the Princess Royal." Or it +was Lady Lyttelton who was warned off with the dismissal in French, from +the morsel of royalty, not quite three, "_N'approchez pas moi, moi ne +veut pas vous_;" or it was the Duke of Wellington, with a dash of old +chivalry, kissing the baby-hand and bidding its owner remember, him. Or +the child was driving in Windsor Park with the Queen and three of her +ladies, when first the Princess imagined she saw a cat beneath the trees, +and announced, "Cat come to look at the Queen, I suppose." Then she longed +for the heather on the bank, and asked Lady Dunmore to get her some; when +Lady Dunmore said she could not do that, as they were driving so fast, the +little lady observed composedly, "No, _you_ can't, but _those_ +girls," meaning the two Maids of Honour, in the full dignity of their +nineteen or twenty summers and their office, "might get me some." + +Windsor Castle in the height of summer, Windsor in the park among the old +oaks and ferns, Windsor on the grand terrace with its glorious English +view, might well leave bright lingering memories in a susceptible young +mind. So we hear of a delightful ride, when the kind Queen mounted her +Maid of Honour on a horse which had once belonged to Miss Liddell's +sister, and in default of Miss Liddell's habit, which was not forthcoming, +lent her one of the Queen's, with hat, cellar and cuffs to suit, and the +two cantered and walked over the greensward and down many a leafy glade +for two hours and a half. Once, we are told, the Queen, the Prince, and +the whole company went out after dinner in the warm summer weather, and +promenaded in the brilliant moonlight, a sight to see, with the lit-up +castle in the background, the men in the Windsor uniform, the women in +full dress, like poor Marie Antoinette's night promenades at Versailles, +or a page from Boccaccio. + +Running through all the young Maid of Honour's diary is the love which +makes all service light; the loyal innocent sense of hardship at being in +waiting and not seeing the Queen "at least once a day;" the affectionate +regret to lose any of her Majesty's company; the pride and pleasure at +being selected by the Queen for special duties. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +THE CONDEMNATION OF THE ENGLISH DUEL.--ANOTHER MARRIAGE.--THE QUEEN'S +VISIT TO CHATEAU D'EU. + + +On the 1st of July, 1843, duelling received its death-blow in England by a +fatal duel--so unnatural and so painful in its consequences that it +served the purpose of calling public attention to the offence--long +tolerated, even advocated in some quarters, and to the theory of military +honour on which this particular duel took place. Two officers, Colonel +Fawcett and Lieutenant Munro, who were also brothers-in-law, had a +quarrel. Colonel Fawcett was elderly, had been in India, was out of health +and exceedingly irritable in temper. It came out afterwards that he had +given his relation the greatest provocation. Still Lieutenant Munro hung +back from what up to that time had been regarded as the sole resource of a +gentleman, especially a military man, in the circumstances. He showed +great reluctance to challenge Colonel Fawcett, and it was only after the +impression--mistaken or otherwise--was given to the insulted man that his +regiment expected him to take the old course, and if he did not do so he +must be disgraced throughout the service, that he called out his +brother-in-law. + +The challenge was accepted, the meeting took place, Colonel Fawcett was +shot dead, and the horrible anomaly presented itself of two sisters--the +one rendered a widow by the hand of her brother-in-law, and a family of +children clad in mourning for their uncle, whom their father had slain. +Apart from the bloodshed, Lieutenant Munro was ruined by the miserable +step on which he had been thrust. Public feeling was roused to protest +against the barbarous practice by which a bully had it in his power to +risk the life of a man immeasurably his superior, against whom he happened +to have conceived a dislike. Prince Albert interested himself deeply in +the question, especially as it concerned the army. Various expedients were +suggested; eventually an amendment was inserted into the Articles of War +which was founded on the more reasonable, humane, and Christian +conclusion, that to offer an apology, or even to make reparation where +wrong had been committed, was more becoming the character of an officer +and a gentleman, than to furnish the alternative of standing up to kill or +to be killed for a hasty word or a rash act. + +On the 28th of July, Princess Augusta of Cambridge was married in the +chapel at Buckingham Palace to the hereditary Grand Duke of +Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Princess Augusta was the elder of the two daughters +of the Duke of Cambridge, was three years younger than the Queen, and at +the time of her marriage was twenty-one years of age. In the cousins' +childhood and early youth, during the reign of King William, the Duke of +Cambridge had acted as the King's representative in Hanover, so that his +family were much in Germany. At the date of the Queen's accession, +Princess Augusta, a girl of fifteen, was considered old enough to appear +with the rest of the royal family at the banquet at Guildhall, and in the +other festivities which commemorated the beginning of the new reign. She +figures in the various pictures of the Coronation, the Queen's marriage, +&c. &c., and won the enthusiastic admiration of Leslie when he went to +Cambridge House to take the portraits of the different members of the +family for one of his pictures. Only a year before she had, in the +character of Princess Claude of France, been one of the most graceful +masquers at the Queen's Plantagenet Ball, and among the bridesmaids on the +present occasion were two of the beauties at the ball, Lady Alexandrina +Vane and Lady Clementina Villiers. Princess Augusta was marrying a young +German prince, three years her senior, a kinsman of her father's through +his mother, Queen Charlotte. She was going to the small northern duchy +which had sent so brave a little queen to England. + +Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and all the royal family in the country, +including the King of Hanover, who had remained to grace the ceremony, +were present at the wedding, which, in old fashion, took place in the +evening. Among the foreign guests were the King and Queen of the Belgians, +the Prince and Princess of Oldenburg, the Crown Prince of Wurtemburg, &c. +&c. The ambassadors, Cabinet Ministers, and officers of State were in +attendance. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of +London and Norwich, officiated. The marriage was registered and attested +in the great dining room at Buckingham Palace. Then there passed away from +the scene the Princess who had been for some years the solitary +representative of the royal young ladyhood of England, as her sister, +Princess Mary, was eleven years Princess Augusta's junior, and still only +a little girl of ten. Princess Augusta had an annuity of three thousand a +year voted to her by Parliament on her marriage. + +A month later, on the 28th of August, the Queen went by railway to +Southampton, in order to go on board the royal yacht for a trip to the +Isle of Wight and the Devonshire coast. At Southampton Pier, the rain was +falling heavily. Her Majesty had been received by the Mayor and +Corporation, the Duke of Wellington, and other official personages, when +it was discovered that there was not sufficient covering for the stage or +gangway, which was to be run out between the pier and the yacht. Then the +members of the Southampton Corporation were moved to follow the example of +Sir Walter Raleigh in the service which introduced him to the notice of +Queen Elizabeth. They pulled off their red gowns, spread them on the +gangway, and so procured a dry footing for her Majesty. + +Lady Bloomfield, as Miss Liddell, in the capacity of Maid of Honour in +waiting, was with the Queen, and has furnished a few particulars of the +pleasant voyage. The Queen landed frequently, returning to the yacht at +night and sleeping on board. At the Isle of Wight she visited Norris +Castle, where she had stayed in her youth, asking to see some of the +rooms, and walking on the terrace. She told her companions that she would +willingly have bought the place but could not afford it. At one point all +the party except Lady Canning were overcome by sea sickness, which is no +respecter of persons. At Dartmouth the Queen entered her barge and was +rowed round the harbour, for the better inspection of the place, and the +gratification of the multitude on the quays and in every description of +sailing craft. At Plymouth the visitors landed and proceeded to Mount +Edgcumbe, the beautiful seat of the Edgcumbe family. Wherever her Majesty +went she made collections of flowers, which she had dried and kept as +mementoes of the scenes in which they had been gathered. In driving +through Plymouth, the crowd was so great, and pressed so much on the +escort, that the infantry bayonets crossed in the carriages. + +At Falmouth, the Queen was again rowed in her barge round the harbour, but +the concourse of small boats became dangerous, as their occupants deserted +the helms and rushed to one side to see the Queen, and the royal barge +could only be extricated by the rowers exerting their utmost strength and +skill, and forcing a passage through the swarming flotilla. The Mayor of +Falmouth was a Quaker, and asked permission to keep on his hat while +reading his address to the Queen. The Mayor of Truro, who with the Mayor +of Penryn had accompanied their official brother when he put off in a +small boat to intercept her Majesty in her circuit round the harbour, was +doomed to play a more undignified part. He unluckily overleaped himself +and fell into the water, so that he and his address, being too wet for +presentation, were obliged to be put on shore again. + +On board the Queen used to amuse herself with a favourite occupation of +the ladies of the day, plaiting paper so as to resemble straw plait for +bonnets. She was sufficiently skilled in the art to instruct her Maid of +Honour in it. + +On one occasion the Queen chanced to have her camp-stool set where it shut +up the door of the place that held the sailors' grog-tubs. After much +hanging about and consulting with the authorities, she was made acquainted +with the fact, when she rose on condition that a glass of grog should be +brought to her. She tasted it and said, "I am afraid I can only make the +same remark I did once before, that I think it would be very good if it +were stronger," an observation that called forth the unqualified delight +of the men. Sometimes in the evening the sailors, at her Majesty's +request, danced hornpipes on deck. + +But the Queen's cruises this year were not to end on English or even +Scotch ground. She was to make the first visit to France which had been +paid by an English sovereign since Henry VIII. met Francis I. on the field +of the Cloth of Gold. Earlier in the year two of Louis Philippe's sons, +the sailor Prince Joinville, "tall, dark, and good looking, with a large +beard, but, unfortunately for him, terribly deaf," and his brother, the +man of intellect and culture if not of genius, the Duc d'Aumale, "much +shorter and very fair," had been together at Windsor; and had doubtless +arranged the preliminaries of the informal visit which the Queen was to +pay to Louis Philippe. The King of France and his large family were in the +habit of spending some time in summer or autumn at Chateau d'Eu, near the +seaport of Treport, in Normandy; and to this point the Queen could easily +run across in her yacht and exchange friendly greetings, without the +elaborate preparations and manifold trouble which must be the +accompaniment of a State visit to the Tuileries. + +Accordingly the Queen and Prince Albert, on the 1st of September, sailed +past the Eddystone Lighthouse, where they were joined by a little fleet of +war-ships, and struck off for the coast of France. Besides her suite, the +Queen was accompanied by two of her ministers, Lords Aberdeen and +Liverpool. With the first, a shrewd worthy Scot, distinguished as a +statesman by his experience, calm sagacity, and unblemished integrity, her +Majesty and Prince Albert were destined to have cordial relations in the +years to come. + +In the meantime, French country people were pouring into Treport, where +the King's barge lay ready. It was provided with a crimson silk awning, +having white muslin curtains over a horseshoe-shaped seat covered with +crimson velvet, capable of containing eleven or twelve persons. The rowers +were clad in white, with red sashes and, red ribands round their hats. + +The Queen was to land by crossing the deck of a vessel moored along the +quay and mounting a ladder, the steps of which were covered with crimson +velvet. At five o'clock in the afternoon the King and his whole family, a +great cortege, arrived on horseback and in open chars-a-bancs. Prince +Joinville had met the yacht at Cherbourg and gone on board. As soon as it +lay-to the King came alongside in his barge. The citizen King was stout, +florid, and bluff-looking, with thick grizzled hair brushed up into a +point. As the exiled Duke of Orleans, in the days of the great Revolution, +he had been a friend of the Queen's father, the Duke of Kent. The King did +not fail to remind his guest of this, after he had kissed her on each +check, kissed her hand, and told her again and again how delighted he was +to see her. When the two sovereigns entered the barge the standards of +England and France were hoisted together, and amidst royal salutes from +the vessels in the roads and from the batteries on shore, to the music of +regimental bands, in the sunset of a fine autumn evening the party landed. + +At the end of the jetty the ladies of the royal family of France with +their suites stood in a curved line. Queen Amelie, with her snowy curls +and benevolent face, was two paces in advance of the others. Behind her +were her daughter and daughter-in-law, the Queen of the Belgians and the +widowed Duchesse d'Orleans, who appeared in public for the first time +since her husband's death a year before. A little farther back stood +Madame Adelaide, the King's sister, and the other princesses, the younger +daughter and the daughters-in-law of the house. Louis Philippe presented +Queen Victoria to his Queen, who "took her by both hands and saluted her +several times on both cheeks with evident warmth of manner." Queen Louise, +and at least one of the other ladies, were well known to the visitor, whom +they greeted gladly, while the air was filled with shouts of "Vive la +Reine Victoria!" "Vive la Reine d'Angleterre!" + +The Queen, who was dressed simply, as usual, in a purple satin gown, a +black mantilla trimmed with lace, and a straw bonnet with straw-coloured +ribands and one ostrich feather, immediately entered the King's +char-a-bancs, which had a canopy and curtains that were left open. Lady +Bloomfield describes it as drawn by twelve large clumsy horses. There was +a coachman on the box, with three footmen behind, and there was "a motley +crowd of outriders on wretched horses and dressed in different liveries." +The other chars-a-bancs with six horses followed, and the whole took +their, way to the Chateau, a quaint and pleasant dwelling, some of it as +old as the time of the Great Mademoiselle. + +A stately banquet was held in the evening in the banqueting-room, hung +round with royal portraits and historical pictures, the table heavy with +gold and silver plate, including the gold plateau and the great gold vases +filled with flowers. The King, in uniform, sat at the centre of the table. +He had on his right hand Queen Victoria, wearing a gown of crimson velvet, +the order of the garter and a _parure_ of diamonds and emeralds, but +having her hair simply braided. On her other side sat Prince Joinville. On +the King's left hand was Queen Louise. The Duchesse d'Orleans, in +accordance with French etiquette for widows in their weeds, did not come +to the dinner-table. Opposite the King sat his Queen, with Prince Albert +on her right hand and the Duc d'Aumale on her left. The royal host and +hostess carved like any other old-fashioned couple. + +The Queen received the same lively impressions from her first visit to +France that she had experienced on her first visit to Scotland. Apart from +the scenery there was yet more to strike her. The decidedly foreign +dresses of the people, the strange tongue, the mill going on Sunday, the +different sound of the church bells--nothing escaped her. There was also, +in the large family of her brother king and ally--connected with her by so +many ties, every member familiar to her by hearsay, if not known to her +personally--much to interest her. The Queen had been, to all intents and +purposes, brought up like an only child, and her genial disposition had +craved for entire sympathy and equal companionship. She seems to have +regarded wistfully, as an only child often regards, what she had never +known, the full, varied, yet united life of a large, happy, warmly +attached family circle. When she saw her children possessed of the +blessing which had been denied to her in her early days, she was tempted +to look back on the widowed restricted household in Kensington Palace as +on a somewhat chill and grey environment. She has more than once referred +to her childhood as dull and sad by comparison with what she lived to know +of the young life of other children. + +But the great royal household of France at this date, in addition to its +wealth of interests and occupations, and its kindness to the stranger who +was so quick to respond to kindness, was singularly endowed with elements +of attractiveness for Queen Victoria. It appeared, indeed, as if all life +at its different stages, in its different aspects, even in its different +nationalities, met and mingled with a wonderful charm under the one +roof-tree. Besides the old parent couple and the maiden aunt, who had seen +such changes of fortune, there were three young couples, each with their +several careers before them. There was the bride of yesterday, the +youngest daughter of the house, Princess Clementine, with her young German +husband, the Queen and Prince Albert's kinsman; there was Nemours, wedded +to another German cousin, the sweet-tempered golden-haired Princess +Victoire; there was Joinville, with his dark-haired Brazilian Princess. +[Footnote: A kinswoman of Maria da Gloria's] It had been said that he had +gone farther, as became a sailor, in search of a wife than any other +prince in Europe. She was very pretty in a tropical fashion, very +piquante, and, perhaps, just a little _sauvage_. She had never seen +snow, and the rules and ceremonies of a great European court were almost +as strange to her. Lady Bloomfield mentions her as if she were something +of a spoilt child who could hardly keep from showing that the rigid laws +of her new position fretted and bored her. She wore glowing pomegranate +blossoms in her hair, and looked pensive, as if she were pining for the +gorgeous little hummingbirds and great white magnolias--the mixture of +natural splendour and ease, passion and languor, of a typical South +American home. + +D'Aumale and Montpensier were still gay young bachelors, and well would it +have been for the welfare of the Orleans family and the credit of Louis +Philippe if one of them had remained so. There was a widow as well as a +bride in the house. There were the cherished memories of a dearly-prized +lost son and daughter to touch with tender sorrow its blithest moments and +lightest words. The Queen had to make the acquaintance of Helene, Duchesse +d'Orleans; [Footnote: Princess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.] tall, thin +and pale, not handsome, but better than handsome, full of character and +feeling, shrinking from observation in her black dress, with the shadow of +a life-long grief over her heart and life. And the visitor had to hear +again of the gifted Princess Marie, the friend of Ary Scheffer, whose +statue of Jeanne d'Arc is the best monument of a life cut down in its +brilliant promise. Princess Marie's devoted sister Louise, Queen of the +Belgians, in her place as the eldest surviving daughter of France, had +long been Queen Victoria's great friend. Finally, there was the third +generation, headed by the fatherless boy, "little Paris," with regard to +whom few then doubted that he would one day sit on the throne of France. + +It was not principally because the Chateau d'Eu was in France that the +Queen wrote, the first morning she awoke there, the fulfilment of her +favourite air-castle of so many years was like a dream, or that she +grieved when her visit was over. She sought to find, and believed she had +found, a whole host of new friends and kindred--another father and mother, +more brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, to make her life still +richer and more full of kindly ties. + +The speciality in the form of entertainment at Chateau d'Eu was drives in +the sociable chars-a-bancs in the neighbouring forest, ending in +_dejeuners_ and _fetes-champetres_, which the Queen enjoyed +heartily, both because they were novel to her and because they were +spontaneous and untrammelled. "So pretty, so merry, so rural," she +declared. "Like the fetes in Germany," Prince Albert said. The long, +frequently rough drives under the yellowing trees in the golden September +light, the camp-chairs, the wine in plain bottles, the improvised kitchen +hidden among the bushes, the many young people of high rank all so gay, +the king full of liveliness and brusqueness, his queen full of +motherliness and consideration for all--everything was delightful. + +One pathetic little incident occurred when the guests were being shown +over the parish church of Notre Dame. As they came to the crypt, with its +ancient monuments of the Comtes d'Eu, the Duchesse d'Orleans was overcome +with emotion, and the Queen of the Belgians drew her aside. When the rest +of the party passed again through the church, on their way back, they came +upon the two mourning women prostrate before one of the altars, the +Duchesse weeping bitterly. + +The King presented Queen Victoria with fine specimens of Gobelin tapestry +and of Sevres china. He went farther in professions and compliments. He +was not content to leave the discussion of politics to M. Guizot and Lord +Aberdeen. Louis Philippe volunteered to the Queen's minister the statement +that he would not give his son to Spain (referring to a proposed marriage +between the Duc de Montpensier and the Infanta Luisa, the sister of the +young Queen Isabella, who had been lately declared of age), even if he +were asked. To which the stout Scot replied, without beating about the +bush, "that except one of the sons of France, any aspirant whom Spain +might choose would be acceptable to England." + +Louis Philippe, Queen Amelie, and the whole family escorted the Queen and +the Prince on board the yacht, parting with them affectionately. Prince +Joinville accompanied the couple to the Pavilion, Brighton. In the course +of the sail there was a race between his ship and the _Black Eagle_, +in which the English vessel won, to the French sailors' disgust. + +Louis Philippe felt great satisfaction at a visit which proved his cordial +relations with England, and served to remove the reproach which he seemed +to think clung to him and prevented the other European royal families from +fraternising with him and his children as they would otherwise have +done--namely, that he was not the representative of the elder, and what +many were pleased to consider the legitimate, branch of the Bourbons. He +was but a king set up by the people, whom the people might pull down +again. There was not much apparent prospect of this overthrow then, though +the forces were at work which brought it about. In token of his +gratification, and as a memorial of what had given him so much pleasure, +the King caused a series of pictures to be taken of Queen Victoria's +landing, and of the various events of her stay. These pictures remain, +among several series, transferred to the upper rooms of one of the French +palaces, and furnish glimpses of other things that have vanished besides +the fashion of the day. There the various groups reappear. Queen Amelie +with her piled-up curls, the citizen King and their numerous young people +doing honour to the young Queen of England and her husband, both looking +juvenile in their turn--all the more so for a certain antiquated cut in +their garments at this date, a formality in his hat and neckerchief, a +demureness in her close bonnet, and a pretty show of youthful matronliness +in the little lace cap which, if we mistake not, she wears on one +occasion. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +THE QUEEN'S TRIP TO OSTEND:--VISITS TO DRAYTON, CHATSWORTH, AND BELVOIR. + + +_"Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute."_ In the course of another +week the Queen took a second trip to the Continent, sailing to Ostend to +pay the most natural visit in the world--the only thing singular about it +was that it had been so long delayed--to her uncle, King Leopold. The +yacht, which had been lying off Brighton, was accompanied by eight other +steamers, and joined at Walmer by two ships of the line. At Dover a salute +was fired from the castle. At Deal the Duke of Wellington came on board +and dined with the royal party, the Queen watching with some anxiety the +return of the old man in his boat, through a considerable surf which +wetted him thoroughly, before he mounted his horse and rode off to Walmer, +to superintend the illumination of the Castle in lines of light. In like +manner every ship lying in the Downs glittered through the darkness. + +At two o'clock on the following afternoon the Queen and the Prince reached +Ostend, where they were received by King Leopold and Queen Louise. There +had been some uncertainty whether the travellers, after not too smooth a +passage, would be equal to the fatigue of a banquet at the Hotel de Ville +that evening. But repose is the good thing to which royalty can rarely +attain, so it was settled that the banquet should go on. The display was +less, and there was more of undress among the chief personages than there +had been at the opening banquet at Chateau d'Eu. The Queen must have +looked to her host not far removed from the docile young niece he had so +carefully trained and tutored, as she sat by him in white lace and muslin, +with flowers in her hair--only bound by a _ferroniere_ of diamonds. +The King and Prince Albert were in plain clothes, save that they showed +the ribands and insignia of the orders of the Garter and the Bath; the +Queen of the Belgians wore a white lace bonnet. It was in the main a +simple family party made for the travellers. + +The next day the Prince and Princess of Hohenlohe arrived, when the elder +sister would have knelt and paid her homage to the younger, had not her +Majesty prevented her with a sisterly embrace. Ostend was the +head-quarters of the royal party, from which in the mellow autumn time +they visited Bruges and Ghent. "The old cities of Flanders had put on +their fairest array and were very tastefully decorated with tapestries, +flowers, trees, pictures, &c. &c." The crowds of staid Flemings wore +stirred up to joyous enthusiasm. + +The Queen's artistic tastes, in addition to her fresh sympathies and her +affection for her uncle and his wife, rendered the whole scene delightful +to her. She was fitted to relish each detail, from the carillons to the +carvings. She inspected all that was to be seen at Bruges, from the Palace +of Justice to the Chapel of the Holy Blood. At Ghent, she went to the +church of St. Bavon, where the Van Eycks have left the best part of their +wonderful picture before the altar while the dust of Hubert and Margaret, +rests in the crypt below. She saw the fragment of the palace in which John +of Gaunt was born, when an English queen-consort, Philippa, resided there +five hundred years before. She visited the old Beguinage, with the +shadowlike figures of the nuns in black and white flitting to and fro. + +From Ostend the Queen and Prince Albert proceeded to the cheerful, +prosperous, and, by comparison, modern town of Brussels, King Leopold's +capital, and stayed a night at his palace of Lacken, which had been built +by Prince Albert's ancestor and namesake, Duke Albert of Sechsen, when he +governed the Netherlands along with his wife the Archduchess Christina, +the favourite daughter of Maria Theresa and the sister of Marie +Antoinette. From Brussels the travellers journeyed to Antwerp, where they +saw another grand cathedral and witnessed the antique spectacle of "the +Giant" before the palace in the _Place de Mer._ + +On leaving Antwerp, the Queen and the Prince sailed for England, escorted +so far on their way by King Leopold and Queen Louise. "It was such a joy +to me," her Majesty wrote to her uncle, soon after their parting, "to be +once again under the roof of one who has ever been a father to me." The +vessel lay all night in Margate Roads, and the next morning arrived at +Woolwich. + +In the month of October her Majesty and the Prince visited Cambridge, +where he received his degree of LL.D. A witty letter, written by Professor +Sedgwick, describing the royal visit to the Woodwardian Museum, is quoted +by Sir Theodore Martin + +"....I received a formidable note from our master telling me of an +intended royal visit to the Woodwardian den of wild beasts, immediately +after Prince Albert's degree; and enjoining me to clear a passage by the +side entrance through the old divinity schools. This threw me off my +balance, for since the building of the new library this place of ancient +theological disputation has been converted into a kind of lumber-room, and +was filled from end to end with every kind of unclean things--mops, +slop-pails, chimney-pots, ladders, broken benches, rejected broken +cabinets, two long ladders, and an old rusty scythe were the things that +met the eye, and all covered with half an inch of venerable dust. There is +at the end of the room a kind of gallery or gangway, by which the +undergraduates used to find their way to my lecture-room, but this was +also full of every kind of rubbish and abomination. We did our best; soon +tumbled all impediments into the area below, spread huge mats over the +slop-pails, and, in a time incredibly short, a goodly red carpet was +spread along the gangway, and thence down my lecture-room to the door of +the Museum. But still there was a dreadful evil to encounter. What we had +done brought out such a rank compound of villanous smells that even my +plebeian nose was sorely put to it; so I went to a chemist's, procured +certain bottles of sweet odours, and sprinkled them cunningly where most +wanted. + +"Inside the Museum all was previously in order, and inside the entrance +door from the gangway was a huge picture of the Megatherium, under which +the Queen must pass to the Museum, and at that place I was to receive her +Majesty. So I dusted my outer garments and ran to the Senate House, and I +was just in time to see the Prince take his degree and join in the +acclamations. This ended, I ran back to the feet of the Megatherium, and +in a few minutes the royal party entered the mysterious gangway above +described. They halted, I half thought in a spirit of mischief, to +contemplate the furniture of the schools, and the Vice-chancellor +(Whewell) pointed out the beauties of the dirty spot where Queen Bess had +sat two hundred and fifty years before, when she presided at the Divinity +Act. A few steps more brought them under the feet of the, Megatherium. I +bowed as low as my anatomy would let me, and the Queen and Prince bowed +again most graciously, and so began act first. The Queen seemed happy and +well pleased, and was mightily taken with one or two of my monsters, +especially with the 'Plesiosaurus,' and a gigantic stag. The subject was +new to her; but the Prince evidently had a good general knowledge of the +old world, and not only asked good questions and listened with great +courtesy to all I had to say, but in one or two instances helped me on by +pointing to the rare things in my collection, especially in that part of +it which contains the German fossils. I thought myself very fortunate in +being able to exhibit the finest collection of German fossils to be seen +in England. They fairly went the round of the Museum, neither of them +seemed in a hurry, and the Queen was quite happy to hear her husband talk +about a novel subject with so much knowledge and spirit. He called her +back once or twice to look at a fine impression of a dragon-fly which I +have in the Solenhope slate. Having glanced at the long succession of our +fossils, from the youngest to the oldest, the party again moved into the +lecture-room. The Queen was again mightily taken with the long neck of +the Plesiosaurus; under it was a fine head of an Ichthyosaurus which I had +just been unpacking. I did not know anything about it, as I had myself +never seen its face before, for it arrived in my absence. The Queen asked +what it was. I told her as plainly as I could. She then asked whence it +came; and what do you think I said? That I did not know the exact place, +but I believed it came as a delegate from the monsters of the lower world +to greet her Majesty on her arrival at the University. I did not repeat +this till I found that I had been overheard, and that my impertinence had +been talked of among my Cambridge friends. All was, however, taken in good +part, and soon afterwards the royal party again approached the mysterious +gangway. The Queen and Prince bowed, the Megatherium packed up his legs +close under the abdominal region of his august body, the royal pageant +passed under, and was soon out of my sight and welcomed by the cheers of +the multitude before the library. + +"I will only add that I went through every kind of backward movement to +admiration of all beholders, only having once trodden on the hinder part +of my cassock, and never once having fallen during my retrogradations +before the face of the Queen. In short, had I been a king crab, I could +not have walked backwards better." + +When in Cambridgeshire the Queen and the Prince visited Lord Hardwicke at +Wimpole, where the whole county was assembled at a ball, and Earl De la +Warr at Bourne. + +In this month of October the great agitator for the repeal of the Irish +Union, Daniel O'Connell, was arrested, in company with other Irish +agitators, on a charge of sedition and conspiracy. After a prolonged +trial, which lasted to the early summer of the following year, he was +sentenced to a year's imprisonment and the payment of a fine of two +thousand pounds, with recognisances to keep the peace for seven years. The +sentence lapsed on technical grounds, but its moral effect was +considerable. + +In the month of September the Queen and Prince Albert visited Sir Robert +Peel at Drayton, travelling by railroad, with every station they passed +thronged by spectators. At Rugby the pupils of the great school, headed +by Dr. Tait, were drawn up on the platform. Sir Robert Peel received his +guests in a pavilion erected for the occasion, and conducted her Majesty +to her carriage, round which was an escort of Staffordshire yeomanry. At +the entrance to the town of Tamworth, the mayor, kneeling, presented his +mace, with the words, "I deliver to your Majesty the mace;" to which the +Queen replied, "Take it, it cannot be in better hands." + +At eight o'clock in the evening Sir Robert Peel conducted the Queen, who +wore pink silk and a profusion of emeralds and diamonds, to the +dining-room, Prince Albert giving his arm to Lady Peel. Among the guests +were the Duke of Wellington and the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh. The +Duchess on one occasion during the visit wore an old brocade which had +belonged to a great grand-aunt of the Duke's, and was pronounced very +beautiful. After dinner the party withdrew to the library. Either on this +evening or the next the Queen played at the quaint old game of "Patience," +with some of her ladies, while the gentlemen "stood about." + +On the following day her Majesty walked in the grounds, while Prince +Albert gratified an earnest wish by visiting Birmingham and inspecting its +manufactures, undeterred, perhaps rather allured, by the fact that the +great town of steel and iron was regarded as one of the centres of +Chartism. This did not prevent its mighty population from displaying the +most exultant loyalty as they pressed round the carriage in which the +Prince and the Mayor, reported to be a rank Chartist, drove to glass and +silver-plate manufactories and papier-mache works, the town hall, and the +schools. + +At the railway station the Prince was joined by the Queen-dowager and +Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, who came from Whitley Court to accompany him +back to Drayton. The next morning was devoted to shooting, when Prince +Albert confirmed his good character as a sportsman by bringing down sixty +pheasants, twenty-five hares, eight rabbits, one woodcock, and two wild +ducks. In the afternoon the Queen visited Lichfield, to which she had gone +as "the young Princess." Indeed, the next part of the tour was over old +ground in Derbyshire, for from Drayton the royal couple proceeded to +Chatsworth, and spent several days amidst the beauties of the Peak. Twenty +thousand persons were assembled in the magnificent grounds at Chatsworth, +and artillery had been brought from Woolwich to fire a salute. Many old +friends, notably members of the great Whig houses--Lord Melbourne, Lord +and Lady Palmerston, the Marquis and Marchioness of Normanby--met to grace +the occasion. There was a grand ball, at which the aristocracy of +invention and industry, trade and wealth, represented by the Arkwrights +and the Strutts, mingled with the autocracy of ancient birth and landed +property. Mrs. Arkwright was presented to the Queen. Her Majesty opened +the ball with the Duke of Devonshire, dancing afterwards with Lord Morpeth +and Lord Leveson--in the last instance, "a country dance, with much +vigour"--and waltzing with Prince Albert. On the 2nd of December the party +visited Haddon Hall, the ancient seat of the Vernons, where Dorothy Vernon +lived and loved. On their return in the evening, the great conservatory +was brilliantly illuminated, and there was a display of fireworks. + +On the 3rd, Sunday, the Queen walked through the kitchen gardens and +botanical gardens, and drove to Edensor. On the return of the party by the +Home Farm, they went to see a prize-pig, weighing seventy pounds. The day +ended with a concert of sacred music. + +On Monday, the 4th, the Queen and the Prince parted from the Duke of +Devonshire at Derby, and proceeded to Nottingham--not to visit what +remained of the Castle so long associated with John and Lucy Hutchinson, +or to penetrate to the cradle of hosiery, daring an encounter with the +"Nottingham Lambs," the roughest of roughs, who at election times were +wont to add to their natural beauties by painting their faces red, white, +and blue, as savages tattoo themselves--but as a step on the way to +Belvoir, the seat of the Duke of Rutland. There her Majesty entered that +most aristocratic portion of England known as "The Dukeries." The Duke of +Rutland, attended by two hundred of his tenantry on horseback, awaited his +guests at Red Mile, and rode with them the three miles to Belvoir. Soon +after the Queen's arrival, Dr. Stanton presented her Majesty with the key +of Stanton Town, according to the tenure on which that estate is held. + +Belvoir was a sight in itself, even after the stately lawns of Chatsworth. +"I do not know whether you ever saw Belvoir," writes Fanny Kemble; "it is +a beautiful place; the situation is noble, and the views, from the windows +of the castle, and the terraces and gardens hanging over the steep hill +crowned by it, is charming. The whole vale of Belvoir, and miles of meadow +and woodland, lie stretched below it, like a map unrolled to the distant +horizon, presenting extensive and varied prospects in every direction; +while from the glen which surrounds the castle-hill, like a deep moat +filled with a forest, the spring winds swell up as from a sea of woodland, +and the snatches of birds' carolling, and cawing rooks' discourse, float +up to one from the topmost branches of tall trees, far below one's feet, +as one stands on the battlemented terraces." + +December was not the best time for seeing some of the attractions of +Belvoir; but Lady Bloomfield has written of her Majesty's proverbial good +fortune in these excursions: "The Queen yachts during the equinox, and has +the sea a dead calm; visits about in the dead of winter, and has summer +weather." There were other respects in which Belvoir was in its glory in +midwinter--it belonged to a hunting neighbourhood and a hunting society. +Whereas at Drayton and Chatsworth the royal pair had been principally +surrounded by Tory and Whig statesmen, at Belvoir, while the Queen-dowager +and some of the most distinguished members of the company at Chatsworth +were again of the party, the Queen and the Prince found themselves in the +centre of the fox-hunters of Melton Mowbray. + +Happily, the Prince could hunt with the best, and the Queen liked to look +on at her husband's sport, so that the order of the day was the throwing +off of the hounds at Croxton. In the evening the Queen played whist. The +next day there was a second splendid meet royally attended, with cards +again at night. The Prince wrote of one of these "runs," to Baron +Stockmar, that he had distinguished himself by keeping up with the hounds +all through. "Anson" and "Bouverie" had both fallen on his left and right, +but he had come off "with a whole skin." We are also told that the +Prince's horsemanship excited the amazed admiration of the spectators, to +the Queen's half-impatient amusement. "One can scarcely credit the +absurdity of the people," she wrote to her uncle, King Leopold; "but +Albert's riding so boldly has made such a sensation that it has been +written all over the country, and they make much more of it than if he had +done some great act." Apparently the Melton Mowbray fox-hunters had, till +now, hardly appreciated that fine combination of physical and mental +qualities, which is best expressed in two lines of an old song:-- + + His step is foremost in the ha', + His sword in battle keen. + +On the 7th of December the visitors left for Windsor, passing through +endless triumphal arches on the road, greeted at Leicester by seven +thousand school children. + +Shortly after the Queen's return home, she and the Prince heard, with +regret, of the death of Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch. The veteran fell, +indeed, like a shock of corn ripe for the garner, until it had been +difficult to recognise in the feeble, nearly blind old man, upwards of +ninety, the stout soldier of Barossa and Vittoria. But he carried with him +many a memory which could never be recalled. Gallant captain though he +was, his whole life was touched with tender romance. Born only four years +after the Jacobite rebellion of '45, married in 1774, when he was +twenty-five years of age, to his beautiful wife, the Hon. Mary +Cathcart--whose sister Jane was married on the same day to John, Duke of +Athole--for eighteen years Mr. Graham lived the quiet life of a country +gentleman in Lynedoch Cottage, the most charming of cottages _ornes_, +thatch-roofed, with a conservatory as big as itself, set down in a fine +park. The river Almond flowed by, serving as a kind of boundary, and +marking the curious limit which the plague kept in its last visit to +Scotland. On a green "haugh" beneath what is known as the Burnbraes, +within a short distance of Lynedoch Cottage, may be seen the +carefully-kept double grave of two girls heroines of Scotch song, who died +there of the "pest," from which they were fleeing. + +Mr. Graham was happy in his marriage, though it is said Mrs. Graham did +not relish that element in her lot which had made her the wife of a simple +commoner, while her sister, not more fair, was a duchess. Death entered on +the scene, and caused the distinctions of rank to be forgotten. The +cherished wife was laid in a quiet grave in Methven kirk-yard, and the +childless widower mourned for the desire of his heart with a grief that +refused to be comforted. By the advice of his friends, who feared for his +reason or his life, he went abroad, where he joined Lord Hood as a +volunteer. It is said he fought his first battle in a black coat, with the +hope that, being thus rendered conspicuous in any act of daring which he +might perform, he would be stricken down before the day was done. Honours, +not death, were to be his portion in his new career. A commission, rapid +promotion, the praise of his countrymen followed. He received the thanks +of both Houses of Parliament. It was on this occasion that Sheridan said +eloquently, in allusion to the soldier's services in the retreat to +Corunna, "In the hour of peril Graham was their best adviser, in the hour +of disaster Graham was their surest consolation." A peerage, which there +was none to share or inherit, a pension, the Orders of the Bath, of St. +Michael and St. George, &c. &c., were conferred upon him. It seemed only +the other day since Lord Lynedoch, hearing of her Majesty's first visit to +Scotland, hurried home from Switzerland to receive his queen. A place in +Westminster Abbey was ready for all that was mortal of him, but he had +left express injunctions that he was to be buried in Methven kirk-yard, +beside the wife of his youth, dead more than half a century before. + +Most people know the history of Gainsborough's lovely picture of Mrs. +Graham, the glory of the Scotch National Gallery--that it was not brought +home till after the death of the lady, whose husband could not bear to +look on her painted likeness, and sent it, in its case, to the care of a +London merchant, in whose keeping it remained unopened, and well-nigh +forgotten, for upwards of fifty years. On Lord Lynedoch's death, the +picture came into the possession of his heir, Mr. Graham, of Redgorton, +who presented it--a noble gift--to the Scotch National Academy. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +ALLIES FROM AFAR.--DEATH AND ABSENCE.--BIRTHDAY GREETINGS. + + +Lady Bloomfield describes a set of visitors at Windsor this year such as +have not infrequently come a long way to pay their homage to the Queen, +and to see for themselves the wonders of civilisation. The party consisted +of five Indian chiefs, two squaws, a little girl, and a half-breed, +accompanied by Mr. Catlin as interpreter. The Queen received the strangers +in the Waterloo Gallery. The elder chief made a speech with all the +dignity and self-confidence of his race. It was to the effect that he was +much pleased the Great Spirit had permitted him to cross the large lake +(the Atlantic) in safety. They had wished to see their great mother, the +Queen. England was the light of the world; its rays illuminated all +nations, and reached even to their country. They found it much larger than +they expected, and the buildings were finer than theirs, and the wigwam +(Windsor Castle) was very grand, and they were pleased to see it. +Nevertheless, they should return to their own country and be quite happy +and contented. They thanked the Great Spirit they had enough to eat and +drink. They thought the people in England must be very rich, and they +looked pleased and happy. They (the Chippewas) had served under the +English sovereigns and had fought their battles. He--the chief--had served +under ----, the greatest chief that had ever existed or had ever been +known. He had been on the field of battle when his general was killed and +had helped to bury him. He had received kindness from the English nation, +for which he thanked them; their wigwams at home had been made comfortable +with English goods. He had nothing more to say. He had finished. + +These Indians had their faces tattooed and were clad in skins, with large +bunches of feathers on their heads. The men were armed with tomahawks, +clubs, wooden swords, bows, and spears. The women were in the height of +squaw-fashion, with long black hair, dresses reaching to their feet, and +quantities of coloured beads. Two war-dances were danced before the Queen, +one of the chiefs playing a sort of drum, the music being assisted by +shrieks and cries and the shaking of a rattle. The dance began by the +dancers quivering in every joint, then passed into a slow movement, which +ended in violent action. + +Such an interlude was welcome in the necessary monotony of Court life to +those who do not penetrate into its inmost circle. Lady Bloomfield writes, +"Everything else changes; the life at Court never does; it is exactly the +same from day to day and year to year." And she records, as an agreeable +diversion from the set routine, the mistake of one of the pages, by which +an equerry-in-waiting, in the absence of another official, received a +wrong order about dinner. When the Queen dines in private there is a +purely Household dinner in the room appointed for the purpose. In those +days the Queen rarely dined two days consecutively in private, so that her +suite were surprised by the announcement that there were to be two +Household dinners--the one after the other. The ladies and gentlemen sat +down together in the Oak Room at eight o'clock, and had finished their +soup and fish, when a message came from the Queen to know who had given +the order that they were to dine without her. The company stared blankly +at each other, finished their dinner with what appetite they might, and +adjourned to the drawing-room, when they were told that her Majesty was +coming. One can fancy the consternation of the courtiers, who were "only +in plain evening coats," instead of Windsor uniform. Happily it occurred +to the defaulters that it would be but right to anticipate her Majesty, so +that all rushed off to the corridor to meet the Queen and the Prince, who +were much amused by the blunder. + +There is a pleasant little picture of the young family at Windsor in one +of the Prince's letters this winter: "The children, in whose welfare you +take so kindly an interest, are making most favourable progress. The +eldest, "Pussy" (the Princess Royal at three years of age), is now quite a +little personage. She speaks English and French with great fluency and +choice of phrase.... The little gentleman (the Prince of Wales) is grown +much stronger than he was.... The youngest (Princess Alice) is the beauty +of the family, and is an extraordinarily good and merry child." + +January, 1844, brought a severe trial to Prince Albert, and through him to +the Queen, in the sudden though not quite unexpected death of his father +at Gotha, at the comparatively early age of sixty years. Father and son +were much attached to each other, they had been parted for nearly four +years since the Prince's marriage, and the early meeting to which they had +been looking forward was denied to them. + +The Queen wrote to Baron Stockmar, in the beginning of February, "Oh, if +you could be here now with us: My darling stands so alone, and his grief +is so great and touching.... He says (forgive my bad writing, but my tears +blind me) _I_ am now _all_ to him. Oh, if I can be, I shall be +only too happy; but I am so disturbed and affected myself, I fear I can be +but of little use." + +"I have been with the Queen a good deal, altogether,"--Lady Lyttelton +refers to this time; "she is very affecting in her grief, which is in +truth all on the Prince's account; and every time she looks at him her +eyes fill afresh. He has suffered dreadfully, being very fond of his +father, and his separation from him and the suddenness of the event, and +his having expected to see him soon, all contribute to make him worse." + +The Prince himself wrote to his trusty friend, "God will give us all +strength to bear the blow becomingly. That we were separated gives it a +peculiar poignancy; not to see him, not to be present to close his eyes, +not to help to comfort those he leaves behind, and to be comforted by them +is very hard. Here we sit together, poor Mama (the Duchess of Kent, the +late Duke of Coburg's sister), Victoria and myself, and weep, with a great +cold public around us, insensible as stone." + +The Prince had one source of consolation, that of a good son who had never +caused his father pain. He had another strong solace in the reality and +worth of the new ties which were replacing the old, both in his own case +and in that of his brother. "The good Alexandrine," Prince Albert +remarked, referring to his sister-in-law, "seems to me in the whole +picture like the consoling angel." Then he goes on, "Just so is Victoria +to me, who feels and shares my grief and is the treasure on which my whole +existence rests. The relation in which we stand to each other leaves +nothing to desire. It is a union of heart and soul, and is therefore +noble; and in it the poor children shall find their cradle, so as to be +able one day to ensure a like happiness for themselves." + +Lady Lyttelton describes a sermon which Archdeacon Wilberforce preached at +Windsor at this season, February, 1844. "Just before church time the Queen +told me that Archdeacon Wilberforce was going to preach, so I had my treat +most unexpectedly, mercifully I could call it, for the sermon, expressed +in his usual golden sweetness of language, was peculiarly practical and +useful to myself--I mean, ought to be. 'Hold thee still in the Lord and +abide patiently upon him,' was the text, and the peace, trust and rest +which breathed in every sentence, ought to do something to assuage any and +every _worret_, temporal and spiritual. There were some beautiful +passages on looking forward into 'the misty future,' and its misery to a +worldly view, and the contrary. The whole was rather the more striking +from its seeming to come down so gently upon the emblems of earthly sorrow +(referring to the mourning for Prince Albert's father), we are in such 'a +boundless contiguity of shade.' There was a beautiful passage--I wish you +could have heard it, because you could write it out--about growth in grace +being greatest when mind and heart are at rest, and in stillness like the +first shoot of spring which is not forwarded by the storm or hurricane, +but by the silent dews of early dawn; another upon the melancholy of human +life, 'most beautiful because most true.'" + +It was judged desirable that the Prince should go to Germany for a +fortnight at Easter. It was his first separation from the Queen since +their marriage, and both felt it keenly. Lady Lyttelton wrote of her +Majesty on the occasion: "The Queen has been behaving like a pattern wife +as she is, about the Prince's tour; so feeling and so wretched and yet so +unselfish; encouraging him to go, and putting the best face on it to the +last moment.... We all feel sadly wicked and unnatural in his absence, and +I am actually counting the days on my part as her Majesty is on hers," +adds the kindly, sympathetic woman. The Queen of the Belgians,--and later, +King Leopold, came over to console their niece by their company during +part of her solitude. But her best refreshment must have been the letters +with which couriers were constantly riding to and fro, full of a lover's +tenderness and a brother's care, from the first to the last; these +dispatches came unfailingly. They breathed "the tender green of hope," +like the spring which was on the land at the time. + +From Dover the husband wrote: "My own darling.... I have been here about +an hour and regret the lost time which I might have spent with you. Poor +child, you will, while I write, be getting ready for luncheon, and you +will find a place vacant where I sat yesterday; in your heart, however, I +hope my place will not be vacant. I, at least, have you on board with me +in spirit. I reiterate my entreaty, 'Bear up,' and do not give way to low +spirits, but try to occupy yourself as much as possible; you are even now +half a day nearer to seeing me again; by the time you get this letter you +will be a whole one--thirteen more and I am again within your arms." + +From Ostend he wrote, "I occupy your old room." From Cologne, "Your +picture has been hung up everywhere, and been very prettily wreathed with +laurel, so that you will look down from the walls on my _tete-a-tete_ +with Bouverie" (the Prince's equerry).... "Every step takes me farther +from you--not a cheerful thought." From Gotha, in the centre of his +kinsfolk, he told her what delight her gifts had given, and added, "Could +you have witnessed the happiness my return gave my family, you would have +been amply repaid for the sacrifice of our separation. We spoke much of +you." From Reinhardtsbrunn and Rosenau he sent the flowers he had gathered +for her. He wrote of the toys he had got for the children, the presents he +was bringing for her. At Kalenberg--one of his late father's country +seats--he broke out warmly, "Oh, how lovely and friendly is this dear old +country; how glad I should be to have my little wife beside me, that I +might share my pleasure with her." + +Coburg had grown marvellously in beauty. In company with his stepmother, +brother, and sister-in-law, he went to the town church and was deeply +moved by the devotional singing, and "an admirable sermon" from the +pastor, who had confirmed the two brothers. Afterwards they rode together +to their father's last resting-place. The Prince's biographer closes the +account of this tour with a few significant words from Prince Albert's +diary, in which he noted down in the briefest form the events of each day: +"Crossed on the 11th. I arrived at six o'clock in the evening at +Windsor. Great joy." + +As a surprise for the Queen's birthday this year, the Prince had privately +ordered a little picture of angels from Sir C. Eastlake, who had received +a similar commission from the Queen for a picture with which she intended +to greet the Prince. + +A still more welcome surprise to Her Majesty was a miniature of Prince +Albert in armour, according to a fancy of the Queen's, by Thorburn, a +likeness which proved the best of all the portraits taken of the Prince, +the most successful in catching the outward look when it expressed most +characteristically the man within. This picture, together with that of the +angels holding a medallion bearing the inscription "_Heil und segen_" +(Health and Blessing), and all the other presents were placed in a room +"turned into a bower by dint of enormous garlands." + +The Queen and the Prince's relations with artists were naturally, from the +royal couple's artistic tastes, intimate and happy. Accordingly, many +pictures not only of great personages in State ceremonies, but of family +groups in the simplicity of domestic life, survive as a proof of the +connection. Vandyck did not paint Charles I. and Henrietta Maria more +frequently than Landseer and some of his contemporaries painted her +Majesty, with her husband and children, in the bright and unclouded summer +of her life; and Vandyck, never painted his royal patrons in such easy +unaffected guise and everyday circumstances. There is such a picture of +Landseer's, well known from engravings, in which the Prince is represented +in a Highland dress returned late from shooting, seated, surrounded by the +trophies of his sport in deer, blackcock, &c. &c., and by a whole colony +of delighted dogs,--beautiful Eos conspicuous by her sobriety and reserve, +while an enraptured terrier presses forward to lick his master's hand. The +Queen, dressed for dinner and still girlish-looking in her white satin, +stands talking to the Prince. The Princess Royal, a chubby child of two or +three, is prowling childlike among the dead game, curiously making her +investigations. + +Of many stories told of royal visits to studios, there are two which refer +to an _enfant terrible_, the baby son of one of the painters. This +small man having undertaken to be cicerone to his father's work, sought +specially to point out to her Majesty that two elves were likenesses of +himself and a little brother, "only, you know, we don't go about without +clothes at home," he volunteered the confidential explanation. + +The same child horrified an attentive audience by declining to receive a +gracious advance made to him by the Queen, asserting with the utmost +candour, "I don't like you." + +"But why don't you like me, my boy?" inquired the loving mother of other +little children, in some bewilderment. + +"Because you are the Queen of England and you killed Queen Mary," the +ardent champion of the slain Queen answered boldly. + +The story goes on, that after a little laughter at the anachronism, Her +Majesty took some trouble to explain to the malcontent that he was wrong, +she did not kill Queen Mary, she had been very sorry for her fate. So far +from killing her, she, Queen Victoria, was one of Queen Mary's +descendants, and it was because she came of the old Stewart line that she +reigned over both England and Scotland. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +ROYAL VISITORS.--THE BIRTH OP PRINCE ALFRED.--A NORTHERN RETREAT. + + +The year 1844 may be instanced as rich in royal visitors to England. On +the 1st of June the King of Saxony arrived and shortly after him a greater +lion, the Emperor of Russia. The King of Saxony came as an honest friend +and sightseer, entering heartily into the obligations of the latter. There +was more doubt as to the motives of the Czar of all the Russias, and +considerable wariness was needed in dealing with the northern eagle, whose +real object might be, if not to use his beak and claws on the English +nation, to employ them on some other nation after he had got an assurance +that England would not interfere with his game. Indeed, jealousy of the +French, and of the friendship between the Queen and Louis Philippe, was at +the bottom of the Emperor's sudden appearance on the scene. + +The Emperor had paid England a previous visit so far back as 1816, in the +days of George, Prince Regent, when Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte +were the young couple at Claremont. He had then won much admiration and +popularity by his strikingly handsome person, stately politeness, and +gallant devotion to the English ladies who caught his fancy. He was still +a handsome man--over six feet, with regular features, remarkable eyes, and +bushy moustaches. He wore on his arrival a cloth cloak lined with costly +fur, and a kind of cap which looked like a turban--rather a telling +costume. + +But time and the man's life and character had stamped themselves on what +had once been a goodly mould. There was something oppressive in his +elaborate politeness. There was a glare, not far removed from ferocity, +in the great grey eyes, so little shaded by their lids and light eyelashes +that occasionally a portion of the white eyeball above the iris was +revealed, and there was an intangible brooding melancholy about the +autocrat whose will was still law to millions of his fellow-creatures. + +The Queen received her distinguished guest in the great hall at Buckingham +Palace Shortly afterwards there was a _dejeuner_, at which some of +the Emperor's old acquaintances in the royal family and out of it, met +him--the Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Sophia, the Duke of +Cambridge, the Duke of Wellington, &c. &c. In the evening there was a +banquet. + +The Emperor followed the Queen to Windsor, where, amidst the gaieties of +the Ascot week, he was royally entertained. Two visits were paid to the +racecourse, with which the new-comer associated his name by founding the +five hundred pounds prize. There was a grand review in Windsor Park, at +which both the Emperor of Russia and the King of Saxony were present, as +well as Her Majesty and Prince Albert and the royal children. The Emperor +in a uniform of green and red, the King of Saxony in a uniform of blue and +gold, and Prince Albert in a field-marshal's uniform--all the three +wearing the insignia of the Garter--were the observed of all observers in +the martial crowd. The only incidents of the day which struck Lady +Lyttelton were "the very fine cheer on the old Duke of Wellington passing +the Queen's carriage, and the really beautiful salute of Prince Albert, +who rode by at the head of his regiment, and of course lowered his sword +in full military form to the Queen, with _such_ a look and smile as +he did it! I never saw so many pretty feelings expressed in a minute." + +On the return of the Court with its guests to Buckingham Palace, the +Emperor went with Prince Albert to a fete at Chiswick, given by the Duke +of Devonshire, and attended by seven or eight hundred noble guests. The +Czar returned from it loud in the praise of the beauty of English women, +while staunchly faithful to the belles he had admired twenty-eight years +before. The same evening he accompanied the Queen to the opera, when she +took his hand and made him stand with her in the front of the box, that +the brilliant assemblage might see and welcome him. + +The Emperor was an adept at saying courteous things. He remarked to the +Queen, of Windsor, which he greatly admired, "It is worthy of you, +Madame." He wished Prince Albert were his son. When the hour of +leave-taking came he found the Queen in the small drawing-room with her +children. He declared with emotion that he might at all times be relied +upon as her most devoted servant, and prayed God to bless her. He kissed +her hand and she kissed him; he embraced and blessed the children. He +besought her to go no farther with him. "I will throw myself at your +knees; pray let me lead you to your room." "But," wrote the Queen, "of +course I would not consent, and took his arm to go to the hall.... At the +top of the few steps leading to the lower hall he again took most kindly +leave, and his voice betrayed his emotion. He kissed my hand and we +embraced. When I saw him at the door I went down the steps, and from the +carriage he begged I would not stand there; but I did, and saw him drive +off with Albert to Woolwich." + +The Emperor was rather suspiciously fond of declaring, "I mean what I say, +and what I promise I will perform." Some of his speeches were emphatic +enough. "I esteem England highly, but as for what the French say of me I +care not; I spit upon it." He felt awkward in evening dress; he was so +accustomed to wear military uniform that without it he said he felt as if +they had taken off his skin. To humour him, uniform was worn every evening +at Windsor during his stay. Among his camp habits was one which he had +formed in his youth and kept up to the last: it was that of sleeping every +night on clean straw stuffed into a leathern case. The first thing his +valets did on being shown their master's bedroom in Windsor Castle was to +send out for a truss of straw for the Emperor's bed. The last thing got +for him at Woolwich was the same simple stuffing for his rude mattress. + +On the 15th of June, 1844, Thomas Campbell, author of the "Pleasures of +Hope," "Ye Mariners of England," &c., died at Boulogne at the age of +sixty-seven. Although he had not quite reached the threescore and ten, the +span of man's life on earth, he had long survived the authors, Scott, +Byron, &c., with whom his name is linked. He was one of many well-known +men in very different spheres who passed away in 1844. Sir Augustus +Callcott, the painter; Crockford with his house of Turf celebrity; +Beckford, the eccentric author of "Vathek," and the owner of the +art-treasures of Fonthill; Lord Sidmouth, the well-known statesman of the +"Addington Administration;" Sir Francis Burdett, who in recent times was +lodged in the Tower under a charge of high treason. + +In the same year an attempt was made to honour the memory of a greater +poet than Thomas Campbell, one whose worldly reward had not been great, +whose history ended in a grievous tragedy. The Scotchmen of the day seized +the opportunity of the return of two of Robert Burns's sons from military +service in India to give them a welcome home which should do something to +atone for any neglect and injustice that had befallen their father. The +festival was not altogether successful, as such festivals rarely are, but +it excited considerable enthusiasm in the poet's native country, +especially in his county of Ayrshire. And when the lord of the Castle of +Montgomery presided over the tribute to the sons of the ploughman who had +"shorn the harvest" with his Highland Mary on the Eglinton "lea-riggs," +and Christopher North made the speech of the day, the demonstration could +not be considered an entire failure. + +Scotch hearts warmed to the belief that the Queen understood and admired +Burns's poetry, and proud reference was made to the circumstance that +during one of her Highland excursions she applied the famous descriptive +passage in the "Birks of Aberfeldy" to the scene before her: + + The braes ascend like lofty wa'e, + The foamy stream deep roaring fa's, + O'erhung with fragrant spreading shaws, + The birks of Aberfeldy. + + The hoary cliffs are crown'd wi' flowers, + White o'er the linn the burnie pours, + And rising, weets wi' misty showers + The birks of Aberfeldy. + +This summer, brown Queen Pomare, and the affairs of far-off Tahiti, had a +strange, inordinate amount of attention from the English public. French +interference in the island, the imprisonment of an English consul and +Protestant missionary, roused the British lion. The dusky island-queen +claimed the help of her English allies, and till Louis Philippe and M. +Guizot disowned the policy which had been practised by their +representatives in the South Seas, there was actually fear of war between +England and France, in spite of the friendly visit to Chateau d'Eu. +Happily the King and his minister made, or appeared to make, reparation as +well as explanation, and the danger blew over. + +On the 31st of July, down at Windsor a humble but affectionately loved +friend died. Prince Albert's greyhound Eos--his companion from his +fourteenth to his twenty-fifth year, his _avant courier_ when he came +as a bridegroom to claim his bride--was found dead, without previous +symptom of illness. She lies buried on the top of the bank above the +Slopes, and a bronze model of her marks the spot. + +On the 6th of August the Queen's second son was born at Windsor Castle. +The Prince of Prussia (the present Emperor of Germany), the third royal +visitor this year, came over in time for the christening, when the little +prince received the name of the great Saxon King of England, Alfred, +together with the names of his uncle, Ernest, and his father, Albert. The +godfathers were Prince George of Cambridge, the Queen's cousin, +represented by his father; and the Prince of Leiningen, the Queen's +brother, represented by the Duke of Wellington; while the godmother was +the Queen and Prince Albert's sister-in-law, the Duchess of Coburg-Gotha, +represented by the Duchess of Kent. "To see these two children there too," +the Queen wrote of the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales, "seems such +a dream to me ... May God bless them all, poor little things." The +engraving represents the sailor-Prince in his childhood. + +A tour in Ireland had been projected for the Queen's holiday, but the +excitement in the country consequent on the liberation of O'Connell and +his companions rendered the time and place unpropitious for a royal visit, +so it was decided that Her Majesty should go again to Scotland. On this +occasion the Queen and the Prince took their little four-year-old daughter +with them. The route was not quite the same as formerly. The party went by +a shorter way to the Highlands, the yacht sailing to Dundee, the great +manufacturing city so fortunate in its situation, where the rushing Tay +calms and broadens into a wide Frith, with a background of green hills and +a foreground of the pleasantly broken shores of Forfar and Fife. The +trades held high holiday, and gave the Queen a jubilant welcome, the air +ringing with shouts of gladness as she landed from the yacht, leaning on +Prince Albert's arm, while he led by the hand the small daughter who +reminded the Queen so vividly of herself--as the little Princess of past +years. + +The Queen, escorted by the Scots Greys, proceeded by Cupar Angus to +Dunkeld, stopping at one of the hotels to get "some broth for the child," +who proved an excellent traveller, sleeping in her carriage at her usual +hours, not put out or frightened at noise or crowds--an excellent thing in +a future empress--standing bowing to the people from the windows like a +great lady. + +At Moulinearn her Majesty tasted that luscious compound of whisky, honey, +and milk known as "Athol brose." + +The Queen's destination was Blair Castle, the seat of Lord Glenlyon--a +white, barrack-like building in the centre of some of the grandest scenery +of the Perthshire Highlands. There a strong body of Murrays met her +Majesty at the gate and ran by the side of the carriages to the portico of +the Castle, where the clansmen, pipers and all, were drawn up in four +companies of forty each, to receive the guests. The Queen occupied the +Castle during her stay, Lord and Lady Glenlyon, with their son and the +other members of their family, being quartered in the lodge for the time. + +The Queen and the Prince led the perfectly retired and simple life which +was so agreeable to them. Spent among romantic and interesting scenery, it +was doubly delightful to the young couple. They dispensed as much as +possible with state and ceremony. The Highland Guard were ordered not to +present arms more than twice a day to the Queen, and once a day to the +Prince and the Princess Royal; but in other respects the Guard were so +much impressed by their responsibility that not only would they permit no +stranger to pass their _cordon_ without giving the password, which +was changed every day, they stopped Lord Glenlyon's brother for want of +the necessary "open sesame," telling him that, lord's brother or not, he +could not pass without the word. + +Her Majesty's piper, Mackay, had orders to play a pibroch under her +windows every morning at seven o'clock. At the same early hour a bunch of +fresh heather, with a draught of icy-cold water from Glen Tilt, was +brought to the Queen. The Princess Royal, on her Shetland pony, +accompanied the Queen and the Prince in their morning rambles. Sometimes +the little one was carried in her father's arms, while he pointed out to +her any object that would amuse her and call forth her prattle. "Pussy's +cheeks are on the point of bursting, they have grown so red and plump," +wrote the Prince to his stepmother. "She is learning Gaelic, but makes +wild work with the names of the mountains." + +So free was the life that one morning when a lady, plainly dressed and +unaccompanied, left the Castle about seven o'clock no notice was taken of +her, and it was only after she had gone some distance that the rank of the +pedestrian was discovered. With a little hesitation, a body-guard was told +off and followed her Majesty, but she intimated that she would dispense +with their attendance, and went on alone as far as the lodge, where she +inquired for Lord Glenlyon. It was understood afterwards that she had +chosen to be her own messenger with regard to some arrangements to be made +respecting a visit to the Falls of the Bruar. + +Lord Glenlyon was not out of bed, and the deputy-porter was electrified by +being told that the Queen had called on his master. On her Majesty's +return to the house she took a different road and lost her way, so that +she had to apply to some Highland reapers whom she met, trudging to one of +the isolated oatfields, to direct her to the Castle. They told her +civilly, but without ceremony, to cross one of the "parks" (fields or +meadows) and climb over a paling--instructions which she obeyed literally, +and found herself at home again. + +On a fine September morning the two who were so happy in each other's +company rode on a dun and a grey pony, attended only by Sandy McAra, who +led the Queen's pony through the ford, up the grassy hill of Tulloch, "to +the very top." There they saw a whole circle of stupendous Bens--Ben +Vrackie, Ben-y-Ghlo, Ben-y-Chat, as well as the Falls of the Bruar and the +Pass of Killiecrankie, which the Hanoverian troopers likened to "the mouth +of hell" on the day that Dundee fell on the field at Urrard. + +"It was quite romantic," declared the Queen joyfully. "Here we were with +only this Highlander behind us holding the ponies--for we got off twice +and walked about; not a house, not a creature near us, but the pretty +Highland sheep, with their horns and black faces, up at the top of +Tulloch, surrounded by beautiful mountains ... the most delightful, the +most romantic ride I ever had." + +There was much more riding and driving in Glen Tilt, with its disputed +"right of way" ease, but there was none to bar the Queen's progress. Her +Majesty showed herself a fearless rider, abandoning the cart-roads and +following the foot-tracks among the mountains. She grew as fond of her +homely Highland pony, _Arghait Bhean_, with which Lord Glenlyon +supplied her, as she was of her Windsor stud, with every trace of high +breeding in their small heads, arching necks, slender legs, and dainty +hoofs. + +One day the foresters succeeded in driving a great herd of red-deer, with +their magnificent antlers, across the heights, so that the Queen had a +passing view of them. On another day she was able to join in the +deer-stalking, scrambling for hours in the wake of the hunters, among the +rocks and heather, when she was not "allowed," as she described it, to +speak above a whisper, in case she should spoil the sport. It was a brief +taste of an ideal, open-air, unsophisticated life, upon which there was no +intrusion, except when stolid sightseers flocked to the little parish +church of Blair Athol for the chance of "seeing royalty at its prayers, +and hardly a regret beyond the lack of time to sketch the groups of +keepers and dogs, the deer, the mountains. + +The Queen, as usual, enjoyed and admired everything there was to +admire--the pretty jackets or "short gowns" of the rustic maidens; the +"burns," clear as glass; the mossy stones; the peeps between the trees; +the depth of the shadows; the corn-cutting or "shearing," when a patch of +yellow oats broke the purple shadow of the moor; Ben-y-Ghlo standing like +a mighty sentinel commanding the course of the Garry, as when many a lad +"with his bonnet and white cockade," sped with fleet foot by the flashing +waters, "leaving his mountains to follow Prince Charlie;" Chrianean, where +the eagles sometimes sat; the sunsets when the sky was "crimson, golden +red, and blue," and the hills "looked purple and lilac," till the hues +grew softer and the outlines dimmer. Prince Albert, an ardent admirer of +natural scenery, was in ecstasy with the mountain landscape. But her +Majesty has already permitted her people to share in the halcyon days of +those Highland tours. + +On the homeward journey to Dundee, Lord Glenlyon and his brother, Captain +Murray, performed the loyal feat of riding fifty miles, the whole distance +from Blair, by the Queen's carriage. + + + +CHAPTER XX. +LOUIS PHILIPPE'S VISIT.--THE OPENING OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. + + +The Queen and the Prince returned to Windsor to receive a visit from Louis +Philippe. The King, who had spent part of his exiled youth in England, +had not been back since 1815, when he took refuge there again during "the +Hundred Days," after Napoleon's return from Elba and Louis XVIII.'s +withdrawal to Ghent, till the battle of Waterloo restored the heads of the +Bourbon and Orleans families to the Tuileries and the Palais Royal. + +The King arrived on the 6th of October, accompanied by his son, the Duc de +Montpensier, M. Guizot, and a numerous suite. They had sailed from Treport +in the steamer _Gomer_, attended by three other, steamers, and +arrived at Portsmouth, where the Corporation came on board to present an +address. + +The King answered in English, with much effusion and affability, shaking +hands with the whole batch of magistrates, telling those who were too slow +in removing their white gloves, "Oh! never mind your gloves, gentlemen," +and recalling a former visit to Portsmouth when he was an exile. Prince +Albert and the Duke of Wellington went on board the steamer, when the +enthusiastic elderly gentleman saluted the Prince on both cheeks, to which +he submitted, though he did not reply in kind, contenting himself with +shaking his guest by the hand. It would seem as if the Prince had some +perception of the wiliness which was one quality of the big, bluff citizen +king, and of the discretion which must be practised in dealing with him, +no less than with the Russian bear. For in writing from Blair to a +kinswoman, in anticipation of the visit, the writer states, with a dash of +humour, that after a preliminary training on the sea, the bold deerstalker +and mountaineer would have to transform himself into a courtier to receive +and entertain a King of the French, and play the part of a staid and +astute diplomatist. + +The king wore the French uniform of a Lieutenant-General--blue with red +facings. The moment he ascended the stairs of the jetty, he turned with +his hand on his heart and bowed to the multitude of spectators. + +The Queen met her visitor in the grand vestibule fronting George the +Fourth's Gate at Windsor Castle; the Duchess of Kent and the ladies of the +Household, Sir Robert Peel and Lord Liverpool, and the officers of the +Household, were with her Majesty. The moment the carriage drew up, the +Queen advanced and extended her arms to her father's old friend. The two +sovereigns embraced, and she led the way to the suite of rooms which had +been previously occupied by the Emperor of Russia. + +Lady Lyttelton has supplied her version of the arrival. "At two o'clock he +arrived, this curious king, worth seeing if ever a body was. The Queen +having graciously permitted me to be present, I joined the Court in the +corridor, and we waited an hour, and then the Queen of England came out of +her room to go and receive the King of France--the first time in history! +Her Majesty had not long to wait (in the armoury, as she received him in +the State apartments, his own private rooms; very civil); and from the +armoury, amidst all the old trophies and knights' armour, and Nelson's +bust, and Marlborough's flag, and Wellington's, we saw the first of the +escort enter, the Quadrangle, and down flew the Queen, and we after her, +to the outside of the door on the pavement of the Quadrangle, just in time +to see the escort clattering up and the carriage close behind. The old +man was much moved, I think, and his hand rather shook as he alighted, his +hat quite off, and grey hair seen. His countenance is striking--much +better than the portraits--and his embrace of the Queen was very parental, +and nice. Montpensier is a handsome youth, and the courtiers and ministers +very well-looking, grave, gentlemenlike people. It was a striking piece of +real history--made one feel and think much." + +"He is the first king of France who comes on a visit to the sovereign of +this country," wrote the Queen in her Journal.... "The King said, as he +went up the grand staircase to his apartments, 'Heavens! how +beautiful!'.... I never saw anybody more pleased or more amused in looking +at every picture, every bust. He knew every bust, and knew everything +about everybody here in a most wonderful way. Such a memory! such +activity! It is a pleasure to show him anything, as he is so pleased and +interested. He is enchanted with the Castle, and repeated to me again and +again (as did also his people) how delighted he was to be here; how he had +feared that what he had so earnestly wished since I came to the throne +would not take place, and 'Heavens! what a pleasure it is to me to give +you my arm!'" The dinner was comparatively private, in the Queen's +dining-room. + +On the 8th of the month the whole royal party went on a little pilgrimage +to Claremont and Twickenham, to the house in which Louis Philippe, as Duc +d'Orleans, had resided, and wound up the day by a great banquet in St. +George's Hall. The Queen records of this excursion, "We proceeded by +Staines, where the King recognised the inn and everything, to Twickenham, +where we drove up to the house where he used to live, and where Lord and +Lady Mornington, who received us, are now living. It is a very pretty +house, much embellished since the King lived there, but otherwise much the +same, and he seemed greatly pleased to see it again. He walked round the +garden, in spite of the heavy shower which had just fallen.... The King +himself directed the postillion which way to go to pass by the house where +he lived for five years with his poor brothers, before his marriage. From +here we drove to Hampton Court, where we walked over Wolsey's Hall and all +the rooms. The King remained a long time in them, looking at the pictures, +and marking on the catalogue numbers of those which he intended to have +copied for Versailles. We then drove to Claremont. Here we got out and +lunched, and after luncheon took a hurried walk in the grounds.... We left +Claremont after four, and reached Windsor at a little before six." + +Of the conversation during the banquet her Majesty wrote, "He talked to me +of the time when he was 'in a school in the Grisons, a teacher merely,' +receiving twenty pence a day, having to brush his own boots, and under the +name of Chabot. What an eventful life his has been!" On the 9th there was +an installation of a Knight of the Garter. Sir Theodore Martin reminds his +readers, 'with regard to the ceremony, that it "must have been pregnant +with suggestions to all present who remembered that the Order had been +instituted by Edward III. after the battle of Cressy, and that its +earliest knights were the Black Prince and his companions, whose prowess +had been so fatal to France. "In the Throne-room, in a State chair, sat +Queen Victoria, in the (blue velvet) mantle of the Order, its motto +inscribed on a bracelet that encircled her arm; a diamond tiara on her +head. The chair of State by her side was vacant. Round the table before +her sat the knights-companions of the highest rank; on the steps of the +throne behind the Queen's chair were seated the high civil ministers of +the two sovereigns, and some officers of the French suite. At the +opposite end of the room were the royal ladies (members of the royal +family) and the two young Princes (the Duc de Montpensier and Prince +Edward of Saxe-Weimar) visiting at the Castle.... The King, dressed in a +uniform of dark blue and gold, was introduced by Prince Albert and the +Duke of Cambridge, preceded by Garter King-at-Arms, the Queen and the +knights all standing. The sovereign (Queen Victoria) in French announced +the election. The declaration having been pronounced by the Chancellor of +the Order, the new knight was invested by the Queen and Prince Albert with +the Garter and the George, and received the accolade." + +"Albert then placed the Garter round the King's leg," wrote the Queen. "I +pulled it through while the admonition was being read, and the King said +to me, 'I wish to kiss this hand,' which he did afterwards, and I embraced +him." + +"Taking the King's arm, her Majesty conducted him in state to his own +apartments," the _Annual Register_ ends its account of an interesting +episode. + +"At four o'clock we again went over to the King's room," wrote the Queen, +"and I placed at his feet a large cup representing St. George and the +dragon, with which he was very much pleased." That night there was a +splendid banquet in St. George's Hall to commemorate the installment. + +On the 12th the King was to have left, but first the Corporation of London +went down to Windsor in civic state to present Louis Philippe with an +address. This unusual compliment from the City was due partly to the +general satisfaction which the visit, with, its promise of continued +friendly relations between England and France, gave to the whole country, +partly to the circumstance that it was judged inadmissible, in view of the +susceptibility of the French nation, for the King of France to pay a +formal visit to London, since the Queen of England, in her recent trip to +Treport, had not gone to Paris. A somewhat comical _contretemps_ +occurred in the preparation of the reply to this address. It was written +by the person who usually acted for the King in such matters, and brought +to him shortly before the arrival of the Corporation, when Louis Philippe +found to his disgust that the speech was so French in spirit, and +expressed in such bad English, he could not hope to make it understood. +"It is deplorable.... It is cruel," cried the mortified King. "And to send +it to me at one o'clock! They will be here immediately!" No time was to be +lost; the King had to sit down and, with the help of his host and hostess, +who had come to his rooms opportunely, to write out a more suitable +answer. + +In M. Guizot's "Memoirs" he tells a curious incident of this visit. On +retiring to his room at night he lost his way, and appeared to wander, as +Baroness Bunsen feared she might do on a similar occasion, along miles of +corridors and stairs. At last, believing he recognised his room-door, he +turned the handle, but immediately withdrew, on getting a glimpse of a +lady seated at a toilet-table, with a maid busy about her mistress's hair. +It was not till next day that from some smiling words addressed to him by +the Queen the horrified statesman discovered he had been guilty of an +invasion of the royal apartments. + +Louis Philippe started on his homeward journey accompanied by her Majesty +and Prince Albert, who were to go on board the _Gomer_ and there take +leave of their guest. Afterwards they were to embark in the royal yacht +and cross to the Isle of Wight. But the stormy weather overturned all +these plans. The swell in the sea was so great that it was feared the King +could not land at Treport. Eventually he parted from the Queen and the +Prince on shore, returned in the evening to London, went to New +Cross--where he found the station on fire--proceeded by train to Dover, +and sailed next day, amidst wind and rain, in French steamer to Calais. In +order to soften the disappointment to the officers and crew of the +_Gomer_, the Queen and Prince Albert breakfasted on board that vessel +before they proceeded to the Isle of Wight. + +The cause of the cruise of the Queen and the Prince at this season was the +wish to see for themselves the house and grounds of Osborne, belonging to +Lady Isabella Blatchford. They were to be sold, and had been, suggested by +Sir Robert Peel to her Majesty and the Prince as exactly constituted to +form the retired yet not too remote country and seaside home--not palace, +for which the royal couple were looking out. It is unnecessary to say that +the personal visit was quite satisfactory, though the purchase was not +made till some months later. The engraving gives a pleasant idea of the +Osborne of to-day, with its double towers--seen out at sea--its terraces, +and its fountains. + +On the 21st of October the Queen and the Prince happened to be yachting +off Portsmouth. It was the anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar, and the +_Victory_ lay in the roads, adorned with wreaths and garlands from +stem to stern. The Queen expressed her desire to visit the ship. She went +at once to the quarter-deck to see the spot where Nelson fell. It is +marked by a brass plate with an inscription, on this day surrounded by a +wreath of laurel. The Queen gazed in silence, the tears rising to her +eyes. Then she plucked a couple of leaves from the laurel wreath, and +asked to be shown the cabin in which Nelson died. The cockpit was lit up +while the party were inspecting the poop of the _Victory_, which +bears the words of the great Admiral's last signal, "England expects every +man to do his duty." In the cockpit, long associated with merry, +mischievous sprites of "middies," there had been for many a year the +representation of a funeral urn, with the sentence, "Here Nelson died." +The visitors looked at the spot without speaking. There, on this very day +in the fast-receding past, amidst the hardly subdued din of a great naval +battle, the dying hero with his failing breath made the brief, tender +appeal to his faithful captain, "Kiss me, Hardy." The Queen requested that +there might be no firing when she left the ship, and was sped on her way +only by "the three tremendous British cheers of the sailors manning the +yards." + +On the 28th of October the great civic ceremonies of the opening of the +new Royal Exchange by the Queen took place. The morning had been foggy, +but cleared up into brilliant autumn sunshine, a happy instance of the +Queen's weather, when a considerable part of the programme, as a matter of +necessity, was enacted under the open sky. + +Crowds almost as great as on the day of the Coronation six years before +occupied the line of route, swarming in St. James's Park and St. Paul's +Churchyard and at Charing Cross, while the Poultry--deriving its name from +the circumstance that it was once filled with poulterers' shops--was +reserved for the Livery of the City Companies. Every window which could +command the passing of the pageant was filled with spectators. The Queen, +in her State coach, drawn by her cream-coloured horses, drove through the +marble arch at Buckingham Palace about eleven o'clock. She was accompanied +by Prince Albert, and attended by Lady Canning in the absence of the +Duchess of Buccleugh, Mistress of the Robes, and by the Earl of Jersey, +Master of the Horse. The great officers of her Household in long +procession preceded her, and she was followed by an escort of Life Guards. +At this time the Queen's popularity was a very active principle, though +not more heartfelt and abiding than it is to-day. As she appeared, it is +said the words "God bless you," uttered by some loyal subject, were caught +up and passed from lip to lip, running through the vast concourse. The +simply-clad lady of the Highlands was magnificently dressed to-day, to do +honour to her City of London, in white satin and silver tissue, sparkling +with jewels. On her left side she wore the star of the Order of the +Garter, and round her left arm the Garter itself, with the motto set in +diamonds. She had at the back of her head a miniature crown entirely +composed of brilliants, while above her forehead she wore a diamond tiara. +Prince Albert was in the uniform of a colonel of artillery. + +The City magnates as usual had gathered at Child's Bank, from which they +went to Temple Bar. The common councilmen were in their mazarine-blue +cloaks and cocked hats, the aldermen in their scarlet robes, the Lord +Mayor in a robe of crimson velvet, with a collar of SS, and, strange to +say, a Spanish hat and feather. In truth a goodly show. The gates of +Temple Bar, which had been previously closed, were thrown open to admit +the royal procession. The Queen's carriage drew up. The Lord Mayor +advanced on foot before the spikes on which many a traitor's head had been +stuck, and with a profound reverence offered to her Majesty the City +sword, which, the Queen touched as a sign of acceptance, and then waved it +back to the Lord Mayor. Nothing can read better, but accidents will +happen. + +From Lady Bloomfield, on the authority of the late Sir Robert Peel, who +told the story in the maid-of-honour's hearing, we have additional +particulars. The Lord Mayor, in his Spanish hat and feather, was at this +very moment in as awkward a predicament as ever befell an unlucky chief +magistrate. He had drawn on a pair of jack-boots over his shoes and +stockings, to keep the mud off till the moment of action. Unfortunately +the boots proved too tight, and could not be got off when the sign was +given that the Queen was coming. One of the victim's spurs caught in the +fur trimming of an alderman's robe, and rendered the confusion worse. The +Lord Mayor stood with a leg out, and several men tugging at his boot. In +the meantime the Queen was coming nearer and nearer; she was only a few +paces off, while the representative of her good City of London struggled +in an agony with one boot on and one off. At last he became beside +himself, and cried wildly, "For God's sake put that boot on again." He +only got it on in time to make his obeisance to her Majesty. He had to +wear the detestable boots till the banquet; just before it, he was +successfully stripped of his encumbrances. + +As the procession went on, the civic body fell into its place, the Lord +Mayor on horseback, where his jack-boots would not look amiss, with three +footmen in livery on each side of him, carrying the City sword before the +Queen's coach. + +The Royal Exchange, at the end of the Poultry, with the Mansion House on +the right and the Bank of England on the left, has been twice burnt. Sir +Thomas Gresham's Exchange, which was built after an Antwerp model, while +it bore the Greshams' grasshopper crest conspicuous on the front, was +opened by good Queen Bess, and perished in the Great Fire of London. This +building's successor was burnt down in 1838, one of the bells which rang +tunes pealing forth, in the middle of the fire, the only too appropriate +melody, "There's nae luck about the house." In the large cloistered court +of the present Royal Exchange, the stage of this day's festivities, stands +a statue of Queen Victoria. There is an allegorical figure of Commerce on +the front of the building. The inscription on the pedestal, selected by +Dean Milman, is due to a suggestion of Prince Albert's to the sculptor, +Westmacott, that there should be the recognition of a superior Power. The +well-chosen words declare "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness +thereof." + +At the Royal Exchange the body of the procession went in by the northern +entrance, only to hurry to the western door to receive the Queen. She +entered the building leaning on the arm of Prince Albert, and the royal +standard was immediately hoisted. The procession was again formed. She +set forth "in slow State" to make her circuit of the roofless quadrangle, +round the corridor and through the inner court, all in the open air. At +the foot of the campanile the bells chimed for the first time "God save +the Queen." Her Majesty went upstairs and passed through the second +banqueting-room to show herself, then walked on to the throne-room, hung +with crimson velvet and cloth, and furnished with a throne of crimson +velvet. The Queen took her seat, Prince Albert standing on her right and +the Duchess of Kent and the Duke of Cambridge on her left, Sir Robert Peel +and Sir James Graham being near. The Lord Mayor and the rest of the +Corporation formed a semicircle facing the Queen. The Recorder read the +loyal and congratulatory address welcoming his sovereign, and recalling +Queen Elizabeth's visit to open the first Exchange. Did anybody remember +the picture of the Virgin Queen with the outshone goddesses fleeing +abashed before her virtues, with which the child-princess reared at +Kensington must have been familiar? + +The speaker concluded by asking her Majesty's "favourable regard and +sanction for the work which her loyal citizens of London had now +completed." The Queen returned a gracious reply, gave the Lord Mayor her +hand to kiss, and doubtless consoled him for any misadventure by +announcing her intention to create him a baronet in remembrance of the +day. + +In the great room of the underwriters, ninety-eight feet long by forty +wide, a _dejeuner_ was served, at which the Queen, the Prince, the +Duchess of Kent, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with other persons +of rank, including the foreign ambassadors and their wives, sat on the +dais at the cross-table. At the long table beneath the dais, among the +Cabinet ministers and their wives, members of Parliament, judges, the +Court of Aldermen, and many other distinguished and privileged persons, +sat Sir Robert and Lady Sale, in another scene than any they had known +among the defiles and forts of Afghanistan. The Bishop of London said +grace. The usual toasts, "Her gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria"--no longer +the young girl who bore her part so well at the Guildhall dinner, but the +woman in her flower, endowed with all which makes life precious--"Prince +Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of the royal family," were +drunk, and replied to by the comprehensive wish, "Prosperity to the City +of London." + +At twenty minutes after two the Queen and the Prince went downstairs again +to the quadrangle, in the centre of which her Majesty stopped, while the +Ministers and the Corporation formed a circle round her. The heralds made +proclamation and commanded silence; the Queen, after receiving a slip of +paper from Sir James Graham, announced in clear, distinct tones, "It is my +royal will and pleasure that this building be hereafter called "The Royal +Exchange." This ceremony concluded the day's programme, and her Majesty +left shortly afterwards. Great festivities in the City wound up the gala. +The Lord Mayor entertained at the Mansion House, the Lady Mayoress gave a +ball, the Livery Companies dined in their respective halls. + +A little adventure occurred at the Opera in November, 1844. The Queen +went, not in State, or even semi-state, but privately, to hear Auber's +opera of "The Siren," when Mr. Bunn, the lessee, was found to have made +known without authority her Majesty's intention. The result was a great +house, but some inconvenience to the first lady in the land. The Queen was +called for, but declined to come forward, and for ten minutes there was a +commotion, the audience refusing to let the opera go on. At last the +National Anthem was played, the Queen showed herself, and this section of +her subjects was appeased and passed from clamorous discontent to equally +clamorous satisfaction. + +During the winter Sir Robert and Lady Sale paid the Queen a visit at +Windsor, while Miss Liddell was maid-of-honour in waiting. The lively +narrator of the events of these days describes Lady Sale, as tall, thin, +and rather plain, but with a good countenance, while Sir Robert was stout. +Lady Sale told these wondering listeners, in a palace that she started +from Cabul in a cloth habit, which got wet the first day, and became like +a sheet of ice, while it was nine days before she could take it off. She +was wounded in the arm on the second day's march, the ball passing first +below the elbow and coming out at the wrist, while there were other balls +which passed through her habit; Mrs. Sturt's fatherless child, Lady +Sales's grand-daughter, was born in a small room without light and almost +without air. The captive ladies often slept in the open air on the snow, +with the help of sheepskins, half of which were under and half over the +sleepers. They washed their clothes by dipping them in the rivers and +patting the garments till they became dry. Sometimes the prisoners were +twenty-four hours without food, and when served it consisted of dishes of +rice with sheeps' tails in the middle, and melted fat like tallow poured +over them. The captivity lasted ten weary months, while the captives were +dragged from place to place, over fearful roads, amidst the snows of the +Caucasus. Lady Sale was told she was kept by Akbar Khan as a hold on her +"devil of a husband." + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the +Queen V.1., by Sarah Tytler + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA V1 *** + +This file should be named 6910.txt or 6910.zip + +Produced by Arjan Moraal, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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